Goodness: A Ten-Year-Old's Surprisingly Wise Rant

"Dear Boys from around the World,
There is just one ting I have to say before I go on. STOP BEING SO STEREOTYPICAL!"

This ten-year-old is fed up with stereotypical boys (or, rather, boys who think of girls in stereotypes), and she isn't about to be quiet. Read the rest of her rant. It is priceless.

Goodness: Getting All Colorful

My sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and I went to the Holi Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork on Saturday. It was splendid. I danced and got purple powder in my nose and heard a monk tell all of us (the hundreds of people gathered for the color throw) that he hoped the only chemical we were under the influence of was LOVE. Because LOVE is all you need. Such a good day for hippie Sara.

Goodness: Birth Stories

(image from MomPhoto.com)

I've got a fever. It's called "baby fever." This is a condition characterized by liking/wanting babies. Pictures like the one above do not help, but I love them nevertheless.

From what I read, women worldwide are starting to think about pregnancy and childbirth with increasing anxiety. (Have you ever heard of tokophobia? It's a phobic fear of pregnancy. Dame Helen Mirren's got it.) I find myself at the other end of the spectrum, being really excited for the days when my belly starts protruding, when I try to figure out breastfeeding, when I fixate on my baby's newfound ability to roll over.

Oh, right, the point: I love reading birth stories. It's become increasingly common for moms to write and share accounts of how labor and delivery went for them, and you can find these stories all over the internet (here, for example). I read them for fun and for comfort, which probably seems funky to some. I guess I just prefer these firsthand recollections of birth to the way it's typically presented on TV and in movies -- as a frantic hellhole that would make anyone develop a phobia. I mean, it is that, sometimes, but not always, and I'm so glad that women have started sharing their experiences like this. Cue the warm, fuzzy feelings.

Goodness: India.Arie "Video"

Lately, whenever I've woken up to a pimply forehead (today) or yucky hair (also today), I've turned to India.Arie for a shot of perspective. Listening to this song makes me feel like a queen.

Goodness: Things Drawn In the Sidewalk

In case it's not clear, that's the word "SEATTLE" with what I assume is The Space Needle or a large water tower drawn underneath. Found immediately next to an elementary school playground in Provo, Utah.

I like to imagine that some kid's parents had just forced her to leave all of her friends and her childhood home back in Seattle in order to move to Provo for something stupid like a job, and she was royally peeved about it, and when she passed wet cement one day, she decided to express her mourning by drawing a remembrance of her fair city.

Goodness: Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V

I am so grateful for this computer function. My whole life would take twice as long without it.

Goodness: Blue Fingernails

I've been trying to think of ways to express and magnify the quality of gratitude in my life. On the blog, I started by doing some simple gratitude lists, but that practice felt a little hollow, so I'm going with something new: occasional posts that pay tribute to some small things I'm grateful for. They might be silly, superficial, meaningful, etc. The idea isn't to find the most extraordinary blessings in the world, but rather to work on noticing all the little goodnesses around me.

Today: blue fingernails. I painted them yesterday whilst laying sick on the couch.