Most Alive Monday

Fortitude and Fiffer Feffer Feffs....
Last week, before we left, we built a fort in the living room and read, "Wolf" by Sara Fanelli and Dr. Seuss' "ABC book".


The "vegetarian feast for my peeps" on Saturday was a smash hit! Here are some highlights:

• A beautiful sunny day surrounded by shiny happy people whom I love and good eats.
• Two of my friends brought very symbolic treats...Holly & Charlie brought cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery (the best cupcake EH-VA!) and Diane brought Tate's chocolate chip cookies from the Hamptons (my most favorite cookie in the world).
• My oldest friend, Nancy & her tribe brought Satch a stack of wonderful books, including "Owl Moon" that was on his wish list.
• Baby Sanai graced us with her radiant presence. I held her and basked in her light while her parents ate their food.
• My friend Renee and family came with a giant platter of yummy fruit and her delightful children happily experimented with a new toy that I'm reviewing. More on this later!
• My munchkin friend Jenny, who is no longer a munchkin but a teenager, stopped by wearing a necklace that she made herself! (She was joined by her mom & mom's fiancé...and brownies!)
• Josette and Nor popped in with little Mila and brought Satch some awesome Ella Jenkins recordings!
• My mom made her famous cookies and flitted about on the outskirts despite my pleas to join us...so I made a joke of it and told everyone that I locked my mother in the house.
• I only scorched 4 veggie burgers on my mom's gorgeous grill. My Asian slaw, roasted new potatoes and salsa were BIG hits!

Sunday, we visited my aunt and her daughters whom I love so very much. Cackie presented me with a box of goodies she uncovered from grandparents basement. I'm still a bit overwhelmed by this gesture which included my grandmother's Kitchen Aid mixer; vintage buttons, my grandfather's old railroad lantern (he was a conductor on the Long Island Railroad); some amazing artifacts that once belonged to my late father; and two vintage polaroid cameras that produce this and this! There was also a bag of gifts for Satch from Cackie J (since childhood I've called the two Carol's in my life "Cackie") and Rebecca...this excellent book and this excellent book, this sweet little mouse finger puppet and this cool contraption! I was so blown away by it all that I left Satchel's beloved digger behind, so my aunt drove to the restaurant where we were having lunch to drop it off so Satch wouldn't freak out.

(sigh) beauty all around...

*I've decided to make at least one "most alive choice" each day and post my favorite each Monday. This, of course, is to motivate me to consciously "live juicy"! I hope you'll join me and share your "most alive choice" in the comments section.