Shoes, Bears, Flowers and other things caught on my iPhone

It's back to the grind, and, well, to the surprise of no one, not working is quite a bit more fun than working. It just doesn't pay as well.

But in order to make the first day back a bit more palatable, I had a whole first day outfit planned: the dark grey dress I wore on Christmas Eve (bought at TJ Maxx on my first trip there in months when my mom visited; when the two of us get together, it's like we're compelled to visit any discount store in a certain mile radius, even when I have a deadline that keeps me working until 4:30 a.m. that same night), a beautiful dark red pashmina scarf my grandparents bought me in China 10 years ago, and my new ruby red slippers (the gorgeous 3.5" heels JP bought me for Christmas). I have never received so many compliments on a pair of shoes. And to think- he picked them out ALL BY HIMSELF, with absolutely no hinting or suggestions from me. He just remembered hearing me say I wanted a pair of dark red shoes. So he found me some. I love them.

I also love how Claire adopted her own supermodel stance in front of the mirror in the picture on the left. Really, at 19 months old, pretty much everything Claire does is my favorite thing that Claire does. She's so freaking fun and fabulous right now.

So is Landon. He just doesn't let me take pictures of him as often. But 4.5 is pretty awesome too- he's such a KID. He has such an imagination and loves school and his friends and playing outside (JP fears that, like him, Landon's favorite subject in school is going to be recess). He still adores Claire and is at times appears more invested in her happiness than JP or me (not because we don't want her to be happy, we're just immune to the false flood of tears that follows when a tired Bear is denied the object of her affection; Landon has no such limits).

(Pictured with his beloved fighter jet and "craft carrier" from Christmas. He loves them almost as much as I love my ruby red slippers, which I love almost as much as my rainbow shoes. There's a hierarchy).

In other shoe news (see these pics are totally all related), I cleaned out my closet. Goodwill made out pretty well with 23 new pairs of rarely worn shoes. I'm simplifying to the classics and divesting myself of my more unique and/or dressy options. Sad, but I feel lighter already- streamlining is also going to be a theme of 2012. Streamlining and adventure. It's going to be a good year.

Claire helped, of course. She's my little shoe nut- she always has to have something on her feet and she usually puts on other people's shoes over her own shoes and tries to wear them around the house. Her favorite is to stuff her sneakered feet into Landon's crocs. She'll walk around and play like that for hours.

On Saturday I caught her secretly caring for her baby behind the couch (the baby she generally throws on the floor in lieu of pushing her stroller around the house like she's in a drag race). She fed it a bottle and then looked genuinely distressed when the baby cried (it cries when you take the bottle away). Immediately after this picture she discarded the baby and zoomed off with the stroller again. Babies are too much hassle and the Bear cannot be weighed down with such responsibility.

And finally, in closing, because the Daily Show Iowa caucus coverage is both distracting and hilarious (I love the mocking of the CNN graphics; I watched CNN for 4 of the 5 hours of the Iowa coverage (parenthetical to the parenthetical- I LOVE election coverage) and I knew that was going to be in a daily show clip), behold my office orchid after my long absence from work. Apparently, it was my very presence that kept it from blooming for the last few months. I leave and BAM- a million beautiful flowers burst forth.

Happy January to you all.