things you are proud of

1. my credit score
2. fritter has the softest fur coat of any cat ever, just like a rabbit
3. learning lessons
4. becoming vegetarian and not looking back
5. being a good mom
6. marrying mike
7. growing up into a better, more fun person
8. my kids’ creativity
9. anyone who can knit more than a scarf
10. when my high school vice principal-mr. z sent me a letter my freshman year of college saying how proud he was of me…(we spent a lot of time together)
11. my assertiveness
12. my mom got her master’s degree at 56!
13. my three and a half friends
14. learning to love beans
15. i won the school spelling bee in 5th grade, over all the 6th graders
16. keeping in touch
17. jumping off a chairlift at sugarloaf
18. learning to let go
19. my family
20. all of my disgustingly talented friends
21. my neat handwriting
22. the seagull imitation i do at summer barbecues
23. my family’s commitment to making the world a better place
24. surviving love
25. my vegan chocolate cupcakes are internationally famous
26. being a mom
27. my creativity
28. my husband overcoming paralysis
29. graduating from uconn
30. i can make something delicious out of near-empty refrigerators and pantries
31. making a living as non-wedding photographer
32. surfing in maui
33. being proactive and having it pay off
34. remembering my twin brothers birthday :)
35. being an avid cook
36. i have moments of great patience
37. my book collection
38. those few things i do well
39. almost every one of my above-the-fold cover publications
40. never asking my parents for money after college (not that they would’ve given it to me anyway)
41. my ability to connect with people
42. i’m a damn good editor
43. my husband
44. the day i quit my job at northeast test consultants (crooks) without a new one, poverty!
45. my photography learning trajectory
46. second chances
47. my kids’ ability to connect with people
48. the cappuccino foam i so masterfully craft for unappreciative customers
49. being alive
50. learning to be myself and comfortable in my own skin
51. my sisters, brother and father
52. chasing down thieves in a car while riding my bike and then lecturing them
53. helping friends and strangers – poor, sick, cranky, etc
54. the day (two weeks before i quit ntc) when i told my boss i wouldn’t falsify a client’s report (crooks and liars)
55. following through on resolutions
56. my sister, all the time, even when she fails
57. having quit my corporate job
58. how amazingly far parker has come in a short 7 months
59. being a pisces
60. my family, for being so talented and caring, even if they are all nuts
61. an a+ on my 6th grade science project on anorexia & bulimia
62. my studio
63. that i can tap my head and rub my belly simultaneously
64. catching the first striped bass of the year, out of all my friends-nantucket, summer 1996
65. the length of time i can stand on one foot
66. the day i reported a sick, perverted man of sexual harassment
67. my new york times publications

list by: ben, becky, hanna, jennie, karrie, maggie, marcia, megan and mom
photo by jennie

things to love about valentine's day

1. hallmark love slogans
2. girly glitter on everything
3. smiling the entire day just because your facial muscles will not do anything else.
4. the anonymous portland hearts
5. thinking of fun things to make my husband from my daughter
6. “will you be my valentine?”
7. my dad always sends me flowers
8. an excuse to go out to dinner on a week night
9. heart shaped cookies with frosting and sprinkles
10. turning it into valentine’s week
11. love is in the air!
12. leaving secret chocolates for your fellow cube farmers
13. if you’re single you get to bitch about how stupid the holiday is and if you’re with someone (finally) you get to realize how stupid the holiday is in relation to the rest of the time you spend with your love
14. goosebumps
15. people dressed in black (hysterical)
16. candy, especially those cinnamon hearts
17. unexpected, really, really generous gifts from family members
18. being in love
19. champagne/wine with cheese/chocolate decadence
20. blankets
21. not wearing red on the day just to be ornery
22. that there’s a day devoted to love, even if it’s commercialized
23. handmade valentines especially when they’re from little kids
24. sugar sugar sugar
25. all the chocolate you can stand
26. the beauty in simplicity and lack of grandeuor... good earth restaurant, froyo, and funny face
27. ribbons
28. (i’m not a bitter person at all, but) it’s kind of fun to be bitter about valentine’s day
29. surprises and thoughtfulness
30. gettin’ some carnal knowledge later that night
31. giving chocolates to waitresses, checkout clerks, etc...the people who least expect it
32. constant spooning
33. presents!
34. the hope that maybe, just once, this year jon will do something romantic. that hope doesn’t usually last long
35. the carnations we used to buy each other in high school
36. hugs and kisses
37. the rush i would get from writing “love becky” instead of “from becky” on the cards that i put into jason and kirk’s box in grade school
38. nougat
39. kids exchanging valentines (i hope they still do… please don’t ever tell me they don’t)
40. unconventional gifts
41. candy and flowers
42. love, love, love
43. pink! purple! red!
44. planning what to wear out on a v-day date
45. being totally sappy about how much you love them to your friends who really hate valentine’s day
46. making delicious heart-shaped chocolatey things
47. you have an excuse to get really dolled up and girly and pink, even when you’re just making a trip to whole foods and not going out until way later...and you’re not even going anywhere fancy
48. handmade cards from my niece and nephew
49. the 20 or so dollars my grandmother sticks in with our cards
50. cupid’s butt
51. slave labor diamond trades
52. it only comes once a year
53. the bamboo plant my husband gave me, when he was my boyfriend, for the our 1st valentine’s day
54. being excited about love when it hasn’t been this exciting in years
55. the fact that it’s not just about romantic love, but ALL the love in your life
56. permission to draw hearts on everything
57. half price chocolate the next day
58. red tulips
59. it’s a day that involves chocolate and cupcakes and sweet things in the middle of february... the dreariest month ever
60. blushing smiles
61. having a sweet, romantic, homemade meal with your main squeeze including candles and brunello and some freaking amazing dessert that you share
62. thinking back on dating people who "didn't believe in valentine's day" and realizing what jerks they were
63. cookie decorating (food coloring, cookie cutters, sprinkles why oh why is my icing always too runny?)
64. dropping off a card at a favorite aunt’s house whose daughter is away at college and cannot be with her on v-day, and getting a great reaction
65. that 73% of men buy flowers
66. sweet tart brand candy hearts
67. telling people i love them and why
68. those little valentine’s you used to get in 3rd grade
69. being “those people” that can’t stop kissing and hugging in the middle of a major street
70. making fun valentines cards for people you love and sending them without a note so they’re not quite sure it was you
71. heart shaped boxes wrapped in cellophane filled with chocolate

list by: ashley, becky, cranky librarian, hannah, joe, jon, karrie, katie, lauren, maggie, marcia and rebecca
photo by miss bliss

things you'll never tell your parents

1. i eat ice cream for dinner more often that i will ever ever tell you
2. there is a dove tattoo on my right lower hip
3. i wish i had tried more in school so i couldve actually done something with my life
4. i went to the mall high once and it was awesome
5. i hated those girls that you wanted me to be friends with- they were mean people
6. i had an affair with hallucinogens
7. i used to binge eat the cookie dough in the outside refrigerator while i watched cartoons after school
8. how i really met my boyfriend (online dating)
9. how far in debt i am
10. i am a really good liar
11. your girlfriend doesn't have very good taste and i returned nearly all of my christmas presents this year
12. my first kiss was drunken
13. when we used to say we were bowling we were usually drinking in the bushes downtown
14. i hit someone else's parked car in the parking lot when i drove your station wagon to school during finals and just pretended that someone else hit me
15. anything related to sex
16. tj was the same person as the james
17. i stole stuff in high school
18. i heard them having sex one time
19. i really dont like anyone outside of my immediate family
20. i am a better driver than you
21. that time you called and asked if i wanted to have brunch and i said i was in the car, running to the store to buy milk - yeah, i was actually driving home from a boy's house at 10 in the morning
22. my friends and i were the ones who drank away the wall of liquor in the basement
how righteously stoned i was that day they made me go test drive a new used car with them (after i hit the guard rail)
23. i got arrested
24. i went to health class drunk almost every week
25. i didn't really go on birth control because the doctor said it would help my skin
26. that boy up the street was growing marijuana in his closet and was not a good influence even though he was pretty
27. the bizarre sexual fetish my ex has (though it would be so satisfying to tell)
28. i have performed sex acts that you think are repulsive
29. i've kissed a boy
30. i was a smoker for about 8 years
31. I want to get married and have babies right now (with my boyfriend...even though I am not technically divorced from my (ex)-husband yet. eek.)
32. i think i walked in on you having sex when i was like 8
33. when my mom knocked on my bedroom door at 3:30 in the morning when i was 18 years old and my boyfriend was in there with me.... i told her not to worry, we were just kissing. riiiiiight mom.
34. it wasn't water that i spilled on that desk chair
35. anything related to masturbation
36. i only pretended not to understand the mulva episode of seinfeld because i was embarrassed to be watching something like that with my dad
37. the age when i lost virginity
38. i look through her mail to understand her finances better
39. i have driven slightly drunk
40. i can forge your signature like nobody's business
41. i have never seen that tommy lee jones movie that you think I saw 5 times
42. i lost the ring you made in high school jewelry class but i didn't want to tell you
43. certain interracial relationships I've had- it's not worth the fighting, he's old and I want to enjoy him
44. my first huge crush was on fred post even though i told you it wasn't
45. i actually think you are really great parents even though you were so strict
46. i fault my dad for leaving two marriages
47. i drove into a snowbank the first week I had my car
48. i think you need counseling because you can be really unstable and mean
49. i was really mean to that boy in college because he deserved it
50. my neck was not sore just because i slept funny, but because i slept funny on a boy's arm
51. that cigarette burn in my car wasnt someone leaning in. it was tyler but I didnt want you to know because I liked him
52. in high school I accidentally burned down a building
53. i never sent a thank you note after i bought my car
54. the only reason I liked DMB was because I was stoned and pretending I was in the rainforest
55. when i was 19 i rammed into a guardrail on the highway with my car. it kept me from being able to open either of the doors on the driver's side of my car and caused multiple other hilarious issues. i told my parents it was because a tractor trailer came REALLY close to swerving into my lane on the highway and hitting me. but the REAL truth is that i was trying to stabilize a can of cheeseballs in between my seat and the passenger seat and i was just totally not paying attention.
56. when you asked if r. and i were platonic friends and i said yes, i was lying
57. i think i will find a great sense of relief when my mother dies
58. I skipped most of my senior year
59. I had two abortions
60. sometimes i pretend to be at work when i'm really at home pretending to be sick and i don't want you to be mad at me for taking a sick day

list by: ashley, amanda, becky, hannah, maggie, maura, rebecca, sammie and stef
photo by stefanoodle frances-face