Another "wow" from Jamaica.

"The tattoo fern leaves a very dramatic spore print."

Some friends of mine are serving in the Peace Corps in Jamaica. In these times of the feeling of the shrinking of the globe, it is nice to reminded of our global biodiversity and amazed:

From their description, "The cannonball flower. Apparently when the fruit falls to the ground it explodes with a loud report."

1. Baby Fawn P1010211, 2. coffee and chocolate mousse cake, 3. Portal to Big Sur, 4. Meeting the pregnant princess of the forest, 5. Sendhil Ramamurthy Autograph, 6. WIRED, 7. Aerial map, London - 5-2, 8. chocolate raspberry moouse, 9. humble hearts, joyful hearts, 10. Zenna at 18 hours.jpg, 11. Fly me to the Mooooon..., 12. Fawn over this fern


So, here's the mosaic meme:

01. Answer each of the questions using the [Flickr] search engine.
02. Choose a photo from the first three pages.
03. Copy the URL of your favorite photos [here].
04. Then share with the world.

Here are the questions / my answers:
01. First Name: Fawn
02. Favourite Food: Chocolate
03. Hometown: Monterey, CA (I have many hometowns....)
04. Favourite Colour: Green
05. Celebrity Crush: Sendhil Ramamurthy
06. Favourite Drink: Coffee, how I love thee.
07. Dream Holiday: London, but anywhere, really. Vacations are just good, as Eve says.
08. Favourite Dessert: Chocolate Mousse
09. What I Want To Be When I Grow Up: Humble
10. What I Love Most In The World: Zenna
11. One Word That Describes Me: Mom. It is hard to pick one word, but that one is front and center right now.
12. My LiveJournal (& WordPress) Name: Fawnapril

President Obama!
















photo from: http://yeswecanhas.com/2008/11/03/hope-i-has-it/

You Should Be Allowed to Vote

You got 15/15 questions correct. Generally speaking, you're very well informed. If you vote this election, you'll know exactly who (and what) you'll be voting for. You're likely to have strong opinions, and you have the facts to back them up.

The following items may count as your "one" carry-on bag and may exceed the carry-on dimensions as long as they can be safely accommodated in a proper stowage compartment in the cabin of the aircraft.

* Art/Advertising portfolios
* Paintings
* Delicate scientific equipment
* Fishing poles
* Human organs (emphasis added)

Can anyone explain to me why one-month-old babies need pockets?

That is all.

Today Zenna is exactly one month old! We celebrated by going to Mama / Baby Yoga for the first time and meeting Papa for lunch at Cubespace, where he works.

Sam and I agree--the first month went by very quickly. I can't believe she is a month old already! So many other parents have told us that they can't remember their little ones being that tiny, but I can't imagine not remembering since it seems so intense right now.

I am really looking forward to the next few months as her personality starts to come out more and more...Welcome to the world Zenna Grace!

I am not sure what we are laughing at–maybe M.’s comment that Sam needs to get a wife with a microwave (context is everything!)

It was a very fun, LONG, week. We went to one shower (thanks Reed!), three birthday parties, one doctor’s appointment and had the lovely Aunties Even and J.L. visiting us for the week.

I feel lucky that Zenna is so beloved by so many. We are one lucky family! (And a family that is staying home and resting today!)

Cross posted at: http://zenna.livingston-gray.com/

Thanks to tiggrrl, Zenna now has a Zenna livejournal feed, so you can get your baby news from our household delivered directly to your friends page, should you so desire.

Cross posted at the Z-files: http://zenna.livingston-gray.com/

This morning we made a concerted effort to get out of the house before it got too insanely hot. We did make it out before noon and Mount Tabor was lovely, if a bit crazy today due the annual Soap Box Derby. We steered clear of the actual race, but got to see some great soap boxes as they headed up the hill–a picnic bench, a disco floor and some very whimsical designs.

Most of the time, Zenna was sacked out in the Moby sling (a great fashion accessory to his Utilikilt we both thought), but I think she enjoyed a wee bit of nature nonetheless. I know I did! We finished off the morning with an amazing breakfast at the Arleta Library Cafe. We’ve gone mostly back to being pescatarian, but I couldn’t resist the, “Portland’s Best Biscuits and Gravy.” (Breastfeeding really takes it out of you and I hadn’t had a morning snack.) Since I’ve been vegetarian or mostly vegetarian all my adult life, I haven’t had biscuits and gravy very often. Oh. my. god. I see why people order this dish, especially really good versions of it, despite it being basically a heart attack waiting to happen.

Later, I had a lovely nap while papa and Zenna played….yea Saturdays!

My cousin Helen wrote an excellent blog post entitled, "McCain’s refusal to incorporate new information into his brain" in which she linked to this video. I don't have time for the recap (or maybe I'll re-post later), but in the meantime, if you are like me and don't watch the news on TV, you may find the video very informative. I thought foreign policy was McCain's area of expertise?

All I have to say, for now, is "Go Obama!"

(Note: I am cross-posting this here and at the new Zenna Grace Blog, the Z files.)

Apparently I slept through a breastfeeding the other night. I have no memory of this, but Sam says I was snoring and I was particularly tired that night, so I can buy it. Zenna and I must be getting better at this breastfeeding thing. Go team Livingston-Gray!

We're absolutely thrilled to be able to announce a 50% increase in
headcount at Chez Livingston-Gray!

Vital stats: Zenna Grace Livingston-Gray was born on Sunday, August 3
at 12:56pm in Portland, Oregon. Her birth weight was 7 pounds 4
ounces, and she's 20.5 inches long. Zenna has a full head of
beautiful long brown hair, dark blue eyes, and very long fingers and
toes. While surreal, the birth was a magical experience and Fawn felt
the happiest she'd ever felt in her whole life. Those feelings
continue for both of us.

There can't possibly be enough photos of her--but there is a good start on Flickr. (Click the photo for more unbearable cuteness.)

My cousin Helen wrote an excellent blog post entitled, "McCain’s refusal to incorporate new information into his brain" in which she linked to this video. I don't have time for the recap (or maybe I'll re-post later), but in the meantime, if you are like me and don't watch the news on TV, you may find the video very informative. I thought foreign policy was McCain's area of expertise?

As kaphine noted, there is a baby in there! This photo was taken by the lovely elder Lazars (or at least one of them) when we went to Seattle 2 weeks ago. We saw an amazing show entitled. "Cirque de la Symphonie", at which circus arts performers (jugglers, contortionists, Spanish web artists, etc.) performed in concert with the symphony. It was fabulous, but the most amazing thing was that every time the music started, Kermit danced around in my belly throughout the whole song.

I'd had never been to the symphony before, but I guess I better get used to it as baby loves symphony!

pnsm and I were talking about when the baby might come. As of Sunday, Kermit will be considered "full term." This means that if the baby arrives now, her lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though our due date is still three weeks away--which means the hospital won't try to stop labor if it starts.

So, any day now could be the day! (Though late August is MUCH more likely, statistically speaking, as most first babies come after their "due date.")

pnsm and I had been thinking good thoughts for August 10th--it seemed a good day. But then pnsm pointed out that if she came on August 8th, she would be born on 8/8/08--which would just be fun and SO easy to remember.

Go August 8th!

So, I signed up for a discussion group through Hands on Portland about the book Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol. We are meeting next week and there is still space if you'd like to join the discussion. The Hands on Portland page has more information or ( clicky, clicky here.  )

"Hi Fawn,

Horray! I am pleased to announce that your order has been processed and is now complete.

The following 1 DVD shipped today:
1 copy of Tent Cities Toolkit

Please rest assured that we've taken great care in the shipping of your DVD.

We hold true to an ancient DVD shipping tradition passed down for over 5000 years. This very intensive practice is only achieved after years of training, meditation, purity of mind, and deep breathing exercises.

After a rigorous 17 step process of verifying the authenticity of your DVD, we donned silk gloves and placed it into a sacred box made of magic and lined with Unicorn fur, tied the box with a strand of Gypsy hair, and wrapped the whole thing in a snazzy looking faux gold leaf paper, with elm leaf inlay from Costco. Unfortunately, by the time it gets to you, all of that fancy stuff will likely have been picked clean by the greedy postal service employees. Please don't be surprised to see just a plain cardboard box.

We hope you enjoy your film and that you'll visit Film Baby again soon to browse all the great independently created entertainment!

Jamie Chvotkin, President
Film Baby"

...the conductor was hilarious. Here's just one quote:

"In about three minutes we'll be making our stop in... Tacoma (deep dramatic breath) ... the City ... of Destiny!"

He wasn't kidding: www.cityofdestiny.com