"Hourglass"

I got shivers a few weeks ago. The boys and I (minus Brooks) went down to Provo for the release concert of my sister's latest album "Anchor" held at the Covey Performing Arts Center on Center St. The lights went down and the curtain came up to a backdrop of red umbrellas and twinkle lights hung from the ceiling amidst foamy gauze. Then Mindy started to sing and that's when I got the shivers.

The thing about Mindy is that she is everything I'm not. Looking at her is like seeing into a younger, backward mirror: she's soft, born with a gift for expression, lovely beyond words, full of grace and natural style, deliberate, yet very down-to-earth and non-assuming. I love all these things about her and wonder what life is like looking through her lens?

Mindy is seated on my mom's lap, I'm standing second from the left.

Mindy is the eighth of nine children, six or seven years younger than me. Our parents were big on music lessons for all their daughters. We grew up with voice and instrument lessons - mostly piano - and used to sing a lot together, especially at church and family functions. But as the rest of us got older, other interests diverted our attention. Mindy and my youngest sister, Lindsey, were the only ones who took music past childhood and into college. I love that Mindy, though she didn't make it through try-outs for choral groups in high school and college, persisted in singing for the sheer love of it. I love that she believes in herself and in the power of music so much that "Anchor" is her third album release, meeting with as much acclaim and success (if not, more) as the first two.

Recently she was contacted by Michelle Phan who is a popular make-up artist on YouTube. Michelle wanted to use some of Mindy's songs in her videos so Mindy produced a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixbL8PLitpw) at the last minute for one of them, "Hourglass", as a link. Incidentally, she wrote the songs for her two boys, similar in age to Brahm and Oliver. My personal favorite is the title song from her new album. I love both the song and the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AWRHBHDVlQ.

It's the combination of lyrics like this and her melodic, dreamy voice that give me the goosebumps. I'm not the only one, either. An hour ago as I was watching the "Hourglass" video Oliver came in and sat on my lap to watch it with me.

"Mom, I like Mindy's voice," he says out of the blue.

"Me, too, little man. Me, too."

Random

Here is the link to the eBay listing of the tie-dye tees:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190458486374&var=&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

I took Brahm to an activity a couple weeks ago and while I was waiting for him, Oliver and I took a trip to the vending machines. I dug around in my purse for what seemed like forever but could not find any cash. "Well, Oliver," I said, finally giving up, "looks like we're out of luck." No sooner had the words come out of my mouth than a man walked up, handed me a dollar bill, smiled, and left through an adjacent door.

Sneak Peek

Making these one-of-a-kind tie-dye spooky tees has now become a yearly tradition. It started a few years ago when my friend Emily and I were brainstorming what we could donate to the craft sale at community garden's annual pumpkin festival. We came up with with a few standard tie-dye tees in the beginning and since then it has morphed into this.

The tees below are what came back this year after the festival ended. I'm posting them on my blog as a sneak peek before I put them up for sale on eBay this week (I will also post the eBay links). 100% of the proceeds go to the Wasatch Community Garden's Historic Sandy garden. Click here for more info on the garden and to see a fabu pic of the pumpkin patch in Spring 2009: http://wasatchgardens.org/garden/community-gardening. Each tee is one-of-a-kind and made from sturdy 100% cotton (not the flimsy Hanes under-shirt kind). They also come with washing and garment care instructions, of course.

Size: 2-4

Size 2-4

Size 2-4

Size 6-8

Size 4/5

Size 2T

Size 2-4

Size 2-4

Size 24M