while i'm sharing...

this is more for those of you not in minneapolis, but...
this is ben. we're in love.
now you know. :)

Fisherwoman Extraordinaire!

I haven't been fishing in years and years and years... Until a few weeks ago when Scooter (my favorite brother-in-law), Doug, and I decided to go and instill the fear of God into the poor little fishies of southwest Minnesota.

Who knew fishing was fun?




Couldn't resist...LOOK AT THOSE BOYS!!! How proud am I?!

in case you'd like a visual...

I mention Lex a bunch...mainly because he cracks me up daily and is my favorite. I may not mention how beautiful this little boy is because the whole baby genius topic tends to take over. So here are my favorite Lex pics!

Wanna know what a frog says? Lex'll tell you: CRRRROOOOAAAAK!!!

India, Chapter 4...tidbits...

This was at Ghandi Smriti, where Mahatma Ghandi spent the last 144 days of his life and where he was assassinated. It was a really powerful place.





The rest of it speaks for itself, I think. India sort of proclaims itself to be a rich country where a lot of poor people live and it couldn't be more accurate. There are, of course, more stories not told in this blog. Stories of Ram taking me down seven stories under ground to explore a delapidated palace or people staring wherever I went, to the point of having one man just follow me around with a tray in case I needed something in Neemrana, stories of children with open wounds knocking on our car windows asking for money and food or watching cremation ceremonies in awe, stories of inner-peace and self-reckoning... but I just don't think I can share everything. It wouldn't be right. So instead of getting pretensious and spiritual, I will just say thank you... India changed my heart. And now you know.

Namaste...Om Namah Shivaya...

India, Chapter 3...the experiences...

So, in India, they don't believe in Homosexuality and if one is open/discovered to be one, they are made into eunachs and considered bad omens. Therefore, you see all these men holding hands in the streets like they have succumbed to puppy love, yet they are married. Or you see a man like this. I've named him the Pink Peacock Pundit. He was a dancer in Neemrana who was, hands down, the gayest thing I have ever seen, god bless his queer little heart...and you all know how I love the gays and know a plethora of them. He had three moves: hip swivels, a mean shimmy, and a whirling dervish move reminiscent of a toddler spinning until they fell over. He made 7 costume changes in a 45 minute show. One of his pieces was him spinning, then going from table to table, demanding they take a picture of him...which is what you're seeing here. Oh, and his dance partner was his wife. Right. Sure it was.

I spent a day at Mother Theresa's Charity, playing with the orphans. This little boy, Joe, and I fell in love. When I had to leave him there, I have never felt such loss and sadness in my heart. I tried to figure out any possible way of taking him home with me, but I knew now was not the time. He was perfect and smiled all the time. There was an absolute connection that I cannot describe, other than to say it awakened me. I will go back one day and adopt. There are too many babies out there who are perfect and smile all the time and don't have families because of stupid things like missing fingers and bad omens. I will be a mother to one of those children one day.

Here I am washing my feet before entering the Sikh temple. Exploring all of the different religions that we as Americans know so little about was really wonderful. Sikhs get a bad wrap, but I have to say, every one that I met was kind, lovely, and eager to share. And the baby Sikhs had total street cred. Not kidding. I really loved them all.

Okay. So I go to a slum, having a great time, playing with the kids, it's all hugs and kisses. They usher me to sit on a blanket. I'm all trusting the sweet little street urchin angels not to kill me. And then all of a sudden there's a cobra around my neck and two in my lap. I've never been so close to peeing myself in my life. I loved it!

I love this story. I'm at Agra Fort here, built by Akbar the Great who was known for his fair attitudes and uniting India through all of its diversity. He even went so far as to have 3 wives (1 Hindu, 1 Muslim, 1 Christian) and 303 concubines (1 from each tribe) to show he held no religious preference. Busy man. Anyway, when someone was convicted of a crime, they would put their head on this stone for an elephant to step on, thus executing the criminal. Akbar, knowing that elephants were the only animal to think for themself, gave the criminal 3 chances. If the elephant did not kill the convicted by the third try, he was released and Akbar assumed that the convict was actually innocent and that the gods wanted him free. Interesting, huh? And yes, in this scenario, I am playing the part of the elephant.

India, Chapter 2...the sights!

See? I told you I would get it done eventually. Since this is deemed 'the Sights', what better sight to begin with than the Taj Mahal? It really is as incredible as everyone says...


Alright, here is my absolute FAVORITE India quirk. There are freakin' cows everywhere! Traffic has to stop for them. People have to move from them. Bikes have to veer around them. And no one cares. Cows are holy because a)a cow fed Krishna after his birth when his mother died and b)Shiva has a pet cow, Nandi. India believes that everyone has 4 mothers: 1. Your birth Mother 2. Mother India 3. Mother Ganga-ji (the Ganges River) 4. The cow. It's incredible. This picture was taken in Mathura, the birthplace of Krishna and seeing a city bus stop so the cow could leisurely take its time crossing the street is no obscure thing. Don't you love it?

This is Kavita Dweli, an Odissi dancer that absoutely inspired me. She was compelling, specific, and humble. An absolute gift.

Ah, Ganesha... The elephant-headed son of Shiva and Pavarti is my absolute favorite Hindu god. He is the remover of obstacles in your life and a blessing when beginning new things. I am always beginnig new things and for my first dance had to wear an elephant head. It seemed intuitive that I fall in love with Ganesh. To make a long, really magical story short, I spent many hours finding the perfect Ganesh pendant and the one you see around my neck in this pic has been blessed by many holy people and is 100% my prized possession.

exciting announcement! ...not about me...

To everyone who knows Zac Hammer or that loves dance in general, Parsons Dance Company has made an incredibly smart decision and made Zac a company member! He auditioned the week before he graduated college and went directly into this extremely prestigious modern dance company. Zac is living the artist's dream!!! If you know him or have seen him dance, this is in no way a shock to anyone. Check out the announcement of his arrival on their site:

http://www.parsonsdance.org/cms/New_Dancers_.php

All New Yorkers!!! You MUST go see his debut (and some incredible dancing that will probably blow your mind) check out their concert July 27 at SummerStages in Central Park. Please please please do it and then call me and tell me how amazing he is. :)

I could not be a prouder big sister if I tried!

india, chapter 1...

I've been home almost a month and last Thursday I got out of the shower to see that the last drops of Henna were missing from my skin. It made me panic that I had lost Mother India or that she had lost me. It's time to put my adventure out there to share. Here are a few snippets from the many...

But first, the amount of gratitude and love I have for Kate for being exactly who she is and demonstrating generousity beyond comparison time and time again towards me is the singular most humbling and overwhelming emotion I can convey to you. She has changed my life yet again. I'm sure it won't be the last time.

And now some pictures...First the people...

I met this woman in a monastary in Varanasi. Her spirit was so powerful and calm. She felt so good to be around. When I left, she put her hands on my cheeks and held my face close to hers and spoke rapid Hindi, in what felt like, prayer.

This was a birthday party we were invited to in Varanasi as well. Our tour guide Ashok (who was truly a holy man that people dropped to their knees to touch his feet as he passed, in an energy of true gratitude and adoration) brought us to his niece's 18th birthday party, where his family served us food (which is rumored to have blessed us with Delhi Belly), sang us traditional Indian folk music, and made us one of them.

One day our friend, Poonam brought us through the different castes in Delhi. Our first stop was in a slum where 2 of her domestics lived. This experience and these children could very well top the list of favorite moments in India. They were so so much fun and so curious about my white skin and light eyes. We played. And despite the absolute poverty they were all living in, everyone seemed genuinely happy. They were all so anxious to show us their homes and insisted we sit on their beds as they served us the only biscuits they had. It was in this slum that I felt my heart open up more than I knew it could.


Sunrise on the Ganges River. 5:30 am. See all those people?


These were some of the many Indians, who asked to take pictures with us. This happened a lot and I really got use to it. This happened more at the tourist places like Agra Fort, Taj Mahal, and Siddhartha Stupa, where there were people from the South that had never seen white people in real life. There was a lot of poking and staring by many, many an Indian during our time there...and I actually got use to that too and began to just smile and hold my arm out for them so they could get a better look.


More on its way...The next chapter will be 'The Sights'!

why suz and I can NEVER break-up...

Because no one will EVER think we are as funny as we think we are and why would you walk away from that? For instance, Suz and I can turn a challenging situation like a family wedding into hotness and hilarity... See before and after pictures of said-event:

We begin just fine. Lovely, in fact...


And then 8 hours later, a few drinks later, and we turn back into the scrubs we are.

And we're clearly hardcore and are not lacking in street cred...

Seriously, the best singer EVER...especially when she's singing along to Whitney.


And since this should be equal opportunity embarassment...here's me pointing and laughing at her.



All is as it should be.

a little late, but proud mama nonetheless...

It just doesn't get any better than this...



and sometimes I think my brother and I DO look similar afterall and that perhaps he and I ARE actually blood-related, even though all other facts point to the opposite...


I swear, I will get some India photos up soon... muchlove to all!