Good News/Bad News

Good News: My sister called! I haven't spoken to her in forever.

Bad News: It was to tell me that my mom is in the hospital. This is just days after my dad got out of the very same hospital.

Keep us in your thoughts.

The Tree of Happiness

The fabulous Ginger at Two free Boys plus 3 has given me this Tree of Happiness Award. This award gives you the opportunity to list 6 things that make you happy and then choose 6 friends to tag. I'm going to skip the obvious answers of friends, family, James and bacon and make this a special edition.

6 Happy Ways I Kicked February's Ass

1. Yoga. Despite my initial protests, I am really loving this weekly respite from both the hustle of daily life and the funk that is February. And the fact that I have to quiet my internal grumbling over some of the more physically challenging poses is probably good for me.


2. Walking. I love NEED my daily walk-with or without the dog, with or without the sun. We've got a beautiful path that goes through a lovely patch of wetlands and it's practically right outside my door. My commitment to a daily walk has made all the difference in keeping SAD away this year.



3. Music on the iPod. Music is an essential part of the walking process for me. In additon to James (of course) I've been marching along to the Killers, Coldplay, the Shins, and any number of Furrowed Brow Smile mixes. It sets the beat and totally lifts my mood.


4. Oxygen. That incredible stuff that flows in and out of our bodies, usually without notice. All the walking and the yoga makes a good breath of O2 the stuff of the gods.



5. Sunshine. I'll admit it, I'm a sunshine junkie. You would think that I wouldn't get enough living here in the PNW, but that's a fallacy. I just have to pay attention and get out while the sun shines. It's there almost every day without fail. Sometimes between the raindrops. I think the challenge adds to my enjoyment.


6. Work. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go. I'm as surprised to write it as you are to read it, but working gives me focus and a reason to get going. Whether it's working at the cafe or on the LIFE is Good conference, needing to "git 'er done" is good for what ails me. Plus I'm lucky enough to love what I do. I stay in contact with people and purpose and life. Bonus!



I will tag Qacei, Kim, Diana, Renee, Kat and Ren with absolutely no requirement that they respond.

And now for something completely different

He always makes me smile, but this photo I found of Jon Stewart is just like icing on the birthday cake of life. It's good to smile.

Comment o' the day

In response to my last Friday Fill-In (which I considered a pretty innocuous post) where I said:

2. Bus your table when you're done, please?

I received the following comment today:

Anonymous said...

It's your restaurant. YOU bus the table. Perhaps if the staff seemed like they actually wanted customers, or at least that customers weren't ruining the day, I'd be more inclined to bus my table.

That's okay. Broken Yolk is ten times better anyway.

Well okay then Mr./Ms. Anonymous. Do you mind if I call you Anon?

So, Anon, I'm a little confused as to why you would bother reading, let alone commenting here. I mean, this isn't an official Sunnyside Up blog. It's my own personal space. You'd have to know about it to find it. And why are you eating at my cafe if there's a place that you think is 10 times better right across the street? Oh dear, that seems like a lot of effort to put into someone and someplace you obviously don't care for. Is this personal? Perhaps you are trying to hurt my feelings? My business? My blog?


To each his own as they say. I wish you well on your journey. Thanks for stopping by.

Tales from the Cafe

Recipe for Disaster (cafe style):

Ingredients
1 moms group
1 gaggle of excited, happy toddlers
1 cheery cafe with many toys and abundant room to run
1 hard wooden chair

Directions
1. Place moms group in cafe.
2. Add in happy toddlers.
2. Mix well.
3. Bring the excitement to a boil.
4. Sprinkle with one little guy running happily around the room.
5. Toss in 1 head-on collision with hard chair.

OUCH!

6. Help mom handle the profuse bleeding from her sweet little toddler's head.
7. Offer phone to call doctor.
8. Offer cookie to toddler.
9. Wipe up blood stains from cafe.
10. Sigh and wonder what Tuesday may bring.

It doesn't get any better than this

Available at the local Goodwill, polygamy turned on its head.

One mom, three dads...

...singing (oh yeah) That Naughty Waltz.
I'll bet they've got something naughty on under those pink vests.

Which I'm sure Mom picked out.

I wonder who does the housework?

Does anyone have a spare $1,200?

Because seriously, wouldn't this be the coolest thing EVER to have sitting around as a regular at Sunnyside Up?

Thanks to Linda for finding this guy.

Tales from the Cafe

Avast me hearties!

It wasn't the official Talk Like a Pirate Day, but pirates don't follow the rules now do they? So these wenches and bilge rats donned their best pirate gear to serve the grog and grub at Sunnyside Up yesterday.

Arrr! See what a little freedom and creativity will get ye mateys?

Never let it be said that our vittles aren't made with a sense of humor.

AHOY!

Slaying the February Funk

Help! I'm being held captive in the lair of the February Funk and it shows no signs of letting me go.


Maybe I should be picking up one of those swords lying (laying?) conveniently at my feet.

Damn. Now my bacon is too crispy.

Any ideas for getting out from under? Me and the kids (The kids and I?) need a jump start.

Zen&M

So what are you doing for Valentine's Day?
I'm making myself into an M&M!
But I gotta ask, does this shell make my butt look big?
Click on the M&M ad to the left and candy coat yourself. If the ad's not there, try here.

I knew those ads were good for something.

Friday Fill-Ins

1. It seems like the same damn demons keep rearing their ugly little heads. WTF?

2. Bus your table when you're done, please?

3. If I thought you would like it I'd burn you a James CD!

4. How are you doing?, is what I think of most when I think of you.

5. To me, Valentine's Day means a greeting card holiday.

6. Knowing I'm not alone gives me strength.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a shower, tomorrow my plans include going to see our friend, Jenna Summer Smith, in concert and Sunday, I want to go for a long walk!

Did someone say kittens?

Kittens inspired by kittens. And all about kittens. Because, you know, kittens. Did I mention...kittens?!

As seen on BoingBoing.

Seems simple enough

Tales from the Cafe

As you may or may not know, Sunnyside Up hosts the artwork of a different artist each month. Our walls are usually filled with color, texture, abstract expressionism and whimsy. I say usually, because unfortunately, this month our scheduled artist flaked out on us was unable to show her work as planned.

What to do?

Well you know the old saying, "When life gives you lemons, grab some tequila and salt and throw a party." So rather than leave the walls blank, we turned to that little known and certainly underappreciated group of artists, The Virtual Art Collective, and invited them to show their masterpiece of form and function...

The Emperor's New Art Show

Please enjoy the beauty of each piece as it rotates through the above frame while you read the delightfully detailed descriptions that follow. If only all art could be this accessible, this pure, this virtual.



Art descriptions provided by Jon Gold in an afternoon of boredom and exasperation.

And many more...

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy birthday dear Qacei

Happy Birthday to you!

love, Mom

Photos 1, 2 &4 are Qacei self-portraits, photo 3 by Neebin

Comment o' the day

dharmamama said...Did you hear James on "How I Met Your Mother" Monday night? They closed the show & did closing credits with "Under the Waterfall" playing. I was SCREAMING! It was so cool.

zenmomma sez...I didn't see it but that's all the way cool! And on Tim Booth's birthday even. (Which I only know because a friend just told me. I'm not a stalker. Really. Stop shaking your head like that. Moving on.)

ahem...Happy Birthday Tim!

Hey I know, let's all buy a James CD in honor of Tim's birthday! That way the record company will see a spike in sales and they'll fund another US tour.



A gal can dream...

Hello Bossy's Readers!

Welcome to Fantasy Island Zenmomma's Garden.
Don't forget the bacon.

Thanks for the link, Bossy!

Tales from the Cafe

Sometimes I really do love going to work in the morning. We've had two helpings of sweet with a side order of awesome at the cafe recently.

Sweet number one was a random act of kindness that it was my privilege to deliver. A young man came in and gave me an extra $4 with his order. He told me to give it to the next person that came in and left them a note to say "Buy a little something extra for yourself and have a beautiful day." The recipient was SO touched that it made my day just to witness the moment. I'm inspired to start sprinkling my own random acts into the Universe. How about you?

Then we found this note on one of the tables. It reads

"You're an amazing,
beautiful person,
spread your beauty
throughout your day.
Go in peace and love."

Thank you so much to whomever left this sweet little sentiment. I will do my best to share it with the world.

And as a side order of AWESOME, the President's brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, dined at my cafe this weekend. (I heard about it after the fact, but still...cool.) He's the head men's basketball coach at Oregon State University, which is conveniently located around the block and up the street from Sunnyside Up. Kind of awesome.

My Cup Runneth Over

It's been an enchanted birthday week filled with all good things. My family took great care of me and helped celebrate the day of my birth with a lovely dinner filled with love, laughter and yummy vegetarian food from Nearly Normal's, Sunnyside Up's tasty competition. (It's so nice to have a place we can go when we need a night out.) Then on Friday night the gang came out and we partied like rock stars.

That is, of course, if rock stars like to party with pizza and beer amongst a throng of screaming, giggling, laughing, running, spinning dancing kids.

Hail, hail the gang's all here.

Gotta have pretty girls in party dresses reenacting the Running of the Bulls at Pamplona.

There was cake!

And a line just waiting for the pieces of cake with the flower, because everyone knows the flower pieces are the best.

There were gifts(!) and helpful girlies to open them for me.

I love my helpful girlies.

I LOVED all of my gifts but this one deserves special mention on the blog. An Eggs and Bacon Wind Chime, how perfect is that?! It was handmade by my friend Mark and is available with his other amazing creations on his Etsy site, Azure Fire.

By the way, did you notice the birthday header up there? That's me in the photo, circa 1968 or so. Still rockin' the super straight hair.