Maddy

Search results for: “little things”

  • little things, april 2021

    little things, april 2021

    I. blooming flowers and a friend, reminding me: you have to start somewhere. not all things are beautiful when they first begin. II. a morning walk on a summer dayin northern californiawhich means I am wearing two jackets and a hatbut you can hear the rising sun saying to the world “watch out for me…

  • Little Things / March 2021

    Little Things / March 2021

    1. In a brief moment of culinary inspiration last weekend I decided I wanted to bake some scones. I’d just had my morning coffee – so the possibilities for my day were seemingly endless and I dreamt my biggest, most wild dreams – and seen an inspiring photo of local produce from Berkeley Bowl. “What…

  • The Joy Lab

    The Joy Lab

    Inspiration from my Target sweatpants.

  • “Why do I have so many thoughts, they are driving me crazy.”

    “Why do I have so many thoughts, they are driving me crazy.”

    The latest in my series of “Little Things.” 1. I’m going to start this list with a big little thing (both physically and metaphorically) … WHALES! The most success I’ve had seeing whales was two years ago off the coast of Mendocino, and since then I’ve tried multiple times in various places but to no…

  • The Best Part of My Day

    The Best Part of My Day

    I drew this cartoon (does it count as a cartoon? Not sure what the definition is there) quickly on the train as I was commuting from San Francisco to Palo Alto, and after finishing it I smushed it into my backpack, hence the “crumpled” effect of the paper (it’s an artistic technique). I titled it…

  • The Point of Life: An Extremely Non-Exhaustive List

    The Point of Life: An Extremely Non-Exhaustive List

    Here’s what I came up with at 6:30am this morning  while enjoying a delicious pastry (pictured) at Neighborhood Bakeshop: The reason I say “extremely non-exhaustive” is because this is actually just a list of things that happened to me this morning. But, at the end of the day, these little things are the point of…

  • Bernard the Bear

    Bernard the Bear

    Bears are made of the same dust as we, and they breathe the same winds and drink of the same waters. A bear’s days are warmed by the same sun, his dwellings are overdomed by the same blue sky, and his life turns and ebbs with heart pulsing like ours. He was poured from the…

  • Important Things, Like Love and Flowers

    Important Things, Like Love and Flowers

    Wow, it’s been a while! Sorry for keeping you all on the edge of your seats waiting for new #content. Just kidding, I know no one actually reads this crap. I have been doing lots of writing, however, but primarily in my various journals and diaries (not to mention random scraps of paper and Post-It…

  • Progress, not perfection.

    Progress, not perfection.

    Leslie got me a lil paint set from CVS and it’s been bringing me so much joy this week. It may have been designed for kids but that means it’s full of bright colors and doesn’t stain my clothes or the furniture when I make a mess! It’s also kind of crazy how a week of…

  • The Best Books I Read in 2022

    The Best Books I Read in 2022

    Last year I wrote a list of The Best Books I Read in 2021. I also shared my aspiration to move away from using Goodreads to track and share my reading but unfortunately the network effect made that difficult … so here’s My Goodreads Year in Books. Without further ado: Maddy’s 10 “Best Reads” of…

  • Having My Cake…and Being Stressed Out, Too?

    Having My Cake…and Being Stressed Out, Too?

    I feel sad, angry, and helpless about so much: fires blazing across Northern California, coronavirus raging on, friends who are going through tough times, ongoing fights for black lives… I sit at my kitchen table each day and try to focus on work but it feels increasingly trivial. I take meetings in between reading articles…

  • Morro Bay

    Morro Bay

    For how much exploring I’ve done in California, so little of it has been south of Monterey. I’ve visited some of the “heavy hitters,” if you will – Joshua Tree, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Sequoia National Forest – but my tendency is to drive north of the Bay especially for shorter weekend trips. As a…

  • Nowhere to Be

    Nowhere to Be

    Nowhere to Be (a “poem” I wrote typed on my phone while on a walk) What a privilege it is to have nowhere to bethis morning, outdoors, with the cold wind on my face.I pass the construction workers on the main street nearbyas the sun risesand I yell “good morning” and they yell “good morning”…

  • Accidental Ode to San Francisco

    Accidental Ode to San Francisco

    I love the elm trees on Folsom Street, and the way their leaves turn a fluorescent green as they capture the early morning light. The other day I hiked up Bernal Heights with a friend and, until she pointed them out, I had never thought to look at those trees from above: One of my…

  • The High Life

    The High Life

    At exactly 4:07pm on Wednesday, April 8 – four days ahead of schedule – I achieved “To-Do List Zero.”(That’s my version of “Inbox Zero” but, instead of an email inbox, refers to the weekly to-do list I write each Sunday that details everything I want to accomplish that week, both work-related and personal.) I had…