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Short and Sweet and Scattershot

BabyOregonian, Musings, Short and Sweet and Scattershot, Tidbits About Us

Mama Said: Wit + Wisdom

May 8, 2016

Last spring, my friend Tiffiney from Wild Child Travels wrote to me asking if I’d contribute to a collection of short stories about motherhood. Something distinctly *not* “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” Something candid and truthful and maybe raw with a little humor for perspective.

Of course I said yes, and then agonized over what to write.

My piece, “Spill It” (ironically submitted just a few weeks after Mother’s Day, while I was pregnant with Marion but didn’t yet know), delves into my personal story of breastfeeding difficulties with Lucie. Not something I’d probably splash across my blog…but a story to share with the right kind of audience. I’m honored to be included alongside all sorts of moms from all walks of life.

A year later, here I am with not one but *two* little girls, and the Mama Said: Wit + Wisdom for Mothers anthology is hot off the press and available for just under ten bucks.

~ Happy Mother’s Day ~Mama Said: Wit + Wisdom

Buy Now

P.S. Sweet little hours-old Lucie is pictured on the front cover, and more pictures of us are peppered through the pages of Mama Said. This reminds me (well, not that I forgot, just that I haven’t had time yet), that I hope soon to get my act together and publish the new posts of hours-old and days-old Marion photos by the talented Erin Tole.

Hang tight…they’re in the queue. [Update: they’re here!]

xx
Bethany

 

Short and Sweet and Scattershot

You Know What’s Long Overdue?

June 30, 2015

A good post.

One about adventures and food and family and friends.

Here’s the thing: I have two dozen stacked up in my brain, and each day ends without the spare minutes to write them down. (And no, I didn’t manage to put today’s leap second to use, either.)

But I’ll tell you what’s coming when the dust finally settles around here:

A surprise trip to Los Angeles.

A new backyard studio for my Landscape Architecture practice.

A successful Summer PDX Food Swap.

A little Peach who is nearly two years old and funnier by the day.

A husband who is SIX WEEKS away from being finished with grad school forever!

#✈ ️ #americafromtheair #twoOtoLA

A photo posted by bethany rydmark (@bethanyrydmark) on

 

The little snippets make it to Instagram.

For now, that’s where you’ll find me. And one random hour, when you least expect it, another honest to goodness blog post will pop up right here…

xx Bethany

P.S. I think you’re swell for keeping in touch and reading along.

Food, Short and Sweet and Scattershot, The Little Peach, Tidbits About Us

Family Time + Dessert Before Dinner

April 9, 2015

It’s pretty nifty for us that Portland’s best little organic frozen yogurt sweet spot is just blocks from Lucie’s daycare… On sunny days like today, Ted calls mid afternoon and says, “Meet you at 5:30 for ice cream!” 

Lucie and her dairy-free frozen yogurt at Eb & Bean

Typically, Ted leaves his office in the Lloyd District and heads for homework and night class up in North Portland, and I’m usually finishing up a day of drafting and preparing to trek back to outer NE with Lu for an evening of controlled chaos, dinner time, bathtime, and bed (and then a post-kiddo-bedtime attempt at squeezing in a few more to-do list tasks before Ted gets home at 10:30pm). All too often, we three feel like ships in the night during the week. Continue Reading…

Oregon, Short and Sweet and Scattershot

On the Trail to Lincoln City

March 27, 2015

Last Friday, Lucie and I joined our friends Heather and Micah and their girls Penny and Ramona for a spring break getaway to Lincoln City, Oregon and a calm weekend of tidepools and sunbreaks, games and seafood dinners.

Heather and I set aside trip dates on the calendar back in February, then I blinked and it was the night before departure. We called each other on the phone, “Did you?” “Nope. Not me.” “Not at all.” “I didn’t plan a single meal, I haven’t sorted clothes or groceries…” “I’m packing blind and winging it once we get there.” I paraphrase slightly, but you get the idea. We’re both moms with many irons in the fire, and sometimes getting out of dodge is an exercise in lunacy tempered with reckless optimism. Continue Reading…

Musings, Short and Sweet and Scattershot, Tidbits About Us

Oh, for Time to Spend Like Money

June 25, 2014

The internet brings me many tidbits, connections, and inspirations. It’s a time-waste and a treasure-trove.

I found this recent read thanks to Sarah Peck. (Side note: Sarah, too, trained and worked in landscape architecture. A definite kindred spirit.)

David Cain’s article, Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed, resonates soundly with the season I’m in right now: the musings over New Zealand’s flat whites and the ease of dropping dollars on coffees here at home, the loss of space for life-giving things that cost more time than money, and the real price of our current system of economics.

I started to share the article as a Facebook post but then thought better of it Continue Reading…

BabyOregonian, Oregon, Short and Sweet and Scattershot

Oregonians: If You Haven’t Got Your Health…

November 26, 2013

I’ve been mothering a little sick baby this week. Two month old Lucie came down with her first cold, and the past string of days has been a blur of steam baths, nasal saline drops, delightful Swedish inventions (ha!), cuddles, nighttime rocking sessions, and daytime board books for temporary distraction from the snuffles (maybe more for me than her?).

Speaking of healthcare and temporary distractions from the snuffles (or snafus?)…

Oregonians: even though as of last week we haven’t enrolled a single applicant through our state’s insurance exchange website (oh, and we hired 400 temps to process paper applications in the meantime), just remember, we still have two killer music videos to remind us of healthy days. Continue Reading…

Favorite Finds, Inspirations, Musings, Short and Sweet and Scattershot

Notebooks and Scotch Tape, Now on the Blog

November 22, 2013

I bought so many notebooks as a university student studying landscape architecture (see lesson #86 on this comical list). Each bound set of blank pages served as a general catch-all for sketching quick ideas, taking inventory of possibilities, and capturing inspiring bits of life that otherwise tended to flutter away.

In the same spirit of gathering tidbits, I feel like sharing a few of the inspirations I’ve run across while browsing the web. A little hat-tip to the people and projects I’m enjoying these days.

And so, without further ado (*ahem. seems I can do Scattershot, but the I’m not so good at this Short & Sweet thing*), this new edition of Favorite Finds:

Seven Steps to Becoming a Spontaneous Traveler of the WorldMaptia (“…a beautiful way to tell stories about places…on a mission to build the most inspirational map in the world.”) What can I say? The watercolor/notebook/map themes had me at hello. And #1 “Spin the Globe” takes me far, far back to childhood memories of watching Rex Harrison as Dr. Dolittle. Continue Reading…