Oh, Emily! My wonderful friend, Em, Em, Emily. Today is your birthday. Remember how you told me “it’s no big deal” when I asked you what I could do to make your day WONDERFUL. But I just kept asking you anyway (you know what they call that, right? – annoying!)

Well, you are on an air plane, flying back to New Jersey – having spent your weekend helping your sister who just had a wee babe and I am thinking of you. Of what a wonderful human being you are,  of the millions of times you have saved my bacon, of all the laughs we’ve shared, of how you’ve listened to me no matter what it is I needed to say, of the times we’ve spent working ourselves to the bone at the Cannery (we need to go back – it’s been a year!) and the list goes on…

Here is the thing – Emily is what I consider to be my “daily bread”. Let me explain: once as I was reading through the Lord’s prayer, and was thinking about the phrase, “give us this day, our daily bread” – I thought about that plea. About what that plea means for me personally. About how we need to petition God for help on an moment to moment basis.  As I thought about what daily bread is to me, I realized that for me, it is friends.  I love people and I really love the people who love me back – mis amigos! (I know, isn’t that terribly noble and heroic of me!) And you know how every once and a while you so get lucky, that it just so happens that the person you adore lives a three minute drive away — all of the sudden that person has become your daily bread. Emily is the kind of person where, if a few days go by and I haven’t seen her face or heard her laugh, I start to feel hungry. Soul hungry. Like I need some bread — and fast!

Here is why I feel hungry if I don’t get enough Emily:

Emily is one of the most thoughtful people I know. I feel like she is always looking out for me. True story: One morning she and I were talking on the phone. She mentioned how she puts “blue ice” in her kid’s lunch boxes.   I’d never heard of it, but she swore  that it kept her kids lunches cold. “Ooh!” I said, “I’ll have to try and find me one.” A few hours later she shows up at my house with some “blue ice”! Now every time I put Millie’s lunch together I think of my pal, Em.

She is organized, her life is in beautiful order – just go to her house. I love it when I go over and she says, “This place is such a mess!” and there are a few pop corn kernels on the floor from 15 minutes ago when her son was watching TV with a bowl of pop corn in his lap. All I am saying is I have never gone over there and seen a mess yet. Once I hung out at her house while her boy’s were all asleep in their beds and she and Mike went out. It was so nice just to sit in her house. It was in perfect order. It felt so cozy. Not only does she keep a beautiful home, she fills it with love.

She is a work horse. She is a tiny slender little thing – but the woman packs a punch. She can do anything! You give her a task and she is ON IT. I served with her in the primary for two beautiful years – and man, she was awesome. She is an absolute dream to work with – she always does her best, she does it on time and you can depend on her 100 %. I also know she has a testimony. I have heard her bare it multiple times to the primary kids.

Her capacity to do is NUTS – she always seems to be having people over for dinner, or hosting multiple play dates, getting the carpets cleaned, planting flowers, getting someone to a dentist appointment, helping out her neighbors. She just never ceases to amaze me. She always knows what is going on. How long it will last and what time it is over. I always call her whenever I need to find out the details. She reads the fine print & then she REMEMBERS what she read.

Her heart is so kind. If I am frustrated or hurting I know I can talk to her about it, and she will listen to me and then she will do whatever is in her power to help me. This might sound odd, but if you knew Emily you would understand perfectly what I am going to tell you about – Emily has this very distinct way of saying, “Oh, CRAP!” when things have gone horribly wrong. Sometimes, when I am telling her my troubles, I just wait for her to say it – because it is so her and the minute I hear the phrase I feel like she gets the gravity of the situation and she is totally, unequivocally on my side.

She is so much fun to be with. I know if Emily is going to be somewhere – there will be laughs and it will be F U N.

She is the mother of three handsome, spirited, ENERGETIC boys. One time I offered to pick them up from school and in one instant I had a whole new level of respect for her. I have two little girls who cling to me and stay by my side every moment. Her boys were independent, darting around, talking with friends, throwing their back packs down, and running in three different directions. Just to get them from the playground to the car took all the energy I could muster. I thought to myself, “Em wrangles these three dynamos every single day.” It is a huge job and she does it beautifully –  and she doesn’t just corral them – she runs them to soccer, tennis, baseball, basketball, football, wrestling and “Yum Yum cooking class” (lest you think that these little men are ONLY sporty! and, yes,  that is seriously the name of the cooking class!)

I also happen to think Emily is a total BABE! She has got a killer figure. I swear that sometimes she looks like  teenager!!   One morning I was working out with her at the YMCA and I looked over at her running three times faster than I was, her cheeks flushed, hair pulled back, no make up — she was BEAUTIFUL! And I though, “I think I am working out with the cutest person in this whole gym.” Her husband Mike must want to congratulate himself ever stink’n day – when he considers what a babe he married.

I love her.

Em, please send me your mom’s info so that I can thank her for giving you life.

You make my life so happy and so good.

H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y!!!

A little birdie called me last night and left a message on the answering machine to let me know,

that today is Karen’s birthday.

And, quite frankly, Karen is a person I just have to CELEBRATE. In fact, I might need to request emergency assistance because there may be a love explosion if I am not careful here.

Shakespeare wrote that “beauty lives with kindness” – and in Karen, this truth is realized. Just look at that golden face of  hers – can’t you just feel the goodness?! She is as good as she is beautiful. She is a wonderful friend, a fantastic mother and a down right awesome human being.

She is good fun and funny to boot!

Don’t hate her but…her children are polite (and have EXCELLENT phone manners), her house and automobile are always immaculate, and quite frankly she scatters sunshine every where she goes! (She might be cringing as she reads this because she is so very modest) BUT IT IS TRUE! And here on Dawsome the truth gets spoken.

I love Karen because I just feel like she gets it. She gets why we’re here on the earth. She knows how to give love. She constantly shows love for others  – I always feel so loved when I am with her. I always feel understood and like she is 110% on my side. And she is not ashamed to show her love for the Lord. I respect and love her so much for the way she lets her testimony be known. It just beams out of her.

Her heart is so tender and so good. And her feelings often bubble up to the surface in the sweetest ways. For example, when Millie gave her first talk in primary, Karen was there and when I looked over at Karen after Millie was finished, she had tears in her eyes. Is that a true friend or what? Like I said, she is just right there with you. What a gift she gives to her friends- the love and support she is constantly throwing out to those of us who are blessed to know her are like life lines.

I have the tremendous blessing of not only knowing and loving Karen, but I serve with her in the church. She is the primary chorister in our primary. And man, she rocks it! Every week I stand back in awe as she comes up with some new and creative way to teach the primary songs. But it isn’t flashy or showy – behind every creative endeavor beats the heart of someone with a true testimony of the gospel. She really teaches the gospel as she teaches the songs. She gives it  her all – and I can’t even begin to tell you how much her service and her effort means to me.

I also love to have her in our primary meetings. When I look over at her she nods furiously. She hasn’t done this, but I feel that she understands so well what I am trying to convey that I keep waiting for her to say, “Mmmmhumm!”, “That’s right!” or even “Amen!” as I am talking.  Oh, how I love her for this!!!

She makes my life so much better and more wonderful just by being my buddy. I feel like she helps me to be  a better person.

Oh, and Karen is a wonderful cook.  Once we had Karen and Ryan and their kids over and I somehow managed to ruin a crock pot meal – you didn’t think that was humanly possible, right? Well, I managed it, somehow. I am not kidding – ask Jan, the man who doesn’t exaggerate and even he’ll tell you it was bad. Anyway, Karen offered to bring the salad that day and boy, am I glad she did! It was so delicious. It was the best thing on the table. Karen, being Karen, will say otherwise – I was just grateful that we had something good to eat when they came over, if you know what I am saying!

As nice and kind as Karen is right to her very core – she is totally down to earth and real. I can always tell her what I am  feeling and thinking without the fear of being judged. Even though I am pretty confident she is ten times the woman I am – I never feel like less when I am with her. She makes me feel like a million bucks! She is the kind of friend who will laugh with you, or cry with you or whatever you need. She is in-tune and on board for the the ride.

Oh, Karen, I just ADORE you. Thank you for the beauty and the kindness you have brought to my life. You are a treasure. With a capital “T”!

Happy Birthday to you (and the same goes for that much OLDER husband of yours…a little birdie told me that it was HIS birthday this week too!)

I am soooooooooooooo grateful that you were born.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my ma-in-law’s big day. So you all know what that means, right?! It means a birthday shout out for our birthday girl, Gitte D.

For starters, I will forever and always be indebted to Gitte because she is the mother of the boy I adore. She and Stephen raised him to be a person of integrity, intellegence, and goodness. My life is blessed daily, moment to moment, from and by the goodness of her son’s heart.  So danke for giving me one of the greatest, if not the greatest blessings in my life.

Also, her mug is stamped all over two of my very favorite faces. Behold!

If you’re finding it hard to see the resemblance, let me see if I can help you out, a bit:

Another shared characteristic, other than the brown eyes etc, is a deep and abiding love of cats:

Millie has to make due with toy cats because her mother is anti-kitty litter and her dad, despite his love of cats, suffers from allergies. But fear not, when Millie goes to Granny’s house – there are always a few cats in the mix.

Gitte is as smart as a whip. She speaks several languages. Knits like a champ. Collects interesting and beautiful pieces of art. Reads endlessly. Is terribly generous with her time and means. And serves her guts out. She has served in local politics for over a decade – and quite frankly, she is awesome at it. Once, when elections were upon us, Jan and I had the priveldge of walking around her local village to hand out a flyer to remind her constituants to vote. Anyone we talked to GLOWED and the love for Gitte FLOWED as they pledged their support to her. “Nobody works harder than Gitte. She’s got my vote.” was the general consensus.

Yup.

She and Stephen reside in Bath. In the past 15 years that they have lived in Bath Gitte has organized two incredibly popular and memorable events. The Bath Christmas Market & The Pig Parade.

Check out this cool Christmas market, peeps:

Doesn’t this look fun & romantic? Well, it is!

Last year Gitte arranged a fund raising project for another project she’s working on (the Two Tunnels project – so many projects, so little time) known as The Pig Parade. Local businesses commissioned local artists to decorate a pig statue which was then placed somewhere in Bath.

Would you like a behind the scenes peek? Here is the pig prototype. Nice snout. Makes me want to oink.

This is Gitte with the artist who designed this fine fellow.

(He was a jolly – we met him about two years ago, in his studio)

Here are the pigs in their natural habitat.

Before they were auctioned off all the pigs were brought to the Royal Cresent. This picture of Gitte with the pigs was in the Telegraph (an English newspaper, like the Wall Street Journal). I love this picture.

The pig project raised a couple hundred thousand pounds. How cool is that?!

She has since moved on to a new endeavor. Building a new shop in their village, but that I will save for another post.

This is just the kind of thing that my mother-in-law does, and does and does.

She is a doer.

She is a contributor.

And when she sets her mind set on something you better believe it will be done. If you’ve got Gitte on your team you are going to get action! It is such fun for me to watch her hatch a plan, then work until her plan becomes a reality. She is a marvel.

I also mentioned her knitting. When Millie was first born we received packages monthly with her creations.

Cool no? And she whips these suckers out like it’s nothing. But I know it is something. I once tried to learn the basic knitting stitch and I couldn’t even do that. She can also sew, and do wood working, and added to her vast skill base is a fierce determination. So, if she has not yet mastered the skill needed for the given task, her determination and her will power will see her through.

She is also a wonderful grandmother to our girls. That same “can do” spirit comes to our house and she, like a whirlwind, goes about doing good. She and Stephen were here only a week ago – and she was the glue that held things together when I got food poisioning that knocked me silly. While she was with us she (and Stephen) played endlessly with the girls, taking them to the park, to school, an other adventures. She swept off the deck, put up a corner cupboard, fixed a kitchen cupboard that had fallen down, watered the flowers, washed the dishes, went to the grocery store…you get the picture, I’m sure.

When we moved from Boston to New Jersey Stephen and Gitte came all the way from the UK to help us move!!! And they had us totally unpacked, and I mean totally unpacked – NO BOXES left – in 48 hours. I have never seen anything like it. By the first week with her help we’d unpacked and re-painted two rooms. It was amazing. My friend Annie called in the midst of the move and told me, “If they get bored, send them to my house! I’ve got lots of projects for them.”

Gitte is a woman of substance, depth and true grit. She is a leader in the truest sense. She leads by example.

She is also a classy dame – with fabulous taste; evident in a lovely wardrobe, a beautiful home, and a super fun car.

She is also a wonderful hostess. I have heard her say she can’t cook, but everything she’s ever cooked for me has been pretty darn tasty. Check out this spread, come on! It is a thing of beauty, says I.

As is often the case with these tributes, this one just scratches the surface of the wonder of Brigitte Dawson. She is a woman that I love. And it is an honor to celebrate her on this day, her birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy, happy, happy birthday to YOU!

Let this post hereby be a testament to my profound love for you…in the last 48 hours I have suffered through severe food poisoning, while hosting my in-laws, while having all the valiant boys over to my house for a “bonding” session, while caring for my small family, while trying really hard not to lose my mind (you can’t lose your mind and your lunch at the same time – otherwise it is all over).

But here I am. To tell the world that I adore you and to take this opportunity to celebrate you on your birthday!

Cara, my sweet, dear friend – you are a treasure to me. Oh, what a treasure! I am not even sure where to begin…

For those of you who may not know Cara, let me tell you just a little bit about the wonder of her.

Cara is one of the kindest most positive people I know. She is simultaneously down to earth and as real as they come. She is a person you can trust your heart to. She is a great listener – and after she listens she showers her positive goodness all over you. The reason I know how much Cara means to me is that I often long for her most when I feel totally beaten down by the world. When I am at my most vulnerable is when I find my heart aching for her. And THAT is the mark of the truest and best kind of friend.

When it is raining and horrible – she is right there with open arms and a box of tissues and when the sun is shinning and you’re ready to party – YUP! she’s there then too!

She is a total and utter BLAST. Most people spell the word fun like this, F-U-N, but I like to spell it, C-A-R-A. Holy cow, is she fun! The laughs we’ve shared together have been colossal, stupendous, ginormous. Even the simple activity of trying things on in a dressing room together can turn into Saturday Night Live. I don’t know how she does it, but she  does it. She takes the ordinary moments and makes them sparkle.

She is so considerate of people’s feelings and the needs of those around her. If ever I have faced something particularly difficult – she has always been there. Once I remember I had something really hard happening and I had gone out of town. She knew the circumstance and she called me to check in, just to make sure I was okay. That is Cara. She is so kind and so considerate.

She is also one of the best moms I know. I feel it was such a gift to have her near me when I had Millie. I called her endlessly for advice – from what color to paint the nursery, to help on getting Millie to sleep through the night. And the proof is in the pudding – her kids are remarkable. I have watched her interact with them – studied her. I have noticed that when they talk she REALLY listens to them. She lets them be who they are – I think this takes real courage. I am learning just how much courage as I have to step back and let Millie be Millie (the good, the bad and the ugly). Again, she is fun. She takes true pleasure in her kids and in DOING things with them. She also doesn’t let them get away with being turds – this helps me too, to help my kids not get away with turd like behavior.

Cara is always pushing herself to be better. She is one of the few “A -type” personalities I know who only compeates with herself.  If Cara were competitive I might feel a little intimidated by her many talents, her vast drive and her ability to do so much and do it well. But Cara never tries to be better than other people – she just tries to do her best. It  so happens that her best is pretty stink’n awesome.

Cara is a doer – she wants to get out and DO. This is wonderful for me because I am more of a talker or a sitter, as the case may be. As the words of a great mind once said, “Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.” Cara took this sitter in hand, and said, “So what should we DO?!”  I really miss our adventures together, now that we no longer reside in the same town. Although, one night Cara called me on the phone and said, “Hey, you wanna go to DSW with me?” and she and I had a shopping trip via the phone. It was such fun. Classic Cara.

My dear friend, how I love you!

How I love you.

How I love your beauty – that is both internal and external. How I love your kind heart. How I love your generous nature. How I have loved all that you have taught me by your shining example.

Happy Birthday!

(Dang it! I just read through this post and it only scratches the surface of all that you are…there is always next year to try to get it right!)

This is my brother-in-law, Ben. I adore him. In fact, I often refer to him as my third sister-in-law – we are THAT close.  Ben is a pretty busy guy, but if he weren’t busy running his company then I am pretty sure I would call him on a regular basis to get his advice, to share recipes (he makes artisan bread), get his opinion on the latest films he’s watched, or the books he’s read, have him tell me all about how he plans to decorate his house etc, etc, etc.

Don’t be confused – this guy is not a sissy. He doesn’t like to watch sports – but he is still a man’s man. He likes red meat, hates to spend money (unless it is on a long board), kicks butt at work, knows how to get a deal on ANYTHING, likes to eat out of a tin can (well he did this BEFORE he married Brynn – now he eats organic – good work, Brynn!), enjoys running or long boarding through the mountains, playing pool, and has, NO JOKE, a GAZILLION friends. I have never met a person with more friends than Ben Zimmer.

The man is a social chameleon. He can go into any group of people and not only charm them but each person in that group, after meeting Ben, will think that Ben is their new best friend. The things I hear people say about Ben go something like this, “He and I just click” or “We have a unique understanding” or “He just gets me”. Yes he does. Yes he does, my friends.

The man has powers. But fear not, he uses them for good.

I am pretty convinced he could run the United States of America. He’s got charm, smarts and a work ethic like no other. He works, and works and works and works and works. He is in perpetual motion. He kind of reminds me of my dad in this respect.

He is married to this really awesome girl. She is hot. He calls her “his trophy wife” – cuz she is a few years younger than him and she does a mean hula. Let me tell you a little about the kind of husband Ben is. He is one of the most patient, loving, and kind husbands I have ever known. When he married my sister she was very sick. And she still struggles with this sickness – it means that this man who is in perpetual motion has to slow down his pace considerably. And he does this with magnificent ease. When he and Brynn stayed with us last summer I watched in awe as he took BEAUTIFUL care of her. I love him more than I can say for the way that he takes care of my sister. Bless you, Ben.

Brynn and Ben are one of those awesome couples – kind to everyone, interesting to talk to and be with, and so stink’n cool. I wish that they lived next door so that I could visit them every day (Ben wishes we lived next door to each other too, cuz we are THAT close.)

Ben has a SWELL laugh. I wish I had a recording of it so that I could listen to it daily.

He is a passionate fellow. I think this is one of the reasons he is such a fun person to be with. He loves life and he will tell you how he feels about. That and he lets YOU do all the talking. He has this gift for peppering a person with questions. Oh, he is fun to talk to!!

Ben is a major share holder..just kidding I am not going to go there, Ben – little inside joke – hee, hee (we’re THAT close!) Ben is a very modest and successful business man. He doesn’t like people to talk about it, but trust me, the guy is awesome at what he does.

Ben is also devoted to the Lord. He loves to do what is right. His Bishop, in his BYU singles ward, who also happened to be my Bishop growing up in NY, loved Ben like no other. He said that if he could invest in people he would invest everything he owned in Ben Zimmer. This Bishop’s wife called my parent’s house when she realized that Brynn was going to marry Ben. “Ben Zimmer?!” she said. “Yes”, I said. “We are excited. He is a great guy.” Then she corrected me, “Ben is divine!” Straight from the mouth of Sister Freedman. She knows of what she speaks.

Right from the moment I met Ben I knew he was a swell cat.

I love you, brother-in-law.

Happy Birthday!

P.S. El Guapo, your gift is in the mail, “It’s a sweater!”

[WARNING: to all reserved English gentlemen who may read this post. I, Eliza Dawson, have posted it – which means it may contain rather personal and loving words and may prove to be a little on the enthusiastic side. Fear not, I have had the English gentleman who resides here edit out anything he deemed to be “too much of a good thing”. I have been known to over do it without knowing I have over done it. ]

My father in-law, Stephen, happens to be one of the kindest and best men I know. Today is his birthday, and if you are a faithful reader of this blog you will have noticed that I like to celebrate the people that I cherish. Stephen is one such person.

Stephen is a man of many talents. Everything he does, he does well. If he decides to do it, it is going to get done and it is going to be AWESOME. When I first met him he was getting ready to “retire” (I have to put retire in quotation marks because Stephen and Gitte’s definition of retiring is not what most people think of when you hear the word). His idea of retirement was a plan to set up what is known as a venture philanthropy trust. He wanted to use the skills he’d developed as a venture capitalist in the charity sector. He wanted to help charities that were in a period of transition, that were doing well but needed funding and advice about how to expand their sphere of influence. He was one of the very first to tackle such an endeavor in the UK, a pioneer, if you will.  I remember him saying that he wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. How did it all turn out? Well, almost seven years out, after countless awards, numerous newspaper articles and lots and lots of success the thing practically runs itself. Check it out. You’ll be inspired.

http://www.impetus.org.uk

Now he is on to a new project. Doing a similar thing in Africa.

Need I say more? No, but I will.

Stephen is a wonderful mixture, a contradiction even, of massive drive and ambition coupled with a true love of humanity and a deep desire to help those in need.

He goes about everything he does quietly and humbly. I think one of the things that strikes me the most about Stephen is his humility. He doesn’t flap his lips about his many accomplishments. BUT I FLAP MINE! (Ain’t it grand to have an American daughter-in-law? Ain’t it?)

He is a devoted husband. He and Gitte are quite the team. They truly are a “dynamic duo”. They are each stunning humans in their own right but together – LOOK OUT! they are going to get the job done, people. One year Stephen was given the “Personality of the Year” award from the Private Equity Awards. And then the following year Gitte was named, “Woman of the Year” in Bath. You see what I mean by dynamic, right? I know I have a tendency to get enthusiastic and excited, but seriously, these two are something special. They are good. They are firm in their convictions. And if they believe in something they will work and work and work until they have met their goals. They are also VERY generous with their means, their time and their energy. I personally feel very blessed that they love each other. In this day and age when marriages seem to be unraveling all around us I am so grateful that they are true to each other.  To me that is one of their greatest achievements.

Stephen is also a wonderful father and a terrific grandfather. He is the type of grandfather who gets down on the ground and rolls around with his progeny. I love to watch him with our girls. It makes me so happy to see them basking in his wonderful intelligence, his fun, his humor and his love. And do they lap it up! Millie just adores her “Papa”!

Stephen, like his father before him, is a talented gardener. I wish you could see his garden. It is spectacular. Like everything he does – he does it well and makes it seem as if it is no big deal. But now that we have to take care of a garden (and we are NOT very good at it) I have come to realize what a gift Stephen has.

The man loves walking. He is a serious walker. He has walked his way across the globe. Sometimes he talks Gitte into joining him. Most recently they have walked through Nepal and Ethiopia.  Once he invited Jan and I along. We walked the Inca Trail together. At the end of it all he told me that his parents used to take prospective family members (fiances, girlfriend, boyfriends etc) on long walks to see if they could “handle it”. He said I passed. That was good news since Jan and I had been married for a year and I am pretty sure that I was no longer returnable. I told him that I was glad he hadn’t seen me crying on the top of the mountain when I had been wet for two days straight and wasn’t sure I would ever be dry again.

Every time we are in Bath we know one thing is for certain. There will be a walk. It will be led by Stephen. And it will be gloriously beautiful. 

They like to get ’em started young in the Dawson family!  See the photo below for proof. This was Millie a year and a half ago. Not bad for a 2 1/2 year old, if I do say so myself!

I recognize that so much of the happiness that I enjoy on a daily basis is due to this very good man. The love and teaching that he has given to his own son blesses our little family on a daily basis. I am most grateful to Stephen for this.

And I for one would like to wish him the happiest of birthdays!