Naomi

This is my sister-in-law, Naomi. And this is the blog post in which I gush about her because I think she's awesome. She's spunky, creative, and witty. At first, we didn't get along very well - which probably had a lot to do with the fact that I wasn't sure how to handle her. From the first time I met her I was sure of three things: 1) she is absolutely larger-than-life in a totally awesome way, 2) she overwhelmed me at least a little bit, and 3) she embodies a lot of the characteristics I wish I had in myself. In the face of someone like Naomi, insecure little me just didn't know how to react...unfortunately, that means I went antisocial.

Fortunately for me, though, she's a forgiving person (to hear her tell it, she just can't remember long enough to hold a grudge) and after a heartfelt apology during a chance encounter at the mall, we get along splendidly now.

Random note, one of the reasons I like her is that she says words like "splendidly."

Naomi is an all-over-the-board kind of person, and she pulls that off really well. She's an artist. I haven't seen much of her work because, like any artist, she's a bit self-conscious about it. But what I've seen is awesome. I admire that she can even get her hand to paint the things that are in her mind, and I think it's even more awesome that they come out so well.

This one is titled "Fairy" and was stolen from her FB page. >>>>

She also translates her artistic tendencies into food...my personal favorite art form. She, sometimes with the help of friends but often without it, creates the most delicious and visually stimulating things I've seen, from cupcakes with cloud frosting and rainbows to cupcakes with "eat me" very beautifully written on them to her most recent foodish venture: teas.

Let me take a moment here to say that I'm not a tea person. I'm not the sort to stop at some point in the day and think to myself "wow, I'd really love a cup of tea right now." In fact, tea for me tends to only happen for one of two reasons: 1) I'm sick, or 2) I'm going to Naomi's house. She often mixes up her own little concoctions of herbs and leaves and flowery things that end up tasting great. This is another reason I admire her, because if I tried to do something like that it would probably taste horrible.

In the short bursts of time I've been able to spend with Naomi, through her facebook posts and the more-than-occasional family gathering, I know I still haven't even begun to scratch the surface of who she really is. She's awesome with kids, which probably has a lot to do with her incredibly upbeat, creative personality. She brings out the funny in everyone around her and whenever she's within hearing distance of me, I always end up laughing. As do most of the people around us.

Of course, we are both people. And we have different backgrounds and experiences. Which means that we don't always see eye to eye. There are a lot of things we disagree on. She handles them gracefully, usually by steering us toward a different topic, like our mutual love for Red Dwarf and Alton Brown (though I don't think the two would go very well together). Which brings me to another thing I admire about Naomi: her sense of tact and the way it couples with her sense of humor. I can't really think of any specific examples of this, without potentially making an arse of myself. So let's just say that she's really good at it and I'm really not.

Whenever I'm around Naomi I sorta feel like she's the slightly older sister I don't have. I find myself constantly looking up to her and wondering if I'll ever find a way to have as much personality as she does - or if I should even bother trying. There are also times where I find myself looking at her and wondering what in the world is going through her brain.

I hope, over the many years I'm sure we still have as family, to get much closer to Naomi and get to know her more. And maybe then, when I've learned more about her and can say some more in-depth things about her, I'll do another blog feature. Until then, this is my little featurette about how I think she's pretty awesome and I occasionally wish I was more like her.