today and for the rest of your life

i'm feeling the need for a love week.

finding clarity

if you are seeking the ability to remain balanced when the confusion of the world swirls about you and people are pulling or intentionally blurring your focus, i recommend bikram yoga.  the biggest shift in me since i began this yoga six months ago has been the slow and steady development of an inner point of stillness and clarity.  i'm not all the way there yet, but i am amazed at the change in me. 

this is the thing that keeps me going to class when the outdoor temperature and humidity match the hot room.  this is the thing that i have been trying to cultivate my entire life.  now that i have a bit of it, it makes my throat seize with regret and sadness when i think of how the absence of it steered my life in directions i did not intend to go. 

composure, definition and the ability to quiet the monkey mind are all possible.  this is a very good thing.

wish

have you ever held on to a token to remember a magical experience or dream of one not yet manifested?  i find it truly amazing how merely touching a small representation of beauty creates and sustains vivid imagery in the mind.

pears for dinner

a long weekend with crisp autumn weather was just what i needed to melt into september.  seriously, the most problematic decision-making i entered into was whether i want to play it safe in paris next may and stay in a central clean modern hotel or totally get my amelie on and go for the funky bohemian room overlooking a garden in a dodgier section of the 17th arrondissement. 

i'm leaning toward the one with the story.  you know there's a story there.

que pensez-vous?

sweetness

let's do something sweet and sparkly, shall we? 

chinatown

a girl can get lost in your color and language and touristy crowds.  sometimes that's just what a girl needs to do:  get lost.  there is a frenetic sadness in your air that is oddly comforting.  i squeeze in to the standing-room-only muni.  in the midst of the clamor of a busload of chinese, i find a safe and lonely place to let go.  as we pull away from each stop, i am packed in tight and close with mothers and grandmothers and babies and old men.  the bodies, while individually small and foreign, collectively provide a cushion of security and familiarity.  each time our bus lurches forward from a stop, the recorded voice politely implores me in english, "please hold on."  and each time i do the opposite.  as we rush past the blur of your red lanterns, ancient neon signs, kitschy souvenir fronts and vegetable stands, my heart simultaneously breaks and inches toward wholeness.

don't forget

picnic {№4}

as i was rushing out of the office on friday afternoon, eager to dissolve into the weekend, a coworker asked me about my plans.  "oh, really nothing, just relaxing...", i replied.  somehow over the next two days, the "nothing" part was buried in a flurry of activity.  at the end of the day on sunday, i discovered that my weekend was missing some sweet lazy time and it was too late for a proper picnic.  so i improvised.

i lit candles on the backyard patio, just as the sun was making her exit, leaving a sulty twilight in her wake.  ken ran to the corner for chinese takeout.  it was the inaugural event on the table i painted last weekend.

as we sat there enjoying our lo mein, i realized that this is why we put so much effort into having an outdoor space to escape to.  it was right there, easily accesssible, private, quiet, beautiful.

we caught up on each other's weeks and really talked about things that get pushed aside in the rush of everyday life.  like french macarons vs. coconut macaroons (i prefer the first, he the latter.).  and whether our dogs will feel abandoned at the kennel when we go on vacation.  and charles bukowski.  and heaven.

we sat togother in alternating moments of thought, talk, laughter, listening, silence.  we sat there until the first fireflies of the season made their presence known in the little forest behind the house.

i feel blessed and grateful.  i love these moments in life when i have no agenda but to work on my beautiful soul.

i wish you a million beautiful soul moments this week my friends.

happy weekend

here is what i'll doing for certain:

capturing color

working on a painting project

staying in my own neighborhood to avoid the traffic associated with four college graduations on the same weekend

laundry

working on the crazy-lady-trip-binder for our upcoming journey to san francisco

inhaling the sultry scent of the jasmine and honeysuckle who are magically participating in synchronized blooming in my backyard

here is what i hope i'll fit in:

a petite picnic

two afternoon naps

tivo'd episodes of gossip girl and vampire diaries and oprah and sarah's house

more planting

general weekend lollygagging

what are your plans?

see you on monday for color week!

la palette

eyes akimbo lovelies.  color is everywhere.  color week starts monday but the exploration begins now.  here is the line-up for posting:

monday, may 17th: all shades of reds (including pink)
tuesday, may 18th: all shades of blues
wednesday, may 19th: yellows and/or oranges
thursday, may 20th: purples
friday, may 21st: all shades of greens
saturday, may 22nd: rainbow/multi and/or whites/greys
 
i will put a blogroll for color seekers on my sidebar.  please join the flickr group too. 

click here for the introduction post with some guidelines.  since this an art experience, don't be too concerned with rules.  just show us how you experience the color of the day.
 
and lovelies, there will be a prize.  on sunday the 23rd, i will draw a name from all who participated all six days of color week to receive a giftie.

in a world

where peonies arrive on schedule once a year, that's where i want to be.

they sing a song that is bold and romantic.

speaking of bold and romantic, this wedding may just be my most favorite wedding ever.  not for everyone, but i adore this couple's use of the odd and beautiful. 

happy weekend friends! 

who wants color?

a lovely blog friend recently said, "i love the color in your world."  it's true, i strive to live in a way that i see and use vibrant color to remind me that life is beautiful and full of energy, even when i'm not feeling it.  our world is brimming with colors in all hues and tones and combinations, right there in front of us.  we need simply to live with awareness and see.

i love participating in color weeks and other color assignments because it brings me to the foundation of seeing color.  it's everywhere and we are so conditioned to not notice.  i'd love to host another color week the week of may 17th.  let me know in comments if you would like to participate. 

if you are new to color week, there will be a color for each day and your assignment will be to seek it and capture it with your camera and then post it on your blog or on flickr.  it's more exercise in awareness than photography contest.  i'm thinking i might start a flickr group for all of our color week images.  i'm toying with the idea of having some optional writing prompts as well.

so let me know if you are in.  and if you would like to see a particular color in the line-up, let me know that as well.

magical wee worlds

omniterrum.  my new happy place.

sunshine day

my apologies in advance for the song-stuck-in-your-headedness that will occur when you click on this link.  this just fits my mood today.  i smile when i recall my ten-year-old self and her friends working tirelessly in the backyard to perfectly replicate the moves and lyrics (from memory; in the pre-videorecorder era).  sappy for sure, but that's how i do these days.

i hope you have brilliant sun today.

sing, sing a new song

i don’t know if it’s due to spring or a life stage or a full moon or what, but quiet courage seems to be my friend lately. suddenly, i’m less concerned about how i will be perceived; not unconcerned, but more certain that what i authentically have to offer is good enough. risk is beckoning; whether i will approach it with a toe dip or a grand jeté or a freefall or a curious blend of all three is unclear. i feel a gentle pull in a different direction. and the direction feels more like process than accomplishment, more journey than destination, more about the dance than the curtain call. i’m so going there, wherever it is.

she said yes

to softness.

and hush.

and malleability.

and buoyancy.

and misty sunday mornings.

{actually, she said 'oui'; it sounded more like the tenderness in her heart.}

p.s. please excuse my little mess while i (as kenda says) embiggen things around here.  i'm feeling curiously bold in the midst of all the light-and-airy-ness.

how to have an amazing friday

1. understand that it's friday (sometimes this is all it takes).
2. drift off reading a fantastic story at 9:15 pm on thursday and sleep for a full eight hours.
3. wear something colorful and maybe a little age-inappropriate.
4. show up.
5. be open to happy surprises and shifts of fate (even the scary kind).
6. every hour on the hour, pause and acknowledge something or someone with gratitude.
7. write down a word that represents your wildest dream, the dream that feels so far off and impossible that even writing the word is bizarre.
8. stare at the word, art it up if you'd like. no wait, let's not make that optional: art it up.
9. go there. see it. be it. now trace your steps backwards. not that impossible after all.
10. have a treat. here are some ideas: a nap, a long lunch, a walk in spring's gorgeousness, a massage, a chat with an old friend...
11. love this day. love this beautiful life.

happy, happy day friends.

into the forest

primal and new. majestic and tender. our world is spectacular. happy earth week.

{crabtree falls, blue ridge mountains, virginia.}

rosy

we all deserve it. happy weekend friends.

halcyon days

halcyon. the word is minimally used i think because it defines a deep, but at the the same time light, sense of happy calm that is rarely achieved. open, clear, ready, harmonious. these feelings are filling up my space, seeping into defended confused areas like a silver liquid stain. fortifying and nurturing, soaking and opening seeds that were planted days, months, years ago.

it is good. and i'll take it for as long as it's here.