a good year

twentytwelve:  ten things i liked about you

1. there was courage to leave the job that was smothering me
2. there was something better and brighter and way more me to replace it
3. working with meg:  more greens, more breath, more space for what's next
4. walks in the woods with my favorite person and a corgi who loves to hike
5. yogaville and yoga festivals and just plain yoga
6. kindreds
7. solstice fires, new years day picnics, country roads
8. letting go
9. becoming vegetarian
10. the karma garden

thank you.

see previous year-end-slash-gratitude-slash-foot-shots-collections here.

(p.s.  those pointy-toed ballet flats get some mileage!)

i was here

thank you 2011.  you gave me lots of solid ground upon which to stand.

i was here

i love the week between christmas and new year's day.  there's a magical pull to the future while looking back with gratitude and (mostly) satisfaction.  how do you acknowlege this transition? 

i do it with 'standing here' self-portraits.  i try to take at least one per month and really enjoy looking back at the places i've been and the space i inhabited.  some of them are fun and flighty and some really put me back in the emotion of that moment.

this year my feet touched both solid ground and undulating funhouse floors.  i slipped a few times and had to call at least one time-out to lie down; but mostly i stood confidently facing all the love, regret, beauty, acceptance, rejection, grace and fear.

some of the best places i stood in 2010:

• my home.  the home that loves me.
• my garden.  day or night, sun or stars, flora or snow, she always whispers, "do it."
• the cold pacific, who welcomed me home to california.
• the warm atlantic, who showed me i could stand solid even with shifting sand beneath my feet.
• bikram yoga class.
• with the most beautiful, talented, graceful women.  feeling like i belonged.
• at the door.  the same door i hovered around throughout 2009.  i'm still standing here wondering what's on the other side, trying to plan for all the possibilities and pitfalls.  i am slowly moving toward courage and away from the misconception that i can tip one toe into the unknown while the other foot holds firm in the certain.

thank you for standing with me.  where should we go in 2011?

2009: grounded

{at least I like to think so...}

dear 2009

au revoir sweet friend; you were good to me.

you will be remembered fondly. while it wasn't all high times, your {sometimes brutal} honesty was appreciated. even your lows came with strong, if not forced, learning moments and were followed by comfort and growth. you gave beauty and blizzards and friendship and blue moons and laughter and rainbows and risk and kisses and play and stargazing and knowledge and so much more.

you helped me discover more of who I am and I will always love you for that.

your friend,
lisa

p.s. I hear you are friends with 2010...any chance you can put a good word in for me?