Thursday, April 26, 2012

moving right along...

chopping tomatoes at Pixie's house, california, january 2012

so this was my facebook status update yesterday,

i vow to consume at least one tomato sandwich a day until the end of summer,
to keep my feet in their birthday suit for the next 6 months (aka no socks), to read a book once a week while sitting outside soaking up nature...maybe even while wearing MY bday suit...harharhar. it's all about dreaming big people. :)
 I am happy to say that i am doing a GREAT job with this so far.  Success is within my reach.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

road trip!

Point Reyes, California, Jan 2012
Georgia sunshine and warm weather is BACK!  this can only mean a road trip is in order!  there is nothing quite like open windows, open roads, great music, and dancing in the car seat.   what are your favorite road trip songs?

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

define joy...

central california coast, march 2012




songs/lyrics i've had in my head for days:

~safety dance lyrics....and if they don't dance, well they're no friends on mine....
~we built this city on rock annndd roooollll...oooooohhhhhh

DEFINE JOY:

  • sand, ocean, waves, water....any shoreline i can walk on
  • sunshine.  sunshine. sunshine.
  • smooth pebbles i can hold in my hands
  • summer time!!
  • a juicy ripe peach
  • green lush open fields that i can run through or at least imagine i am running through
  • road trips with the windows rolled down
  • laughing until my stomach hurts
  • barefeet
  • the exhilaration and the moments before you leap into cold water
  • building and tending a fire outside at night
  • impromptu dancing with friends...or by myself for that matter
  • the unexpected funny texts i get from dear friends
  • road trip playlists/music
  • feeling the sun on my face
  • waking up with the sun
  • seeing bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds all gathered around flowers i plant
JOY is in the little things....that really aren't little at all. :)

how do YOU define joy?




Saturday, April 21, 2012

truth.

new york city, january 2012

I want to collect experiences, not possessions.


Thursday, April 19, 2012

questions....so many questions.


words can save us.  they have.  they do.  they will.  right?

do you filter yourself in words?  in your speech?  in your conversations?  in your blog?  in your email?  why do you?

do you ever have urges to do things like climb a tree?  run gleefully through a field?  jump and splash in a puddle?  leap into a lake, river, pond, pool?   do you give in to the urges?  if the answer is no, why not? 

are you who you wish yourself to be?  if you aren't, what changes would you like to make? 

do you bite your tongue when you should speak up?  do you speak up when you should bite your tongue?  what lessons keep repeating themselves?

questions, questions, questions.  wouldn't it be nice to silence our minds for at least one day of the week?....there goes another question.




Monday, April 16, 2012

I got the sun in the morning....

Pismo Beach, California, March 2012

Taking stock of what I have and what I haven't,
What do I find?
The things I've got will keep me satisfied.
Checking up on what I have and what I haven't.
What do I find?
A healthy balance on the credit side.

Got no diamond, got no pearl, still I think I'm a lucky girl.
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.
Got no mansion, got no yacht, still I'm happy with what I've got.
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.

Sunshine gives me a lovely day.
Moonlight gives me the Milky Way.

Got no checkbooks, got no banks, still I'd like to express my thanks.
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.
And with the sun in the morning and the moon in the evening, I'm all right.
~Irving  Berlin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am marinating salmon fillets in some yummy Mojo citrus sauce.  I have bacon in the oven for broccoli salad.  I am drinking Yerba Mate tea.  I am listening to Langhorne Slim.  All is well in my world tonight.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

words in my head....

three graces farm, sonoma county, california

travel.
movement.
journey.
health.
coffee.
organic.
raw.
lettuce.
books.
reflection.
community.
love.
support.
world.
purpose.
enlightenment.
peace.
joy.
aliveness.
happy.
playful.
laughter.
swings.
runs.
fields.
flowers.
photos.
smile.
exuberance.
.......................................................what's in your head?

Friday, April 13, 2012

the peace of wild things...


When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds,
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief.  I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light.  For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

"The Peace of Wild Things" ~wendell berry

Thursday, April 12, 2012

feeding my soul....


Yesterday fed my soul ~ post office to send off etsy orders, farmers market to get some fresh and local produce, library trip to feed my mind's hunger, grocery store to feed my stomach's hunger, plant/flower buying and scored on some clearance snapdragons and dianthus - my mailbox area is VERY happy. 

Today I woke up, poured coffee, filled a bucket full of handmade organic mixed soil, grabbed snapdragons and headed outside in my pjs to feel the dirt between my fingers.  Bees flocked to the flowers immediately, and I had to patiently wait as they do what bees do.....

I am back inside, still in pjs, still drinking coffee, dirt still under my nails.....a book is opened beside me, jewelry supplies are spread out and ready to be manipulated and fondled.  :)    Is today a good day?...yes, i believe so. 

What does your day look like?  What can you do today to feed your mind and soul?....and maybe even your stomach.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

what's a closet?



DAY 8 (??) of being back ~  I feel like packing a suitcase.  Not that I am going anywhere, but just to see it packed...just in case.  I had a good day of creating jewelry yesterday, staying outside, taking photos of jewelry........but it was all with travel in mind.  It wasn't about making jewelry, it was about knowing that when jewelry sells I am one more step closer to taking another trip.  I have ants in my pants and I don't think it's going away. 

So I get up everyday, turn on computer, go pour coffee, come back and sit on my bed....I think about where I will go next.  I think that if I go ahead and decide, that maybe just maybe, it will manifest itself quicker.  Isn't that how it works?  To be so open about it all is maybe my downfall?.....lack of focus?...lack of destination?.....but for me it isn't about the destination (unless it's of course some tropical oasis of turquoise water and coconut drinks); it's about the movement to get there.  Perhaps that's why I loved the train trip cross country so much ~ absolutely nothing to do but to watch the world outside go by.  No worries of getting my luggage; I had it all near me, at my fingertips....no worry of am I going the right way, is this the right bus....will I like where i'm going next...etc etc.  Living on a train for days was calming.   Every stop wasn't my own; I was good for days....I was content with my books, iphone, food/snacks, listening to the conversations around me, people watching, scenery outside, reclining seat......it forced me to relax, to sit still, to just BE. 

to do list:
1. hone in where I want to go.
2. make it happen

Friday, April 6, 2012

a bit of Rumi....


Unfold Your Own Myth ~ Rumi

Who gets up early to discover the moment light begins?
Who finds us here circling, bewildered, like atoms?
Who comes to a spring thirsty
and sees the moon reflected in it?
Who, like Jacob blind with grief and age,
smells the shirt of his lost son
and can see again?
Who lets a bucket down and brings up
a flowing prophet?  Or like Moses goes for fire
and finds what burns inside the sunrise?

Jesus slips into a house to escape enemies,
and opens a door to the other world.
Solomon cuts open a fish, and there's a gold ring.
Omar storms in to kill a prophet
and leaves with blessings.
Chase a deer and end up everywhere!
An oyster opens his mouth to swallow one drop.
Now there's a pearl.
A vagrant wanders empty ruins.
Suddenly he's wealthy.

But don't be satisfied with stories, how things
have gone with others.  Unfold
your own myth, without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage,
We have opened you.

Start walking towards Shams.  Your legs will get heavy
and tired.  Then comes a moment
of feeling the wings you've grown,
lifting.

wild mind...

                                     (books at Teahouse Studio)
Grant me some wild expressions, Heavens, or I shall burst.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

totally random....


So, in my quest to find travel documentaries I have found one I am quite smitten with ~ Jane's Journey.  Jane Goodall has always been someone I looked up to, even more so as a young girl.  As soon as I found out about this amazing, animal loving, courageous, entrancing soul I was enthralled ~ and have been ever since.  This is a must watch for anyone who likes her.  Don't be fooled by the "starring angelina jolie and pierce brosnan" bit...they don't star in the documentary; they only give jane goodall praises here and there.

Onto other news, I had this intoxicating (not really) smoky Russian tea while in California, and I haven't been able to capture that taste since.  Does anyone have any recommendation for a good smoky flavored hot tea?  (cause I am breaking my bank account buying teas that don't match up)

Oh yes, DAY 4 (of being back) ~ still moody, but I have finally opened up my jewelry supply boxes so that must be a sign of spirits improving eh?  I took a trip to the farmer's market yesterday (which always sends me into fits of ooooohhhhs and aaahhhhhhs).....and ooooooh the strawberries.  One customer eying me says "if you keep on sniffing those strawberries they are gonna start charging you per sniff".......yes, it was that bad...errr, good?......

Isn't there always a particular food/fruit/veggie/whatev that can send you straight back to your childhood?  Strawberries do it for me ~ the memories of strawberry patches right outside the kitchen window, or in our front yard (more expansive)....picking them straight off the vine, eating them all before I could get them in the kitchen as requested by my mother (though I never heard her fuss for the lack of berries when I brought them in).  strawberry shortcake ~ strawberries with a bit of sugar ~ strawberries straight off the vine ~ any way strawberries could get in my mouth I was game :)
What food takes you back to your childhood?

side note: I have been gifted a little video camera from Jen that I have been playing with this week.  (i'm pretty sure I was gifted this cause of my mad skills at the jaw harp....i just know it), so amateur videos are headed this way soon!  No, no, don't cheer just yet......wait until I upload it first, then you can cheer all you want. Hehe.  

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

day 3 ~ i have run out of things to say...obviously


DAY 3 ~ SHOCKING changes in myself since i took my trip (okay, maybe not shocking, but changes nonetheless)

1. i am now a trader joe's snob (and think there should be one in every town)

2. i now make a disgusted look when i see that meat has nitrates (i mean seriously, i can't find anything in the local stores, ugh)

3. i now say "dude" way too much (though i think i was doing this before)

4. why the heck can't i have orange/lemon/avocado trees in my backyard!?....(not a change, but c'mon)

5.  i have learned i sleep better with one pillow, not FIVE like i thought i needed before i left :)

sooooo,  there you have it.    that's all i have.   too much change internally to really even describe here...some i haven't even processed yet.   today is a bit better with mood....mostly relating to waking up determined to get on the road again ASAP.   still have yet to unpack suitcase all the way.  jewelry supplies/tools?...forget it.   that will happen only with a cold drink or two and when i finally stub each and every toe i have on the boxes (still laying on the floor in the middle of the walkway).  

back to getting on the road ASAP.......manifesting a way to get paid while traveling.  making jewelry can only bring in so much, plus i actually have to MAKE jewelry on the road, and then bring all the supplies, beads, tools, finished products with me.  i've done this already, it became very complicated, very quickly; looking for a simpler approach this time around...and also simple packing.  i'm all about simplicity; less is more approach. 

though the freedom of driving is ideal.....the slow pace of a train cross country, not paying gas prices, scenic views ~hard to top that.   still smitten with going through utah/colorado by train.....one of the highlights of my life.   i will be traveling by train MUCH MUCH MORE as time goes on.  experience of a lifetime.

side note, does anybody use jojoba oil?...isn't it the most amazing ever?

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

...in the way life does...

         ( Stefanie Renee Lindeen prints - Teahouse Studio)

DAY 2 - I wake up still confused as to where I am.  I get up, put contacts in, pee, wash hands, go into kitchen and make coffee as I did every day before I left on the trip in January.  Did the trip even happen?....that is the question I asked myself this morning.  It feels odd stepping back into things as if none of it happened.  It feels like I should be coming "home" to a completely new environment.  *Something* should be different...anything....but no, it's all the same.  How does one adjust?  Though it doesn't *really* compare, I can't help but think about soldiers who come back from the war.  Is it like this?.....you just don't seem to fit anymore....things *should* be different...what once felt natural, feels unnatural now....or maybe it just feels uncomfortable to be doing the same things.

I'm sitting on the bed, finished earrings all laid out to reactivate in the Etsy shop ....i once again fight the urge to pack it all up.   I get distracted and go through all my travel/train trip pictures once more; yes, it DID all happen.  Okay, I look at earrings again and know that they helped me to fund my trip...so I look at them and smile.  I contemplate getting scissors and open up the rest of the supply/jewelry boxes I shipped back to Georgia when I knew I was headed back.   I like seeing them all piled up on the floor ~ evidence of a decision to pack it all up and go....trusting that it would all play out, somehow in the way life does :)

Monday, April 2, 2012

restless again...

 
DAY 1 of being back from an almost 3 month trip and I am already restless, looking up travel documentaries to watch on Netflix, feeling a bit depressed as I begin to unpack and so I quit, I take down the clothes I have already hung up in the closet and I put them back in the suitcase.  I don't know how to be "home" anymore....it doesn't feel right.  I want to be somewhere I haven't been....I want to feel slightly uncomfortable to not have what I am used to around.  I want to wish I had brought another pair of shoes, or that one comfy t-shirt that I love to sleep in.  I *WANT* to live out of a suitcase.  I am restless and uneasy....and I wonder if I will continue to feel this way or if this feeling will pass.  I hope it doesn't pass....I am eager to put more train/plane/bus identification tags on my bags.  I miss sleeping uncomfortably....I woke up this morning completely confused as to where I was.  The comfort of my own bed made me uncomfortable. 
I sit here looking at my lotion, contact solution, zyrtec, nail polish, and I am tempted to put them back in their travel bag once more.  Even *they* look uncomfortable ....the lavender and turquoise polish seems to scream at me "take me to the ocean once more....let me see those rocks and mountains of Utah and Colorado.....or even more "take me somewhere I have never been...don't make us sit here "settled" into what used to be"..........
oh me.  vagabond.  gypsy.  wanderer.  traveler.  seeker.  discoverer.  breathing in every state, country, continent....that is what I long to do, and that is what I *shall* do...somehow, someway, someday sooner rather than later.