I want to be here

Once upon a time

Looking Forward

(Italian Archways)
Look...

I am looking forward. Not both ways, not behind, forward.(Bonaventure Cemetery)
Looking forward to swimming in an hour, looking forward to a brisk walk along the river as the sun goes down with jelly legs, looking forward to Easter just around the corner, looking forward to wearing the cutesie heals that my Mom bought me today, looking forward to the next great travel adventure, (Mom overlooking Italian coastline), looking forward to wishing my sister a happy 14th birthday, looking forward to Adam's basic training graduation in May, looking forward to seeing my bf in Portland for a week, looking forward to attending the jammin Sasquatch festival with her,

(Playin for a dollar to buy a cold beer, Greece)
looking forward to perfect summer nights, looking forward to my next creative venture on the white canvas that awaits me, looking forward to frozen yogurt with friends, looking forward to Andy Stanley's next word of wisdom, looking forward to learning all about my new and cool small groupies, looking forward to finishing my online teaching classes, looking forward to diving into the next unread book on my shelves, (Looking for Janis Joplin on a car? San Francisco)
looking forward to American Idol tomorrow night, looking forward to hearing back from the Peace Corps!, looking forward to everything that is to come...not to dwell on what has not been done. LOOKING FORWARD.

Readbliss

The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
I'm about halfway thru and questioning so many things that do/don't make me happy. It's an interesting time in my life to be reading this book because I've been juggling these up/down emotions for about a week...maybe overly introspective about it.
Eric is a man in search of the 'happiest' places in the world...but he basically ends up going to the places that are 'rated' as the most content, discovering that all happiness is defined differently. He explores philosophies and earns epiphanies into the science of happiness. In Qatar, for example, they will buy a $2,000 ink pen for happiness. Will you? He hops from place to place and brings to light many interesting geographic observations. I like it so far..it's funny.

Seconds

A cool building in Dublin, windows of strange and colorful Warhol type images...


Rural GA...typical scene.


Flowers...my weakness.


Japan floor covered in cherry blossoms.


Hawaii totem..wisdom.

Unforeseen Events

Unforeseen Events
Always something unexpected happens.
He who takes off one shirt
Has to take off three more
And a walk between two elms
Ends in the jungle.
He who looks at a woman
Is lost
For the moment comes
When she calls his glance
To account.
Even metaphysics
Begin by inconspicuously
Exciting hearts.

Astonishment paves the way
For the incomprehensible.
Unforeseen events
Redeem the minutes...

Translated from German by Michael Bullard

Hurry up Day

(Porte, with a walled fort in the background. Mysterious. Lagos, Portugal. 2007)

Hurry up DAY...I've been waiting for you to be over since you began. What a long, tearfilled, rainy and overcast, cold in and out day...BUT WAIT. What am I saying? This day, today March 22, 2010 is the only one of this day that I will ever live again...it is a day that will live in my mind, a day that I won't forget. A day, which hopefully, I will look back on and say WHEW! Glad that happened to me because look where I am now...
we shall see.
Nothing that good photography from my past won't fix. A remedy in Reminiscence.

(I don't know why, I but in my mind I am speaking in elegant British poetic prose. Excuse me if my commentary seems a bit...out of sorts.)


(And the sun will set with beauty and grace as it has every night before. Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica. 2006)

(aaah Segovia, Spain, a fair town indeed. 2007)


I stole this from a very cool and interesting wordpress blog by my friend Lauren : http://happilyevernow.wordpress.com/

It made me bite my tongue.


Look to this day!
For it is life,
The very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities
And realities of your existence;

The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendor of beauty.
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today well-lived
Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore to this day!
Such is the Salutation to the Dawn. -Kalidasa


And so...it is me now. I will think only to the placement of my next footstep, the next meal, the next hour; Living presently and enjoy each day as it comes. And I might just enjoy a good poem, a spot of tea and knickers right out of the dryer. Indeed.

Adieu Adam Adieu

My boyfriend, Adam, is leaving for the Air Force in the morning...heading to TX to begin the long journey towards becoming a PJ. http://www.pararescue.com/


I know he will be amazing, I know he will be strong and brave in the face of adversity, I know he will succeed because that is just the type of person he is. He cares so much for people...he wants to devote his life to saving and helping them, even if it means risking his own.

Only one problem...
I am going to miss him :(


something for both of us, for all of us: Each difficult moment has the potential to open our eyes and open our hearts.

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.

Pic by Melly Chap

Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.

(I literally googled inspiration quotes...cheesy, but hey! true!)

Adam, you are loved.

Listen, Gentlemen!

I write poetry, Gentlemen!

I write poetry, gentlemen, I write poetry,
but please don't call me a poetess;
I swig my wine like the bricklayers do
And I have an assistant who talks to herself.
This world's a strange place.
things happen, gentlemen, that I don't disclose;
they build cases, for example, yet never build homes
for the poor who can't afford them.

And old maids are always having it out with their dogs,
married men with their mistresses,
yet no one says anything to the brutal tyrants.
And we read about the deaths, and flip the pages,
and the people hate us and we say: that's life,
and they step on our necks and we don't get up.
All this happens, gentlemen, and I must say it.

Translated from Spanish by Brian Barker
Various photos from tumblr and Melly Chap in Denmark!

Mocha the Dog

Check out this beautiful dog and this beautiful picture that Adam took of her! It's a piercing photograph, right?!
His dog in college, her name is Mocha.

I want one!!!!!

Cosmic spring!

Doesn't this make you want to sit down at tea time, with a scone or something sweet and delicious to eat, talk about antiques and think of the old days when women wore bonnets...


Super weird and fun. My friend Katie took this pic in college. I cosmically sanctioned it..mainly because Tim's hat is so fantastic.

Spring makes me excited.

Somewhere from the cosmos, a little magic spark takes flight, crosses through the atmospheres, drifts into my realm, into my life, into my room, my plants begin to grow and bloom...spring is springing!

Adam->

Adam and a Kitty

Love this blanket.
We had a picnic in the yard. Lucy is the kitty in the picture...the curious kitty.

Dark air

I've been contemplating the next step lately. Where am I going from here? Being here has given me great things: strength, love, friends, safety. A challenge awaits me, something hard, out of my comfort zone, something that scares me, that I can't control. Helping someone else with something that I can't understand. Helping someone else with all that I have to give. Giving, learning, growing, listening, sharing. How do I know what is right? I have these options, I'm free to do whatever I want. Why is there fear in freedom?


Can we offer a little light on those moments that come so suddenly? Moments of clarity that are clouded by dark air. Out of reach, yet right in front of you.
How often do those moments pass us by?

Imaginary lines

"Simplicity is the glory of expression."



"From this hour I ordain myself loose of limits & imaginary lines, Going where I list, my own master total & absolute,
Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me."


Walt Whitman