PHOTO FRIDAY - Chaos

Homeland Fearcurity

Will Homeland Security's attempts at invoking fear in all of us never cease? Glad they are putting their efforts into 15" x 7 1/2" ads in the paper... And I hope that kids across the nation do their jobs and keep those bookbags on their back at all times. SWAT teams are standing by.

How Will We Get There?

I can feel summer winding down... The air is getting crisper and the mornings are cool. I like the cool nights - perfect sleeping weather. And autumn is beautiful. Dry air, colorful leaves, everything gradually changing, preparing for winter. Then one day, the preparation is done and I feel like I missed it. Autum crispness mingling with winter cold. That thought is what makes me miss hot summer nights already. Sweat and humidity seem so comforting compared to cold snow and wet toes.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Dreams

What a cheater am I. Just a slight expansion of reflection became dreamy to me...

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Reflection

Another late submission...

Belly

I have been a lazy poster lately. Need to do some Illustration Friday stuff soon. Ahhhh. Friday. I love that word. Here is a photo of my pregnant friend's belly that I took a while ago and forgot about.

Deadlines

Lazy me. Another quote. I've always loved this one though.

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
- Douglas Noel Adams

Resolution

From my Just for today calendar - August 23rd (I want to make my own of these by the way...better really start collecting my thoughts I suppose):

I will make a concrete step toward resolving a situation I've been uncomfortable with.

Hmmm. That's usually a good idea, huh? I'll have to think about it.

Little situation right now - arguing and ignoring because of a snooze button disagreement. Jeez. People are weird and so goofy and bizarre at times and yes, I am including myself in this. (Goofy and bizarre are under thesaurus listing for ridiculous - I like them better than ridiculous - sound a little more quirky and nice)

Name three

1. Pet Peeves: talking on cell phones in restaurants, not pulling into intersection when making left turn at light, snoring (can that be a pet peeve?)
2. Favorite Sounds: crickets (or katydids or cicadas – whatever that wonderful summer sound is), rain starting slow, then pouring, and then mingling with thunder, ocean waves crashing in
3. Biggest Fears: being alone, not being successful, drowning
4. Biggest Challenges: letting go of fears, having confidence in creativity, trusting
5. Favorite Stores: used bookstores, half.com (even though it’s not really a store), AC Moore
6. Most Used Words: soooo, dude (recently), why
7. Favorite Pizza Toppings: ricotta, black olives, onions
8. Favorite Cartoon Characters: Woody Woodpecker, Shaggy, George Jetson
9. Movies Recently Watched: Primer, The Machinist, The Upside of Anger
10. Favorite Fruits & Vegetables: pineapples, strawberries (especially covered in chocolate), blueberries, celery, baby spinach, sweet corn

I stole that from Allison at Cornelian Cherry. Thanks! :)

Life

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. -W.M. Lewis

Weekend Happiness

3 things that make you happy:
Weekends!
Live music
A great yoga session

2 things you looking forward to today:
Seeing Tori Amos tonight
Giving and taking some affection to and from a certain person

2 long term things you looking forward to:
Writing a book
Painting something to hang in the living room

1 person you are going to appreciate:
My dog Hunter (sorry, not a person) but he is injured and he has been depressed

Random Dinero

Found the new nickel in my pile of change. At first I thought it was a foreign coin and got all excited like a big dork. But, just a nickel. I don't know if I dig the new design. Something isn't working for me. I like the whole ocean thing, but overall.... I don't know.

I guess in the big picture though, my liking or disliking the design of the new US nickel isn't really all that important. Ha. :)

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Wisdom

PHOTO FRIDAY - Violet

More MusikFest photos - during Railroad Earth's set.

Realizing your dreams.

So I think that this year may be the first year that I am truly beginning to realize my dreams. I will leave out short-lived childhood dreams, because I’m sure I filled lots of them in the quick imaginative ways that children do. I don’t mean to make them sound unimportant; in a way they’re the most important ones, it’s just that I don’t very clearly remember them.

It feels really great to finally say “Screw you, fears! I’m doing it.” And yes, the bouts of fear sometimes come tumbling over me like waves one after another, almost knocking me down and pulling me under, but I’ve managed to keep my breath for the most part in this past year. Sure, it gets difficult, but I’m learning to keep the focus on the dreams and get back into it when I slack instead of beating myself up and sinking down low.

I’m so excited for what’s coming next! New place, new people, new space, new environment, new ways for me to express myself and relate to others. Yeah, there are some scary things in there. Ugh. Meeting new people. Not knowing anyone in a new place. Being in a house with only a boy who sometimes drives me out of my mind (but who I love!)…Scary stuff, but it’s like all of these new doors are going to open and my vision will be so much wider.

So, one of the big dreams that I’m finally realizing is art. Doing art. Living art. Creating it every day instead of imagining it and dreaming about it. Art school. Finally. Coming. Hopefully. I am so excited about the thoughts of it being “real” and the thoughts of sharing my creativity with people who can help me grow and evolve as an artist.

I’ve taken so many paths that have lead me away from being an artist, and it feels right to now be on the path to being one. And if it doesn’t work out at least I will know how to invoke creative sparks in my life at as many turns as possible.

Right now, first step, coming up soon – Art on the Avenue. I’m going to actually (hopefully – ha ha) sell some things that I’ve created. I’m so excited about this, but I have to admit it’s a bit intimidating to put myself out there like that. I’m sure that, to a certain degree, I will unfortunately tend to hold back a bit in terms of what I put out there, but I’ll try to let go.

That’s all for now. For today, I just want to create a yummy dinner. Red beans and rice and wine. Yum.

PHOTO FRIDAY - Complexity

Musica

Went to MusikFest in Bethlehem last night to celebrate Marly's graduation from college! Woo hoo. Real life. Er. Yup.

Well, a good time was had by all of us. Only got to hear one band, but it was a nice, mellow, relaxing night. Need more nights like that. Going to take Allison tonight. We are going to get out of the art room and go have fun!

Here are some photos from last night:

Watch Her Disappear

Sorry for the lazy post, but I heard this song by Tom Waits for the first time this weekend and immediately fell in love with it. The imagery is amazing and the sound of the song is slow and sultry and mischievous and romantic. What a great song. I think that whole album is my new obsession.

Watch Her Disappear by Tom Waits

Last night I dreamed that I was dreaming of you
And from a window across the lawn I watched you undress
Wearing your sunset of purple tightly woven around your hair
That rose in strangled ebony curls
Moving in a yellow bedroom light
The air is wet with sound
The faraway yelping of a wounded dog
And the ground is drinking a slow faucet leak
Your house is so soft and fading as it soaks the black summer heat
A light goes on and the door opens
And a yellow cat runs out on the stream of hall light and into the yard
A wooden cherry scent is faintly breathing the air
I hear your champagne laugh
You wear two lavender orchids
One in your hair and one on your hip
A string of yellow carnival lights comes on with the dusk
Circling the lake with a slowly dipping halo
And I hear a banjo tango

And you dance into the shadow of a black poplar tree
And I watched you as you disappeared
I watched you as you disappeared

Listening to: Alice by Tom Waits
Reading: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Aging

Heavenly

Crickets loudly singing their chirping song, echoing through the heat and sliding off perfect blades of grass on a hot summer afternoon. Thermometers with their mercury levels off the chart and you know it's true as a bead of sweat collects at the nape of your neck. You feel another sliding down to join it in a pool of summer bliss. "Too hot," you say, knowing you wouldn't want it any other way. Lying on the grass, a gentle touch from the person next to you tells you that you're home in a way that nothing else ever could. You sigh as you relax even deeper into the warmth of the day. Enjoying the man playing guitar gently, in an off-hand way that you would love to perfect. The sound wraps around your body and someone starts singing the lonesome blues and heaven is in you now. Heavenly summer afternoon.

Revelations

Sometimes revelations can be the most amazing thing. That "ah-ha" moment that leads you out of something, whether it be your situation or your thoughts or your environment. Other times... they knock you over, like having a brick thrown at your stomach and you can't catch your breath and your heart is beating so hard that you think people may be able to see it. I had one of those this morning. Not the best way to start the morning. It's like I realized that so many things that I thought were real and honest may not be. And even I, who analyze and pick apart, don't always notice.

3 things that make me happy:
- Moments of complete peace and calm and the feeling that everything will work out
- Creating something that I love
- Feeling loved and wanted

2 things I look forward to today:
- Finishing the book that I'm reading
- Letting go

2 long term things I look forward to:
- A new bright and cozy space in a new state in a new house with a new outlook
- Letting go

1 person I am going to appreciate:
- Myself

3 things 2 things

On another note, I dig Wil Wheaton's blog: http://www.wilwheaton.net/
His writing style is real and sarcastic and up front. Nice, nice. I like.

Too much to say. Not enough ways to say it right. So shut your mouth, she said.

Listening to:
Love Song for Bobby Long soundtrack...
and once again, yearning for N'awlins....

Next up on book-on-tape list:
The Diving-Bell & the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
Written by a man who suddenly suffered from a stroke which left him in a state called "Locked-in Syndrome". He become virtually paralyzed and was left to communicate through blinking of his eyes alone. He ended up working with a woman who translated, letter by letter through blinking his left eye, his words and his story was published three days before his death. It is an amazing, inspirational, and sad story and I can't wait to read it in his words. I believe they are making a movie out of this story, and I believe Johnny Yummy Depp will be playing the lead role.
(check out this site for some info: http://www.thei.aust.com/isite/btl/btlbauby.html)

PHOTO FRIDAY - Somber

I believe this was taken in a very cool bottom-of-the-mountain town in Massachusetts near the Berkshires, where Dave and I would much enjoy living but it didn't work out. Mr. Anonymous, correct me if I'm wrong on the location. Remember the town name?

Foot Art

Here is some Henna-ish foot art I did on Dave's beautiful foot while camping this weekend. Does anyone know how much visual symbolism comes into play in henna on the body? Just curious. I think I'll have to look it up.

Nonsense

Vernunft wird Unsinn...from a saying by Goethe about reason becoming nonsense.

10 Books You'd Like to See Made Into a Movie

How can the weekend sometimes seem so impossibly far off? That's how it seems today. May go sailing though, which would be awesome! We'll see. That sounds so New England preppy rich... "Well, I may go saaaiiiling this weekend".

Anyway, came across this Ten on Tuesday thing which is pretty cool, so here you go, though I can't even finish my first 10 list...will add to it.


10 Books You'd Like to See Made Into a Movie

1. Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
2. Four Corners by Kira Salak
   
3. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
4. The Stand by Stephen King (I'd like to see an all-out movie, not a mini-series which was already done)
5. Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland
6. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
7. Deepsix by Jack McDevitt
8. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (I know it’s been done, but it would be cool if Peter Jackson did it)

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'But then,' thought Alice. 'shall I never get any older than I am now? That'll be a comfort, one way--never to be an old woman--but then--always to have lessons to learn!'

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“Come, there’s no use in crying like that!” said Alice to herself rather sharply. “I advise you to leave off this minute!” She generally gave herself good advice (though she very seldom followed it).


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New book on my to-read list...
Letters from New Orleans by Rob Walker
I've been craving New Orleans. I've never been there but it keeps calling me. I guess for now I'll visit it in a book...