Today was quite the long day. I had to be at work at 6a, and just now (9:30p) got off the phone on another work call. I'm so grateful that I could leave the office this afternoon and take a nap!
On the way home, since it was midday and bright out, I drove the long way 'round (which is usually prettier and more interesting in my experience).
I updated my page on LA Graphic Art with the photos of the murals I took this afternoon. Take a look - so beautiful!
Beauty is everywhere...if you just look for it.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Day 315: You reap what you sow
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
First harvest of my beans! Don't worry, I put the carrot back in the soil. I just wanted to see how big it was getting. Yeah, I know. I'm really patient.
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First harvest of my beans! Don't worry, I put the carrot back in the soil. I just wanted to see how big it was getting. Yeah, I know. I'm really patient.
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Day 314: Beauty in everyday life
Day 314 - Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Art! By a very talented up & coming photographer, Emile Askey. I finally got around to hanging my prints. I love being surrounded by beauty in my home.
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Art! By a very talented up & coming photographer, Emile Askey. I finally got around to hanging my prints. I love being surrounded by beauty in my home.
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Monday, April 23, 2012
Day 311 - 313: Que hermosa
Saturday April 21, 2012 - Day 311Hooray for getting to spend the weekend celebrating one of my best friend's 30th birthdays in Hermosa Beach!
Sunday, April 22, 2012 - Day 312
My beans are sprouting!
Monday, April 23, 2012 - Day 313
Today I took a mental health day and went for a hike in Temescal Canyon and then sat by the Pacific for some much needed nature/solitude time. I'm grateful that I have the privilege of getting away from work, but also that I have a job to go to!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Day 309 & 310: the chance for change
Thursday, April 19, 2012
I'm thankful for the blissful feeling of warm late spring air on my arms and legs as I ride my bike home from work.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Oh good gracious, thank god it's Friday. This week has been excruciating. This week, I learned:
1. I am not as laid-back as I want to be.
2. I still, despite all the work I have done, have a really hard time standing up for myself, whether it's telling someone something they don't want to hear, asking for repayment on money fairly owed to me, or protecting my boundaries and myself at work/not allowing coworkers to blatantly exploit me and my stupid WASP work ethic.
3. Partly related to #2, my integrity costs a lunch. I recently lied for someone because I felt too cruel being honest, and in return for this "favor" of lapsed integrity, I'm being repaid with a lunch. So my integrity costs approximately $15, which seems sadly cheap.
Like I said, this week has been pretty gross. I don't want to get stuck in these feelings and struggles, just pause for a beat to absorb the lessons and then move on to something greater and more positive. I'm grateful for difficult moments and feelings, because they offer me an opportunity to grow and change. After all, you know what they say, if I do the same thing day in and day out and expect different results...
I'm thankful for the blissful feeling of warm late spring air on my arms and legs as I ride my bike home from work.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Oh good gracious, thank god it's Friday. This week has been excruciating. This week, I learned:
1. I am not as laid-back as I want to be.
2. I still, despite all the work I have done, have a really hard time standing up for myself, whether it's telling someone something they don't want to hear, asking for repayment on money fairly owed to me, or protecting my boundaries and myself at work/not allowing coworkers to blatantly exploit me and my stupid WASP work ethic.
3. Partly related to #2, my integrity costs a lunch. I recently lied for someone because I felt too cruel being honest, and in return for this "favor" of lapsed integrity, I'm being repaid with a lunch. So my integrity costs approximately $15, which seems sadly cheap.
Like I said, this week has been pretty gross. I don't want to get stuck in these feelings and struggles, just pause for a beat to absorb the lessons and then move on to something greater and more positive. I'm grateful for difficult moments and feelings, because they offer me an opportunity to grow and change. After all, you know what they say, if I do the same thing day in and day out and expect different results...
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Day 307 - 308: Useless desires
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
"Let us decide on the route that we wish to take to pass our life, and attempt to sow that route with flowers."
— Madame du Chatele
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Today's happiness quote is:
"The disturbers of happiness are our desires, our griefs, and our fears."
— Samuel Johnson
How true! I've been working on feeling content with what I have. I also rediscovered the song "Useless Desires" by Patty Griffin, which I think aligns well.
"Let us decide on the route that we wish to take to pass our life, and attempt to sow that route with flowers."
— Madame du Chatele
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Today's happiness quote is:
"The disturbers of happiness are our desires, our griefs, and our fears."
— Samuel Johnson
How true! I've been working on feeling content with what I have. I also rediscovered the song "Useless Desires" by Patty Griffin, which I think aligns well.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Day 304 - 306: LA al fresco
Day 304 - Saturday, April 14
There's always something beautiful, even in the mess - if you look hard enough, long enough.
Day 305 - Sunday, April 15
Sunday brunch al fresco - homemade broccoli cheddar quiche! And then some quiet reading time under the orange blossoms...
Day 306 - Monday, April 16
Loving yourself is way, way harder than I imagined. I can't say I have it figured out yet, or that I'm all the way there, but I'm getting pretty close to a serious crush.
There's always something beautiful, even in the mess - if you look hard enough, long enough.
Day 305 - Sunday, April 15
Sunday brunch al fresco - homemade broccoli cheddar quiche! And then some quiet reading time under the orange blossoms...
Day 306 - Monday, April 16
Loving yourself is way, way harder than I imagined. I can't say I have it figured out yet, or that I'm all the way there, but I'm getting pretty close to a serious crush.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Day 301 - 303: Rains
LA styled by rain looks like this:
Day 301 - April 11, 2012
After a stellar weekend of sunshine, a storm has hit the Southland.
Here's Balloona Creek, which actually looks like a creek for once.
Not only does this weather make me appreciate the nice weather all the more, it's a reminder that balance in all things is at times uncomfortable but necessary.
Day 302 - Thursday, April 12, 2012
Today was a bit of a rainy, dreary day. In order to best use up some of my leftovers, I tossed some broccoli, chickpeas and feta over some orecchiette for dinner. Then, to use up the zucchini, I made Zucchini Spice Bread. It came out pretty lovely!
I tried to put a line of walnuts down the center to make it look all gourmet and arty. Would-be bakers, a note: walnuts are heavier than this baking mix and sink into it. So there are random walnuts floating in this zucchini loaf, an accidental surprise treat for the consumer.
Day 303 - April 13, 2012
Today I was an idiot and tried to beat the weather (how might one do this? how does one "beat" the weather?). This was not particularly well thought out. I know from numerous volksmarches in my childhood that the saying, "Just because it's raining here doesn't mean it's raining there!" is stupid and naively wishful thinking. No. It's raining there too. It doesn't matter where there is. Put your sweatpants on and curl up with some tea and soup, and keep your idiot self inside.
Instead, I biked to work in the rain. It wasn't raining when I left my little apartment, but as soon as I got a reasonable distance away (ie, far enough that my pride wouldn't allow me to turn around and just drive to work like a normal person) it started pouring. Luckily I had my trusty rainjacket on and Emile's generous birthday gift of a Timbuk2 bike bag is waterproof, but there's not much to say for your pride when your Keds are soaked and your toes inside freezing, your jeans clinging to your goosebumped legs, and water is dripping off your helmet into your eyes causing you to blink like a strobe light.
In trying to shoehorn this experience into something grateful, I can honestly say I'm grateful for:
a). Coworkers that say, "The weather is crap. Let's order pizza for lunch." Heck yes.
b). Coworkers that own trucks, take pity on your miserable appearance, and offer to drive you & your bike home (without laughing at you openly). Thank you Vivian.
c). Friday nights with nothing planned except sweatpants, wine, and movies.
Until c) starts, stay dry, my friends!
Day 301 - April 11, 2012
After a stellar weekend of sunshine, a storm has hit the Southland.
Here's Balloona Creek, which actually looks like a creek for once.
Not only does this weather make me appreciate the nice weather all the more, it's a reminder that balance in all things is at times uncomfortable but necessary.
Day 302 - Thursday, April 12, 2012
Today was a bit of a rainy, dreary day. In order to best use up some of my leftovers, I tossed some broccoli, chickpeas and feta over some orecchiette for dinner. Then, to use up the zucchini, I made Zucchini Spice Bread. It came out pretty lovely!
I tried to put a line of walnuts down the center to make it look all gourmet and arty. Would-be bakers, a note: walnuts are heavier than this baking mix and sink into it. So there are random walnuts floating in this zucchini loaf, an accidental surprise treat for the consumer.
Day 303 - April 13, 2012
Today I was an idiot and tried to beat the weather (how might one do this? how does one "beat" the weather?). This was not particularly well thought out. I know from numerous volksmarches in my childhood that the saying, "Just because it's raining here doesn't mean it's raining there!" is stupid and naively wishful thinking. No. It's raining there too. It doesn't matter where there is. Put your sweatpants on and curl up with some tea and soup, and keep your idiot self inside.
Instead, I biked to work in the rain. It wasn't raining when I left my little apartment, but as soon as I got a reasonable distance away (ie, far enough that my pride wouldn't allow me to turn around and just drive to work like a normal person) it started pouring. Luckily I had my trusty rainjacket on and Emile's generous birthday gift of a Timbuk2 bike bag is waterproof, but there's not much to say for your pride when your Keds are soaked and your toes inside freezing, your jeans clinging to your goosebumped legs, and water is dripping off your helmet into your eyes causing you to blink like a strobe light.
In trying to shoehorn this experience into something grateful, I can honestly say I'm grateful for:
a). Coworkers that say, "The weather is crap. Let's order pizza for lunch." Heck yes.
b). Coworkers that own trucks, take pity on your miserable appearance, and offer to drive you & your bike home (without laughing at you openly). Thank you Vivian.
c). Friday nights with nothing planned except sweatpants, wine, and movies.
Until c) starts, stay dry, my friends!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Helpmates not binaries
I came across a blogpost today I found very interesting. It's about the concept of binaries.
"One of the most well-known and defining characteristics of indigenous Andean thought is its adherence to a philosophical model based on yanantin or “complementary opposites” in which the polarities of existence (i.e.: male/female, dark/light, inner/outer) are seen as interdependent parts of a harmonious whole. Because existence is believed to be dependent upon the tension and balanced interchange between these contrasting pairs, there is a very definite ideological and practical commitment within indigenous Andean life to bringing them into harmony with one another.
It was my dismay over what I considered to be the Western world’s view of the polarities as antagonistic that prompted me to devote my doctoral research to understanding the concept of yanantin or “complementary opposites” in indigenous Andean thought. The resulting research has become a book, entitled, Yanantin and Masintin in the Andean World: Complementary Dualism in Modern Peru (University of New Mexico Press, 2012).
From Yanantin and Masintin in the Andean World, Chapter 4: Self and Other:
[T]he Andean model of reality is by no means a Utopian vision in which these oppositions are always easily and/or peacefully brought into a harmonious yanantin relationship with one another. On the contrary, the ‘paring’ of opposing forces can be violent as well as peaceful, depending on the context. In certain areas of the Andes, yearly tinkuy battles take place in which two groups (often groups of men but sometimes groups of women) meet and engage in physical combat with one another. … These violent tinkuy battles have been described as the physical, ritualized enactment of the collision of opposing forces taking place within the cosmos. While bloody and even sometimes deadly, they are said to promote fertility, moral equilibrium, and the resolution of boundary disputes (Allen, 1988, 2002; Bastien, 1992; Harrison, 1989). Bastien (1989) described the tinkuy battles as ‘a way of uniting opposite sides in a dialectic that clearly defines and recognizes the other as well as establishes their interdependence’ (p. 76). Thus, while violent, the battles are seen as a means by which points of tension are released and harmony can be achieved, for as Allen (2002) suggested, ‘Rivals in battle, like lovers, are yanantin (a matched pair; helpmates)..."
I love this idea of the binaries reinforcing one another and redefining one another, establishing their identity and interdependence not as oppositional but as helpmates.
To read the full post by Hillary Webb, click here.
"One of the most well-known and defining characteristics of indigenous Andean thought is its adherence to a philosophical model based on yanantin or “complementary opposites” in which the polarities of existence (i.e.: male/female, dark/light, inner/outer) are seen as interdependent parts of a harmonious whole. Because existence is believed to be dependent upon the tension and balanced interchange between these contrasting pairs, there is a very definite ideological and practical commitment within indigenous Andean life to bringing them into harmony with one another.
It was my dismay over what I considered to be the Western world’s view of the polarities as antagonistic that prompted me to devote my doctoral research to understanding the concept of yanantin or “complementary opposites” in indigenous Andean thought. The resulting research has become a book, entitled, Yanantin and Masintin in the Andean World: Complementary Dualism in Modern Peru (University of New Mexico Press, 2012).
From Yanantin and Masintin in the Andean World, Chapter 4: Self and Other:
[T]he Andean model of reality is by no means a Utopian vision in which these oppositions are always easily and/or peacefully brought into a harmonious yanantin relationship with one another. On the contrary, the ‘paring’ of opposing forces can be violent as well as peaceful, depending on the context. In certain areas of the Andes, yearly tinkuy battles take place in which two groups (often groups of men but sometimes groups of women) meet and engage in physical combat with one another. … These violent tinkuy battles have been described as the physical, ritualized enactment of the collision of opposing forces taking place within the cosmos. While bloody and even sometimes deadly, they are said to promote fertility, moral equilibrium, and the resolution of boundary disputes (Allen, 1988, 2002; Bastien, 1992; Harrison, 1989). Bastien (1989) described the tinkuy battles as ‘a way of uniting opposite sides in a dialectic that clearly defines and recognizes the other as well as establishes their interdependence’ (p. 76). Thus, while violent, the battles are seen as a means by which points of tension are released and harmony can be achieved, for as Allen (2002) suggested, ‘Rivals in battle, like lovers, are yanantin (a matched pair; helpmates)..."
I love this idea of the binaries reinforcing one another and redefining one another, establishing their identity and interdependence not as oppositional but as helpmates.
To read the full post by Hillary Webb, click here.
Day 295 - 300: Palm Springs
for April 5-10, 2012
What a gorgeous town, state, part of the world.
Happy birthday to me: I got a pool to myself (and my closest friends!) for the weekend.
I'm so grateful that so many of the people I love best in the world came out this weekend: Berna and the boys, Alex & Stephen, Shane & Jesse, Leslie, Norah, Amy, Hong & Razz. Thank you for making me feel so loved and coming out to celebrate my 30th!
What a gorgeous town, state, part of the world.
Happy birthday to me: I got a pool to myself (and my closest friends!) for the weekend.
I'm so grateful that so many of the people I love best in the world came out this weekend: Berna and the boys, Alex & Stephen, Shane & Jesse, Leslie, Norah, Amy, Hong & Razz. Thank you for making me feel so loved and coming out to celebrate my 30th!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Day 294: Abundance
for Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Farmer's Market, USC
I've been thinking about abundance a lot lately, perhaps a natural thing in the midst of spring (see above - abundant gorgeous vegetables!).
And at home, my beans and carrots are flourishing. Look how much they've grown!
Remember what they looked like at the beginning of March?
In addition to the flowering in the natural world (yes, even in LA with its perpetual summer), with the outpouring of love and generosity I experienced yesterday on my birthday, abundance is top of mind. I know some people who are struggling with abundance, holding on to opportunities as if they were the last of their kind, rather than believing that life will offer you so many gorgeous things you couldn't possibly even imagine. I touched back to Parker Palmer, who writes, "True abundance comes not to those set on securing wealth but to those who are willing to share apparent scarcity in a way that creates more than enough…true abundance is found not in hoarding but in community."
There is so much to be joyful about, and so much to share!
Farmer's Market, USC
I've been thinking about abundance a lot lately, perhaps a natural thing in the midst of spring (see above - abundant gorgeous vegetables!).
And at home, my beans and carrots are flourishing. Look how much they've grown!
Remember what they looked like at the beginning of March?
In addition to the flowering in the natural world (yes, even in LA with its perpetual summer), with the outpouring of love and generosity I experienced yesterday on my birthday, abundance is top of mind. I know some people who are struggling with abundance, holding on to opportunities as if they were the last of their kind, rather than believing that life will offer you so many gorgeous things you couldn't possibly even imagine. I touched back to Parker Palmer, who writes, "True abundance comes not to those set on securing wealth but to those who are willing to share apparent scarcity in a way that creates more than enough…true abundance is found not in hoarding but in community."
There is so much to be joyful about, and so much to share!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Day 293: 30
for Monday, April 2
Happy 30th to me!
I'm so grateful for a gorgeous southern California day. The sky was perfectly clear and it was in the 70s. So beautiful!
I'm so grateful to swim outside on my lunch break. I'm grateful that my coworker Elle took me to lunch. I'm grateful for the 100+ birthday wishes I got via Facebook, text message, video message, email and voicemail!
I'm grateful that my bff Alex corralled my best friends for an impromptu, informal bbq in my backyard. Thank you Alex, thank you Berna, thank you Shane, thank you Mike - for making time last minute to come sit in my backyard and share food and laughter. It was magical and wonderful to sit outside under (Berna & Becky's) fairy lights, eat mesquite-grilled turkey burgers, sausage, and veggies, and enjoy Alex's homemade flaming margaritas!
Thanks to Emile, Grandma K, Mary P, Kim, and Katharine for sending me birthday love in the mail. Emile, I love this bike bag, it's radically improving my commute and will be so useful for years to come! Katharine, I'm grateful to have a friend who shares my love of books, and introduces me to new ones. Your gifts are stacked on my nightstand, ready to be devoured!
I'm so lucky, so blessed. I am so thankful for my life.
I am so thankful for this life.
Happy 30th to me!
I'm so grateful for a gorgeous southern California day. The sky was perfectly clear and it was in the 70s. So beautiful!
I'm so grateful to swim outside on my lunch break. I'm grateful that my coworker Elle took me to lunch. I'm grateful for the 100+ birthday wishes I got via Facebook, text message, video message, email and voicemail!
I'm grateful that my bff Alex corralled my best friends for an impromptu, informal bbq in my backyard. Thank you Alex, thank you Berna, thank you Shane, thank you Mike - for making time last minute to come sit in my backyard and share food and laughter. It was magical and wonderful to sit outside under (Berna & Becky's) fairy lights, eat mesquite-grilled turkey burgers, sausage, and veggies, and enjoy Alex's homemade flaming margaritas!
Thanks to Emile, Grandma K, Mary P, Kim, and Katharine for sending me birthday love in the mail. Emile, I love this bike bag, it's radically improving my commute and will be so useful for years to come! Katharine, I'm grateful to have a friend who shares my love of books, and introduces me to new ones. Your gifts are stacked on my nightstand, ready to be devoured!
I'm so lucky, so blessed. I am so thankful for my life.
I am so thankful for this life.
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