Day Seven

I am grateful for air travel - and to be safely home!

Day Six

Today (Monday) I went on a work meeting to the de Young Museum.

It was really exciting to be around a group of really amazing artists and museum staff who are committed to shaking things up. It was a profoundly inspiring experience for which I'm totally grateful.

Day Four & Five (Traveling) Joint Post - but lots of gratitude!

photo from jrodmanjr on flikr

Because I have been traveling, I am posting double days - I actually wasn't on my computer at all yesterday. It was quite lovely.

Yesterday: I am thankful for Leslie, Alex, Berna, Maegan, Becky, Stephen, Vernon, Lucas & Nolan. I am thankful for Leslie who drove me to LA because it was what I needed to do and because we got to talk to each other the whole way.

I am thankful for Alex and Berna because they have been my best friends for so long, who show no signs of flagging, who love me for who I am, and who support me fully, wholly, completely.

I am thankful for Maegan, who is a lovely friend, and who continues to amaze me with her quiet laughter and generous spirit.

I am thankful for Becky and Stephen, because they love Berna and Alex respectively, are solid partners to them, and make my dear friends happy.

I am thankful for Lucas and Nolan, Berna and Becky's sons, because Berna and Becky are exactly the kind of people who should be having kids.

I am thankful for Vernon, who I have known forever, but who I have gotten to know more in recent years and I am enjoying our friendship so much. Some people are just really good souls, and Vernon is one of these.

I am thankful and grateful and completely love the family that I have chosen.

For today:
The picture above is where Leslie and I went running today. I am grateful for long runs in the sunshine with my dear friend. And most importantly I am grateful for mild California temperatures and no East Coast humidity.

I am also thankful for the family I was born into - namely my dad (Happy Father's Day). My dad is brilliant, funny, and the kindest man I know. I love you Dad.

Day Three - The Gratitude Project

Today, I am incredibly thankful to be California-bound. While some summer rain delayed me by about three hours, I am en route now. I am thankful for friends who are as dear and beloved and committed as family - and for any time I can spend in California.

Day Two - The Gratitude Project

Day Two!
Today I am grateful for being able to lunchtime walks in a New York summer.

Here are some the delights I passed by:



The apartment above the right-most door has used the stoop to grow plants on - an extended windowsill! Props for inventiveness! (Sorry the quality is so bad, I'm using my phone. I'll upgrade for you loyal readers to a real camera soon, promise).



A fountain in Marcus Garvey Park, refreshing and enticing on a hot summer day.



Delicious helados! If you can't read it, the flavors include "coco," "blue," and "chery."

And an absolutely lush little garden, remarkable for 20 sq feet, and proof you can make any space beautiful if you really try:



I have to say - this has already started to work. I went out today searching for beauty, and because I was looking for it, I found more of it.

Day One - The Gratitude Project

Today I am launching the Gratitude Project. Given some events in my life, I have been a bit down lately, and I don't want to get down. So to help me focus on the good things, and to help me seek out beautiful and wonderful things, I am going to share one beautiful, interesting, funny or awesome thing with you, my faithful readers, every day for the rest of 2011. Here's what I saw today, June 15, 2011: the Harlem Green Thumb garden, in full blossom, on 122nd Street at St Nick's.

Salon Anthro, Newsha Tavakolian, and a migration

I've been thinking about how to run this blog - it has in the past included a lot of personal stuff (food experiments, blizzard photos) as well as academic/intellectual work. As I'm trying to make a name for myself in the academic world, I've separated out that work into a new blog, SalonAnthro. SalonAnthro is meant as a receptacle for all things anthro, photography, museums, art and culture, and submissions by other writers, scholars, and artists are welcome.

I have posted new work from a recent conference at Princeton on my new academic blog, here.

Meanwhile, delighted observationist will remain my personal blog. Thanks for reading!
best,
Beth