Good News on the Fashion Front!

"2012 is all about the color green," -Essie founder Essie Weingarten

      So for those of you who don't know me, or who haven't noticed, I'm a little obsessed with the color green, specially a light lime green, the green that reminds you of mint ice cream, or the perfectly cut green topaz gemstone.  I've always been attracted to the cooler colors, but for some reason this particularly shade always makes me feel fresh and calm but still with a little sassy attitude.
          It's a color that has been hard to find, and whenever I do, I stake my claims.  My prized pistachio possession is my tea kettle, that is just as important to my kitchen's decor as it is to my morning cup of tea and honey.  But according to the waves of Spring 2012 fashion news, this specific color is actually trendy, therefore making it more available to find on the market!  So Hello Spring!  I'm so ready to feel the sunshine on my skin and a season full of my favorite color!  Even my favorite nail brand included it as part of their new collection!  Maybe 2012 really is my year of luck!

Afterthoughts and Revolutions

So Long, Farewell Boston,

but lets have a recap of my Beantown Adventure

          As some may know, every year I strive to go to 5 new places every year, and this year I got an early start visiting two new places in one trip.  Since this started as a resolution two years ago now, I've done my best to accomplish it.  2010 was a year of adventuring with friends, 2011 became a year of traveling with romance by my side and so for 2012 I decided it was time to have a journey of solidarity, where I could take time for myself to think and grow.

Year 2010: Charleston SC, Los Angeles CA, Asheville NC, Williamsburg VA, Outer Banks NC
Year 2011:  New York NY, Indianapolis IN, Chicago IL, Grandfather Mountain NC

Year 2012: 1) Boston, Massachusetts
                   2) Brooklyn, New York


Firsts in Boston:  Tried Lobster
                            Been to a Brewry
                            Tried a Cannoli
                            Been to a NBA Game
                            Tried Mochi

Sights I Saw:      Nichols House Museum
                           Harpoon's Brewry Tour
                           JFK Museum
                           Museum of Fine Arts (MFA)
                           Isabelle Gardner Museum


Brooklyn:    Seen the Brooklyn Bridge
                           The Metropolitan Museum of Art


          When I left Greensboro, I was looking for answers.  Or maybe for a path.  And I thought that when those 11 days were over, I'd feel even more anxious then before I left.  But instead I found a calmness I hadn't expected to find in a place where every street is busy and every person has a mission.
          This week was about being able to start making decisions with a perspective so I surrounded myself everyday with amazing art, beautiful food, and positive energy.  It brought a part of my back to life.  Plus, there's just nothing better than spending a Saturday afternoon shopping at Bloomingdales in Soho, with one of your best friends, sipping on mango spritzers in wine glasses and chocolate covered strawberries being passed around.
          Right now I am the best version of myself.  I carry a serenity with me and I have brought back a different kind joy to my life, realizing that distance is only a number of miles, not a number of steps to something else.  When we surround ourselves with ideas and people that inspire us, we tend to let our souls free and let ourselves live in a contentment that encourages creation, happiness and love.  Going home to greensboro, I can feel myself glowing, ready for anything, and letting what may come into my life with no hesitation.

Surroundings

          Happiness is an emotion not a destination.  We may not be happy all the time, but if we decide that we can be happy in this moment, then we can let ourselves cherish the day.  So I've been surrounding myself with things that make me happy.  I exchanged my matching orange pillowcases with one that my grandmother embroidered and one that I had on my very first big girl bed when I was two.  They comfort me when a moment of tribulation arrives and offer a sense of hope that when I wake up the sun will have risen on a better day.
          And when there are days that I feel the least motivated or in need of something productive to do, I give myself a challenge, or a project, something that will give me an accomplishment.  Something that will make me happy in that moment. Something that will save me from a moment of doubt.  Cupcakes save me.  Especially vanilla cupcakes with homemade butterscotch frosting and green sprinkles!

Finished Cupcakes!

In Full Bloom

Like flowers that bloom in winter,

Climate changes bring a new atmosphere

and bring into focus a new center.

My soul takes hold and sings its song.

Something unfolding and embracing.

Love is waiting.

Song of the day (click green link above)

Nature for the Soul

          There are few places in this world that have a special part of my heart.   Places where I grew up and that have become woven in the fabric of my being, shaping the person I've become.  If you ever pass through Harrisburg, North Carolina you should take a walk down the trails of Frank Liske Park.  

          My Dad and I would take walks there on Sunday afternoons when I was little.  We'd have our own family adventures, for a few hours, exploring the trees, the flowing stream, and the spaces in between.  It seemed so endless then, the trees too tall to see the tops of, the water so high I could bury my feet in the sand, and the beauty of the wild violets so pristine that I dared to even touch them.  Now when I walk through the woods it brings me back to that feeling, that anything was possible, that the world had so many special places to share, and that it was a secret only I knew.

          Frank Liske has seen many parts of my life, in some ways I grew up with those trees.  After the afternoon adventures, it was field competitions with classmates and jogging with friends in high school.  The trees heard sweethearts talking about futures that seemed so far away, and heart to hearts with girlfriends about the occasional prom date and their greatest desires.   Then it was bringing home friends from college to meet them and to be playful again between projects and GPAs.   I can't help but think of the people who've been in my life that I've shared the trails with, some who came and quickly left, and others who will forever be in my heart. 

         For today's nostalgia,  I took myself back to being a junior in high school and I seeing my entire future ahead of me.  I knew exactly what I wanted and how I was going to get it.  After a walk through these tree on a summer afternoon, a friend and I sat on the porch with their family, and when their parents asked me what I was going to do, I said I was going to be the editor of the yearbook senior year, I was going to receive an early acceptance from UNCG, which I had already applied for, and then I was going to graduate with a degree in design four years later.  

          So here I am, those four years later, walking through the trees and I no longer have any idea what the future ahead of me is.  I still know what I want and an idea of how to get there, but its not a rigid plan of do's and don'ts on a checklist anymore.  It's an overwhelming feeling of helplessness, not being able to see the future, not being able to make what you want happen instantaneously.  The only thing left is the moment in front of me, this very moment.  So I took this afternoon to listen to the trees again, and to let the silence of the park envelop me,  to touch the textures allowing them to linger on my fingertips,  and hoping the crispness of the air will seep into my veins giving restoration to my soul so I can let that feeling of endlessness back in.  Because at 22 I'm on another adventure, and the only thing in front of me is a future.

(This rock was my thinking spot where I could sit for hours)

  

 

Reflection on the Stream 

Hello 2012

11 has always been my lucky number.

-My last name is 11 letters, my full name is 22

-I got my driver's license on January 11

-I graduated high school June 11

-I graduated college in the class of 2011

          So without fail 2011 was an amazing year, a rollar coaster of success and failure, of trial and error, of price and cost, and of love and lost.  But there were so many valuable lessons learned, that I take with me into 2012 making me stronger, to build bigger dreams with more accomplishments ahead.  

         New Years is my favorite holiday, because it gives us all a chance to begin again.  We enter a new year, celebrating with sparklers, bubbles, and glitter, all of which make my world a little bit better.  But it also marks a more tangible beginning, when we can see the numbers change, and the old calendars are thrown away, leaving us with a clean slate.  Day 1.  

          We have 365 days to make something great, an addition to our lives or another chapter to include.  I don't know what 2012 will have in store for my life, but I know that it is the beginning, like a bloom ready to open with an elegant beauty for the world to enjoy.

Bullseye

My First Bullseye!

Sometimes the answers in life come to you in moments of subtly.

I live my life now with assurance of self, of where I want my future to go and knowing the pieces I want to bring with me.  My life is full of things that are flourishing.  Einstein has grown into a cat, my plants are budding with orange winter blooms, and most of the people in my life are in a transition of change into a new future.  I've have learned that change is a good thing,  and since its unavoidable its a waste of energy and karma to fight it.  I have put myself on the line and now it is time for the universe to take my life where it may.  Cherishing those I love, and living day to day, I live only in happiness and trust that the energy I give to the universe will come back to me when the time is right.