a slow morning listening to the acorns fall [or be plummaged] from the trees. delicious coffee. pandora otis redding. poking through my new recipe book. all on my front porch.

i love you asheville.

Woo! A quick break.

So used to moving at light speed, I almost forget what it feels like to slowwwww dowwwnnn...

The Sustainable Living Roadshow tour I was going to be a part of just ran into a terrible misfortune of losing one of their three biodiesel busses... which kind of [and by kind of, I mean entirely] eliminates the possibility of the last leg of volunteers hopping on board.

So suddenly, I am faced with two and a half months of complete and total, unadulterated freedom.

o.O

And without hesitation, I am already scouring the interwebs for opportunities to fill up my schedule.

Why? I haven't a clue. Maybe because I'm finally understanding my own swing of things. People have always told me I need to relax, to slow down... etc etc. But I find that I do that in the most random moments, in moments that I cannot plan for. Even if it comes in the form of spending two days traveling to see old friends on my journey home, which is exactly what I have been doing. I just spent a day in Stuarts Draft, VA with Trip and Hilary at their adorable new home... and was taken care of with such hospitality. Then I stopped in Blacksburg where I most recently moved from to just grab dinner and Caboritas... and I couldn't help but stay the night. I'm actually writing to you from Mill Mountain coffee shop... having the most beautiful, slow, and blissful morning. :)

My next venture is to return to Asheville and get some orders for prints shipped out. On top of that, I really need to finish my website. Good lord has that become a thorn in my side in the most ludacris way. I love doing it but almost can't force myself to sit down and figure out all the detailed web programming I have in mind for it. I need to hit that one head on after a full night's rest with tons of brain clarity in the morning. Trying to program and design a site from scratch successfully is like slowing rewiring your brainwaves into one giant digital knot from the most confusing ring of hell.

Regardless, things seem to be on a good track. I keep having to tame my thoughts from jumping so forward to the future. Have to keep reminding myself that the present moment is all we are truly capable and equipt to handle and drive forward with, and the more I seem to keep myself present, the more successful I seem to be. A lot of reminding myself that what I WANT to be doing is truly more important than all the things I feel like I SHOULD be doing. I got this, and I don't need to suffocate my life energy by placing rules on my actions and confining myself to any set of routines! It's hard to learn to take things day by day but the more I do it, the better I get at making that the best way of functioning. :)

sometimes, i hoop.

I've had the most fortunate opportunity for my dear boyfriend and his band to allow me to hoop for them from time to time. Sometimes I get super decked out and all ready for it... but this time, at Floydfest this past July... it was more of a spontaneous decision.

Which truthfully, are usually the best performances. I haven't had more fun hooping for them in a long time. It was hog and muggy and I sweat my tail off. But the energy of the crowd was overwhelming. EVERYONE I could see from the front row back had giant smiles plastered across their faces. People were dancing and singing with every part of their body and inch of their soul... it was truly electric.

slangin' stardust all over the place

And lucky for me, I have some good friends who are photographers.... thanks to Roger Gupta for these incredible shots :)

poetry is surrender.

It's been a long time since I took pictures for pleasure, as opposed to trying to snag memories as we run past them. It's funny how that actually becomes two different things. And I think this is largely in part of that I would stress myself out to even bring my camera along anymore, because I knew I wouldn't have time between all the 'busy-life things' I was doing to stop and edit them so they look to anyone else how I remembered them.

I love that about digital photography. No memory is clear as day. As clear as it was in real time. They're all augmented by the loose fibers of your imagination, filling in all the gaps with new color, new imagery. So why shouldn't a photo be any different? Digital photography allows you to take those images and play with them so that maybe they more represent what you remember... which is usually a feeling or a color... then how it actually looked. An attempt to make it more signifigant to someone outside of the experiencer.  I sat down and snuggled up into photoshop for a nice, long, editing session.

This is one of my favorites.

We have a little pond towards the front of our property. It's full of dozens of frogs, it's perfect for jogging around in the early morning, and has the perfect, tiny little dock to sit on and just look out on the glassy water. You can just see the crest of the surrounding mountains through the trees.

So blessed to have such a serene place to quiet my mind. <3

my attempt at a personal blog, #203948271

Many of you have been wondering what I've been doing with my life. Since graduation. Since getting an internship. Since being hired full time. Since promptly quitting my full time job to experience full time life. Etc.

Trust me, I'm wondering what I'm doing with my life too.

But with all this extra time to focus on the things that I love about living, it's given me the material and motivation to create a blog. A blog to post my photos. My sketches. My masterpieces. My thoughts and inspirations. My travels. And since in just three months it's been a wild ride with only more to come, I think it best to write it all down.

So yeah. Hang on tight.