Goodbye September

How do you like three posts in three days? I was given flack from several friends this past weekend about my lack of blog posting, which I honestly do take as a compliment that my friends even bother to read this little creative outlet of mine…

The month of September has been a crazy one. A busy one. A stressful one. A fun one. A tough one. As October rushes in, I am thankful for this promise.

xoxo

Sad Songs...

My sister gave me a CD one time entitled "Cry Baby Playlist" and it was perfect for those days when you just needed a good cry. I loved it and it got way more plays than you might think.

 I have been feeling a little down lately, for a variety of reasons.  This has been my song of choice, written by my favorite, Tom Douglas. But I do wish I still had the good ole "Cry Baby Playlist". What are your favorite songs when you're down?

xoxo

Maps

I absolutely love maps. I have acquired a neat collection of them over the years. My favorites include these three…a world scratch map, the nashville neighborhoods, and the hand-painted wooden world made by my best friend, emily!

 

As with most collections, I am always admiring various maps or store away pictures of cool ways to decorate and display maps. Here are a few…some are educational, some are my dreams for my future homes, some are cool ways to decorate with ones I already own. Enjoy.

 

Do you have favorite maps?! Or ideas for cool ways to use them? I always love ideas.

xoxo

Snapshots

Life has been hectic and fun lately. Life has consisted of running from one destination to the next lately. Life has been full of balancing friends, work, school, internship and family lately. Life has been crazy. And since it has been so crazy, this blog has taken a bit of a back seat. But here are some snapshots from the past few weeks.

Friends and Burgers are wonderful after a long day of football.

With all the busyness and running around, it has been refreshing to see some beautiful sunsets over Nashville.

Friends make life more fun. No matter what.

Squeezing friends in cars.

Always be prepared for rain. And when you aren't prepared, put trash bags on your head.

Quiet mornings with my Dovie girl.

My dear friends, the band MamaDear, had an amazing performance the other night!

My mom quickly hopped over to Africa, so the remaining three family members tested out some new Nashville restaurants while she was away. FlipSide was a hit!

Cats and Kickball.

Sometimes I love class. Sometimes it is the most painful three hours of the day. You can always tell which way I was feeling based on my notes/artwork.

A lovely Matt Wertz performance.

Friends and Football. #GoRebs

xoxo

The Invitation

I am enrolled in a class on Diversity this semester, which ends up being a three hour rant from a big room of emotionally charged counseling students. Needless to say, it is not my favorite class. Yesterday, however, a classmate read this poem aloud to end the class. It struck me and I thought it was worth sharing.

The Invitation

by Oriah

It doesn’t interest me

what you do for a living.

I want to know

what you ache for

and if you dare to dream

of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me

how old you are.

I want to know 

if you will risk 

looking like a fool

for love

for your dream

for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me

what planets are 

squaring your moon...

I want to know

if you have touched

the centre of your own sorrow

if you have been opened

by life’s betrayals

or have become shrivelled and closed

from fear of further pain.

I want to know

if you can sit with pain

mine or your own

without moving to hide it

or fade it

or fix it.

I want to know

if you can be with joy

mine or your own

if you can dance with wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you 

to the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us

to be careful

to be realistic

to remember the limitations

of being human.

It doesn’t interest me

if the story you are telling me

is true.

I want to know if you can

disappoint another

to be true to yourself.

If you can bear

the accusation of betrayal

and not betray your own soul.

If you can be faithless

and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty

even when it is not pretty

every day.

And if you can source your own life

from its presence.

I want to know

if you can live with failure

yours and mine

and still stand at the edge of the lake

and shout to the silver of the full moon,

“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me

to know where you live

or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up

after the night of grief and despair

weary and bruised to the bone

and do what needs to be done

to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me

who you know

or how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand

in the centre of the fire

with me

and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me

where or what or with whom

you have studied.

I want to know 

what sustains you

from the inside

when all else falls away.

I want to know

if you can be alone 

with yourself

and if you truly like

the company you keep

in the empty moments.

xoxo

Fall Craziness is here…

Summer came and went so quickly. I squeezed in one last trip to the beach for Labor Day weekend, thankfully. As we were driving out, I  came across this sign that just seemed so fitting for the bittersweet end of a beloved season.

Fall is here in full force. The weather is cooling off and everyone is suddenly incredibly busy. I hope your Fall is off to a good start.

xoxo