100 Books Project :: Summer Update
[Book #15 :: Left outside Cafe Deluxe in Wellington, New Zealand July 10, 2009]
The summer has whizzed by, and some Book Fairies have been busy!! No new emails have come in from those who have stumbled upon the books, but they have been left here and there and it is exciting to share some pictures of where they have been left for unsuspecting passers-by.
Here's a quick re-cap of how things have been going & where books have been left:
#1: UCLA Campus
#2: UCLA Campus
#3: UCLA Campus
#4: UCLA Campus – Received a response!
#5: LAX Airport, International Terminal
#6: Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
#7: Given to a jewelry designer I met in Tokyo, Japan – Received a response!
#8: Given to an artist I met in Tokyo, Japan
#9: Given to a woman I met in Tokyo, Japan – Received a response!
#10: Given to a bartender in Tokyo, Japan
#11: Still in the hands of a Book Fairy
#12: Still in the hands of a Book Fairy
#13: Stockholm, Sweden – Received a response!
#14: Stockholm, Sweden
#15: Wellington, New Zealand (pictured here)
#16: Lyall Bay, New Zealand (pictured here)
#17: Chicago, Illinois (sorry, no photos!)
#18: Chicago, Illinois (sorry, no photos!)
#19: Virginia Tech Campus, Blacksburg, Virginia
#20: Virginia Tech Campus, Blacksburg, Virginia
Visit my 100 Books Project Flickr page to see all the photos collected so far.
[Book #16 :: Lyall Bay, New Zealand, July 11, 2009]
I will have another update next week, and then I plan on taking a field trip around Los Angeles to leave a few more here and there. In September, those of you heading to Squam Art Workshops should come ready to go a-hunting, because I'll be leaving five books all over the RDC Campground that weekend!!
[Book #16 :: Lyall Bay, New Zealand, July 11, 2009]
Silence
I am in my home alone for the first significant stretch of time (i.e. more than ten minutes) in I don't know how long. The joke around here is that we've become a full service bed & breakfast/commune/party palace/concert hall, with things like "Movie Night at the Commune" and live chamber music concerts on the weekends when my husband works on compositions with an array of talented pianists and cellists. I just had the magnificent pleasure of re-stocking our fridge at a normal pace rather than a crazed frenzy, and after lunch I will be able to indulge in an entire afternoon in my studio, where I hope to wrap up one of my biggest work projects of the summer by the end of the day.
I have gotten myself into quite a state over the past few weeks, feeling like my life has become a freight train of socializing, caretaking and entertaining that I have no way to stop unless I move to Greenland. I have spent so much of my life putting pressure on myself to be perfect and ever-accomodating to everyone around me, and I am trying to let it be OK that I have limits and honor them as gently as I can. I was able to take a baby step in that direction last week when I was visiting a friend from the east coast down in San Diego. She was making plans with another friend of hers who I had never met, and I decided to be honest with her, telling her I couldn't handle another night of happy smiley chitchat (not to mention the cocktails). She totally got it, they went out without me, and everyone had a great time (I never knew going to bed at 8:30 could be so much crazy fun). She is one of the few people in the world I could have been that honest with, as we've known each other for almost twenty years, and the gratitude I felt for her understanding was almost beyond my comprehension. I said no, it was totally OK, and nothing was taken personally. I was never made to feel like I was being rude or unsocial or selfish or weird. In fact, my need to hibernate was encouraged and supported.
It was a small step, but a step nonetheless, and it made me realize that there are probably more people out there who understand these kind of limits than I realize. Not only that, but it gives me a deeper understanding of how important it is that I, too, honor others' limitations, something I haven't always been good at. I am beginning to understand that it is in these moments when I choose to take care of and be gentle with myself that I am creating room for more open heartedness all the way around. When I take care of myself, I fill my energy reserves, which creates more energy to take care of those around me. From another angle, when I am honest about my limitations and am given the time, space and support to take care of myself, I see what a gift that is and learn how to pay that gift forward. I'm not sure I am expressing this as eloquently as I could, but my main point is that as much as I might want or feel like I have to, I can't do it all. And that, believe it or not, is OK.
Pondering
"Who do we want to be…and how do we go about the process of becoming in a world of endless options, distractions and possibilities?" ~Winifred Gallagher
Five Things
1. Eek Designs on Etsy – love!
2. Buy some art, make a difference. Head over to The Retrieval Project.
3. The Slow Growth Manifesto is music to my ears.
4. I love Victoria Reichelt's bookshelf paintings.
5. Congratulations to the amazing Kate Swoboda on the launch of her new website The Courageous Traveler. I'm honored to be the subject of her first interview!
Sweetness
Some Days I Could Use a Really Good Helmet
DitzOrama from Christine Mason Miller on Vimeo.
