Swap-O-Rama
{Photo taken at CHA yesterday, where I basked in the company of some amazing women ~ more on that later.}
Years ago I created a 52-Card Inspiration Deck. This was a project I did with a group of girlfriends who I gathered with every other week for art nights, and I still have this deck sitting in a prominent place in my studio. When I was pulling together materials for Desire to Inspire, I knew I had to include an exercise for readers to make their own decks, and I’m happy it made it through all of the editing stages.
The lovely and divine Jessica Brogan created her own deck and shared her experience about it right here. (Be sure to read the entire entry, as there is a beautiful little twist at the end!) She has since decided to embark upon an adventurous endeavor, which is to manage an Inspiration Deck Card Swap. Tonia Davenport, who I have worked closely with on Desire to Inspire from Day One, has just written about this project over at Create Mixed Media, and even shares photos of her already-finished deck! I hope you’re up for some Inspiration Deck fun ~ I’ll be participating, and am thrilled (and grateful) that Jessica offered to be our fearless leader. Here’s all the news that’s fit to print on the Desire to Inspire Inspiration Deck Card Swap:
Jessica needs to know if you want to participate by February 20th.
Cards will need to land her in mailbox by March 1st.
Tonia’s entry on Create Mixed Media is right here.
Jessica’s entry with all the juicy details is right here.
P.S. Tonia and I are also putting the final touches on another oh-so inspiring project that will kick off on February 16th. All I can say is that we’ll be offering everyone an opportunity to acknowledge those that inspire them most. Stay tuned for a venture I am especially excited about.
On Wonder Woman
{Faryn’s mom at her Wonder Woman themed birthday party more than 25 years ago.}
That was all of us, wasn’t it? Looking up to the superhero with a golden lasso and shiny red boots, pilot of the invisible jet, walking amongst normal humans known as Diana. Around the third grade, I had an orange satin sleeveless leotard that was part of a ballet costume (I was a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz), and I used to wear it as I leaped and ran all over the house, pretending to fight crime and solve mysteries and be an all-around eight-year-old badass. My best friend next door was Wonder Woman for Halloween and her mom sewed a costume that had little Wonder Woman boobs, and we all thought that was the most hilarious thing ever.
~
Years ago I saw a snippet of a Lily Tomlin monologue pondering the idea of what the world would look like if children all grew up becoming what they dreamed of becoming as kids, creating a population of ballerinas, astronauts, firefighters and the like. For some reason that little bit stayed with me, and it always makes me giggle. When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being an Olympic gymnast, a circus clown, a veterinarian, an oceanographer, and Wonder Woman. Being Wonder Woman wasn’t a real possibility ~ I knew that ~ but I had daydreams about it anyway, in the same way I also pondered being Nancy Drew from time to time.
~
When I was in Jordan two years ago, I purchased a wide gold bracelet at a tiny shop in Amman, and all of my fellow travelers immediately called it a Wonder Woman bracelet. It is impossible not to make that connection with something like that, and I’m not afraid to admit that the Wonder Woman association pretty much sealed the deal as I was pondering whether or not to bring it home with me.
~
With all the Batman, Spiderman, Captain America and IronMan franchises going full steam these days, why the heck isn’t someone making a Wonder Woman film?
Five + One
Five:
1. I Shoot Like a Girl from Bella Wish
2. Beautiful Art Rings from Liz Kalloch
3. 180 Degrees
4. Seth Minkin is on Etsy!
5. Tiffany Coates ~ Visit her website and be sure to watch this.
+ One:
I recently finished The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman and it was one of those books I never wanted to put down, and was sad when it was over. From the book’s synopsis:
In 70 C.E., nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path.
What can I say? It is now on my Favorite Books of All Time list, and has inspired me to plan a trip to Israel.Beautiful beyond words. Watch this video to get a better idea of how extraordinary this story is.
Step
I have been receiving a number of notes and comments lately about one role I play but haven’t spoken of much ~ stepmom. I have hinted at it here and there, and written of some of the ups and downs I have experienced in this role, but for the most part kept it on the sidelines of what I share online. I have a strong sense of privacy regarding my family, but at the same time know that the stories we have created together are among the most meaningful of my life. Now that I have decided to at least try to create a narrative of our journey, it felt appropriate to claim and declare this particular title of mine more vocally.
So here it is ~ I am a stepmom, and my family and I always laugh when we use that word. Because the first half of that word ~ “step” ~ always feels incredibly foreign to us. Not only because age differences (or lack thereof ~ my husband’s son is just four years younger than I am), but because all the accepted images and ideas of a “step” couldn’t be farther from the truth of our existence as a family. This has not come easy; it has taken years of work, commitment, trust and mindfulness on the part of all of us to get where we are. But that work ~ the work that I am still called to do almost every single day ~ is my Life’s Work. It is more important than Swirly, more important than book deals, more important than anything. It is my greatest passion, my proudest achievement, what I value more than anything else in the world.
The word family used to feel like a four-letter word to me. For most of my life I believed I was not meant to be a part of one, as every one I had known fell apart for one reason or another. I am still getting used to the idea that this is my family. Even saying “my family” in a sentence sometimes feels odd. I am still sometimes pulled back towards the old way of thinking ~ that this isn’t real, that it will fall apart, that one day some detail will shift just enough that everyone will realize I’m actually not part of this family, and kick me out to the curb. These are real fears that I struggle with all the time.
So when I say this is my Life’s Work, what I mean is this: That in those moments of prickly tension within my own heart, I am determined to choose joy. I made a commitment to myself to always move towards light, especially within the circle of my family, and this commitment has worked. It requires focused attention, determination, and it often requires me to stay the course towards joy even when my fears are breathing down my neck so fiercely it alters the pace of my breathing. It is daily work, it is challenging work, but it is my most important work, by far. It is work that enables me to say with confidence and joy ~ I am a stepmom, and this is my family.
Messy
Excuse my less-than-stellar photography work here ~ trying to balance an iPhone with hands covered in glue and paint is a wee bit tricky. I’m working on this as part of the Play Me I’m Yours project, which is being spear-headed in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. My piano is the one they’ll be displaying for their big kick off event next week ~ no pressure! ~ so my deadline is fast approaching.
After such a long absence from my studio work, the opportunity to get messy has been a real gift. I started a series of 8″ x 8″ panels months ago, and I am now thinking of the work I’m doing on the piano as a nice segue towards those panels. A fall 2012 show is currently in the works…I’ll keep you posted.
More moments and musings to come; until then, it’s always a good time to share some of Pema’s wisdom…
“Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior’s world.” ~ Pema Chödrön
Five + One
Five:
1. A lovely review of Jonatha Brooke’s extraordinary Lincoln Center performance this week.
2. …and her latest offering on iTunes is a dreamy rendition of This Land is Your Land.
3. The beautiful Jessica Brogan recently created her own inspiration deck ~ a la Desire to Inspire ~ and wrote a very moving blog entry about it right here. Thank you Jessica for sharing this extraordinary story.
4. Maya Stein’s latest creation is now available right here. Lost Highways & Living Rooms is a collection of writings from her 2010 Tour De Word journey, and I am honored to share that I wrote the foreword.
5. Cool stuff is to be found at Areaware, a company I discovered while browsing at the MoMA Design Store this week.
+ One:
Rumor has it that I was the first person to place an order for Jen Lee’s Telling Your Story, and even though I am only just now beginning to dive into the work of it, I already consider it a close companion for a writing project that is very dear to my heart and therefore feels incredibly daunting. This is the first in what will be an ongoing series of reviews for Telling Your Story, which is really just my way of wanting to share the journey I am now beginning with Jen’s extraordinary, soulful support. More to come, but in the meantime, head straight to Jen Lee’s site and behold the wonder of her work, her stories, and her passion.
Technical Difficulties
{A photo of me I actually like, taken by Justin Davis Davanzo about 3:00am the day Faryn was born.}
Here’s the first thing you need to know ~ I have a very low threshold when it comes to technical shenanigans in the midst of socializing. What does that mean “in the midst of socializing”? It means this: You’re with friends or family, enjoying precious quality time together, and someone says, “Hey I want to show you this thing on YouTube,” or maybe it is a video on their computer, or something on their phone, or something that requires the TV to be hooked up to the microwave, or whatever. And that person thinks this presentation will require nothing more than the click of a mouse or a few clicks on the keyboard, until ~ not so fast little buckaroo ~ something’s not working…
A new version of the software is required. Or the internet is down. Or there’s a tsunami hovering over the Indian Ocean causing some kind of weird anomaly that is making the refrigerator ring and the phone ice cold. You know those situations I’m talking about.
It is those scenarios that inspire the same thought from me every time, which is “OK, the clock is ticking. I am now losing precious moments not only with my peeps, but also out of my very life.” There is something about those minutes that click by as cords are checked and videos are buffered and whatnot that make me a little bit nuts. OK, a lot nuts.
And so…
Last week I heard a song on the radio that I had never heard, started crying, wrote down the name of it, and then went immediately home in order to start working on a video for my family of the day Faryn was born. I spent all evening on it, stayed up late, and worked on it for much of the next afternoon in anticipation of a family dinner we were having that evening. I got it all shipshape, and despite a few issues with formatting, went to dinner carrying four beautifully labeled CDs with the video. I was so excited I could hardly see straight.
I told everyone I had a surprise for them, and before long we were all gathered around T’s laptop in the living room. The video began and everything proceeded as expected ~ the tears! the laughter! the joy! Until ~ screech ~ the video gets hung, and we’re stuck with the soundtrack of the CD’s labored spinning in the laptop.
Cue the first hints of my nervous breakdown.
Everyone is calm and kind and supportive, and we decide to have dinner before we try to figure out the problem because hey, who wouldn’t want to see THAT again?
After dinner C’s dad grabs his PC laptop, and I announce that I’m going to get the video going and make sure it works in the other room before we try to watch it again. I go into T’s bedroom and insert the CD. But wait ~ what’s wrong here? The CD won’t go in. So I try to pull it back out, but instead a little drawer pops out (without the CD in it.) A drawer? And that’s when I did this.
Mortified at my ignorance of PC mechanics, I bring the laptop back out in the living room ~ with the drawer still sticking out ~ and everyone says, “What’s wrong?” Fast forward five minutes later, and I am holding the laptop on its side off the edge of the dining room table while C’s brother tries to gently pry out the CD with a kitchen knife and tweezers. He is on his back on the floor, as if working under a car, and I am also trying to balance a flashlight aimed up towards the side of the laptop. Suddenly, whoosh, out pops the CD!
C’s brother then quietly takes the PC laptop over to the TV, inserts the CD correctly, plugs the two together, brings up the video, and hits play. But wait ~ what’s wrong here? The sound is out of synch. And guess what ~ that simply will not do. So the gauge on my panic meter proceeds to steadily climb, and I begin my chorus of, “Stop the video! It’s not right!”
Once again, everyone is very calm and very kind, and C suggests we give it a go in their bedroom, where an Apple desktop computer sits quietly. So the two of us go there, he connects the speakers, we drag the video onto the desktop, hit play and hold our breath, when suddenly I hear my husband from the other room saying, “How’s it going in there?” in a slightly snarky tone, where I can totally see him cracking himself up.
Can I tell you how hard it was not to march back into the living room and physically eject him from the premises?
But I restrained myself, because the video was working, and this time I was smart enough to drag it to the desktop rather than play it from the CD, where it would likely get hung again mid-video and I would have run out into the street screaming. So I go back out into the living room and wrangle everyone into the bedroom where we all circled around the computer with our faces lit up by the blue-ish light of the monitor. And I hit play, and the video worked.
And just like that, all was right with the world.
Five + One
I’m kicking off a new version of my Five Things column. Introducing Five + One ~ the usual five links plus one official review of something I love. WooHoo!
Five:
1. Jonathan Fuller Sea Glass Sculptures
3. Riva Leviten
4. It’s true ~ Reading is Fashionable!
5. Narayanan Krishnan ~ try not to cry
+ One:
My first official review is for Jessica Swift’s just-released colorful and inspirational rain boots. Although southern California isn’t known for its torrential rain storms, I ordered these boots for my mornings in the dewy yard with Tilda. I love being able to just slip these on in the morning over my pajamas, and they always make me smile. They are very well constructed – thick rubber, sturdy, and comfortable. Way to go Jessica, who launched this project in Kickstarter.
Bliss Magazine
Inspirational Woman Magazine, Winter 2012
“If you’re needing a touch of inspiration to re-ignite your creative passion this January and get you truly following your bliss, snag yourself a copy of…Desire to Inspire.”
At A Loss For Words
{Photo by Justin Davis Davanzo}
…but they are brewing, and they are brewing something fierce.
