One Rare Bird

The Real Me

My online e-course is officially over and I feel quite sad about it. I enjoyed the experience immensely and I'm definitely going to take the follow-up course in a few months. In the meantime I plan to keep revisiting the photo and writing assignments on a regular basis, which means this isn't the last you'll be seeing of my Unraveling journey. But to wrap things up, our last assignment was to show "The Real Me" through images and words. I chose one photo from each week of the course that best reflects the real me and included a line of commentary for each one. Here's a snippet of the Real Me...

1. Feet Week: Me + Me. Just GRAND.

2. Reflections Week: I can't seem to get away from this goofball.

3. Favorite Things: I took myself on a date the other night. We had coffee, journaled, and read a book. It was nice :)

4. Memories: This happy, content little girls is always with me. She loves the world and the people around her. She is not discriminating and she loves to laugh.

5. Face Week: I can be quiet and contemplative, I need to be by myself a lot. I am cautious with my heart and feelings, but once you have my heart you have my love and loyalty forever.

6. Alter Week/7.Tribe-of-One: As a tribe of one I enter the world unafraid and unashamed. I move confidently, sometimes with a saunter and sometimes full-force. I am at peace with who I am and with the world around me.

“Today you are You, that is truer than true.There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” ~Dr. Seuss

Kiss Me

There are just some days when a girl could really use a kiss, like a really good kiss, and even though none of these songs represent exactly the sort of kiss I prefer, they are about kisses, which is the whole point of Music Monday. Plus I love love love Florence and the Machine and this serves as a good excuse to feature her music.

No You Girls by Franz Ferdinand

Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer

Kiss With A Fist by Florence and the Machine

 

"A kiss is the upper persuasion for a lower invasion."

~Author Unknown

I hope your Monday is filled with kisses...xoxo

 

Thankful for Life

Star Guitar

Living in the moment is something that always seems to elude me. Occasionally I'll have a moment when I am totally and completely present, but most of the time I'm just looking forward, backward or side to side. The fact that life is short isn't lost on me and sometimes I lose my breath with panic from such a glaring reality. So today I am simply grateful for life. Today I will simply BE.

Minna

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in the quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow." ~Mary Jean Iron

Cassia Beck

"Here I am, where I ought to be." ~Louise Erdrich

Minna

"Whatever we lose like a you or a me,
it's always ourselves that we find at the sea..." ~E. E. Cummings

Thank you Ordinary Day for your life, your love, and your dependability. May I not let another day pass before uttering my deepest gratitude.

Thankful for Girls wearing Feathers

Happy Thanksgiving! In keeping with my promise to say "thank you" everyday this week I'm dedicating today to both the Natives who first inhabited this land and the art that is inspired by them. (I also want to thank my Native American ancestors for my skin complexion. If it weren't for you I wouldn't be able to get a decent tan, and that means a lot to a girl who lives in Oregon.)

Neil Krug

The Spotted Fox

Sara Bowersock

Charmaine Olivia

Matthattan and Beyond

Ok, clearly I have a thing for girls wearing feathers, but can you blame me?

Amalia Chimera

Have a very happy and food-filled day of Thanks!

 

Thankful For My Tribe

It was "Tribe Week" for my online e-course last week and so far it was the most difficult week for me. I know my ideas of "tribe" aren't very accurate, but I still can't help but feel utterly and completely alone when I try to think of who is in my tribe. I get the horrible feeling that I don't belong to anyone and no one really belongs to me. Somewhere along the way I learned to look to everyone but myself for who I should be and whether or not my existence is valid, which is quite an awful way to live since no one can ever really do that for me, at least not the extent I need them to. So I decided to focus this week on the only tribe I know will never leave me: myself. Above all I am a Tribe of One and I quite like us together...
{In an artistic effort to show that I am a tribe-of-one I inadvertently gave myself a kink in the neck from trying to take a picture of myself hugging myself, so I gave up. Better luck next time.}

So often I forget to count my husband as a part of my tribe. He believes in me, supports me, and amazingly enough, still adores me, so this assignment served as a giant reminder that I'm not just a Tribe of One, but also a Tribe of Two. Thank you John, for being my Human and Tribe of Two. I'm sorry I forget sometimes...

And this is what my Tribe of Two grew into: my Tribe of Four. I know that someday these precious little people will grow up and find their chosen tribe, but this little group will always be at my core. I cannot imagine life without them and I find it incredibly comforting to know that this is exactly where I belong...

I also couldn't do this assignment without including the women who most inspire me and who are always there for me with their writing and wisdom. The work and life of these four women has helped give me a greater sense of my own value and individuality. They have strengthed and enriched my Tribe of One, and for that they will always be a part of my greater tribe.

{Clockwise from top left: Pema Chodron, Sue Monk Kidd, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ann Lamott. A very special Thank You to my tribe member Erin for introducing me to two of these great women, you're pretty great too.}

“They drew a circle to shut me out
A thing to ridicule, a thing to flout
But I had the will and the wit to win
I drew a circle that took them in.”
~ Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Have a wonderful and love-filled Thanksgiving tomorrow with your respective tribes, and most importantly your tribe-of-one. XO~

Thankful for Mantles, Mojo, and Amy Sedaris

I have been feeling completely uninspired when it comes to my mantle lately. For years I lived without a mantle and I longed to have one that I could decorate and dress up, especially during the holidays. And now that I have a mantle it doesn't seem to be good enough. Though really, it's probably not the mantle's fault, it's a good mantle, I just seem to have lost my mantle mojo. So I went searching for Thanksgiving Mantle inspiration and here's what I dug up...

nerdstroms

 

Poetic Home

A Big To-Do

Becky Kazana

I really like Thanksgiving mantles decorated with pumpkins and banners. I had a few pumpkins on my mantle around Halloween but they started to get big mushy holes in them, so to my disappoint I had to toss them; and since experience has taught me not to keep fruit laying around for too long, I haven't replaced them. But I did make a banner with lots of Fall colors and tried not to be too dismayed by the sheer largeness of my mantle. This is what I came up with...

{I can't believe after all that agonizing I'll just have to take it down and go through this process all over again for Christmas.... jeesh, I really have lost my mojo!}

And while I was looking around for mantle inspiration I found a few non-holiday mantles that I think are amazing. My favorite one is the Alphabet mantle below and the one belonging to Amy Sedaris. I wonder if any of these people have some extra decorating mojo they could spare? Either way I'm grateful for the inspiration because sometimes it sucks to come up with your own ideas.

via sfgirlbybay

Maxine Sutton

Amy Sedaris  Helen Palmer

And speaking of Amy Sedaris, I think she is the biggest kick in the pants. I actually tried some of her Craftercise moves before making my Thanksgiving banner. She says "...it's important to keep yourself limber in order to better handle the rigors of crafting," and boy is she right! I don't know how I ever got through Crafting before she came along.

via Bust Magazine

Thank you Amy, you're a craftsaver!

 

Two Little Words: Thank You

It's the week of Thanksgiving so it only seems appropriate that Music Monday be dedicated to two little words that hold so much meaning: Thank You.

Thank U by Alanis Morissett

Kind and Generous by Natalie Merchant

Thank You for Hearing Me by Sinead O'Connor

And since saying "thank you" only once doesn't seem like quite enough, this whole week is dedicated to gratitude. Here's to a happy Monday!

 

Chasing Sunset

Hip hip hooray! My memory card is back from the shop and they were able to recover the photos I took from my first two days in New York! There are so many images that I haven't had time to look through them all or do any necessary editing, so I'll have to share them with you later. But there is one image from my flight home that didn't need any editing. I flew out of JFK at 4:00pm in route to Salt Lake City on Sunday and I got to watch the sunset for nearly the entire flight. It was an absolutely amazing way to end an already amazing trip.

 

I hope you have a lovely Friday. See you back here on Monday...

 

Alter-Ego, Part Duo

And continuing on from yesterday's post, here are my other top two alter-egos...

ALTER EGO #3: World Traveler

What I'd wear...

{1) Anthropologie 2, 3, 4) Free People}

Where I'd go...

How I'd get there...

 

ALTER-EGO #4: Rebel

This alter isn't bad necessarily, but definitely someone who lives outside the lines and isn't so concerned with being nice and agreeable. I'd use more inappropriate language, have tattoo sleeves, and probably be able to rock both the base guitar and a microphone.

 

 "Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself.
I am large. I contain multitudes..."

~Walt Whitman (Song of Myself)

 

 

Alter-Ego, Part Uno

It was "Alter-Ego" week for my online e-course last week and I was so busy getting ready for my trip that I didn't follow through on the assignment. We basically needed to take pictures of ourselves dressed-up or doing something as the person we wish we were. I like thinking of it more as the person I am becoming, or hope to someday be. And since I didn't take any pictures of myself as my alter-ego(s), I made a few photo collages instead. I have many alter-egos but I decided to focus on the four that are banging loudest on my door. I will share the first two today and the other two tomorrow.

ALTER-EGO #1: Bohemian Artist

What I'd wear...

{All outfits from Free People}

The art I'd create...

{Clockwise from top left: 1) Elizabeth Bauman 2) Blue Sunlight 3) Yellena 4) Ashley Goldberg}

Who I'd channel...

Frieda Kahlo

 

ALTER-EGO #2: Go back to school to become a Research Psychologist

What I'd wear:

{All outfits from Anthropologie}

In case you're wondering, Research psychology consists of discovering why people think and behave the way they do. It is regarded as a natural science with experimental methods assisting the conduction of research.

Where I'd work/study:

See you back here tomorrow with more alter-egos...