Ten

I found this list today from a little over a year ago:

1.) CALM down

2.) find a new job

3.) write letters and mail them

4.) change voice mailbox message

5.) apply for grants to Indonesia

6.) run

7.) climb

8.) finish videos for TedX conference

9.) visit Abbey Court

10.) taxes?

I love finding pieces of what life looked like last year and the years before. And the thing I love the most is knowing that i accomplished all of those pieces in time. I went on to get not one, but two new jobs, I went to Indonesia on a grant, ran a few miles, climbed with friends, went to Abbey Court, did videos for TedX, etc. and at the time, this little list of ten things was a challenge.

My list these days is sadly quite similar. I’m still trying to find grants to travel, I’m trying to keep the job I do have when I get back in the fall, I’m running, I’m wishing I was spending more time climbing, taxes still stress me out, and there is always a stack of letters by my bed waiting to be mailed. . .

This semester is getting so close to the END and I’m both excited and sad. The past few weeks have been great overall. So good in fact, I never want it to end.

Take for example this weekend. . .

This weekend was epic. It all left my body feeling incredibly broken, sore, and used. My feet don’t really work, they’re cracked and still caked with mud.

That said, I also didn’t know it was possible to laugh as much as I did.

Sam came in town Friday with a basket of black lights and a massive speaker//sound system. The Tiger House hosted a fantastic Universe party! (Goal check) Glitter, good music, Ziggy Stardust-inspired face paint and even roller-blades! All I could ever ask for really.

On Saturday, I woke up at 5:45 and decided it was a good day to run the Chapel Hill ten-miler with Ora (*Almost exactly a year ago since the last big ten). Our last-minute decision was incredibly rewarding and actually quite fun (esp. the thrill of benefiting from a race without paying for it. Sorry world, I just wanted to see if it was possible). By that afternoon, I was volunteering in a tent painting little kiddo’s faces at Shakori grassroots festival and dancing around a fire to drums with Ora, Will, Jordan, Sarah and Cassie.

We danced, hula hooped, and then danced some more until the late hours. Everywhere we went we danced, we didn’t use our feet to walk, we just danced and floated through life.

It all left my whole being so incredibly happy.

A nice nap (*another goal) on Sunday was followed by a lovely dinner with Ma-Maw and Da-Dan and a lot of solo car time to think too. . .

I could have asked for nothing more this weekend.

It filled me.

[Photos: Shakori last time around. Fall festival days 2012. *Only brought my AE-1 this time around//Grace Farson]

मुझे और प्यार चाहिये।

[I need love]

It’s as simple as that.

Over the past few sick days, I’ve been going through old photos and trying my best to organize them. I came across these and couldn’t stop laughing.

I miss these little ones and this place more than a whole lot. These photos were from one of our many *midday rooftop dance sessions [*you know, that time of day when the sun is hanging right above you and it’s Summer in India].

+ Need Your Love

[Photos: Dancing with my favorite little people, Bapatla, India//Grace Farson]

Lauren + Ben – dance party

One of my personal favorite things about Lauren + Ben’s wedding was the dancing! Everyone killed it on the dance floor and gave it their all.

I love few things more than dancing and the people who dance. . .

[Photos: Post-wedding dance party//Grace Farson]

The weekend

It is ALMOST the weekend. This next week might just be one of the best, brightest weeks of my life here in Chapel Hill.

“The only reason why we ask other people how their weekend was is so we can tell them about our own weekend.” – Chuck Palahniuk

Here’s to visitors from far off places, a concert on your front porch, and most of all – WEEKENDS.

tiny dancers

Abby and Kelsey took dance classes growing up. I never did. Deep down I was always jealous.

To this day, I love to watch dancers. I love to dance. I’m not good at it, but when it comes to dancing I don’t really know how much of that really matters. . . At least not to me. . .

“I closed my eyes to watch tiny dancers like jeweled birds cross the dark screen of my eyelids.” – Janet Fitch

This afternoon in my Pop Culture in Southeast Asia class, we watched a short film about a Topeng dancer. It all reminded me of this one afternoon Nicole and got to watch a group of young girls practice for an upcoming performance in Tembi. And, yeah, life was that beautiful there [every single day].

[Photos: Dancers in Tembi, Indonesia //Grace Farson]

running away

“ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout his or her school life is something like this: ‘you are in the process of being indoctrinated. we have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. we are sorry, but it is the best we can do. what you are being taught here is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular culture. the slightest look at history will show how impermanent these must be. you are being taught by people who have been able to accommodate themselves to a regime of thought laid down by their predecessors. it is a self-perpetuating system. those of you who are more robust and individual than others will be encouraged to leave and find ways of educating yourself — educating your own judgements. those that stay must remember, always, and all the time, that they are being molded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of this particular society.”

– doris lessing

{photos from that day paige and i ran away}

the grace alphabet

abby posted the abby alphabet a while back and now it’s my turn to share:

early morning meditation in southern india

ambition: graduate college! travel in college. travel out of college. find a man who loves adventure just as much, if not more than i do. one day own a studio apartment in a big city & be an urban farmer. open up my house to people from around the world & couch surfers. go to massage school. use yoga and art as therapy. work as a photographer & filmmaker. work in galleries & museums. work as a yoga teacher. . . worship God well through the way i live my life. be happy, healthy, & content. always

bad habit: procrastination

bhaktapur just outside of kathmandu

city: current city – chapel hill, n.c. but . . . i left part of my heart in kathmandu, nepal

tea in darjeeling

drink: a steamy cup of  tea. j’adore fresh ginger, lemon, & honey tea

education: homeschooled all the way through high school, explored the world, & now working through a {proposed} degree in photojournalism and art history {?}

prosciutto con melon

food: melons. kale. quiche. cheesecake. in that order

guilty pleasure: ready for this? . . . okay. . . this is the first time i have ever admitted to  this, but. . . the vampire diaries. yes. my sister kelsey and i get together and watch this every week. pitiful? maybe. and no. i will never be a twilight fan. nope. never

hometown: davidson, n.c. {even though i technically grew up in charlotte, n.c.}

ice cream: this one is easy – pistachio

jonesing for: a reasonably priced yoga studio that i can walk or bike to.  brown leather boots. art supplies

kryptonite: thrift & second-hand shops

look-a-like: i tend to get brooke shields the most often. . . it’s only because of my wild eyebrows

grace and james in "rear window"

movies: “rear window“. “darjeeling limited“. “amélie.“ everyone who knows me, knows i am wholly obsessed with old movies and especially with grace kelly, so this is no shocker here. plus, i think the world is a better place because of wes anderson. & who doesn’t LOVE audrey tautou’s character in “amélie”? seriously

nicknames: pig 1. love. poodle-butt. petunia. chicken. gracie. sweet lips. grace face. . . & many, many more

obsessions: georgia o’keeffe. travel. dancey music. my family. brushing my teeth. patterns

perfume: i don’t really wear any, but when i do it is cool water by davidoff or moss by k.hall. . . cannot stand really floral scents. it must be clean and simple

quirk: licking the corner of my lips when i pause in a conversation

regrets: wishing that time would go by faster when i was a little kid. i just wanted to skip to being a “grown up” or a “big kid” {whatever that means!}

starbucks: refresh tazo tea

flowers

talent: finding beauty in the pretty & not so pretty in life. arranging flowers. playing dress up

university: the uni of the world & uni of north carolina at chapel hill

vacation: anywhere & everywhere there is a glimmer of sunlight & an opportunity for adventure

wine: even though i am still underage . . . sauvignon blanc or shiraz from the vineyard i worked at in blenheim, new zealand

x: x my desire to always be on the go. i’m working on staying put for four years

years: nineteen. nineteen big years

the edge of the himalayas at sunset

zen: outdoor time {preferably in the mountains}. long walks. yoga & meditation. cooking. long dinners. painting in big, well-lit rooms with bon iver, sigur ros, or the national playing in the background. dancing with friends

. . .

get to it! i want to see your alphabet now. . .

{all images by me, except the movie still}