Tuesday was a big day here in Chapel Hill.
Thanks David and all the dear friends for doing this.
[Photos: A record-breaking day//Grace Farson]
Losing control looks and feels something like this I think.
Today is just that day. That day of the week//month// or year that feels a little different, just a bit harder, a little more overwhelming than the ones close to it. . .
Good things to come, I know that full well, but for now, I am set on making lists of my priorities. . . and doing. . .
On this day, I am thankful for these things:
+ Sleeping in a little later than intended
+ An avocado and coffee breakfast
+ Documentary films about bees, bbq, and big Southern eating from the Southern Foodways Alliance
+ A paying job [*too many jobs at the moment really. . .]
+ Papers and projects and the stuff I complain about now but will one day be glad I did. . .
“What are we going to do differently when we get up tomorrow?” – Gloria Steinem
[Photo: Delhi, India//Grace Farson]
Back to it all.
First day of classes = something like this. . .
Woke up at 7:47 for my 8 a.m. // made it there + only 5 mins late // pjs = leggins + velvet shirt worn all day // new classes and faces all around// hugs // promises to see each other in the new semester// classes added//classes dropped//plans// people darting in and out of buildings trying to find classes// goodbyes//new connections made . . .
I had been continuing to do the same thing
while expecting different results.On most days the children learned how
to do something. Time passed around usas something approaching a figure eight
might move in order to let all else moveor be moved by our large numbers of feelings
exponentially on high alert once we let them register.It passed us around. It passed around us like a river
around a boulder.Music consisted of light & light came on time.
It was impossible for us not to anthropomorphize everything.And yes, watching ice skaters, the kind called figure skaters,
the ones who aren’t doing anything other than tracking again &again some figure of infinity marked out on ice for them,
this never failed to quiet us down & take us some place else.– Dara Wier, 2012
[Photos: Holga, early spring, last year//Grace Farson]
Today is far from perfect, but I’m feeling the overwhelming need to stay positive and remain motivated. Nothing in life ever really works out as you expect. . .
“I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.” – e. e. Cummings
[Photo: Fjordland, New Zealand //Grace Farson]
happy rainy leap day world!
i always wanted to be born on feb. 29.
* * *
“it is possible to speak with our heart directly. most ancient cultures know this. we can actually converse with our heart as if i were a good friend. in modern life we have become so busy with out daily affairs and thoughts that we have lost this essential act of taking time to converse with our heart.”
– jack kornfield
* * *
also, here’s a song for your bonus day!
this morning i slept later than i wanted to. went to talk to an academic adviser about my future or lack there of {and how i will never find a job} . . .
but the morning did get better because i got to talk to dana {she’s in india!} and we planned and dreamed up summer ideas together.
c’est tout!
{photo through a jeep, darjeeling}
today is going to be the longest of days. . .
“it’s a very american trait, this wanting people to think well of us. it’s a young want, and i am ashamed of it in myself. i am not always a good daughter, even though my lacks are in areas different from her complaints. haven’t i learned yet that the desire to be perfect is always disastrous and, at the least, loses me in the mire of false guilt?”
– madeleine l’engle
. . .
+ want to curl up and read this book over and over again. . . it was my favorite when i was just beginning to like books. . .
+ my wedding will resemble this
+ last weekend, abby & i fell in love with st. vincent together again. . . cruel
+ this past weekend was special – photos to come!
+ i have some truly great people in my life right now
+ here’s to a new week! . . . i’m trying to go a whole week without complaining. . . i find that this campus just breeds complaining. i’m done with it. ultimately, we have so little to complain about. . . who’s going to join me in this?
+ p.s. marry me?
{image from one of my favorite spots in nepal – beautiful, quirky, quiet baghmara right outside of chitwan national park. i lived here for several weeks and rode my bike on these dusty roads several times a day}
my not so tidy bathroom
clean and organized are two words no one ever has described me with.
as much as i hate to admit it, i am neither one. ultimately i have my artistic temperament, my hectic schedule, and my lack of interest in cleaning to blame. as i mentioned before, mom and dad’s house was perfectly clean for over six months. . . then. . . i come back. . . and disaster! i tend to fill my life with things. and often times things i don’t need. not a day goes by when i remind myself – remember just how easy and simple it was living out of a backpack for the start of the year?
i love and miss that freedom in knowing that everything you own is strapped on your back. at home i have an assortment of things i certainly don’t need but also things that i love. i have mountains of old paintings, sketches, journals, books, and clothes. yes, mountains.
thinking through and packing for my future at unc has been a fun process too. . . but i’ve ended up making more messes around the house.
all this to say this one thing – today was a cleaning day.
. . .
+ this video is fully mesmerizing
+ this photo of picasso with an afghan
+ this diy necklace and this earthy jewelry
+ this photo of amy poehler
+ this word clock
+ this film excites me more than i can say! one of these days i hope to be a part of something this extraordinary.
. . .
p.s. {later} i did get my whole bathroom cleaned and challenge you to also get rid of some stuff you don’t need! still more to sort through but progress was made.
GRACE FARSON 