zion : an introduction through phone photos

what a lovely weekend we had. 

our night at the symphony was magical--ceej, faure, and beethoven in one night.

i felt oh so grateful that ceej came to zion with me the next day despite his jet-lag. he was a real champ.

i needed this little road trip to the desert.

we bought ourselves a year-round pass to all the national parks,

and we're giddy to get to as many as possible within the next twelve months.

will be back in the next day or two with "real" photos of our adventure in zion.

happy monday!

i finally took an entire day to clean, and how there are really awesome women in this world

i knew this would happen. i knew that if i started cleaning, really truly cleaning,

that i wouldn't do anything else today. yup. no homework even attempted. 

but i'm sure those pages will eventually get read this weekend.

ceej has been gone a week...i swear i am getting to be a big wimp when it comes to his traveling.

i think one thing i realized this time around is that i'm more of a loner than i thought. true.

thank goodness for women friends across the globe.

this morning i awoke to a lovely and generous email from this ambitious woman who is off to italy today to find beautiful fabric for her amazing clothing line. i swoon for such classy simplicity.

i found comfort in little facebook comments from this brilliant woman who has just returned 

to her second home in england.

and i was quite happy to receive an email from this visionary woman who sees the value and the

beauty of the past.

i just want to have you all over for tea. all of you. because you're all so lovely.

so now my lonely heart isn't so alone anymore, and lucky me,

ceej returns home tonight and we're headed straight to hear beethoven's fifth and faure's pavane.

it should be just what this lonely heart needs (especially now that i have peace of mind that

the house is clean!)

have a happy weekend, dear readers.

another day, another lake...last summer in england and what my today looks like

i had a lot of ambition this morning: the plan was to read a dense article and read a 120-page book...

doesn't look like that's going to happen now--something i can't put my finger on is distracting me.

do you ever have those kinds of days? like day-dreaming mixed with goal-setting mixed with anxiety.

it's one of those days where i'm trying to reach down into the depths of myself and figure out

what's really going on in there...what does a heart really want, and how does one get it.

day-dreaming: ceej is in italy today enjoying snow in the dolomites. i see photographs of such a magical landscape and want to be there, not here with my ambition. i want to be there with my dreams: a book store, writing, and workshops. these photographs here are of our last evening in the lake district last summer. what an incredible land. no wonder romantics such as william wordsworth lived there. inspiring in a sort of way that makes it necessary to write, to question, and to live.

goal-setting: finish school...and another degree. actually write dreams/goals on paper. find that confidence, that bravery. talk with your professor, and admit fears because somehow once that is done the fears dissipate. remind myself that school is something i enjoy...it's not something for me to prove how smart i am, because really i'm there because i'm in love--in love with history and literature.

anxiety: there's always a to-do list with ambition. ugh. am trying to remind myself that it truly is all about baby steps. i'm trying to cover up all of the steps except for the one immediately in front of me. i can do that one. i can read an article and a book in a day...still.

so, i'm off. to do step number one (read, read, read); to day-dream of living in a land with a pulse; and to give my anxiety a dose of deep breaths and a peppermint chocolate.

our picnic at the lake: part two

it's always windy at the lake. so eventually i had to put on a thicker coat.

i can't seem to get over how quiet it was here. it's an expansive silence.

a silence that you know if you had more time to listen you might have a poetic epiphany about life.

i just wanted to breathe. to be quiet as well. i wanted to look with my uneducated eyes.

it's times like these i wish i would have found an interest in biology earlier in life.

but now is never too late...i will observe as a child observes, and maybe one day i'll

have names to put on the phenomena i see, hear, and feel. 

am so grateful for access to wildness.

it's monday now. one of those great mondays where you feel motivated,

like you're ready to move forward with life, approaching obstacles with

confidence that you will get through them.

{p.s. am feeling nostalgic for a sunny day up at the cabin thanks to marte!}

sunday afternoon : herbs, pages, lyrics, and women

i think i'm getting the hang of this pages thing. it's been difficult to unplug as i'm finding i have

more of an addiction to the laptop and these "convenient" smart phones we all carry around.

but i'm making progress, and pages are slowly taking over my life beautifully,

filling my mind with wonderful pictures, and creating questions that sometimes feel too big to approach.

ceej is out of town, jet-lagged in germany. i think his leaving just gets harder and harder every time.

but i guess that's a good sign, yes? 

this afternoon i took a break from one little book to retreat into the kitchen

to have a little refreshment by a sunny window with notes to review and that will hopefully

help me to read more deeply.

i've been reading about women in eighteenth century britain...what a gender-biased time to live in.

i have to admit that i sometimes wonder if we {women} have progressed as much as i would hope...

there seems to be so much more to be done in terms of equality. what do you think?

there are so many women i admire these days, changing the way things work and how we view them.

i am certainly grateful that i am even allowed to attend a university, vote, and generally have more control over my own life and its direction.

i'm interested. what do you think about women and our place in society?

one of the best ways to experience a snowstorm: invite friends over for a little bonfire, smores, conversation, and lots of laughing

click here to listen to a good campfire song...

just last weekend i wanted to take advantage of the falling snow

so we invited a few friends over for a potluck bonfire.

we caught up with friends who just delivered their first baby in a gas-station parking lot,

heard plans and dreams from another who wants to design technical gear for women (yes!),

questioned our nurse practitioner/dermatologist about all of our skin questions,

tried to keep our hands free of sticky marshmallows while avoiding smoke in our eyes,

retreated into the house to write limericks (some successful, and some very successful in their unsuccess),

and a promise to gather again soon.

hooray for snow. hooray for winter. hooray for friends.

when the mountains were too dangerous we headed to the lake for a picnic {part one}

what a dreamy weekend we had. lots of snow fell, which made for cozy nights with friends,

but made for a dangerous backcountry...so no skiing for us. avalanches were too sensitive for our liking.

so we headed out to the great salt lake for an afternoon picnic.

it's amazing how much contrast there is in our landscape:

one minute you can be in the aspens and pines of the snowy mountains,

and the next minute you can be on a desert island surrounded by a salty lake and open skies.

i don't think i'll ever tire of a yellow landscape nudging a blue sky...

nor will i ever tire of the quiet that resides on this island.

for all we knew we were the only ones there enjoying the sun and a good meal together.

you can't beat good bread, good soup, and hot cocoa on a crisp day.

i love little "getaways" like this...escapes into what is real in this world.