California Weekend

I haven't really mastered the self portrait with my new camera. So my head looks abnormally large in both pics but I like to prove to myself I was there. That is Octavio Dotel, Ben met him he is a pitcher who helped the Cards win the world series last year. Props to ben for taking the cool shot of Dotel against the fence. Props to me for the baseball stadium shot ( I'm allowed to tutee my own horn occasionally.) 

Peace, Connection and Movement

I travel... Why so much a friend asked, don't you miss home? 
Yes. I do, but it makes me love it so much more. I love my family and my job more because I leave it on occasion. Some may disagree with me, however in my life I find this and the following things to be true. 

I am a stranger to boredom I don't allow myself to sit still. When my life has slowed it is then I am afraid I will lose touch of who I am. I am afraid I will become the person I was a few years past, the person who questioned the worth of her own life. I am afraid I will become content and careless, hurting ones I love and myself.

 I admire the souls who can sit in their home and be at peace. I am not that soul, I was born to do, to see, to taste, to experience, to love and to feel. I cannot neglect the energy that runs through my veins, I cannot retrain my heart to stop longing for the ocean air or the open road. I get a thrill when I leave all I know, and for instance am at the mercy of strangers, to trust the human spirit to befriend and  to direct. A conversation with a stranger at a ballpark, or in line for a hotdog in New York is conversation and opportunity to hear somebody who you'll never hear again, to connect the human spirit not through anything deep or unusual but through something common. This reminds me that each of us no matter our race, gender or beliefs is human. We are humans. Humans simply looking for other humans to help them figure out what makes their soul soar. 

I travel to move. Not always to go somewhere certain but to get out and move, to feel the earth beneath me and see the sky above me. I am happy to not rest if this means one more day of looking at something I don't get everyday. I look for the chance to just escape the fear I have when I don't see life changing. It's natural for energy to move. We are energy, its natural for us to move. I travel to move.

Finally traveling is my vice, I do not smoke, I do not drink, I am not promiscuous but I leave, I run away and escape. The thing about any vice is it will become something you need. No longer is it something you hope for or occasionally want, but your thought process turns it into a passion, an obsession. when do I leave next? where else can I go? If I had millions of dollars and endless hours my travels would exceed the space I can make in days and become the space I can make for years.  

I know I am not alone in this need of traveling I found a partner who too wants to be somewhere fresh wants to sit in the ocean and feel waves. I was blessed to find a like soul. Life is so short Mark Twain summed it up pretty well, he said something along the lines of in 20 years we will not regret the things we did but the ones we didn't. Maybe I'll regret not staying still, but if I feel peace when I travel then I feel like if I go against this desire that will be thing I regret most. 

Girls Trip Picture Montage

Magic Wand... Keep, Donate, Trash!

   Do you watch "Hoarders; Buried Alive?" I do. I am in constant awe of how much stuff those people have... How? How do you get so much stuff? 

   

   I am moving in with my grandma, since my grandpa passed she has been very lonely, it will help us save for grad school/house and give her some time to adjust to the idea of being alone. It really is a benefit to us both, plus if you refer back to previous posts you know my grandma is very cool. My Grandpa in all his greatness did have a weakness, like all mortals do he overcame many of his vices but kept one... or maybe a should say one of everything. Yes my grandfather was a hoarder. No, not as bad as you see on TV but yes,  he has piles and piles of stuff! If it were up to my Mom and Myself we would order a huge dump truck and throw it all away, however it is not, rightfully my grandma wants to go through it ALL. That is fine, I am more then happy to pull boxes and clothes and treasures from the nooks and crannies of her house. I do however wish there was a magic wand that just by waving it over items would tell you keep, donate or trash, that would make things speed along a little faster. 

   I asked my grandma how and where all this stuff came from, she replied it just adds up. So after a day in "Hoarders; The Experience" I go to my own home and begin compiling a list of keep, donate and trash... I have come up with a few things. I've gotten rid of 2 boxes of clothes and next I go through the decorations... I know I have some Chinese decor that HAS to go. What was I thinking when I bought it in the first place? I don't decorate with an Asian flare unless you count the Hideki Matsui rookie card in the "dugout"(room much like a man cave but I think the word cave makes Ben seem primitive and unintelligent plus dugout is so much cooler and our style. Currently the dugout is our guest bedroom.) So my list is building and I am going to be one simplified lady come October 1st (Moving Day.)

   Maybe the key to not hoarding is moving a lot, forcing you to go through all your things. Maybe I'll be a gypsy. I think I have a little of their blood in me I can travel from town to town only taking what I need, and my husband. It would basically be impossible to be a hoarder if you were packing up and moving yearly. Who really wants to apartment hunt yearly though, not me deposits, refunds, painting, figuring out a way to remove the spilt orange soda stain, no bueno. I think I'll just name September the month of the anti hoard... Goodbye to all the old crap you haven't touched in the past year and hello simplicity, space and style.  

   Now if any of you are hoarders. You know who you are. Take this advice from a granddaughter in distress and a family in dust. GET RID OF IT! Technology has allowed us to store so much information on our computers there is no need for files of bank statements, or receipts, no reason we should have boxes and boxes of books we read once and will never read again, no purpose to News Papers in print stacking high or VHS's covering walls. Free yourself and your posterity. Buy a laptop and a scanner and dejunk. (Being a photographer I do recommend you keeping pictures, they do tell a story and you never know which picture will touch whose heart.) 

Now enjoy the National Month of DeJunk. (Not an actual accredited month, but sounds good)