a week of color: red (and pink)

jon and i just returned from a long weekend on the oregon coast. how i wish we could have stayed for the month. it was beautiful. the weather was perfect. we really enjoyed our time together, and we were able to spend time with my brother and his girlfriend when they came for part of the time.

i want to continue to feel like i am on a bit of a vacation, so this week will be about photos i think...

i have been enjoying kayte's blog for a little while now and was delighted to discover that she is prompting her blog readers to participate in a week of color this first week of july. today is all about the pink and red...and you know i love to bring on the pink (and the buttons)!

here are the pink and red things finding their way into the little room today:

trim that will make its way onto flags

a little of heather's freshcut fabric to become selma bags and totes

vintage red buttons found in a delightful shop near cannon beach

How are pink and red making an appearance in your life today?

a midnight poem

I unclenched
my fisted
grasp on hope

until the day I sat before you
and asked

a shift

galloping, hope arrives

I steady myself
then spin
inside it

soaking in the joy {self-portrait challenge}

a brief break in the middle of the day to enjoy lunch outside. fruit and cheese and water with lime. reading a magazine. remembering the importance of taking time away from work and responsibility to just soak in summer. remembering to soak in the joy.

(and yes, i did buy two of those polka dot bowls because i knew they would match my new shoes.)

see more self-portrait takers in their environments here.

what do you want...

road to enchantment. sedona, arizona. february 2007.

I was emailing with a kindred spirit in blog world this week, and she asked me, “what do you want to do with your life?” And for the first time, maybe the first time ever in my 31 years, I had an immediate answer to that question. I have to be honest: The fact that my head and heart had this immediate answer somewhat astounded me.

A few years ago when we still lived in Indiana, my mom, Jon, and I were in Barnes and Noble and I found myself drawn to some books on one of those aisle tables. One title was Is It Too Late to Run Away and Join the Circus? An Updated Guide to Your Second Life by Marti Smye. I have to admit that I stood there thinking, “Do you think I could? Just run away and do that?” At that time, I felt like I was seeking, but I didn’t know what to look for. I didn’t know that I only had to look inward.

These last couple of years have become that journey – that journey inward. I have begun to be honest with myself about what I need and want to do with my life. And, how the doubts creep in and the questions jump out at me unexpectedly at times. Still, I know that if I just pause and listen, I will know what to do.

You have to be honest with yourself though. When you sit in the quiet, what does your heart tell you it needs or wants to do? That is the question. What does your soul need for nourishment? That is the question. Sitting with the questions and just breathing, noticing what comes up; I believe this is the way to find your answers. I used to be afraid to do this, to sit in the quiet and listen. There is an overwhelming power at times when you realize you have to know the answers to the questions of your life. There isn’t a true guidebook, just lots of people trying to tell you what they think is best. And, although their way might be one piece of your way, only you know the answers. Only you know.

In writing an answer to this question of “what do you want to do with your life?” I realized that I am doing it. I had a talk with my good friend Heather last weekend about this idea of “doing.” As Yoda talks about, this idea of “Do or do not. There is not try.” For me, the key has become to do. To stop creating my own hurdles and just do.

As I make a commitment to myself to live in my life and create and write and tell my story, I have to stop talking about doing these things – stop just talking about living and creating and writing – and find my way to action.

a new design (meet the anya totes)

Remember that scene in Roman Holiday when Princess Ann wants a day where she can just be an everyday girl named Anya, so she sets off for an adventure in Rome? She soaks in the sites, gets a gorgeous new haircut, is given a flower by the flower cart man when she can’t afford a bouquet, and then tops the day off with an ice cream cone.

As we watched this movie a few weeks ago, I started thinking about the joy of a day spent on an adventure just feeling free. Life can be full of all the musts and shoulds and responsibilities. Those of us who are the good girls, the serious girls, the girls who always do the right thing, we can easily get knee deep in all that stuff and forget about the joy of a day of freedom. Even in the midst of “all that we must do,” we have to give ourselves permission to have adventures, to decide to get a new haircut just because, to take off for the day with no plans or expectations.

As I watched the joy on her face as she wondered the streets, there was this one little moment where Audrey Hepburn puts her hands in her pockets. As she did that, I thought, “she doesn’t have a bag.” It was silly really, but I did have that thought. And, from that thought my mind jumped to an idea for a little bag. I love how ideas are born like this. You see something and your mind makes a connection and suddenly you are creating. I imagined her carrying a little linen tote to match her crisp white shirt and long dark skirt. When the movie finished, I picked up my “notes from the little room” moleskine and started writing down ideas.

This new tote design is inspired by Anya’s solo explorations. It’s just the right size for your sketchbook, pencil case, book of poetry, wallet, and iPod. Perfect for your own adventure out into the world. Available at The Little Room.

meet betty...and a couple of aprons

my new best girl betty arrived in the mail on thursday. she is a welcome addition to the little room. i knew i would name her when she got here, and as i took her out of the huge "i could make a fort out of this" box, she named herself as i heard "betty" whisper in the air.

i love her.

she is wearing an apron i found yesterday at a delightful antique mall in port townsend. it looks like someone took a tablecloth or table runner and created an apron from it. love how the person used the embroidery for a pocket.

in this next photo, she is wearing an apron my mother and i made together last summer. hard to believe that i was so overwhelmed by the thought of trying to understand how to use my sewing machine a year ago after a 20 year absence from sewing (yes, that means i was about 10 when i was sewing before this last year).

i love this apron for many reasons...the colors...the butterflies...but mostly i love it because my mom and i made it together.

senses. backyard roses.

{see}

{smell}

{taste}

{hear}

{touch}

{and know}

choosing the sun {self-portrait challenge}

on the banks of puget sound, june 19, 2007

on the days when misunderstandings threaten to roll in the clouds. on the days when the missing rocks my heart and her voice seems lost to me. on the days when the last thread of possibility begins to tear. on days when the aloneness feels like a friend. on the days when dreaming feels immature and silly. on days when the patterns long left behind suddenly appear as an option. on days when i feel forgotten and realize i have actually forgotten myself.

on these days, like a violet on a kitchen windowsill, i choose the sun.
i choose.
i choose.

(see more reactions to the challenge of environment at self-portrait challenge)