There were Indian chai’s shared with the best men and blue hued mountains to be hiked.
There were silhouettes of people I love against backdrops of adventure.
There were hours of uninterrupted time to create… collage… pour…
There were beaches of powdered sand and mountains of crystalline snow.
There were many times in the last six months where I missed home endlessly.
There were times when I was so full of the moment I lacked for nothing.
These were the moments in between.
I found the perfect quote on Katie Kendricks blog: Joyously Becoming, for how I think we all feel about Katie!
“Courage is to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.”
~ Brene Brown
She arrives with her whole self.
She tells her story with her whole self.
Over and over she demonstrates the courage of this quote.
In how she smooshes paint around paper… In how she delights in the beauty of dangling tree branches.
In how she hugs you, laughs with you and see’s the world.
Thank you my dear for sharing who you are with all of us. xo
(All photo’s taken at the luscious and incredible Call of the Wild Soul Ghost Ranch Art Retreat by: Erin Faith Allen)
Enjoyed seeing these images? Id love to meet you over on Instagram: A Global Walk xoxo
In the Chama River valley north of Sante Fe, we found the bones of this beautiful home crumbling in it’s own wild beauty.
Orly is no stranger to finding beauty in the decomposing, the oddity, the strange places. And THIS is exactly why I love her.
Her art speaks for itself, if you ever get a chance to met her, you will inevitably be lit up with her wisdom and hilarity.
A brilliant badass that I feel… well… pretty damn lucky to have been around for two whole weeks at Call of the Wild Soul, Ghost Ranch.
“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.”
-Jack Kerouac
Roll on Momma Tumbleweed… Roll on…
(All photo’s taken at the luscious and incredible Call of the Wild Soul Ghost Ranch Art Retreat by: Erin Faith Allen)
I put an audiobook on, brewed coffee then I dyed.
Boiling a large pot of water with onion skins.
Sinking in, one by one, bundles of Navy t-shirts full of leaves, and rusted bits.
And of course all the things I want to let go of. Metaphorically.
String bound bundles. Taking a plunge into hot waters.
Transforming you… in all the uncontrollable ways life does.
Unbound. Unwinding. Deep breathing.
Everything has changed inside of me. I am Stained.
I am Unraveled.
P.s. *Im not talking about the bundles anymore.*
(Taking processes learned from Erin Faith Allen at Call of the Wild Soul, Ghost Ranch and exploring them more deeply during the quite moments to myself.)
Chicago was the first place I ever paid to travel too alone. After a messy break up I bought a ticket and went.
She was the city of many firsts. The first place I got drunk in. The first place I roamed aimlessly photographing for no reason other than the need to do it. The first place I tested my boundaries. I bought a kimono and cow boy boots and felt alive. Somehow in those streets I found a piece of me that I didn’t know was there. Bravery…
Many years later I am here with my love beginning a chapter in our lives I thought I would never be taking. But I am, oh so glad we are!
This place always buzzes with an energy I cannot explain, but I know others feel it too. There is something inexplicably beautiful about Chicago. I feel a rush of creative bliss flow out of me each time I set foot on her soil. It seems only right to begin our lives as a Navy couple here. With her snow covered grounds and her towering buildings, we embarked on the biggest decision of our lives. Ok maybe marriage was the biggest decision, but this is a very, VERY close second!
I flew in on Christmas Eve due to the most delightful plane ticket gifted to me by a cousin. She and her husband wanted my love and I to be able to spend Christmas day together! Which was the sort of magical day that words do not really capsulate, so I won’t begin to try. The next few days flew by in bursted blurs. Some moments being wildly fun and others inching by as we grew close to graduation… I sat waiting eagerly. Sight seeing, taxidermy and the most amazing food punctuated my days. Until, of course I was with him again. Because being with him usually trumps everything else. 10 days in this wintery city flew by faster than I thought possible. It already feels like the distant past.
“I was in love with the place
In my mind, in my mind
I made a lot of mistakes
In my mind, in my mind
You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow
We had our mindset
All things know, all things know
You had to find it
All things go, all things go
If I was crying
In the van with my friend
It was for freedom
From myself and from the land”
This list was half way written back in August when I usually post them.
As life would have a few huge changes in store coming for us in the last few months it sat idle in my notebook. Here is the revised version for our new journey…
26 things to do before turning 27! xoxo
1) Remember all those reader digest books we found in an abandoned house? Well I am going to make journals out of them!
2) Print photos from our Honey Moon at Artifact Uprising!
3) Life hack our house especially the kitchen! Seriously so many ideas to make living much easier and organized! Which translates into a much more peaceful me.
4) Write Love Letters to people whom need them. You should too, click HERE to find out why and how!
5) Collage/write my heart… It’s time. I can feel the need to create about living in India and Nepal.
6) Stream line bills. Why? Because life is easier that way.
7) Learn how to make a Cyanotype which is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print! Uh, YES please!
8) Keep getting in shape. Right before turning 26 I decided it was high time to make working out a regular part of my life.
(Not an optional one.) I am dedicated to expanding what that looks like this year!
9) Drink champagne for the first time.
10) Make art with Orly Avineri.
11) Create a desk/workspace in our new home, where I can edit without being hunched over or burning my legs.
12) To that note I also want to freshin up our bedroom, wether that means a head board or new bed spread. It has been the least focused on room in the house.
13) Use milage for an airline ticket. Where too?
14) Get my very own sleeping bag, hiking backpack and boots! For real, I am an adult now, I need to invest in proper gear.
15) So I can hike and camp more. A goal we both equally desire.
16) Visit Asheville before leaving the east coast! Go to Double D’s and Biltmore Estate.
17) Read 12 books. Focusing on Travel and or Memoirs.
18) Tin type Portraits done.
19) Learn how to re-wire a lamp. Seriously this has been on my to do list forever.
20) Go dancing with my husband.
21) Learn to make proper cocktails. You know for all those parties we throw.
22) Get a morning routine. Mine consisted of rolling out of bed, throwing on clothes and grabbing a coffee. 1o minutes flat and I was out the door. I would like a healthier version from now on. Eat protein upon waking, drink more water, take my vitamin d, moisturize my face before getting dressed and grabbing that coffee.
23) Take Nathaniel scuba diving.
24) Meet a National Geographic photographer. Shoot with them.
25) Make a list of things to do and love while living in Jacksonville. Oh and do them…
26) Apply for collage!!!!!!!