The Winnebago

Freedom is my drug.

And I've sold all my security to pay for it.

"Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."

-Benjamin Franklin

20/30

I am now officially out of my 20's.

I had been rounding up to 30 

for a few months before I actually turned 30,

because,

you know,

you want to try a new decade on for size 

before you purchase it.

Anyway,

I have more to share on that transition later,

mostly 

it involves sequins.

Lots of sequins and feathers and crowns.

Pretty typical.

However,

I just stumbled on this amusing article about mistakes to make in your 20's,

and liked #20.

#20. Fall in love with everyone and everything – cities, people, bodegas, McDonald’s hashbrowns, weird little lumpy rocks, men pretending to be architects, pocket squares, old television shows, countries, Bette Davis, recent parolees, an entire floor at Bergdorf Goodman, peacocks, Victorian mannequins, Beetlejuice (movie and person), one specific brick at Grand Central station, my postman (Preston), snapdragons, old women in Chanel, Playboy bunnies, the Prince of Luxembourg, all manner of nicknames – and do so every four minutes for the rest of your life. Let yourself get capsized by great tidal waves of love at completely unpredictable intervals. You will have to try to be very, very brave to do this. Be a little reckless, in spite of that fact that it is a certainty that some of these loves will wreck you. But in the end, you’ll be a magnificent piece of wreckage. You won’t make it out of this alive, but, cheer up, no one does. And I think, at the end, you will feel so much gratitude that you were here at all, in this strange, colorful, noisy, deadly world, whose very creation seems like the most endlessly inventive, amusing, wonderful sort of mistake.

Read more: http://www.thegloss.com/2013/05/10/odds-and-ends/20-mistakes-you-want-to-make-in-your-20s/#ixzz2SvKCn3HG

I'll try to remember to do so every four minutes
for my 30's.

Bookshelf Love

Did you see this post on Cup of Jo on falling for someone's bookcase?

 I knew I was in trouble when I first saw the beau's bookshelves (plural).

Mythology...Che...Wendell Berry...Fly rods...Classics...Pine cones.

Swoon.

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If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Truth of the Day

The earth will hold you up.

 It will bear your weight.

It can handle your dreams.

It does not fear anything inside of you.

Sometimes that's all you can count on.

Sometimes that's all you need.

Weight in Gold

There are moments every day

that flow like poetry

right in the middle 

of the mundane.

Lately,

I've been missing them.

I've been taking too many steps and getting no where fast.

And days for me turn kind of gray

unless I can live the poetry of them.

Unless I pause on my walk

up the stairs,

on my way to return emails

and pay bills,

peel back the curtain,

and rest my head against the glass

to drink in the glowing sunset

with my warm tea.

Unless I sink my body into a 

hot hot bath

and feel the burn of my frozen toes thawing.

Unless I pause during the surgery

and stop hearing my attending

physician's

physiology questions for me,

 because I am staring at a human heart

and it is beating.  

That was my day.

The other moments were just steps along the path.

Planning

 

Many of my conversations in the hospital go like this lately,

Random well-meaning person (RWMP): 

So the match [how residencies are chosen] is coming up.  Are you getting nervous?

Me:

I'm taking a year off, actually.

RWMP:

Wait, so you're not applying?

Me:

Nope.

RWMP:

So what are you going to do?

Me:

Not sure yet.  Lots of ideas, but no plans.

Part of that is intentional.  

My life has been very planned,

so I'd like to take a page from my sister's book,

who has never had a 5-year plan,

(and yet has a college degree, was a bartender in a ski town in NZ, and now lives and works in Zambia),

and 

see where the road takes me.

Once you plan it,

I feel like half the magic is spent.

That said,

I at least want to be able to see my options.

I was toying with the idea of getting a planner,

but 

the beau

had just created this great chalkboard (above) for his planning

with

space for small, medium, and large goals 

in many areas of his life.

He offered to help me make one,

but I recalled I had a roll of butcher paper which would do the trick just fine.

So now,

my desk is covered with this:

 

My lovely friend 

keeps asking if I've filled it in.

I haven't at all.

Not a lick.

But I feel better knowing I have the space to plan when I'm ready.

And I still have all the magic of the unknown

ahead of me.

P.S. Happy birthday to my big sis, Kara!!

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That's the thing with magic. 

You've got to know it's still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you.

Charles de Lint

Prayer Flags

Hi lovely people!

So, I ventured into the land of silk screening

and 

added a new section to the Etsy shop to sell said creations!

Meet, the prayer flags.

Traditional prayer flags 

  are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. 

It is thought

in Tibetan buddhism,

that

the flags do not carry prayers to the gods,

but rather

let the prayers and mantras

be blown on the wind

spreading

good will and compassion to all

the wind touches.

I thought we could all use

some modern day mantras.

 

I'm hoping to beef up my Etsy shop

with both creations and vintage finds over the next few months

and see if it can be a support source

for the 

adventures in this next year.

First on the adventure list...

is doing a rotation in an HIV clinic in Zambia.

All the proceeds

from the prayer flags would go toward that.

So,

if you would care to purchase anything (here),

become an official follower of the blog (on the right there),

spread the word about the Etsy shop,

or share my facebook posts,

I would be oh so

eternally grateful.

You really are great.

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May all beings have happiness and its causes, 

May all beings be freed from suffering and its causes; 

May all beings constantly dwell in joy transcending sorrow;

May all beings dwell in equal love for those both close and distant. 

-Tibetan Buddhist Prayer-