conquering the jungle

my friend JP and i worked at the house this morning.

this is what we started with--a jungle.

four hours and eight bags of debris later this is what we have.

it looks like a garden. yay! thanks JP.

there's still more to do but it's off to a good start.

we're going to pull out the weed trees on the right. 

we still have the back to do as well...

thoughtful thursday: leap

All growth is a leap in the dark, 

a spontaneous unpremeditated act

without benefit of experience.

~Henry Miller

photo

i don't know what i'm doing

Lately, I've been pushing myself to get out of the rut. It's hard and exhausting this pushing myself thing. Slowly I feel myself coming alive and looking ahead. I'm liking this.

The improv class I'm taking this summer is part of this. One of the golden rules is to say yes to whatever is offered up by another actor. Another is to offer up enthusiasm and support. And another is to focus on being good to work with, not funny. All great advice for improv and life, I think.

I noticed that I tended to be a little scared and my ideas reflected this when I put myself out there in our scenes. At one point I was loudly telling my partner to get me out of here (granted, it fit the scene in which we were trying to disguise ourselves as zombies). So when I did get out of that scene I was relieved and also a little surprised to realize that I really did want out of that scene, because I had no idea what I was doing. But I did it.

I don't always know what I'm doing or how it's going to work out, and it's a little scary. But I'm here trying to do it and learn something along the way. And maybe next time I'll know what I'm doing or at least have some better ideas.

advice from actors

art doesn't 
end;
it just stops 
in interesting
places. ~anonymous 
(actually the actor couldn't remember who said this first)


lessons from the actors workshop in nyc:


1. say yes


2. get involved


3. create relationships 


4. create your own opportunities


5. play well with each other


6. there is no silver bullet


this was what i got out of the q&a session the actors held with the high school students i went with to nyc. as i listened, i thought about my life and realized that what they were saying about acting was universal. and then i started taking notes on the ideas popping into my head.


i liked that the actors didn't talk down to high school students with stars in their eyes during their first visit to nyc. it was pretty straight forward talk about working hard. putting in the time. there aren't any shortcuts. and sometimes it's just plain luck. being in the right place at the right time.


i want more of that teen age joie de vivre back in my life. these kids were so open and fearless. they hadn't been told no yet. they were so willing to put themselves out there. to make total fools of themselves. to laugh. to screw up. to try something new. and to succeed. 


i think i need more of this. so, tonight is the first night of the improv essentials acting class i'm taking this summer. woohoo!

reasons i love dc: fireflies

fireflies are my all time favorite summer evening phenomenon.

i love watching them blink to life for the briefest of moments

and then go out, only to blink on again in a totally different place

a few moments later.

i drove up to my bishop's home this evening and followed a trail of fireflies.

he and his family live near the national arboretum, so as i drove by

there were tons of fireflies flicking on and off all across the road.

beautiful.

i also love watching them in my backyard.

i hope that some fireflies will follow me to my new house.

i wish i could figure out how to photograph them.

in the meantime i'll leave with these two beautiful firefly scenes.

photo 1

photo 2

sometimes i just don't have anything to say

sometimes i just don't have anything profound to say. so here is my list of things that made me smile this week:

~ a photo text from brother J of my newest nephew W sleeping on mom's torso. congrats!

~ my parents have been married for 38 years this week. their 12th grandchild was born on their anniversary; what a great gift. happy anniversary mom and dad!

~ great conversation with good friends on sunday night during a potluck to say goodby to a dear friend. however, i'm not smiling now as i think about her leaving.

~ seeing my new house again and starting to plan decor and furniture placement in my head.

~ sorting through stuff and compiling a get-rid-of pile. it's nice to downsize.

~ fleetwood mac's album rumours (it's old, but so good). adele's album 21 (seriously, this girl rips your heart out when she sings). ingrid michaelson's album everybody (i just love this album). seriously some good music here.

~ the sountrack to 500 days of summer during my run on monday. it was almost the perfect length, because it ended 3 blocks from my house as i finished up my run. and it was my last outdoor run this week because when you combine 97 degrees with 80% humidity you get a heat index of like 110, and that's the weather in dc this week. blegh.

~ hearing about my four year old nephew G's crushes and desire to be a super hero. he's in love with the young lady who cuts material for his mom at the fabric store and mooning over a little girl from church. he also likes meat, a lot. this kid seriously makes me laugh.

~ a bike ride.

~ sweet, cold, perfectly pink watermelon when it's super hot outside.

~ leaving work early, just because.

~ watering my flowers each evening as the sun goes down.

~ a deep conversation about being christ like, what that means in a relationship, the christian belief that wives are subservient to the husband in a marriage and how to reconcile that belief with being christ like. good stuff.

~ seeing one of my favorite coworkers get promoted. way to go YN3!

~ turning on my car's AC when the heat index is 110 degrees farenheit.

~ wearing a skirt or dress every day this week. ah, summer!

~ a wake up phone call is just so much better than my alarm clock, even if i am pretty grouchy when i first wake up.

~ quiet time spent with the divine.

~ listening to a friend M's miraculous story of how she met her husband-to-be (and i'm not using the word miraculously lightly in this case). her wedding shower was so much fun and full of such good women who love each other that it uplifted me as well. god really is in the workings and he will speak to us. a wonderfully gorgeous night.

~ finding lots to say when i sit down to compile my gratitude list for the week.

this week of posting every day is for ss.

she made  me smile this week too.

living "i love you"

i read this lovely blog post and it made me cry.


"SAYING “I love you” isn’t as important as LIVING “I love you”.  I see “I love you” LIVED in front of me every day.  I want to live it too." ~Kathi Whittington


and then this made me cry each time i watched it. what a great example of "living i love you" right here:

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alright, now go and live it.

a sneak peek

hello new house in which i'm going to live!

 the entry way

 the galley kitchen

 the exposed brick wall

 the dining & living room

the sun room!

just a little sneak peek of where i'm moving to at the end of the month.

wait till you see my bedroom and closet.