Silence, Commotion and Effortless Motion

 So, Coffee Bean in downtown Riverside had a deal today on $1 drinks ...

 So I decide to drive there (without the foggiest on its location). I pass the ARTS WALK!!! Forgot that was going on tonight. Drive in circles for 40 minutes then ask a woman who looks like she drinks coffee if she knows where it is. Of course she does. Women in yoga pants ALWAYS know how to find coffee! She points the way says it's in a plaza and goes back to walking. I almost tried to flip a U-ey on a one way street and later did turn down a oneway street the wrong way, but luckily I noticed about halfway through the turn and just turned right back around before disaster had a chance to find me.. but anyway! Eventually I found it and parked in the big parking garage just south of the Fox Theater. I walked to Coffee Bean and through/under/around tons of people, caution tape, and chairs... what in the world is going on... I see a kiosk "Fashion's Night Out," A fashion show!! (SHAME!!! I can't be seen like this in front of people who devote shows to fashion! Look down and walk fast... scratch that! I have no reason to feel shame, I'm a working girl in her uniform, SO?! Hold head high, but not snobbish, walk purposefully, you belong here and no one can catch you off balance)

Fast-forward- I'm in Coffee Bean!!! I order a Pumpkin Spice Ice Blended and hand over a single dollar bill! WIN >_<!! Second win, it takes less than 5 minutes from the time I walk through the door to the time I take the first sip. Alright, so I got my drink... there's a fashion show, and the arts walk.... but I'm in my work uniform.... BACK TO THE CAR, and like Clark Kent in his telephone booth I am transformed! Okay so not my MOST fashionable day.... I have cute overall shorts and a thin breezy off the shoulder top with a loud vertical stripey pattern and Chuck Taylors...but that'll just have to do! Light-years better than my uniform in any case. So I walk back to the Plaza and ask a gentleman, with a shirt that matches the kiosk I saw, what is going down for the night. Fashion show starts at six and there are other activities till 9 put on by the sponsors. Cool! K... so I see little tables and stalls set up with bangles, shineys, and fluffies... TREASURES so I browse those chat with the ladies, tell them about the special going on at Coffee Bean, one of them gets up and goes straight there before I'm even finished with the details! I call several people to see if they want to meet up with me on my impromptu adventure. EVERYONE is out of town and one of the only two people who aren't had plans with her bf to celebrate his birthday! So tonight's mission was a solo adventure! I went back to browsing stalls and then went into an AMAZING building... don't know what it's called but it's cool. It's four stories of kiosk style sections displaying different vendors' collections. It's like a permanent swapmeet or something or like hundreds of miniature thrift stores all in one place! Tons of trinkets and antiques. I got lost a time or two and just wandered the maze of dazzling intricacies, smooth fabrics gliding over unusual mannequins, glassware, old china tea sets, gleaming enticing golden pocket watches, hats, gloves, shoes, a bar and a cafe! A library, a furniture store, and much MUCH more! I think I was in there for almost an hour! I was in Narnia. When I finally pushed myself out of there I just continued browsing down the row of shops until the fashion show.

I'm not gonna going to try to word-ify the show, because it was way way way too much input ya know? But it was brilliant and beautiful. The models were more diverse than I've ever seen. Ages 4-74 and spots in between; skinny, thin and heavy; anorexic, muscular and pudgy; boys, girls, and a couple people somewhere in between. There was dancing, beatboxing, singing, and strutting, and of course runway walkin! It was really cool and I liked most of the fashions, some were too bulky, plain, or shapeless, but there was a lot of really cute stuff and stunning models. Stayed for that, and then when it ended, with thoughts full of fashion and dynamic walks (I would LOVE to be a runway model and get to dress up and parade as someone else), I headed over to the ARTSWALK! It's always the 1st Thursday of every month and yet I forget every time! This was my first time. There was so much to look at, too much to take in, bought a couple little things, talked to a ton of artists, found out about what it takes to be a vendor ($5 bucks, your name, & a phone number turns out). I might do that one day if I get brave enough... might motivate me to actually produce art more often lol. But anyway it was SO COOL!! 

Things to see EVERYWHERE! DJ's on street corners, old guys singing Elvis, saxophone players with their hats on the ground, guitarists everywhere, art here and there, laughing, talking, shouting and calling (yes those are all things you can see, not just hear). I made a wrong turn down a narrow street and heard music for the Shim Sham (Here's a video with the steps, although not even close to the same music! We usually dance it to a MUCH faster song!), looked across the street to see about 10 people dancing it under the light from a store front. RAN across the street danced the rest of the individual portion, slung my stuff down on the sidewalk and turned back around to see that there was one boy left over who still needed a follow for the partner dance portion, PERFECTION. I run up to him ask if he knows how, he says "kinda," I grab his left hand, put my left on his shoulder and jump into it, he doesn't have a clue! Haha, but he's cute. Fresh young face, bright purple v-neck, cool kicks, and gorgeous dreads. We stumble through the rest of the song, I do my best to teach him the steps, and the whole time we're both just grinning and dancing, wild with freedom. The song ends he shakes my hand and takes off with his friends... I don't even know it we exchanged names... we didn't need to in any case. It was a momentary mutual movement and it was perfect. Afterward I hung around a bit listening to the music and watching the various people pass by along the street. The spiffy-looking guy who brought the music offers me his hand and we start to dance. 

Performing with a stranger by the light of a storefront window on the side of the street in the lively dark night.

People stop to watch, as we move flawlessly (he was an AMAZING lead), the dance ends with a low dip and a myriad of applauding hands. I thank him and head off down the street. 

Didn't get his name either! Just a wandering kinda night, no names necessary, I did acquire one, a woman named Jean. Talked quite a bit about her art and her daughter and gave me the valuable information about becoming an Artswalk vendor. I continued down the block and eventually found the proper street and parking garage and my car as well. People were just arriving to skate the smooth cement inside, I considered joining them, but they were all short boarders, and our styles don't quite mesh. Long boards are built to cruise downhill, and short boards are meant for tricks. Hung out and enjoyed the sounds for awhile and then got in my car, rolled down my windows and drove home with the wind in my hair and the music blaring. Sang along at the top of my lungs whenever I was really feeling a song and walked through my front door 40 minutes later skipping on cloud-tops with stars in my eyes. Haha. All sounds too crazy I suppose, but it was truly a magical evening.

Beautifully silent solitude surrounded by crowded harmonious cacophony. I felt like tying flowers in my hair and dancing with my eyes closed.
It was delightful.

I write all this and yet I know I have failed to capture the evening. I've failed to tell you what it was like within me. I told you the things, the input, the noise, but I'm not sure how to express to you the inner joy. To find the silence amongst the crowds, to be alone with your own thoughts yet conscious of so many outside. 

The serenity of dancing through life without a single familiar face to find, and yet to see such sincerity in so many strangers. All eager to experience, and striving to connect. So much amiable ambling, without any planning or stress. That's my kind of living, what I know I prefer. 

Wandering with wonder where the wind wishes, 

and finding life's adventures... 

I find God in those meandering days. Days that start out empty and end up the most full. When you find the quiet between the chaos you can see slowly enough to drink in His art. Such stunning masterpieces all around. The skies, the trees, the people. I challenge you to find your silence one of these days and look at least one stranger as if they were the work of art that they truly are. I'm not talking about lust, and I'm not talking about studying their angles and dimensions, take those things in, but focus on the light within. Find it. Find what moves them, discover your own curiosity in their secluded and unknown mind. Looking into someone's eyes when they are engaging in something/someone else is something inspiring. God made them and all the things that make them tick. Don't you want to find out more about who He is? 

Anyway, it's getting much too late and I must sleep. If you haven't written me off as insane and stopped reading yet, I hope you've enjoyed this snippet of a glorious night.

Love you! Thanks for reading.

Every Day's an Adventure, (you just gotta find it)

Beauty

So I haven't done much today, but there is already a motif: 

Beauty. It's everywhere people. 

It's in people, it's in art, it's in God's creation. 

It's in nuances, and it's in conversations. 

It's just everywhere... 

Can you find some today? Find some, enjoy it, maybe record it? Pictures, words, video, there are so many ways... or perhaps just simply savor it in solitude. Find the quiet in the spaces between the world. People are running to half a million things, appointments, engagements, predicaments, and meetings, find away to avoid seeing what they're seeing. Just look for the quiet within all those places. You don't have to go to some silent meadow (though that could be nice), but just in the midst of all these intersecting crazy lives, find your quiet. See what gets missed! Look at the sky and the trees and the clouds, look at the people and how they interact and change each other. Watch some laughter without hearing it, look for the pure sincerity, and find who is causing it! Look for a child wandering in wonderment, skipping in bliss, or acting a bit mischievous. Beauty is everywhere, but we rarely see it. We're too caught up. TOO in the moment. Don't get me wrong I love living life in the moment, LOVE running from one thing to the next without planning; I thrive on chaos and I'm known to get wrapped up in my work, BUT just take some time when you can spare it and live life slowly. Remove yourself from the bustling, pulsing world we live in, and move slowly, see more than you tend to see. Observe as much as you can and just live life quietly. Let the beauty speak to you and find whatever artistic side you have (art is human, even people who aren't creative -or don't think they are in any case- have the appreciation. Even if you generally stifle it) and run with it. Then share. Help inspire others to see the beauty too, you don't have to, but you should. Don't hog it to yourself, try your best to inspire! With that said, I am off. I am going to wander today. Wander and meander and stop by some thrift stores to sort through their assorted beauties and find myself a treasure. Enjoy your day however you choose to spend it, and even if you're busy, just find one thing you consider beautiful.

God bless.

P.S.

If you're feeling artistic today (or bored lol) please help out with my challenge: 

http://everydays-adventure.blogspot.com/2012/08/art-please.html

ART PLEASE!!!

Okay so I was bored, and scrolling down my wall to see if there was anything worth looking at, and found this! Posted by my aunt, 

"Calling all creative ones!! My self perception is 

skewed and so I'm asking that you 

draw/paint/macaroni art a picture of me. Scan it in, 

and tag it as me. I wanna see myself through your 

eyes. GO!!"

Great idea right!?!?! So I asked her permission to steal the idea and upon receiving it, I put it up on MY profile. Also, I would like to clarify that ALL types of art are welcome (drawing, painting, or even poetry or dance or something if you'd like). Any medium, any style, just please do it!Two people have responded so far. An old high school friend and my 10 year old sister. I would like as many people to participate as possible!!! It doesn't matter how limited your artistic ability is. The first submission was just a stick figure, but it was awesome lol. So don't worry about your abilities, just please participate. Draw a picture that shows how YOU see ME and post it on my profile. Or, if you're shy, send it to me in a message. After a certain amount of time that I have yet to define, I will write another post with ALL the submissions you guys send me! If you send it to me via Facebook message or email, I will keep it anonymous. 

There's no reason not to participate, and though I cannot force you to submit an entry, I would REALLY love it if you would!!! It doesn't have to be a masterpiece. I would just like to see what you see :)

Thanks to Lawton and Katelynn for responding with your drawings so quickly, and thanks in advance to all of you out there who are going to submit a drawing in the future!! 

As of right now I'm thinking that the wait period before I post up the submissions will probably be about 2-3 weeks, to give plenty of time. Please please please pass this to anyone who knows me and ask them to join in! Thanks and God bless. 

Thrift-store Treasures

Thrift stores are awesome! So are garage sales. Most people I run into don't enjoy either, and I can understand that (to an extent); I mean yeah you're never guaranteed to find anything and sometimes you search all day and come up empty, and sometimes you find things you really like, but it's not available in your size. I understand that you'd like to go to a department store and shop where they're guaranteed to have your size and your preferred color. BUT! Don't you ever get tired of just wearing what everyone else wears?  If you go to that department store and get your size, don't you see all the other copies of that same item? People buy those copies, so for about as many copies you see there is going to be someone else out there wearing that same thing. Yeah they might not wear it the same way, and they might not look as good in it or something, but still. Tons of people are going to wear that same thing. Some people don't mind that... but I do. And I'm not saying I don't occasionally shop at department stores, and it's not like I entirely boycott malls, but I would like to be original sometimes at least. I don't have a ton of money and I can't buy everything I'd like to, but if I'm going spend my money on clothing, I'd like it to be something unique, I'd like it to be a treasure, I'd like it to be something I can be thoroughly proud of purchasing. My absolute favorite pair of jeans as a kid were 10 cents at a swap meet! I wasn't even the one doing the shopping, a family friend saw them and thought of me and I loved them to tatters (I love and miss you Cindy, RIP). Ten cents! I didn't have to go to some fancy boutique to find pants I like and have them tailored to fit. A friend just saw them handed the shop keeper a dime and later delivered me my most adored piece of clothing I think I've ever owned. And I will get back to my point about why thrift stores are awesome and why I love being able to not only get unique cute clothes, but get them cheap! I am so much more proud of my clothing when I get them for pennies on the dollar.... anyway, like I said I'll get back to that! I'm going to segue into why those jeans in particular were so valuable to me despite their price.

Growing up I was small and my family was poor. I was only 4' 11" until 8th grade and I was always HYPER SKINNY as a kid. People thought I was anorexic until about 11th grade (I never was). The vast majority of my wardrobe consisted of hand-me-downs. TONS and TONS of hand-me-downs. I had a cousin a year older than me and a friend about my age who were both larger than I was (because EVERYONE was larger than I was lol), and every time they outgrew something it was sent to me in a big garbage bag filled with similar too-small items. I LOVED hand-me-downs just btw. Because it was like a treasure hunt every time and they were FREE clothes!!! I would tear into these garbage bags and root through them looking for things that struck my fancy and, more difficult, looking for things that would fit. It was exciting to get all those new free clothes though, even if they didn't fit properly or I didn't like them all, because everything I pulled out was a surprise and there was a chance I could find something really great inside. 

That being said however; most of the time growing up because I was SO skinny, and because my legs were disproportionately long compared to how skinny I was, my clothes, and my pants especially, RARELY fit. I didn't have brand new Mudd jeans and cute, little, just-right red white and blue tank tops like my best friend in elementary. So I got made fun of... often. And not just for my clothes, but that was one thing. And when I looked in the mirror I didn't feel cute, or pretty or whatever like the other girls.... so fast forward to middle school and we still don't have much money, and I am still too skinny, and my legs are still too long, and clothes still don't fit me, and I am still being teased about that, being teased for my intelligence, being teased for my quirks, etc. and go figure, I still have a low self esteem. So the day my mom's friend Cindy brought me home those wild stripey denim-spandex blend jeans that she got for 10 cents was like heaven on Earth. She had come over after going to the swap meet to show us the things she had bought, and she pulled a stack of a few things out one bag and handed them to me! Said she had thought of me and picked up a few things. I was skeptical, grateful, but skeptical that they would fit or that I'd like them if they did. I took the couple things into my mom's bathroom to try them on quickly. I don't remember if any of the other things fit me in that little stack, but the jeans DID!!! 

Those were the first pair of jeans that ever fit me well. That weren't too loose around my non-existent hips, or too short, or too baggy. They fit me and they made me feel attractive... pretty much for the first time ever. I wore those jeans to EVERY school dance I ever went to in middle school, and I wore them any day I just wanted to feel good. I wore them roller skating down the street, I wore them climbing trees (which is what ultimately led to their demise), I wore them ALL THE TIME! Minimum of once a week I had those jeans on. Those jeans were made for me. I loved them more than any piece of clothing I'd ever gotten and they were a dime... TEN CENTS for my most prized treasure in middle school! And I loved them even more because they were only ten cents. I wore them with my head held high every time and told everyone who commented on them to guess how much they cost and then shocked them with the answer. Those jeans gave me the only shred of self confidence I had in middle school. My mom's friend didn't go to a store and sort through dozens of the same thing looking for my size and my favorite color. She was rummaging through a swap meet and happened across my favorite item. And that's why I love thrift stores, swap meets, flea markets, etc. Yes you have to wade through endless seas of worthless junk, but if you have enough patience you find buried treasure! That's the same reason I love garage sales. My grandma (Love and miss you every day. RIP) used to take me to garage sales when I was a kid, she didn't have any more money than my parents, but we found the treasure anyway. We'd look at all the pretty things and wander around enjoying each other's company and she'd tell me stories while we searched through the things people didn't want anymore. I got several beautiful necklaces from garage sales my grandma took me to; each no more than a quarter. I still own those necklaces, and a stuffed dog she gave me for a penny the day she had her moving sale before moving out of state. I value those things for sentimentality, for the cheap prices we paid, for the beauty, for  the stories they remind me of, and for the uniqueness. Those items aren't a dime a dozen and neither were those jeans. They are special, they each have a story and they were all items I never would have received had we been charged retail prices. So that's why I love all the different places that sell second hand items. 

Today my mom took me thrift store shopping, and it wasn't a jackpot day, but I did get a REALLY cute dress for $7 and a sleek purse for nights out for only $4 and they were unique finds; not something mass produced in a factory. But more than that. I got time to play dress up with my oldest younger sister. Time to bond with the shop keepers and share stories, time to pet kitties, and old wobbly dogs and watch a momma kitty nurse 7 kittens who were only a week old. Thrifting is always a success even when the haul isn't huge. I love my life and I love that poverty in my youth taught me the value of a dollar, an appreciation for experiences over possessions, and the determination and patience necessary to sort through these underrated treasure troves.
Big thanks to my mom for taking me to do one of the things I love most and thank you to Cindy and my grandma for all that you gave me before you passed. I truly value the impact you made, and though you were only in my life for a short while, your imprint will never be washed away.

<3

Spastic Summer

Summer is crazy! I was desperately clinging to the idea of summer as my only hope for some sleep, some relaxing, and some personal catch up all year.... But summer is here now, in fact it's halfway over, and I haven't experienced any of that yet! Life is never what you expect. It's been a pretty good summer so far, but I am still waiting for that break I was imagining. I still need to clean my room!!!! That was like number one on my agenda for summer, but life has gotten in the way. I still need to go through my clothes and get rid of all the stuff I don't wear and all the stuff doesn't fit me anymore. I still need to do a lot of stuff, and I'm really hoping I can get to most of it in the next day or two because that is the only time I have before embarking on another adventure!


So what have I been doing all summer you may be wondering (Well clearly not blogging, oops haha)? Well let's see... We have been working more days than not at our old house getting it ready to be rented (our new tenants moved in today, so we are finally done over there, thank the Lord!). Well how much work could that possibly be? Cleaning, hauling, moving, building, fixing, replacing, improving, etc. all accumulates into a HUGE undertaking. My mom and I laid carpet (no, neither of us knew how before we did it), we helped friends of ours remove our Jacuzzi and load it onto their truck, EIGHT of us were required to accomplish that task, we manhandled a boat on a trailer with flat wheels to get it into a position where we could hook it up to a truck, we hauled dozens of truckloads of stuff out of our garage and sheds to our new house loading and unloading everything. Lifted countless objects much heavier than myself, rearranged our new house to try and make room for the new stuff, built storage units for our new house, lifted our washer and dryer onto pedestals we had made so that they'd be at a better height, we've swept, scrubbed, mopped, polished, sanitized, wiped, and cleaned more than you can even imagine. We had crews come in  (thank goodness) and paint and landscape and clean the carpets, but aside from that my family has done ALL of the work that went into that house on our own. We flew by the seats of our pants and accomplished amazing feats, and finally we are finished! But until this day, today, we've been working our patooties off over there.

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Okay, so it's been quite a few days now... life just stays busy... don't really wanna continue that post. Long story short, this summer has been a whirlwind and I still haven't cleaned my room which was my primary goal... I need to clean that darn thing when I finally get home.

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Okay... it's another day now.... and things have changed significantly yet again... today we went to Yosemite and it was AWESOME!!! I'm up north visiting my grandparents till Monday and I really don't think I'm gonna wanna go home when Monday rolls around. There are few places as majestic as this. I'm going to go play Taboo with my sibs now though, so I'm gonna wrap this up and post it and perhaps write a more entertaining one later on. My posts have been boring lately.  OH! And I still have to talk about VBS and Utah and the beach and things. So much has happened this summer; I can't keep up with it.