I believe in...

I believe in smiling every day.

I believe in falling asleep quickly and waking up slowly.

I believe in “too-thick-for-a-straw” Milkshakes

I believe in cold ice cream and warm brownies

I believe in rain streaking down car windows

I believe in families that last forever

I believe in God and in the redeeming power of his son, Jesus Christ.

I believe in New – new sights, new smells, and new discoveries

I believe in Old – old friends, old shoes, and old traditions

I believe in “Happily Ever After”

I believe in the invisible language of music

I believe in friendships- true and long-lasting

I believe in Hugs that linger

I believe in the magic of words and the power of thoughts

I believe in the feeling of flour on your hands

I believe in white Christmases and golden autumns

I believe in the words “I love you” and “I’m sorry”

I believe in crying every once and a while

I believe in live theatre and art museums

I believe in “down to the line” sports games and friendly rounds of cards

I believe in wishing and hoping

I believe in dancing around the kitchen

I believe in feeling beautiful and worthwhile

I believe in myself and my unlimited possibilities

Catch a Wave and you're sitting on top of the World

Welcome to one of my favorite places of all time - The Outer banks of North Carolina! Since I have a lot of family living in Virginia, it has been a tradition to drive down to North Carolina and spend time on the beach together. The drive down was a bit scarier this year as the car I sat in hydro-planed and spun off the road knocking into a sign and giving me the scare of my life. There's nothing like a close call like that to remind you of your own mortality and miraculous survival. It was a blessing no one was hurt and we made it safely to our final destination. 

In the beginning, we packed all of our families into this one or two roomed beach house called "The Sandspur." It has gone down in history as our humble beginnings and the spot where we survived at least two hurricanes. But as our family expanded, we needed an upgrade. We left our little "Sandspur" (shown on the left) and have started packing our clan into some beautiful beach palaces. This year's house was called "Fish Tales"

I love the beach. I believe in the healing power of the salty water and also the terrifying thrill of crashing waves. There is nothing like staring at a gigantic wave knowing you have one second to decide if you will ride this wave all the way to shore on your boogie board or let it completely smash over you. Riding on top of a wave truly feels like sitting on top of the world, but it feels even better when you look over and realize people you love are riding it with you. 

I don't like sand in my swimming suit, but I do love to feel the sand between my toes as I go searching for sea shells and dolphins jumping in the waves. It was fun to spend so much time together as a family splashing in the ocean and the pool. 

Brother and Sister

When the ocean tires you out for the night, there is always the lure of a sunset walk along the beach or a run  down the cool sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge Park. 

With Mary and Emma

Heading to the Giant Sand Dunes

The ocean waves always seem to call me back despite sun burns, jelly fish stings, and tumbles along the ocean floor. Thank you Outer banks for the memories and the lovely tan. 

The Delights of D.C.

I've been lucky enough to have spent a lot of my childhood visiting my cousins out in Northern Virginia. We grew up like siblings although many of them are almost ten years older than me.  Because Arlington, Virginia is literally 15 minutes from downtown D.C., I feel like I can claim Washington D.C. as a city close to my heart. 

Even though I have been there multiple times, there are a few points of interest I HAVE TO SEE   every time I return. I always try to go to the FDR Memorial and walk around the Tidal Basin at night and pop into the National Gallery of Art. 

This was the Gallery where I believe I first started falling in love with art. In fact I like to pinpoint it to the day my mom and I walked through this gallery looking for Van Eyck's "The Annunciation" (shown below). It is even more magical returning now that I have studied a lot of these masterpieces in class. I get a childlike excitement bubble up inside when I turn a corner and see a favorite piece of art hanging there in its three dimensional glory. A picture in a textbook never comes close to the beauty of the original paint jutting out in thick blobs and still glistening as if it were wet. 

Cole's "Voyage of Life" - a favorite that I have hanging in my room

Remember my earlier post about Albert Pinkham Ryder?  Here's one up close! Yes, I noticed the oozing paint and I smiled.

I love to find a Seurat painting and stand right up close to it where it is just a huge compilation of little dots. Then as I walk slowly farther away, these thousands of dots become a beautiful landscape. AMAZING!

My sister-in-law and Cousin were nice enough to humor my love and excitement for art as I dragged them from room to room in this art gallery. I truly could spend days in that gallery. 

Here's Van Eyck's "Annunciation" the beginning of my  love affair with  art! 

This trip I had the joy of taking my new sister-in-law around to the monuments (because it was her maiden voyage to D.C.). I enjoyed reuniting with some of these fun tourist spots. 

At the WWII memorial

The Lincoln Memorial

Going to Teddy Roosevelt Island

Oh Washington D.C. - Although your hot, humid summers make me sticky and smelly, I still love you. I love your fireflies and your insects that roar with noise after dark. Who knows, maybe I'll be joining you again soon...as a guide at the National Gallery perhaps? One can dream! 

Bard on the Rocks

Cedar City is just a small little southern Utah town that most outsiders have never heard of. However, it is also the home of one of the best Shakespearean festivals in the country! This year, I joined my mother and her dear friend, who happens to be a famous opera singer, on a trip down to Cedar for some good quality time with the Bard and the rocks. 

Carla, Juliet, Me, and Mom

As a theatre-lover myself, seeing 6 plays in 3 days was like heaven. It started out with Harper Lee's classic, "To Kill a Mockingbird." I had forgotten how much I loved that book and it once again made me think about having a son with the middle name of Atticus. The other plays included "The Merry Wives Of Windsor," "Scapin," "Mary Stuart," "Les Miserables," and "Titus Andronicus."

With the Bard

"Titus Andronicus" is one of those unknown Shakespeare plays and now I think I know why. Of course it was well-acted and well-written, but the fact of the matter is that this play is like a Shakespearean Horror show - full of revenge, murder, blood, and gore. I'm sure the groundings loved it back in the day! 


When we were not play-watching, we were exploring Cedar or going to lunch with Fred Adams (the founder of the festival). One day we decided to hie to Kolob canyon and see the beautiful rocks. I had never been to Kolob before, but it truly was heavenly up in the quiet splendor of those tall and majestic mountains. 

After the festival, the three of us jumped back in the car and headed off to Bryce Canyon. Bryce is one of my favorite spots in Utah. I love the colors, the hoodos, the crazy formations that look like people and stories, and the relatively cool weather. We hiked our favorite route from The "Queen's Gardens" trail to the "Navajo Loop" trail. It was gorgeous and my tennis shoes were covered in glorious red dust. No to mention, nothing is more blue than a Brcye canyon sky.

Traditional tree hugging picture

Queen Victoria riding a turtle with a following fish!

This is what I would look like as a ghost!

Our next destination took us to Zion National Park and boy was it a cooker! 105 degrees is not my favorite, but we still had fun. My favorite part was watching my mother clutch two ski poles as she inched her way up the rocky water of the Narrows. We've always loved hiking up the Narrows, but since my mother's back surgery, her foot and leg have been pretty unstable. I feared that walking over a rocky riverbed would be impossible, but she did it and she did it with style! I couldn't be more proud of her. It was good to have her near me as we went through the refreshing water to discover waterfalls and repelling hikers. 

Next week I head out to one of my favorite places in the whole world! The Outer banks, North Carolina. It will be good to be back at the beach with all my family. Stay tuned for pictures and stories to come. For now, look at my blog background (the outer banks) and imagine the sound of ocean waves!

Summertime and the Livin' is Easy

Oh Summer! There's nothing quite like it. Bonfires, trips to the zoo, ice cream, swimming, and cool summer evening walks. Every summer I make a "Goals List" for myself of fun things I want to accomplish before the Summer is over. My list this year includes:

• Go to a Drive in Movie
• Catch a wave on a boogie board in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans
• Build a Sandcastle
• Read at least 3 books
• Try a new recipe and new restaurant
• Go to an art museum
• Become more informed about the political candidates 

And the list goes on...but, one thing I really wanted to accomplish this summer was PLANTING A VEGETABLE GARDEN!!! I consulted with my parents about where in the garden I would be able to start planting. We walked around the garden and found little promise, but being the best Dad in the world, my Dad told me he would build me a box garden for my vegetables. My Dad is like that. I'll express my dreams and desires, and somehow even when it doesn't seem possible, he'll help me realize them. 

After the beautiful excitement of shopping for my vegetables, I finally put my new babies into the ground. I've loved watching them grow a little bit each day and smelling the sweet herbs on my hands. There is something so satisfying about having fresh vegetables and herbs, and knowing that you grew them yourself. 

Here's my wonderful box garden

 

The beginnings of a sweet pepper

The Tomatoes 

And what is Summer without fresh Raspberries?

Every time I walk by my garden, I envision all of the delicious dishes I will be able to make with this fresh produce. YUM!!! Stay tuned for pictures of my homemade pizza with fresh tomatoes, Zucchini, Peppers, and Basil. 

The hardest thing about the Summer is the heat, but somehow we survive. Two great ways to survive the hot summer 

1. Go to the Pool

2. Get Gelato (which I do probably more than I should)

However you are celebrating Summer, I hope you are enjoying yourself! Feel free to stop by anytime and I will gladly show you my veggie garden...I may even give you a taste! 

A Puny Poet

Some of you may know that my nearly 3 year old niece lives with me and that because of this, my days are endless surprises and joyful noises. Today, my little one was sitting on the roof of her doll house playing the harmonica. I pointed out that she was like the Fiddler Crab on the Roof (a kids show reference alluding to Fiddler on the Roof), except that she was playing the Harmonica of course.

She calmly stated: "No, I'm just a girl and I speak a different language."

I kind of chuckled to myself because the truth is that girls often speak a language all there own. Then my puny poet offered up some beautiful prose. 

"Jenny, listen to my music. It is my heart singing"

Grace has been talking a lot about her heart telling her things lately. She learned how to pump on the swing because her heart taught her. She says that her heart has a BIG MOUTH. I wish my heart had as big a mouth as hers does. Sometimes I worry that I let my head speak too much for my heart.  

But I have to agree with Gracie here. When I play music or sing it does feel as if my heart is singing. I think that is the only way to describe the feeling I have when I listen to certain classical pieces - my heart is singing along.

Grace then gave me some great advice. "Sing your great music up into the air!"

It doesn't matter how you sing, or if you don't sing at all...just let your heart sing your great music up into the air. I promise you that it will be one of the most stress relieving activities you've tried in a long time.
 

And just for kicks and giggles: Grace informed me that she speaks Spanish and I told her I did too. She proceeded to mumble something completely unintelligible which she thought was Spanish. I asked her what that sentence meant in English. 

"It means you speak Spanish in China, but whisper only in Chinese"

An Artist's Corner

I don't really consider myself a good artist. I do not paint or sculpt, and my doodlings are nothing to save from being tossed in the garbage can. I heard that there is a study out there somewhere that says you can tell a lot about a person's psychology by the things they doodle. It has to do with whether or not you doodle geometric shapes... I, for the most part doodle flowers (analyze that if you want). 

Although I don't really consider myself an artist, I LOVE ART! I am not really sure when this whole loving art thing started. I don't believe it started until I went to the National Gallery with my Mother one year. I started seeing art in a different way. It was no longer just something pretty or sad to look at. It was someones soul put in a frame and allowing someone like me to behold it. Sure, artists have painted for thousands of years and many of them painted more for gain and prosperity than the outpouring of their soul, but I honestly believe you cannot create art without investing something - even the tiniest little bit- of yourself into it.

There is nothing like seeing a loved piece of art, known only as a inadequate graphic in a textbook, in real life. For me, this is like a child stumbling out of bed to behold a Christmas tree overflowing with presents. I beam. My mind starts to make all sorts of connections and suddenly I am having "a moment." 

So here is my blogging memento to a moment. Every now and again I will highlight an art piece that I've had a moment with. Today's is this one...Look carefully and try to decipher what the image is depicting.

You probably see a godlike figure holding some sort of ball, a person who seems to be out in the midst of the waves, and maybe a boat of people? So what do you think the painting is depicting?

This painting is by the American artist, Albert Pinkham Ryder - and I first had my moment with it as a freshman in my very first Humanities class. Here's the fun facts:

• Because he was poor, Ryder's paints were not high quality. Hence, his paints have darkened overtime. (Wonder what they looked light originally? me too)
• He hated to sell any of his work
• He never felt like his paintings were finished, so he kept adding little things. His paintings have so many layers of paint that the top layers have begun to crack and the under paint oozes through the cracks. 
• He fell in love with and proposed to a woman after hearing her sing
• He is one of the most forged painters in America. 

Now...look back at the painting one last time. Do you see the whale? Very few people see the whale on the first glance. I didn't. (look to the far right side of the painting) Now it should make sense that the painting is of Jonah. 

Sometimes we need to take a deeper look at things in order to truly understand the meaning. This is probably especially true when trying to understand our fellow human beings. We cannot just assume we see the whole picture because sometimes there are things as big as whales that people tuck deep under their layers. 

Just some art for thought...till next artist's corner!