Getting Settled

It's funny to think about getting settled at home when you are on vacation in California and a mere week away from 6 weeks in Colorado, but getting settled is what's on my mind.

I've lived in my current home since August, yep 10 months and I have still not hung shelves and have a couple boxes yet to be unpacked.
How is that possible?
I think it's because I'm a little afraid of getting settled. What if I unpack and just have to move again? Or worse what if I unpack and settle in and my life is still the same?

I think I like the idea that I can leave at any moment. I like the idea that I could pack my stuff,say goodbye, and be out.

I think part of my enjoyment of the nomadic lifestyle is that it is a great excuse for things not being quite what I would hope they might be.

Leaving town every other month makes it okay that sometimes I have single serving friendships. It also makes it okay that I'm a little bit of a mess---piles on the floor are alright if you run in and out of your house.

So, by faith, I'm moving in. When I get back in august, I am moving in.
Hanging shelves, hanging pictures, unpacking, getting flowers to pot. I'm thinking about a chandelier of some sort. I might even get a sewing machine. And if in a year I do move away it won't have been a waste to get set up. It will have created a place of refuge and comfort for me and hopefully others.

So, now it's in writing, I'd better do it. In August I'll post pictures, to prove it :)

An art adventure

So I'm thinking pretty seriously about signing up for this thing called "the sketchbook project" () I'm not a wonderful artist, but I like to do it.

Is the point of sharing art for the sheer enjoyment of the loveliness of the piece or is it about sharing a part of the artist. Enjoying a shared human experience, appreciating the way we experience the world?

So maybe I'll do a sketchbook. That'd be pretty rad.

Speaking of art...I'm currently sitting in the Salt Lake City airport and the view here is beautiful. The mountains here look so serene and magnificent. I guess I should put Utah on my list of places to visit. Breathtaking. Creation really is the best illustration of beauty and somehow of truth too.

It seems like truth and beauty go together, I like that.

airplane ride

i have been on a lot of planes in the last couple weeks, in fact i have spent 46 hours on 10 of them and tomorrow I get on two more...it can't be that healthy to be on 14 planes in 2 weeks, can it? but really weird stuff happens when you are traveling and funny stuff and funny stuff that wasn't funny at the time but is probably funny now :)

i love it, so i'm not complaining.

i also drove to Pittsburgh two and a half weeks ago and am driving to Colorado in a week and a half, man that's a lot of miles

but i was reminded by this blog of a story that i want to share.

i was on my way out of central asia and on this smaller plane, not even affiliated with a major airline...so you know its a bit sketchy.

i get my ticket and see its an aisle seat [now i'm used to having status which kind of makes me a little carnal and snobby about travel]. i board the plane, find my seat and my heart sinks when i see that the man sitting in the window seat is the size of the Rock, as in Dwayne Johnson. he is a huge man. and his bicep definitely comes about 6 inches over into my seat.

so i squeeze in, kind of sit forward so as to not touch this man. before we even take off i'm so frustrated in my heart that i'm praying that this flight won't take off and we will have to be on a different flight or something.

which is crazy, don't ever pray for travel delays when you have 3 more connections that day.

any way i'm super frustrated by giant arms and he is not even making an effort to stay in his assigned area. we take off and i'm fuming. eventually he adjusts for a second and i ninja my arm back there. so finally i feel like, okay i can make this happen, i can get through the rest of the flight. i was feeling a little nauseous, but i thought that was because i had no personal space.

but then i see, giant arms has a clear pepsi bottle that he's spitting into. the guy is totally chewing tobacco. its the smell that makes me want to puke, probably mixed with the fact that i had no personal space. and now i've seen it.

that's just rude.

at least get a bottle that i can't see through.

when i finally got off that flight, i was relieved and when i boarded my next flight, which was 8 hours long, i was happy to see a normal sized man was my seat buddy.

its the little things

i've found something i really enjoy: letterpress stationary

image found here: http://www.lintcoat.com/cards/paperwheels-letterpress-cards

I think its something about the texture, it is just beautiful.

also, isn't that card adorable, it makes me want to do something wrong, so i can send it :)