It has been almost a full six months since I’ve seen my brothers and sister but that’s all about to change in just a few more hours when I land in Los Angeles.  I can’t wait to spend the week hanging out with them, my parents, sister-in-law & Albert!

When I was traveling, I used to do noteworthy posts every now and then. After we dropped my friends off at the airport, I made some quick notes in my phone so I wouldn’t forget the feeling of them being here. Here is what I wrote:

*
Always keep your heart open.

Don’t try and control situations.

Find the fun in everything.

Being appreciative and grateful goes a really long way.

You are never too old to travel.

Adventures can happen in your own backyard.

Living in southern California is awesome and sometimes you forget it.

Maintaining friendships take work and sometimes you just gotta go visit people.

The World Is In Pencil
by Todd Boss

—not pen. It’s got

that same silken
dust about it, doesn’t it,

that same sense of
having been roughed

onto paper even
as it was planned.

It had to be a labor
of love. It must’ve

taken its author some
time, some shove.

I’ll bet it felt good
in the hand—the o

of the ocean, and
the and and the and

of the land.

*Click thru images for source

(image found here)

Though it snowed yesterday here in New York, I’ve got summer on my mind. I’m envisioning long, sunny days that flow almost unnoticeably from one to the next and a lot of reading. (Think that time I lived in India and had nothing but time to read and read and read).

I currently have four nonfiction books that I’m somewhere in the middle of but can’t seem to get through; I started three of them months ago. I’m thinking I need a story that is completely captivating – another world to carry with me and sink into a couple times every day. Do you have any recommendations (fiction or non)?  I’m ready to get going.

Since my mom lost her phone and I live so far from my family, I can’t resist the urge to share some birthday photos. Thanks everyone for making me feel so special on my birthday. Hi Mom!

The sweetest cake surprise after work

An OSHO reading

New pie making pieces from my thoughful Godmother(ish)

Topped off with a lovely dinner at Eveleigh.

Thank you for the love everyone!

This is not my stove, nor chalkboard. I did not write these words but I’m taking them as my own.

(photo via here)

THERE’S SO MUCH
TRAVEL YET.

O TEACH ME HOW TO WORK
AND KEEP ME KIND

Google family hangout

I’ve been feeling a little homesick lately.  When I told Al that I was feeling homesick, he asked, “For Cleveland?”  And I thought, I don’t even really know what I mean.  Then I thought of this post about the concept of home that I wrote a while back. It was a good reminder.

Then, as I was looking back on older posts, I found some other good ones like this one on spring cleaning that I posted 2 years ago today.

Yep, it’s been 1 year since I moved to Los Angeles.

There is no way I could have imagined where my life would go once Albert and I made this move.

I found a job I love with people who I truly care about and I get to spend my weekends in the sunshine.

Since the move, I have gotten into hiking, beach volleyball, being gluten free (!), talking about the traffic, surrounded myself with healthy people, watching SO many movies – the list goes on.

There ARE times, usually right before bed, when I feel an emptiness inside me that reminds me that I am not closer to my family and my home.

I am not sure the sunshine could ever outweigh what I have on the other side of the country.

I will say that I am really happy I did something that I was scared to do. It has taken me to places I never thought I would go.

And of course, I would have never been able to do it with out him:

(via here)

I’ve been watching more than my regular share of movies lately, both at home and in the theater. Scenes from each of them, and the impressions they’ve left behind, stick with me.  It is both what makes a great move, and what can leave me feeling a bit heavy after taking in too many stories.

The Talented Mr. Ripley – I had never seen this movie before.  Its all star cast, which also includes Philip Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett, and stunning visuals alone make this movie quite pleasant to watch.  It was much more intense than I expected, being a psychological thriller and all, but I really liked it.  Gotta love a good Netflix Watch Instantly selection.

Blue Is the Warmest Color –  This film won a number of awards at last year’s Cannes Festival and I completely understand why.  I didn’t know much about it before watching it, other than having heard some buzz around the full on sex scenes.  The story spans several formative years of its main character, Adele, and her personal development relating to relationships, sexuality and career.  I thought it was very tender and powerful.

Somewhere – Dakota Fanning plays an 11-year old girl who spends an unexpectedly lengthy amount of time with her California actor dad.  The movie, directed by Sofia Coppola, is similar to some of her other work in its feel (i.e. slow moving, melancholy characters in high-end settings). Despite there being things about the film that might be easy to hate on, I enjoyed it and thought Fanning really made the movie.

The Dance of Reality – I wasn’t familiar with filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky before seeing this but a friend of mine sent a link to a screening of The Dance of Reality at MoMA and it seemed like a fun thing to go to.  The film is about Jodorowsky’s childhood.  His real life grandson plays him as a child; his real life son plays his father.  Jodorowsky was at the screening and spoke after the film, which definitely upped my appreciation for the whole thing.  He talked about how he used the film to recreate much of his life, and the lives of his parents, as he’d want them to be and as a way to heal actual realities.  It was interesting.

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums is quite possibly my favorite movie so I’m always up to see the films he makes.  If you’ve seen more than one of his films, you know that he has a very particular style with many repeating themes and similarities.  Visually, I love what he does.  Sometimes I find the quirkiness fantastic and other times trite.  I liked The Grand Budapest Hotel more than his last full-length movie, Moonrise Kingdom, but still prefer The Royal Tenenbaums to anything else of his that I’ve seen.  And for better or for worse, that’s always the lenses from which I watch Wes Anderson movies.