Some little snippets from Thanksgiving in Providence. Yes, I do realize that a disproportionate amount of these photos involve pie, but pie in vast quantities was a pretty accurate summation of the week.
There's a change in the weather, a change in the sea...
Back in August I posted this, knowing on the periphery of my mind that 27 had the possibility to be a year of intense change. Nothing was concrete yet, but the inklings of a major shift in the status quo had begun to pass through my day-to-day life.
Three months later and everything has been aligned, cemented and now November (what's left of it) and December will be filled with preparations for a rather monumental journey.
On December 31, A and I will be moving to Lausanne Switzerland for work, return date unknown. Even as I am typing this, the words are not yet registering in my brain as being true. These kinds of adventures happen to other people, far more interesting and adventurous people than a homebody and bookworm such as myself. But even as I fail to comprehend the realness of it, there is the piece of paper on my desk defying my incredulous reaction to the situation. Girl, you are going. Better start packing those bags.
This process has been long and fraught with anxiety, disappointment and (ultimately) exhilaration. Even when the conversations began in earnest back in August, it was hard to accept the situation with any sort of finite possibility. I have always been a worst case scenario person, a closet optimist who spends a significant amount of time grappling with the very real possibility of defeat, while a tiny, hope-filled balloon tries to stay afloat in the face of my overbearing pessimism. With the signing of the papers, the tether of worry binding that balloon to the earth was cut free and has started tentatively floating upward, gathering speed and volume and beginning to grasp the infinite possibilities of the future.
A future filled with excitement. Exploration. The most tantalizing unknown experiences.
December 16th is the date I drive out of this beautiful city that I have called home for almost four years. Chicago, we have had such a relationship. I have grown up here and started the foundation of a life that I am so excited to call my own. There are so many nooks and crannies of this city that I will miss dearly. And please let's not talk about the people. Not just yet. The thought of leaving the wonderful people I have had the sheer joy to meet and laugh and play and cry and work with here is too much to handle right now.
Oh, the goodbyes will come. They have to. But not yet.
I can't believe this is happening.
A post-Thanksgiving treat for you...
Halloween-ing
A few months ago, my mom and I were sorting through some old family photos and I stumbled upon these gems of my grandmother and her twin brother in their Halloween costumes. The photos weren't dated, but I am guessing that these were taken sometime in the early to mid 1930's. What better day to share them than today?
Don't they look great? I am particularly enamored with the beautiful eeriness of their masks. Although the sepia tone of the photographs surely has something to do with the eerie quality. If I know my grandmother, I am sure she was excited and probably had some devilish little tricks up her sleeve :)
Happy Halloween!
Color Studies: Red and White
My love affair with red happened slowly. Stealthily. Like a crow with shiny objects I began gathering little things here and there until all of a sudden I took a look at my desk where all the evidence had piled up. I'm still a little timid when it comes to wearing red (working on that), but it definitely makes me happy to incorporate it into my creative space.
Trinkets
Anthony had to go to Switzerland all last week for work. In between moping and eating lots of candy corn and spending an unspecified number of hours watching embarrassing tv shows, I managed to get some photo editing done and traveled far and wide across Atlanta and South Carolina for a birthday-wedding-family-friend-weekend-extravaganza.
Little trinkets from A's trip have been sprinkled across our apartment since his return home. While the Swiss have a reputation for being reserved, they certainly don't hold back when designing currency. I burst out laughing the first time I saw the wildly colored notes with pictures of such stern looking people on them...they look like monopoly money! And the coins go up to 5 CF...looks like a massive Robin Hood style coin purse is necessary to tote all this around.
Oh yeah, and a tin appeared, filled with lots of little chocolates that come individually wrapped in the most awesome little packages.
This picture is from yesterday. The volume contained within the tin displayed below has diminished greatly since as I performed a series of quality tests to ensure that Swiss chocolate is really all it is cracked up to be.
Schlappyfendsdarymurmfurnsmaaaufsfulrarvscnoklarfvevnoizarnflyfernszduhbfrkst.....
Translation: happy Wednesday from one whose mouth is filled with chocolate even though it is only breakfast.