{my topography} » Lists

The best & Worst: Notes from the weekend

Christina — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:47:00 +0000

Hello friends! How was your weekend? Mine was, like weekends often are around here lately, a mish-mash.

The high notes:

Rambling in the woods + fields with Clover.

Watching her run off leash through the high grass in our meadow.

Putting up colored lights around the big pine tree + house. (I am completely crushing on the big fat colored ones this year.)

Finally, finally building a fenced enclosure for the chickens: no more poop on our front steps!

Holding hands with T on a walk.

Being reminded by a beautiful friend that I need to share my silly side with the world more.

Singing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs in the car everywhere we went.

Nutella.

The way that new possibilities keep flooding into my life right now.

Running every day again.

And the low notes:

Staying up until 2:30 last night to finish (and then not finishing) an assignment for a class I don’t dig at all.

Clover rolling in poop and getting it all over her ear.

Not having enough hours to hit all the deadlines.

The way that I catch myself hunching all the time. Stupid sitting at a desk posture.

Feeling my breath catch in my ribs when I think of my to-do list for the next two weeks until my semester ends.

+++

How about you?

Inspiration for the end of your week:

Christina — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:55:05 +0000

Hello!

Oy. The week hit.

That’s all I can say about that really. I’ve been paddling along just about as fast as I can to keep my head above, and taking little mini-breaks as often as possible to rest + recalibrate outdoors and in.

Clover sees to the outdoors bit. I’ve rambled through woods and fields and watched the moon come up more times in the past week than I have in the past six months. I love that. The weather has been unseasonably mild here, and it’s been so nice to go outdoors in the dark after the boys are in bed and listen to the wind move through sticks and twigs and grasses at the edge of the woods. I like the way my hair gets windswept into small tangles; how the moon, a fat waxing crescent, smudges the night sky with a ring of white gold; and there are unexpected things: the shining eyes of a stray cat along the rock wall; paths that give way to soft spots full of moss and mud; shooting stars when I look; and the quiet. Oh the quiet of early an early winter night.

Indoors inspiration looks like this:

Anthology Magazine’s special digital winter edition. Two words: eye candy.

Pam Houston reading at Writers Block. Listening to Pam read is one of my favorite things. Her stories out loud are possibly even better than the very same stories on the page.

Jason’s newest mix. (So, so good.) Also his photos. Always.

This collection of poems. Laisha’s book The Sudden Weight of Snow is one of the only novels I slipped in to my reading list last year. Those Canadians… they get under my skin in the very best of ways.

And getting lost in Idaho wilderness, words, and beauty of the Noisy Plume. (Jillian is also Canadian. Seeing an unintended pattern here…)

Your turn. What some sources of inspiration +

delight this week?

7 things I’m doing to rest + recalibrate this weekend:

Christina — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:10:52 +0000

1. Slipping offline for the weekend

2. Layering pretty dresses + winter cords, painting my finger nails, and putting henna in my hair

3. Taking walks alone to stalk the Piliated woodpecker in the far meadow, and follow coyote tracks

4. Emptying my inbox entirely

5. Clearing the number of feeds in my RSS reader

6. Reading Mary Oliver’s Evidence. Again.

7. Getting a dog.

An inventory of things found on my studio floor:

Christina — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:01:51 +0000

Things found on the floor of my studio: A blue letter O; two puzzle pieces; a small rocket ship; a cardboard tile with the word COMETS on it; a very small sticker stuck to the floorboards that says “Road Closed” in black against orange; another sticker, artfully pressed into a knot in the floorboards that says “YES” in all caps; a small black wheel; a spool of turquoise thread; a solitary striped sock; a red matchbox car; 1 pacifiers; 7 hair ties; countless snippets.

I can only trace the origins of the final two from that inventory. This is what happens when I work in my studio with children underfoot.

It’s such good practice though, to slow down enough to take an inventory of the details around you. Try it: Can you notice five unusual things within an arms reach? What are they?

Life In The Present Tense: A Field Guide To Now ~ Thanking my backers

Christina — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:41:49 +0000

I’d want to start this week off with sharing (finally) many of the incredible Kickstarter Backers who made this book dream of mine real. These are only the folks who have an online space to share with the world. Together with many others, they believed in this idea when it was just a glimmer in my eye–before I had any kind of real plan, any proposal on paper, any chapters written; when the whole thing consisted of a handful of drafts and a heart full of longing.**

I can’t even describe how powerful it is to have people back you. How it makes things real, how it makes you be accountable and your very best self. How generosity is at the root of so much: abundance, success, inspiration, joy.

Thank you.

There is so much talent and creativity and passion and goodness in this list of bloggers and creative entrepreneurs, and they fill me right up with inspiration + gratitude + joy. Have fun perusing. You’ll be so delighted.

1017
100 Proof Stories
Airstream Dreaming
Andie Edwards
Annie Denison
Barb’s Evolving Project
Bead Tree
Becoming Megsieth
Beverly Reverlry
Blissful Thinking
Brickhouse Studios
Bring Yourself
Catching Days
Cayden J
Coco & Lafe
Coffee Stained Clarity
Daily Fieldnotes
Dawn Smith Designs
Dream Dust
Do What You Love
Dust Of Europe Film Project
Elayna Alexandra
Elisa Elliot
Everyday Glimpses
Flyover People
Hashi Works
Hysterical Mommy Network
Imaginations Everything
In The Violet Hour
Inosculation
Jorun Boklöv
Johanna Hoerrmann
Julies Little Joys
Just My Digital Stuff
Last Crumb
Laura Two Tina
Learning To Walk In Heels
Leonie Wise
Lesley Dahl
Life On The Green Line
Like A Radio
Listening & Speaking
Little Elm
Little Potatoes
Liz Lamoreux
Lizardek
Lylium
Magpie Days
Magpie Girl
Meadow Lark Days
Meat Revolution
Melissa Brott Photography
Michael Kershner
Mindy Schroder
Molly Sutton Kiefer
My Creative Space
Oink Tails
Paul Frank
Perils Of Caffeine In The Evening
Phriday Filosofy
Pixie Campbell
Positively Organic
Rosa Murillo
Scatterbeams
Seeking Equipoise
Shameless Self Promoters
Slightly Scrappy
Shona Cole
Solomon Shiv
Soulful Owl
Some The Wiser
Stefanie Renee
Story Lamps
Sunday School Rebel
Superbeck
Susan Kruse
Susanna Crossman
Tara Bradford Photography
Terri Rambo
The Learning Curve
The Life and Times of a Kiwi-Mumbaiiker
This Joy Ride
Timothy C. Flood
Trying To Stay Focused
Wet Fresco Photography
Wood Smoke & Lingon Berries

Also heartfilled gratitude for the following inspiring + generous

bloggers who shared my project with their readers:

Ali Edwards: Giveaway

Boho Girl: Giveaway

Do What You Love: Interview

Liz Lamoreux: Nine {An Interview}

Magpie Girl: 1Q Interview

Susannah Conway: My Creative Life {Interview}

Wishstudio: A Book You Can Help Bring To Life

**
(If you are a backer and I didn’t include you on this list, it wasn’t on purpose! I had a few broken links and a few outdated URLS that I couldn’t trace. Please please send me your URL if you backed this project and would like me to add you.)