Adventures in NYC

On top of Sam's rooftop

Inspiring images and words @ the Ransom art show

Friends, kiddos, and loved ones gathering together

Supported our lovely and talented friend Adrienne

Discovered a warm cat sleeping on my belly

Wandering through the East Village, sipping German beers, & sharing funny stories

Getting a new pencil pouch in at the market in Bryant Park

Waking up at 4am on a Friday & packing my essential items in a bright red suitcase.
Choosing to be a jetsetter can be tough.Thankful that my travel buddy
Albert offered to drive. Unable to sleep on our early morning flight. Kinda jealous that Albert
was able to pass out and snore. Inspired to get more rest.


We land in EWR and take a slow train from Jersey into Penn Station.
Did I mention that the train was slow? Albert telling me to relax because we're on
vacation, and all I can do is memorize the fact that the Q & R train is a yellow line
to Chinatown. Albert accuses me of being racist. I roll my eyes & shake my head.

We begin walking through Herald Square. We see that Macy's has a giant lighted sign that says, "Believe."
I learn that Albert does not like to walk. That may not be a good sign if we are vacationing in NYC. We find our way to Chinatown. There was a distinct
grittiness, and little Asian ladies ask me if I want to buy a fake luxury bag.


Officer Sam asks if anyone offered to sell me a bag. I nod yes. When Albert and I walk with
Officer Sam back on the sidewalk, nobody wants to talk to us anymore about fake handbags. That was entertaining. Seems like Officer Sam has a lot of friends in Chinatown.


Dim sum. Waitress tries to nonchalantly put multiple plates of dumplings on our table, and I smile and tell I only wanted one.
Ladies pushing carts and carts of dim sum. Eating with chopsticks and listening to more fascinating cop stories. Albert and I are excited to tour the precinct. We can't go in the holding cell because someone was arrested.

End up in Times Square. The tourists freak out when Snoop and his bodyguard walk down the sidewalk. Lots of cameras and people stopping.
I smile at Snoop and try to walk around the crowd,
and Snoop's bodyguard gives me a shove and a pat on the butt. Ick. And, Albert laughs at me. Double ick.
I roll my eyes & shake my head. Then halfway smile because I assume that's my official welcome to The City.


End up having our after party at Adrienne's swanky hotel. Kiddos laughing. Albert
passing out. Tomfoolery ensues. Sam takes us on the L Train or should I say
the Hipster Express back to Brooklyn.


Slept in on a Saturday for the first time in weeks. It felt good to work on my sketchbook
and listen to some Johnny Cash. More relaxing and more resting. I take a chance and check out
a class at Makara Studio. Met an amazing yoga teacher with an incredible understanding
of anatomy & physiology. Since I'm a teacher in training, she invited me to
provide assists to her class with straps. Yoga teacher's language is a little more fiery and blunt than what I'm used to hearing down South.
Inspired by NYC style yoga. And, I was having all the fun.


Saturday afternoon consisted of eating a bagel and making Albert come with me
while I get a massage. I needed Albert to be my Chinese interpreter/bodyguard.
Massage was ah-may-zing!  Little Asian ladies are deceptively strong.


Joined Adrienne and her kiddos at the Ransom artshow. I could not remember the last time
I really examined and appreciated art. With happy art fans, I quieted my mind and
took it all in. Enjoyed a warm and cozy curry afterwards.


We embraced our inner hipsters and walked into a place
with lots of people and PBRs. The bar had miniature golf in the
back. A crazy Eastern European wanted to play and interrupt my game. Whatevs. I'm on vacation and I don't care.


Sunday rolled around and I slept in a bit. Walked over to yoga class again.
I began to start missing the heated vinyasa flow style at my home studio
in Texas. Spent the rest of the day wandering around Sam's old haunts, listening, walking, and
exploring. I tried to find Holden Caulfield.



Renewed. Refreshed. And restored.
Open to going on the next adventure... Ecuador here I come.

How do you reclaim a dream deferred?

A Dream Deferred
by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

-------

That Langston Hughes poem can hang so heavy on my heart sometimes. And, I'm sure there are so many people out there with a lifetime full of dreams deferred...

perhaps it's a novel that lives in your head, but has never even existed in a rough draft,
a vivid painting that only exists in your imagination,
the trip you keep meaning to take and yet never take the time to plan

or perhaps even worse...

the lack of even having big and bold dreams...
the lack of an imagination to even know what your heart wants...

Oftentimes these dreams or unfulfilled stirrings and lofty desires sit there on our souls. These dreams...these "someday I'll do's" just keep buzzing away in my ear like a pestering mosquito when I'm trying to sleep in the middle of the night.

Life is best experienced when you are a dreamer who can take action -- not waiting for perfection -- but being ready now to get messy, uncomfortable, and have the courage to be transformed.

A story about crayons (because you deserve love, possibility, and fun)

Flickr: irish [hunny b]

In the past, I viewed so many aspects of my life like God handed me a stubby black crayon that I found on the ground. I was able to get by with this little black crayon. I could draw basic things - just getting by seeing things in black. I could stay within the lines that other people defined for me and yet never listening to the truth that was already inside of me.

What was this truth? There's always been this little voice inside of me that would wake me up in the middle of the night that wanted me to believe there was more to my life than just this little black crayon. I held tightly to my little black crayon because I didn't believe I deserved anything more than that.

Then slowly I began to meet people in my life who had lots of crayons. They dreamed in big ways and loved in big ways and because they loved so much they were able to share their crayons with me. They had the big box of crayons with the legit sharpener. At first, I would look at my little black crayon and wonder why my life didn't have room for a big box of crayons, too.

The heartbreaking truth for me was at the time, I didn't believe I deserved a big box of crayons.  I believed this because I let the dark and sad parts of my life dictate my vision. I wanted those crayons and yet I let unhappy people around me tell me that I didn't deserve it. The only color I could see was fear.

Many many years ago, a colleague tore up a design that I had been working on. Not only was it torn up in front of other colleagues, this person told me that all my designs in the presentation were worthless. People feared this person so much that not one colleague stood up to this bully. I didn't even stand up for myself.  I was so unhappy that I interpreted this experience as the bully saying to me, "Not only is your presentation worthless, by the way, you are worthless." I let an unhappy person make me believe that I had to be unhappy, too. 

How does a beautiful, smart, healthy and successful woman end up believing she is worthless? When the only color she can see is fear.

Through the support of good people who care and love me, I choose to never look at my life with such a low sense of self worth. I am loved and I am precious. And, hell yeah... I deserve the big box of crayons with the legit sharpener. 

I surround myself with people who have cases and cases of crayons. I have access to my own box of crayons because I have grown to have a better relationship with myself and with God and with how I view life. God would never hand me a stubby little black crayon.

If God is limitless grace, then as a child of God, I am limitless and I have grace.

I hope that you have access to a limitless amount of crayons because you deserve love, possibility, and fun.