rings

i absolutely love a good piece of jewelry. i mean, not just the precious metals and gems stuff, but the really unique, beautiful stuff that says something or has a story. preferably the stuff that someone made with their hands. it can be as simple as a piece of leather and wire, but love will turn it into art. and i love wearing art.
although i like all jewelry, i think rings take first place. it could be partly due to the fact that i'm a hand-girl (i can understand Joey Tribbiani's excitement over finding his hand twin). i really notice people's hands, so when there's something beautiful decorating them, that's an extra bonus. rings have a lot of obvious significance, such as eternity (the unbroken circle), but for me there's also something a bit magical about a ring. i mean, after all, frodo almost lost himself over one. wedding rings are used as a symbol to bind yourself to another, so i figure i can use one to bind myself to anything i want. my newest ring is a christmas gift from my dad. it's called "endless journey". i think that's a pretty good idea to bind myself to. and it's a right handsome ring, don't you think?

color

today i heard 2 children ask each other "what's your favorite color?" this must be in the top 20 kid-question book somewhere. i'm thinking identification with color must surely come with us through the birth canal. even a small baby will migrate to a certain color and i believe it all has meaning. color is one of the most mysterious, yet scientific miracles on earth. how can a rainbow come from the sun shining through a glass on the window sill? fantastic.

most of my life, i've been pretty consistent in saying that purple is my favorite color. maybe it came from having Donnie and Marie dolls, but i think it's much deeper than that. i recently researched the meaning of colors and purple has a thread of spirituality, wisdom and creativity. hmmm... all of which i have or need more of. it's also the color of the crown chakra, which is the gate for all inspiration. groovy.
i have to include another current favorite, however, after looking at the sky the other day. we say the sky is blue, but i realized that the thing that makes it blue is the infinite expansion of it. so, for me, blue is the color of eternity, infinity and all things omni. it also happens to be the color of truth, which is something i am grasping the heels of these days, for my very survival. and i won't let go. so blue is there to remind me. the blue christmas lights over my head right now are singing their song to me.
the meaning of each color is debated in different circles, but if you look , you'll usually find a common thread among them. most important, though, is what the color means to you personally. how do you feel when you look at it? what are your associations with it? do you prefer it alone or mixed with other hues? where do you notice it? make notes on paper or in your heart, but make sure that you "see" the rainbow around you.

bacon

i can't tell you how many people have asked me if i'm a vegetarian. i must have vegetarian hair or vegetarian attitude or vegetarian something. but if people would step in a bit and feel my energy, they'd know that i can't be a vegetarian, unless there's a bacon exclusion. bacon is my absolute, most favorite food in all the world. those who've known me for many years know that there's no quicker way to my heart than through a pound of crispy bacon. well, i try not to eat a pound in one sitting, but it's possible. the ironic thing, though, is that i passionately dislike bacon's sidekick - mr. egg. ewwww. so, just serve it up in a big pile, maybe with a slice of orange on the side. or if it must be accompanied, something with maple syrup involved would be good, like a big ol' waffle. and if you share in my passion for meat-candy, check out http://www.iheartbacon.com/
tha-a-tha-aa-tha-that's all folks!

diversity

i absolutely love diversity, so i'm thankful that i've landed for a season in one of the most diverse places on the planet. i know, i know, we're supposed to say that we value and respect diversity because it shows our tolerance, but REALLY. i feel the rotation of the earth and a connection to world-ness when the kaleidoscope is turning around me. on the bus, on the street, in the shops, at the park. different colors of skin, different colors of language, different colors of teeth. so many shapes and sizes and expressions. all you mexican tamale vendors, all you pirates with eyepatches, all you gay men with your amazing jeans, all you pierced and dyed guitar toters, all you chinese food/donut shopkeepers, all you pimps with your lewd remarks, all you white, middle class southern gals - yes, all the little children of the world (!) - welcome and thank you for spinning in the color wheel around me. it gives the chaos some order and the order some chaos.

russian

i just got off of skype with my russian friend, alla, so as to catch up and practice my russian. for those of you new to me, i spent nearly four years in moscow. it's amazing how fast the words fade into the clouds of distant memory if you're not using them. the same can even happen in your native language, if you're not using your full vocabulary regularly. it happened to me when i came back to the u.s. after those four years. i was stumbling and bumbling over even the simplest of thoughts. occasionally, i could pull out the russian word before the english one. weird.
language holds an enormous fascination for me - the way our brains can turn thoughts into sounds and syllables and tempos. but even more fascinating than that, is how many languages there are, both spoken and not. and each one carries a multitude of possibilities for communicating a single thought. however...
there's one eskimo language that has 32 different words for our one english word 'love' (i read that in "the secret lives of bees"). think about that for a minute. it reveals to me that even if i could communicate in every language of the world, including the non-verbals like sign, dance, mime, etc., there still wouldn't be enough language to fully express our experience of life. our 'beingness' is so beyond language, that i suppose sometimes we have to just be content to 'be', rather than talk about it. but i must say that i'm extremely glad to have language to put around some of life, so that we can express with each other in this world.
i challenge you to explore language. look for subtleties, look for connections, look for beauty, buy a dictionary, buy a thesauraus, pass me a word i don't know so i can grow in my talk-life.

in shape

i love the phrase "in shape". someone asked me how i stay in such good shape and i thought about that for a day. we're all in some sort of shape. am i a triangle, octagon, rhombus? when asked this question, i take it as an incredible compliment. i assume that because they want to know how i have this shape, they must like my shape. always nice to know. but alas, i think the question referred specifically to my work-out routine. i absolutely abhor working-out. i prefer to play-out. in fact, if i'm doing something athletic that i consider play, i'm so passionate about it, that i sometimes make a dance studio in my house (but that's another blog for another time). so, give me dance (my numero uno), martial arts, gymnastics, yoga, hikes and i'll not only do them til i drop, i'll probably also get in touch with my essence somewhere in the mix. now that's some fun! oh, and what do i consider a work-out? jogging (what is that anyway? - slow running?) and anything with balls. don't need those - too dangerous. kudos to you if you find your play-out with those things, though. to each his own passions. play with them!

reading rainbow

i've always loved the name of that pbs show, reading rainbow. when i get my hands on a good book, i want to paint it up in the sky. for all to see and experience the full spectrum of color that it offers. or the one. sometimes a book is just a nice warm brown, and sometimes it goes off the pages into metallics and neons.
i used to be a very linear reader. one book at a time and never - never - read the end before you get to the end. but in the last year or so, i've found myself juggling 5 books at a time. i just can't seem to wait to finish one before starting another. and why should i? who made those rules? lately, the books i've been diving into are ones that are like gourmet food. they taste divine and fill me up.
in my side bar, i'm going to put the latest read i'm in, but keep in mind that there are probably others sneaking in and out. here's a small list of some of the beauties you can check out. add yours in the comments, cuz i always like to use my library card.



Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert







A New Earth by Eckart Tolle








Succulent Wild Woman by SARK






The Wishing Year by Noelle Oxenhandler








It's Okay to be Different by Todd Parr






Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (classics are the wisdom of the ages)