Day 741 – Day 747

One Amazing Experience: Week 8

Day 90 of P90X was today!  Check it out…

Day 734 -Day 740

One Amazing Experience: Week 7

Since I was sick last week, I took on the challenge of doing something physical I could not do before this week.  Sooo, yep, that’s me at the top of a mountain.

Alright, so it’s only Cowles Mountain, but my dad and I did go up the back side, which is longer (and a level 5 in my dad’s little trail book), and I did completely rock it, and for my first time really hiking in forever, I was stoked.  On our way back down, there was a woman sitting on the side of the trail puking, and a few months ago, that would have been me, except it would have been way closer to the bottom of the mountain, so while I felt bad for her, I was grateful to be feeling so great.  Thanks Tony Horton!

Day 727 – Day 733

One Amazing Experience: Week 6

This week marks the two year anniversary of this blog!  Yay!  My personal growth since I started it has been remarkable.  Maintaining this blog really did launch me into a happier, more fulfilling life when I started it, helping to pull me out of the most depressing time of my life, and now, I’m on  a healthy, satisfying, and realized life.  I love my blog.  It may have just seemed like a record to many, but for me, my commitment to its purpose was incredibly meaningful.  This process of finding beauty remains a strategy I share with others to this day in order to help them find comfort, direction, and joy in their lives.

Now for this week.  Last week I committed to doing something that would challenge me physically, and I did, but nothing really cool.  I was actually sick all week.  I tried running, and after a quarter mile, I was wheezing and hot chested (but would have kept going if they didn’t turn the lights off at the track, making it pitch black).  Other than that, I pushed myself to still work out everyday, even though they weren’t my best workouts ever.  On Saturday, I did the trails at Balboa Park and ran up the mother staircase twice, so there was that, but I decided this week to dedicate my post to something else amazing.

On Friday, I had the opportunity to go to a screening of Miss Representation at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla.  Miss Representation is a new documentary, which presents up to date information about how women are portrayed in the media and what affect it is having on women, men, girls, and boys.

It was fantastic, and touched on so much of what has been important to me for years.  Women and girls are so often portrayed as entirely sexual and/or emotional beings.  This documentary focuses on how the strength of women has been more and more attacked over the last several years and what the next steps are for us as women to take in order to support ourselves and young girls growing up in this world.  What I’m really excited about is doing a screening and panel ourselves (with Nikki).  I can’t wait!

Day 720 – Day 726

One Amazing Experience: Week 5

Living in San Diego has a lot of perks, the glaring, obvious one being the weather. Each day last week was clear and gorgeous with mid-70 temperatures, so my goal to enjoy being outside was not a particular challenge, as far as wanting to be out goes.  The issue comes from a more expected place: time.  Once I get off work, get home, and work out, it’s practically time to go to sleep again, and the beauty of the day has most certainly transformed into the darkness of evening, making outdoor ventures less appealing, but with a goal in mind, I was able to find some time to be in nature.

Making the most of my weekends (Sunday at the start and Saturday at the end), I explored the trails at Balboa Park, which was perfectly in line with my constant goal of making sure I know every spot in the park.  This gave me the opportunity to check out some new angles here.

Sunday.

Mark paying homage to a fellow Eagle Scout.

Saturday.

Megan “Kenpo-ing” down the street art door in a tunnel.

Of note: with all our P90Xing, hiking feels good and like a workout, but it’s not hard (read: I can breathe and talk going up hills, stairs, etc.).  I’m so happy to be getting back in shape.  I feel fabulous!

Next week: do something physically challenging, something I could not do before.

Day 713 – Day 719

One Amazing Experience: Week 4

Last week I committed myself to doing something artistic, but with limitations – it couldn’t be related to pretty food or brilliant make-up or the like, and it couldn’t be something “artistically minded” – I had to actually create something.  Well, of course what I intended was to bust out my paint brushes, but for some reason I wasn’t able to push myself to do it.  I love to paint, and I think I’m okay at it, but I’ve been out of the mode for so long, I think it’s going to take more of an effort to get me back into it, not because I don’t want to, but because it takes a lot of time, and I always feel like I have so many other things to do/accomplish that I don’t open up the time for it.  It’s going to happen, though.

Meanwhile, I took my second stab at making jewelry.  The first time I made jewelry was when I went to Seattle a couple years ago with Courtney.  We were roaming around downtown, saw a bead shop, popped in and made some earrings, which I think I have worn maybe three times.

I do like them, but they don’t match my typical style, which is a touch more bohemian (but let’s be honest, not always – there is a lot of leopard print in my wardrobe).  The gold ones are mine (of course).

This time I wanted to go for something more in line with my everyday wear.  Especially in accessorizing, I like to wear earthier, more organically flowing pieces.  My favorites have birds on them, flowers painted on, or some kind of movement.  I was additionally inspired because I got hooked on Project Accessory a few months ago, watching it in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep.  One of the designers, Nina Cortes, did a lot of wire work, which I thought was awesome, so I had at it.

Turns out wire work is not as simple as it appears! Nonetheless, here are two rings I created.  I wanted to use one of the reddish stones, but for my first go, I needed more structured, irregular rocks to make this work, and actually, I like what I made, and I’m pumped to keep practicing.  I think I’m going to need some more tools.  Ah, the irony of being a starving artist really is the cost of materials!

Close up

I like the second try better.

Some future projects:

Next week: be outside, and enjoy nature!

Day 706 – Day 712

One Amazing Experience: Week 3

I tasked myself with doing something culturally minded this week, so Nicole and I went to the Museum of Art to listen to a lecture by Dr. John Marciari, Ph.D., Curator of European Art, and Dr. Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera.  The lecture covered the visual and operatic interpretations and trends of the New Testiment’s Salome, who is famously shown receiving John the Baptist’s head on a charger in nearly all artistic representations.

By Bernadino Luini:

Hitting all the notes of the “cultural experience,” I was able to learn much more about Salome in general, but I was also taught how and why her representation changed over periods of time.  The gents who presented were good for a chuckle (especially Dr. Reveles, who yes, was fittingly adorned with a dapper argyle sweater vest) and just as expertly informed as one might expect.

This is not the first lecture I’ve been to at the museum, but what I think was most encouraging this time was that I felt genuinely inspired when I left.  Not only did I want to engage myself in my own artistic ventures, but I also wanted to learn more, to insert art and art history back into my repertoire.  The next day I looked at some classes at the local community colleges, but night classes seem to be much less in demand than when I was an undergraduate student.  I’ll find something, though.  I find it difficult to meet people with like interests, and I think taking a class might be a wonderful way to do that, even if not at a traditional college.  Meanwhile, I’ve looked into some of the free courses available online from various universities across the country because who doesn’t like free education?  I’m looking forward to being able to take a class socially as well as academically, but while I wait for something to fit a working individual’s schedule, I know I can expand myself creatively on my own.

And so, as one might predict, this next week I challenge myself to do something blatantly creative in a new or resurrected way, meaning I cannot cook a clever meal or do a fancy hair and make-up routine because I do each of those all the time.  No.  I challenge myself to draw on inspiration of past artistic drives in an effort to reinstitute them in my life.  I challenge myself to not only feel creative, but to actually create.

Day 699 – Day 705

One Amazing Experience: Week 2

Over the last couple of years,  as I’ve worked toward figuring out what I enjoy and about what I am passionate, I have learned a great deal – where I like to go, what I like to eat, how I like to be, but I realized there are a couple experiences I have always loved that have lost themselves a bit.  Many people do not know I am a painter, and that is because I do not really paint anymore.  I also do not read that much anymore.  I suppose it is possible to sometimes get lost in discovery a bit, and time is a constant factor, but conscious of this, I know I need to figure out a way to include art and the arts back into my life in a more recognizable way.  I really want more peace and mellowness in my life, and the arts is how I’ve found that since I was a little girl.

With that, the amazing experience I am going to share this week is taking time to read on a Saturday night.  Reading is a big deal for me right now.  I am an English teacher, for crying out loud, and I do not read that much.  I used to all the time, but once I got into grad school and started a more active life as an activist, I still read, but literature disappeared.  I grabbed my copy of Dracula I picked up while studying this summer and decided to continue on with it.  Snuggled up in an armchair, I appreciated the simplicity of what has entertained people throughout history – reading.

I’ve thought of setting a goal of at least a book a month, and Nicole giddily announced when I told her I want to read more, “We can have a literary circle!”  (God love her for calling it a literary circle rather than a book club).  For now, I am just going to try and read.  I am so pumped on it, actually.  There is so much I want to devour.  And, actually, I likely will take Nicole up the literary circle, or more precisely, as she said, a line, since we are two because she is a wealth of literary knowledge, and I know I will get a lot out of discussing with her.  It’s going to be wonderful.

My goal for next week is to do something culturally charged.