Looking back Slowly

Happy New Year friends!

I am SLOWLY stepping into 2012 and finding the energy that I have needed to get back into the grove of our normal schedule after holiday break was enough to keep me on my toes this past week.

Our whirlwind of a holiday tour, that in only two weeks took us to Philadelphia, New York City and Washington DC, ended last weekend with our arrival at home in Charleston after a 13 hour drive just before New Years.

It has taken me this past week to process all that we did, there were so many lovely times with friends and family, and to take in the fact that it is now 2012!

Here's a quick holiday re-cap of our trip,

While we've been loving our warmer southern winter so far, it was fun to take some hikes in the woods of the cold north while we were there,

we enjoyed every second of our time with my brother's family visiting from England, their little girl is almost two and just as cute as can be!

We shared delicious holiday meals with family including this highlight, a traditional English holiday Triffle prepared by my sister-in-law,

Being all together in my parents big, beautiful old house that I grew up in was so fun!

We arrived back at home just in time for some was 70 degree weather and were able to enjoy New Years Day on the beach, the kids were even in bathing suits for splashing around although the water is cold now.

At the beginning of each year I like to reflect back on where I was at this time the year before. 2011 was such a huge year for us that I know I'll be processing all of the changes that it held for some time, and really it feels like it was many years wrapped up into one as in many ways we actualized many long held dreams in 2011. 

At this time last year we were knee (thigh?) deep in snow, I announced our move and we finally completed the renovation of our Brooklyn brownstone and started staging it to get it ready for sale. At the end of February we visited Charleston, where we were blessed within a week to find our dream house along with great schools for the kids, and went into contract for the sale of our house in Brooklyn, all within one week (seriously one of the craziest weeks of our entire lives). That time last year really felt like a whirlwind. 

The next few months were bitter sweet as we prepared to leave our home and city of 15 years, we packed up, said goodbye to friends and spent days celebrating all that we loved in Brooklyn.

Even thinking about that time of leaving, and looking at the posts that I wrote last spring get me choked up, it was such a time of transition, of knowingly letting go, of leaving.

At the end of May we made our big move, leaving NYC for Charleston.

We spent the summer adjusting to, exploring, finding new favorite spots and beauty close to our new home.

We spent our annual time at my family's farm (that we live only 4 hours from now!) in both the summer and the fall. We bought another VW camper van, woohoo! Renovated our back yard and Frank built the coolest tree house.

We had a couple of new furry additions in September.

Made new friends and celebrated with a pirate birthday party. Visited Disney with old friends, spent holidays with family near and far, did lots of crafting, made a bunch of paintings, and made our holiday whirlwind northern tour. Whew, so much to take in and process.

As I start this new year I am beginning by struggling to make room for something new and unexpected in my life. I am embracing something that I thought I was letting go of and taking what feels like a huge leap of faith. I'll share more about this when the time feels right.

Wishing you many blessings and light ahead in 2012.

xo

Crossroads

This summer I feel like I've been unusually quiet here on my blog, and not for lack of things to write about. No, there have been lots of adventures to write about, but probably more quiet times than I can remember in quite a while too. More times where I've felt that I needed to be more the hermit than the extrovert, more times where I have needed to simply sit and digest.
In fact, after leaving our life in NYC, leaving our whole life there and moving here, I think that one of the hardest things for me to get used to was the quiet. Once we settled in at the beginning of this summer, I don't think our home phone rang for months. Almost everyone that we knew, or could run into, lived far away, and so began a long summer of learning how to live in Charleston. It has been fantastic in so many ways, Frank has loved this new beginning, the kids have been thrilled to make new friends, and I have been drinking in the natural beauty and sunshine that we are surrounded by here in our new life.
The hardest thing for me is just feeling so constantly "out of my skin", I keep looking for a comfortable place, like a dog turning around and around to find the perfect spot to settle in.

And suddenly, without warning, I feel like I am at a bit of a crossroads. I can't even pinpoint the day but recently I noticed that I no longer feel so uncomfortable. Inside I feel myself relaxing, places that were tense are easing up.

All summer long I have taken a break from making my work, in past times of great stress I know that I have been unable to paint, so I knew that would happen this time as well. I prepared myself for this break. During my flurry of new paintings this spring and as I was packing up my studio I wondered how long the break would be. We moved and then settled into this time of integration. All summer I've felt myself processing, integrating the new and old, the leaving and the meeting, opening up and debriefing in a beautiful stillness. All while looking forward to beginning to work again, and finally, yes finally, I feel my creative process slowly coming on again.....I've begun envisioning paintings, ideas are germinating. I can't tell you how good it feels!

During this summer of stillness Danielle LaPorte's post on productive rest came at the perfect resonant time for me. The quiet, in between, times are still ones that I struggle with, but after this summer I feel more familiar with those places inside myself, more able to sit and be calm with them.

The Ending and The Beginning

 Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning and under every deep a lower deep opens.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whirlwind

Hello from Charleston,

We have been down here a week tomorrow, and this has been by far been one of the craziest weeks of our lives! Our house in Brooklyn was shown starting last Sunday, the day we left town, and by the end of that day we already had offers on our house. Then, starting last Monday we began looking at houses here in Charleston, and on Tuesday we met our dream house. We walked into it and absolutely fell in love, it is possibly even better than anything that we could have planned ourselves. Among many details that we love it even has bamboo and palm trees in the yard, two things that I have always dreamed of having! All of the above views are within a 5 minute drive of the house.

On Wednesday our offer was accepted on the house here, AND on the same day we accepted an offer on our house in Brooklyn, from a family who really loves the house there! Right now the contracts for both houses are being drawn up and ratified, inspections are being done on the houses and all of the wheels are in motion towards this huge move that we are making. Frank and I both feel so blessed and amazed at it all, the ease with which this is happening feels like such a sign and confirmation that we are headed in the right direction and with the right timing.

We are just amazed, and walking in faith with each step.

Heading towards a life that we really had only dreamed of!

Once we get back to Brooklyn next Friday I'm sure that I'll be able to reflect and share much more about our time here, and maybe more about our dream house!

For now, we are putting one foot in front of the other.

xo

P.S. My friend Arron, a choreographer, recently composed a dance piece based on my painting Awakening, about dreams coming true. You can read her thoughts about the piece and see a video of the performance here on her blog.