103 Days of Creativity
Highlights
1.
A floating candle holder. I repurposed an old citron candle tin, and filled it with some rocks and seashells collected at the beach.
4.
Drawing/reflection on a visit to Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve.
5.
What I Learned About Success from 13 Years of Playing Softball.
7.
9.
Last flower doodle in the Pink Moleskine — my journal for the last seven months, the one I wrote a love letter to.
12.
This is a reflection on the first dream I can remember having, about flying around on the back of a giant bird, until it drops me off on a cliff and flies away. I’ve written about this dream before, but this was the first time I allowed myself to be angry at the bird.
17.
I had so much fun writing this piece:
20.
Breathe in light. Write these
three sweet words: This is enough.
And so are you. Grace.
23.
I wrote A Letter to My New Journal, Sunny. In the letter, I excitedly tell my new, yellow journal that we’re going to Yosemite. I talk about bears, and how it would be cool to see a bear but not like Leonardo DiCaprio did in The Revenant. I talk about how we need to keep our food locked up in bear lockers, and how I hope a bear doesn’t mistake Sunny for a lemon pie.
24.
I was inspired to sketch “Bear Wants to Eat Lemon Pie”.
27.
“I go among trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water…” ~Wendell Berry
I was recently very fortunate to spend a few days in Yosemite National Park. I have already been back home, in southern California for a few days, but I am still feeling in awe of what I saw there. It was my first time visiting, and I spent my time wondering how on earth I could put words to the beauty of Yosemite.
As we went on our daily hikes, I made sure to sketch, take photographs, and take notes.
Sitting behind us was Cathedral Peak:
“This I may say is the first time I have been to church in California.” ~John Muir, after making the first recorded ascent of Cathedral Peak in 1869
36.
I painted this cute little terra cotta pot:
38.
I wrote a piece about my trip to Yosemite, and some lessons I learned “From the Heart of the Earth”, which was published at The Ascent. I had a lot of fun with this one!
40.
44.
After some journaling about loneliness, I made this sketch of a coyote I met on the road, the night before:
47.
I started writing a piece about loneliness, including the story of meeting the coyote. I also created this sweet little encouragmeme and shared it with friends on social media. Perhaps you need to see it, too:
53.
I took a trip on my scooter to Seal Beach. Driving on Leo — short for Leonardo da Vinci, the name I gave my scooter because of da Vinci’s quote: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” — it takes about an hour to get to Seal Beach on Pacific Coast Highway, from where I live.
I try to do one of these trips once or twice a month — going north on PCH. At times, I’ve traveled as far as Los Angeles, which is about 2.5 hours away by scooter. That day in Seal Beach, I took some photographs of palm trees, which I have since done a little editing on. I love photographing palm trees!
57.
I went for a sunset hike in San Juan Capistrano. I took my camera along and photographed some birds and the sunset. It was a beautiful evening and the giant pink/orange sun set behind the hills in Dana Point.
62.
I was in my hometown visiting family. I had passed by an old, pink, abandoned building. I’m intrigued by interesting walls, so I had to stop the next day and take some photographs.
64.
I posted an introduction to my journey through The Artist’s Way with Julia Cameron. I’m almost through the first week, and it’s going well so far. Looking forward to sharing more. That day, I also wrote a haiku about laughter:
Your laughter sends bright
sparkles throughout the uni-
verse. Please. never. stop.
70.
Something fun happened. I had just finished transcribing an interview. The interview was playing on iTunes where I saved it, and the shuffle button was on. The next song that came on was by Amadou & Mariam — a musical duo from Mali. The song that started playing is called Magossa.
As soon as I heard the beat, I got a huge smile on my face and immediately stood up to start dancing. There in my room, alone, I proceeded to do some sort of interpretive dance to the song! It’s been a long time since I’ve done that and it felt so good. Dancing is my absolute favorite thing in the world to do. :)
84.
89 (left) and 90 (right).
95.
I wrote a post reflecting on Week 4 in The Artist’s Way, which was about recovering a sense of integrity. This is the same week I was to write a letter from 80-year-old-me to today me. I reflected on how powerful of an exercise it was to write the letter. You can read it here:
71 — 96.
I also did a series on Instagram called “reasons to love California”. I was essentially brainstorming and writing all the reasons I love California —
palm trees, salty breeze, great cheese;
wildflowers in the desert, redwoods on the coast, coyotes walking the streets;
bush sunflowers, sunny winter days, sunsets sparkling on ocean water;
the best avocados, good grapes (/wine), In-N-Out burgers;
owls, and dolphins, and bears;
the road trips, the camping and hiking, the endless adventure;
the redwoods, the redwoods, have I mentioned the redwoods? —
and posting photos I’ve taken over the years to compliment the short lists:
97.
‘Practice those riffs, girl,’ my tap dance teacher said as I left the studio. ‘You got this!’ I laughed and said I would. Then I walked home through my neighborhood in the dark, every now and then stopping to practice my steps and my taps. No music, no teacher, no shame. Just a grown woman living her best life, laughing and dancing down the street.
98.
99.
102.
I took myself on a fantastic date: a pre-sunset stroll at the wetlands of Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, California. Just me, beautiful colors and light, and some cool moments of birding. The birds, in order of appearance: Great Egret; Brown Pelicans and a Double-crested Cormorant; Great Blue Heron; Belted Kingfisher. All photographs mine.
103.
