Reverb10: Day 7

Day #7: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011? (Author: Cali Harris)

I have been so blessed with community this year. I think my community is where I maintain the hippy side of me. It means a lot to be able to spend time with people who share my beliefs and values (I don't always find this in my scientific world).
As per every year, I again reconnected with a fabulous group of people at Firemaker, a primitive skills retreat that I attend and help organize. This year's mix of people was amazing. I met lots of wonderful new people, but over the week I also deepened my connection to old friends as well. This led me to spend the summer deepening my connection to my "Powell River Peeps" (Jenna, Jamie, Jeremy, & Cedar) and meeting even more new and like-minded people. Powell River was the highlight of my summer and I left feeling rejuvenated in human connection and full of inspiration.
Recently I have reconnected with a community that I have been a part of for five years now. I joined the board of an alternative school that I have worked at on and off for the entire time I have been in university. I will also probably start working there again in the spring. Again, it feels good to connect with like-minded people and be a part of a community that has known me for so long.
I have also greatly enjoyed the small community of my lab. There have been some crazy times (I've learned never to get drunk and argue alternative medicine with a certain person). Yet, the lab is also a place where I get to really let my brain off the leash as it were. I spend my days with some amazingly brillant people and the conversations are always really good brain food. There are more people in the lab this school year than last, and it feels nice to connect with the people I spend most of my time with.

As always, the greatest and most fullfilling connections in life are my family (blood and chosen).

In the coming year I would like to maintain and deepen my connection with all the communities already mentioned. This is a goal that is easy to accomplish as I have much love for all these people. I would really like to cultivate my on-line community this next year. I know that I need interaction and feedback around my creative endeavors. Connecting with other people on-line who are following a similar path seems like a good way to do this. Photography, knitting, and blogging are the three big areas where I plan to do this. I would also like to start going to the local knitting groups to connect with people in real life around creativity. Dragging friends out on photo walks is another place to cultivate this.

I know that no matter what happens in 2011 I will always have the support of an amazing group of friends :)

Hope

Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops. ~Emily Dickinson~

Reverb10: Day 6

Day #6: Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it? (Author: Gretchen Rubin)

It being holiday time I've been making lots of stuff. I just finished a plush bunny and am working on a plush owl. I am also working on this lace shawl for my best friend Caelie. It is made in Bijou Blue Malabrigo wool, a most fabulous and soft yarn from Uruguay. I have high hopes that it will be done by Christmas. The last thing I finished was a cream coloured lace sweater that I had been working on for a couple of months. It felt really good to finally finish it. The next thing I plan to make is the family Christmas fruit cake, probably tomorrow. This recipe has been in my family for at least 100 years, and man it is good. After that comes lots and lots of cookies.

Reverb 10: Day 5

Day #5: Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why? (Author: Alice Bradley)

This has been a hard one to answer. I've been thinking about this for a few days now. My first instinct is that I haven't been very good at letting go this year. I feel like I have been holding on to ideas that perhaps are trying to leave. I know there is change coming in my life and I get a little jittery right before big change. No matter how good those changes turn out to be there is always something you are letting go of. Perhaps this was just the year to hold on...

December Views

I am being very inspired by several blogs these days. My current favorite inspiration is Darlene over at Hippy Urban Girl. Every year she takes the month of December to blog her voice in photos instead of words. She calls it December Views, and she invites other people to join her. I've decided to play along. I have been wanting to do some more experimenting with processing my photos. Therefore, I have decided that all my December View photos will be processed in some unique way. I can't promise that I will post a photo every day, but hopefully they will be interesting...

Winter Shine

Reverb 10: Day 4

Day #4: Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year? (Author: Jeffrey Davis)

Creativity.
While I think that I was creative less often this year than in previous years, I feel like the times I did pull out my creativity that it was bigger, bolder, and longer lasting. All this creativity is how I feel the wonder in the world. When I am creative I feel like it opens my eyes to the possibilities and magic in the world. Or in other words, the wonder. My definition of creativity is pretty broad. Anything that makes me smile out loud while I am doing/making it or when I am done. Usually this involves making something physical and tangible (like, you know, "arts and crafts"), but it can also involve music, dance, or joy.

A brief list of bold acts of creativity I jumped into this year...

• I started writing songs this year. Even gained some fans. This is the one that feels the deepest. It connects me to my mom and there really is nothing like the feeling I get when dancing with my guitar.
  
• I threw myself some fabulous parties; a full-on Mad Hatter birthday tea party and my annual 1581 post-Halloween party (these parties involve lots creative acts to put on)
  
• I took part in Vivienne McMaster's fabulous You Are Your Own Muse photography e-course and took a ton of self portraits and learned a lot; about myself and photography.
• I started sewing again. Right now it is little plush felt gimpy animals.
  
• I started dancing wildly in public this year. I highly recommend this. I can guarantee that it will make you and at least one other person smile :)
• I knit (and finished) my very first whole honest-to-god sweater.
• I have recently taken to secreting little notes into strangers bags/coats/etc~my favorite and most used is "you are beautiful"
  

Reverb 10: Day 3

Day #3: Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). (Author: Ali Edwards)

Cresting the ridge above Emma Lake.
After a hour long bumpy ride and a 4 hour crazy hike up a trail justly called "the stairmaster" I reached the top of the ridge above Emma Lake with my friend Jeremy. Only moments before we had reached the snow (still there in August) and covered ourselves in the fantastic cooling white ambrosia (it was hot that day). I remember sitting up on the ridge and looking out over the mountains. I don't think I have ever been so high up on my own steam (legs and feet I mean). I had been worried about the hike and the first 45 minutes were rough. My body doing it's typical "STOP MOVING" routine. Yet after a while (and some wild blueberries along the trail) my body quieted down. The rest of the way was fine. When I got to the top I felt so fantastic. The view was stunning, I could see for miles and miles (for the last time too, as it clouded over the rest of the trip and we lived in a cloud while we were up there).
That whole trip was a highlight of this last year, and cresting that ridge was the most alive I have felt in awhile.