Namaste

I'm going through a beautiful and exploratory period in my life right now.  To say that every day is an amazing experience in which I learn more than I can articulate sounds well, pretentious.  It sounds nuts, too.  But, that's where I am. I'm having epiphanies, and re-epiphanies about ten times a day, and my mind is basically blown.  Okay, it's totally blown. 

 

 Enjoy some pretty flowers.  The world is beautiful.  They fit this post.

 

 I'm absorbing and learning so much about humanity, the human condition, myself, my true self, my place among humanity, my place in nature, my place in the galaxy, my place in time and in my own body that I might just explode with enlightenment.  This is to the point that I don't exactly know how to really tell you what it is I'm learning.  My eyes are being opened.  Something wonderful is happening, and I know what it is, but don't know its name.

I feel awake.  Awake to the people around me.  Awake to the happiness, more than the hurt.  Awake to the kindness.  Awake to the little things.  Yes, awake to the hurt, but to the point that I see it for what is really happening, not an over-dramatization.  Awake to what is actually happening in a moment instead of what I think is happening, or what I assume is happening.  Looking and seeing rather than guessing and judging.  Living in what's occurring instead of what has or what will.  Acknowledging that my true voice is the kind one, the one that is nice to me, the one that isn't judgmental, and that all the other voices, the things I tell myself in my head, (which we all have, and you know you have, lest you think I'm suffering from some terrible mental disorder,) are simply projections I have placed onto myself due to my connections to the past, and worries about the future, or the reactions of others.

I thought yoga was a bunch of poses and stuff, but it is really learning to still the modifications you make to your mind.  Woah.

The universe is everywhere, including inside you.  Even if your choices and actions don't affect the world around you, they affect you, and thus have changed the world.  Because, you're part of the world.

A small part of divine is in each of us.  We just have to shut up and listen.

Namaste.  I salute the divine in you.

Taking this course is one of the best choices I've ever made.  Hooray!

Fast

My old computer took more than three hours to upload 150 photos.  I just uploaded over 3,000 in less than five minutes.  Oh my god.  This thing is fast.  

Here's a sampling of some of my work from over the past many monthes.  I've been almost exclusively been posting phone shots since September, since getting pictures off of my digital camera has been excruciating.  Taking photographs with my digital camera hasn't been rewarding, since I know that they will sit on that memory stick, untouched, unshared, and unedited.  So, I haven't been doing it.

I also noticed, while I was going through these, that I'm starting to develop a style.  That's kind of neat.  Now I have to start to expand, break, tweak, and just generally make it better.

A world of possibility has just been opened.  I'm so happy.

Enjoy!

West Grove, Pennsylvania, USA

Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Ellicot City, Maryland, USA

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Seeking Sunlight

The past few days I have been trying to not be on the computer as much- it's amazing how technology so easily allows us to forget "real life."  Getting sucked into the world of the virtual is surprisingly easy.  Blogger, Tumblr, Facebook, Email, Etsy, Computer games... they can just slurp your life away if you aren't careful.  And my queued blog posts haven't been posting, so there isn't even a great post here to show my efforts! Ah well, you all get this lovely one instead.  

 

There's a big bright beautiful world out there, and it's so easy to sit and stare at a screen instead of the sunlight. Even though it's freezing here, it's still sunny out most of the time.  In Florida, it was sunny and warm... I want to go back!  Get me away from this frigid land!  (Just kidding.  I love it here.  It's just cold).

So, in celebration of the day here in New York City that started out at 1 degree Farenheit, enjoy some more of my summery Florida photographs.

Haha, just wait til I get to the Disney World stuff!  (It's coming soon).

Miami, Florida, USA

Also coming soon: more photographer features and more shop updates!!

Here now:  A new little thing on the bottom. 
You can tell me if you like a post, love it, or want me to sell the photographs from it!
Nifty, huh?

Inspiration Fridays: Sunlit Flowers

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanana

http://halfemptynow.xanga.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisasummer

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/-dream-

http://d00mtree.deviantart.com

http://zofia-klukowski.deviantart.com

Johnny Jump Up

Jump it! (Louder)

West Grove, Pennsylvania, USA

Cowboy Hats

I have never really been a cowboy hat kind of a girl.  I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, where cowboy hats weren't really a thing.  John Deere baseball caps maybe, Amish buggies, absolutely.  But I always had a yearning to be more of a metropolitan kid.  I wore dresses when other people wore sweatpants, always winged my eyeliner, sported heels in high school while most of my peers wore flip flops.  You get my drift.

But over the past couple years, I've become a bit more relaxed. Which is hilarious, because I've been living in New York City.  Heels are broken out only for special occassions (which may have something to do with my ankle problems, which may exist in part because of the heels, but what does it matter), dresses are still my every day staple, but are worn more casually, and the winged eyeliner is not as thick as it once was.  Nor is it any longer paired with red lipstick.

Still, though, a cowboy hat?  Blame it on my Texan boyfriend.  I now own one... and I like it.

San Antonio, Texas, USA

Sundial

This sundial lives in one of my most favourite places in New York City- the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park.  Why is it my favourite?  The flowers are stunning, and everywhere.  The beds are completely filled in with different kinds of wildflowers and such.  

If you've been reading this blog for a little while now (by the way, thank you for that!  and hi!) you probably will have noticed that I adore flowers.  They are kind of a big deal to me.  Being among flowers immediately brightens my mood and my general outlook on life... as well as brightening the screen of my digital camera as I whip it out to take utterly necessary photographs of every flower I see.  So, for you all to be seeing a photograph of a statue instead of flowers from one of my favourite gardens, I must have liked it.  

Sundials are rather rad in general, but this one appealed to me specially.  The base is gorgeous, I just love the way that the different kinds of rocks are melded together in an almost mosaic-like fashion.  Cool stuff.  The top was striking as well, with tiny carvings all over it to help the passerby tell the time of day.  You can't really see them in this photograph, but I promise you that they are there. I hope you enjoy this photograph anyways :)

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Profiled Roses

Way too many of the posts on this blog are devoted to roses, really. If it ever starts to get obnoxious... please tell me.  I don't want to bore you.  I don't think that I could ever get bored with roses, however, which is why they keep popping up here.  All colors of roses make me happy: pink, red, orange, white black.  If there is a rose in my day, it is a great day.  Danny has taken to buying me a deep red rose when I've had a bad day, or sometimes just because, and I find it to be the most charming thing in the world.  He's so fantastic, I don't know what I've ever done to deserve his wonderfulness, or to view the beauty of a rose in bloom.  Our world is so lovely, it amazes me sometimes.  

New Canaan, Connecticut, USA

Like this?  Take a look at another pink rose in Pink Is Pretty.

A Splash of Orange

I love flowers, if you hadn't been able to tell.  Half of the photographs on this blog are of flowers.  And, why not?  If we're talking about the lovely things in this world, it is hard to ignore them.  Manmade loveliness is wonderful, but if you want to discuss natural beauty, the flower is where it's at.  Colours like this happen without any person trying to create them.  How wonderful is that?  

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Like this?  Take a look at Pink is Pretty.

Peeping

I love these flowers peeping through the brick wall.   They seem so sneaky, in a silly way.  The wall is so thick, yet they have managed to finagle their way through to the sunlight and sidewalk on the other side of this yard.  As if they just needed to say "hello!" to the passersby, to remind them that life is lovely.  Lovelier than we think it is.

Hampstead, London, England, UK

Like this?  Try out In Bruges.

Wilting

I love flowers when they're like this- those few days when the brilliance of the flower in full bloom is still delightfully evident, but the process of wilting has begun.  When the edges of the flower begin to discolor, but the center is still radiant.  This decay of beauty is lovely to me.  It reminds me of the ephemeral quality of the flower, which for some reason, I find comforting.  I can't quite describe it, but I like it.  And, I hope that you do too.

Hampstead, London, England, UK

Like this?  Try out So in Love.

A Sense of History

Taken in front of the Catholic Church of St. Andrew, right across the street from City Hall.  I love how beautiful and simplistic this church is.  The colors are subtle and attractive.  Thought I've never been inside, I hope that the interior and the exterior are similar in design. Yellow and pink flowers filled the large planted areas outside of the church.  So lovely. 

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

I was just wondering, dear readers, where are you from?  I'm originally from rural Pennsylvania, moved to New York City, lived in London for a bit, and have now moved back to New York. Leave a comment and let me know :)

Like this? Take a look at Frogger.

Roses are White

This photograph really surprised me- with how little decided to come into focus!  I almost deleted it, then decided that I liked it.  After about a month, I stumbled upon it again, rotting in a forgotten album with some other photos from Central Park, and fell in love with it.  Now, I have decided to share it with you.  The vintage feel of this just kind of makes my heart sing.  And makes me want to go to five thousand weddings.  Well, maybe not five thousand, but you get the idea.  This rose makes me happy.  I hope it makes you happy too.

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

If this did, in fact, make you happy, then Beautiful Disaster might just make you ecstatic.

Pink is Pretty

I think that my title pretty much covers it.  This rose was one of hundreds of bright pink roses in Stuyvesant Square Park a few weeks ago.  They were intertwined through trestles, and around small garden statues.  Once again, I found myself wishing that I had a garden so that I could fill it with roses.  

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

If you swooned over this photograph, or even if you just liked it, take a look at Spring.

Feelin Blue

The flowers in New York City this summer have been extraordinary.  I apologize for the massive number of posts dedicated to them, but they have just been SO FANTASTIC that I absolutely cannot. help. myself.  Take these for instance.  I was trying to hurry towards the subway to get home one afternoon, because I had things to do, but, on my way through Union Square,  these called me towards them.  Silly flowers, making me take pictures :)

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Inspired?  Check out My High Horse.

You're a Star

I don't know what type of flower this is, but I know that I saw it and instantly LOVED it.  This was the only one of its kind blooming in Madison Square Park the day I took this photograph.  Though it was alone, it didn't seem lonely; it seemed to be enjoying its right to shine brightly, a star.  

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Like this?  Try out Lovebirds.

So in Love

Strange dear, but true dear

When I'm close to you dear

The stars fill the sky

So in love with you am I

This has to have been one of my favourite centerpieces of all time.  It's from my boyfriend Danny's mother's wedding a month ago.  On ever table, there was a white rose, surrounded by smooth river stones and three pure white candles.  Once the lights were dimmed for the dancing to begin, the centre of each table lit up with beauty.  I loved it, and I hope that you do too!

Loughlin, Nevada, USA

Did this make you want to sing a little old love tune?  Take a look at To Die, To Sleep, and read yourself a little love sonnet.

Desert Rose

I had never been to the Southwest USA in my life.  When I got out of the airport in Las Vegas, I was stunned. Those films about the area, where all of the houses looked so foreign,  there were palm trees and cities were surrounded by miles upon miles of desert.... they weren't joking.  It was beautiful!  The plants were particularly fascinating to me.  Despite the lack of moisture, so many pretty flowers were blooming.  Like these ones.

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Love this?  Take a look at Fairy Tale.

Bouquet

A Bouquet of Flowers

West Grove, Pennsylvania, USA

Like this?  Try Window Shopping.