february love list
It’s the end of February and this is the Love List.
Where I list the things I read, saw, and experienced that I loved this month.
I ate some Hu chocolate on Valentine’s Day. It was delicious.
Tracy and I dropped Rocky off at his auntie’s house then went for a birthday art hike at Josephine Sculpture Park.
He gifted me with a couple of gift certificates from two of our favorite places in Woodstock. One was for a dinner we’ll eat the next time we’re there. The other was for some handmade lusciousness.
On the day the moon was new in Pisces, we took Rocky to Woodland and watched the skaters then I soaked in a hot salt bath and sank into my bed like a stone.
I’ve been thinking about Jimmy Carter, of course, and what a life he lived. He was a true leader. I hope his transition is peaceful and feels like liberation.
I Watched
I found out there’s such a thing as Valo-Ween and I love it. I didn’t make one of these, but maybe next year!
I love the safety pin hem and that pink coat 🫶🏻
I was feeling the 80s nostalgia this month so we watched, Pretty in Pink, Mystic Pizza, Vision Quest, and Slaves of New York.
Earthing - This is something I do everyday- when I take Rocky out in the morning, I always stand barefoot on the ground. This is an interesting doc, but I’m skeptical about the mats. If you use any sort of grounding mat, will you please comment and let me know what you think of it?
Related question - Have you ever floated in a sensory deprivation tank? The water is filtered but not changed between floats - anyone have a sense of disease risks associated with getting in the tank?
Check this out!
This month in cult studies, I watched Children of the Stars. You gotta love a cult that gets dressed up in elaborate costumes and makes movies! (I recently heard someone say that if you love stories about cults, true crime, etc., it’s because you’re trying to work out your own trauma. Once you realize. you’re consuming these stories to add context to your own pain, you do it a little more intentionally.)
Tracy stumbled across this interview with Stevie Nicks and we watched it together. So good.
This is a DREAM HOUSE! (In a dream location.)
I Read
The Creative Act by Rick Rubin - Man, I LOVE this book.
Cool.
Reviving a Forgotten Artist of the Occult
I Wore
If you are a leggings person, I found some good ones on Amazon. They’re buttery soft, not too squeeze-y or shiny, and they come in a 3-pack. I sized up for comfort, but I don’t think you would need to do that. They seem pretty true to size.
Love Serve Remember had their winter sale right in time for my bday, so I bought myself a pink Ram Dass beanie and a t-shirt.
I Discovered
I came into the full realization of something this month about how much I’ve changed over the past seven years. I’ve been in a slow sort of transformation, moving back and forth, picking things up and putting them down, sometimes feeling cloudy in my judgement, other times feeling razor sharp.
This month, I felt like I stepped into the embodiment of that transition and came to understand that I am in many ways, a new person. I thought about how many things I once believed that I no longer believe, how much space I once held for things that I have now released. I came into clarity this month and a solidness in myself.
I have felt grief and sadness over these past few years as these changes came into being, but I don’t feel that sadness now. I feel fine. I feel good. I feel like an essential part of my voice is coming back after having been lost for a while.
That discovery made me think about how the art we make is always changing, because we are always changing. Rick Rubin said something in the book along these lines, whatever you’re making in the moment doesn’t represent your whole life, it’s more like a snapshot of a moment in time.
Whatever you’re working on is simply what you’re working on right now.
You might be making something completely different this time next year, because you might be a completely different person.
Keep creating.
Keep going.
Flow like water.
“Living life as an artist is a practice. You are either engaging in the practice or you’re not. It makes no sense to say you’re not good at it. It’s like saying, ‘I’m not good at being a monk.’ You are either living as a monk or you’re not. We tend to think of the artist’s work as the output. The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world.”
― Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being
The astrology of March sounds fairly intense.
The only thing I know to do is light my candles before I get out of the bed each morning, bless the water I drink, keep my feet on the ground, dance to the music I hear, tell the stories that are mine to tell, and free my paint to move how it wishes to move.
I’m going to keep on taking COVID precautions, loving the people I love, drinking my coffee hot, soaking in the salt water, and breathing with my whole body.
Thank you, as always, for being here.
Big LOVE to you.
Here we go into another month!
