These are from Ali’s 31 More Things class. More context here.
So here’s my day eight – makeup
(journaling below)
Journaling:
When I saw this prompt, my first instinct was to skip it. I don’t wear makeup so there’s no story there. But then I decided to go deeper. Most stories are interesting if I’m willing to go deeper.
I used to wear makeup. Just like I used to wear 6-inch heels and dye my hair blonde. Even though my looks were never the most important thing in my life, there was a time I did spend considerably more time thinking about how I looked and spending energy and money on makeup. This is not to say those things are not worth the money or the energy and there might very well be a time in the future when I do it all over again.
But not now.
At this moment, my time, efforts, and money go to other things. They go to keeping my body healthy, they go to colorful dresses that make me happy, they go to my kids’ education, they go to books. And art supplies. And many other things that are not makeup.
Looking at this photo, I am reminded that we go through different stages in life. And each of those stages feels eternal. As if they are forever and they are the new “truth” of my life. But they do end. The stages come and go. Some change slowly and some drastically but if there’s one guarantee, it’s that my life won’t look like this five years from now. I will have different priorities (however slight) and different hopes and wishes and worries. I will spend
my money and time and energy on different things than I do now. If I am lucky, none of it will be terrible. If I am lucky, we will still all be healthy and happy.
But, it will be different. And I will look back on these days and wonder why I worried so much all the things in my head today. And, in ten years, I will remember these days fondly, but also like they are a part of a distant past, just the way those makeup days feel to me now. In ten years, these days now will be a part of my history.
That’s the thing about life; it passes quickly. And this little prompt today ended up being a reminder that I would like to make sure I cherish these days while they are here. I nurture the person I am now. I give thanks for what we have. Amazing what a little prompt can do.
These are from Ali’s 31 More Things class. More context here.
So here’s my day three – color.
(journaling below)
Journaling:
For the longest time, my favorite color didn’t really mean much to me. When I was little, it was purple and then as an adult I liked blue. I feel like most adults say “blue” if they don’t actually have a favorite color. Like it’s the generic go-to favorite color. So, blue, it was.
A few years ago, there was a shift after a month of scrapbooking, where I realized I loved bright, happy colors. I loved all the colors, but in their brightest versions. Give me turquoise, yellow, red, green, pink, any day. I loved them all. Especially the happy yellow. Orangey yellow became my favorite color. After that, I changed my wardrobe to include a lot of Desigual dresses. They seem to reflect my love of color perfectly.
And then there was another major shift last year. I did a visualization exercise where I was talking to my future self. When I did the exercise, I realized this future self was living in a mostly white and glass room overlooking the sea. There were some neutral elements, too, but the white really stood out to me. There seemed to be a strong link between the calmness of this future self and the color white. The impact of this exercise was so strong that I started buying white or clear things. I changed my art table to only have clear or white containers. I changed my bedsheets and covers to be completely white. I even changed my daily Moleskines to be white (but kept a few of my favorite yellow ones, too.) And the change has been profound. The white does indeed make me feel calmer. I love it’s clean, crisp look. And I really love how it makes all the other colors pop that much more.
Looking back, I had already realized this many years ago, when I changed all my scrapbook pages to have white backgrounds, when I realized that I didn’t like painting the background of my sketch or art journal pages. I’ve always liked the white base. I love the way the true colors show, shine and pop when placed on a white surface. This year, I’ve even bought three white dresses with bold, bright colors on them. I love being surrounded by all the white. It’s amazing how much that little exercise changed my day to day life.
One of the best things about living in California is the number of sunny days in the year. The sun has the same effect in my life that white surfaces do: it makes all the colors brighter and happier. It helps me see that my life is so full of color and joy. And I am grateful for that reminder every single day.
These are from Ali’s 31 More Things class. More context here.
So here’s my day two – home.
(journaling below)
Journaling:
Home has been an elusive concept for me. For many, many years of my life, I regularly felt like I didn’t have a home. I was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, but I moved to the United States when I was seventeen. I spent the first few years here in a dorm room in Pittsburgh and then a small apartment in New York City and then another two in San Diego. I then moved to the Bay Area where I finally got to live in a house and not an apartment. But even then, we were renting. And, finally, as of six years ago, we have our own little home.
In all the places I’ve lived, I’ve always questioned if this was my home or not. Was my home still in Turkey or was it finally in America? Surely a dorm room couldn’t be my home, could it? Did a home have to be a home, or could it be an apartment? What would make my home and home? How would I know when I finally had a home in the United States?
After pondering all these questions, here’s what I’ve come to believe: I have many homes. I have home in Turkey, with my mom and dad. One that’s always open to me anytime I choose to stay. I have a home in Burgaz with my mom and my dad and my sister and her family anytime I choose to join them. I have a home with my in-laws in Boston and Martha’s Vineyard. They are always welcoming and would love to have me. And, finally, I have my own home, right here in Menlo Park, California. All of these places are my homes because all of these places are where the people I love live.
Home is where we laugh and spend time together and have arguments and cry with disappointment and celebrate with joy. Home is where we eat, we play, we talk, we sleep, and where we create memories. Home is where we are always welcomed and where belonging is never questioned. Home is warm and cozy. Home is soft and inviting.
Home is not about a location or a type of building. It’s not about the furniture inside. It’s about the people who smile when you walk through the door. It’s about deep sense of contentment that envelops you each time you walk through the door. It’s about getting to be exactly who you are and being loved exactly for that.
I am incredibly lucky to get to have all the homes I have and to get to spend my moments in these places, with these people whom I love and cherish so deeply.
Back in 2012, Ali offered a 31 Things class through Big Picture Scrapbooking. It was one of my favorite classes and I remember looking forward to the prompts every single day. So when I saw that she offered 31 More Things, I knew I really wanted to take it. After about a week of debating with myself on whether I could do it or not, I just took the plunge and did it even though I knew September would be pretty hectic. I just love this class too much.
So here’s my day one – passion.
(journaling below)
Journaling:
When I look back through my life, it feels impossible to point to one particular passion. The truth is, I am passionate about everything I do. I tend to favor the “all-or-nothing” approach to life. I like to throw myself at the things I care about and explore both deeply and widely.
Over the course of last twenty years alone, I’ve been passionate about writing, photography, scrapbooking, mixed media, journaling, languages, computers, 3-D animation, psychology, mindfulness, sketching, life coaching, and teaching, just to list a few. I guess the one thread across all the years of my life has been reading so if I were forced to name one passion I’ve had all my life, I’d have to point to reading. For as long as I can remember, books have been my saviors. I will never go anywhere without at least three books on hand. So maybe it’s fair to say that books have always been my biggest passion.
But all these pale in comparison to my true passion: my family.
Yes, I have many hobbies and subjects I like to learn. And, yes, I am always exploring, growing, and looking for new hobbies to get passionate about. But, there’s nothing that’s ever meant more to me than my family. And there never will be. My passion for them is of another sort altogether.
My family members are pretty much my favorite people in the world. These are my people. They are the ones I can count on and they are the ones I will help whenever they need, no questions asked. I feel deeply grateful each time I look at this picture. It is my reminder that I am never alone. And that I belong. I am passionate about the happiness of each of these people.
I am very lucky to have an incredible family of kind, loving, and generous people. And I want to make sure that, at the end of my life, when I look back on my years, I feel like my days have been full of these people and I have told each of them how much they mean to me. And that I’ve spent many of my moments not just telling them that but showing them my love many, many times in many, many ways.
So very, very grateful.
Here’s this week’s layout:
The left side here is a door. It’s a bit crooked:
And the right side is a pair of sandals.
And there we are. Here’s another week of practicing courage.
Fifty-two stamps is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s layout:
The left side here is a teapot, I don’t like how it turned out but here we are:
And the right side a crooked teacup so here we are:
And there we are. Here’s another week of practicing courage.
Fifty-two stamps is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s layout:
The left side here is a kitchen table:
And the right side is supposed to be a perspective drawing. these are always hard for me.
And there we are. Here’s another week of practicing courage.
Fifty-two stamps is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s layout:
The left side here is a fence i saw in a photo that I loved:
And the right side is the salad I was eating that day.
And there we are. Here’s another week of practicing courage.
Fifty-two stamps is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s layout, a little food and some clothes.
The left side here is an assignment for a class where I drew my cakepop as I ate it 🙂
And the right side is just a dress I liked and a belt. I was running out of ideas on what to draw.
And there we are. Here’s another week of practicing courage.
Fifty-two stamps is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s layout, I did this when we were planning to go skiing.
The left side here is goggles and skis
And the right side is a tram but then Nathaniel got sick and we couldn’t go so I drew his medicine and fever.
And there we are. Here’s another week of practicing courage.
Fifty-two stamps is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s layout.
The left side here is a pair of boots that I liked. They are drawn from a photograph.
And the right side is a workdesk. the perspective is not perfect but i still love it.
And there we are. Here’s another week of practicing courage.
Fifty-two stamps is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s layout, not my super favorite but the trick is to keep going.
The left side here is a government building i liked and wanted to draw. It didn’t come out looking the way i’d hoped but that’s ok.
And the right side is supposed to be a bed. Somehow I find beds really hard to draw.
And there we are. Here’s another week of practicing courage.
Fifty-two stamps is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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