Bump is 9 Months Old Today
On the eve of his 9-month-iversary, we went to this odd little manicured, AstroTurfed mini-park; it's part of a sky walk in Arlington:
I snapped a bunch of photos. These are my favorites.
Painting Your Own Career
It's such a good time to be a creative! I was so excited reading Steven Johnson's August 23rd NYT Magazine cover article "The New Making It," today because I have an upcoming book (long delayed) about making a living as a creative in the digital economy. Johnson looked into the numbers to tell us what has seemed apparent for a while now: The internet and digital economy makes it easier to build an artistic career (for those who are entrepreneurial and want to interact with fans/build an audience). And writers, musicians, and filmmakers are doing it successfully in greater numbers. "On the whole," he writes, "creators seem to be making slightly more money, while growing in number at a steady but not fast pace." And "[...] the trends are making creative livelihoods more achievable." The article focuses on musicians, opening with Lars Ulrich's fear in 2000 that Napster (and free music) would kill the music industry. It has dramatically reduced it. But it hasn't killed musicians. The actual creators (not the labels and executives) are thriving.
Now that it's easier than ever to create and get one's work out into the world, critics worry that the lowering of the barriers to entry also lowers the quality of the creative work, that the masses entering creative fields will generate work that appeals only to the masses - to some shared base human tendencies, like a fascination with Kim Kardashian. But Johnson lays out some evidence that this is not the case. He also includes one of my favorite definitions of quality in the cultural sphere that I've read, writing, "All these numbers, of course, only hint at whether our digital economy rewards quality. Or -- even better than that milquetoast word "quality" -- at whether it rewards experimentation, boundary-pushing, satire, the real drivers of new creative work."
The book I'm writing will focus on the principles and habits needed to succeed as a creative in the digital economy, something the article only touches on briefly. In short, artists have to be willing to create their own path, to shape and form their career in the same way they shape and form a painting, book, or sculpture.
To find out more about my book and when it will be coming out, sign up for full moon updates.
Teddy Island
I love that we can be in a city that feels so urban with high rise buildings and a constant hum of activity, and then just a few minutes down the road feel like we are deep in the forest, complete with swamp bugs and a green canopy high above. The green space I'm thinking of is Theodore Roosevelt Island, or Teddy Island as I now think of it, a memorial to our 26th president.
We visited on Saturday. A kind stranger took the top shot of our family gathered at the feet of the impressive statue of Teddy in an energetic pose, almost like he's dunking a basketball. Or preparing to kick a tourist.
The memorial area around the statue has these stone structures with quotes from Teddy on topics like MANHOOD, NATURE, and YOUTH.
Crossing the Potomac via a pedestrian bridge on the way off the island, we paused to take more family photos.
New Mama and Sleepy Baby
Summer Family Portraits
- couples
- engagements
- families
- mamas and babies
- birthdays
- anniversaries
I love taking pictures to mark special moments, milestones, and celebrations. I love how an image can capture a fleeting expression, a laugh, a moment of delight, thoughtfulness, or mischief. Also, my mom always quotes my grammy as saying, "You'll always look back at photos and think you looked good." Or something like that. The idea being that even if the mirror isn't kind to you today, the passage of time will give you a new outlook on your past attractiveness.
There's also the fun and creativity of doing "just for fun," photo shoots, which I have done with many of my friends since college. It's the grown up equivalent of playing dress up. It is playing dress up, with the addition of photos to remember the fun. I did one of these shoots with my friend Leena, where we did dramatic makeup and tattoo shots. You can see those photos here.
Also, I personally believe there is a bit of magical power in these fun photo shoots. I think seeing beautiful photos of yourself and your family can help us remember and appreciate what is important.
I do love to imagine, whimsical though it may be, that the photos I take of friends, where we play and enjoy and act and pose and dress up, do have some life changing magical power. I think portrait photography can help you see yourself in a new way. You can see your soul when you look at your eyes in a photo in a way you can't when you look into the mirror.
Textures and Details
One benefit of simple living is the space it allows me to appreciate and create instances of detail, texture, and beauty moment-to-moment. I've been collecting close-ups in the form of photographs lately. Here are a few of them.
Some will say that art, or creation, thrives in a state of chaos. Envision the stereotype of the studio piled high with canvasses filled and empty, paint brushes, scattered fruit. See the cliche of the writer behind her desk, hidden from view by books, pages, and files stacked high.
I find that controlled chaos, or what I prefer to think of as curated or chosen chaos, is helpful for making connections that wouldn't be made otherwise, like how crashing into into someone at a packed party might help you meet a friend you would've otherwise never met.
I like chosen chaos for a certain stage in the creative process, the time when you are well into a project, deep in the jungle of it.
But, and here's how minimalism helps my creativity bloom, I like to start with a blank slate. My mind needs calm, an empty room, metaphorically and sometimes literally, to gain the deep serenity from which ideas arise.
If you never allow yourself the time to clean, clear, declutter, forgive, and take out the trash, traffic backs up, and with it the exhaust fumes of writer's block, burnout, procrastination, and distraction.
As scary as a blank canvas or empty page can be, you do need it to create something new.
One of my writing projects became the Simple Living Toolkit, which aims to help people reap a more joyful life by embracing minimalism. You can check it out here.
Baby in the City: Our New Life in Arlington, Virginia
We moved to Arlington, Virginia on July 15th. This could be temporary, a three month visit to the D.C. area, or we could stay longer. We are here because Prince Charming is doing some consulting for a nonprofit in this area, and of course, because we have wanderlust.
Exploring a new city with a baby (now 8 months old) is a whole new world, a world troubled by fear of poop seeping out of a diaper and onto the varnished oak table of a trendy brunch restaurant. And other concerns, like is it okay if my son licks the glass window of the metro train, and is it better to deal with the sweat and back strain involved in baby wearing or the hassle of maneuvering a stroller into and out of elevators, metros, and through the narrow hallways of a trendy brunch restaurant.
We embraced wanderlust, we embraced packing lust, and now we are embracing the result of all that lust, which is a baby. Primary upside: he's adorable.
Deeply adorable. The world -- when I can sweep away the sheer weight of responsibility, thoughts of the strongly worded letters I may write to all installers and maintainers of baby-changing stations in bathrooms, and concerns about poop, germs, and poop, and poop -- is a different place when I am out with Bump.
When we are outside (and inside, and pretty much all the time except when he is extremely hungry or sleepy), Bump acts as a representative of the office of spreading glorious happiness. I watch the faces of people approaching us on the street, the stressed students, the tired tourists, the careworn business people. Those faces transform when they get a glimpse of Bump's slow sunrise smile. They slow down. They smile. Their shoulders relax just a little bit. They sigh. They say things like,
"He smiles from his heart."
"He adorable. He is like, a model baby. He is the model adorable baby."
"Does he always smile like that?"
"Is he always like this?"
Usually I say, "yes, pretty much" in response to the last two questions, but after giving it some thought, I realize that people are hoping they are special, that Bump is smiling at them, really seeing them, seeing their uniqueness and giving them a smiles that recognizes the best in them. And he is. So I may begin to answer differently, perhaps.
Perhaps sometimes I will say, "No, he's not always like this. It's you. You've got a special soul and he recognizes that and wants to give you the gift of his smile as a way to say thank you for sharing that which is good in you with the world."
Or, maybe I'll keep letting Bump's sweet smile do the talking.
Mommy Packing and Birthday Thoughts
I'm still learning about packing light as a mama. Bump is exactly seven months old today, and I have very little figured out as far as traveling with or without him.
During those nights when I'm waking up every few hours to feed him, I long for a weekend getaway when I can sleep through the night. But I recently took one such weekend getaway, and the entire time I felt like I was missing a limb, or at least part of one, because he wasn't nearby. I wondered constantly how he was doing and if he was okay, even though I knew he was having a great time with Prince Charming. I also had to carry my rather large breast pump and its attendant bottles and tubes. I forgot to bring milk bags, but thankfully another breastfeeding mom on the trip had brought some with her. Mommy packing is why the top picture is not my bag, but the bag of a friend who is child free.
Mommy Packing with the Kid
- Diaper bag
- Car seat
- Baby carrier/wrap
- Patience
- Baby clothes
- Blankets
- Toys
- Patience
- Pack n play bed
- Mommy's stuff
- Patience
- Sense of Adventure
- Patience
- Patience
Mommy Packing without the Kid
- Mommy's stuff
- Breast pump and accessories
- Sense of disorientation/confusion/"something missing"
- Trust (in babysitters)
- Sense of freedom
Never, during any late-night talks in the dorm with these college friends did I ever imagine that our future would find us chatting over the hum of electric breast pumps. It's funny how dreams of the future never include the less-than-glamorous parts. I had that thought recently as I scrubbed my dog's ears free of the bits of rotting animal carcass she had rolled in.
But it's all part of this magical life. The highs and lows. The sunsets and the stink.
The View from 30
I'll be turning 30 soon, and of course it's got me contemplating the future, which is one of my favorite activities. I went with the friends mentioned above on a weekend trip to Charleston to celebrate our birthdays. We counted our blessings.
It's pretty amazing to realize that we all are living out our dreams, although of course life doesn't always look or feel like we imagined back in college, when we all met. But what a privilege it is to be alive, to have my beloved, my family, my little one, and an abundance of everything I need.
I don't know what the next decade holds, but hopefully more babies (whether for us or our friends), more writing, more travel, more learning, more laughing, and always, more love.
Packing List for the Next Decade
- Love
- Curiosity
- Sense of Humor
- Meditative Mindset
- Sense of Adventure
- Patience
- Confidence
- Gratitude
And a notebook to write it down!