art

My Earliest Art Memories

Happy Humpday! It’s the middle of the week, and I figure we could all use some light and breezy conversation. So I’m sharing my story – as best I can remember it – of my earliest art memories.

So, once upon a time, information wasn’t abundant and instantly at our fingertips. Way back before the Internet, there was the Encyclopedia. These massive tomes covered a ton of topics and every household that could afford them had a set. We had three sets, because as the information became outdated (these were print materials, after all), we had to occasionally replace them. One set that we had – the largest version – had spectacular photos. In this collection, I first became introduced to the fine arts.

books

Ah, memories

Now, I was surrounded by art all of the time. My mom had a creative streak and my brother and I both sketched. But it wasn’t until I saw a painting in the encyclopedia that I knew that there was something very special about art. It impressed me so much that I remembered the name of the artist and the painting, more than 20 years after I first laid eyes on it.

800px-Jean-Auguste-Dominique_Ingres_-_Comtesse_d'Haussonville_-_Google_Art_Project

Portrait of Comtesse d’Haussonville by Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres took up nearly a whole page of the encyclopedia volume that I was perusing as a child. The countess appears to be looking directly at you, sizing you up but not in a disapproving way. She seems to be peering at you to figure out if she can share a confidence or two with you, or if she should refrain from chatting too much. She seemed so real, though I knew she was a painting of someone that died long before anyone that I knew had even been born.

Her strikingly elegant and self-possessed expression stuck with me all of these years. I guess you could say that this was the first time that art impacted me in a conscious way (though it was my encounter with a Gerome painting that first stirred any sort of strong emotion in me). It’s funny: after all this time, I’m still wondering if the Comtesse approves of me. Art has a peculiar way of making you think for years after the first encounter. Great art is memorable in the way that most of us strive to be in our daily lives.

That’s it for now. I hope you all enjoyed this post, and I hope that this Wednesday is fun and energizing for you all. Take care!

 

reading list

May’s Reading Selection

Happy Monday, friends! I’m excited to step into another week full of possibility and fun. I hope you all take full advantage of all of the good things that await you if you are BOLD enough to seize the day!

create1

May is shaping up to be quite an exciting month, so I want a book that keeps in step with that high energy but also reflect my goal of making 2018 the best year of my life. The May reading selection is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I’ve read this one several years ago but I rushed through it. This time, I really want to pace myself and take in the lessons.

The past few weeks have been a bit more stressful than normal. Despite participating in the Joy Challenge and actively cultivating joy in my daily life, I feel like my creativity is suffering a bit (not to mention my dissatisfaction with my job is increasing).  My hope is that this reading selection will help me to get back in touch with my creative “fire” as well as align me with better options for either eliminating or minimizing my dissatisfaction. If any of you have experienced similar feelings of frustration and stagnation, it may be worth check out this book, as well. I’ve linked the book above, so if it interests you, go ahead and pick it up!

wine

Low Cost Libations: I’m Trying Inexpensive Wines

 

A recent trip to Trader Joe’s ended up with me browsing the wine section and being floored by the super-affordable wines. So many options were less than $5! So I had to ask myself, do I, the wine lover, give inexpensive wines the thumbs up?

wine

I bought 6 bottles for less than $5 a piece. I’m not a wine “snob” but I prefer wine that costs a bit more because they tend to taste better. But I’m curious about the overall qualities of the wine that I purchased. So here I am: trying some new wines and figuring out whether the flavor and quality far exceeds the cost. I’ve tried one so far, and I’ll be trying a new bottle every few days or so. When I’ve finished trying them all, I’ll come back and give a review.

(here’s a review of one of the wines on my Instagram account)

Do you all have any favorite inexpensive wines? Let me know in the comments below!

life curation

Living Your Best Life: Law of Attraction Keys for a Smoother Divorce

As part of living my best life, I want to continue exploring the things that I’ve used successfully to get certain “wins” in my life. While divorce was painful and life-changing, I had some tools that helped me significantly as I transitioned into divorcee life. I’m convinced that using these tools consistently has made the difference between feeling full of despair and being excited about what lies ahead.

peace

I heavily utilized law of attraction (LOA) techniques to assist me with transitioning to this phase of my life. Here are my top three techniques that I used, as well as some details on how I used them.

Affirmations: I woke up every day and affirmed what I wanted. Some days, my affirmation was as simple as “Every day is a great day”. On other days, when I had a little more pep, I might say something like, “I’m lucky, gorgeous and always attracting awesomeness!” The beauty of affirmations is that I got to repeat whatever felt good, or comforting, at the moment, and that did wonders for setting the tone for my day.

Scripting: When I had the energy, time and focus to put into thinking about what I wanted my ideal post-marriage life to look like, I would do a bit of scripting. Scripting is the process of writing your ideal life as if you are living it NOW. It takes the dream life from fantasy land and immerses you in the experience now (even if that experience is virtual). When I review “Lifestyle Design for a Champagne Life” by Cassie Parks, I’ll have a bit more detail about the process of scripting. Cassie also lists the details of how to script in this podcast episode..

Rituals: I found tremendous comfort from engaging rituals throughout my separation and divorce. When I say “ritual”, I’m not speaking of a religious practice: I’m talking about the routines and habits that gave me stability and relief. One thing that I did consistently is go to the gym and walk on the treadmill to clear my mind. I also used to frequently visit the nearby museums when I needed a mental break, and I enjoyed many afternoons soaking up nature in picturesque Haupt Garden. I consistently used these diversions to give me some peace when I had a lot of inner turmoil.

All of the LOA practices I engaged helped me to get relief from the stress of separation and divorce. For me, this was never about engaging in fantasy or throwing on a bunch of “positive thought” in an attempt to avoid the pain. I moved through the pain and, when it became overwhelming, I reached for what would help me to make it through. I hope that you are able to use some of these tools during some of life’s less-than-ideal challenges.

beauty · luxury

Fun with Perfumes

perfume

30 scents in 30 days: I’m up for the challenge!

Do you follow me on Instagram? If not, you’re missing out on my #30Days30Scents series. Every day, I’m wearing a different perfume and giving my overall review of it.

If you want to learn more about the fragrances that I’ve reviewed on this blog, along with some others that I haven’t formally reviewed, then this is the series for you. I’m also open to suggestions as I progress toward the end of the month, so feel free to comment either here or on Instagram and let me know which scents you think I should try!

life curation

Joy Challenge Update: How Things Are Going So Far

Hey friends! I figured that I would share a Joy Challenge update, since I’m a little over halfway through the month. I’ve been throwing myself into the challenge and really focusing on having a good time and reducing/eliminating my stressors. I’ve also been following my “highest joy”, including making reservations and buying tickets for events that I want to attend.

screen

I’d fallen behind in journaling about my joyful experiences, but as soon as I realized I’d been slacking, I got focused and picked up the pen again. It’s important to continue doing all of the steps, so I can get the most out of consciously enjoying myself.

This time around, the biggest focus for me was unapologetically pursuing joy. Many times, I “held back” from throwing myself fully into the activities that bring me pleasure, because I feared being viewed as too ambitious, too self-assured, or too  much of an “overachiever”. I’ve been penalized for these traits before (usually in the form of being denied things that I was qualified for – like promotions – or harsh criticisms), so I suppressed these attributes. But this shift to embracing joy and delight unapologetically has been SO good for me! I really feel like I’m hitting my stride and getting into a groove. This has been such a fun experience!

 

life curation · reading list

The Best Year of Your Life: The “Plan It” Section, Part 1

Ooh, it’s Monday again, and this month is just moving right along! I’ve been having a lot of fun with April: that may be because of the Joy Challenge, or maybe it’s the warmer weather we enjoyed over the past weekend. In any case, this has been a fun time for me.

plan

As part of creating the best year of my life, I’m reflecting on my December book selection, The Best Year of Your Life by Debbie Ford. In my previous post here and here, I discussed the Dream It section of the book, and how I worked through the exercises outlined in those chapters. Now, I’ll discuss the Plan It section of the book, which I feel has the most intense and critical exercises of the book.

Since the material in this portion of the book are crucial to consciously creating the best year of my life, I’m going to go through this part MUCH more carefully. I’ll break this review down into three parts: one for each chapter in the Plan It section.

Chapter 4 of this book talks about creating a clean slate. How many of us try to create something brand new and wonderful on top of our old mess? I can’t recall how many times I “turned over a new leaf” only for those same old leaves to pop up as soon as I lose my focus or resolve.

So my exercise for this chapter was to handle unresolved projects, incomplete tasks, and relationships past their expiration dates. I’m happy to say that there are only a few projects and tasks that I have to do (mainly, closing out some tax consulting projects from last year and finalizing financial arrangements) and I have no relationships that I need to sever: my current circle is healthy and positive. I’ve given myself until June 30th to complete the old tasks and projects, allowing myself one project/task per week until they are all done. I’ve listed out the actions I need to take on my calendar, so I won’t have to think too hard about what to do next.

Do you need to “clean up” before you move forward? Let me know what you intend to finish up during the next few weeks and months!

art · life curation

What’s Inspiring Me This Month

Happy Sunday friends! I was just reflecting on what I’ve been enjoying so far this month. As you all know, I’m participating in the Joy Challenge, so I’ve relished any opportunity to enjoy myself.

it's timeto shop!

I am constantly inspired by the things going on around me, and ht epeople that I interact with daily. However, there are a few things that have been especially inspiring to me this month, and I want to share those things with you all. They are as follows:

Mashonda Tifrere’s Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhKuISKlGhy/?hl=en&taken-by=mashondatifrere

Perfect, poised and beautiful

Mashonda is a stunningly beautiful recording artist that is now a curator and art champion. Her organization, ArtLeadHer, focuses on supporting female artists, curators and collectors, giving them a platform and visibility in the male-dominated art environment. Mashonda recently curated a show in honor of International Women’s Day, and I’m positive that we will continue to see more incredible things from her in the near future.

globe

Jeannette Maw’s “What’s On Your Wall?” podcast episode:

You already know I’m a Jeannette fan, as I’ve written about her before on this blog. However, I found myself going back to this podcast several times since it was released in February. Listening to it impressed upon me the importance of visually surrounding yourself with that which inspires you. Make sure that what adores your walls brings you delight: whatever you observe, you create. As a side note, I think it’s important to mention that I posted affirmations along my wall in my old job, a while before I got my current dream position. I suspect that those visual reminders were powerful in helping me to create my current situation. I actually could stand to restart this practice: there are some more things I’m longing to create, and using my wall décor to help me get what I want is easy and fun.

fape-architecture-art

National Gallery of Art’s (NGA) Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) recordings:

I attended my first FAPE event in 2015, and I enjoyed it tremendously. This year, I couldn’t get to the museum, but I watched the event via live stream on NGA’s website. I have since listened to several of the archived FAOE discussions on NGA’s website. If you’d like to stay abreast of the cross-cultural discussions surrounding art, diplomacy and culture, this series is a must.

festivals · international

It’s Officially Festival Season!

April is such a bittersweet month for me. It’s when spring really starts to kick into gear, and my allergies get assaulted to the nth degree. It’s also still cold and rainy enough to make quite a few days less than ideal.

However, there is a lot to love about April. For starters, it isn’t as cold as the winter months! And, it signals the beginning of festival season in Richmond and DC. And there’s nothing I love more than to be able to pick and choose the festivals that I want to attend!

There are so many festivals that have caught my eye: I’m having a hard time picking a few to mention here. But, as best I can, here are some of the events I look forward to attending during the first two months of this festival season:

Untitled design (1) - Edited

Richmond French Food Festival – Food, wine, music, and supporting a good cause: the French Food Festival has to be one of my favorite hometown events to attend. I went several years ago and enjoyed the dishes, the can-can dancers, and the vendors offering all sorts of delightful objets d’art. This one will be a lot of fun!

strawberry

Strawberry and Wine Festival – this festival combines two of my favorite things: wine and strawberries! It’s wholesome fun for the entire family, with treats, music and activities for all. This year will be my first time going, and I’m really excited to experience this festival!

Untitled design - Edited

Passport DC – various embassies in Washington, DC open their doors for a once-a-year event that allows visitors to tour the embassy offices and ambassador residences. I wrote about my visit to the Haitian embassy during Passport DC last year. Visitors can talk to embassy staff and get to experience a slice of the countries participating. This free event draws a lot of people, but if you are willing to brave the crowds, you will be rewarded!

Do you have any festivals that you love to attend? Let me know in the comments below: I’d love to hear about them!

art

Institute for Contemporary Arts Opening Next Week!

I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it! (Pointer Sisters reference, for those that are unfamiliar) I’ve been waiting for this since I first heard about it last year. And now we’re less than 10 days away from the grand event!

Screenshot 2018-04-09 at 11.10.31 PM - Edited.png

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is opening the Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA) in Richmond, VA. The ICA will feature different contemporary arts exhibits and act as an “experimental” space for art discussions and initiatives. This is one of the most exciting institutions to come to Richmond in quite some time, and I’ll be there on Saturday, April 21, 2018, when the ICA hosts its grand opening festivities!

That’s all for today. Have a great Friday, and I’ll chat with you all tomorrow!