6 Things Inspiring Me Today

I don’t know if it’s because it’s Friday, or because I started drinking caffeine again this week (though that might not last), or maybe the sunshine, but I am feeling INSPIRED today!  One way to celebrate the good things in life is to take notice of what inspires you, even the littlest things, so here’s my little list for today:

1. SELF Magazine’s new look.  As a fan (and business owner) of branding and design, I noticed SELF’s new look on the stands last month.  I’d never picked up their magazine before so whatever they did has worked.  Loving the look and the content.

2. Candice Kumai’s adorable glasses.  One of my favorite chefs and social media buddies Candice Kumai posted this photo yesterday of herself in some nerdy chic frames, and now I’m itching for a fun new pair of specs.  Thanks (but no thanks) Candice!  B)

3. Making new friends.  Some of my oldest Nashville friends now live in New York too, which is lovely, but I’ve been here a year and have made very few new friends, until now.  I’ve tapped into a new network of girls who are sweet and strong and awesome, and on top of that I’m remembering and practicing one of my favorite hobbies again and reaching out organically to meet some women with similar interests.  And my web is growing once again!

4. A new project.  I can’t say much about this yet, but it involves my best friend and all kinds of happy things and I think you’re going to love it.  In the brainstorming stages now, I’m getting to play in “blue skies” – my “if anything is possible” mode.  Such a fun place to be!

5. Shopping for new running shoes.  I’ve started wearing my sneaks more days than not, whether or not I’m running.  I don’t want to wear out the ones that I do actually run in, so I’m looking for a second fun pair to run around the city in.  And I don’t mean like that girl with her dress clothes and her  sneakers (ew), I mean like with my wunder unders. Nike has a tool that lets you design your own, and you can put words on the tongue of each shoe.  I’m thinking “sweat daily.”  (I wanted “sweaty sexy” but they don’t allow the word sexy at Nike.)

6. Another project in the brainstorming stages, I’m thinking of following up Loved with a workbook type book on self-development, using lots of fresh material and maybe some material from this blog’s past few years.  What do you think?

Dear Kimberly, From Your Eighty-Year-Old Self

Yesterday I posted my letter from myself at 8.  Here’s the counterpart to that task from The Artist’s Way: a letter to my current self from myself at 80.  This is my favorite.

Darling Kimberly,

You think you know, but you have no idea.  I remember turning 30 – that was an incredible year and I sure had learned a lot.  I know you’re worried about growing your career, but it will be ok.  You will continue to learn so much and meet amazing people and be challenged in new ways.  Trust me on this.  Also, rest easy about Colt coming to New York.  Your life with him – even when challenging, will be even better than you’d ever dreamed.  Don’t be too hard on your daughter about being just like you – let her be her own person.  You don’t need a mini-me as much as you think.  And keep writing – don’t ever stop.  Good things are in store for you, love.  Kudos on the fitness and eating healthy.  Please floss more.

Love,
Your still graceful if forgetful self

I also liked the part of this task that was to describe myself at 80 and the things I’d most enjoyed in life.

At 80, I’m graceful but have a little naughty side.  After all I’ve been through, why wouldn’t I be a little sassy sometimes?  I’ll still travel and learn and adventure (with Colt!) and see Heather and Carrie and my kids and grandkids often.  Life just gets better and better.  And I’ll still have all my teeth.  My favorite things were naming my daughter, living in France, my run as a well-known author, my 30th birthday (among others), buying the lake house, my daughter’s wedding, Colt’s successes, our time in New York.

Try it out!  Write your own letters!  I loved being able to verbalize (via pen) the things I’m most hoping for and looking forward to in life, and encourage myself through some of the things I’m concerned about.

My Artist’s Way buddy, writer/blogger Sarah Hyde, shared her letters also.  Read hers here!

Dear Kimberly, From Your Eight-Year-Old Self

I’m halfway through my third study of The Artist’s Way!  My favorite task so far has been the letters to myself now (at thirty), from myself at both age 8 and age 80.  Not only was it fun to see how I’d lived up to my young-self’s imaginary future and then to look ahead at what I imagine my life to hold for the next fifty years, but adapting the voices in which to write the letters themselves was also a blast!

Here is my letter from myself at 8, and tomorrow I’ll share my letter from myself at eighty.

Dear Kymberleigh,*

30 sounds pretty old.  My mom is only 29.  I would think you’re married with kids by now too, but if not, that’s ok.  I want to name my daughter Samantha or Jocelyn or maybe Vada.  Or Mariah Carey or Liberty Belle.  And I’d like to marry (my first crush).  But I’ll probably move out of PA when I’m grown and will meet all kinds of new people.  I want to be a writer, or an actress, or a fashion designer and also Miss America.  I love to read and play Barbies and swim and write letters to my cousin Jessie in Pittsburgh.  When we go to visit her, I can see the city lights twinkling outside her window and it’s so pretty and magical.  I think I’d like to live in a city.  Where do you live?  I can’t imagine all the things I might do, but I know if I could I would fly all my friends to Disney on vacation and maybe own a stationary store.  I hope your life is awesome!  TTYL!

Kymberleigh

*At 8,  thought changing the spelling of my name made it much cooler.
**Jess, thanks for being a good sport about being in ALL the photos of me as a kid that I post online.

Heart, Humor, and Hope

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a great read! Oskar was the perfect young narrator, with a voice truly all his own. I’ve had people tell me they’re holding off on this book because it seems so sad, but it’s not really. The way sadness is approached in this book is with the right amount of heart, humor, and hope that it’s a delightful read rather than a depressing one. Oskar’s adventures in searching for a way to honor and remember his father are really a journey of grief and self-exploration. From the very first page, I was ready to cheer him on and ride along with him. The story even gives you a view into Oskar’s family history which gave the prose even more depth, and reminded me of The History of Love, one of my favorites. If you’ve ready Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, check out The History of Love; and if you haven’t, then read both!

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The Very Pale Difference Between Madness and Sanity

The Cranes Dance by Meg Howrey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I admit, I’m a little torn about what I think of this book. Overall, I loved the dance theme and the exploration of the (very small) difference between madness and sanity – a fantastic theme. I loved the characters, especially Wendy, the extremely private well-to-do woman who shares her home with Kate during her first year as a ballet student in New York. I loved Kate’s ability to travel back in time and reveal stories from a year ago, a day ago, or ages ago without confusing the reader. Where I hesitate to give this book a rave comes from two things. Kate’s casual voice almost sounds too young for her sometimes. Perhaps this is on purpose – maybe she isn’t as grown or mature as other women her age might be, but it was occasionally off-putting to me. I also found the tension in the story to have begin so early on that there wasn’t such a dramatic build-and-climax kind of pattern. One more love, though, and perhaps my favorite thing about The Cranes Dance, was Kate’s sense of an “audience” watching her through her whole life. What would “they” think of what she had for lunch, if she danced well in rehearsal, how she spoke to her mother, the way she handled her sister’s illness? I think this “performing through life” sense is very realistic and was well written into the story. If you like books that really get into women’s heads, or if you like dance (there’s a lot of it in this book and that was fun for me!) then pick this one up.

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Read This: The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing

The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An exploration of the influence of men in a woman’s life, The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing will have you reflecting on your own experiences with men, past and present. For young Jane, her grown up brother bringing home girlfriend is acutely interesting to her; she studies her brother’s choice in this girl as well as the way the young couple interacts with each other. From there Jane grows and we watch her relationship with her brother and father alter, she falls in love and we get to witness the way in which a deep an unexpected love changes her, and the contrast of her interactions with women provides and even clearer picture of the importance of men in a woman’s life.

All that, and it’s written beautifully. One of my favorite passages is short and powerful:
“Everywhere you go, you see women more beautiful than yourself.
You imagine him being attracted to them.
You’re drinking gasoline to stay warm.”

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The Age of… Ohmigosh So Much!

As 2012 winds down it’s time to celebrate another year in Ooh La La Life blogging!  Thank you to the readers, sharers and commenters whose time and feedback means so much to me!

Let’s recap!
Here are the top ten posts from this year!

1. All the LOVED news was number one, but I’ve lumped them together here.  The book cover reveal and the announcement that Loved would be published by Inspivia Books topped this year’s list, along with the November photo challenge, which was such a fun way to celebrate release month!

2. Broken Glasses: “It’s true that ‘seeing’ as in planning and predicting the future is illusion most of the time.  It’s a silly comfort that we rely on when there is really no way to know what will come tomorrow, next year, or five from now.  Regardless, a clear picture of what I imagine is to come is the pillow I hug to myself to get to sleep at night.”

3.  The Perils of being an Adventurepreneur: “The victories are where I get to be – a friend’s wedding in a college town, dinner with a girlfriend and her one-year-old who I had never met, a quiet weekend at a lake house in Kentucky, picking blackberries with my brother in Portland, a band’s show in LA… it goes on and on.  The peril, truly, is in the goodbyes.”

4. Where There’s a Will: “Here’s my will.  You’re all in it.  I don’t have much, but I leave the entirety of what I do have to all of you, to share: An immeasurable amount of Love: But use it wisely. Give it to those who need it most, even if there’s no ROI. Remember to lean on it during disagreements with those most important to you. Receive it without hesitation…”

5. Well if that guy can do it…: “On one of my first runs, a couple blew past me, lapping me repeatedly, all muscle and ease.  ”I’ll never be a runner,” I thought.  Then an old man lumbered past, white beard blowing in the breeze, arms sticking out at his sides like chicken wings.  Then I thought, “maybe I could be a runner.”  And I just kept going.”

6. There’s Nothing “Wrong” with Me: “In the fifth grade, a teacher I so admired called my parents in for a conference to tell them I was not performing well.  I was daydreaming.  (Oh, the horror!)  My grades were solid, and her criticism of me hurt my little heart.”

7. Wake Up Older, Try to Move On: “Now, I am broken and rebuilt.  I am stronger and surer.  I am scarred but I am not scared.  I am changed and unchanged.  I am alone but I am not lonely.  I am wiser but I still have mistakes to make.”

8. Remember Remember All of November: “What a month!  I might sleep through December just to recover from the events of the last few weeks…”

9. I am a Writer: “I’m a writer because my head is still in my hands and I have no idea what to say next and yet I keep going.  I’m a writer because when I read back something I wrote just last week for the two hundred and thirty eighth time, imagining it’s the first time I’ve read it and that I didn’t write it myself, I feel pleased because I like it and I did write it myself.”

10. (Reader Favorite!) What’s Said in the Silence: I think we need the silence in order to hear our own voices, and God’s, more clearly.

<<<<Want more? Here’s the 2011 list!>>>>

Where I Belong

When I first moved to Nashville I was a bright eyed, star struck girl who wanted to live and breathe in the center of the country music world. I wanted nothing more than to drive a truck with a Tennessee license plate and work on music row. See how things change! At the time I didn’t think too far beyond my Tim McGraw-blaring truck-driving belt-buckle-wearing lifestyle to whether I might belong somewhere else someday.

As country music began to fade from my life and I grew to love other things, a picture of what I wanted in a my life, in a home, started to emerge.  I knew I wanted a “walkable” lifestyle where a market, restaurants, coffee shop et. al. were all accessible easily from my house (or condo, as it were).  I wanted access to a city with lots of culture like museums, good food, and parks.  And at that time, Nashville was still the place for me and those other desires were just little whispers.  After years of making friends and connections in the city it was hard to imagine leaving there.  Until earlier this year when those whispers began to sound like my own voice and I ran away like the city was on fire.

Just before I made that decision, a friend said to me, “You’ve just started to put down these roots, and now’s the time to decide if you’re going to let them hold deeper or if you’re going to pull them up.”  I pulled them up, and I am ever thankful for the chance to experience all I have and possibly will, living in different environments.

We take turns being nomads in my family.  My brother traveled the world for several years.  Upon his return to a semi-settled stateside residence, my parents went back Pittsburgh for a long hiatus from the south, not sure where they would settle back down and when.  Now they’ve built a home in Florida and it’s my turn to be adrift.  I did tell you we were adventurers, didn’t I?

Foxes have holes and birds of air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Matthew 8:20

I’m finding it hard to decide where I would go next, for I’m not sure I’ll stay in New York for too long. Do I go back to where I was planted, in my adopted home of Nashville? Try a new city, walkable but quieter?  Maybe I’ll find a way to move to Paris – the ultimate dream.  But I’m already beginning to wonder, without roots, can we flourish?

I remember a conversation I had with my mom last year during which she was contemplating her then nomadic life: “Maybe it’s something to be thankful for,” I told her.  “We aren’t supposed to feel truly at home anywhere.  Being so aware of that now is a beautiful reminder from God!”  Nowhere feels like home to me now, but maybe that’s the point.  Surrounded by strangers, new streets to walk, it’s all a learning experience.  A welcome challenge.  And a reminder that we don’t actually belong here at all.

Beauty Made of Ugliness: Thoughts on Gillian Flynn’s “Dark Places”

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read Dark Places not long after reading Gillian Flynn’s popular Gone Girl, and it was interesting to be able to note the patterns in her style as a writer. Dark Places is about Libby Day, a women whose family was slaughtered when she was just a girl while she escaped out a bedroom window. The Kansas City area scenery is ugly, from the Day’s suffering farm in the 1980’s to the distasteful neighborhood where Libby lives as an adult; the people are ugly, from mystery crime geeks to strippers past their expiration date; and Libby’s attitude is ugly, which is to be expected from a lone survivor of such a horrific event. But the crown here is that Flynn writes ugly so well that there’s beauty there anyway. Patty Day, the tragic mother of the family, is all wild red hair, jutting bones, and helplessness, but she cared for her family with a love unconventional and pure and big. A friendship that grows between Libby and a mystery crime enthusiast is unexpected and flawed but somehow warm. Aside from this penchant for making ugliness seem alright, Flynn’s other noticeable pattern is in the character turns. Not necessarily plot turns, her characters change sometimes so rapidly that they even surprise themselves. It’s a bold way to keep readers on their toes, which is exactly how you’ll be all the way though Flynn’s Dark Places.

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What Do Your Feelings Taste Like?

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was the title of this book that got me. I was searching for something, I don’t even remember what, and this one popped up and caught my attention. Sometimes all it takes is a solid and interesting title for me to pick up a book, but the writing here is what kept me reading. With complete humility I say this: This is how I write. I forego lots of the standard grammatical rules and typical sentence structures (to the chagrin of my publisher and editor!) in place of a rhythm that is more poetic and a voice more pensive. I so enjoyed reading someone else’s style so akin to mine! In addition, the family dynamic and complex characters were fascinating and inspiring to me. This book is not filled with plot twists and story action, but rather deeply rooted emotions and complicated relationship dynamics that really make you think. If you’re looking for something slower paced and tasty, try some Lemon Cake.

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