I suspect that the orchids on the windowsill are more than friends.
#doodleaday: On learning to evolve
I had a moment of cultural panic last night at the airport.
Blossoms of all kinds
February, you month of months, has truly started to look up. Here are some doodles from this week:
February 23: Admiring my scars.
February 24: I somehow scored a seat at the first ever #LeadOn conference for women in Silicon Valley, where the keynote was none other than Senator Hillary Clinton.
Our construction is surrounded in flits of pink.
That moment when your oatmeal boils over.
There were no doodles last week because Ryan and I were busy snorkeling, hiking, eating delicious Chinese and Hawaiian food, and enjoying time with my brother, sister-in-law and family on Oahu. Here are a few snippets:
Waimanalo, my favorite beach.
Wonderful meal with (l-r) Shelby, Josh, Keith, Ryan, Josh, Mrs. Ho, Steff, Mr. Ho)
Dinner in Waikiki--our last night.
A week in #doodles
A week in doodles. In drawing these I am tempted to spill secrets, but that's not the point here. The point is showing the quotidian; the important tiny discoveries that happen every day.
February 10 marked my 14th anniversary as a type 1 diabetic.
I took my car into the shop at lunchtime and found myself stranded in a combination pizzeria/liquor shop. Shit got weird.
Chicken salad out of chicken shit.
I love Fridays the 13th. I always have.
#doodleaday: Raven with roses
Amah would have loved the image: her great-great-grand-niece holding a bouquet of pink roses, standing in the middle of her piano room.
#doodleaday: on storms
A storm is brewing. It is the earliest, most vulnerable time of spring. Sometimes I catch narcissus hiding out behind dumpsters.
#2doodles
February is always a month of memories. Maybe it's because it's so sleepy out. I've been dreaming of Schubert and butterflies.
February 4.
February 5.
#doodleaday: breathing
People are not vaccinating their kids. [gulp] There's a storm coming. This weekend we memorialize Amah. Work is...well, it exists, so that's good. This week the main goal is to breathe.
#doodleaday: dreaming of snow
Dear Sugar tells me to "write like a motherfucker." I can't stop thinking of the snow in New York. I went running on my lunch break in shorts and a t-shirt. I am dreaming of snow.
#doodleaday: Who doesn't dream of being Diane Keaton?
I have been dreaming of leaving the country. It's all versions of the same dream I've had since 2007, the day I returned to American soil after a year away. The dream evolves over time. Now I'm dreaming of a bustling, vibrant place, somewhere I can walk for hours, then hole up and write it all down: all the smells, all the colors, all the sounds. Today's doodle is inspired by that.
#doodleaday: which half of half-n-half is the better half?
Milk fairy, anyone?
#doodleaday: on sounds and fury
The sounds and furies of office life, complete with braids:
#doodleaday: French manicure
Today's doodle: letting it all grow out.
#doodleaday: rejected
The career of an "aspiring writer" is one of constant hucking: submissions, proposals, essays, yadda yadda. Maybe it's time to stop aspiring. Say: fuck the system. My brain is tired.
#doodleaday: plants on the windowsill
Sometimes I envy the plants on the windowsill, though their view isn't the greatest.
#doodleaday: Bike commute
First day back on the bike--a new one, at that.
#doodleaday: Mystery car
Today's doodle: Spotted on our lunch run: a submerged child's car, stripped and dirty, at the bottom of a steep irrigation ditch.
2015: A year in doodles
New Year's resolution: A doodle a day in my journal. Here's my first entry:
January 12.
2014: Year of doozies
2014 has been a year of doozies--in my life and around the world. Here are a few special moments, captured:
Married my favorite person in the world. Photo credit: Natalie Jenks.
Got promoted.
Celebrated the life of my wonderful grandfather Fred Jackson, who passed away the day before Ryan and I got married. We continue to feel his spirit.
Shared in the joys of friend weddings, with the best man in the world.
Honeymooned in Mexico.
Spent quality time with my wonderful grandmother Saralee Halprin, who passed away peacefully in her home in November 2014. I wear her lipstick every day. Learn more about her amazing life at saraleehalprin.org.
Bonded with my best lady friends--women I have known all my life. I love you all.
Collaborated with a wonderful group of writers, actors and curators with Play On Words, our burgeoning literary movement. Here are some shots of us at our Lit Crawl premiere in October 2014. Learn more at playonwordssj.wordpress.com.
Visited my dear friend Dumi in Spokane and learned to paddleboard. Verdict: #fuckingawesome.
Spent quality time with my new extended family. I'm so insanely grateful for them all.
Amidst all of these big life changes, there was the news:
- ISIS
- Robin Williams
- Michael Brown
- Eric Garner
- ebola
- Ukraine
- CIA torture report
Sometimes I wonder where all the empathy we feel goes. My experience is not the same as anyone who lost their lives or civil liberties this year, and I fully acknowledge that. My instincts and feelings are more raw and alive than ever. There is a level of doozy that surpasses what I can imagine and it is my hope that we can recognize, own, and recover from cycles of injustice and violence. I'm ready to educate myself and be educated by those whose voices we most desperately need to hear.
This year I've learned that we have a real choice in the way we approach not only the doozies in our life, but all the moments between them. Those life-shifting, anxiety-producing events make us value the quiet, the mundane, the sweet and the content. Making dinner with Ryan. Having friends over for dinner. Listening to Schubert and remembering the way my grandmother sat at the piano. Discovering new books. Hiking Mission Peak by myself on my birthday. Long runs and bike rides out to Alviso, where the water is quiet and the sky is endless and you can see where the Bay begins.
2015: We're here, universe. We're ready to work. And we're ready to play.
In honor of Saralee
Our sweet Amah passed away this week at 92. I love and miss her.
This has been a year of many feelings.
Please join me in honoring her memory at saraleehalprin.org.