One more day up in the canyon.

"I always heard the best delies are in the lower east side, and theres a store that sells nothing but gourmet homemade pickles, too."  

"Sweet! I love homemade pickles. Lets go there for lunch!"

"Nah, I never could find it."

"Why don't you just Google it?"

"Because there is absolutely no way I'm going to Google 'pickle store'."

I think, of all the gazillions of pictures I have, this one sums up Peter and La Sha the best.

So much is going on right now, I don't even know where to begin.

Ironically, right now I have more blog posts than ever, yet am posting at almost my slowest rate ever.

I am a busy and excruciatingly tired lady.

In a couple of weeks there'll probably be a blogsplosion of wordiness.

I've been working on a series of essays that I'm tentatively calling "Things I Swore I'd Never Blog About". Tantalizing, n'est pas?

Also, I've pretty much finished up the Fierce Flora series. Unfortunately, plastic wrap and cardboard is safely secured around all the vines and blossoms, and they probably won't be making their debut for a few weeks.

I've got lots of NYC pictures dragging along too, that I'll get to posting sometime. Though I could be living in Timbuktu by the time I feel caught up.

 Caught up- isn't that a nice thought.  

 Speaking of feelings and not-sureness, I've been ultra-contemplative lately and I can't quiet put my finger on how I feel about NYC. It's a place I simultaneously never want to spend another day in and that I never want to leave. There's a mixture of regret when thinking of it in the rearview and joy in looking ahead. It's a place that has so much more to offer a creative young lady than anywhere else on this planet, and I can't help but feel like I never made the most of it. Surviving takes so much effort that looking up and making the most of the opportunities that may be waiting for you seems like an option best put off till tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Was a big break waiting for me, but I was just too busy, too tired, too frazzled to notice? I'll never know- that's the stinger on the hornet of regret.  

The only thing to do is to look ahead, because I have no doubt that what waits in the future is more amazing than everything in the past.

 Even though it's September, there's an air of New Years Eve hanging around. The Christmas-esque frenzy of deciding what I really want (to keep, to do) is over and now I can enjoy a couple days merriment. Starting over (yet again)- I want this year to be full of intention (even if it isn't really a new year). And like on the precipice of every New Year, resolutions abound:

Be more focused.

Live more simply.

Work less.

Ignore everything and everyone that adds stress.

But more than anything- to just SLOOOW DOWN.

I have so much to not do, and I can't wait till I can get started not doing it. Until then, I just have to make it through this long faux December.

 

"... a lot of oysters, but no pearls."

Yep, that pretty much sums up my NYC experience.