year of the dragon.

Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

We're only a month into the new year and I'm already hoping that all of the lows of 2012 are just getting themselves out of the way early.

A falling rock landed hit car on the interstate, my apartment building almost burnt down, and my grandmother is currently in emergency surgery. The last 31 days have been nothing short of stressful.

On the up side, the unseasonably warm weather, in addition to, the new yoga classes I've started taking have been helping to balance out stress and chaos in my life.

And now I'll take a break from a large text post, and just share a few photos from January.

let's review.

a brief summary of the last 365 days:

- 20something growing pains.
- road trips and adventure.
- welcoming an amazing new human to the world.
- learning to trust more than i thought possible.


here are a few snapshots of memory from this past year that aim to recognize the impact of time and space on the present and the future :

strangers again.

After a chaotic hiatus of starting a new job and preparing for the holidays, I want to start again from the beginning.

The initial reason why I created this, and the name of the blog itself, both deal with relationships and understanding.
As most of us have spent a lot of time with family and close friends recently, I find it appropriate to reflect and react to the experience of 'going home' for the holidays and being around relatives.

There is something very special about familiar bonds that last throughout the years, and the time spent with loved ones should be appreciated and remembered. The tricky thing about family is that, while they are the most familiar to you, and you have a unique comfort level with them, you continue to grow and grow up all through the year without them.
Interacting with the people who have been around you all your life, and see you in a particular way can be challenging, especially when the title of 'adult' grows nearer to you. They have watched you leave childhood behind and grow taller and wiser, and while they may know your sweater size, they don't necessarily know who you are anymore.

Catching up on conversations, laughing together, eating meals together, and sharing with one another are what make this time of year so special and important, and I look forward to many traditions that my family upholds over the years.
But I still know that when I grab a beer from the fridge on Christmas eve, or talk about my career goals with loved ones, that many of them are looking at me as the 2 year old walking on her tip toes or the 12 year old obsessing over Hanson, not the person in front of them.




We were all strangers once,
And sometimes we become strangers twice.

things that go bump in the night.

I generally like to reserve peeing in my pants for when I'm laughing too hard.
that being said, I’ve always been fascinated and perplexed by the popularity of all things frightening, scary and spooky. The success of 'fright nights' haunted houses, not to mention a whole genre of movies dedicated to scaring the crap out of people (or in my case, hiding under a blanket) is something I truly do not understand.

Call me crazy, but I don't like to 'exercise' the reactions of my sympathetic nervous system, I prefer to utilize my fighting and flighting for situations in which I am facing a real-life, dangerous situations.
The local news even freaks me out... but only when they lead with stories like "could the killer be in your backyard? find out, tonight at 11:00"

Lets just say my tolerance for horror and fright falls somewhere between the 'goosebumps' books and Lindsay Lohan's acting in 'I know who killed me.' Plus, I generally just want to punch every character in horror movies for not listening to me when I screamed, 'don't go in there!' or, 'ho, you use these keys to your house
Every day, why can't you get the damn door open!!!' ...And then I just feel guilty for yelling at them cause they're dead 2 minutes later, and I'm the asshole sitting in the dark.

But on a serious note, there certainly is something to be said about the thrill and enjoyment from fright that is sought out by many during this time of year. People pay a lot of money to industries which are dedicated to surrounding consumers with uncomfortable, unsettling and seemingly unsafe situations.
And yes, I understand that getting the crap scared out you gets your blood pumping but why not just go for a bike ride? Maybe the relief of having 'survived' the scenario, or the idea that the scary situation is all fiction and couldn't/wouldn't really happen in real life is reassuring to people, in some strange way?
I clearly don't know since I typically end up watching through my fingers, or run away all together.

So, while I spend my Halloween the PG way, eating candy, carving pumpkins and watching Charlie Brown, cheers to those of you who enjoy getting spooked by the creature of the night.

Happy Halloween!

the elements, and us.

I've posted a lot about man made versus natural environments here-- both how I personally interact with them, and how I observe others in those spaces. Today I want to highlight the places in which natural and synthetic materials appear in the same place to form a unique meeting point.

Whether it be grass growing in a crack on the sidewalk, rust forming on the roof of a car, or the fading of old signs on the side of the road, strong pieces of construction all show some sign of the elements over time.

I think there is something quite beautiful to be found in these spaces, where stories of the past come to life before your eyes. While history is revealing itself, the battle of nature and concrete begins it's own chapter, and I am just happy to catch a glimpse.

unrestricted territories.

As much as I love cities, and the urban landscape, I often need physical, tangible space to organize my thoughts, and escape from the fast paced lifestyle that takes places within the concrete jungle.

Ask any city planner, teacher, ecologist, architect, psychologist, or yogi, and they will tell you of the great benefits provided by natural outdoor space. The amount of leisure, meditation, escape, exercise, play and overall enjoyment that takes place in green spaces, not to mention the educational benefits of experiencing and learning from nature, is an important aspect part of human existence.

In addition to serving as a setting for much activity and behavior that is foreign or seldom found within man-made city blocks, the concept of ‘free,’ or public space is incredibly important to city dwellers. Metropolitan areas serve as a magnet for a great number of inhabitants, requiring things to be built close together, at a high price. Public parks give people a place to go where the space they occupy and utilize is not limited by their ability to afford certain monetary contributions, all the while providing a change in landscape and an escape from the noise, and colors of the city.

From Hyde park, to Regent’s park, the city of London has definitely recognized the benefits of public space, and does a fantastic job of providing wonderful parks throughout the city. These vast sprawls of green, public space give residents the forum to escape and play, and most importantly, feel a sense of ownership in their city.

I specifically wanted to highlight the photos I took during my visit to Richmond Park. With over 2000 acres of trees, creeks, and open space, and filled with a large variety of roaming wildlife, the landscape of Richmond Park provides the perfect example of allowing visitors to have physical space to reflect and recreate within city limits.












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believe in the spray can.

This next update is focused on the street art scene in the London neighborhood of Shoreditch. This hood was described to me as, ‘the Brooklyn of London,’ and is full of indie coffee shops, asymmetrical haircuts, and ridiculous moustaches to prove it.

Walking around here, it really seemed as though the ‘bobby’ completely turned a blind eye to what I like to call, the liberal acquisition of concrete canvasses, but what the law typically refers to as, vandalism. Suffice it to say, I really enjoyed photographing this area, and quickly focused on the surrounding public art, which seemed to serve as a bloodline and backdrop to any movement in this part of town.

Now, before going further let me say, there are many different perspectives on what classifies something as art, as well as, what the difference between graffiti and street art is. I will not even begin to tackle those arguments here, but I have posted at length on similar topics elsewhere in the blog, if you care to read further on my opinion of these topics.

For now, let us simply keep in mind, that graffiti has existed throughout history, with excellent examples found in Ancient Egypt, as well as Ancient Greece. The unique act of posting an anonymous public statement for everyone to see, seems to not only highlight many aspects of the human condition, but also seems to be a necessary act done by those who feel that the public spaces reserved for art to be inadequate, unattainable or simply separate from everyday life.

That being said, I think my personal interest in street art can be boiled down to my appreciation and amusement of the controversy, creativity, and risk that goes into accomplishing these works. I really enjoy when people take it upon themselves to incorporate a setting or environment into their artistic statement, as well as search for clever and interesting ways to reach the largest audience possible. In some ways, one could argue, that the unedited platform that is provided by a city’s bare walls is a more authentic representation of society, having been done by an everyday stranger rather than a recognized or wealthy artist, as well as being physically among the people and the streets where everyday life exists.

And now, on to the photos, hope you all enjoy.