art

Well, first of all, happy weekend!  Fridays are the best, especially when the weekend brings a visit from your mom and sister.  I can't wait to see them, and I can't wait to go off for a little trip with them.

There's a gallery in our town that always has great art in the window.  Sam and I like to stop and look at it, and sometimes (okay, only once) give in to the temptation to buy some.  (Art is expensive.)  The other day, I was walking by, and saw this (and fell in love): 

by Victoria Brook

Isn't it the best?  I'm obsessed.  I love fairy tales and children's books, and this captures that feeling so well.  It's even called 'Bedtime Story'.  I love the light and trees and stars and I could stare at it all day.  Isn't that exactly what you want from things you put on your wall? 

Oh, and it's almost July.  What?  That means Google Reader is going away, so if you want to, please follow along here:

imagination

picture by Emily McDowell via Design Mom

I've pretty much spent my life imagining things.  It was always my favorite past-time.  Even now that I'm grown up, and I'm not supposed to, I still tell myself stories, basically all the time.  Maybe that's one reason why I enjoy running; there's plenty of time to tell yourself a long, complicated stories.  Sometimes my stories are about fictional people, sometimes myself.  Sometimes the past, sometimes the future.

So maybe that's one reason why I have a hard time trying to enjoy the moment.  Does anyone really do this?  I've always picked some event in my future to aspire to -- being in college, being out of college, married, working, children, retired-- yup, lots of things.  I don't know if this is detrimental or not.  I should really try to live in the present more often, though.  To enjoy what and where I am. 

But not all stories are bad.  I enjoy thinking about other people or other situations and trying to decide how I'd act or how someone else would act (and why).  One of my professors told me it was a myth that English students (and by extension, readers) are made more empathetic by reading, but I'm not sure I believe him.  How else can you ever really understand someone else, except by doing your best to think about their point of view...the essence of reading? 

I don't think I'll ever completely stop telling stories, and I don't think I want to.  Imagination and belief are important.