Goodbye Atlanta

I'm in Atlanta today. Stuck in the airport-- I'm exhausted and my eyelids are heavy from a two-day business trip. My feet hurt, but I am in my most comfortable flip flops and have found a seat in the terminal next to an outlet. I'm charging three devices, because I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be stuck on the Tarmac for a while. The weather here is temperamental, humid. 

I usually love airport days. I love to fly. I love to people watch and I love to watch the planes take off and land. Today feels different. I had a successful, up eventful trip, but home seems so far away. 

I love this life. It isn't what I imagined I'd be doing at 27, but it isn't so bad. Still I long for canvas and paint, or maybe scrubs and charts. What am I doing for this world? I'm really not sure. Atlanta is not any more beautiful than it was when I got here.

But tonight.

I want to remember this exact moment forever. The porch is lit by a citronella candle, the dogs sprawled out like rugs across the patio. It smells of smoke and magnolias, and a choir of crickets are singing in surround sound. I'm sipping on a beer as Tater chases a frog in the yard. This will be the last night of its kind. I'm sitting on the porch step, breathing this precious air in deeply, missing Savannah already.

Adventures in Watercolor Pencils

I've been playing with watercolor pencils a little, which I've found are much easier to use than watercolors themselves. I haven't been trained in watercolors but I've been blending colored pencils since I was five years old. This feels so natural, and then when you add water and the colors blend effortlessly, the drawing comes to life.

I was out of town this weekend. I went camping in a place that wasn't exactly conducive to painting with a pad of paints, but I didn't want to go that long without my sketchbook. Watercolor pencils were perfect for traveling, and I was able to teach some of my campers about color studies and blending and shading. They were very interested, and it was fun to share something I enjoy with some kids that I really love.

On coming home

I've left Savannah many times, but never with tears in my eyes. The tears themselves weren't exactly rational. I'm down there once a month, and without fail will be back before I know it. Still, on Monday, the tears came.

Things make sense when I'm in Savannah, and it's not because the stars are magically aligned. I could probably attribute this clarity to the awayness of the city itself. Away from work. Away from really confusing relationships. Away from roller derby and the hustle and bustle. When I'm there, I have nowhere to go. I have no schedule. I just am, and that's such a nice thing to be.

In the meantime, I'll be wishing away the days until I can get back to that front porch-- to my home away from home. There's no place like it.

Savannah

There is a front porch about four hours south of here that is as close to heaven as I'll get while I'm earthside. Inside there's a coffee pot that my friends keep hooked up just for me, because none of them drink coffee. There's a yard full of playing puppies and large trees spilling with Spanish moss. 

There is nowhere on earth that I'd rather drink my morning coffee. There is no breeze in the world as refreshing, no home so full of love. My second family lives there. My art thrives there. I am safe there.

Savannah is still singing its siren song and the mast of my ship is breaking.

Brave New World

I've been surprising myself left and right with my willingness to try new things. Where did this boldness come from? At first I thought it was reckless abandon, and if that's what it is-- I like it. 

I wrote recently about my perfectionism, about how I wouldn't try something new if I didn't think I'd excel at it immediately.

This realization came to me when I was covered in salt and sand, soaked to the bone and sore in muscles that I didn't know I had. I had just fallen face-first into the ocean after finally standing up on a paddle board. But I was high on adrenaline, because I did it. I did it scared.

I had crab legs for the first time the other day (I know, I know.) I sucked the juices out of a crawdad's bright red torso. Despite my fear of losing him, I let Tater run freely off his leash and play with his best buddy in the river (he loved it and came back when it was time to go home and take a well-earned nap.) I tried an Irish Car Bomb (awful name, decent drink.) I did The Wobble in the middle of a bar and probably looked totally ridiculous. I danced on stage with my bride-to-be best friend at a dueling piano bar. I stayed out until last call for the first time since my college days.

Have you done anything lately that scared you?

Tips for Travelers - Stuff Audrey Loves

quote source

So many of you are making plans to go overseas this summer. Can I be the first to say that I'm extremely jealous?
I don't feel like an expert on much of anything, but if there's one thing I know much about, it's traveling. I've done it for years, and now I will give you advice on how to do it the right way. Here are some travel essentials for European travels:
1. Before you leave the house to even head to the airport, snag one of these beauties to organize your essentials: passport, visas (if necessary), cash, cards, and IDs. Now pay attention, because this is the most important part: bury that thing DEEP inside a bag or zip-able pocket where you can access it easily, but no one else can. Also, have copies of these documents along with some emergency cash in another bag or location, just in case.
2. Get a weekender. Use it as a carry-on, as a purse, and as a travel bag throughout the city. They're usually light but carry way more than you'd realize without looking bulky and ridiculous. Interior pockets with zippers are worth the extra money, I promise. See #1.
3 and 4. This one's for all you memory keepers. Take a journal. Leather-bound journals hold up really well and only look better as they wear, in my opinion. I also like them because they aren't spiral bound, because the spirals get all wonky and hard to use. I like that they generally wrap the pages completely so the edges of the pages don't crinkle or bend. Stick an envelope in there as well to hold all of your train ticket stubs and smaller souvenirs. You'll thank me for this. I really want one of these leather envelopes for this purpose.
5. Cosmetic bags that are waterproof are excellent. You should put anything that could possibly leak in zip-locs anyway, but why not have a little extra protection? This has saved my butt in the past, so I'm paying it forward. Also, you shouldn't need more cosmetics than will fit in a smaller bag like this one. You're on vacation, for Pete's sake.
6. Have a scarf in your bag that you carry at all times. Chances are you'll want to poke your head into a cathedral or a church for some reason while you're in Western Europe, because they're gorgeous, but most of these religious buildings require women to have their shoulders covered. If you're wearing a sundress or a tank top, the people at the front will physically prevent you from entering, so have this for draping purposes just in case.
7. In Europe it rains! Then it's sunny. Then it rains. So have an umbrella that folds up into a tiny little wrap that you can keep in your purse. Also have a large ziploc bag to put it in so it doesn't get everything in your bag damp. 

On being present