i do beauty.

When I was 23 and living in Mexico City, I had the intention to start a blog. The blog was called “namaste nomad” and I wrote exactly two posts for this blog. A couple years ago, I stumbled upon these old blog posts and appreciated them very much. Even though it’s been 10 years since I wrote these, I admire this person and her connection to what’s real. I used to journal a lot more than I do now and had my finger closer to the pulse of authenticity and beauty. I was living “the beauty I love.” Now I’m busier. I have a job and a toddler and a partner and a household. I’m not practicing this aliveness as much as I use to. But these blog posts remind me that I value this practice of deliberate reflection - I hope this new blog, “terrakota,” can return me to the practice of connecting to what’s real.

Here is one of the two original blog posts:

Let the beauty you love be what you do :: Rumi

I met a new friend recently and I can feel that he is such a treasure. He's a beautiful little creature. He is  something I will place oh-so-gently down in my collection of beautiful things along side my photography and meditation, and other things I hold near to my heart.

But I also have learned recently that beautiful things are fragile. Dealing with such real life things as people's hearts and bare love, make me feel alive but also foolish. I'm young and believe I'm pretty mature. But recently I've felt the limits of my 23-year-old maturity being challenged. I have yet to quite kick my teenager-esque habits of chasing boys and playing games. Human connection is free and fun but also deep, real, and vulnerable. If you want to keep the beautiful people in your life, you have to recognize and nourish their truth, and match it.

I'm learning about the value of the beautiful things in my life and how easy it is for them to be taken away. I'm learning that you have to fight for them. But I'm stumbling and making mistakes but as always learning to let myself be, with love. Let myself make 23-year-old mistakes because after all I am 23. Allow myself to go through my own slow and sure process of growth. Poco a poco I'm learning.