day off.  gorgeous outside.  fun with my friend toni this morning.  life is so full and rich and wonderful.

so why do i feel like a wet noodle?

maybe it’s a little TOO full?  i don’t think so.  i’ve got a great schedule.  time to breathe.  time to do things right and treat my body right.  maybe i’m just hormonal.  i’ve never really liked that excuse.  to me, that’s like saying, “maybe i’m just awake” or “maybe i’m just a feeling, thinking human being.”  aren’t we always hormonal?  isn’t there a 50/50 chance that we could wake up on the proverbial wrong side of the bed?  

holly golightly in “breakfast at tiffany’s” calls it THE MEAN REDS.  the blues are light and kind of fun to sink into.  because it’s been raining, or you’ve been watching too many romantic comedies.  the mean reds are hard.  it feels like your soul is dark and you don’t know why on earth you would ever feel that way, with so much to be thankful for.

i have been in deep, deep trouble before.  like, “how am i going to recover from this one” trouble.  but it doesn’t feel like this.  it doesn’t feel like anything.  you’re too deep in it and too overcome with actual issue to really notice that you’re in trouble.  instead, it just shows in little dark circles around your eyes.  unexplained weight loss.  grey hair.

this is different.  the mean reds have no reasoning, therefore, you can’t fix it.  all you can do is make your seat a little more comfortable while you’re waiting for it to pass.

this brings me to an idea about this blog:  i’d like to try focusing on amazing books, movies, music, poetry, art ~ you name it ~ instead of focusing on me, myself, and i.  frankly, i’m sick of the subject.  it’s so limited.  but talking about the finer things in life, like caviar, or a great movie that takes you up and out of your life in a matter of minutes, is UNlimited.  it’s not possible to exhaust the subject of the arts.

i guess it’ll still be all about me, since i’m the one with the perspective over here.  but i hope there are lots of comments and added ideas and opinions!  there are no limits to this discussion!!!  i am not a high-browed arteeest who can only talk about mahler and fois gras.  i find art, as i’m sure you do, in EVERYTHING.  there is NOTHING like the combination of creamy, delicious peanut butter, mixed with raspberry preserves, on toast.  there is nothing like a meg ryan movie!  (i’m watching you’ve got mail right now.  told ya ~ mean reds today!!)  there is nothing like a song with a good beat.  and you turn it up in your car and jam right there at the stop light!!!

so we’re not just going to talk about rilke.  that’s all i’m sayin’.

just to get this party started right, (enough about me, let’s talk about me), i’d like to name 10 things that i find to be the most creativity-inducing, conjuring a palette of beautiful, creative thoughts in my head.

my 10 favorite creative things

before i begin, i am almost positive i will have a hard time reducing it to 10.  so i’ll just the name the first 10 that come to mind!  you name some too!!!

1.  the artist’s way ~ by julia cameron.  there will be blogs and blogs galore about this book.  it’s the guidebook to becoming an artist who’s okay with being an artist.

2.  rilke ~ letters to a young poet.  the i ching for artists.  incredible.  MUST read.

3.  any audrey hepburn movie.  she inspires me to wear scarves and brooches, somehow.  she inspires me to be classy, bubbly, and thoughtful.  she inspires me to rearrange my furniture.

4.  the nelson-atkins museum of art, in kansas city.  it is truly a beautiful, perfect space.  i can’t believe i live 10 minutes away from it, and don’t go once a week.  what a great idea.  there’s even a cafe in there.  have a cup of coffee, look at some art, go home.  think i’ll ever be that person?

5.  on that note ~ coffee.  the perfect cup of coffee inspires me like nothing else.  paired with a journal and a dark, cozy corner in a cafe like the one in my hood?  true therapy.

6.  arleen auger.  her cds are just compilations of songs.  she sang with not intention of being heard in a 1200 seat house.  instead, she sang with her heart, and whoever deserved to hear it, could hear it.

7.  i love love love the movie “something’s gotta give”.  okay, any diane keaton movie!!!  such artistic flare.

8.  the smell of a library.  why don’t i go to the library anymore?

9.  a beautiful cookbook with pictures of the food.  nothing more inspiring than that.  i love giada’s cookbooks, and ina garten, pioneer woman, gwyneth paltrow, and my clean eating cookbook.  such inspiring women!!!

10.  i have 100 more, but my last choice is definitely a perfect glass of red wine at the end of a hard day.

your turn!!!