From Pucci to Pudding

tokyo time

i was in tokyo for a very brief work trip last week. i basically arrived, got a good night's sleep for the workday ahead, then slept in preparation for the flight home. but i got a very limited smattering of impressions of japan while i was there. it is extraordinarily densely built and populated in the urban centers. visual stimulation in signage, buildings, industrial complexes, power and phone lines--the landscape is littered with visual stimuli. coffee is not a priority in japan, but it did have a surprisingly good cup of "fresh brewed" from a vending machine. their attention to politeness and service is impeccable. what i never saw was anger. what i always saw was pleasantness. i am certain these passing observations are not the full tapestry, merely a couple of threads in the culture. but i appreciated the opportunity for my abbreviated exposure to japan.

wind and waves therapy

this weekend we scooted to jekyll island for some much-needed wind and waves therapy. off the southern coast of georgia, jekyll island was the exclusive getaway around the turn of the century for families touting the names rockefeller, morgan, vanderbilt, carnegie and the like. it is now a state park and the club house and some of their "cottages" have been restored as hotel accommodations. i can't say enough how charmed we were by the whole experience. everyone was smiling, even a few new friends we met there, photos below:)

getaway curbed

i met my niece and my sister-in-law in manhattan earlier this week. we were primed for a girls' getaway. even had the penthouse in a fab lower east side hotel. but poor thing, my sister-in-law got sick and we all decided it was best to head home early. we at least had lovely digs to hang out in for the evening. and it was great to see them if only briefly.

we were all frustrated that it didn't work out as a recharge opportunity. but work was calling me back. and she needed to be home. sometimes getaways just don't pan out as we hope. but the warm fuzzy is we were together and supportive through the frustration. (and we saw gabriel byrne at billy's bakery.)

vive the recharge

i seem to have been in hibernation mode on photography for the past several weeks. a few shots here and there. periods where i feel as though i have been seeing freshly, though without my camera. but i am off to new york city this weekend. my purpose is not a photo safari, but i do hope to get recharged and to shoot generously while there.

in line with my commitment to streamline and explore experiencing familiar things in new ways, i am traveling lighter than usual. just taking my 50mm lens and a freshly charged battery. my camera will always be on my person. so whenever i'm inspired to shoot, i shall. it's challenging not to have expectations about getting a recharge, but perhaps my intention is best expressed as simply recharging, no matter how that might unfold.

vicarious travel fix

my adventure tripping has been on hold the past year or two. other expenses, schedule conflicts, potential destination that was too off the grid to commit to being that out of pocket for so long. i have the itch to see another corner of the globe, but since i am not booking that kind of an adventure in the next couple of months (not forseeably anyway), i am taking a vicarious travel fix. this week, i'm headed back to crete, greece, which i visited a couple years ago. i was quickly at a zen tempo there and inspired by the saturated colors, the history, culture and largely in-tune with nature rhythms. and the cuisine... OMG, i could have eaten myself silly there. and did. the stuffed zucchini flowers, WOW. greece recharged my batteries in a profound way.

photos can be transportive. and until i can get my actual travel fix, my vicarious travel fix will get me through.

new york anew

last week i was fortunate to get away for a couple of days with my squeeze to manhattan. as on typical manhattan junkets, i had visions of taking loads of street photography and i had a small list of exhibits and such that might be interesting to see. but i was open to experiencing new york anew and being in the moment with whatever we were inspired to do.

almost everything we did was new to me, and we had the best time discovering and exploring. as it was fashion week, most of the hotels were booked or crazy expensive. we stayed in lower harlem and went back and forth on the subway, whereas typically, i would stay in midtown and walk or cab everywhere. harlem had a great lower key vibe and a real feel of neighborhood, with verdant community gardens every couple of blocks. the subway was easy to navigate. speedy and cheap, to boot. we browsed through camera and book stores. we scored in finding the BEST gelato ever...screme gelato. do make it a point to get a daily dose while there! we discovered an incredibly good and reasonably priced sushi restaurant in the international cuisine mix on 9th avenue and we took a 3-hour tour around the island on a former coast guard cutter, getting to see the city from a fresh angle.

i did manage to shoot some images that i was most pleased with. it gave me the inspiration for 2 new series on new york that i intend to shoot over time and several additional trips. the light and the weather were incredible while we were there. it felt charmed. we even skated out just as the damaging storm moved in on thursday.

but overall, i was most grateful for seeing one of my favorite cities with my squeeze with new eyes. even when we revisit places we love and find happiness in familiar treats, it is inspiring to discover fresh delights.

inspiration interlude

my squeeze is flying back from brazil this morning. he has a couple days in new york city to recuperate before flying back to atlanta. but he had the brilliant idea for me to come up and get some recharge time there with him. i am winging my way to manhattan this morning, grateful for the inspiration interlude. fashion week shows will still be in high swing, so i'm excited that it might be a fertile time for street photography. not to mention the air apparently has a crisp in it. ahhhhh... i am grateful for the recharge.

travel crossroads: carefree or cautious

my adventure travel buddy and i seem to be at a travel crossroads: are we carefree or cautious?

we have been talking about going to mongolia next year. we didn't travel together last year, as we'd taken a couple big trips in years prior. and this year, we didn't get our plans together in time to make it happen, but we have been aiming our sights on mongolia for summer 2011. we love getting off the beaten path and mongolia fits that bill. we usually are able to plan our logistics with internet and lonely planet as our tools. mongolia isn't yet set up to reliably map out plans and arrangements online. so in talking with a travel agent, we've been getting some skinny on in-country transportation which gives us pause.

mongolia is the size of europe. so when we consider traversing from one end to the other, it necessitates quite a time commitment. intra-country travel seems to be either by basic vehicle on roads that resemble rutted dirt tracks or by puddle jumper planes that are so unreliable or so unsafe that the US embassy employees are forbidden to fly on them. hmmm...

we've both been on flights (and other modes of transport) that gave us pause while we were en route, but we haven't yet changed our plans because of their potential sketchiness. is it that we have more responsibility to others as we get older that we think about how it might affect others if something were to happen to us? in our 20s we probably would have boarded those planes with a great sense of bravado and just an iota of trepidation. are we transforming from carefree to cautious with age? not sure yet how this cookie will crumble but it is interesting to note the shifts in feelings and behavior at different points in our lives.

recharge getaways

i have been lucky this past week to have twice escaped to relaxing and energizing places to recharge. over the weekend, my squeeze and i took zoe to the beach. she had never dipped her paws in the ocean and we wanted to give her water dog genes the opportunity to enjoy some salt water. so we three road tripped to hilton head island and relaxed. it was a quick trip but we strolled, cycled and stuck our toes and paws in the surf. it was fantastic to be around smiling people and to hear the waves again.

then i nipped up to manhattan with the girls for a quick overnight romp. we played it loose--we had a list of might like to do's but we didn't schedule ourselves and instead did what we felt in the moment. we had such a great time talking and laughing we didn't feel the urge to tick off our list of activities but we ended up getting to several after all.

am so grateful and happy to have been able to get away with my loved ones--to laugh, breathe different air, to be together, to be in the moment. a couple days away have done wonders for my ability to be back in atlanta with renewed energy.

new york recharge

overall, i had a fantastic 36-hour recharge getaway to new york. my flight up wasn't full and my entire row was empty giving me ample room to stretch and stow my carryons under an empty seat (quite a contrast to my return flight). my hotel room was ready for me when i arrived early, around 10:30. bonus. for the most part, the 2 days i was there were gorgeous temperate spring days with just a few showers later in the afternoon/evening. mostly i fueled myself on dark coffee, organic sandwiches and the requisite magnolia bakery cupcake and doughnut plant cake doughnut. i had a lovely visit to pucci where i made a new friend while we were trying on some spring lovelies. and i saw the best photography exhibit i think i have ever seen: the henri cartier bresson collection at MOMA. wow. truly a global retrospective spanning 40+ years of images. it was fascinating to see his portraits, his street shots, and his commissioned documentary images, many i hadn't seen before from china, russia and india.

i read one book and half of another, an indulgence i don't often make for myself. i explored new neighborhoods on foot. just walking around the city was a fantastic way to reboot and recharge. i get so energized by the movement and stimulation in a walking city. i feel connected and part of it as opposed to distanced and not engaged in cities where you drive from one destination to another and don't experience the city in the process. i shot some street photography. not as much as i would have liked but i thought i made some important strides in shooting on this trip. so i felt good about that. and i felt good about coming home. i got what i needed from this new york interlude and more: my recharge has begun.

doing what i/we need to recharge is key, but the interludes where i focus on renewing are just one step in the process. now the work of maintaining my recharge continues. i can't always take the recharge trips when i need them, so it's critical that i am consistent about focusing on ways to feed my creative needs no matter where i am or what my circumstances are. i've been considering how to nurture inspiration in my everyday experience and will continue to explore and blog about that, as i think it's essential to creating a fulfilling life.

but first, a few photos from new york: