Lovely as always, Amy. I'm longing to taste the best macaroni and cheese, ever. I relate to that. There are certain foods I eat every day, and every day, it's as if I'm eating it for the first time. Nothing like experiencing life in the present. Every night, when I get into bed, I say out loud, "I love my bed!" and every time I drive home and approach my house, I'm flooded with the thought "I love my house." Some things in my life show up as fresh and new everyday. I have so much gratitude for that. And the sunrises and sunsets. I was a person, who until recently, was somewhat unaware of those moments in each day. Now I see them. They were always there, but I didn't make the space to enjoy them, take them in and savor. I noticed this in October, when I started tuning in. It's so beautiful to be more attuned. xo
Nan, what a great comment. Your words on your bed and house and doing and experiencing things as if for the first time is exactly it! I am glad that other things have caught your attention, too, things that were at some point taken for granted. That’s wonderful. I hope December is a month full of “being present.”
I need to hear more about the best macaroni and cheese. I haven't made real mac & cheese in forever. I am the only one who eats it and I can never eat the whole thing myself. I usually settle for a box or a single serving from the grocery store deli.
I am behind with my postcards, but fully intend to get current. This month went so quickly and I have a few things to wrap up in the next few days!
Looking out of the windows is my favorite thing about my new house. There are frequently neighbors taking walks, most with their dogs. My last house had huge trees in the front (which I miss) that blocked most of the sky, but I can really see it here. Right now I can see two squirrels chasing each other through the trees down the street. They are giant trees, but the squirrels are still making the branches bounce and sway as they run back and forth.
Make enough for one! (Although if going to the trouble, might as well make enough for a second meal.) I think Mac and cheese is easy — one of those things that can just be put in a dish and into the oven. All good. Don’t let the postcards be a hurdle. You can always just move on to December. I think it’s wonderful that your new house has good windows. There will be much to discover and observe in the view over the first year, I bet.
I live alone and still make Mac and Cheese from “scratch”. I used a recipe from Jamie Oliver that made me love with it all over again. In that recipe I added cauliflower and the crispy bread crumb crust was sautéed in garlic! Yum! My other favorite version is made adding roasted butternut squash chopped up. Adore this one! I save leftovers and freeze them or offer a meals worth to a friend who swings by on her way home from work for a container full!
Another Mac and cheese story is my first meeting of my former husband’s parents. His Mom had to think hard to make me a vegetarian meal! That was in the early 70’s. She made “Imperial macaroni” that included eggs that made it very soufflé like and added slices of fresh tomatoes. Not a huge egg lover but it was fabulous and light.
A very healthy bunch of squirrels grey ones and black ones live in the wooded creek area outside my condo. They are very agile and busy and playful. I do love watching their escapades.
I don’t see people very much as this area is private. When I walk in the neighborhood it always feels too busy.
I love the morning light window series Amy! Not only are they beautiful on their own, but also beautiful in the way you describe your commitment of getting up in time to see that light day after day. It is one thing to say “I will do a daily series and I’ll fit that sketch in sometime before days’ end” and quite another to commit to waking up to see and record the sunrise every day! I bet the sequenced images would make a neat animation.
Thank you, Lauren. The video idea is a really good one! I think that really narrow window (and lack of flexibility) is what would make it a hard project to commit to over a long period. I’m going to continue for a bit though. I’ve been enjoying the landscapes you’ve been sharing.
I love seeing your morning color at a glance all together. Thank you for sharing.
I love the reflection on projects we give ourselves. I feel like as I hit mid 40s and have stepped back from daily Instagram, I do more that I enjoy and am more interested in projects - but my follow through is not what it once was.
I also do a reading everyday for 10 minutes self imposed “challenge” and some days I do not want to and think about just not but then I just read a few pages and it’s done.
I so believe that we make time for what is important to us in the moment/time. And sometimes I need to make time for more rest and that’s okay.
I also wonder as I continue to ponder this - so funny you are also pondering this, we are all connected in some odd ways haha - I wonder too if it is my own enthusiasm/determination as I start a challenge. If I say I’m going to try to do this, as opposed to I will do this for this many days with this outcome in mind. The latter gets better more consistent results. Thanks for the discussion!
I think the accountability spaces like Instagram offered us — and the interaction with community (which I don’t necessarily think we all feel now) — did help spur projects on. As you note, it can sometimes be harder to stick with projects for which we are self-accountable, but, yes, we do have it in us to make things happen. And, yes, rest is good. So is slowing down, doing less, and being more selective in what we take on. This is wisdom we come to, I think.
Your series of window sketch is fantastic! One thing I miss about my apartment in assisted living was the beautiful view over the rooftops as the sun rose in the mornings. My new view is the fourplex next door, but at least I can watch the squirrels and birds playing on the roof.
I can't eat mac and cheese anymore--carbs--but you've inspired me to go heat up some of that soup I made yesterday. All soup recipes are the same, as you say, only slightly different. I make bone broth in my Instant Pot.
A new discipline for December: Mason Curry holds a two-hour Worm Zoom every day from 6-8 PST. Everyone turns off the camera and writes. Since it takes me awhile to get my braces on and face the morning, that means waking up not long after 5. Today was the first day, and I finished this week's Substack. Next I'm going to work on my Bus Therapy book. I am full of winter energy!
I'm glad you are doing the Worm Zoom sessions, Fran. That's a nice benefit for paid subscribers of Mason's substack. I think that kind of simple group accountability can be really effective.
I can imagine missing your window views from your apartment, but squirrels and birds are a good trade-off, too. No matter what our view, it is always different in some ways when we look.
Amy your sunrise series was splendid. I would never have that discipline now. When I ran I did….but not now. These days I get up about 630 or later and have coffee and draw or paint for a few hours. Today was very foggy and dark all day. December…..short dark days…by 4pm.
Congratulations on making a different special meal for Thanksgiving! Fun to break the rules! And not follow the masses…..some turkeys are happy!
I so understand…”the best soup ever or the best meal ever”! Sometimes I think I am just really hungry. Sometimes just the atmosphere can make a difference too.
I rarely follow a recipe and so my soup and other things are rarely the same. Artistic expression is a good way to describe it.
I also love Mac and cheese and make it for myself and often a friend likes to pick up a container at my place on her way home from work. Mine has added butternut squash roasted or cauliflower or my 4 cheese version is fun and fattening.
Soup is my thing too. Easy to make a big pot and put several containers away in the freezer for other days.
I love my bed too and hate to get up very early. I loved it even more when I had a feather bed on top of my mattress. It really was like sleeping in a cloud. A doctor told us they are really bad if you have allergies…to dust mites. Crisp clean linen and a cozy bed are the best. I failed to mention I did once work in a custom linen and duvet shop before they were so popular. My Christmas bonus the first year was a twin down duvet….my youngest enjoyed it for years. So I am very fond of a comfy bed and linens.
Gail - sounds like you have an established morning routine, one that is beautifully centered around art. I love that! I think we each just find different challenges and habits that we build and reinforce, and that's as it should be. I've seen you do lots of series!
That's so interesting about the duvet shop - and your fond memories of the feather bed top.
I still want to read again! Comment on the soup! Best soup ever! Comment on the projects! The benefits and the inconsistencies! Part of me thinks I might just actually address all that I want to say in response as my weekly longer form piece?! Since it all resonates so much and has so much overlap with what I’m carrying and thinking and writing about.
There is so much to love and relate with in this month of observations, challenges, commitment and most of all -- your desire to keep doing it, not for external validation or submitting proof of persistence, but for yourself. I have never been able to complete a 100-day challenge ... perhaps, if I reflect on the excuses I can pinpoint the real reason being boredom. I can only follow a technique for so long before I want to move on to the next shiny thing. Perhaps, it is also why I don't have a niche. The intention is always there ... the drive and, perhaps, self-discipline not quite. I tell myself, there will be another time, another year often. The only thing I've ever been able to stick with -- and going on seven years strong! -- are my little tokens of love. Perhaps, as I write this, I wonder if that can count for something ...
I think your tokens of love project is exactly this kind of ongoing series, Mansi, and of course it counts! It seems to me you do have a niche (from the outside looking in). But even if you don’t see it that way, that’s not a bad thing. Many creative people much prefer, as you said, always moving on to the next shiny thing, and that’s wonderful. It just isn’t for everyone. I just think the more we understand our own processes and what works for us the better. I am so glad that there are an infinite number of ways to be creative in our lives! Thank you for reading and commenting.
I have a dear friend who reminds me to give myself more credit. Reading this post, I hear her voice gently encouraging you to take more credit for what you accomplish and to lose the longing to have "done better." I also get that setting goals and reaching them is a marker for many of us, a sign that we are still willing and able to make progress. I think it will come back to you, that drive to pursue the ideas that inspire you. I think getting up for a month of sunrises was a huge achievement, and the results are spectacular.
I wish for soup much more often than I make it or have it. It is, bar none, one of the most fulfilling things to eat.
I'm elated to know that your Thanksgiving mac & cheese exceeded expectations. That's just the best news ever!
It sounds like you have a wise friend who gives you sound advice. :) This really wasn’t a post of doubt though. I think, maybe to my peril, I have too much confidence, but I think that also leads, almost inevitably, to a certain kind of disappointment. I’m always interested in what you take from what I say, so your comment tells me something about how this came off. So thank you. I agree with you that many of us find comfort and forward movement in goals and counting and series of various kinds — the same way you and I don’t miss a week here with our posts. That is about us….about something we are sticking to and with even though the timeline is our own. I have no doubt the soups I make are easier than anything you would do, but that also makes them easy to throw in the crockpot and let cook while I work. A win/win. I hope December is treating you well so far. (And, thank you, by the way. I have a small story to share about the arrival of the second card.)
Speaking of things being about us, I think my interpretation of your words is sometimes (possibly often) about me. It is a study in perspectives. I am prone to second-guessing and self-criticism and I apply that lens even when there's no real indication of it being present. Or at least I think that's what I did here.
Your soup sounds like the kind of soup I could have in my fridge everyday. I had leftover Chinese take-out soup (veggies!!) for lunch and it was simple and satisfying.
We filter everything, for sure. But I don’t doubt what you picked up either. We also are rarely objective. lol. That’s why astute readers are such a wonder!
This post really left me wanting to make soup AND macaroni and cheese. Sounds so good!
I think working in series makes a lot of sense. It gives a structure/ framework/ plan so you know where to pick up and start working each day. And a collection that goes together is just wonderful, as is the November light series you have done. Thank you for sharing it, and I hope you find a way of continuing tracking light.
You should make both, Erin, on separate nights, although, in all truth, I just had a bowl of leftovers that, truly, combined the two. The irony. I hope your current illustration project is going well. I loved the images you shared in our group recently. Thank you for always supporting my efforts with your quiet encouragement. Hoping things are going okay there.
Lovely as always, Amy. I'm longing to taste the best macaroni and cheese, ever. I relate to that. There are certain foods I eat every day, and every day, it's as if I'm eating it for the first time. Nothing like experiencing life in the present. Every night, when I get into bed, I say out loud, "I love my bed!" and every time I drive home and approach my house, I'm flooded with the thought "I love my house." Some things in my life show up as fresh and new everyday. I have so much gratitude for that. And the sunrises and sunsets. I was a person, who until recently, was somewhat unaware of those moments in each day. Now I see them. They were always there, but I didn't make the space to enjoy them, take them in and savor. I noticed this in October, when I started tuning in. It's so beautiful to be more attuned. xo
Nan, what a great comment. Your words on your bed and house and doing and experiencing things as if for the first time is exactly it! I am glad that other things have caught your attention, too, things that were at some point taken for granted. That’s wonderful. I hope December is a month full of “being present.”
I need to hear more about the best macaroni and cheese. I haven't made real mac & cheese in forever. I am the only one who eats it and I can never eat the whole thing myself. I usually settle for a box or a single serving from the grocery store deli.
I am behind with my postcards, but fully intend to get current. This month went so quickly and I have a few things to wrap up in the next few days!
Looking out of the windows is my favorite thing about my new house. There are frequently neighbors taking walks, most with their dogs. My last house had huge trees in the front (which I miss) that blocked most of the sky, but I can really see it here. Right now I can see two squirrels chasing each other through the trees down the street. They are giant trees, but the squirrels are still making the branches bounce and sway as they run back and forth.
Make enough for one! (Although if going to the trouble, might as well make enough for a second meal.) I think Mac and cheese is easy — one of those things that can just be put in a dish and into the oven. All good. Don’t let the postcards be a hurdle. You can always just move on to December. I think it’s wonderful that your new house has good windows. There will be much to discover and observe in the view over the first year, I bet.
I live alone and still make Mac and Cheese from “scratch”. I used a recipe from Jamie Oliver that made me love with it all over again. In that recipe I added cauliflower and the crispy bread crumb crust was sautéed in garlic! Yum! My other favorite version is made adding roasted butternut squash chopped up. Adore this one! I save leftovers and freeze them or offer a meals worth to a friend who swings by on her way home from work for a container full!
Another Mac and cheese story is my first meeting of my former husband’s parents. His Mom had to think hard to make me a vegetarian meal! That was in the early 70’s. She made “Imperial macaroni” that included eggs that made it very soufflé like and added slices of fresh tomatoes. Not a huge egg lover but it was fabulous and light.
A very healthy bunch of squirrels grey ones and black ones live in the wooded creek area outside my condo. They are very agile and busy and playful. I do love watching their escapades.
I don’t see people very much as this area is private. When I walk in the neighborhood it always feels too busy.
I love the morning light window series Amy! Not only are they beautiful on their own, but also beautiful in the way you describe your commitment of getting up in time to see that light day after day. It is one thing to say “I will do a daily series and I’ll fit that sketch in sometime before days’ end” and quite another to commit to waking up to see and record the sunrise every day! I bet the sequenced images would make a neat animation.
Thank you, Lauren. The video idea is a really good one! I think that really narrow window (and lack of flexibility) is what would make it a hard project to commit to over a long period. I’m going to continue for a bit though. I’ve been enjoying the landscapes you’ve been sharing.
I love seeing your morning color at a glance all together. Thank you for sharing.
I love the reflection on projects we give ourselves. I feel like as I hit mid 40s and have stepped back from daily Instagram, I do more that I enjoy and am more interested in projects - but my follow through is not what it once was.
I also do a reading everyday for 10 minutes self imposed “challenge” and some days I do not want to and think about just not but then I just read a few pages and it’s done.
I so believe that we make time for what is important to us in the moment/time. And sometimes I need to make time for more rest and that’s okay.
I also wonder as I continue to ponder this - so funny you are also pondering this, we are all connected in some odd ways haha - I wonder too if it is my own enthusiasm/determination as I start a challenge. If I say I’m going to try to do this, as opposed to I will do this for this many days with this outcome in mind. The latter gets better more consistent results. Thanks for the discussion!
I think the accountability spaces like Instagram offered us — and the interaction with community (which I don’t necessarily think we all feel now) — did help spur projects on. As you note, it can sometimes be harder to stick with projects for which we are self-accountable, but, yes, we do have it in us to make things happen. And, yes, rest is good. So is slowing down, doing less, and being more selective in what we take on. This is wisdom we come to, I think.
Now I'm absolutely craving soup and macaroni and cheese!
Hopefully both find a spot in your December :)
Your series of window sketch is fantastic! One thing I miss about my apartment in assisted living was the beautiful view over the rooftops as the sun rose in the mornings. My new view is the fourplex next door, but at least I can watch the squirrels and birds playing on the roof.
I can't eat mac and cheese anymore--carbs--but you've inspired me to go heat up some of that soup I made yesterday. All soup recipes are the same, as you say, only slightly different. I make bone broth in my Instant Pot.
A new discipline for December: Mason Curry holds a two-hour Worm Zoom every day from 6-8 PST. Everyone turns off the camera and writes. Since it takes me awhile to get my braces on and face the morning, that means waking up not long after 5. Today was the first day, and I finished this week's Substack. Next I'm going to work on my Bus Therapy book. I am full of winter energy!
I'm glad you are doing the Worm Zoom sessions, Fran. That's a nice benefit for paid subscribers of Mason's substack. I think that kind of simple group accountability can be really effective.
I can imagine missing your window views from your apartment, but squirrels and birds are a good trade-off, too. No matter what our view, it is always different in some ways when we look.
Hope your soup was good.
Amy your sunrise series was splendid. I would never have that discipline now. When I ran I did….but not now. These days I get up about 630 or later and have coffee and draw or paint for a few hours. Today was very foggy and dark all day. December…..short dark days…by 4pm.
Congratulations on making a different special meal for Thanksgiving! Fun to break the rules! And not follow the masses…..some turkeys are happy!
I so understand…”the best soup ever or the best meal ever”! Sometimes I think I am just really hungry. Sometimes just the atmosphere can make a difference too.
I rarely follow a recipe and so my soup and other things are rarely the same. Artistic expression is a good way to describe it.
I also love Mac and cheese and make it for myself and often a friend likes to pick up a container at my place on her way home from work. Mine has added butternut squash roasted or cauliflower or my 4 cheese version is fun and fattening.
Soup is my thing too. Easy to make a big pot and put several containers away in the freezer for other days.
I love my bed too and hate to get up very early. I loved it even more when I had a feather bed on top of my mattress. It really was like sleeping in a cloud. A doctor told us they are really bad if you have allergies…to dust mites. Crisp clean linen and a cozy bed are the best. I failed to mention I did once work in a custom linen and duvet shop before they were so popular. My Christmas bonus the first year was a twin down duvet….my youngest enjoyed it for years. So I am very fond of a comfy bed and linens.
Gail - sounds like you have an established morning routine, one that is beautifully centered around art. I love that! I think we each just find different challenges and habits that we build and reinforce, and that's as it should be. I've seen you do lots of series!
That's so interesting about the duvet shop - and your fond memories of the feather bed top.
So much here! Thank you for all of it!
Thanks for reading, Francesca!
I still want to read again! Comment on the soup! Best soup ever! Comment on the projects! The benefits and the inconsistencies! Part of me thinks I might just actually address all that I want to say in response as my weekly longer form piece?! Since it all resonates so much and has so much overlap with what I’m carrying and thinking and writing about.
There is so much to love and relate with in this month of observations, challenges, commitment and most of all -- your desire to keep doing it, not for external validation or submitting proof of persistence, but for yourself. I have never been able to complete a 100-day challenge ... perhaps, if I reflect on the excuses I can pinpoint the real reason being boredom. I can only follow a technique for so long before I want to move on to the next shiny thing. Perhaps, it is also why I don't have a niche. The intention is always there ... the drive and, perhaps, self-discipline not quite. I tell myself, there will be another time, another year often. The only thing I've ever been able to stick with -- and going on seven years strong! -- are my little tokens of love. Perhaps, as I write this, I wonder if that can count for something ...
I think your tokens of love project is exactly this kind of ongoing series, Mansi, and of course it counts! It seems to me you do have a niche (from the outside looking in). But even if you don’t see it that way, that’s not a bad thing. Many creative people much prefer, as you said, always moving on to the next shiny thing, and that’s wonderful. It just isn’t for everyone. I just think the more we understand our own processes and what works for us the better. I am so glad that there are an infinite number of ways to be creative in our lives! Thank you for reading and commenting.
I have a dear friend who reminds me to give myself more credit. Reading this post, I hear her voice gently encouraging you to take more credit for what you accomplish and to lose the longing to have "done better." I also get that setting goals and reaching them is a marker for many of us, a sign that we are still willing and able to make progress. I think it will come back to you, that drive to pursue the ideas that inspire you. I think getting up for a month of sunrises was a huge achievement, and the results are spectacular.
I wish for soup much more often than I make it or have it. It is, bar none, one of the most fulfilling things to eat.
I'm elated to know that your Thanksgiving mac & cheese exceeded expectations. That's just the best news ever!
It sounds like you have a wise friend who gives you sound advice. :) This really wasn’t a post of doubt though. I think, maybe to my peril, I have too much confidence, but I think that also leads, almost inevitably, to a certain kind of disappointment. I’m always interested in what you take from what I say, so your comment tells me something about how this came off. So thank you. I agree with you that many of us find comfort and forward movement in goals and counting and series of various kinds — the same way you and I don’t miss a week here with our posts. That is about us….about something we are sticking to and with even though the timeline is our own. I have no doubt the soups I make are easier than anything you would do, but that also makes them easy to throw in the crockpot and let cook while I work. A win/win. I hope December is treating you well so far. (And, thank you, by the way. I have a small story to share about the arrival of the second card.)
Small story...standing by. 😅
Speaking of things being about us, I think my interpretation of your words is sometimes (possibly often) about me. It is a study in perspectives. I am prone to second-guessing and self-criticism and I apply that lens even when there's no real indication of it being present. Or at least I think that's what I did here.
Your soup sounds like the kind of soup I could have in my fridge everyday. I had leftover Chinese take-out soup (veggies!!) for lunch and it was simple and satisfying.
We filter everything, for sure. But I don’t doubt what you picked up either. We also are rarely objective. lol. That’s why astute readers are such a wonder!
This post really left me wanting to make soup AND macaroni and cheese. Sounds so good!
I think working in series makes a lot of sense. It gives a structure/ framework/ plan so you know where to pick up and start working each day. And a collection that goes together is just wonderful, as is the November light series you have done. Thank you for sharing it, and I hope you find a way of continuing tracking light.
You should make both, Erin, on separate nights, although, in all truth, I just had a bowl of leftovers that, truly, combined the two. The irony. I hope your current illustration project is going well. I loved the images you shared in our group recently. Thank you for always supporting my efforts with your quiet encouragement. Hoping things are going okay there.
I love seeing all the different forms of light and color through your eyes and window panes. ❤️
Thank you, Kelcey!
Very cool! Love this window series.