the first quarter

I can't help but do another year in review after seeing Natalie's & looking at mine from last year.

I really enjoy creating these blogs in the last few days of the year because it really gives me the opportunity to reminisce on all the beautiful things that have occurred in a merely years time.

January

Started off the year lying around with my love and continued this trend unexpectedly as it snowed a bit more than usual, allowing my roommates and I to get out of school for days at a time. Our house was our safe haven. It always has been.

February

Celebrated Meg's 22nd birthday Birdhouse style and sought out any glimpse of sunlight possible after the dreary cold.

March

I smiled as the spring time sun began filling my room each morning and spent many days taking in the change of season by letting the warmth encompass me.

in the morning at the birdhouse

I've always been content with mornings. I could happily sleep in, but there is something magical about the morning light filtering into a bedroom.

At the Birdhouse, I luckily had a window that faced East(it is so odd using the past tense, but it's true. As of tonight, I no longer reside at the Birdhouse.)

I loved my mornings waking up there.

They looked somewhat like this:

self-rendering

I realize I haven't been as consistent with my blog as I have been in the past lately.

So, here's an update of what i am doing this very moment:

working on a self-portrait

Of course, Lili always jumps up on the table to see what's going on & love on me, before she's off on her fly-chasing, cat-food muching, day napping ways again...

& after looking through some old photobooth photos, I had to post this adorable-ness.

in the AM

oh, golden morning light. how i wallow in you.

equinox

On this first day of Autumn, I thought I'd celebrate some of the beauty Summer brought into my life:

release

I was riding my bike last night, coming home from a friends house whose presence has been too absent in my life as of late. I rode alone, feeling the sweet autumn breeze on my skin...the first of it i have felt this year.

This air is reminiscent to me.

I smell in it my youth.

My youth which i am still experiencing, but in a different sense.

I can feel in it the days when my only concern was to hop on my bike after school and not return until dusk. Those little glimpses of the freedom of adulthood i saw as I rode around in fields with my best friend were something i cherished, and still do the memory of.

As I was riding along, I remembered the day I first began practicing the art of riding your bike....handless!

Total gripless liberty.

The ability to glide your bike down the asphalt with merely your mindful balance and of course, a steady pedal.

Thinking of that day, i started to lift my left hand, followed by my right, off the handlebars. I hesitated a little, realizing the distrust I felt. It made me realize much trust in ourselves we lose upon aging. as adults, we have to be cautious of our sudden decisions, we have to learn to evaluate a situation more before jumping in.

As children, our inhibitions are small. I think it is important to find the balance between who we were as kids, & who we are as adults. I want to learn to trust myself more, and ultimately, I want to carry this mindset with me throughout my life...I don't want to regret not experiencing something merely because I was afraid or untrusting of myself.

Never, ever.

So, I won't.

& tonight, I started by not questioning my ability at handless bicycle riding...and just setting freeeee.

photos via ryan mcginley