I think the good people of Boise may want to consult with Las Vegas on their new marketing campaign.
"What happens in Boise stays between you and the trees"
strikes me as appropriate.
After all, it was me, the trees and a WHOLE lot of fun this weekend and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. It was pretty much Andie's fault.
Recently I've had the fine pleasure of mixing it up with quite a few interestingly quirky individuals, but none quite as fine as Andie. This gal, ladies and gents, makes me feel young, wise and happy in many ways. Lady crush? Maybe. But really, I just adore her to pieces.
There's some kind of special magic that takes place when you happen upon another human that gets you. It's as if there's a spark that ignites deep within both of your souls and join attempt to join forces by constantly pulling your bodies toward one another.
If you're smart, you don't fight it. If you're less smart, you miss out on a lot of potential growth through varying levels of shenaniganizing. Luckily, Andie and I didn't miss a beat.
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| "Let me lure you into a wooded area that may or may not change your life." |
It's no secret that I've been walking a lot lately and so has Andie. She walks way more than I do and usually it's through varying degrees of nature.
[Footnote: For those of you who don't know me, you'll be mightily surprised to find out that I, a fat big city hipster transplanted into the desert climate Gem state, does not have a fondness for nature. I actually own a shirt that states "Nature Is The Worst!", words in the form of logs. I like to thing Ron Swanson would be appropriately pissed... but I digress.]
The more I heard about her walks, the more appealing they became. So I asked if I might accompany her on one someday. She agreed and so I decided to take her up on it. I'm really glad I did. On the first nearly 6 mile urban hike, it was harder for me to keep up (there's 10 dress sizes and at least 150 lbs difference between the two of us). But that didn't stop me from wanting to go again.
This time around it was the day before my birthday. So Andie made sure it was extra special. She led me into the woods and showed me some cool spots to sit and reflect. We sat in the rain and watched ducks while waxing poetic on modern lady problems.
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| A fiery redhead and a silver streaked brunette walk into the woods & decide to go squirrel hunting... |
One of the things that my walks with Andie have taught me is that it's okay to just be who you are and take the time to enjoy yourself.
I have a tendency to take on a lot of projects and always plan on completing them all. I'm "blessed" with a need to make amazing things happen when I see the opportunity arise.
But while I'm planning & executing, I burn out from all the personal exertion. I tend to forget about my well-being in leiu of my perceptions of the greater good of the artistic community that surrounds me. This has been a blessing and a curse for me in the past. With the SF Etsy team (which my dear friend, Rebecca Saylor, is doing AMAZEBALL things with now) and my brand, nerd JERK.
Hindsight is 20/20 and I can see myself starting to head down that burn out path again years later. It's a good thing I'm better at listening to my friends this time around.
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| Tiny enclove mural that's constantly changing by artist in "Freak Alley" that's done in Sharpie. This was amazing to look at and imagine how long it must have taken... |
One of the various talents that Andie is gifted with is her discerning glare & penchant for giving tactful advice. I'm sure it's something she was born with, as she does it so well.
She can read me (even from the back of my head when we're at our desks at work) with a precision so sharp, it cuts through all the bull & walls I purposefully toss up to keep from getting too hurt these days when things don't work out like I'd hoped.
And because the back of my head seems too thoughtful and disappointed with my current progress into my personal creative endeavors, she suggested we go for a nature walk, followed by an art walk, followed by a comedy show hosted by Boise's coolest drag queen, Minerva Jayne, where we'd meet up with a rad pastry chef who made croissants for a living so that we could go hop to a bar tended by a spunky pig-tailed punk rock bad ass who's been slinging tasty shots for the past 35 years (note: She must've started at age 5)!
These shenanigans helped restore my deeply depleted creative reserves.
I got to take in some quality comedy, meet the comics after the show (even the lovely Minerva herself!) and forget my worries for a night as I took in a new city I'd been living in for over a year.
It was glorious.
Something I think we can all take away from this:
Give yourself a break to go out and do something you love with cool humans every once in a while.
Creative artists tend to have this need to go-go-GO full steam ahead in order to "make it big" out there in the art scene. And yes - that's usually how it works. But some kind of balance is needed. You can't be expected to perform tiny miraculous feats without some sort of power behind it.
Don't let your creative juice reserves depleted too deeply. It's the killer of all passion and what drives you to make things.
Speaking of which, I should probably makes things... ;)
- Steph
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