[note: this is kinda just a personal journal entry for myself - just my uninhibited unedited freeflow thoughts tonite.]
So I guess I took a mini sabbatical from blogging. Over a month. I finally found some down time to reflect on the whole past month or so of my life. It's been a total crazy whirlwind of everything. I took a little break from drawing, henna, peacock bags, work, and overdosed during the holidays with family, travel, eating, knitting, skiing, dancing. I've been deep in my self-conscience, mindful and alert of all the signs in the world around me and listening intently to the Universe speaking to me. Family has come back in my life so strong. Art speaks for itself. Love, and the endless search. Friends, cherished and more beautiful. Passion. Energy. The Secret. The Law of Attraction.
I've been wanting to write about this "law of attraction" I've been experiencing intensely for the last few months. My life has been kind of tossy turny to say the least. My heart was wounded. My job is boring but I can't complain. I was lost, still lost. I've turned to art for healing, expression, focus, meditation, relaxation, motivation, energy, passion, collaboration, fun, friendship and love. I can feel the energy all around me. It gives me energy and gets me all excited whenever I get myself into a project. Just ask my friends. There's proof in every person I'm meeting, family, friends and in all my travels, encounters, conversations. I'm going to cram more than a month's worth of blogging into 1 long run-on sentence. Here goes... from my brother, my dad, the sudden flood of emotions all directly related to the hours...days....weeks I've spent with my family this past year (it was good but intense, not including the funniest thing - they want me to go to dental school and they said they would pay for it), my encounters with Austinites (this is one of the reasons why I love Austin - all the cool people I've been meeting!).... the mysterious awe-amazing energy of a woman that bought my first piece of art, the henna peacock drum, the musician at the (my uncle's) Mi Bar on New Year's eve, Ella Reese's Pieces' birth, my hotshot famous artist friend, the beautiful and so talented painter, neuro-linguist Syrian masseuse that I instantly connected with at the Austin Asian Film Festival, my friendships with the pilllow designer, models, photographers, the fashion designers, the dreadlocked San Franciscan musician hitchhiker I picked up on my way to Houston the week before Christmas and the conversation I had with him, my cousin Lee's sweet friend that I met in Germany 3 years ago and took me skiing at Mt. Snow, Vermont, cooking with my mom, tennis with my niece and nephew, ice-skating with my cousins in Hartford, CT, karaoking with my cousins in Houston, my brother's mouthwatering and romantic foodblog, his awesome xray flower photography, his fiance Kim Dao's Jalapeno Poppers in a blanket (Vote for her too!), job searching, internet dating on eHarmony and Okcupid.com, the german-speaker, the salsa dancer, the journalist, the filmmaker, and so many more unidentified experiences and people yet to be known. I think that's a whole lot of attraction and creative energy going on in just a month or so, don't you think? I had no time to pause and blog. I was focused on living in the moment. I feel very lucky.
My current artistic venture is painting. This is the first time in my life, seriously. Believe it or not. And I admit I'm scared. I was scared of drawing. I'm also scared of painting. I vaguely recall helping an older schoolmate paint a mural on the wall for young kids after school. That was maybe between the 7th and 8th grade. I'm starting with acrylic on canvas. It's a photograph that Miriam Daugherty took of me in my black Vietnamese Ao Dai and conical hat with a bold red sash. This was my first photoshoot. The thing that really started the ball rolling in my world of creative experimentation and exploration. My friend kept saying I should try painting and that I would like it. He's right. Now I'm painting with my lovely Syrian friend and she said I'm talented. I hope she's right too. :) I will post photos of it when I'm done.
My upcoming events:
I'm excited to say that I'll be doing henna tats and selling whatever art type stuff I can create at the Austin Reggae Festival, April 16-18, 2010. I'll be sharing a booth with several other Austin artists, http://www.dracouni.com/.
I'm also super honored to do my friends Ekta Shah and Anirban Chatterjee's wedding henna, the date is June 19, 2010. I told her to submit their photo to the Austin360 Cutest Couple in Austin. so please vote for them! Yes, they're the cute Indian couple. In fact, they're a smart techy couple and both not vegetarian. This is my first wedding henna, yikes!! Super nervous. Wedding henna tats are a big deal, majorly auspicious! And just think that all her Indian family and friends will see it and examine it? OMG, I'm scaring myself. When I'm not nervous about it, I like to tease her and tell her I will sneak in 2 fishies into the henna design (fish is a symbol of fertility) and that I'll be extra careful to make them identical. :) She says, "NOoooo!!! You better not! I will take 2 days off work and travel to Dallas...and experience a full-on traditional Indian wedding. Wow, that part is going to be freaking exciting! I gotta get myself a Sari! In fact, my bollywood SRK crazy Indian girlfriend is working on getting it for me from India, right this moment...
It's half past midnight and the storm is rolling in. It's thundering and lightning. I want to be awake to hear it. It's pounding on the roof now. I love it. It makes me miss Hanoi. I love Vietnam.
Ella Reese Michaud, Born December 27, 2009 in Hartford, CT. 6.1 lbs and a precious little 17 inches. I knit her those snuggly soft booties and mittens in record time so she wasn't cold. I think she's the Secret. I call her my little Reese's Pieces.
It's going to be an awesome year of art and attraction in Austin...Go Tiger!
It's going to be an awesome year of art and attraction in Austin...Go Tiger!
