Oh, sweet summer...

"Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one." - Stella Adler



I'm loving this quote from Ethos. It reflects a season I've been going through lately, and sets the tone for my summer. Excited much? I think so. Because I've got a few blank canvasses, oil paints to give a try (thanks Marney) and time. Lots and lots of time for reading, watching movies and letting my creativity take a life of its own.

I'm a People Person.

I'm jealous of this guy.

Today, while watching Angelina Jolie on James Lipton's Inside the Actor's Studio I became more aware than ever of how intrigued I am by people. People amaze me. Their stories. Their histories. Their dreams and their passions. I can't get enough of it.

I love to sit and watch through a window-side table as people walk by. To imagine what their lives are like. What got them where they are today. I love to listen as they dream-out-loud and watch as they pursue those aspirations.

I read books where I find myself completely conecting with the characters, befriending some in a way as if they were real. And sometimes wishing so hard they were. When watching television shows or movies it can be hard for me to separate an actor from the character he is portraying. I naturally gravitate to shows like Miami Ink just so I can find out what drives someone in wanting to permanently mark himself. What is so important. So staple in his or her life.

And I find I am most intrigued by dreamers and artists. Because these are the people who may not always have the best stories, but know how to articulate them, whether through song or writing or art or speech.

So now back to Mr. Lipton. I am jealous of his job. Of the opportunity he gets to interview for a living. But I'm ever-so-thankful that he does what he does. For in watching him, I discover more about myself. And maybe that's it. Maybe it's that finding other people guides me in finding myself. And that the best people-person is indeed that one that knows himself the best.

If you give a girl a paintbrush... (pt 3)

The final pieces to the most recent artistic-spurt-of-mine:



It's a cigar box -

If you give a girl a paintbrush... (pt 2)

If you give a girl a paintbrush...

...two blank canvasses, a Patty Griffin playlist and a few hours - she'll create things. Namely, gifts for a couple of friends:

Piny Pek

We walked along the dirt road to Muungano village where these words rested quietly on the brick wall next to a pharmacy shop. "What does Piny Pek mean?" I asked. "Heavy world," they said.

As I dragged my feet along the gravel with my head down, I found myself asking, "Why, God?" He told me, "Broken world, Daughter. Sin is real. Know and repent of your own, and then seek Justice and Love for My children. Do not lose hope, My child. Be an agent of mercy." And I slowly breathed in the stench, but allowed hope and God's promises of mercy and healing to remain. This peace that lies within me is one of eternal pain but surpassing faith in God's ultimate desire to shower mercy in the heaviest and most broken places.

Hope in the Dark Photography by Jeremy Cowart, reflections by Jena Lee

The mad ones.

"...because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..."

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Dream a little dream.

MEREDITH: [narrating] "Maybe we accept the dream has become a nightmare. We tell ourselves that reality is better. We convince ourselves it's better that we never dream at all. But, the strongest of us, the most determined of us, holds on to the dream or we find ourselves faced with a fresh dream we never considered. We wake to find ourselves, against all odds, feeling hopeful. And, if we're lucky, we realize in the face of everything, in the face of life the true dream is being able to dream at all.

Patty at the Ryman.

Wow. She blows my mind.

Tonight's show was phenomenal. Breathtaking. Heavenly.

Not to mention I was with some of my favorite people ever in the lovely Ryman Auditiorium.

So here's to you, my lovely three! Happy one year!