Movin' On Up

Photograph from the 2008 Chicago Air & Water Show by kudzuplanet

Dad is retiring from the ministry in June, which means he and Mom will be moving. Oh joy, oh rapture: more packing/unpacking. My family has become as nomads, each of us moving every couple of years. My sister and I moved to a new apartment in August; my grandmother followed suit in December. Once again, all of us will have moved within a year. (And that's not even counting my office's move back in June.) Thankfully, these will likely be the last moves for my parents and grandmother, unless they get to the point that they need more assistance.


This week also marks my parents' birthdays (today and Thursday), plus Valentine's Day, which this year is balanced out for us singles by Friday the 13th the day before. Maybe I'll host a wake Friday night, or at least dress all in black.

Most Sensational, Inspirational

Atlanta skyline from the Omni Hotel. Photograph by Shannon Noelle, taken September 1, 2007.

As part of our New Year's resolution to do more things here in town, my sister and I spent several hours Saturday at the Atlanta History Center, most of it in the exhibit "Jim Henson's Fantastic Worlds." Fantastic doesn't begin to describe it. You might expect something that's 98% Muppets, but it was closer to a 60/40 split. They had all sorts of projects he did back in the 1950s and 1960s: silkscreen posters and art done in college, cartoons and pen-and-ink drawings, storyboards for various films, and even a showing of the film "Time Piece," which he wrote, directed, and starred in, and for which he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects, in 1966 (I never knew about that).

It was an amazing journey into the mind of an amazing man, and one that took me back through my childhood in the process. I highly recommend seeing any part of this collection if you can. It's a Smithsonian traveling exhibit; schedule dates are available here.

Another Auld Lang Syne

Photograph from the Art Institute of Chicago by Kudzu Planet.

Like most of you probably do, I get introspective and contemplative at the start of each new year. I'm not one for making big lists of resolutions and trying to change my life every January, but it's a good time to take a look around and change things that just aren't working. That can mean getting rid of things, or it can mean filling in gaps.

My sister and I spent the past few days doing that with our apartment, and it's refreshing to look around and see only things that we choose to see: no boxes, no clutter. At the same time, I picked out some things I'm not using at home that will go to my office, to make it feel more comfortable and more like my own space.

Unfortunately, weeding out bad habits is much more difficult than making cosmetic changes to your living environment. It's even harder to remember that every day is a blank slate and a chance to try again. January may be a convenient tipping point, but in reality, a new year, with all its promises, starts every morning. Wake up and smell more than just the coffee!