A Brand New Year

There is something so uniquely human about New Year's resolutions. I love them because they are so full of the optimism of humans. That we believe there is always hope and always a way we can grow and learn and do something new, and better. The Wall Street Journal article of December 30, 2010 "Cultural Resolutions" states that 2011 is the year of the rabbit in the Chinese calendar. This signifies that 2011, among other things, is "conducive to artistic pursuits". Yay! I'll take that as the year of the artist, and run with it. The article has 57 artists, from all different disciplines, resolving to do everything from "drink more whiskey" to "looking for the meaning of art", and just about everything else in between. I have lots of resolutions too. From the sublime (be a kinder human being), to the ridiculous (clean out that attic for once and for all). In some very important way resolutions do guide and help me to manifest growth, so I make them, and accomplish some of them, too!

Ingenuity and Innovation

I live a rather insulated life. I limit what I take in because it's all food to me, and I want to be nourished by food that will help me stay strong and productive. Thankfully I have an adorable husband who is a news junkie, and he lets me know when really cool stuff is out there that I need to see. Here are some of his latest finds that seem like really good nourishment to me. These are three innovations from the New York Times Magazine's 10th Annual Year in Ideas.

First, Trash Fashion, bio culture clothing. Making clothes out of a mat of green tea and sugar. I couldn't put enough exclamation points in there, so I won't put any. All the clothes we slaves to fashion (I live in Maine, so I don't need fashion) throw away every year is a pretty big problem. The second thing is the latest progress on wind power, which just makes me so grateful that the human brain never takes a rest. And the last thing is a brilliant innovation that is called emotional spell-check, which could be the innovation with the most positive impact in the whole list. At least I can think of a few times my life would have been made better this year if I and those I know had had this tool. I leave this year with a beautiful picture and my best wishes to everyone for a happy new year.

Another Moleskine Lover

These are drawings by Ana Maraz, an artist living in Slovenia, who has a nice blog, Talking to Volcano. I spent yesterday looking at my new Christmas books and exploring things online. I both love and am a little disturbed by the way I can keep grafting, on and networking from, different Flickr streams and blogs. I get to see so much art, interesting things people do, and amazing interiors...things I would not see in remote Maine! But then I get to a place where it is just overwhelming, and I realize I've spent hours in cyberspace. My plan for today is to get out into the snowstorm we are having. That will be the perfect antidote for too much time online.