While editing this morning I came across this image. It was captured on a rainy day in New Jersey, looking out over The Hudson to New York City.
As I was looking at this image, a song came over Pandora and this quote totally struck my heart.
There is unthinkable joy and beauty everywhere, we just have to stay grateful (even in the crazy storms of life).
When she is 85 years old, sitting in a room looking at her album, it is my hope that she will look at this image and remember how loved she was. Not only by her incredible husband, but also by her amazing girlfriends.
Friendship is so, so precious...
This passage from a favorite book rings so true in my soul:
But I do know that when Pat Geohagen, my ceramics teacher, comes to sit, she had curled her hair, put on mascara and a stylish sweater. I don't know what to do. I love her for the dirt under her fingernails, the clay-smeared pants and torn shirt, her hair tied carelessly under a bandanna, bags under her eyes from a long night of coffee, cigarettes, and firing the big gas kiln. But she's my teacher and she honors me, not just by coming to sit but by presenting her "best" face. I just smile and start to paint... Best faces are not what I need to learn about, not what I'm hungry for. It isn't a face I need to paint, it's a soul. Truth, not artifice, not persona.
(This is an image I snapped of Becca Olcott. Becca is a really amazing woman who dances in flower fields, and creates magic. I adore her chipped nails, and her heart.)
Since announcing my DEFINE class, I have received several messages from people from all over. Most of them I wrote back with a friendly/businessy message. Nothing too crazy. Played it safe.
But this response I sent to a beautiful friend. And this is what I really wish I had said to everyone:
Thank you. I honor the courage it takes it reach out.
I have been waiting to write this message until I had quiet minutes alone to gather my thoughts and figure out how to put it all down in words.
I don't know that I will ever come to that place.
So. I'm just going to do my best, and not keep you waiting any longer.
I have always felt different. While other young girls were chatting about makeup and shoes I wanted to lay on my back in the grass and talk about dreams and big, beautiful orca whales visiting in my sleep. And I wanted to uncover the dark, dark fears that lurked below my bones.
Then, in my space of quiet knowing, I realized that my tribe does, in fact, exist. We are just scattered like shattered glass across space, scintillating in the sunlight.
Through the graceful and Earthshaking example of Pixie Campbell, I began to see that it is time to bring the pieces together. Time to shake it up and shake it out. Time to laugh and be joyful and really live from the heart! Time to share my light with others so that they can move forward on their own journeys with torches burning strong and bright.
So, I set the intention to teach. To share. To open my heart and show what's inside. The good, the bad, and even the super awful horrible. Also, the humor!
To prepare the material for this class, I have spent hours upon hours pouring over stacks of my favorite books from college, life, and even childhood. Titles encompassing art therapy, spiritual healing, business, power, and love. I spoke to the people who have helped and inspired me the most, and mourned past beliefs and roles that are no longer welcomed.
I doodled. I painted. I knit and I sewed. I smiled, a lot.
What began as a passion to bring a tribe of people together in the spirit of teaching, developed into a powerful soul thesis. A way for me to see my own reflection more clearly. A dissolution of fear. A learning.
Yes I am a wife, Mother, daughter, artist, business woman, naturalist... But, when I am behind my camera, or holding a paintbrush, or dancing around my dining room, none of those "titles" matter. In the creative space of expression, I am in the company of millions of generations of medicine women. Sacred and safe. Their energy blankets me. Their alligator skin rattles keep the rhythm of my days.
"Live your life out loud!" They sing. "You deserve a brilliant life!"
So this class, it's not about taking pretty pictures. Although that will come. It's about intuition, gratitude, power and connection. It's about living a life filled to the brim with JOY.
It's about believing with all of my heart what Pat B. Allen told me,
"We owe it to the world to be as ALIVE as we can. To give what is unique in us to give."
I would be honored to have you join this circle. Beyond honored.
It would truly be a gift.
Sending so much love,
Michelle
I am still speechless.
Utterly Engaged has long been my absolute favorite online wedding magazine. It is, quite literally, the place I go to feel inspired and motivated. In a sea of same-old-same-old publications, Utterly Engaged is my oasis.
So, imagine me sitting on a little wooden stool at 1:30 in the morning in my kitchen. And imagine me checking my email on my phone.
And then imagine me sitting there, frozen, quiet, re-reading the email about ten thousand times.
I. Got. The. COVER.
(Next I woke up Thomas and we did a little tiptoe dance celebration in the hallway- haha!)
Gratitude for the incredible team of women who all collaborated on this amazing shoot.
Gratitude for Utterly Engaged for selecting my heart-filled work for their cover.
And mostly, gratitude for all of the times I said, "No, thanks," to other publications because they just weren't the perfect fit for my heart and soul.
Saying NO and being extremely picky makes it so much sweeter when the fruitful, magical YESES arrive.
Feel free to click on the image above to see the full issue, and see our 18-page spread. (I mean COME ON. 18 pages?! I still can't believe it when I write and say it. AHHH!!)
My cup runneth over.
HUGE credit to:
Styling and Conceptual Direction: Chelsea Tyler, owner of Everthine Bridal Boutique (and Mel!!)
Hair: Jennie Kay a Beauty Parlour
Makeup: Jennie Fresca
Vintage Rentals: Sassafras Vintage Rentals
Floral Design: Tashi and Bobo
Letterpress: Ladyfingers Letterpress
Models: Victoria and Abby