Halloween

Today I really missed my friends from back at Ringling College.  October is right around the corner and that means Halloween.  This is always a HUGE deal back at Ringling.  Most everyone I know starts making their costumes and planning out how to turn their dormitory into a haunted house.  It's all very cool and its even cooler to be surrounded by people who don't give a crap about whats IS considered cool and whats not.  Not only will most of my friends make one costume but they'll put together two, one simple costume to wear during the day throughout the Halloween week and then a second fantastic costume, that they've put in hours to make for Halloween night.  Not to mention most of these costumes will be considered incredibly dorky (which I love).  It's not uncommon that I would've had class that week with maybe a charmander or Scott Pilgrim, possibly even a Hogwarts student... Although with a official Quidditch team, that's not unusual... even for a normal week of school.  Of course I plan to keep up the spirit of Halloween, even though we can not celebrate in person together.  Maybe I'll recruit some fellow nerds for good game of Zombie Tag.
I really miss my Ringding-a-lings and I hope they have a great Fall season!

This thing we call "Art"

For the longest time I use to calculate every brush stroke, every color.  I would allow myself to be completely consumed by the thought process of creating "worthy art".  Art worth putting into this world that others would find pleasing and awe inspiring.  That's a lot of pressure to be resting on my brush.  More pressure then I ever should have put on myself.  More pressure than in the end I could handle.  Then, it happened, enlightenment.  I completely gave up on thinking about how to create this "great thing" called "Art" and simply stopped thinking and starting just doing art.  As if art were a state of being, or an action.  Not that I was creating "art" but that I was taking part in it!  Now I find peace, in painting, in drawing, in creating.  The final product is now less important.  I do not end with a piece that others must find pleasing, but instead, a memento that "art" had taken place... if only as a reminder to myself. 

P.S. its best to paint with a friend.

Francois...

Francois... what is there to say about Francois? He is allusive... mysterious... and hopefully not lost.  I remember the day I first came upon Francois... still fresh in my mind.  Oh Francois, peeking the top of his head through the trees.  Out along the back roads in search for adventure, first laying eyes on him. I knew from this moment I wanted to climb right up him by the end of the day. Alas, it was not meant to be. The deeper into the wilderness I traveled the further away he appeared. By the end of the night it was too dark and I was forced to return home.
Recently I went in search for Francois.... and once again I found him more allusive then ever.  One day I will find that mountain... and when I do, HE SHALL BE CONQUERED!  

Hmmm.... the first entry?

Hmmm... what to say... what to say.  I guess I should introduce myself? eh hem, I am Katie Beck, Adventurer Explorer Extraordinaire, adversary to the darkness and lover of life! ... or at least that's how I like to think of myself :) 
I know we've just met but I have a secret to share with you... that's right, lean in. Well here it goes, You will learn a lot more about the world if you choose to walk through it.  That's what I've come to find anyways.  So much of our world is passed by every single day and most miss out on it because they hop in their cars and they have their noses in their phones.  People are in such a rush to get everywhere.  One of my favorite things to do is to just bike around town. 
Its crazy, one would think by biking places, every trip would feel so slow. But, its not true. In fact, its quite the opposite.  Sometimes I feel like the world is slowing down and I'm going at just the right speed to appreciate it.