A Passion for Living

Today, I am so excited for you to meet one of my most passionate blogging friends. Gillian is a blogger, a photographer, a word lover, a mother, a business owner, and an adventuress. She recently returned from an amazing journey to Jordan, but I don't think of her as an adventuress because of that. She earned that title because of her passionate approach to living. Whatever she does, wherever she goes, she goes with all her heart.

“Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.” ~ Angela Monet

...and indeed I hear the music in most things. When the warm-hearted and beautiful bookworm Relyn asked me to write about my passions, I did not hesitate. Then I wondered to myself...how ever will I narrow this down?

You see to me, everything brings out a passion. I am not sure if it is my European heritage, or my enthusiasm, or my inability to do anything without gusto-but I possess many a passion that I'm dependent on as if they were the very air I breathe.

To sum them all up would be a task of Herculean proportions. I feel, I emote. I especially emote passionately when I cry. I get this avocado-ish contortedness to my face that belies my true beauty. I know this, and I even know how to cry "pretty". Do you know how? All you have to do is not fight it, allow the tears to flow naturally. The minute you try to stop them, well-you look kind of funny. Well I try to stop them usually and even knowing this-I cry passionately. Man it feels good. What a release! Watch a good movie and let them tears fly! See how you feel afterward. {Probably amazing.}

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." ~Harriet Tubman

Passions, hmmmm....let me see. Oh photography! My love. My dearest. Photography has granted me a reprieve from a flat and one dimensional world view. Okay, I never had a flat one dimensional world view-but it has undoubtedly altered the way I see. It has given me focus. It has given me an outlet. Greens have more kelly; blues have more cobalt; yellows more turmeric. I'm framing scenes in my life at every turn; even when I don't have my camera in hand-perhaps my way of summarizing some kind of redintegrative recall for later on.

When I say big words I get excited. Passionate almost. Passionate a lot, who am I kidding? I love learning new words. Like redintegrative and piezo effect and interiorly. Let's not forget corroborated and grandiloquence and neoexpressionism. As children, when someone used a big word we dubbed it a 50 cent word. "Look at Billy, tossing his 50 cent words around." Simply translated that means, "What on Earth did Billy just say?" I like to learn new ones daily. So if you do as well, and you are as passionate about it as I, then try visiting WordSwarm and you'll have a thousand new randoms to choose from daily.

Food glorious food!...how can I leave out the Queen of the Passions? Food is to passion as down is to a weary cheek. Yin to the Yang. Bread to tha buttah. I love experimenting and utilizing all my knowledge of nutrition to feed these people I live with that require three squares. Only now, three squares is so yesterday. So last year. The now of nutrition states we must have a quad of 400. That is four meals of four hundred calories each-ripe with MUFA's if one can help it. Top five MUFA foods that will burn belly fat and rev up your metabolism;

1. Oils
2. Olives
3. Nuts & Seeds
4. Avocados
5. Dark Chocolate

Eat any of these with your four meals and you will be satisfied and happy all day long. No snacking for you! As a passionate snacker, this really hit home with me. I want you to know that MUFA is the short form of a 50 cent darling-"monounsaturated fatty acids."

There is more to my passions. Family!! Especially my two dear girls & fiancé (…of twenty years, that is another story of passion.) Art. (I paint. You should too! I tried it one day and loved it. Talk about FUN.) Friends. (Love them so.) Travel. (I go where I can, when I can. Look for deals on flights and train travel...try renting an apartment instead of splurging on a hotel room. You feel like such a local when you do that.) Dreaming. (Lucidly.) Dancing. (Freely.) Frida Kahlo. Handmade dolls. LOVE. (Unconditionally.) Vegetarian chili. Red wine. Tea. Swimming. (Oh the ocean, yet another passion.) Smiling. Poetry. Polaroids! Girl's night out. Home with a good book. Shopping for vintage anything. Just be-ing.

I wanted to narrow it down for you, I truly did. I had difficulty doing so however with a multitude of things in this life to be passionate about. It seems like every time I meet a new blogger, or read a new book, or take a different route to work in my car I'm inspired and my passions are inflamed once again. And again. And all over again.

"Man's love is of man's life a part; it is a woman's whole existence. In her first passion, a woman loves her lover, in all the others all she loves is love." ~Lord Byron

All images are by Gillian. She loves words, images, beauty, and avocados. She also loves art, tea, travel, postcards, and anything vintage. She's runs a business, a home, is a wonderful mother and somehow manages to blog, too. You're going to stop by and tell her I sent you. Right?