A little Heart to Heart in the calm before the storm

June 13, 2014


Hey lovers...... Yeah, it's been a minute. Well, you guys I'm back....and like that she blogged happily ever after. While getting myself ready this morning, I glanced on this heart mirrored trinket that I have had forever, and it occurred to me that this was the perfect day to piece my feelings together and let you know that I am doing okay great. So we have a mean tropical storm - Nanauk - brewing on the horizon, peeps are busy stocking up on supplies & safety and,  yours truly is dropping a note. Go me!  Actually, we went on our grocery adventure yesterday and it looked like humanity with her spilling shopping carts was running a race against time. To be honest, I am a wee anxious to see how nurture holds up against nature, come tomorrow when Nanauk lashes against our doors.  This little heart to heart is me being a renegade to the tempests both inside and outside of me.



I want you to know that this long blogging hiatus was not nonchalant. If you haven't noticed the elephant in the room already, I finally got around to re-designing my blog. Some major kinks with my previous blogger template frazzled me so much that I did not wanna write more until I knew I had the option to salvage my posts through the process of creating a new space. Luckily, it went down pretty well. I wanted - minimal, airy and a bit grown up 'shabby' if you will.  I think I have it (thank you, Lisa).  I spent several caffeine-heavy evenings fixing the previous posts and customizations. However, do tell if you were to still come across any snags with this or older narratives of mine. Cyber kisses coming at you in advance.

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I want you to know that I share about the things and people I am passionate about, and will continue to do so. The content is nothing but true, but the extent of things that I choose to unwrap off their emotional bubble wrap is very carefully thought of, for the sake of stakes, sanity and safety of my loved ones. You could even say thestylecradle is a sliver of me but not all of me or my life because it's edited. Most blogs are. Some more, some less. And if you ever thought your favorite blogger woke up with beachy waves just to have a pink macron in a little cafe in the south of France while some mystery man snapped her most flatteringly then whoa Nelly, I'm sorry!

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I want you to know that I was feeling a little out of sync when it came to blending both my real and virtual worlds. There was something beyond the cognitive process, focus and the ability to multi-task that was bothering me. It was how to both live a meaningful life and document it meaningfully as a blogger at the same time, and spontaneously. The answer is you cannot. The only way to live life is to take it all in at the time, and if you get to chronicle it somehow, it's a frosting on the cake. This does involve a lot of practice and self reflection but is incredibly liberating in the end, who knew? I'm not there yet but lately, I've been occasionally doing things just because I truly enjoy them and make only a mental note of them, no technology whatsoever. Not that my life is not exciting anymore or I love writing here any less, but my real life is too special not to live it in real time. My moments are worth everything. I blog when I want, I blog when I can. This is me being honest and hope you understand.
                                                               
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I want you to know that post-production photography is stirring me like never before. So the backstory goes like this... I used to be so Iphone snappy (snap & happy) that I contentedly neglected my 20lbs SLR equipment that was thoughtfully bought for my artistic juices by the ever encouraging husband a few years ago. This did not feel like a compromise for comfort when I had reminders like 'throw-in Sultana snack in the handbag for Sara' crowding my imagination. Photo filters kept me going. Also, the clichèd claims of some overnight out-of-nowhere photographers cringed me out.  Not so long ago not many knew what a DSLR meant and today everyone around is a photographer! That's all good but I am not a photographer and did not wanna contribute towards random photo junk on the interwebs. Then one night in the beginning of February 2014, while reading about the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, I came past a picture that blew my mind and it's detachment away. A picture by the Turkish Photographer Mustafa Seven that left me intrigued, impressed and most importantly inspired to take the bull by it's horns. I was fueled to learn to create content, content that contains magic. Post-Editing is a long road and obviously, involves taking pictures but am glad to be on it. Over the past 60 days or so I went on the longest vay-cay with my little family and captured quite a few pinch-me worthies through my lenses. If you are interested in my baby steps at the after-picture craft then go check thestylecradle@Instagram.

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I want you to know that my skin and I are having a serious break-up right now. Don't remember the last time we fell out like this and I had this colorful of a caricature to brag about. Feels like the skin Gods are rudely reminding me that they are unhappy with my experiments with their endowment  #dontfixwhenitaintbroke.  This too shall pass but it's constantly on my mind and has made me empathize with the 'real' acne sufferers on a totally different level.  Goes to show how much more grateful one should of be of things or people that/who seem like the run of the mill when they are not - whether it's your nearly age perfect skin, your partner's unconditional love, a tantrum free toddler or the fact that you can still rock your jean from high school like a spring chicken. Some say lucky, some blessed!

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I want you to know that I'm beyond thankful for you sticking it out with me. You who read, follow, write, support and believe in me have completely refreshed my perspective on friendship. And if you are a hater, then I thank you too for making me the center of your world. Yes you! In the past few months, both acts of kindness by complete strangers and insecurities of 'fake' friends kept surfacing every now and then. One wanted me to embrace raw optimism, and the other made me feel sorry for some who I once cared about turn into jealous minions because they can't seem to handle happiness. If only they knew that this little cloud of negativity they breathe under only affects them. More sooner than later, it's time for me to let go of those ambivalent relationships to make space for new uplifting ones. I'm gonna continue to do 'whatsoevermany' things that make ME happy and won't let anyone tell me otherwise.

More from me on the other side of storm. Till then come find me at Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram

xo Renee

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