"If You Build It, It Will Come"

Furniture... it's something I haven't had the pleasure of taking for granted in my house... until now. I believe that a piece of furniture should not be bought unless absolutely loved! After living in our home for about 5 months without furniture, sitting on plastic chairs and eating on plastic tables, I don't think I'll take my couch for granted now. We don't usually think about all that it takes to fill up an empty house with furniture and make it look like a home, but it sure took us 5 months to even begin the whole process. Armen says that if everything was already done and ready for me, I wouldn't notice it there and I'd take it for granted... He says, "If you build it, it will come..." And, for now, we live by that motto as I witness each molding and cabinet door put in, one by one. As we try to build every part of our life together slowly, we live each day as it comes...

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Be Forgiving

I've been married for about 5 months now and I have been given a lot of marriage advice... from the priest... to my mom... and married friends... to aunts and uncles... and the one piece of advice that everybody seems to have in common is "be forgiving"...

With Christmas coming around, I believe this might be the most kindest and most forgiving time of the year. It's sad that we are usually nicer when Christmas comes around as oppose to being nice all year long. Nice can be easy but forgiving can be much harder when we've been hurt. I think that being able to forgive someone can say something really special about you. I think that forgiveness has to be in our everyday with everybody, and not just in our marriage. I am sure that it's needed more often in a marriage than our everyday, which is why that is the one piece of advice that stuck with me. We have to be able to forgive someone when they don't pick up your call on purpose... when they are unkind and moody... when they don't think about your feelings... when they love you wrong... when they seem like they're always wrong... and when they seem like they don't care... We have to be able to forgive someone when they need to be forgiven...

So, I wake up every morning with this in mind... When he leaves his wet towel on the bed and his muddy clothes on the white carpet... and leaves for days at a time for work... I have to be able to forgive... because a wet towel might turn into something bigger one day and forgiving him now means I'll be ready to forgive later... and "be forgiving" is what they've told me to be...

So, I forgive and I hope to be forgiven...

“There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.” Bryant H. McGill

Songs in My Head...

Photo by Amber Sevilla

I woke up with a song in my head this morning...

I've been going back and reading some of my older posts and, I have to say, it's nice to go back and read what was going on in my head back then, and now... there's a song in my head.

These days, I'm not really sure what goes on up there... I don't pay much attention anymore. I don't know if that means I'm less emotional, or less attentive, or less spiritual... I don't really know...

I guess I've been busy with my personal duties and haven't given myself the opportunity to stop and think about what I am thinking about. I do know that I am listening right now... I am listening at this moment... and I can hear myself smiling and crying at the same time. I smile because I am at a great moment in my life and I'd like to stay right here. I cry because I am not at the moments I moved on from... So, as you can tell, maybe it is better if I keep myself from thinking too much... But, I have to say that smiling and crying at the same time is the best way I can describe what I am feeling right now and knowing that feeling helps me be aware of myself... and when I am aware, I leave room for songs in my head...

Happy Thanksgiving!

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What I Love to Do

By Eerren

The one question I am always asked is, "So, why Modest Fly Art?"

And, when asked, I always have trouble explaining how and why it actually came about so I decided to write about it, copy and paste it to the virtual world, and point people to it when asked again. So, here it goes:

When I was in school for my Bachelor's in Illustration at Art Center College of Design, I had to pick my favorite word in a certain class and explore it. I chose the word "modest" and began working on what it means, what it looks like, how it feels, and where it is... Here is my short explanation of it from a couple of years back:

'“Modest” is a low profile word, used a handful of times, and possessed occasionally. The sound of modest is so quiet that it makes me feel, almost, shy using it. Modest can be humble, shy, unpretentious, reserved, and timid. When I think of modest, I see light colors, colors that almost fade and turn into white. It reminds me of pearls, lockets, antiques, grandparents, and the vintage. It is what everyone feels when they observe a bird feeding on seeds or when they encounter a ladybug and hold it in their palm. It is what I see when a little girl tugs at her mom’s dress for her attention, and what I experience when I sit in a room full of people and try to fade into the background. An old family tree framed on my grandparent’s wall is modest and a lantern on a street in Paris is modest. Petting a puppy is almost modest and so is a black and white picture. Modest does not exist enough, and when it does, it goes unnoticed most of the time."

So, there is is... my explanation of the world that surrounds me. As for "fly," it comes from a dragonfly necklace my mom used to always have around her neck when I was young. It was gold with turquoise wings and it was the modesty around the one woman I thought was perfection to me...

When I finally graduated and had to come up with a name to represent myself, Modest Fly Art was what I came up with, and "studio gallery" was added, obviously, to represent a place.

These days, it is more than just an explanation... it is what represents me and what I love to do...

Life Happens

Photo by Narbeh Iranosian

They say that girls marry their brothers, guys marry their sisters, and, in case you're a girl without a brother... I'm afraid you've married your dad...

Ok... that didn't sound as weird in my head as it did when I actually typed it out... But, the reason I say this is because I was home last night and I watched as my husband lay down on the ground, on his back, crossed his feet, and put his arms under his head as he watched t.v... I sat there and watched him and I went back 20 years and pictured my dad in the same exact position on our old carpeting, in our old apartment. Then, I thought about how life works out and how life happens...

Maybe it is a series of planned events... Maybe it is all planned out for us... or maybe it's all just a coincidence?

At this point, I'm not exactly sure what it is... but, I do know that whatever coincidences are happening in my life, they are specific coincidences and maybe, just maybe, one day, I'll figure it all out and have all the answers. But, for now, for me, life happens...