Life Is Like A Rotating Rooftop Restaurant

day 7, limbo and adding change to the jar

ESSAY | Life Is Like A Rotating Rooftop Restaurant

This morning my life felt like a scene from a movie. I want to share it with you. Maybe it’s because I’m proud that I deeply notice these type of things (#artlife) or maybe it’s because every other morning this week has been complete and total chaos. Either way this documentation of magic led to some deeper thoughts worth writing about.

Today. Today I woke up, without an alarm, to the sound of birds chirping outside my window. My boys were still sleeping (a rarity) when I made my way down to the kitchen. The silence was as thick as southern air and I could see the sun dancing through the window onto the wall.

Walking across the room I gazed through the glass. I was met with the glistening lake and a lively burst of green coming from every direction. For this brief moment it was just me and the restorative sounds of nature — in her beautiful summer glory. “Oh goodness”, I thought to myself, as I closed my eyes to take it all in. To savor every last drop. “Oh how things change.”

Just a few short months ago, everything was different. That same window hadn’t been opened in weeks. The days were short with plenty of darkness. Not a leaf in sight.. ice, cold, white.
Just one short year ago we were leaving Arizona.
Two short years ago we were leaving Hawaii.
Minneapolis before that and so on.

It feels like… have you ever eaten at one of those rotating rooftop restaurants? It kind of feels like that. You don’t even realize you’re moving and so you carry on with your conversation (life) and next thing you know your view’s changed entirely.

I feel okay right now because of this beautiful lesson from nature. Change is happening every moment of every day. It’s an opportunity. It means you’re never stuck and there’s always a chance to change your scenery. Close your eyes and keep turnin’, turnin’, turnin’.

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ART | Photography, Poetry, Collage, Music, Documentaries & more

If you’ve been around here a while, you know that the reason I started a Substack was to have a place to house my 100 day collage project. I learned a lot from that project and can’t believe it was almost 7 months ago.
Now, if you read last week’s post, you’ll see that I randomly, very last minute hitched myself to a couple other artists’ 365 project. We’re 6 days in and I’m loving it.
Of all of the projects I’ve done, drawing has been the best because I can do it absolutely anywhere. Carrying my sketchbook and pen has been light and fun and I’m excited to see where it takes me! If you’d like to join me let me know in the comments and I’ll be sure to check in with you!

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LIFESTYLE | Temporary Moving Log / Minnesota -> Dallas

I wish I had something, anything to share in this space this week but I do not. We’re in limbo — neither here nor there. We haven’t sold our house in Minnesota yet and we haven’t secured a rental in Dallas yet.
I know in my heart it will all work out, it always does. I look forward to updating this little space next week with good news.

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MANA STUDIO | Updates From My Studio

My second sketchbook is just about full. It’s like putting loose change into a jar each day feeling like it’s not doing much and then realizing in reality your jar is overflowing. It’s such a good feeling!

Lately, as I wrap this one up, I’m having entirely too much fun adding collage element, markers, pen, ink.. I feel like this is just the beginning.

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Late night sketching and collage, since we’re so close to Canada we decided to do a day trip so we could add another country to our passports, daily sketching, morning park walks, more sketch collage, hiking with my youngest at Enger Tower, more sketching, Lake Superior and once again, little sketches!

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Thank you for reading Norden Morning. This publication is created without artificial anything - it’s me, an artist/mother in my late 30s living life and sharing about it from my favorite little corner of the couch.

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