In The Next 30 Days

A 30-Day Challenge Closer to Brighter, Shinier, & Happier.

June 13th, 2013

Be Outside Day 13 | Brookgreen Gardens

Have you ever been somewhere that makes your breath catch in your throat. It’s just so totally beautiful you could spend the day, the week and you’re eyes would just never get enough. Brookgreen Gardens is that kind of place. I told you about my friend Hatton last week; she’s the one who suggested we write Awesome List. (here’s hers, if you missed it.) Sunday we met in Brookgreen Gardens in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. What an amazing place for a reunion.

Brookgreen bills itself as an outdoor museum. It’s home to a world-renown sculpture exhibit that is all outdoors surrounded by live oaks, beautiful flowers, amazing landscaping. And then trails and paths wind through out so you can get lost as you explore, finding something new around each corner-a pond with alligators here, green grass with big grasshoppers, a quiet bench to listen to the fountain, the most amazing pig statue you’ve ever seen.

Hatton and I followed our kids around and through as they ran from one statue to the next. They were excited about everything. Max loved the fountains for the water. Julia surprised me and was eager to catch and hold the grasshoppers.

Brookgreen5 Be Outside Day 13 | Brookgreen Gardens

Brookgreen6 Be Outside Day 13 | Brookgreen Gardens

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It’s been a while since I’ve really taken my camera exploring, and I could’ve really gotten very very happily lost at Brookgreen with my Nikon. I love taking pictures outside, and this was a very firm reminder of that. Sometimes I need a good kick in the pants.

Brookgreen Gardens is located on Highway 17 just south of Myrtle Beach, SC. The gardens are open every day from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $14 for adults ages 13 to 64, $12 for seniors 65 and over, $7 for children ages 4 to 12, and kids 3 and under are free with their parent’s ticket. But here’s the cool thing, a ticket is good for 7 days in a row, so if you’re visiting Myrtle Beach or even Charleston (a little over an hour and a half drive), you can go back again and again. You still probably won’t see everything. Visit their BroogreenGardens.org or call (843) 235-6000 for more information.

So tell me, when was the last time you got lost outside?

Tags: beatiful, Brookgreen Gardens, flowers, outside, photography
Posted in 30 Days | Be Outside | 6 Comments »

February 10th, 2013

Sunday Photography No. 10

As I was washing dinner dishes the other night, I spotted two of the sweetest, smallest white flowers outside my kitchen window. Spring has been popping up quietly all over Charleston. I see paper whites as I’m stopped at a stop sign around the corner. And there are tulip trees blooming! But these Lilly of the Valley (at least that’s what I think they are) are the first signs of Spring in my yard.

I quickly dried my hands and grabbed my camera and opened the door outside before responsibility could get in the way of creative impulse. And I’m glad I did.

Tags: flowers, photography, Spring
Posted in 30 Days | Find Creativity, Sunday Photograhy, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

September 10th, 2012

Be Positive Day 10 | Long-Term Goals

This bumble bee is amazing, isn’t he? He seemed especially determined. I watched him for a long time as he went from flower to flower around a neighbor’s fence line. He worked over the garden efficiently, dancing along one flower, turning, flying to the next and dancing there. I wished I could hear his music.

I mentioned yesterday about my increased efficiency. And it’s true. I’m enjoying work for the first time in a long time, and so I’m getting things done. “I like the way positivity feels,” I wrote on Life Pulp last night. But unlike this bumble bee, I am thinking toward the long-term, past the next flower and into next week, next month, or even my next years. Positivity is helping me for the right now, and I’m sure I can apply this mindset to my future goals.

So today, I sat down and wrote down some basic goals for myself. This is beyond my to-do list, beyond the grocery store or laundry, or even the freelance work I already have. And some of these goals are beyond concrete or measurable (and I think these might be the most important ambitions to recognize). Putting pen to paper makes these goals more realistic and actual to me. It makes them solid, and so they are something to hold on to.

My list was long, but here is some of what I wrote.