Simplify Sunday- Love and Happiness

jillian and mkThis is me and my love, MK 🙂 We showed up at a party in almost the same dress, but we love each other so much that we thought it was fantastic instead of embarrassing.

Today I’m going to write about a different part of My 35 Project than I usually do on Sundays. Part of what I’ve wanted to do this year is be more intentional about relationships. I am an odd person because if I had to choose, I would say I am extroverted. Maybe I should take a poll and see what those around me say, but I am not afraid to talk to strangers, I tend to be loud in inappropriate situations, and I feed off of the energy of groups of people.

All that aside, I like to stay home and snuggle my dogs. I do make an effort to stay in touch with the people I love, but I’m bad at making plans and sometimes I get anxious when I think about going out in public. I make plans that I really look forward to, and then when the day comes I get anxious. I’m just kind of nuts.

I made goals to see a friend once a week, and to send something in the mail once a week. The mail has been easy and fun. I love writing a letter or card, it makes me so happy. I hope that it makes the person receiving it happy too! The in person visits I am 5/7. I don’t know why I can’t pull it together. Every time I make time to see a friend, I feel so rejuvenated and so much happier to be alive. That may sound extreme, but it’s true. I love to connect with other people, catch up, share a snack, whatever.

To me, that’s what it’s all about. Getting to know other people, finding true friends and love ❤ I guess everything is about priorities in this world, but it frustrated me that I have to constantly revisit mine (just to figure out what I’ve always known). I want to spend my time doing the simple things in life that make me happy- spending time with people I love, exercise, food, sleep… back to the basics!

Jillian

Thoughts on Subtext and Feeling Old

chekhovJ BearI received a gift in the mail from my friend Bunniey, who sometimes keeps the *most random* stuff. She has been going through a lot of it (future minimalist? probably a stretch, but maybe!), and she included a few silly memories from when we were in college together. One was the playbill from my senior project- I directed and acted in a play (I did have help with the direction- directing yourself is not so awesome).

I took one look at it and thought OMG I can’t believe they didn’t flunk me. It isn’t completely captured here, but it is nuts how much technology and expectations have changed since 2002. It was seriously a white piece of copy paper, printed on both sides. It wasn’t even in color, no cool graphics, just a fuzzy picture from Microsoft clip art. At the time, I thought it looked pretty good. Oh, and also, I couldn’t even put the clip art in behind the text myself, a boyfriend did it for me. Now I have a blog, and a real job where I make things look prettier than that just for notes to myself that I throw in the recycling later…

The part about this that is really interesting to me though- I still feel this way about Chekhov. I didn’t remember writing this, hadn’t thought about that moment or play in years. However, it all came flooding back; the beauty of the words and the subtext. There is so much there that influenced me. The art of being mysterious, of saying it all while actually saying nothing, is my favorite part about acting. This probably overflows a bit too much into my daily life, but I think we all do it constantly without even realizing it. I am often accused of being too expressive, and I think this is where I get it. Do you think it’s fair to blame acting? Probably not 🙂

Jillian