Archives For shoes

Day 1: Legs itched like crazy. Had to stop.

Day 2: I’m going to DIE. Seriously, I might.

Day 3: I’m not going to die. But it’s close.

Day 4: I ran the first mile without stopping. 

I bought new shoes.

This was my motivation to begin jogging again. They are fabulously bright, with neon orange shoestrings and grass-green insoles. That, and my coordinated running clothes (dressing the part always makes it more fun), are about the only thing I like about exercising. I really don’t like exercising at all: I have to get up really early, I’m sore most of the day, and I fall asleep on the couch at 9:30.

Exercise is one of those nagging reminders that a healthy lifestyle brings to my guilty mind. So this week I started trying to relieve that guilt, and get in shape. GO TEAM INGRAM!

I do enjoy “going somewhere,” which is why I only like to jog outside: no track, no gym for me. I’m too tired in the morning to do yoga, and the cat gets all up in my business. So ear phones in, new shoes on, and off I go down the street for the sunrise.

Here’s hoping I can keep it up when it gets chilly! I’m an exercise wimp!

New Shoes, ink & colored pencil sketch

New Shoes, ink & colored pencil sketch

Summertime and the livin’ is easy…

 

Summer break has come to Alabama. Routines change and slow, the weather heats up, and the leisurely way of Southern living sets in. Time to relax and stroll, swing and sip, sleep in a bit more, and play with the kids.

This weekend, I felt less like doing my “serious” art, and more like playing. First, the kids and I made duct tape shoes.

Later in the afternoon, while baby was napping, we went outside for some “free painting,” thanks to a huge roll of beige wallpaper I’d somehow acquired. I love to watch kids paint.

My daughter went for splatter painting and “graffiti,”

while my son painted a stormy ocean with a rainbow.

Days like this make the hard days worth it.

message

“One of these mornings you’re gonna rise up singing
And you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take to the sky
But till that morning, there ain’t nothin’ can harm you
With daddy and mammy standin’ by”

-Ella Fitzgerald, Summertime

Painting Day, 8x11 watercolor on board

Painting Day, 8×11 watercolor on board

Paper Shoes, charcoal & conte sketch

Paper Shoes, charcoal & conte sketch

On the sixth day of Christmas sketches…

Today was a good family day… much needed in the midst of mourning over “inhumanity” and the remembrance of little children near and far whose lives have been stolen. My emotions, as so many others are experiencing, have swung like a pendulum all day: I picture the faces of frightened children and I weep; I sing Christmas songs with my children and feel warm; I think of the children who won’t ever have another Christmas and I hurt; I choose gifts for my children and I feel proud of who they are.

Tonight we loaded up to finally get our Christmas tree. As we entered the garden section of a nearly-deserted Lowe’s, curious attention and questions were directed at my son.

That would be because he was shuffling along in paper shoes.

Apparently, we didn’t notice him get into the car without real shoes, so his homemade paper and blue painters-tape shoes it was. We bought a slightly scraggly clearance tree, strapped it to the top of our Jeep, and the kids sang “We Three Kings” loudly all the way home.

It’s tempting to be paralyzed by fear, to want to tuck my children away, like eggs in a nest, sheltering them from harm. But that’s not living. Living is wearing paper shoes because you want to, singing loudly, and laughing at your Christmas tree…

living in love, not in fear.

“I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It’s not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love. ” -Linus, A Charlie Brown Christmas

“All you need is love. Love is all you need.”

-the Beatles
6 Geese-a-Laying

6 Geese-a-Laying

Tidy Up

marylizingramart —  August 12, 2012 — 1 Comment

Shoes, Graphite Sketch… Sunday, a day of rest and renewal; a time to reset. Sundays have become a mental health day for me…I tidy up, listen to music, drink slow cups of coffee, think about life. I shake off the stress and rediscover the joy. I clean up the grime, and unearth the shine of love and life; breathe in fresh air, notice my surroundings, find peace in my place. It keeps me going, week after week. Today I drew my little boy’s line of shoes: the epitome of tidiness in our house, since his room is always the messiest. “We are not afraid to look under the bed, or to wash the sheets; we know that life is messy. We know that somebody has to clean it up, and that only if it is cleaned up can we hope to start over, and get better.” -Marsha Norman, quoted in Real Simple, May 2012