The other day I finished reading A Paris Year by Janice MacLeod and it was the wake up I needed. A full review of the book is coming, just not in this post.
No this post is more about how the book woke me to the beauty that surrounds me, even here in Orlando.
I've never been a fan of where I live but I live here for school and so I tolerate it. While there are some beautiful, picturesque towns around here I don't happen to live in one. That is, I didn't think I did. MacLeod's book reminded me that beauty is in every corner of this Earth, sometimes you just have to go searching for it.
Her entire book is filled with the most beautiful photographs of simple, small details of her day-to-day life in Paris. And yeah, there is definitely an added bonus for it being Paris! But it really got me thinking about how much she sees the world around her. She inspired me to look for the little details around where I live.
I used to be really big in photography. I lived in a beautiful little town in Northern North Carolina and literally everything was picturesque and inspiring. Unfortunately, I don't feel the same about where I live right now I definitely haven't pulled out my Nikon in about a year. It's really quite sad and something I've been meaning to change but haven't yet. (As a side note though, I do find that sometimes it's too big to lug around with me everywhere so I'm thinking about looking for a small point-and-shoot with a good quality lens.)
While I was reading I couldn't help but notice what a beautiful day it looked like outside. So I did something I haven't done in ages...I opened my window to let in the breeze. And the breeze was glorious. The temperature is dropping here and the wind was persistent. Even Oliver was loving the cool breeze.
A Paris Year ends in December as the is a look at a full year in Paris. The mixture of reading about the Holiday season and the cold breeze blowing through my window really through me for a loop. For a minute there I was genuinely confused about what month is it was. It felt so wintery and my head was floating in thoughts of snow but it seriously contradicted with the bright sunshine outside. It took me a hot minute to float remember it was in fact Spring Break and not Winter Break.
But it was nice to float in a Christmas mindset for a few minutes.
After I floated back to reality I realized I needed to go out and buy groceries and that's when I felt a real awakening begin. The sun was beginning to set off in the distance and my porch looked beautiful. The neighborhood looked beautiful. Everywhere I turned my head it was like I was seeing the city for the first time again and this time is was beautiful. The silhouettes of buildings against the clear sky hit me in the gut and took my break away bit. Driving to the grocery store was an inspiring experience
All this is to say that beauty can be found even in the dullest cities. It's hard to see it at first but once you open your eyes, and I mean really open them, the town starts to come alive in its own way that's unique to where you are. And when you finally find those beautiful moments it's like finding a little gold nugget. (This must have been how gold diggers felt during the gold rush.) That little piece of beauty becomes so much more special when you really have to look for it.
Also, I need to get back into photography.
P.S. Can you spot the aeroplane in the picture above?
Go forth and find the beauty.
xo
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