Curating a Creative Life as a Storyteller, Scientist, and Business Leader
I love to learn about objects of beauty that have personal and / or historical significance. Yesterday I walked around the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s jewelry exhibit with my mouth agape because every piece is just so beautiful. I was awestruck and joy-filled by beauty and it’s exactly what I needed. If you can get there, go. And if you can’t, you can see some of the exhibit online. I snapped these pictures of some of the items with their perfectly cast shadows.
“Time’s chief beauty is you can’t waste it in advance. The next year, day, hour lie ready for you, perfect, unspoiled, as if you’d never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose” -Arnold Bennett
Today you get a whole new start. You’ll also get a fresh start in an hour, even in a minute. You are never stuck. Every moment is a chance and a choice to change.
“I promise if you keep searching for everything beautiful in this world, you will eventually become it.” ~Tyler Kent White
Where do you go to find beauty? A museum or gallery? A concert? Nature? Social media?
Wherever you go to seek beauty, I want you to find it and bring it so deeply into your being that you become exactly what you seek. Have a beautiful Monday.
Science and art are not mutually exclusive. There’s so much cross-over, so much cross-inspiration. Be a scientific artist, or an artistic scientist. They are languages, forms of communication about the experience of the world and our place in it. They are dialogues. They are stories of discovery and chance and change. Find them, write them, and share them as clearly as you can. It’s all beautiful.
Couldn’t have asked for a better Saturday! I spent it at the New York Botanical Garden with one of my best friends, and it was delightful. I highly recommend a visit. Stop into the Hudson Garden Grill for a wonderful lunch—it was a perfect way to start the afternoon. The Chihuly glass installation is an incredible addition to these stunning grounds and will be on display until October 29th. Relax and renew your spirit with sights like these:
“The secret to beauty is simple: ‘Be who you are.'” ~Bobbi Brown
This week I’ve been laser-focused on projects that light me up. I’m following my passions and curiosity in many directions. People keep saying to me, “Christa, you sound great. You look great. What’s going on with you?” Friends, it’s about happiness and empowerment. It’s about confidently standing in our own light and allowing ourselves to really be seen and heard. Now is always the time to be exactly, completely, authentically, and unapologetically who we are.
Last weekend, I took Phin over to the Franciscan Monastery’s gardens. It provided a great break from the city and a quiet, beautiful place to clear my mind. Tucked away in an area of Brookland not far from the metro, it’s a city secret worth finding.
No matter how much I love city life (and I do!), I need to be out in nature more often than I have been in the past few years. The water, the fresh air, and the colors of the landscape fill me up in a way that a building, no matter how beautiful, just can’t. This weekend in Pennsylvania, I was surrounded by love, friends, and this amazing view. And it feeds my soul. Once this heat and humidity settle down, I’m going to fulfill my promise to myself to get out into the wilds of Virginia and Maryland and take it all in. Until then, this picture will do. (I snapped it at Ledges Hotel in Hawley, Pennsylvania this weekend.)
I snapped this photo on a rainy walk to work this week and it reminded me about the beauty of the small. Sometimes it’s the small vistas, not the grand ones, that capture our attention. Beauty is everywhere, in everything. Even in the simplest things. Especially in the simplest things. And I want to take the time to really appreciate it.
Yesterday I had my regular call of inspiration and camaraderie with my friend, Sara, one of the wisest people I know. When we hung up the phone, I caught a glimpse of this sunset through a grimy alley in my neighborhood. The light was so rich and intense that it stopped me in my tracks. I ran down the alley and snapped a few photos of the light. I couldn’t get enough of it.
It’s moments like these that remind me that the world we live in is so vast, so incredible. It’s full of magic around every corner if only we will allow ourselves the time and space to see it. It’s not always easy to walk around with your heart on your sleeve, which is where mine has taken up permanent residence. I get knocked around a fair bit. The upside to that is I experience so much more than people who keep their hearts neatly tucked away. The don’t get hurt as much though they don’t love as much either.
Call me crazy, but I’m just fine with the tough times if being open and vulnerable allows me to appreciate sunsets like this, to have friends like Sara, and to experience life in all of its wild and wondrous forms.
Christa Avampato 