Tips for Nervous Flyers

Hello, all!  Summer 'tis upon us and with summer comes air travel for many people.  With the people I've talked to on flights, typically everyone is hoping we stay safely in the air.  So, you're not alone if you're a nervous flyer!  It's totally normal to be anxious!  I've only met one or two people in my lifetime who think absolutely nothing about sitting in a chair 37,000 feet above the ground.  I myself stay on high alert the whole time I am in flight, so that I can keep the plane in the air with my thoughts!  On my recent flights this summer, however, I flew armed with a "Relaxation for Panic Attacks when Flying" script from my therapist (http://www.innerhealthstudio.com/panic-attacks-when-flying.html), and it gave me some tools to cope with my anxiety and the confidence to finally say that I might be able to relax more on many flights to come.

Here are 10 tips from the script and from me (towards the end):

1. Focus on relaxing your whole body with focused attention on each part of it, especially the movement of your stomach as you inhale and exhale.

2. Acknowledge all the scary thoughts you have about flying and how they make you feel, then wave them goodbye as you focus on more positive and constructive thoughts.

3.  Repeat to yourself that you are safe and that you are A-OK.  Everything is copacetic.

4. Imagine a happy place down to the very last detail.

5. Imagine yourself arriving at your destination.  How happy, relaxed, and victorious you are: you faced your fears and did the scary thing!

6. Activate the right side of your brain through drawing every detail you see or coloring in a coloring book.

7. Read a book that you've been excited about reading.

8. Talk to your neighbors.

9. Meditate on the wonder that is your hand.  Really think about and appreciate every detail.

10. Listen to music that makes you laugh with happiness, sing along (silently), or dance in your seat.  Here are a few songs on my playlist that invoke positive vibes for me:

Na-NaNa-Na--Nelly
As Long As You Love Me--Justin Bieber
If I Ain't Got You--Alicia Keys
Move Along--The All-American Rejects
Rockin' the Suburbs--Ben Folds
Work It Out (Radio Edit)--Beyonce'
Gotta Have You--The Weepies (helps me picture a happy place where I'm lying on my back in a blue boat, humming a tune. :) )

So there you have it, Nervous Flyers!  Take the scary thing by the horns and remember, if you hit rough air or turbulence, know that it is a natural result of flying through the sky!  Everything is okay!

Fall in NYC

Last weekend my three friends and I took a lil road trip to NYC.  It is impossible to put NYC into words.  There is so much to see and do.  So much culture!  So much humanity and time spent on the subway!  So many personalities weaving in and around each other every day!  In other words, New York City is special.

We were trying to go to the galleries in Chelsea and got off on the 23rd St stop, but it ended up being in Long Island City next to the MoMA PS1.  So we went there.  Carolee Schneemann was one of the artists featured, as well as video from the underground art scene of the 60s and 70s.  Cathy Wilkes  was also on view, but her work didn't resonate with me the way Carolee Schneemann's did.  Schneemann began as a painter in an Abstract Expressionist, male-dominated field.  Apparently it was suggested to her that she become a nude model instead of a painter.  Thankfully she rejected that notion, but did use her body to express the power of a free woman.  I saw work that I had only read about: photo documentation of The Interior Scroll,, a performance in which Schneemann pulls a scroll from her vagina and reads it aloud as she unrolls it. Meat Joy, in which scantily clad men and women sensually play with each other's bodies and a variety of raw meat.  I could not hear the Motown soundtrack that was supposed to be playing during the performance, so I was disappointed that I did not get the full effect of the piece.  But Schneemann was a pioneer of performance art, of feminist art, and of the requirement of artists to break down social taboos.  She worked with a variety of processes, from performance to collage to video.  It's definitely worth a trip to see her work before it comes down March 11, 2018.  

At the original MoMA, Louise Bourgeois's prints were on display, along with a few of her sculptures.  As I had only seen her spiders in Washington, D.C. and Bentonville, AR, I did not realize that she had worked in prints and art books.  Or that she was the one responsible for drawing a woman as half a house.  Her interest and application of architecture to her prints were so unique, and I also did not know that she was into feminist art and what it means to have a female body, from daughter to mother and back again.  Her screenprints were the most exciting to me, especially in the fabric artist books that were on display.

For our evening entertainment, we went to the comedy clubs The Grisly Pear and The Comedy Cellar, both great fun!  If you don't have tickets for the Comedy Cellar and show up around show time, you might still get in if you're lucky!  It's worth a try!  If you check out their website, they save a few seats for showtime in order to not oversell the seats.  We were able to get in to the 12:15 show.  So if you're in NYC and looking for a good laugh, it's worth it to check out the Comedy Cellar and The Grisly Pear.  :)

Greetings from Summertime: Road trips and Crystal Bridges

Hallo, friends!  It has been a while and I do apologize for lack of blog updates, but this one will be a twofer: a rocking road trip playlist and a review of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Chihuly exhibit.  

This summer I have driven back and forth between Pennsylvania and North Carolina five times, between North Carolina and Arkansas twice, and between Arkansas and Kansas City, MO twice.  So you can imagine all the tunes I have listened to while enjoying all that open road and drive time.  When driving by yourself for several hours at a time, jams are of the utmost importance, in addition to podcasts and audiobooks.  When my mom and I travel together, we listen to the series of books by the veterinarian James Herriot.  He was a vet during the 1930s and beyond in the UK, and his word selection, heart, and humor are a delight to listen to.  If you like animals and laughing out loud, try All Creatures Great and Small, his first book.

As for podcasts, I have enjoyed the interviews of You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes and The Moth's stories, but I have recently discovered My Dad Wrote a Porno.  It is full of funny and explicitly sexy things.  Give it a listen and let me know what you think. :)

And as for rocking out, please enjoy the following:

1. Tom Sawyer-Rush
2. My Sharona-The Knack
3. Shut Up And Dance-Walk the Moon
4. Alright-John Legend
5. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)-Eurythmics
6. Open Road Song-Eve 6
7. Bitch Better Have My Money-Rihanna
8. Sabotage-Beastie Boys
9. Seven Nation Army-The White Stripes
10. Your Love-The Outfield
11. Take Me Away-FeFe Dobson
12. Breathing-Yellowcard
13. Intergalactic-Beastie Boys
14. Take It Off-The Donnas
15. Heartbreaker-Pat Benatar
 

Sure, some of it is not technically rock, but rocking is more about attitude than genre. :)

Now on to the Crystal Bridges Chihuly Exhibit: it was awesome!  The variety of forms, the colors, the light, the organization of the show, everything was perfection.  In addition to his glasswork, there were also drawings and paintings essential to Chihuly's process.  There were also three short films on view to help the viewer gain insight into how much he pushes the material to its limits and how collaborative his studio is.  There are also installations outdoors that show how much Chihuly has extended the boundaries of glasswork.  I recommend going around sunset to see the glow of light and color in the glass.  Also, it will be somewhat cooler.  Arkansas is HOT in the summer, so wear something light and breathable.  I wasn't able to see much of the Crystal Bridges permanent collection, but what I did see was varied, contemporary, and important to the history of art.  If you are in the Mid-South or near it, Crystal Bridges is worth a trip for any art lover.  Admission to the main museum is free thanks to WalMart, and the Chihuly exhibit is about $20.

Enjoy the road, the summer, and wherever you may travel!

An Awesome Weekend in Charleston

This past weekend I was finally able to visit Charleston and see if it really is worthy of its rivalry with Savannah.  I have decided that it is.  However, I cannot decide if one really is better than the other.  I think they are both equal members of the Best Cities to Visit group.  I went with my friend Kendall, who is also artsy and travel minded.

We met in Charleston at our hotel, the Motel 6.  It was the cheapest place to stay and it was about 15-20 minutes away from everything, so it wasn't too shabby.  Everything was easily accessible via the highway.  Bay Street Biergarten (baystreetbiergarten.com)  was our first stop for dinner and drinks.  We both got spaetzle with parmesan cream sauce, sauteed onions and mushrooms, and slices of fried pork belly adorning the top.  It was goooooood, especially with a nice Hefeweizen to accompany it.  From there we went to the Faculty Lounge, a dive bar/dance club.  We both got a drink with rum in it, and boy was there rum.  We chatted and drank and people watched, but no one was on the dance floor.  We did leave a little early, around midnight, so that could account for no one dancing, but oh well.  It was a good drink and a nice atmosphere; the bartenders were both super nice.  

On Saturday morning we got up early for breakfast at IHOP and a tour of the harbor followed by a horse-drawn carriage tour.  Charleston Harbor Tours and Palmetto Carriage Works were the providers (charlestonharbortours.com, check out combo tours).  Each tour was great.  The harbor tour is a little fuzzy because I was sleepy, but I enjoyed learning about the history of Charleston from a nautical perspective.  We left the car at the harbor and walked to Palmetto Carriage Works, where we checked in for the 12:30 tour.  Everything was in walking distance so we walked through the City Market (thecharlestoncitymarket.com) and by the time we saw everything it was time to go back to check in for the carriage ride.  

The carriage ride was also enjoyable, our tour guide/driver was very knowledgeable and friendly.  I wish I could remember his name!  We drove by the harbor, through the French Quarter, down Rainbow Row, past many historical houses, and the city market, for an hour.  Lots and lots of history that is all a blur to me now, but was really entertaining when we were on the tour.  Also, while it was really hot in Charleston, the carriage ride was actually pretty cool due to the roof on our carriage and the famous winds and breezes that made walking around a little more tolerable in the heat.  It was time for lunch, so we went to a crab place that was near the city market.  I wish I could remember the name of it!  I'm kicking myself for not checking in there.  Anyway, I had a delicious shrimp po'boy, Kendall had a crab cake sandwich, and we had fried green tomatoes to start.  Everything was great.  The shrimp was fantastic.  Charleston is the place to get shrimp!

After lunch, we walked back through the French Quarter to check out as many art galleries as possible.  I noticed that much of the artwork could fall into these categories: landscape, seascape/nautical theme, still life, non-objective, realism, and people.  Most of these galleries were like the ones that you would find anywhere, with nothing really new and unique.  The last gallery we were able to go to had some interesting contemporary genre paintings that were priced at about $13,000-$15,000 dollars.  The pricing for some of the work I saw was crazy and eye-opening: there's no rhyme or reason to how artwork is priced!  By the time we visited our last gallery it was 5pm, and apparently many things shut down at 5pm on Saturdays in Charleston, which surprised us.  We weren't able to visit Robert Lange Studios or the Halsey Institute for Contemporary Art, so possibly more cutting edge stuff would have been found there.  

On our way to find some pralines for my mom, a girl stopped us to offer us samples of Italian ice, which we ended up buying, and thank goodness because it was hot!  When we walked into River Street Sweets (riverstreetsweets.com) they gave us warm samples of pralines that you could just taste the butter in.  I bought a pound and they threw in another half pound.  They are the same company that sells pralines along River Street in Savannah, but we thought the Charleston ones tasted better.   

We went back to the hotel room to regroup before going to see an improv show at Theater 99 (theatre99.com), but when we called about their ticketing procedures we found out they were sold out for that evening's show.  Bummer!  However, one of the gallery owners had told us about Boxcar Betty's and the Early Bird Diner, so we decided to head to Boxcar Betty's (boxcarbetty.com) for dinner.  We each got a different sandwich so we could split them and share, plus an order each of fried pickled green tomatoes and fried pickles.  The sandwich that I got was called the Chicken and Not So Waffle.  It had Pimiento Cheese, Bacon Jam, Tomato, Maple Bacon Sauce, and Maple Syrup on it.  Kendall got the Boxcar, which had Pimiento Cheese, Peach Slaw, Spicy Mayo, and Housemade Pickles.  We both decided the Chicken and Not So Waffle was the best.  By this time, we found out the night tour about the shady history of Charleston was also sold out, so we decided to go see "Inside Out" at a local movie theater.  

The next day, we went to the Early Bird Diner for breakfast (earlybirddiner.com).  There was a slight wait, but it was totally worth it.  I got the shrimp and grits and Kendall got a mess of something delicious.  We each got a biscuit with our meals and they were also deelish.  Afterwards, we went to Folly Beach (follybeach.com).  It was by far the best beach experience I have ever had.  There wasn't much public parking; everyone just parked along the street.  We parked a few blocks away and walked to the beach.  It was HOT!  Kendall and I agreed later that Portugal wasn't even as hot when we visited there in July/August 2008.  We rented some chairs and an umbrella close to the water's edge and just basked in the state of being at the beach.  We sat for hours just enjoying the State of Being.  When we finally got into the water it was perfect: tepid, with gentle waves.  The bottom was nice and sandy and shallow.  We would have had to go pretty far out to be in waist deep water.  We swam for a bit, then just sat in the surf and chatted.  It was so lovely.  We had to get out of the water when the lifeguard said there was lightning in the area, so we took that as our cue to go home.  Folly Beach has now topped Oak Island as My Favorite Beach.

All in all, an Awesome Weekend in Charleston!  :D