My Life In Color

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I noticed recently that I have two distinct color palettes.  I have a Hawaii palette and a Mainland palette.  I have been playing with photoshop and as I scroll through months worth of photos the color difference is incredibly distinct.

In Hawaii I'm attracted to bright blues, pinks, greens and then back them up with softer hues found in nature.  

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On the Mainland I'm attracted to darker, richer colors.  My little apartment is full of burgundy, orange, turquoise and magenta.  I have tons of 'tropical colored clothing' and I have a tough time wearing them.  Instead I wear navy blue, brown and gold...like a lot.

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What colors are you attracted to?

Mettle Mission :: Day Forty Five

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Here's a little Nautie History.  

I had a tough ship as Third Mate.  My Chief Mate was a 'very not nice man' (insert every bad word you can imagine).  He made my life hell.  I cried all the time.  I was going to quit.

Then I had this epiphany - if I did my absolute best, if I defaulted to absolute professionalism, if I answered every one of his inquiries with absolute positivity - he'd eventually wear himself out - or better yet, he'd be the one who looked like a loser even though he was doing everything in his power to make me look like a total reject.

I realized that it was a matter of me biding my time.

I had an arsenal of 'biding my time' survival tactics.

I made a playlist full of antsy rock songs that I listened to non-stop.  I decorated my room full of photos of home and happy things.  I had three plain white t-shirts that I transformed with sharpies and glitter glue.  One said, 'Make Puttanesca'.  One said, 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'.  The last one said, 'Hakuna Matata'.

Long story short:  very not nice man ended up getting escorted off the vessel by the Coast Guard after pretty much diving off the deep end.  I ended up smelling like a rose, a professional rose.

Hakuna Matata.

Via

Via

Until I get a job there will be a daily Mettle Maker - we're on a mission - a mission to get a job and maintain mettle - so we'll call it the Mettle Mission.

Nautie Books :: March 2014 - When Things Fall Apart

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Ahem, none of you noticed that I dropped the ball for a book selection in February!  Where are my fellow bookworms?!

Luckily, Marilyn was to the rescue and dropped a book title in the comments just in time.

Meet March's selection:

When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron

Pema Chodron is is an American Buddhist Nun but she's currently in Nova Scotia at the Gampo Abbey.  I like her just by looking at her photo.

Here's what Amazon has to say about it:

The beautiful practicality of her teaching has made Pema Chödrön one of the most beloved of contemporary American spiritual authors among Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. A collection of talks she gave between 1987 and 1994, the book is a treasury of wisdom for going on living when we are overcome by pain and difficulties. Chödrön discusses:
   •  Using painful emotions to cultivate wisdom, compassion, and courage 
   •  Communicating so as to encourage others to open up rather than shut down 
   •  Practices for reversing habitual patterns 
   •  Methods for working with chaotic situations 
   •  Ways for creating effective social action

I'm about 10 pages in.  It's gentle and poignant.  I'm enjoying it - more like savoring it.  I read a few sentences and then set it down but then I pick it back up.  Aren't those the best kind of books?

Thanks for the recommendation Marilyn!  

I can't wait to hear what you all think of this one.

Also, I apologize for that image...it's terrible...but, alas, I'm not a designer and just making rectangles in photoshop took me waaay too long.  It is what it is (Lauren don't look too long!)...