Roots and Ramblings

Rousham Estate // Oxfordshire, England

What a grand adventure life is.

I am pretty sure Peter Pan said that, and I have chosen to live by that motto. It makes the present more extraordinary and the future less daunting. The world is filled with wildly interesting people and millions of diverting places. It's not a matter of meeting these people or getting to those far off places, I have learned its a matter of actually seeing what is in front of your face. Often the most captivating people or places I hold most dear are the ones which are closest to me. My roots are the indispensable nourishment I need to move forward into the great abyss. Family, friends, and memories in familiar places have a way of shaping us even when we are far away.

But my ramblings far from home have shaped the form of my growth as life begins to pull me to exciting and new cites. As a kid my parents took my sisters and me to many places where we saw history and nature and spender and spent our birthday money on stuffed animals and flattened souvenir coins. They wanted us to know the world was bigger than the walls of our neighborhood. I always knew there were opportunities for me if I was willing to work hard and take leaps of faith. That hunger to see the world has propelled me toward adventures both big and small, near and far. I consider it a blessing to have a large view of the world, while also having deep roots which keep me energized and encouraged to push on in the direction of my dreams.

This year is an exciting one, and one I do not want to forget. I am a Horticulturist and Landscape Architect in training, so this space will be filled with snippets of gardens and the color green with a splash of flowers. My love for horticulture and garden design has me bouncing all over the world the next 12 months. I am considering myself a formalized nomad as I take a year away from my graduate program in Landscape Architecture to gain experience in horticulture and design.

This summer I will work as a horticulture intern in Delaware at Winterthur Garden and Estate outside of Wilmington. I hope to sweat a lot, always have dirt under my finger nails, and finally apply my formal ed-u-macation in horticulture. In the fall I am traveling to the South of France with a group of Landscape Architects to study garden history and its role in contemporary garden design. I will be the youngest by 30 years most likely, and I can't wait to drink a lot of French wine and soak up every bit of knowledge I can squeeze out of the 11 day tour. I have plans to stay and explore other parts of France and Germany, because once I am over there I may never leave. However, if I do decide to board my flight back over the pond, I will be interning with Lamberts Landscape Company in Dallas in the Spring. They design classical residential landscapes, and I can't wait to sit in their studio and see how their imaginations form each garden.

This blog is my attempt to catalog life's little victories. Short snippets or pictures or thoughts that will allow those who want to catch a glimpse of what I am doing. But this blog is also personally my attempt to capture beautiful moments into my memory through the act of putting my experiences and thoughts into words. 

So ready or not, this rambler is ready to rock and roll. Thanks for coming along for the ride. I hope this space inspires you to step out in little ways, to see the world as your oyster, and to seize ordinary moments and stick them in your pocket. Maybe you can save them for a rainy day.