A Meme!

How fun! Diann over at Eat'n Veg'n tagged me for a meme... I'm supposed to use the letters of my first name or middle name to mention some things about me that you might not know. It's fun!

A is for Art
I was a Fine Arts major in college, specializing in painting and printmaking. I was very lucky to spend about 6 months in Italy studying art in my junior year, where I met my painting teachers Rose & Claire. They are still a very important part of my life, and have had a very profound impact on me over the years. I'm still really interested in art, although I haven't been making much art lately... due in part to a bit of a crisis of confidence. Not so much about my skills, which are basically good, but more about the place of art in society. Fine arts seem increasingly isolated from society (in museums and galleries), and fewer and fewer people consider arts to be important. Many people (most people?) aren't even sure what to do with art or how to interpret it ... and that often includes me even with my history in art. So, currently I am in a long state of artistic hibernation, waiting for an inspiration that will draw my artistic impulses back out into the open. My working idea is a workshop connecting the principles of yoga with the practice of drawing... In the meantime, you can see my last set of works here.

M is for Meandering.
I really love to travel! It is pretty much impossible for me to hear the name of another country and not instantly be overcome with a desire to go there. I have been very fortunate to already have travelled to lots of places... but there are still so many trips I want to take. When I was growing up, I had many opportunities to go to Western Europe, which was really great. I feel very at home in Europe - especially in Italy where I have spent the most time (5 0r 6 visits) & because I speak Italian. However, it was when Musty & I went to India in 2004 that my travel bug became a full-blown infection! India was marvelous & weird & generally uncomfortable in a way that I somehow couldn't get enough of. I found it exhilarating and stimulating, and all of a sudden I became quite a fiend for uncomfortable travel to unfamiliar places. Ha! Musty prefers lounging on the beaches... so I just might take a few trips on my own in the next few years. :)

Some of the places on the top of my wish list these days are: Russia & various smaller formerly Soviet states, Iceland, Scandinavian tour - in winter & also in summer, Spain & Portugal, Jordan-Turkey-Morocco, Dubai, Ghana, South Africa, and most especially Iran!

Trips I have coming up (so far!) in 2008 - India & China. Yeah!

E is for the fake "e" in my name
Well, the cat's out of the bag now! My birth certificate says "Amy," not "Amey." Back in high school, a relative who didn't know me that well spelled it with the "e" - and I thought that was pretty cool. Please keep in mind that in my high school art class there were 4 girls named Amy, two of them were even named "Amy Smith." So I was desperate for a little unique flair. When I went to college, I started spelling it with the "e". A few years after graduating, I attempted to get rid of the "e"... but the masses revolted. Everyone said to me "But... but... you're Amey-with-an-"e"!!" So... I'm stuck with the ramifications of my youthful decision. It is actually useful as a yoga teacher, precisely because it helps people recognize my name on schedules and posters and such... but I still secretly feel more intimately related to my name without the "e."

Y is for Yoga!
I'm sure you all saw that coming. I actually sat around thinking... "What starts with a 'y'??" Ha! DUH. I first took a yoga class when I was in college, and I don't think it was love at first sight... it was a pretty weird class. But a friend of mine who was a graduate student in the art department started teaching free yoga classes on campus 2 times a week. I am so grateful to her. Her classes WERE love at first site, and yoga quickly became a very important part of my life. I was pretty unhappy in college, and had never been even remotely active or athletic. Yoga gave me a way to be active in my body and calmer in my heart. It has been about 12 or 13 years since my first class, and over the years I feel that yoga has been the single most valuable presence in my life. Studying and practicing yoga has helped me in my various relationships, in dealing with life's difficulties, and in my efforts to be a more loving & effective person on this planet. Of course... there is still so much further to go... and I'm even grateful for that. Somehow, yoga has simultaneously built both confidence and humility - both of which I need/ed more of. I love talking about, thinking about, reading about, teaching, and doing yoga! You can read about my yoga life here.

Thanks for the tag Diann!

I'll tag:
Urban Housewife
Conscious Kitchen
Tippitappi