Find your path

When I was in college a woman spoke to us about her work. She was a landscape architect, she told us about her work on native restoration projects, and campus, residential and park designs. One project she talked about changed my course. She worked with a local school to take an alley and turn it into a vibrant park space. She incorporated their ideas and their art into the park. This gave the community a sense of pride and ownership in the space. This experience led me to decide to go back to school to study landscape architecture. After working in landscape architecture offices for seven years, I was laid off late last year and it has given me the time and opportunity to find my way back on that path that I originally set out on.

I have always loved working with kids and what could be better than creating places that instill a connection between youth and their environment.  I have been volunteering with students to create a Kinder"Garden". This Earth Day I hope you take a bit of time to find your path to see what you do to make the world a little bit better.

Go take a hike

April 16-24, 2011 is National Parks Week and I hit up Yosemite a week early. If you can take some time I'd definitely recommend hitting the road to see the waterfalls in action and thank mother nature for being the true master of design.

The road less traveled

This is the Vallejo Street Hill.

I will often walk three extra blocks to avoid this hill. This is the hill I dread parking on because it is inevitable that your car will be hit by the weight of a neighboring car's door. Looking up this hill from the bottom you may think it has no redeeming qualities.

But this hill is also the place where I have seen strangers help each other with groceries because they understand the effort it takes to climb it. And yesterday, I was walking down this hill when the girl in front of me was inspired to lay down and roll down the hill as if it were a hillside of grass. As she laid down her friend ask "What are you doing? Are you crazy?" Ignoring her friend and what ever filth she encountered on the sidewalk - she rolled and we all laughed. It was great. It takes that type of gift to bring out those things that inspire us, to give a place value.