Keep it simple

I dressed up a bit this morning, adding a necklace to my earrings and t-shirt, before heading to school for a team meeting and some work in my classroom. I hoped that the ensemble would help me with my goal for the next couple of weeks: Keep it simple.

I have this tendency toward complexity. I get caught up in intricacy. An idea pops into my head. It starts small, and then tendrils begin to spread in all directions--connections to draw, parallels to research, tangents to touch upon. Once my mind is whirling, I try to synthesize the mass of information into a logical whole. 

Six large, bulletin boards hang empty on my classrooms' walls. Ideas keep popping into my head. A simple image of how to display student work or create an interactive learning center. And then the tendrils begin to grow. Today, I felt the shell dangling against that dip at the base of my throat--my supra-sternal notch, I guess it's called--and reached to touch my earrings. "Remember, keep it simple."

I made this pair last spring one day after buying a few bags of jewelry findings. Oval rings. Bendable clasps. The simplest of hooks. As I played with the beads and findings, this pair emerged. I like their simple elegance, and that they appear more complex than they are.

That's my goal. Keep it simple.