loveliness

A few lovely things for this very cold San Francisco day.

go

Watching this video really makes you want to book a trip. I was kind of on the fence about a trip I was thinking of taking next month, there are always reasons to say no and just stay at home, but I decided to go for it. I read somewhere that if you're having trouble deciding what to do, you should do what you'll wish you would have done when you're 80 years old.

When I'm 80, hopefully playing bingo and skinny dipping every day, I think that it is much more likely that I'll regret staying at home more than I'll regret a crazy, expensive weekend in Vegas with my favourite girls, so why not?

loveliness

This week is so busy, I can't believe how fast it's going by. I also started reading Divergent last night and I'm kind of hooked so I just want this day to be over so I can get back to my book. Here are a few things I'm loving today:

loveliness

Some lovely things I'm liking today:

Links here.

loveliness

A little Thursday inspiration:

inspiration

I took a painting class a few weeks ago, and it was a really great experience. Ever since then I've had an urge to make something, but since I don't really have any idea what I'm doing, I've been thinking of taking another art class, but it seems a bit daunting.

The classes are kind of expensive, but mostly I just can't decide what I'd like to do. I'm torn between a painting class, a pottery class and a mixed-media art class, and I can't decide, so I've been spending a lot of time online marveling at the talent of others, and feeling inferior.

Here are some of the pictures that have been inspiring me lately.

Love this. At some point our bodies might lose the ability to dance, but maybe our souls never do.

Links for all of these picture can be found on my Loveliness Pinterest board, here.

lovely

Just a few images that are making me happy right now, links for all of them can be found on my Loveliness Pinterest board here.

This one deserves it's own space. Alice in Wonderland.

All the best people are.

story people

One of my college room mates introduced me to Story People a few years ago, and I've loved reading them ever since. They are short, usually one or two sentence, stories written by Brian Andreas.

Here are a few of my favourites:

"i don't know how long i can do this, he said. i think the universe has different plans for me & we sat there in silence & i thought to myself that this is the thing we all come to & this is the thing we all fight & if we are lucky enough to lose, our lives become beautiful with mystery again & i sat there silent because that is not something that can be said"

"you're the strangest person i ever met, she said & i said you too & we decided we'd know each other a long time."

"I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that."
 

"deciding everything is falling into place perfectly as long as you don't get too picky about what you mean by place. Or perfectly."
 

"My favorite thing is the wind, she said, & my second favorite is chocolate but I just do that so I don't get too skinny & blow away."

Learn more about Story People here.

what would you be?

I came across this video on Facebook yesterday. It really hit home for me. I think the older you get, the more you can be concerned with what you "should" be doing, rather than with what you are really passionate about doing.

It can be easy to scare yourself into thinking that the things you want aren't possible, and that trying to achieve them will only lead to failure and heart ache.

But maybe if we learn to let go a little bit, veer off the path, and accept that we might not get exactly what we want, but that things might be OK anyways, we might get something even better.

Language is a virus

From Language is a Virus, writing exercise of the day:

Compose a list of familiar phrases, or phrases that have stayed in your mind for a long time--from songs, from poems, from conversation.

Here is my list, and how long they've been hanging out in my head.

1. She was just a really good artist, painting pretty pictures inside my head- my friend Tanner, 6 years ago

2. The Sharks? You mean, like Shark Week?- my friend Amanda, last week

3. Either build your dream, or someone will hire you to build theirs- quote, yesterday

4. Fear of heights is really only fear of self, you don't trust yourself not to jump- White Oleander, 10 years ago

5. Me: Would you marry me with this on my head? Derek: I'd marry you with anything on your head- 10 months ago

6. You think I need love? Honey, men need to be loved. Women, women need to be wanted.- Gemma Teller, SOA, 4 months ago

7. She had a weakness for writers and I, well I was never that good with words anyway- Lucero- 4 years ago

This site has tons of really neat writing exercises, to help with writer's block, or just for fun.

i was trying to describe you to someone...

Saw this on StumbleUpon the other day. Love.

poetry

I have loved the poetry of Sara Teasdale for years. Here are a few of my favourites.

Jewels

If I should see your eyes again,

I know how far their look would go --

Back to a morning in the park

With sapphire shadows on the snow.

Or back to oak trees in the spring

When you unloosed my hair and kissed

The head that lay against your knees

In the leaf shadow's amethyst.

And still another shining place

We would remember -- how the dun

Wild mountain held us on its crest

One diamond morning white with sun.

But I will turn my eyes from you

As women turn to put away

The jewels they have worn at night

And cannot wear in sober day

Doubt

My soul lives in my body's house,

And you have both the house and her --

But sometimes she is less your own

Than a wild, gay adventurer; 

A restless and an eager wraith,

How can I tell what she will do --

Oh, I am sure of my body's faith,

But what if my soul broke faith with you? 

Debt 

What do I owe to you            

Who loved me deep and long?

You never gave my spirit wings   

Nor gave my heart a song.   

But oh, to him I loved,            

Who loved me not at all,

I owe the little open gate

That led through heaven’s wall.

I Have Loved Hours at Sea

I have loved hours at sea, gray cities,
The fragile secret of a flower,
Music, the making of a poem
That gave me heaven for an hour;

First stars above a snowy hill,
Voices of people kindly and wise,
And the great look of love, long hidden,
Found at last in meeting eyes.

I have loved much and been loved deeply —
Oh when my spirit's fire burns low,
Leave me the darkness and the stillness,
I shall be tired and glad to go. 

Learn more about Sara here.

awake in someone else's dream...

Love this. Goodnight :)

Sonnet XVII

Me and that one guy are not a very lovey-dovey or sentimental couple, at least not when there are other people around. We talked about writing our own vows for the big day, but we decided that we would rather do traditional vows, as neither of us really wanted to try to remember or recite our own vows.

We also didn't to keep our guests sitting there sweltering in the July heat any longer than was strictly necessary, but we did want to include something personal and unique. We both love Pablo Neruda's Sonnet XVII and decided to have it read during the ceremony:


I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

The last paragraph, especially, makes me happy every time I read it.

We did end up writing our own vows to each other, and exchanged them a few days before the wedding. It was a very personal and special night for us. Our vows are now sitting in frames on each of our night stand's, to remind us first thing in the morning, and last thing before bed that even if I am being grouchy, or he is leaving his clothes all over the house, at the end of the day, we'd rather be together than apart.