School’s Out

 

 

Today I am grateful for processes and routine. I am grateful for all the lovely people I have had the privilege to work with over the last two years. I am grateful for the handful of people that weren’t especially lovely but who gave me an opportunity to practice tact, patience and empathy. I am grateful for all the help I receive, oh my god, so much help. Most of the time I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve so much love and support. It is everywhere, people are kind, I am thankful for that. I am grateful for my freedom. I am grateful for the opportunity to indulge my restlessness. I am grateful for options. I am grateful for this blog, waiting so patiently for me to return. xx

Sweet Relief

 

 

Things I Love Saturday

 

  • Sipping on a young coconut at Clovelly Beach

 

 

  • Having the nicest head lecturer in the world for one of my Economics subjects/still being able to go to Thailand even though I was silly and booked my flights during semester.

 

  • Adriano Zumbo‘s dessert train at The Star. Think sushi train, but with macaroons…

 

 

  • This wonderful, although temporary, addition to my fortnightly payslip: ‘Annual Leave Loading’

 

  • Sparrow wall decals above my bed

 

 

 

  • Sunday night at The Little Guy (with special thanks to Caitlin’s dad Mike!) I think this is the start of a beautiful tradition.

 

  • Word on the street is my 21-month-old-niece can say my name now. Naturally she refused to comply with her mother’s requests to demonstrate this new skill to me over the phone. She’s strong willed like that.

 

In the words of the Gaslight Anthem,

stay hungry, stay free and do the best that you can.

xx


Four of Wands

 

 

Things I love Saturday


  • Fresh reading material: Yves Saint Laurent Colouring Book published by Walker Books (art therapy for the fashion devotee), The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins (absolutely bereft now that I’ve finished all three), Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (superbly illustrated by Maira Kalman), a dance with worms by Mikala Judith Knight (a book of poetry and prayers given to me by my lovely friend Ele).

 

 

  • Burritos and Coronas from Guzman Y Gomez. Mexican forms the base of my food pyramid.

 

 

  • 12 months of cuteness from this calendar made by Karsten featuring photos of him, Alison and Sophie. (Also: It’s Alison’s birthday today. Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!)

 

 

  • My new furry friend Kevin the Kiwifruit (seen here embracing a Frangelico and Diet Coke), escorted from New Zealand by Fi .

 

 

  • Grass between my toes. I love visiting my mum in Newcastle and getting to frolic in her beautiful garden

 

 

  • Mid-morning pick-me-ups courtesy of my favourite colleague, Bev.

 

 

Wishing you all profound laughter and casual epiphanies on this delightfully sunny weekend.

xx

Tinsel

 

[via]

 

I am so grateful its finally Christmas. I am so grateful for public holidays and time off work. I am so grateful that I get to spend time with my family. I am so grateful my trifle was a success. I am so grateful for my beautiful home town. I am so grateful for empty roads. I am so grateful for my shiny new MacBook. I am so grateful I was able to attend the annual Hart Family Christmas Eve Extravaganza. I am so grateful that my social obligations for the Christmas period are now over and I won’t be required to awkwardly air kiss any more acquaintances. I am so grateful for festive movies and tacky holiday earrings. I am so grateful for Santas waving from utes and Michael Bublé carols. I am so grateful for bad jokes and paper hats. I am so grateful for new traditions and occasionally having no traditions at all.

 

May your holiday season be amicable, relaxing and safe. xx

 

 

Magic Eye

 

I’ve started writing all my chronic thoughts down, or at least, the ones I’ve finally realised are on high rotation in my head.

 

Its funny, what passes for unquestionable logic in my convoluted mental maze doesn’t seem so sound once put on paper.

 

‘I have absolutely no fucking idea what I’m doing with my life’ has been a recent malignant mantra of mine.

 

But set against the feint ruled lines of my journal the melodrama of this repeated proclamation becomes obvious to me.

 

While there is much I am unsure of at this particular juncture of my life, there are so many things about which I am absolutely certain.

 

I know the kind of woman I want to be (and that at my best I am already her). I know that I am loved, unconditionally, and I know the people for whom I would do absolutely anything. I know that I am strong, resilient and tenacious. I know what I want more of: more love, more joy, more purpose, more ways to contribute, more juicy challenges, more growth, more adventure. I know that what I look for I will find, I know that I will always get more of what I focus on.

 

And that’s enough.

 

Brand New

[via]

 

 

You are a new person in every moment, constantly shifting and expanding. Do not drag old hurts across these clean pages but rather summon only what is gorgeous and bright into this fresh reality. Invoke the power of your greatest triumphs, deepest loves and most profound joys. Rewrite your destiny after the sun goes down, this glow is everlasting.

 

 

Duopoly

 

 

[via]

 

“I must learn to love the fool in me–the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of my human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my Fool.”

 

- Theodore Rubin

 

 

Hide & Seek

[via]

 

I hope today was beautiful for you, I hope you made it so. I hope you left your fear at home, like a forgotten but ultimately unneeded umbrella.  I hope you told your insecurities you would meet them in the lobby in ten minutes and then, when their backs were turned, sprinted for the nearest fire escape. I hope by now you’re a hundred miles away and they’ve no hope of tracking you down. (Don a fake moustache just in case, consider affecting an accent.)

 

Miles of Riverside Canebed

 

The news has come,
but you have not heard.

 

Jealousy has changed to love.
Do you have any love left?

 

The moon has opened its face
and its wings made of light.

 

Borrow eyes to see this,
if yours cannot.

 

Night and day an arrow comes toward you
from a hidden bow.

 

If you have no shield
and nowhere to hide from the death
that is always coming closer,
you may as well yield.

 

The copper of your being
has already been transmuted to gold
by Moses’ alchemy, and yet you fumble
in a moneybag for coins.

 

You have within you an Egypt,
miles of riverside canebed,
the source of all sweetness,
yet you worry whether candy will come
from a store outside yourself.

 

External form, you reach for shapes,
yet you are the Joseph.

 

Close your eyes, and gaze in the mirror,
at the flame that lit your senses.

 

Your body is a camel going swift
and straight to the Kaaba.

 

You think you are idling around town
on a donkey, or heading off
the opposite way, but you are not.

 

This caravan is a triumph
being drawn directly into God’s reality.

 

 

- Rumi, as translated by Coleman Barks