fresh

Summer blues and greens make me want to:

a) take a nap in the sunshine, preferably on a warmed bed of grass or

b) go be crazy productive and paint and draw and learn to knit and speak fluent Spanish (also flamenco dancing) 

Hopefully this summer will be equal parts of both. Cheers! 

city by the bay

This post has been a long time coming -- almost two months now -- which is crazy in and of itself. Time is a silent little bugger, moving sneakily through our lives in minutes and hours and days, until it speeds up so fast it's impossible to remember all our yesterdays...or so I've found, but maybe it's just me.

Either way, I think it was a good thing for me to take some time before coming back these photos from my April trip to San Francisco with Mum, since the memories that came flooding back once I did were almost sharper, and definitely more bittersweet. Isn't it funny how life can seem so normal in one place, and in another, even one not that far away, life can seem vastly different. Everything changes. The colors seem sharper, the smells more intense, the buildings more haunting, the people more interesting, and the pace of life is just more. Of everything. I can still feel the balmy wind slicing through my hair as we descended the infamous hills on a rather sketchy give-and-go trolley, and the sense of curiosity that made my eyes try to go everywhere at once -- need I say -- City Lights Books, the beautiful golden bridge (yes that one) the ferries, handmade ice cream cones, and beaches for miles and miles. At it's finest, San Francisco is beautiful; and it is a place that I will always carry in my heart.

(I love you Mum, thank you for everything)

spring delights

I can feel it again in the air -- that rejuvenation -- the one that hits you straight in the chest, and knocks you right down into the soft grass beneath you, the same soft carpet that grows more day by day. Finally, spring is here.

On a weekend note, there's something to be said for sharing a meal with a new friend. It's exciting to hear stories of faraway places and unfamiliar faces -- and more importantly to spill laughs into coffee mugs. Nothing seemed to be more fitting than eating somewhere completely new -- Toast Ballard -- a speciality eatery that promised to fill our brunch bellies with gourmet-drizzled waffles and thoughtfully topped toasts. And we were not disappointed. Fresh flowers and stretches of windy sand didn't hurt either.

there and back again

Call me old-fashioned, but there's something about writing letters that makes my heart feel wistful and happy all at once. It might be something to do with the fact that I'm not very good at vocalizing my feelings, thoughts, day-to-day emotions ect., to others, but hey, I'm working on it. Instead, I like to write letters. I like the fit of a fluid pen in my hand hand, flying across the paper. I like flipping through the pages that curl upon themselves when I'm done writing on them - front and back and margins all filled. I like stamps. I like envelopes. I like writing silly titles across the front. Above all, I like knowing that there's a little piece of me traveling -- across the country, or the state, or the city -- and surprising someone I love. It's an enchanting small interruption to the normalcy of everyday. That's all.

old and new

Getting to share what I love - whether that be a beautiful song, food, place or person - with others is one of those great feelings that floats in and out of life. I was lucky enough to have my cousin come visit me this weekend, and I got to take her to most of my treasured places of Seattle -- to experience the wondering calm of the SAM, the comforts of french pastries at Le Panier, the charm of my favorite used bookstore, the bustle of the Ballard Sunday Market, and the heart-aching beauty of Golden Gardens (one of my favorite places in the entire world). It was one of those weekends that goes and goes, until it's over too quickly and you don't want to open your eyes to the realities of the everyday, or something like that.

songs to soothe

When I went home last I got the opportunity to see The Avett Brothers live. Which was a beautiful experience to say the least. I love the way that music can fill you up - so full -  until you almost can't bear it any longer, and you have to laugh, or cry, or wave your arms above your head in a frenzy (this may or may not have happened). There's something that is so captivating about an experience that so many strangers share, bound together by the lights and the rhythms and the spotlight on stage. It's poetic in the most human way.

(one of my most played, enjoy)

maple sundays

I'm quickly learning to love my new favorite Sunday tradition. A classic maple bar and an apple-ginger cider. The best way to do fall right now, in my humble opinion. It's just the pick-me-up I need after a long week of stuffy noses and lots of homework. Sitting by the the window, calmed by the low bustle of a coffee shop, is my favorite way to catch up on much-needed writing to my friends, and  catching my breath before busyness of the approaching week heads my way.

Here's one of the beautiful quotes I put on a postcard today:

“I don’t suppose I really know you very well - but I know you smell like the delicious damp grass that grows near old walls and that your hands are beautiful opening out of your sleeves and that the back of your head is a mossy sheltered cave when there is trouble in the wind and that my cheek just fits the depression in your shoulder.”

 -Zelda Fitzgerald, in a letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald 

fridays in black and white

Seattle has been rather grey lately, the sunshine of a late summer has passed, and we're left with sprinkles of rain and a cool wind that shakes the colorful leaves from all the trees. Still, there's plenty of beauty left in the coolness,  to be found in the soft blue light of a window, the relief in a warm drink, and the simplicity of the unadorned. I love the way adventures begin, with an idea, a contagion, and a togetherness.