Keep calm

(via tumblr)

          I'm not very fond of the increasingly popular Keep Calm and *insert wholesome-y feel good phrase* posters. But this gem is a titillating exception! There's only so much calm keeping a girl can handle, sometimes a bitch just snaps....

content

(via barnes & noble)

           On Valentine's day, I posted my favorite e.e. cummings poem. He's easily one of my favorite poets (along with the rest of the world, and with good reason) but I just realized that I don't even have one book of his poems. This is the prettiest books I could find and it's available to order from Barnes! Right now all I want is this book, and brand new moleskine, and a cup of tea- I couldn't imagine being more content!

i carry it in my heart

(via tumblr)

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

         It's my absolute favorite love poem by e.e. cummings. I don't care how over used it is or will ever become, it will never stop being my favorite. Happy Valentines darlings!

On seduction..

(via pinterest)

          Just a little lesson on seduction... It's not just about those cheeky little undergarment numbers, kids.

Consistency

(via designsponge)

            Sometimes, when everything around us seems so absurdly uncertain, it feels so nice to have something consistent. Even if that thing is as tumultuous and foreboding as the unruly waves of the sea. This is the curse of comfort.

Insatiable

(via Wednesday)

          George Burns said "I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate." But I say that if you find something you love so much you're willing to look like a complete blundering fool for it, you've already succeeded. Passion, in its insatiable state, is everything.

A nice reminder

(via wednesday)

          I just remembered, that a good friend of mine once told me that it's important to remember that everyone feels the same as everyone else, just not at the same time. That's a really nice thing to be reminded of. Sometimes, she's really insightful- thanks Nicole!!

Thing we say which we owe to Shakespeare

(via tumblr)

        ....the man's a genius. 

Thanks for a fantastic year!

(via dinner a love story)

         

          Okay. Before I say anything about the holidays I have to mention that it has been a year and four days since the birth  ofmy blog! Big thanks to all my readers (the far and few!). Lately, I've been sort of falling of the wagon with things, and it's nice to be able to look back at my first post about the meaning of wabi-sabi, and my intent to use this blog to help me live by its mantra. It's time to get back on track, folks! ...and on that note, on to my thoughts about this Thanksgiving (p.s. here is last years thanksgiving post- that whole last year bit felt weird!!!)

          Lately I've been on a total Wes Anderson kick, but I'm particularly obsessed with Fantastic Mr. Fox... again. I watched it for about a week straight when it came out on dvd, obnoxiously quoted scenes, and started to say What a clustercuss!!! Now that the holidays are rolling around, it's been on my mind a lot (and, yes, the same symptoms ensue). At first, I thought it was peculiar that that movie would remind me of the holiday because there are obviously no apparent alludes to Christmas or Thanksgiving. But then, yesterday as I was sitting at a tiny undecorated table with my mom and sister it hit me. As I quietly ate our Thanksgiving meal that tried so terribly hard to be American (made of turkey aand ham, white rice, corn, Hawaiian crab salad, an assortment of Japanese pickles and kimchi, rice balls, and stuffing), I realized that Fantastic Mr. Fox and most other Wes Anderson films (especially The Royal Tenanbaums!) reminded me of the holidays because they are all about families, and dysfunctional ones at that.

          Holy turkey did I have an unusual Thanksgiving! My sister, mom, and I visited my Bachan who now lives in downtown LA (little tokyo, of course), but lived the first half of her life in the country side of Japan. She's not very American and doesn't understand our Thanksgiving holiday very well... needless to say, it hardly felt like Thanksgiving dinner at all. Thankfully, the tides turned after the meal, when we began to ask her about her childhood and where she grew up (very mysterious things to us since we can hardly make sense of most of the stories she tells). She told us about our family in Japan, where they live, and even showed us loaaads of old pictures.

          Somewhere over the weekend, I read this really simple but honest quote: “The small things of life were often so much bigger than the great things … the trivial pleasure like cooking, one’s home, little poems especially sad ones, solitary walks, funny things seen and overheard.” This year's Thanksgiving was definitely not what I'm used to nor anything I'd prefer, but just like all of Wes Anderson's uncomfortable and unorthodox families, we always seem to come to terms with our family's uncouth quirks and even somehow learn to cherish them.

And, just like the movie goes, there's something kind of fantastic about that, isn't there...

Sunday night pick-me-up

(via richard heller gallery)

"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 human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my fool."

-- Theodore I. Rubin, MD

It did happen...

(via lost)



"This Photograph is my proof. There was that afternoon, when things were still good between us, and she embraced me, and we were so happy. It did happen. She did love me. Look see for yourself!'

This is My Proof, Duane Michals, 1974

I love love love Duane Michals! Which is bizarre because I'm not really a photography person. (I think that's mostly because I just don't understand photography enough to actually get it get it.) But, Duane Michals is no mere photographer, he's an amazing poet. He's known for pairing his beautiful black and whites with words to make his art more personal and understandable (and trust, understanding is something I greatly need when it comes to photography). The handwritten text is so intimate and it gives the viewer a totally new perspective of his images. It's kind of like getting to peek inside Duane Michals head. This piece is my current obsession. The photograph itself seems happy-go-luck, but it's textual revelation is mindblowingly heartbreaking. A momentous laps of time is represented by a few understated words. It is beautiful. And unbelievably relatable. Everywhere I look there are pictures just like this one.  

All the happy people...

(via buzzfeed)

    All the happy people ....where do they all come from?

    New York, apparently. (side note: Eleanor Rigby is my all time favorite Beatles song) I just felt the urge to wish all the happy newlyweds one big giant CONGRATS!!! I think it's especially sweet to see the old, wrinkly, and at-the-end-of-the-match couples finally get to walk down the isle/court house steps with their lifetime beau!

I've been eyeing this thought provoking poster for a while now, and this seems like the perfect time to post it...

(via pinterest)

I totally agree.

A few months ago, I posted this video- I can't help but wonder how ecstatic this kid was to hear the news...

Thursday pick-me-up

(via ali loves curtis)

Gather ye rose-bud while ye may, old time is still a flying. And this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.

-Henry David Thoreau

Monday pick-me-up

(via you are my fave)

For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long return.

-Leonardo da Vinci

Friday pick-me-up

(via designscouting)

Sanity is very rare: every man almost, and every woman, has a dash of madness.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wednesday Pick-me-up



"Let everything happen to you

Beauty and terror

Just keep going

No feeling is final"

- Rainer Maria Rilke

Content

Orchids are my favorite flower. They are beautiful and eerie. They are dainty but gallant. They seem fragile yet also so unyielding. But most of all they give you a sense that they are content.  Whether they are or aren't, only an orchid knows. Still, orchids are my favorite flower.

dream

(via {frolic!})

     

"What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it"

- Johann von Goethe

Happy Sun(ny)day

(via absolutely beautiful things)

     Best advice I've gotten all day long! It's sunny and breezy, and there are a million beautiful things to be thankful for!

Claudine and Mia



Meet Claudine and Mia... Mom, Jenna (from Sweet Fine Day), occasionally posts the sweetest snippets of their conversations and daily adventures. And let me tell you, these girls know how to say it like it is. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

Claudine “When you’re a grown up, all there is to do is talk and work, drink coffee, eat spicy food and watch kids. Booooring!”


Mia “Sometimes when I get excited I don’t show it. I just wiggle my toes instead.”

Claudine (as she admires her outfit): “ooh, I look so pretty. I love this dress. People are going to see me and say, ‘Hey, I like that kid!’”.




But, my all time favorite quote goes to Claudine:
Claudine (when asked why she is so cute): “Because I have a fat head.”
And so, at this time, I'd like to give Claudine a shout out and say, "Tell 'em girl! Coming from a fellow fat head, embrace it!! We have fat heads and we're fabulous!!!"

Ps. Not only are these girls nauseatingly adorable, they also have a super rad (and smokin') asain momma who owns and runs her own bakery with her husband!!! They totally just jumped ahead a few notches on my cool list...