tips from a friend.

i got the chance
to spend the afternoon
with an young friend
today.
a special treat.


i learned a few things by just
being
with him.
perhaps i thought you might like to
hear.


ready?


number one:
read-a-louds really do
make car trips
go by faster.


number two: 
when excited, jump up and down because
actions really do speak
louder than words.


number three:
hold hands.
it's more fun.


number four:
if the opportunity presents itself
paint your face to match your
shirt.


number five:
your never too old
{or too young}
to throw your head back
and enjoy a good
knock-knock joke.

                                                                      

number six:

every place is just another

opportunity

to make new people 

fall in love with you.

life lessons

people.

- n.

the day of love

Valentine's Day.

Here you are again.

Oh boy.

This holiday and I have always seemed to have a bit of a strained, but funny, complex, yet simple, and all the while a slightly bitter relationship. It's really not my fault entirely that this holiday and I have been on the fritz for most of my years now. 

Perhaps it's because the holiday revolves around pastel pinks & sassy reds while I am much more of a deep green & autumnal yellow girl. Or maybe it's because I secretly think roses are drab little flowers. But, honestly if I could place the blame anywhere {and I'm about to} I would put it, one-hundred percent, twenty absolutely's, and a service full of hallelujahs on:

High School.

It was the high school  l o v e  that I was not about. The awkward hand-holding, the carnation giving, the boxes of chocolate, and don't get me going about those little stuffed teddy bears. Barf. 

In high school.

On Valentine's Day

this girl wore 

black.

Yes black.

From head to toe.

I like to fancy this young push back against society as my earliest flirtations with my feminist awakening ... {wink. wink. elbow. elbow}

And while I would hate to limit and dismiss any rumblings of political engagement, I think there was something much simpler that I saw missing in my high school environment.

l o v e

for

oneself.

It might sound silly,

But I believe this is some of the hardest work of all.

Sometimes I need small reminders.

To choose myself.

To love the quirks.

The failures.

The aspiration.

To accept myself right now

just as I are ...

even without the list of New Years Resolutions.

It's hard work.

Hard, hard work.

Easier for some than others.

But it's our work

And it's good work

And that my friends ...

That is  l o v e. 

Sending you all my  l o v e  today.

From this girl,

who this year is wearing pink!!

- n.

{actually, no no. I couldn't do it. I can still celebrate and wear green. I can!}

Happy Valentine's Day.

another world.

shhhh.


can you hear it?
can you hear the
moving
shifting
coming
turning...?

in the coffee brewing.

in the snow melting drip by melodic drip.

in the sun finally showing himself.

in the lights of morning traffic.

in the rhythm of typing keys.

can't you?
can't you hear it?


in the spontaneous purchased flowers.
in the friend's honest answer.
in the shaky 'no' exercised today.
in your newest idea.
in the chance encounter.

yes. 
there it is now.
you can feel it.
you can.

in that moment with the radio.
in your boy's innocent question.
in the rhythm of typing keys.
in the brighten candle.
in the rise and fall of your breath.

another world.
it's brewing.
if you listen
{and you must listen}
we can hear her breathing . . .

 - n.

post inspired by one of my favorite novelist, Arundhati Roy.

necessary mornings.

some mornings there
is only one thing
that can 
possibly be done.


so when the
weather gauge
is lamenting the tale
of negative numbers.


when that long lost
white substance
is making it's 
fall to join us on earth.


one must take
the necessary steps
this sort of morning presents.


put on the kettle.
snuggle into your best scarf.
tuck the laptop under your arm.
and start the day

in bed. 

and don't forget
your cuppa 
tea.

little bit of everything

so the Dawes inspired me.

and i couldn't help it.

| it's a little bit of everything |
it's the sunshine | it's the breeze

| it's the stacks of reading |

| it's the hope for a friend |

| it's believing the words around me | 

| it's the trusting when i can't |

 | it's the little bit of everything |

- n.