Shaun Tan

If you haven't checked out any of his books, do it. They're mostly illustration, but the few words there are really add to them.

So far I've read Memorial, The Arrival (my favorite!), Tales from Outer Suburbia, and The Lost Thing. My favorite part from the Arrival was the part on secret poems that people write, and what happens to them when you crumple them up and throw them out the window or into the waste basket. I tried to find a picture, but none of them did it justice.



'It floats gently above suburban rooftops... inspiring lonely dogs to bark in the middle of the night.'

The more I know, the faster I fall

Have you ever met one of those people that you just know would be completely, unquestionably perfect with you, if only circumstances were right? Every new thing you find out about them, you realize you are just made to be together? But they just don't know it yet?
(My life described above)


I recently discovered Mike Dooley's Notes from the Universe. www.tut.com It's a new favorite. =]

This was the one I got a few days ago, it just made my day so much better.

"If you would see everything filtered through the light of truth, Laura, you'd never, ever again know sadness, lack, or limits. You'd see that you are safe. Bathed in love. Surrounded by admirers in both the physical and spiritual realms you grace. You'd see only beauty, perfection, and meaning. And you'd realize that just as the stark contrasts of time and space and the illusions of have and have not imprison you, so too can they make possible wings that will lift you higher.

Seek understanding, or as it was once put, seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, and everything else will be added unto you. (Same thing, different audience, grossly misunderstood to this very day.)

Cawwww, cawwwwwww, cawwwwwwwww.... (Soaring bird sounds.)

Tallyho,
The Universe"


I bought myself stuff from Ornamentea (another favorite) for my birthday, and it should be here tomorrow! (squeal) I can't wait. I got a random assortment of birdie charms, and I'm really hoping there will be at least one or two owls in it.

These are all on my wishlist -

Leave me alone, I've got growing up to do.

Today is my eighteenth birthday. Yaay, happy birthday to me. It's my first time celebrating all alone, so I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do. I was so looking for a beautiful day so that I could go for a walk, all by myself (my favorite hobby :)), but alas, it is about 40 and rainy and grey. Maybe it'll improve later on? Right now I'm just settling for my playlist of indie favorites with a cup of tea with lots of pillows and blankets piled up by the window. The only thing that would make this any better is Ben & Jerry's... maybe I can grab a ride later tonight.
But today is rather bittersweet, because I've been waiting to be 18 for so long, but this is the first birthday I've ever had that I felt nostalgic about my age. I though 17 was the best age. Just on the cusp (points for using that in a real sentence?) of technically being an adult, but still able to claim childhood (and not to mention mooching off the parents.. haha).

Another thing I was thinking about... all day I was looking at the people around me, my friends even, hearing them talk and laugh together, and I realized how much I have yet to experience. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out on doing these things when I'm young, but maybe that'll just make them all the better when I finally DO get them? (Fingers crossed)
It's just a little crazy when I think how in 18 years I've never held hands, slow-danced (and I mean REAL slow dancing...), been kissed, or had my first love. But imagining myself doing those things now, I feel like I'd just be a little girl playing grown-up. Do we force adulthood on ourselves before we're really ready? I've always wondered...
I really just want to fingerpaint right now and feel like a little kid. Unfortunately all my art supplies are still at home, there was no room in the dorm. :( So I'll just have to make do with putting on my rainboots and going outside to splash in the puddles.

Playlist of the month

http://www.sendspace.com/folder/9i5egu
^Download link

It's spring for real.

...Or at least it will be in two days.
But there are flowers blooming, robins hopping around, shorts and tank tops are starting to make their appearance, and I have a sunburn, so as far as I'm concerned - it's spring.
And this means it's time to break out the Andrew Bird/Avett Brothers/Beach House/Noah & The Whale/etc. playlist I made last summer. It always makes me so happy. :) I'm just dying to have a spring/summer cd giveaway, but as far as I know no one really reads this anyway. So if you do, prove me wrong. And comment or email your address. (chandeliersky@gmail.com) You might just end up getting a cd. :]



picture from ffffound

my spring break in pictures

naaaaaaaaaame change!

I don't know why. I just felt like changing the name of this baby. Partly because I've felt like optimism is my main characteristic these days. I can't help it, I'm just so freaking happy 24/7. Guess that's not something to complain about, but I'm starting to feel like people can't take me seriously anymore, because I'm constantly grinning like a fool, skipping, and singing. I think it must be a combination of the hopes of spring coming (58 today!!), the taste of real freedom, and... something (or perhaps I should say someone) else who we're not going to talk about extensively. ^-^

Do you know what I don't believe? People who say they never sing in the shower. It's just such a great place to sing! I know deep down that everyone, even people who can't carry a tune to save their lives, no matter what they say, has one of those places where they feel comfortable singing. For me it's while I'm in the kitchen. I just feel like I sound a million times better there. If I do say so myself, I can let loose some killer Queen while I'm cooking. ;)


lovelycluster finds of today:

Sophie Isobel






















Academy J























Bagatelles and Co





















Miss Indie

helpless and hopeless

"Help I'm alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer."
Help I'm Alive by Metric

Merriam Webster says...

infatuation:
1 : to cause to be foolish : deprive of sound judgment
2 : to inspire with a foolish or extravagant love or admiration

Urban Dictionary says...

infatuation:
All-encompassing, gut-wrenching, soul-draining activity that only requires the active involvement of one individual: the obsessor. A second individual is required for the peripheral need of providing the obsessor with an object of needless, unappreciated, possibly unwanted, often unwarranted affection. The second invididual may or may not be aware of his/her peripheral involvement, and may or may not be willing to be peripherally involved: the object's awareness and/or willingness of being an object of desire is of no consequence to the obsessor.
When infatuated, we are thrilled, but not happy, wanting to trust, yet suspicious. There are lingering, nagging doubts about our “partner in infatuation” and their love for us.
We’re miserable when they’re away, almost like we’re not complete unless we’re with them. It’s a rush and it’s intense. Impossible to concentrate, impossible to hold in the foolish grins, impossible to know anything for certain.


Sorry m-w, but urban dictionary nailed that one.

Today's playlist

1. Machine Gun Love -- Matthew Perryman Jones
2. God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get) -- El Perro Del Mar
3. The Giant of Illinois -- Andrew Bird
4. These Days -- St. Vincent
5. Autumn Sweater -- Yo La Tengo
6. Ambling Alp -- Yeasayer
7. Clouds -- The Submarines
8. Mimizan -- Beirut
9. Eve -- Thomas Newman & Peter Gabriel
10. La Mer -- Django Grappelli
11. Train Song -- Feist & Ben Gibbard
12. O Leaozinho -- Priscilla Ahn




“there is pleasure in the pathless woods;
there is rapture on the lonely shore;
there is society, where none intrudes,
by the deep sea, and music in its roar:
i love not man the less, but nature more”

- lord byron

What I'd say to you if I could...

I look up to you so much, and today you just made my day by acknowledging my existence.

Sing me something sad, soft and delicate, or loud and out of key, sing me anything.

You can be such a pain, but you're the best friend I've ever had even though I've never told you.

I'll never forget how you taught me humility. Embarrassing experience, but thanks all the same. I wouldn't have been the same without it.

I pray for you all the time. Be okay. <3