My name is Lillian and...

 

I have a peanut butter addiction.

I eat it with a spoon. Straight from the jar. All the time. 

on a summer holiday

I've just returned to Wellington after a stunning summer holiday in the Coromandel. Gosh nothing beats a beautiful New Zealand summer! A good friend joined me for a few days and we had a mini tiki tour around Hahei beach and Cathedral Cove. Ahhhhhh!

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

i heart auckland

  

 

a Sunday drive

in all the world

one of my most favourite things IN ALL THE WORLD is when you spend so long in the bath your finger tips turn into wrinkly raisins x

found things make me happy

words for today and the rest of my life

image found here

Winning!

I just won the Australiasian Graduate of the Year Award - 1st prize!!!! BOOM! So excited! Hurrah!

There are so so so many amazing people that have helped me over the last couple of years and I'm just so grateful x

welcome May

Oh Hello, it's May don't you know?

Have I told you how much I love Autumn? I really really do. And I think it's one of the very best things about it already being May. I just can't get over how crazy fast this year is flying by.

This was such a beautiful morning...

just after the dawn service on ANZAC day.

i miss autumn

One of the things I miss most about living down in Christchurch is autumn. It's so beautiful to walk through Hagley Park, in the crisp April air, carrying a handful of crunchy leaves home in my pockets. I'm a little sad that Wellington doesn't have the same gorgeous Autumn leaves and I always find it surprising just how colourful the city becomes when I go home.

Pretty Autumn leaves in Tuam Street, Christchurch

One of my favourite words is 'autumnal' it just has a warm and soft sound and it's especially wonderful when my dear friend Laura uses it to describe something lovely.

Still... we do have stunning bright red pohutakawa trees all through summer in Wellington. It helps a little.

Campbell Street at 9.06pm

Last night I was walking home and I stopped to look a few white roses growing behind an old white picket fence. I love breathing in the sweet smell of roses, taking a step out of the world around you, and letting the petals tickle the end of your nose just as if you are five years old. When I stepped away and continued walking a beautiful thing happened... the couple walking behind me paused, and stopped to smell the roses too.

sometimes the thing you need most is the world in a face full of stinging sandy wind. it's also a walk with your hands buried deep in your pockets, a few rockpools with sea anemones to explore and a slightly gritty icecream.

beautiful snug new shoes, woollen socks, and warm dry feet make me VERY VERY HAPPY!

found

words for today. and the rest of my life. found here.

this is how i feel about the wind

Flight is the essence of the spirit.

It nurtures the soul.

It is awesome. Often ethereal. Glorious.

Emotionally wonderous and all-pervading. Intangible.

Louise Thaden


found in The Spectacle of Flight: Aviation and the Western Imagination, 1920-1950 by Robert Wohl

no greater thrill

 

found here

ruff day?

“I actually attack the concept of happiness. I don’t mind people being happy - but the idea that everything we do is part of the pursuit of happiness seems to me a really dangerous idea and has led to a contemporary disease in Western society, which is fear of sadness. It’s a really odd thing that we’re now seeing people saying 'write down 3 things that made you happy today before you go to sleep', and 'cheer up' and 'happiness is our birthright' and so on. We’re kind of teaching our kids that happiness is the default position - it’s rubbish. Wholeness is what we ought to be striving for and part of that is sadness, disappointment, frustration, failure; all of those things which make us who we are. Happiness and victory and fulfillment are nice little things that also happen to us, but they don’t teach us much. Everyone says we grow through pain and then as soon as they experience pain they say 'Quick! Move on! Cheer up!' I’d like just for a year to have a moratorium on the word 'happiness' and to replace it with the word 'wholeness'. Ask yourself 'is this contributing to my wholeness?' and if you’re having a bad day, it is.” 

Hugh Mackay, psychologist and social researcher

text found here

pretty please, with a cherry on top

yum! sweet and juicy cherries are one of my VERY favorite things about summertime.

snow day!

happiness.

hope

this is a pencil. i found it last friday in swonderful. i wanted it. and that day i needed it. happiness for two dollars and fifty cents.

     She made her life one of uncommon worth.

happiness

i think there are many things to be grateful for. so with a lot of inspiration from one of my favorite blogs http://taza-and-husband.blogspot.com/


here are ten things that make me terribly happy...

1. the lovely smell of manderines and the citrus oil on
    my fingers as i peel them
2. trains that toot as they travel by people with waving
    hands
3. unexpected messages that make me smile
4. playing badminton, pool and pingpong all in one
    beautiful sunny day
5. scarecrows in Spotswood that dress up as Santa
6. goodbye hugs
7. looking forward to welcome home hugs
8. rain falling on the pavement on hot days
9. jandals (my new favorite footwear)
10. late night coffee with christmas mince pies

here's to happiness!