found

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

a little beauty from a weekend away

inspiration. there are no words to describe this.

i flew to auckland on thursday afternoon to go to this. there were many wonderful moments. at the end of the first day everyone in the audience made a paper plane and sent them flying all at once.

i found the rustling of two thousand pieces of colour paper being folded so beautiful.

the nature of wind

on getting an education

sometimes i learn the hard way. this can be VERY hard sometimes but at least i'm learning. tonight i'm taking advice from my father. advice that i've heard more than a few times now. to dust myself off (with or without your dignity intact, either will do just fine) and to get back on the bike (he's got a good story about his motorcycle that always accompanied this and today i do miss it).

patience is a virtue

"Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Her Secret is Patience, 2009 by Janet Echelman. 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

home is whenever i'm with you

there's a band practicing this upstairs in the tea gardens. i caught a few notes of it walking by and it makes me want to go run around in a field for the rest of the afternoon.

home for the weekend

i didn't go home for almost a year after the earthquake.

i guess i didn't want to see my city until i felt there was more hope. i think it's a bit like seeing someone you love really unwell, somehow it destroys your memory of them.... i didn't want to see christchurch because i didn't want my memories to change. 

what i loved about my time back home was that all the things i love most about christchurch are still there. and yes these things are different from how i remember, but somehow it's all still the same.

 the shipping crate shops on cashel street

some streets in the central city are still blocked off

i caught the ferry across from diamond harbour to lyttelton 

 i love you lyttelton coffee co.

this is the site where the building i once worked in stood.

there's a lot of love and hope in lyttelton. there are also heaps of cool people with great ideas.

so i can't wait to see it in a year from now.

by train, again

on friday james and i caught the ferry to picton, expored the picton aquarium, and in the afternoon we took the train down to kaikora. we spent a few wonderful days with my good friend, Mariann, and her family. while we where away we went diving for crayfish and paua, collected cockles for dinner, ate iceceam, learnt some excellect new card games and a lot of chips, played on slides and swings, fed the chickens, and ran around being monsters.

sleeping in the little blue caravan

He was part of my dream, of course - but then I was part of his dream, too.

from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

a milkshake date

i love denial. today was unbelievably wet so we drove out to a lovely spot named scorching bay. we drank coffee and snickers bar milkshakes while taking in a beautiful view of a very wet beach. this is summer? it's lucky i quite like rainy days. and we had a hilarious time driving home making waves through the flooded streets of Seatoun.

pretty please, with a cherry on top

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

keeping secrets

Who could deny that privacy is a jewel? It has always been the mark of privilege, the distinguishing feature of a truely urbane culture.

Phyliss McGinley (1905-1978), US poet


found in Veil: Modesty, privacy and resistance by Fadwa El Guindi (1999, Oxford:Berg)

a little joy in the familiar

i recognized your voice by the sound of your laugh.

vanity and the invisible

It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.


Oscar Wilde, The picture of Dorian Gray (1981)

a rainy sunday morning in the beginning of summer

this morning we enjoyed breakfast together. milky coffee and thick warm waffles covered in dark cheeries, whipped cream and maple syrup.

twenty six oh no!

a little bunch of flowers from the garden and all tied together with a rubber band.

i could listen to this a hundred million times.

i'll take care of you, take care of you, that's true...


from take care by Beach House

saltwater

it's strange to have your salty tears wetting my cheek and stinging my skin. what does it mean to expose the back of a tapestry? to let the curtain rise before all is ready or to let the curtain fall just a little too late? to let the guts of you spill and bleed into me. this sadness. it is mine whenever it is yours.

Sunday lunch and the longest drink in town

lyall bay on a sunny day and a hunt for the elusive red burger van.

we found it!

 

dining on mint choc shakes and burgers filled with beef and hash browns..... oh my! and wedges with homemade tomato sauce. i love mint and chocolate in everything. 'the longest drink in town' shakes always make me think of my mum but i can't remember why. oh and the beetroot... so good.

page one hundred and twenty seven

'So you do love me, little thing?' he murmured.

from A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

if i wrote you a letter in indian ink

i love digital textile design and i also love photography. in this last semester of uni i made a collection of fabrics and a zero-waste dress for our digital class.

our tutor asked us to design by looking at the theme animal, mineral or vegetable. for inspiration i researched minerals. and then rock strata, aerial photography, the movement of water, and kimono. i began drawing inky, gritty, and organic marks with water colours and somehow it became this...

 

the display board - with layout and font designed by holly

model - beautiful nina, a dear friend of laras'

with photography by me

the swirl dress
this is a visualisation of the 'swirl' design as zero-waste garment

the envelope dress
this is a visualisation of the finished dress
the design is garment specific, digitally printed on chiffon, and sewn with a lot of help of hannahs' mum

a wonderful project. and i am very happy with the finished collection. hurrah!

books

"Be careful of books. Be careful with books. Be careful or one can become a weapon-wielder. Be careful or one can become the victim."


Cai Guo-Qiang

on a monday afternoon

we travelled by train to Waikanae. i'd never been up to Waikanae before so we also added in a few stops along the way.

somewhere along the way

our late afternoon lunch in Waikanae

i love that the train ride was the activity for the day and my favorite stop was in Paekakariki. We had hot coffee, hunted for secondhand books and enjoyed a refreshing (read: chilly) walk along the waterfront. i even got in a nap on the way home. nice.

hello

i haven't forgotten about you. shall we make date on sunday afternoon? we can have tea and toast together.

good morning

I opened my mouth and the room filled with birds.

Elliott Smith

a daydream

"... and a city like a forest, cool and quiet."

from Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart

found

i found this sign outside the bats theatre when i was walking home last night. there is something very beautiful about its sadness.

away again

But where is "away"? Of course, "away" does not really exist. "Away" has gone away.

from Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart

eclipse of the heart

i've been working on an artwork for charity. it's a paper collage that has been sublimate printed on to fabric. this is what i do when i'm living at Uni.

the artwork under construction

a photograph of the finished piece

i wrote...

Through the use of paper collage, scoring and stitching, I have created a composition based around the idea of the heart as the centre of all things. I have taken a conceptual approach to the heart, looking at circles as a representation of the heart. Intersecting lines define the heart motif and the abstract composition plays with the relationship between shapes.
 
Eclipse of the heart has been created as a gift to auction for Ronald McDonald House Charities.  This inspired me to look at quilting as a gift that represents family and the home. The piecing of quilts and the idea that the heart is what connects people to each other has inspired the subtle hand stitched lines. I have looked to the work of Bauhaus designers for inspiration. The glass compositions of Josef Albers and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s paper collage work have informed the overall aesthetic. The artwork has been assembled through paper collage and sublimate printing. Glowing edges from the printing process lift the circles from the background providing a contrast to the fine scoring lines. The golden circle becomes a symbol of hope set against a soft heavenly blue.

last night we had a wonderful auction night with Ronald McDonald House Wellington. the event was hosted in the Great Hall at Massey University and it was delightful.

a bookshelf

i love this. it's so erratic and hoarderish (a new word?) and a little bit wonderfully organised all at the same time.

Photo by Melchior Tersen via Andrew Harlow.

sunshine at Makara beach and only one teeny cloud in the sky

on a Sunday morning

i am not meant for mornings.

but fresh coffee and french toast with golden syrup... makes it a little easier.

away

"there is no away to throw things to."

snow day!

happiness.

mornings

author unknown. i received this in an email from my love. myself and the character share some similarities.

a weekend away

a flannelette shirt, photographs, cold fingers and a walk through the mist.

a few little words

"I never read, I just look at pictures."

                                            Andy Warhol

sometimes

i am afraid. the list is getting too long.

sleeping

i like that you blow me kisses even in the middle of the night when you are mostly asleep.

a sense of humour

"i think you're the one," he said.

"really?" she said.

"yeah, i think you're the one."

"what?"

"well, someone was going to get me chocolate, and i think you're the one," he answered.

dear winter

thank you for my new flannelette shirt. it makes me look like a logger and i don't mind one tiny bit.

i'm off to chop up wood for the roaring fire inside.

sharing stories

beautiful words make me happy.

Date a Girl Who Reads by Rosemarie Urquico 

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by God, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

i found this here http://or-so-i-feel.blogspot.com/