favorite things

since last week's favorite things, i've been sick. my voice left me, and i stayed home, not going much farther than the comfy Roots chair for three days. so, i'm sure you'll understand the 'comfort' theme i have happening here this week...

grilled cheese sandwiches
one of the best of the comfort foods ever. given that i don't even really like cheese, i'm not sure why two grilled slices of bread surrounding real cheddar cheese makes my heart just so darn happy, but it does! couple it with a bowl of steaming tomato soup, some pickles, and everything suddenly seems right in the world.



Kleenex with Lotion!
i am fully prepared to say that i am a tissue snob. i bring my own tissues pretty much everywhere i go, and always keep a private stash at work, so i don't need to use the sandpaper brand. yes, there are those that i work with who have no problem using the standard issue tissues, but perhaps my nose is more wussy than others. but these beauties by Kleenex, with lotion built right in to them are really the best discovery in the world. no, you don't want to clean your glasses with them, but when you're blowing your nose 67 times an hour, it's okay to be picky about that comes close to your face. {yes, i am hugging the box... i love them that much!}


Ikea tea light holders
my last outing, before the cold sunk it's evil claws into me, was a trip to Ikea with my friend Barb. i was being really good, as we walked through what can only be described as two floors of solid temptation to spend money. but when we walked past these black and white floral tea light holders, all my resolve went right out the window. granted, they were only $2.99. so little a price for such prettiness.


Alias
i am a strong enough person to admit that when i hear about some injustice or someone hurts someone i love, there is nothing i want more than to be Sydney Bristow and kick all of the offender's bad-guy butts. of course, this all happens in my mind. in reality, me trying to kick box my way out of a paper bag would have the score paper bag: 1 me: 0. but since September 30, 2001, when i was first introduced to Sydney, i have wanted to be her. all five seasons of Alias now reside in my DVD collection, and while i was home sick this past week, i took the time to reacquaint myself with them, and even after all this time, i love its sheer brilliance. is it any coincidence that the creative mind behind this show is the same as LOST, Fringe and Star Trek? one has to wonder if J.J. Abrams ever had a bad idea.

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well friends, these are my favorite things for this week. i hope you have a super weekend, and that you'll have no need for Kleenex with Lotion any time soon... but go get some anyway, you're worth it!

snow night...

according to my calendar, march begins only next week. and it seems that while it has taken a while to find us, winter has arrived.

and apparently, it is still arriving...

which means that tonight is a snow night. i get to do laundry out in the snow* and can think of nothing better than some yummy kind of soup— potato cheddar perhaps— while curling up between loads to watch figure skating and do a bit of reading.

{on a side note: i do hope that since winter has just arrived, that it doesn't think it can stay until may...}

how are you coping with the winter wonderland?



*well, not actually out in the snow, but i do need to walk outside to get to the laundry room. but for a girl who likes her flip flops, it might as well be outside!

stupid perfectionism

i love a new journal. pages upon blank pages of potential words and drawings still undiscovered. but sometimes i let the imaginary perfection of what the pages will hold lead me to total inaction.

case in point: my new Moleskine City Notebook for this May's trip to New York City. i've had it for a while—before Christmas, in fact. over the holidays we made plans, and we have our hotel reserved, mom and dad have their train booked from Billings, Montana, and i have my flight. i've been through the tour books, time and time again, and we know what we want to do, so officially, i have the info that needs to go in the book.

but something is stopping me.

stupid perfectionism.

i want it to be perfect. i don't want to mess the pretty, pretty book up. but the truth is, this desire for perfection is going to leave the book useless and not worth my time to carry.

there are times when perfection is a good thing. take my flight to NYC... i want the plane to be built perfectly, and the ground crew to do exactly what they need to do. perfection here is good. but while there are times and places for perfection, in moments like the NYC journal, and even in my job as graphic designer, the need for perfection more often stifles creativity and renders me totally useless.

the only way i have found to overcome this perfectionism disease is to borrow a page from Nike's book and just do it. to begin writing. to start designing something. to simply take out a pen and begin to write in the journal. and know that if it isn't perfect, it's okay.

if it was intended for perfection, it probably wouldn't be mine, anyways.

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do you stuggle with perfectionism?
if so, how do you get beyond it?

long time coming...

about a million years ago, or, more accurately, in the late '80s, i fell in love with the ice dancing brother/sister duo Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay. they competed for canada, but most notably for france, and were, in my estimation, the best and most original in the world at the time.

but there was always heartbreak. sure, they won a world championship title in 1991, but in the 1988 olympic games, their jungle-themed free dance was not at all looked upon favorably by the judges, and they ended up in eighth place. even the silver medal that they won in albertville's 1992 olympics was bittersweet, as they had been favored to win gold, and by all rights, they should have.

their second place finish in the '92 games, was the last time that they competed as amateurs. and with their moving on to the professional world, i really didn't think that there was anything that could make me watch ice dancing, or even figure skating again.

until now.

congratulations Tessa Virture and Scott Moir. and thank you, not only for bringing the gold medal home to canada, but also for helping me rediscover a long lost love.

favorite things

can you believe it is friday already? this week has gone by so very quickly, that for today, i only have three favorite things. but they really are three good ones.

my map of Paris
in my living room, right next to my Roots chair, i have a large, framed map of the city of Paris. i love that when i'm feeling homesick i can look at the one place on earth i feel at home. i always start at 11 rue des Ecoles, my Parisian 'home', also known as the Familia Hotel, and go from there. planning out where i would walk, what part of the city i would explore if i were actually in the map. its not the next best thing to being there, but it definitely makes it feel a little closer.


Vincent van Gogh
i have loved this man's art, both painting and written, since i first heard his story years ago, and my love for him grows with every new discovery i make of his.

this painting, Bank of the Oise at Auvers (1890) was at the Detroit Institute of Arts when i visited there last year, and it's my most recent 'new' one. i'm looking forward to seeing my next new ones, which i am sure will be in new york city in may.


coconut yogurt!
for anyone who has had to endure watching me eat north american yogurt, let me say that there is redemption! thanks to my friend silvia, i no longer have to go to poland to get yogurt that is not a pain to eat, and couple that with one of my most very favorite things in the world, coconut, and here is a little bit of heaven in a plastic container. so, so yummy!


well, these are a few of my favorite things for this week. i hope you have a super, super weekend, and i'm going to go eat some of that yogurt!

poem

it's been a while since i shared any of my favorite poems with you, or gushed on about my favorite poet, Rilke. to be honest, i may have shared this one before, but given that its author is brilliant, and the poem is perfect, i think it's worth the risk.

Ignorant before the heavens of my life | R.M. Rilke

Ignorant before the heavens of my life,
I stand and gaze in wonder. Oh the vastness
of the stars. Their rising and descent. How still.
As if I didn't exist. Do I have any
share in this? Have I somehow dispensed with
their pure effect? Does my blood's ebb and flow
change with their changes? Let me put aside
every desire, every relationship
except this one, so that my heart grows used to
its farthest spaces. Better that it live
fully aware, in the terror of its stars, than
as if protected, soothed by what is near.

diversions

diversion |diˈvər zh ən; dī-|
noun
-an activity that diverts the mind from tedious or serious concerns; a recreation or pastime.
-something intended to distract someone's attention from something more important.

if we take the time to honestly look at our lives, i fear there are few who could claim that they have no pet diversions. things that we do to avoid doing what we should be doing. the toys in the backyard of our boredom. activities whose sole purpose is to stop our minds from thinking... and possibly realizing how much of our lives we waste by doing basically nothing.

i am stripping some of the diversions from my life during Lent. some of the ways that i use to turn my mind off are gone as of today. escape mechanisms stripped away.

and i can either embrace the journey of facing life unanesthetized, discovering what God wants to teach me through this experience, or i can find new diversions.

right here, in the quiet of the new day, with little else going on around me, i choose to face it head on. in a few hours, when the demands of life come calling, i pray my choice will remain the same.

only time will tell, and more importantly, only i can choose. only i can live this life i've been given.

what terrifying and amazing responsibility.