watched// read// listened

So internet, we meet again!

One of the caveats of living in the way back of beyond is an at best unreliable connection to the old "world wide".

At first I was aghast at being so rudely cut off. Unable to instantly check on updates, emails, comments and new posts...the horror!

Until I realized I was just having to suspend all of the "important" things in my life that are really, actually not so important at all.

I am an internet junkie, that's not changing anytime soon, I'm not making any grand professions to swear off facebook for life here or anything but I have learned a happy lesson from this; it's definitely a healthy practise to switch off, log out, forget what's going on in the world wide web and who 'liked' what Johnny ate for breakfast and focus on what's going on in your own day, in your own house, in your own life for a second.

I've been spending my wifi-free time playing with the babies (buddy + jess), stepping up my daily exercise (yoga, walking + jillian michaels kicking my butt) and going to an Alabama 3 gig in Belfast. It's been a low-key, relaxing, just enjoying my own company kind of few weeks. 

I've also used my free time to catch up on some summer listening, watching and reading that has fallen by the wayside due to to much time glued to my laptop screen.

Here's a little round-up of what I've watched, read and listened to over the past 2 weeks:

//watched//

The Perks of Being a Wallflower// I really enjoyed this movie even though I wasn't really expecting to. It's not your typical High School drama, it has much darker themes, great characters and a cool early 90's soundtrack.

I don't care for Emma Watson at all but that didn't spoil the movie for me. Ezra Miller is a highlight, I loved him in We Need to Talk About Kevin too, I think he is definitely going to be a rising star. Also I'd love to meet him on the street one day so I can, you know, congratulate him on his face.

Jules et Jim// I'm in love with French cinema and I have a huge back-log of French film on my hard drive that I am slowly working my way through watching. I loved this François Truffaut movie about the relationship between three sexually free-spirited bourgeois characters in early-20th century France.

//read//

Just Kids by Patti Smith// I'm mid-way though this auto-biography and if it's possible, I love Patti Smith even more. She is an artist through and through, all the way down to her beautiful descriptive writing skills. Reading this makes me ache for that era of 1970's New York, for Beat poets and punk rockers and kindred spirits falling in love.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn// Five pages in I thought I would hate this book. Fifteen pages in and I couldn't put it down. This is a very current and clever crime/mystery novel which masterfully builds and builds the tension and sense of brooding with every turn of the page and has more twists than a plate of spaghetti. Great, great summer read.

//Listened//

The National 'Trouble Will Find Me'// Something about Matt Berninger's voice just sounds like home to me. I've loved everything The National have done so far. They also scored the infamous Red Wedding scene in Game of Thrones. Win.

The Knife 'Shaking the Habitual'// I've been a fan of The Knife since way back in the 'Deep Cuts' days (how is that ten years ago already??) and this new album has been very long awaited. Still absolutely digging their sound.


That's all folks!

⋙⋙⋙currently⋙⋙⋙

⋙⋙⋙ planning⋙⋙⋙

Tired eyes and bed head~ I'm planning to sleep for the next 10 hours.

 We drove 8 and a half hours in the rain to collect this little sass-mouth today.

Folks, meet Buddy. The new man in my life.

 Just look at that belly.

Blurry photo c/o my equally exhausted mom.

Buddy post coming soon!

⋙⋙⋙ reading⋙⋙⋙

Currently reading this quirky little illustrated travel diary on my kindle.

 This is such a lovely little book, and proof that sometimes it pays off to judge a book by it's cover! 

⋙⋙⋙ watching⋙⋙⋙

Have you ever seen a wild rose? They are growing in abundance by our house.
They smell like beautifully clean sheets on a freshly made bed. 
I must pick a few to make some rose petal ice cubes.

⋙⋙⋙ eating⋙⋙⋙

I've been treating my sweet tooth here lately. In a clean way.

This week I made Almond Milk for the first time, with a few yummy flavourings thrown in. Perfect for making chai tea and pouring over muesli in the mornings.

The creamiest peach strawberry smoothie, I know it's twee but it's definitely more fun drinking them from a mason jar with a pretty straw ^.^

These ice pops were so yummy and easy to make~ just blend coconut milk, peanut butter, unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 banana and pour liquid into ice pop moulds.

⋙⋙⋙ writing⋙⋙⋙

I've been catching up on my letter writing this week. If your waiting for post from me, it's being sent this Monday I promise!

⋙⋙⋙ listening⋙⋙⋙

So excited about Fleetwood Mac's new single. It's all over the radio at the moment and I turn it all the way up every time.

⋙⋙⋙ learning⋙⋙⋙

june bug

You know it's officially summer when you've taken your first lick from your first ice cream cone of the year.

June has arrived and blessed this damp little island with the bluest skies and a sun-kissed garden.

I've been padding around with bare toes and winter-white legs shamelessly out on display for all to see!

Dates with myself, a blanket and kindle have been on the Specials menu daily just recently and Jess can hardly believe her puppy luck with all the walking her little legs have been getting ^.^ 

Ice cream floats are also doing the rounds, as are red runny noses from the darndest hayfever allergies.

I can't even with hayfever. Streaming eyes and itchy nose for days.  Ack!

No matter. Swoony, sun-filled afternoons still shoot the moon. Balled up tissues or not.

Happy June sailors!

x 

⋙⋙⋙currently⋙⋙⋙

⋙⋙⋙ reading⋙⋙⋙

I picked up my Dad's copy of Willie Nelson's 'Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die" and have started  thumbing through it... my old man managed to find a copy signed and doodled by the bandanna man himself which is pretty cool!

The book is full of hilarious anecdotes... my favorite so far is on the art of farting:

"My grandmother slapped a fart out of me one time that whistled like a freight train. It scared both of us really bad.

 She never hit me again."

⋙⋙⋙ planning⋙⋙⋙

Next week I'll be heading back to Gweedore in Donegal for a few days of beach combing~ I plan on filling the car trunk with rocks, shells and driftwood which I can bring home and paint.

⋙⋙⋙ watching⋙⋙⋙

Jess curled up by my feet, asleep.

⋙⋙⋙ eating⋙⋙⋙

Tomato and basil soup with pesto and sun dried tomato wholemeal bread rolls.

I've also just discovered Sage tea~ it has anxiolytic properties which are of great benefit to me as I'm weaning of anti-anxiety medication right now.

⋙⋙⋙ writing⋙⋙⋙

I love to write my blog posts in the twilight of the day...when the sun has kicked it's boots off 'till the morrow and I can hear the birds shooting the breeze through the open window, ringing and chiming from the trees like little bells.

⋙⋙⋙ listening⋙⋙⋙

Lots of Patti Smith, Willie and Tom Waits, also I discovered Camel Heads through the penabranca tumblr which describes it perfectly and thusly:

"Influenced by Dead Man and North African desert blues, these long-form kraut jams will leave your brains baking on a rock in the Global South, drenched in cosmic sweat. Like waves crashing into the shoreline, the ebb and flow of Anoluz will free your mind, bury your toes in pink sand, and orient your lawn chair towards the sunset." 

Listening to this I kind of feel like I've walked into a bar in one of those Western films and I got a tinglin' in my trigger finger.

⋙⋙⋙ learning⋙⋙⋙

I can always learn a little something from John.

travel//journal

These past few days have been chilly, snowy, nothing to do but roam around the house days.

I have reminiscence written all over me.

Photo albums are being pored over, old love notes read and re-read and journals flipped through and smiled at fondly.

Above is the journal I kept on my first trip to India back in 2009, it's probably been about three years since I last read through it. My fingers tips are worn smooth from turning so many pages that still smell like a mixture of incense and spices, a ghost of a scent trapped and preserved between the pages after all these years.

Reading through my entries I'm amazed at how resolved I was to document not just the events of my trip but the emotions, the connections, the conversations and the lessons learned.

I scribbled down quotes and snatches gleaned from chats with fellow travelers; things that resonated with me or I wanted to remember for future reference. Compliments given to me or assertions on life that had never occurred to me before.

I wrote lengthy excerpts from books that I was reading while I traveled, stories told by taxi and rickshaw drivers, my fortune given by a palm reader.

 There are maps, phone numbers and email addresses scribbled in the margins alongside my own doodles and calender entries detailing what I did each day.

 I will forever know that on June 4th of 2009 I "Sat next to the ocean reading Hemingway and drinking Ginger Lemon Honey Tea".

Every page is filled with the people I met, their impressions on me, the experiences I had, the romances and what I learned from them.

I'm so glad I have this keepsake from the most magical and influential 4 months of my life to treasure and keep for always.

It's a reminder in this time of healing of what once was and what once again can be.

I'll leave you with a final thought- a sentence scribbled on to the first page of my book, whether it was a quote I heard or read or it came from my own brain I can't remember, but it's a nice thought, and one that serves me well in this current path I'm taking...

the sunday slowdown

 Do you ever wish that Sunday mornings could just last forever?

Today's was the perfect, lazy, slow-wake-up kind of morning with cups of tea and bacon sandwiches and The Beach Boys and jumping in and out of bed till noon.

Later the sunshine (sunshine!) enticed me into the shower and out to the tracks to watch my buddy put me to shame by running 10k while I slouched on the stands, listening to Radiohead and messing around with photo apps on my phone.

She's a master deceiver, Madam Weather, especially when she is in transition and my fingers finally became numb enough by the wind chill for me to sneak off and hide out in a coffee shop with a book, a chocolate latte and the warmth of a sunny spot next to a window.

Because, really, what sunday is complete without a little coffee shop action?

❂ bisous ❂

Today was a slow burnin', takin' it easy, kids are off on spring break kind of day.

I spent the best half of this morning re-organizing our school library with children's book dust up my nose and in my hair and the delicious smell of musty, well-worn pages.

I so badly wanted to take my cup of chamomile and curl up in a corner with a stack of books and just read and read.

Children's book titles are simply the most enticing things to ten-year-old Louise's brain: 'The Accidental Zuchinni', 'Willie the Dreamer' and 'I love Cloud Bread' were some of my favorites of the day.

I love the dreaminess of kid's books, how the author can just flip open their head like a lid and let their imagination fly out onto the pages.

I have a secret little dream to be a children's book writer one day

When I was tiny I would lay in bed and Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton would take me by the hand and lead me on the most fantastical adventures every single night.

When I think back on those stories of magic and whimsy I am reminded of pure joy and happiness.

I'd love to to do that for a child one day too.

❂ bisous! ❂

the sunday slowdown

Is it almost Spring yet?

I have a hankering for flowering baby buds and warm window panes and

I'm tired of fending off colds that are coming for me left, front and back!

This morning I scooped up my book, pens and writing paper and escaped to the coziness of the coffee shop for a few hours of reading and writing therapy.

Works a charm on me every time.

My soul is craving some good outdoors time, but for now the snow and the frost have me running for cover every time I venture out of the apartment.

I have to remind myself the deeper we move in to February the closer we inch toward Spring and warm air and good changes.

When I think back to Spring last year, when I was home at my parents house in Ireland, taking long walks every day, spotting wild horses in the fields and taking photos of old churches, I realize now just how happy a time that was for me.

As much as there is a hermit in me (incidentally, The Hermit was one of the first cards I pulled at my Tarot reading) who loves the hibernation involved in Winter, there is another part of me that loves the freedom and call of the outdoors that Spring offers.

I hope that Old Man Winter is being sweet to you, he is a charming old wizard after all...but I am ready for a little bit of change ^^

3 little things

One week.Three tiny joys.

1. Winter skin-savers

This Siberian winter we are experiencing in Korea right now is causing havoc with my skin. 

Constantly hopping in and out between freezing cold outside and central heated inside has left my skin dry, cracked and sore.

 I've been relying heavily on my iHerb all natural skin goodies to inject some much needed moisture back into my dear poor skin. Not only do their products smell heavenly, they really do the job well.

2. Late Christmas parcels

Dallas and I ordered our gifts for each other online this year and both of us left it a bit too late in the game to have them delivered on time for Christmas day. 

It really took the sting out of my first day back at work after winter vacation to find a lovely Free People package waiting for me harboring inside the purse and wallet I've been coveting for the longest time ^^

3. New books

This one was a little Christmas treat for myself. 'The Blue Tattoo' by Margot Mifflin tells the true story of Olive Oatman who in 1852 was only 13 when she was captured by Indians and  indoctrined over ten years into their way of life, eventually living as a white Indian with a skin tattoo on her face.

As soon as I read the synopsis of this story I went straight online to order myself a copy.

I can't wait to get stuck into this one!

books are cool

Reading books is my jam. I love doing it.
And I'm kind of promiscuous in my reading... I'll do it anywhere, y'know.
On the bus, at subway stations. I even read at school.
Lately my favorite place to read has been lying under the air conditioner in our apartment before Dallas gets home.
I own a ton of books. Or 8 huge cardboard boxes. They're in my parents storage room waiting for me to settle down and re-home them one day.
I spent hours in that room going through those boxes at Christmas when I went home to stay. 
Leafing through page upon page, book after book. I've kept them all, from my youthful Roald Dahls through my Babysitters Clubs, teenage Point Horrors until my university reading list books:  Moby Dick and Wuthering Heights and such.
I'll keep all of those books until I have kids of my own. I'm sentimental about those books like that. 
Perhaps because they painted my mind and decorated my language and are a huge part of what I am today.

So yeah, books are pretty cool in my book.

Today there is a typhoon in Korea~ a magic pocket in our week with no school, open windows, howling wind and whirlpools of leaves dancing on the ground outside. Dallas and I have celebrated by lighting candles and kicking back with rice wine and open books.

Here's a little list of my Summer reading material~ I would recommend all of these for those of you like me who never truly grew out of curious characters, magic, time travel and good old fashioned great prose.

What books have you folks been reading this summer?


1. The Night Circus~ Erin Morgenstern
2. Jitterbug Perfume~ Tom Robbins
3. Brothers Karamazov~ Fyodor Dostoevsky
4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland~ Lewis Carroll
5. The Catcher in the Rye~ J.D Salinger
6. Game of Thrones~ George R.R Martin

book worm.

Ever since I was a pony-tailed kiddo I've always been a bookish kind of a character. My Mom still teases me about locking myself away in the bathroom for periods of time carting a book along under my arm.

Well, I sure don't do that any more!

 But my love of all things literary has followed me into adulthood and I still love nothing more than tumbling Alice-style into the unknown worlds hidden between the covers of a book.

Earlier this week I got a real treat and took my first step into a library in more than two years (living in Korea put a stop to such excursions) and I felt such a lovely familiarity in the place. All libraries are alike with their old-book smells, hushed ambience and the sound of slowly turning pages. I'd love to have been a bookstore clerk or librarian, I definately would be the kind that rocked horn-rimmed glasses :)

I wanted to spend hours in there gliding through the rows and rows of bookshelves, taking my time and reading a few back covers, but with my Mom waiting in the car I had to quickly decide on three and rent them out with my grandmother's library card.

Since then I've spent cosy hours creating warm recesses on the bed covers and getting aquainted with heady new characters, colorful languages and images ripe with thick and thin beauty.

My long days of solitude are almost to an end.

 I can't think of a better way of passing them.