living heavy//travelling light

Hello again.

Excuse, if you will, the chorus of crickets that have consumed this blog these last few months.

Truth be told, I almost never made my way back here and even now it feels a little like I'm trying on an old dress that doesn't quite fit any more.

For a while there it seemed like life and it's wicked sense of humor had been pulling some of it's best moves to trip me up and send me out of step with the music. I let a few key events get the better of me until I literally stooped beneath the sad & sorry personal rain cloud I was totin'.

My bad run culminated in the death of my beloved Nana Kitty on Sunday who was, and will ever be, my hero. 

Coming back to Ireland for the funeral has slid all of my bad luck into a new perspective and I realize that any heart sickness I might feel now will somehow, over time, evolve into the footnote to a new, and happier, tale.

During a particularly rotten week when I was ready to crack some skulls my family whisked me away with them for a few days in Weymouth on the South coast of England. It's incredible what a dose of sea breeze, fresh, salty lungfuls of air and several rounds of tea and crab sandwiches can do for the bluest of the blues.

So here's to wiping the slate clean, picking myself up after yet another tumble, and finding comfort in old dresses.

into the wild

Here are a few shots from our road trip up to the coastal town of Gweedore in Donegal.

We spent 2 nights and 1 day enjoying the brisk Irish weather!

I LOVE the Donegal beaches... I love that they are one and the the same beaches my Mother and her brothers and sisters would use as their playground in the summer when they were kids.

When we weren't walking the length of the beach we were combing the white sands for shells and stones and ocean trinkets, all wrapped up tight against the chilly May winds that were doing their best to blow us back to the cottage. 

There's nothing quite like coming home to an open fire with fresh sea air in your lungs, salty tasting lips and stowaway sand in your shoes.

The sound of waves crashing in your ears in the evening is such a treat for the soul ^.^

This little corner of Ireland has remained blissfully sleepy and untouched by urbanization and there is a whole skyline of mountains and fields and stone cottages to enjoy.

I hope you all enjoyed a peaceful week!

x

shepherd's delight

I love this time of year with her pink skies and dandelion fairies and seedlings putting on a show....

pulling the car over to the side of the road to pick wild primrose so my Mom can check they smell the same as she remembers from when she was a girl.

I love waking early and pulling up the blinds, enjoying a cup of strong tea while looking out at the morning clouds....wondering if today they will break and let the sun say hello or they'll churn up a rainstorm instead.

Such mornings call for stove top porridge with an extra spoonful of honey, Skype dates with Dallas and alone time at my desk writing pages to sweet friends across the seas.

The sting of losing our little friend is still present but losing myself in sweet moments and reminding myself she is no longer suffering is the tonic that works best for now.

This weekend I will celebrate my Thirtieth birthday with a trip to London!

I'm looking forward to bike rides and art exhibitions, good East London curry and a Jack the Ripper walk~ stay tuned ^.^

eating clean

Grilled mackerel w/ roasted sweet potato, roasted bell peppers, goats cheese + avocado


One of the best parts about this premature homecoming is the delights of the western supermarket.
Certain foods that I love were either non-existent or outrageously overpriced in South Korea and for that reason my dietary habits took a bit of a downturn.
Food shopping is something of a fetish for me.
I get such a buzz out of walking through the food aisles and scanning all the produce, their flavors, their ingredients and packaging. Selecting my favorite cheese, the ripest avocados, my favorite brand of yogurt.
Am I alone in this private joy?!

scrambled eggs, smoked bacon, strawberries + avocado

Since I've been back I've had such a kick out of filling my basket full of fresh berries and vegetables, soups and hummus and good herbal teas.

I can already feel the benefits of a well rounded, clean diet with a few naughty indulgences thrown in here or there.

organic coconut yogurt w/ blueberries + raspberries

Nutrition has always been a subject I've had a keen interest in, ever since I reads this amazing book a few years ago. I started to include more raw fruit and vegetables, oily fish, grains and pulses into my diet.
Shortly after that I visited India for the first time and spent a month in a yoga ashram where we ate a strict ayurvedic vegetarian diet.
I left that place with the most sparkling eyes and glowing skin I've ever had in my life and didn't wear make up for months afterwards.

muesli w/ soy milk, banana, blueberry + mixed seeds

Of course, good habits can be hard to upkeep and when I moved to South Korea, the yoga and the diet were soon far down on my list of priorities when I was so busy meeting amazing new friends and enjoying the night culture of beer drinking and eating barbecued meat.

Toasted granary rolls with melted cheese, avocado + sun dried tomato

Although I did try to maintain a healthy diet during the week, the price and availability of most of my favored healthy comfort foods like avocados, pesto, goats cheese and chick peas had me pining (and pinning !) for my familiar food stock back home.

rooibos +vanilla tea, green tea w/ jasmine, chamomile tea

And here I am! Taking full advantage of my access to all that is fresh, yummy and good for me.

I'm a big advocate of clean eating but I don't believe in completely denying yourself of all the things you love as long as they are in moderation. 

So I'll have that slice of bacon with my eggs and strawberries and I'll add a good dose of crumbled goats cheese to my roasted sweet potato.

And avocados, my lord avocados, I could live on them! But I limit myself to half of one a day.

A little of what you fancy does you good, and I'm feeling great!

the sunday slowdown// happy feet

wooly socks + roaring fire

You could close your eyes and swear it was still December around these parts.

Wintry drafts and snowfall are doing battle with the sunshine which is doing it's best to peek through the clouds and warm us all up a bit.

A long, hot soak

I do love the coziness of a cold evening in a warm house though.

There have been two very happy feet wrapped up snug in woolen socks and treated to log fires, hot bubble baths and electric heated bed sheets.

Warm sheets, long socks and tea in bed

Maybe you can tarry a little longer Spring...a certain gal and her happy feet could get used to this 

♥

p.s~ in all the travelling back home hoopla last week I completely forgot to mention I was featured reviewing my favorite book on  I Believe in Story.
I absolutely love Maria's blog~ and if your somewhat of a bookish Matilda like myself you should definitely check her out.
You can read my review of Jeanette Winterson's 'Sexing the Cherry' here.

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home.

Waking up to nothing but the sound of birdsong and wind rolling over the fields and against the windows.

Rolling up the blinds to uncover not the usual sprawl of 15-story apartment buildings and traffic noise, but green grass, blue sky and sun and snow in soft battle with each other. 

After 28 hours of travel and 17 hours of straight sleep... I am finally home.

Open fire, fully-stocked kitchen, loving family-filled home.

I've found myself lingering in my bedroom these past couple of days and trying to get to know it all over again...

 opening drawers, rearranging shelves, leafing through old journals and creating a brand new writing space.

It's funny how brand new everything can feel after just a year away, how you can open your wardrobe only to feel the clothes inside it must belong to some other girl and you could't possibly have picked out these things!

It goes to show how much a person can grow, tastes change and styles evolve as we grow older. I ended up taking a trash bag to my room and purging it of a lot of the things that felt like they belonged to an 'old' version of me.

At the same time it was a delight to peek inside old tins and boxes and uncover forgotten treasures...trinkets gathered from across the world, a vintage plate filled with my Grandmother's jewelry, letters from high school friends...

It's still slowly sinking in that I'm back here,

but it's a good feeling, 

and there's definitely no place like it.

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 ^^

castles in the air

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I've been dreaming up visions lately, of a place I'd love to spirit away to and bury myself during this season of frost and snow.

A perfect hideaway deep in the forest where I could read Kerouac and Nin by day and sip on Jack Daniels and listen to the hell hounds howl at the moon by night.

Wrap myself baby blanket-tight in huge woolen throws, spin the Doors, smoke woody cigars and flip through black and white photos found inside dusty old boxes.

Read Tarot in front of the dancing fire, smell the pine and sage and the outdoor fog.

There would be a big old wooden porch with a worn out rocking chair where I'd sit in my jacket and boots shelling lentils for soups and stringing dried herbs to hang over the door to keep the place safe.

A place of peace and isolation, endless water boiling for mugs of tea and hot stew bubbling in an iron pot... meditating, night wandering, moon gazing and star counting, deer hoof tracking,  story writing and forest trinket gathering.

Just me and the silence of the ancient forest... nature at her mightiest.

What a great escape.

                                             
                                                    

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peek at my week// winter warmers

Beomgye High Street

The Korean winters can be long and brutal.

The deepest freeze can come along and take your breath away, red your nose and numb your ears in the blink of a night time.
If you squint your eyes and turn your head to the left you can semi make-believe you're living in Narnia.
But I don't much feel like an arm-circling ice skating lesson every time I put a foot out the door!

There's so much about this part of the year that invites the seasonal blues but I say blues are for the birds and I'm gonna keep some warm winds in these sails of mine!

This involves warm woolen socks, making blanket caves in the bed, cranking the heat and spending an extra ten minutes under the hot shower...

... it also takes wool lined slipper-socks for padding around the apartment....

...belly warming bowls of banana and almond butter porridge before work...

...treating myself to a soy chai tea latte date, wrapping my mittened hands around the hot cup for extra warmth in a classroom not yet heated by muffler-clad energy balls...

...and opening care packages filled with warm pajamas, marmalade, chocolate and all the things only an intuitive Momma could know that I need most in the world right now.

Hope y'all are keeping cozy ~.^