⋙⋙⋙currently⋙⋙⋙

                                                                                  

⋙⋙⋙ planning⋙⋙⋙

Sometimes it feels like my life is a non-stop cycle of packing and unpacking suitcases!

I remember around ten years ago when I first caught the travel bug an aunt of mine told me she can' t ever imagine me settling down in one spot and that I'm destined to roam the planet living a nomadic existence. 

I'm pretty sure 21 year old Louise  cocked an eyebrow at her at the time but looking back on my twenties and forward to my future I realize...aunties can be the wisest of sages!

I've spent the last ten years drifting between England, South East Asia, India, South Korea and Ireland. 

Right now, at the grand ol' age of 30,  I'm thirsty for a lick of stability so I'm packing my suitcases (once again!) and heading back to lay down some roots in my old stomping grounds in London.

Truth be told I can't wait to nest there for a little while. Forever's a scary word...who wants to know where they'll be at forever? But for now, this is what I want and what I need.

So for now it's folding and packing and last minute visits and a head swimmy with to-do lists.

I can't wait to post a tour of my new West London digs!

T minus 13 days. Ack!

⋙⋙⋙ listening⋙⋙⋙

To a bit of this + a bit of that.

Old, new, borrowed, blue.

Here's a tiny collection of songs that have seen me through the summer. Why not have a listen while I introduce you to some gorgeous gals?

                                                      

⋙⋙⋙ reading⋙⋙⋙

I'm donning my matchmaker hat to share some of my current favourite blog reads with you today.

Some are new finds and some are tried and true...all are worth a visit and a nice comment from a new reader ^.^

1.  Suzy Krause + the Skyscrapers// this one's a new read for me but I just love Suzy already! She's a blonde Norwegian with constellations in the freckles on her arms. Now why did I never think to describe mine that way?! Suzy's a snappy writer and I really enjoyed her post about New Yorks' soundtrack.

2. Stylonylon// Another new love. I am just besotted with Julia's style aesthetic (can you believe she had a baby recently, just look at that bod!)  Julia and I have both entered posts into the Free People UK Guest Blogger competition and I adored reading Julia's entry introducing her cool neighbourhood. 

First stop Clapton after I get back!!

3. Nishaantishu// I can't remember how I stumbled across Freya's darling blog but I am so glad that I did. An ex-pat Bermudan living in North London with her boyfriend, she paints such a beautiful picture of her surroundings and I've loved viewing my home city anew through her fresh eyes. I can't wait to meet up with this lovely lady when I move back over!

  Are you a tea lover? Freya has a  fantastic tea giveaway that is ending today so go get your entry in now!

4. Lost Boys + Lovers//  Sadie has fast become one of my favourite people on the internet. Such beauty, style and presence. I've loved following her story online from her recent move, to her vintage clothing business ventures, to motherhood to her recent 28-day whole foods cleanse. Such an inspiration! 

5. Whit B Nimble// I met Whitney back in South Korea where we were both English teachers. Since leaving South K I've loved keeping up with her adventures back home in the U.S, road tripping across the Southern States with her boyfriend Angelo and her new adventures working at the Grand Canyon. Each post is such a lovely little picture story. She also posts wonderful instagram photos!

6. The Fox, Frugal// I've had the best time rummaging around in Jen's archives since discovering her blog just the other day.  She has such a pretty life "making dreamcatchers, memories and music in the heartland." 

Also her wedding was to die for! Say hi to Jen today!

⋙⋙⋙ eating⋙⋙⋙

Here's a peek at my "balanced" diet lately. Lunch today was berries, yoghurt, a power smoothie of raspberries, cucumber and coconut water... and a pastry. For balance!

⋙⋙⋙ watching⋙⋙⋙

This haunting little indie film stayed with me long after I watched it and left me with a lot of questions (which is something I love in movies)



Sound of My Voice is about a journalist and his girlfriend who go undercover to join a cult whose leader claims she is from the future. Low-budget but beautifully shot with genuinely moving moments, I highly recommend this!

⋙⋙⋙ writing⋙⋙⋙

*ahem*

Let me direct you to this gif which verily sums up what has happened any time I attempted to write this summer....

I don't think summer is my creative season...too many distractions! 

I'll try again in autumn >.<

⋙⋙⋙ learning⋙⋙⋙

{{source}}

Today I'm linking up with:
High Five for Friday @ Lauren Elizabeth

Hitch your wagon to Stars in Jars!!

Bloglovin| Facebook| Instagram| Pinterest

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!

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⋙⋙⋙ 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⋙⋙⋙

the record collector

Ever since I was a little girl my Dad has visited record stores, fairs, flea markets and festivals collecting records and music memorabilia.

Americana has always been the cornerstone of my memory and sense of home...even in leafy suburban South London where I grew up.

In every house we've ever owned my dad has had what we all call his 'music room'~ a room where he proudly displays his thousands of records, vinyl, tapes and concert merchandise.

That's Willie Nelson's cowboy hat above which my dad caught when he threw it into the crowd at a show in the eighties.

Some of my earliest and most cherished memories are of flipping through row upon row of dusty vinyl stacked in boxes in our local mom n' pop new and used record shop near where I grew up. I'm sure that store is probably long gone by now.

To me there's no one cooler than my old man. With his music room and hippy heart and clock in the shape of his favourite state in all of America.

God bless 'im!

x

strawberries and turquoise

After Monday's post I have been making small and conscious efforts to savor the tiny and precious moments during my day which I would have otherwise let slip into the part of my brain that doesn't retain memories.

Today as I travelled home from work I studied the faces of the people I shared my subway carriage with, I noticed the pretty turquoise pattern of the subway station's floor tiles, the ornate window grill, the fresh strawberries for sale on the street.

I'm having a little strawberry floor picnic as I type this, taking the time to experience the taste and texture of each one as I sit here typing and listening to Patti Smith. Really listening, taking in the lyrics, gleaning what I can from them. Because this is another of my faults; when I hear music I don't make the effort to absorb the words, instead letting the melody wash in to one ear and out of the other.

Mindfulness is on my mind.
Can you tell?
I'm working on it and it feels pretty good.
Thanks to all for your words of encouragement.
I savor them as much as these strawberries.
 >.^

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⋙⋙⋙ reading⋙⋙⋙

{{source}}

I've just ordered a beautiful deck of Tarot cards and a book on how to read.
I had a very interesting first experience with Tarot reading earlier this year and so far every last thing the reader predicted for me has blossomed into a reality.
The future is and should be the wild unknown, but it can't harm to pull out the map and compass and try and explore it a little can it?
Even if I the cards don't show me anything or the right side of my brain ends up rejecting the concept of readings I'll be happy just to own these cards for the sake of their beauty and mystique.

⋙⋙⋙ planning⋙⋙⋙

To catch up with an old beardy-weirdy friend and ex-cohort and a beautiful gal I've only know through the internet but have managed to magically bond with somehow online.

I can't wait to see them and introduce them to new stomping grounds and make a weekend-load's worth of memories.

⋙⋙⋙ watching⋙⋙⋙

My current tv candy is the exceptional HBO series 'Girls'.

I'm in love with Lena Dunham and how she sticks her two middle fingers up at the stereotypical female body type.

I listened to Robyn's 'Dancing On My Own' on repeat for about a week after watching the episode where Hannah starts jamming out to it while tweeting.

Jessa is one of the most amazing tv characters written. To quote: 

""I'm going to look 50 when I'm 30, I'm going to be so fucking fat like Nico, you know why? Because I'm going to be full of experiences."

A to the men.

⋙⋙⋙ eating⋙⋙⋙

Big ol' mugs of hot British tea and toast dripping with butter and marmalade.

Tastes like home sweet home.

⋙⋙⋙ writing⋙⋙⋙

Lately I've been trying to spend less time typing and more time putting ink to paper.

My first love has always been writing stories and I've been scratching out a few picture and idea mood boards in my notebook for a short story idea I've had.

⋙⋙⋙ listening⋙⋙⋙

{{Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie}}

I've been going rock-steady this past month or so. 

Blasting out eclectic sessions that leave drum-beats on my soul...

Jimmi, The Stones, Janis and Stevie Nicks have all been hollering from my speakers and shaking up this gal to her core.

⋙⋙⋙ learning⋙⋙⋙

"Sometimes the healing is in the aching."

.. ▻▻▻◈◅◅◅ ..

monday morning ear candy//satan said dance

Look at this little devil moonlighting as an innocent street fire hydrant.

That's one of the things I love about this country~ all the little quirks to be found in the unlikeliest of places.

This lil' monster has inspired this Monday morning session; 'The Devil's Hoe-Down Mix' ~.^

Tonight  I may just go dance with skeletons in the graveyard under the pale moonlight. 

What else can a Monday be good for?

                                                              

                                          

☾☾ Beach House Concert ∆ Live in Seoul ☽☽

There's only a handful of concerts I have been to where I have walked out afterwards feeling like I just beheld some kind of magical occurrence.

Last night after seeing Beach House rock the Interpark Art Center in Hapjeong I had that telltale buzz in the pit of my stomach, pour me a bourbon neat, holy-mama what did I just witness? kind of a moment.

Last night was the band's first stint in South Korea and marked a smashing come-back for Korean indie- music scene promoters Super Color Super.

From the moment their incredible stage lighting transformed the sterile, wood paneled recording studio atmosphere of the Art Center's arena into a shimmering purple indoor aquarium the crowds shoulders unanimously loosened and an almost hypnotic en-mass body sway ensued for the duration of the set.

Victoria Legrand, half mermaid-siren, half glam-rock mama to Monster from the Muppets, owned the stage from the second she strode on to it wearing her trademark glitter-ball jacket.

Spending half the set hunching ominously over her organ like a B horror-movie organist, her long, skull ring encrusted fingers scuttled like spiders over the keys as she head banged and snake-hipped effortlessly along to her own singing.

She cut a mysterious figure up there on the stage, her bewitching voice soaring out from within a curtain of shadow and long red mermaid waves which frequently obscured her face. Her ethereal, siren-call voice, capable of impossible range, lended an exquisite baroque quality to their myriad of sing-a-longs from both Teen Dream and Bloom.

Alex Scally cut an impressive silhouette with his guitar and vocals backing up Victoria's mezmerising performance perfectly. 
They were a pair of snake-charmers bedazzling their pit.

The exceptional  fortune of having access to such amazing bands out here in South Korea is not lost on me and hats off to Super Color Super for their tireless efforts in the name of bringing the best indie holy rollers in to this tiny little peninsula. 

Encore.

   

monday morning ear candy + a guest post!

{{via}}

Good morning campers.

And what a beautiful morning it is, despite the puddle grey skies and paper sail boat weather outside. 

You can find me hanging out over at the lovely Andrea from Mostly Happenstance blog today, guest posting about a day in my life as a kindie teacher in South Korea.

Head on over and check it out!

Andrea has been the sweetest and most supportive blog friend since we "met" online not long ago~ so please check out her lovely blog too and spread the love.

Here's a little ditty by my darling Devendra with Jana Hunter to start your day with.

Enjoy!

                                        

                                                            

                                                         

monday morning ear candy//howling at the moon

{{via}}

A few of today's songs kind of make me want to dance barefoot around a totem while beating on a drum.

Also, don't you think 'Thao with the Get Down Stay Down' is possibly the coolest band name in the world?

Happiest of Monday's to you all.
^^