Hi. It's me. I've compiled a wishlist for you. I realize it's not Christmas or my birthday, but I figured, why wait? Here, in no particular order, are some things I could really go for right about now:
{ peace of mind } { a VW bug } { more swoon-inducing moments } { a new Mac } { unconditional love } { an instant cure for my animal allergies } { to be soft, supple, flexible } { stories to fall headlong into } { fresh inspiration to begin something new }
Recently, my lovely friend Cristina sent me a sweet tee shirt all the way from Brazil -- it is a joy to wear not only because the design features a pink, crowned kitty, but because the proceeds from the shirt go towards a cause that is very dear to my heart.
As the shirt was making it's way up towards me, my Lavanda ring was on its way down to Cris. There is something thrilling about the thought of a little creation of mine flying away and settling in a land I've never seen, and adorning the hand of a friend I've never met.
Seeing her photo of the ring, with her own elegant styling and the soft lighting so different from my harsh Florida sun, there is the feeling that it has been infused with meaning and a sense of belonging. Jewelry on a shelf is just a pretty bauble, but when it belongs to someone, it radiates life.
I'm rediscovering music (again). I seem to go through these cycles with both books and with music; I go through long droughts and then start drinking them in like a woman dying in the desert.
I keep forgetting how uplifting and inspiring and true it can be.
I forget how a certain kind of chord or melody can grip my heart and wring it to a pulp. Maybe I am naive, but I cant help believing Fleetwood Mac when they tell me that yesterday is gone, and to not stop thinking about tomorrow.
Will it be here, and will it be better than before?
I am swayed by their conviction that it will.
So cynical when it comes to television, movies, news programs...somehow I lose that finely-honed edge when it comes to good music.
I hope I never get too old to appreciate music from every spectrum -- of course opera can bring me to an almost holy place, but a bubble-gum 80's tune can reduce me to tears, if it strikes just the right note of nostalgia and innocence.
I know that people associate different smells with distinct memories, but since I am "scent-challenged", it is music that can take me spinning back to my childhood (Roxy Music, Cat Stevens, ELO, Dire Straits), my adolescence (U2, Rolling Stones, INXS, Duran Duran, the Pixies), my college years (Cake, the Cardigans, Barenaked Ladies, Soul Coughing, REM), and more recently, my "Tokyo years" (Macy Gray, John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Liz Phair, Death in Vegas).
Then there are the specific songs that played a role in their own regard:
the dance I choreographed and performed to:Where Do I Begin by the Chemical Brothers, Don't Leave Me This Way, which a fellow run crew member and I would sing to each other during a giddy summer internship at the Adirondack Theater Festival, listening to Lovefoolad nauseum with my roommates freshman year after falling under the spell of Baz Lurman's Romeo and Juliet...love me love me, say that you love me... singing karaoke for the first time to Like a Prayer...
realizing I wanted an old flame back in my life while watching an incredibly passionate performance of Beethoven's Concerto no.5... realizing I wanted him back out of it when Time to Say Goodbye kept playing in my head,
crying backstage with my best friend every time Janis' Take a Piece of My Heart played while we ran the lights and sounds for a high school play -- I thought I actually knew something about heartbreak then... oh, the innocence...
Don't underestimate what music can do for you, for your heart and your mind.
Dave has kept me company in dark times, he's shared a drink with me and told me to keep going. Liz and I have had some empowered-girl times -- times where we swore off men in one breath and sang their praises in the next.
Yaiko got me out of bed in the morning, Melanie C. brightened up my gloomy room while I did laundry, Macy brought a party to my daily train commute, B.B. King wailed with me, and Jack kept me company until I could fall asleep.
The soundtrack is always changing... and today?
Today is kind of like this: totally nostalgic, a little bit silly, and, as always, filled with that ineffable wonderment.
Pretty much every day is Valentine's Day around here. If you look, nearly every post is about love -- design love, photo love, product love, list love, love love.
In college, I lived in a house full of singletons, and Valentine's was rather bittersweet, until someone decided to to call it Make Your Friend an Omelet Day instead, and proceeded to do just that. Omelets for all, and lonely hearts banished. Yes, that simple.
Celebrate your sweeties, beaus, darlings, and beloved ones. It doesn't matter whether they are your lovers or your friends, your cat or even your favorite tree that you pass on your way to work every day. Love your heart out.
Most people who know me, know that I've gone by the pseudonym "lily green" for the past several years. This came about when I was choosing a mail address for my very first keitai (cell phone) in Tokyo. The truth is though, that I very nearly went with "lily pink," which would probably have been a more accurate representation. I love pink, despite myself. I've tried to grow out of it. Attempted a cool yellow and grey persona. Tried following the lead of a friend who is queen of blue and green, and then another who takes brown to a whole new level of gorgeous. And yet I keep coming back to it: pink. I started this year off with a bright pink leather daily planner, and it has made all the difference. I'm going to embrace thinking pink and let the unjaded, hopeless romantic me come out from behind the cool green facade.
{*} ruby ring and quartz necklace from En route Paris Collection {*} {*} vintage teacup from Little Lily's Attic {*}
