What I got - full stock of thoughts and dreams that scatter

 

{photo credit: apartmenttherapy.com}

This is pure awesomeness! A collection of 100 postcards, each featuring a different and iconic Penguin book jacket! Here or here. Must consult with the dogre! Exclamations galore! Woo-wee!

Wednesday Loves: From London + Paris

I know Wednesday has come and gone but while you, my loyal reader, were anxiously refreshing this page for updates, I was having fits of panic getting on, staying on, and jumping off ski lifts. Sorry for being tardy! To make up for it, I was going to post a photo of my outfit - a one-piece snowsuit from the 80's, courtesy of the dogre's mom. Unfortunately, nobody took a picture of said Kodak moment! No worries, I've got my eyes on it for Halloween 2010.

So, I've returned from Blue Mountain with bruised knees, swollen fingers, and what feels like a truck ran over my arms. I was also a naughty girl and snorted some white stuff.....snooooow! Ha! I suffered two major wipe-outs and received some serious stink eye from a little kid (I got in her way). Ugh, who did she think she was? Actually, this has been the week of dirty encounters with the little people. I've had to maneuver and contort my inflexible body multiple times to avoid crashing into them on the slopes and skating rink. Here I am, breaking my back to ensure their safety and I get the mean looks! What is this?! And why are they so mean?! Their glares made my innards shrivel up. But, little did they know that when I was at a safe distance (from them), I was full of shaking fists and verbal venom (take that, Stink Eye!).

You might be thinking "Dogress, you're such a sweetheart, looking out for the safety of the little people!" I'm touched by your sincerity and yes, I am a sweetheart, but I want to admit to you that I'm mostly just scared of the little people. They make me uncomfortable. I never know what to say to them and usually end up in an awkwardly polite and formal one-sided conversation about their strawberry themed hair clips. I'm also scared that if I knocked one over, he/she would start wailing and everyone would look at me with disdain. Or, what if the kid started cussing at me and I cried?!

Moving along.

We flew over to London and Paris for our honeymoon. Had an amazing time but returned with thicker calves because of all the walking! Of course, I had to visit the shops along Oxford Street and Champs Elysees, as well as the Paris flea markets. My eyes devoured everything and my heart whimpered with desire, but alas, I was a good girl (the dogre may disagree) and limited myself to these items:

tea (Harrods)/blazer (Zara)

rings/bow tie necklace (Topshop)

#307 Orange Fizz + #15 Beige Naturel (Chanel)

 book (Shakespeare & Co)- awesome illustrations!

 

collar bell, lock+key, soldier (Tombees Du Camion)

Tombees Du Camion was by far my favourite shop of the trip. It was like an artful display of abandoned knickknacks, doohickeys, thingamabobs, and whatchamacallits. My heart fluttered as soon as I stepped into the space and I was hit with a wave of nostalgia (for what, I've no clue). I think the co-owner said the items were toy factory leftovers from the 19th century, but my memory is not to be trusted. I was too busy swooning over the visual eye candies. See for yourself:

Can we agree that this is my "shortest" post yet? You can thank my swollen fingers. Good day and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My favourite colour is fluorescent beige.

I've been thinking of taking up yoga for quite some time. I've been out of sorts and thought that some inner calm would do me good. Maybe yoga - the gentle restorative/meditative kind - will get me out of my funk and hush-up my busy brain (seriously, I'm a never-ending-ruminating-thinking-thinking-fretting-thinking-machine with the consequence of sleepless nights and foggy mornings).

After discussing the potential benefits of yoga with the dogre, we purchased a couple of passports to prana. They allow us access to a free yoga session at all participating studios in our city so that we can sample different styles and environments. For thirty buckaroos, we can take many classes and determine which studio best fits our needs. The options will come in handy as we are expecting to move in June and I'd prefer a studio close to home. What's that, you ask? Come again? Yes, we have a move-in date! I know it's a tentative occupancy date but we're just so excited! We ogle at the progress whenever we get the chance.

By the way, the dogre is not particularly interested in yoga himself but we got him a passport anyways since he wants to support me and will likely join here and there. What a good guy! Here is a picture of my dogre in all his glory:

Wow, look at me, writing a whole post about my fancy new hobby and the progress of our first home purchase... What else can I obnoxiously blog about? How about this: that first photo up there with the soft sunlight and billowing flowers and the Portrait of the Dogre just above were taken during, oh-you-know, our honeymoon in PARIS! Hehe!

For the few readers who do not personally know me (and even for those who do), it may appear that my posts and brain are full of fluff and material things, but I just want to put it out there that, and I introduced this earlier, I am diseased with chronic and persistent over-thinking. Since I exhaust myself daily by my own torments, this blog is really a therapeutic outlet for my creativity and jumbled thoughts/emotions. It's a place where I can afford to appear frivolous, light and airy! I don't plan on using this blog to post rants or expose my deepest fears/worries (unless I think I can make a funny out of it!). Besides, if I permitted myself to write about the serious thoughts that bounce about my brain, my posts would be lengthy essays (not that I won't successfully write lengthy posts about nothingness, like this post). I hope to keep this blog light + airy, freckled with beautiful words (of others smarter and wiser than myself) and snapshots of the journey of a dogre and his dogress (and their fat cat that runs like a raccoon and obnoxious llama/rat/fox/piglet/stitch-like chihuahua).

So, I'm looking forward to the upcoming experiences as an inflexible, impatient yogi. I'm seriously challenged at keeping my focus and worry that I'll have fits of panic and run out of the room screeching and flailing my long monkey arms. I may be the (self-appointed) queen of fixating and obsessing over the most insignificant details in life, but have lately been struggling to get through a single sentence in a novel or listen to someone talk. For example, the dogre gets nervous and shifty-eyed whenever he tries to tell me a story in fear that my eyes will gloss over and he'll lose his audience. While typing out this paragraph my mind has already moved on to other thoughts, such as why my Christmas spirit has been so low this year, my love for cola and lemon wedges, and a brain giggle over this week's episode of 30 Rock where Liz Lemon stands in front of the HD camera...

...I have to go now...I need a fix of cola and mind-numbing episode of Community or Parks and Recreation! I don't feel like typing anymore. Wait, don't judge me! I'm not a potato-brain! To prove it, let me inform you that I've recently finished What is the What by Dave Eggers, a very serious and depressing (but surprisingly funny and uplifting) story. I swear my eyes only glazed over a few times.

I just realized that my post title (taken from Precious) has nothing to do with the contents of this post. Or does it?! Hmm, think about it! (no, it doesn't...I just think the line is funny and wanted to use it)

le petit prince

"one sees clearly only with the heart. anything essential is invisible to the eyes...

...it's the time spent on your rose that makes your rose important...

...people have forgotten this truth,...but you mustn't forget it. you become responsible forever for what you've tamed...

...you're responsible for your rose..."

- the fox (antoine de saint-expuery - the little prince)

The Children of Oryx, the Children of Crake.

"Crake made the bones of the Children of Crake out of the coral on the beach, and then he made their flesh out of a mango. But the Children of Oryx hatched out of an egg, a giant egg laid by Oryx herself. Actually she laid two eggs: one full of animals and birds and fish, and the other one full of words. But the egg full of words hatched first, and the Children of Crake had already been created by then, and they'd eaten up all the words because they were hungry, and so there were no words left over when the second egg hatched out. And that is why the animals can't talk."

--Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood)

Atticus Finch

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
--To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)