Monday, July 12, 2010

Sweet Memory

Maine at dusk, waiting for Nick to scoop up some things from the general store and in front of me...

I imagined the family inside this SUV, their sand toys and bug spray all piled in the camper, headed north for the SUMMER of our childhood. When worries evaporated and we could just live for the moment. I could see this sweet memory of someone's childhood, which will surely catch up to them years later. The monumental trees reminding me what small little creatures we really are and how grateful we should be to have every moment on this earth.

Have you heard Melody Gardot? A great recommendation from my mom who saw her recently in Philadelphia follows. Happy Monday xN

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Explore America

Ooh... A few friends have entered such an amazing contest!



What are your travel plans this summer? Nick and I are headed to Europe in a few weeks and I can't wait! Hard to believe we've never made it there in our 2.75 years ;-) but we're so excited that we've saved enough to go! Grace at Design Sponge has really incredible guides to many international cities that we'll be working from and we of course have ideas... mostly food related (shocking right?) but please send me an email if you have any food, lodging or underrated wonders of the world recommendations for London, Zurich and notable CH day drips, Paris and Amsterdam. Best recommendation wins a postcard! xN

P.s. Check out Adele discussing the wonders of her world in "Hometown Glory". I have a major music crush on her lately!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Stereo Mood

Have you guys heard of this?? My genius sister told me about Stereo Mood last weekend and I love it! Essentially it is Pandora for the cerebral... when the emotions are so strong you don't want to hear someone... you want to hear how you FEEL.

YES! There is even a "dressing up" playlist haha... Go ahead and take a listen. Hear your music through your emotions and enjoy! I'll be posting intermittently for awhile... My beloved camera is missing and the pictures usually inspire the posts... check back soon regardless and think happy thoughts to encourage the little guy to find his way back home. xN

The wondrous shores of Mid Coast Maine. J'adore. Image (c)  Repaperie

Thursday, July 1, 2010

New Dream

Recently I turned 29, which at almost 30, surprises me. I don't feel "old" in the cliche "my life is over" way, just surprised that my twenties have slipped through my fingers while I remained unaware. A friend recently said "Don't you think we should just have it all figured out by now?"

Obviously she was speaking in terms of careers and I agreed. It was an interview after all, and she certainly seemed to have it all figured out! But it's something I have been thinking about deeply since then.

I am so grateful for the experiences that I have had; I know I have learned so much and wherever I end up I will bring valuable skills with me. But on the other hand... I've never been in a clear cut job track and it can be frustrating sometimes to not have a place to "settle" forever after that will also feed my family. My mom is an artist and still struggles with this, not knowing when payments are coming in, etc. So what is better: stability or creative fulfillment. I used to think the ladder but working 4 jobs to make ends meet leaves me less fulfilled than one nice paycheck on predictable dates. Maybe I'm not such a free spirit after all, or maybe I am just scared to take a leap onto a dark and uncertain path! I'm curious: where do you guys stand? Freelancing fulfills your dreams or is it more about finding a 9-5 that doesn't leave you morally empty? Consider me officially on the hunt, just a little unsure of what direction to go in... xn

Monday, June 28, 2010

Lobster roll envy

We've been to Maine, and tasted heaven.
For as good as it looks, I assure you it was even better. Even the dogs had lobster roll envy... I'm salivating just thinking about it!

We ate, relaxed, tested the water, frolicked along the hillside, it was perfection.
The sunsets were breathtaking and I was longing for my very own piece of Maine, where I would surely sit on a rocker each night praising the beauty of the pink summer sunsets, late into the sweet evenings. Hope you all have fun summer plans xN

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Kerouac

I'm working on a new project at work that will redefine summer madness with its crazy schedule, but the content is really interesting so I remain optimistic! In yesterday's readings, I discovered a little bio Jack Kerouac wrote in his intro to Lonesome Traveler (Kerouac, Jack. Lonesome Traveler. New York: Grove Press, 1988, pp. # iv-vi.). Here is my favorite excerpt:

PLEASE GIVE A BRIEF RESUME OF YOUR LIFE  
Had beautiful childhood, my father a printer in Lowell, Mass., roamed fields and riverbanks day and night, wrote little novels in my room, first novel written at age 11, also kept extensive diaries and “newspapers” covering my own-invented horseracing and baseball and football worlds (as recorded in novel Doctor Sax). – Had good early education from Jesuit brothers at St. Joseph’s Parochial School in Lowell making me jump sixth grade in public school later on; as child traveled to Montreal, Quebec, with family; was given a horse at age 11 by mayor of Lawrence (Mass.), Billy White, gave rides to all kids in neighborhood; horse ran away. Took long walks under old trees of New England at night with my mother and aunt. Listened to their gossip attentively. Decided to become a writer at age 17 under influence of Sebastian Sampas, local young poet who later died on Anzio beach head; read the life of Jack London at 18 and decided to also be an adventurer, a lonesome traveler; early literary influences Saroyan and Hemingway; later Wolfe (after I had broken a leg in Freshman football at Columbia read Tom Wolfe and roamed his New York on crutches). – Influenced by older brother Gerard Kerouac who died at age 9 in 1926 when I was 4, was great painter and drawer in childhood (he was) – (also said to be a saint by the nuns) – (recorded in forthcoming novel Visions of Gerard). – My father was completely honest man full of gaiety; soured in last years over Roosevelt and World War II and died of cancer of the spleen. – Mother still living, I live with her a kind of monastic life that has enabled me to write as much as I did. – But also wrote on the road, as hobo, railroader, Mexican exile, Europe travel (as shown in Lonesome Traveler). – One sister, Caroline, now married to Paul E. Blake Jr. of Henderson N.C., a government anti-missile technician – she has one son, Paul Jr., my nephew, who calls me Uncle Jack and loves me. – My mother’s name Gabrielle, learned all about natural story-telling from her long stories about Montreal and New Hampshire. – My people go back to Breton France, first North American ancestor Baron Alexandre Louis Lebris de Kérouac of Cornwall, Brittany, 1750 or so, was granted land along the Rivière du Loup after victory of Wolfe over Montcalm; his descendants married Indians (Mohawk and Caughnawaga) and became potato farmers; first United States descendant my grandfather Jean-Baptiste Kérouac, carpenter, Nashua N.H. – My father’s mother a Bernier related to explorer Bernier – all Bretons my father’s side – My mother has a Norman name, L’Evesque. – First formal novel The Town and the City written in tradition of long work and revision, from 1946 to 1948, three years, published by Harcourt brace in 1950. – Then discovered “spontaneous” prose and wrote, say, The Subterraneans in 3 nights – wrote On the Road in 3 weeks –
Read and studied alone all my life. – Set a record at Columbia College cutting classes in order to stay in dormitory room to write a daily play and read, say, Louis Ferdinand Céline, instead of “classics” of the course. – Had own mind. – Am known as “madman bum and angel” with “naked endless head” of “prose.” – Also a verse poet, Mexico City Blues (Grove, 1959). – Always considered writing with my duty on earth. Also the preachment of universal kindness, which hysterical critics have failed to notice beneath frenetic activity of my true-story novels about the “beat” generation. – Am actually not “beat” but strange solitary crazy Catholic mystic… Final plans: hermitage in the woods, quiet writing of old age, mellow hopes of Paradise (which comes to everybody anyway)…

 I think it would be an interesting experiment to write your own biography in this format. I like how he starts at the beginning, goes all the way back to the beginning of "his people," touches on the current, then college, then back to future. I'm actually not a huge Kerouac fan the way his "fans" are but I appreciate the honesty (and the stuccato'ed brevity of each sentence) in this experiment. In the frenetic novels, there are some great jewels of lines, like this one: “I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.” At this stage in my life, trying to at least run toward the right one, I could not agree more. (I think it is from Dharma Bums but correct me if I am wrong). What do you all think; could you write a bio in 600 (618 to be precise) words? One thing is for sure, when I write my own, I could not as perfectly summarize my "final plans" as well as Kerouac did here. Happy Wednesday! xN

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Nashville

I secretly wish I grew up in the south, anyone else? Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was one of my favorite books growing up and when I actually visited Savannah, I fell in love with the sweet charm of the city and the people. When I saw this pic on on Chelsey's blog this morning, I swooned a little...
I didn't know much about them before but they're a Nashville couple that I picture running barefoot to the lake and doing cannonballs off a tire swing in the lake behind the church right after their wedding. This image makes me want to head south and stay awhile!

I should probably also apologize for not posting lately! My little brother is moving to Kansas this summer and he and his girlfriend just left NY after an extremely relaxing, yet sad visit. I wish he wasn't leaving but am SO happy for him. Hope you've all been well! xN