happy new year!

wishing i could be in new york to be a part of the times square celebrations, i was happy to find this gem of a photo. and then! a fun video chronicling the festivities since the '70's.

it's funny how new year's makes me tear up every time, when it's really just one more day. i guess it's the symbol of something new, fresh beginnings, a clean slate, and maybe a second chance. we probably all need those things more than we realize, so when that big day rolls around once a year, it is full of all of the anticipation and desires of the entire previous year.

happy new year!

love,

j

1,2,3,4.

let's talk resolutions.

i have a few of them, and because i usually think long and hard before i commit to making them, i tend to keep them. so here goes:

1. lose 15 pounds.

2. finally address some of the skeletons in my closet.

3. figure out a way to get a dog.

4. get a dog.

5. exercise to keep the bitchiness away.

6. paint. often. or at least once a month.

7. memorize a new chopin waltz.

8. write real letters more.

9. start planning my trucker documentary.

10. be kind to everyone. empathy. love. patience.

eee. simultaneously terrifying and exciting to actually write them down...

love,

j

naughty list

despite my resolution to post just one thing every day, it seems that during the christmas madness when i really ought to be nicest, i just haven't been very good at it. i'm going to try to catch up a little today, although i'm not sure exactly how many beautiful things will equate to the days i've missed... this is going to be quite the smorgasbord (mm, smorgasbord).

first, and foremost, while i do not now (nor ever will) take terrorism lightly, i am inspired by the idea of sewing things into my underwear. and fireworks.

whenever i said "so?" as a kid, which wasn't too often, i promise, my mum always said, "sew buttons on your underwear!" fantastic.

next, the prettiest new lamp i ever did get! it's living on the moustache chair until i buy (or find) a side table, but it seems happy enough.

and lastly, my drive home from columbia city tonight. because some days being stuck in traffic really isn't all that bad. there are, in fact, days like this when the sun shines at just the right light and i'm all for putting away my running shoes and calling this city a keeper.

hope this gets me back on the nice list.

love,

j

penguinsoul

this is my darling girl ana's favorite e.e. cummings poem, and it seems appropriate for the day:

if a cheerfulest Elephantangelchild should sit

(holding a red candle over his head
by a finger of trunk,and singing out of a red

book)on a proud round cloud in a white high night

where his heartlike ears have flown adorable him
self tail and all(and his tail's red christmas bow)
-and if,when we meet again,little he(having flown
even higher)is sunning his penguinsoul in the glow

of a joy which wasn't and isn't and won't be words

while possibly not(at a guess)quite half way down
to the earth are leapandswooping tinily birds
whose magical gaiety makes your beautiful name-

i feel that(false and true are merely to know)
Love only has ever been,is,and will ever be,So



merry christmas! (god jul).
love,
j

pomander

one of the things about christmas i always forget is how busy i am towards the end... last minute gifts, stocking stuffers, food, errands- today i couldn't stop rushing, and finally took a break to run down and grab the package that had arrived for me. i thought it was presents i'd ordered, and was pleased as pike's peach when she handed it over.

a gift from miss e, all the way from the heart of oakland. what a perfect moment, opening it... first, a card, with a painting by klimt, in fact, one of my favorite paintings of all time: the kiss. then a box of seaglass (she wrote about it on her blog). my grandmother and i used to collect seaglass and put it in bell jars in the windows so the light could shine through. and the pieces from e are beautiful, some turquoise, some almost a pink blush. then some excellent cookies that you can drink tea through like a straw, and finally...

i had never seen one of these before:



it smells amazing. like somebody gathered up all the things i love about this time of year and put them in an orange and mailed them to me (i suppose there's an element of truth to that). and after googling them, i found out they're called pomanders and have actually been around for quite a long time. anyway, i like how they look, and i love how they smell and i adore that they're called pomanders because it sounds a little like poindexter, and i sure do think that's an excellent name.

miss e. thank you for my wonderful gift. it brightened up my whole life.

love,
j

city of light

beautiful day today. cloud city coffee (peppermint mocha), fred meyer's (we have a love affair), painting (i'd forgotten how it smells and feels and sucks me in, it'd been so long), and soon heading over to my folks' for a nice graduation party complete with champagne, delicious food, and the people i love.

BUT. i've got an exquisitely beautiful thing for you today. i found this picture of seattle while working on my mum's christmas gift:



(amazing). this city is so fantastic.
elena said to me the other day (in a letter, but it felt like she was there), "i do love the bay area. and i think it loves me too."

today i feel exactly the same way. i'm pretty sure my love for this pretty little one-horse-town is most definitely being reciprocated. (maybe even echoing?)

love,
j

synchronicity

"the experience of two or more events that are causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner. to count as synchronicity, the events should be unlikely to occur together by chance."

(thanks, wikipedia).

love,
j