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| Le Rouge et le Noir // Personal Picture |
I have a few post ideas under my sleeve, on seasonal changes, psychological price, my latest reads... As they all require either time to write and edit, or pictures to be taken first, here is a mini interlude in the meantime, inspired by this post by Xandra from the great, newly discovered Fashionably Light blog. Yes, I obviously have been perusing the archives. Totally worth it, by the way.
Making: Interior decoration changes. A bit of Spring here, a bit of Sheherazade inspiration there. It's this time of the year. Spring. Cleaning.
Cooking: Asparagus, green beans, and other fresh produce we're starting to find at the market. Can't wait to eat the first celeriac, strawberries...
Drinking: Yes. Lots of tea. Diplomatico Reserva rum, Laphroaig whisky (18 years, and don't you dare put an ice cube in there), and Champagne. When I feel like celebrating life.
Reading: Mo Hayder, Skin. There is some dark, fucked up stuff going on in Mo Hayder's crime books. It's the last of my current library batch. Looking forward to choosing the next reads.
Wanting: A new coffee table. My Muji stool from 2012 became a violin stand, so I'm back to the unstable folding stools.
Looking: At Spring flowers. Well, at the computer screen, right now. But I've been walking around looking at blooming trees these days. The scenery changes so quickly from bare trees to blooming city, wouldn't want to miss a piece!
Playing: On the violin, Vivaldi's L'Estro Armonico (alone, slower, with mistakes). On the Xbox 360, Mass Effect 2. Second playthrough, Insanity difficulty. On board game night, Battlestar Galactica (the board game, obviously). On the iPhone, Bastille's Bad Blood.
Wasting: Materials. It's depressing to see how often I take the garbage out. Plastic foils, pet bottles, wrappings of all sorts... I think I need to change my food purchasing strategy.
Sewing: NO.
Wishing: for my fiancé to find a job in Paris soon. We'd like to start building our love nest (and I'd like him to pay half of my Parisian rent. Too pragmatic?).
Enjoying: The sun on my face. The scent of flowers in the streets. Running. Drinking coffee at a terrasse. Fresh fruit.
Waiting: for Dark Souls II. And the next tome of A Song of Ice and Fire. And to witness an Irish wedding, this summer.
Liking: Alan Bradley's little detective Flavia. I just read the Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and can't wait to read more from this author.
Loving: Le fiancé. Mostly. Yuzu éclairs from the Aki boulangerie, too.
Hoping: for a season 4 of Sherlock. Has that been announced yet? Also, another Star Trek film. To make new cultural discoveries this year.
Marveling: At the beauty, no, magnificence of space. Can you imagine, all these stars, all these galaxies? Humbling.
Needing: to secure a time slot to keep writing my Meurtre à l'Ancienne short story. Too tired in the evening, don't have time over lunch break. Maybe I should wake up earlier in the morning. Earlier daylight should help.
Smelling: My perfume. Just switched to my spring scent Allure. It feels light and fresh on my skin.
Wearing: A pair of washed black denim, light brown top, khaki green Converse and Coral necklace and nail polish. Avec printed scarf and the Splendid khaki jacket from LA.
Following: TED. Finally found a way to subscribe to rss feed, keeping an eye on any new talk!
Noticing: how important details are - the scent of incense or a candle at home, a jacket that fits just right and not "approximate", how the organic baguette from down the street is so much better than the 40cts cheaper supermarket one. Every single detail that seems like nothing but changes the whole mood of the day.
Knowing: myself, as much as it is possible, at least - my tastes, preferences, strengths and weaknesses, my motivations and limits. There is still much to learn, but I know myself well enough to allow for growth.
Thinking: Too much, all the time. It's a real fantasy theater in there.
Bookmarking: Lately, Fashionably Light, as you may have guessed. Also recently discovered, "life coach" type blog of Olivier Emberton. Love his 8-bit style illustrations.
Opening: My new Moroccan rose scented incense sticks. Found a great shop in Lyon last week-end and kind of splurged. I even bought a rug. The Dude would like it. Probabaly. As long as nobody pees on it.
Giggling: over 9gag nonsense, when I'm on my non-smoker stress defusing break.
Feeling: Whole. Does it make sense?
Whisky is an acquired taste and skill to drink! :) A friend of mine poured me a very minute amount and I probably took an hour to finish it, but boy. It's not an every day drink, in my opinion. It's good for introspection.
ReplyDeleteIf I may comment on the tone of your posts--you sound truly content/happy/at peace. I don't know if I'm just reading into it or maybe projecting my own wishes, but it makes me happy to read it. I'd like to get to a point in my own life where I can be a little more secure and practice more contentment and enjoyment of my own blessings.
Whisky is certainly an acquired taste, like many other foods like olives, blue cheese... Unusual tasting food doesn't come easily, I think. This is the kind of drink to be savored slowly, too. After all, it is a strong alcohol. But that's what I like about it, it can be enjoyed, little by little, mindfully...
DeleteAh it's interesting to see how readers feel about my writing. This post was a bit spontaneous. It is true that I feel content, balanced, these days. Of course some days are better than others, I'd hate to send an image of "perfect blogger life", that's not the purpose of the blog at all. But I guess I reached a certain level of peace these days, I didn't know it showed :) I'm sure you can get to such a point too, wanting to is the first step to actually manage it. Besides, it is not as unattainable as it sounds. Sometimes, deciding to move in that direction helps to actually move towards it. That's how it worked for me anyway, over years.
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ReplyDeleteI'm working on the Vivaldi violin sonata #5 (only transposed on the acoustic bass, so down a few octaves). His writing is great!
ReplyDeleteActually, I checked it, it's one of his cello sonatas, but #5 in E minor.
DeleteInteresting, I'd love to hear what a Vivaldi sonata sounds on a bass. It makes sense to adapt a cello one I guess. My teacher told me Vivaldi is a great material to learn from and play, as he had students himself, so he created pieces for varying levels of skill. The Estro Armonico is very enjoyable to play, even for a lower intermediate level such as mine.
DeleteOh wow, looks like you will have a lot of work to do until publishing all these posts! Good luck :)
ReplyDeleteI created my own blog lately and I know what it feels like to have so many ideas on posts... So we're kind of in the same situation ;)
Feel free to klick around sometime, I would be glad to have you among my readers!
Best wishes,
J from Lait au Miel
I have quite a queue of posts forming indeed. With the regular work week, and my rule to avoid internet at home on week days, I don't have much time to piece them together. But that's OK, blogging in a hobby so there is no point pressuring ourselves in producing the content :)
DeleteI hope you enjoy your own blogging activity, I'll definitely go take a look at your blog ;)
I really enjoyed this post, Kali! A nice way of appreciating all the small details in our lives. I've been trying to focus on that more lately - a bunch of flowers, a clear desk, clean sheets. It feels good :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked it! These little details feel good indeed :) I think it's refreshing to stop for a moment and take notice of these little, understated gifts we have around us. I hope you enjoy these too!
Deletealways enjoy your posts!
ReplyDeletedo you mind sharing how you found the RSS feed for the Ted talks?
:-) chris
Thanks! For the TED rss feed, I'm using the RSS feed gathering page Netvibes - I just copied-pasted TED's website address and Netvibes automativally added an rss widget to my personalized front page. I'm gathering all of my rss feeds there now, very practical :)
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