Fireflies, Cakes, Postcards, and the Invention of Dreams

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." - Elizabeth Kubler Ross

Each day for me is like a little wonder... when I walk on the boardwalks of the Harborfront, to planting beautiful roses in the garden, I sink into this mini-reflective stance of daydreaming.

This week, I'd like to share some of the things that confines my mind where my heart is.

There's just something interesting about grand ships that has always captivated me, ever since I was very young. To sail the high seas, and reach all four corners of the world that unravels beneath me on an old map-adventure was just one step out the door.

There are many impressive boats and ships alongside the Harbourfront... as the weather gets warmer, there will definitely be more sightings of them!

I always like to come across interesting sightings... like how these little flowers are naturally arranged.. it's almost as if it were shaping out a heart.

There was this long stretch of a concrete bench alongside this small section of the Harbourfront, that was literally covered with Tic Tac Toe. I'm always up for game!

Even the little details... as the sky was eventually turning gloomy, I pass by these whole rows of lights, just waiting for night to fall so that it would brighten like fireflies against the trees.

I love finding extraordinary shops as these, with captivating inventions, that takes you to another imaginary place.

From another shop, I took home a handmade sailboat wind chime - a perfect addition to add outside my front door.

I love how the tree branches touch one other, as if it had a secret conversation that no one in this world could possibly interpret, nor do we have the utmost privilege to be able to truly understand. It seems to create this complicated weaving of a web.

Will one ever truly get tired of being secretly fascinated with pastries and cakes?

I took these home- the first one is a sort of deep chocolate cheesecake quality..and the other (which is my ultimate favorite) is tiramisu. I can never ever get enough of tiramisu.

These lovely sweets are soft on the outside, and filled with red bean on the inside. Ate some during my sister's birthday, which I'm told that they are usually eaten during such a celebration. I thought they were super cute.

As well as letters and postcards from around the world. I feel extremely grateful that I have friends from certain places- from France, to Australia, that I would write and vice versa. I do love opening my mailbox and find the pleasure of receiving lovely letters.

Some of these postcards were from my friend Tiffany, during last summer when she went on a trip to Asia.

While strolling about one day, I came upon this interesting fellow.

And they said that Treebeard did not exist in real life.

As I moved closer, I heard a soft whisper utter from his mouth, and he said to me :

" Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow."

I then drew myself back, contemplated for a bit, ushered a small thank you to the tree, and off I went to paint dreams in the middle of the day.

Note: All these pictures taken are personally mine. The last image however, was taken from weheartit.

I Capture The Castle

"Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words?"- Marcel Marceau

Bonjour all!

I would love to share with you all an incident that happened to me recently:

I somehow know when A Grand Season officially arrives for me.

I am aware that March 21st is the officially start to the Spring season... but as we know it, the buds on the tree do not burst forth overnight, nor does the weather cooperate upon the arrival of such a day that most of us eagerly wait in divine patience.

There is another little incident that takes place and marks this arrival for me as well as a hint of grand things to come, and its not by the telling of the moon, nor the gradual warmth of brighter days (though I welcome it with open arms).

It's when a ladybird comes and plants a kiss on my cheek.

I was at one of the train stations above ground when it happened, rushing in between crowds of people, thinking of things I had to pick up down at the St. Lawrence.

When I think back, it almost happens every year, and every time it was always when I least expected it.

Strange as it may seen, it left this symbolic impression on me, as if eventful and wonderful things were to come, a small token of magic in this seemingly realistic world that we all take part of.

And there, on my cheek, the ladybird leaves an lingering impression, a moderate press, and off it goes in again in a small blur of flapping red.

Instinctively, I touched the spot where it last was and immediately felt this dorky smile come my way and a small burst of laughter erupting from me in a sort of small disbelief as I looked up into the clear sky and watched it fly away.

It's moments like these in my life that I really treasure and marvel at.

Sometimes, we need these sort of small details, these funny little incidents to make us realize and be grateful that yes, we are alive and that we can feel the way we feel and to live life!

We do not always need to look to films or books ( inspirational as they are without a doubt!) to keep wishing and be so much a part of their world, but to our own lives for that uplifting meaning or delightful bliss we seek.

So whenever I think of beautiful days, or the magnificence of Spring, I would think of that moment and push on into the garden of infinite opportunities to seek our love, our dreams, our hopes, our very own being.

And that's all for now, ciao!

Note: Pictures are via Tumblr

Writings from my Van Gogh Moleskine

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nightingale

February 27, 2010

When I wake from this dream, I know that what I have dreamed was too beautiful, too perfect to settle into the reality of my world and life which I dance through.

I peer out pass my curtains and see the violet dusk of twilight.

Oftentimes it seemed like I was near the seashore watching the sun setting, looking past the ocean to see what seems like a long-drawn fire across the sky with heaps of black, deep red and wisps of yellow and orange cracking, surrounding.

I touch the pane of my window, trace the imperfections and the tiny cracks etching through the lines, feeling the cold from the outside pouring into my fingers.

As I take in this scenery, a scenery I call my own, I think of you.

You, the one who never left my mind. You, the one that I think of every moment of my waking hour and when I breathe, when I close my eyes and let out the slow whisper of your name.

You, that appears whenever I glance at everything that penetrates of life, where I instantly feel your caress, your voice, your eyes gazing back intensely at me.

Too far have we gone and not see the light sink in. I often wonder how nothing ever seems to last and that we have all gone down that path before where we find ourselves glancing at the other side of the mirror, wondering how we arrived there in the first place.

When I look up, I see the tiny buds on the tree. I reach out and wrap my hand in its entirety, thinking if I held one part of the branch, I would somehow feel its pulse, its long drawn affair of life coursing through its veins, its sigh.

And when night falls, I think of our conversations. The one where even years afterward, it would still wound around my head. Because it was the kind that only came from you. Because you were the only thing that mattered to me in this world, in this lifetime.

I look up to the dark sky and see the bright glow of the moon, its light basking on my face.

I breathe in the scent of night air and it carries the promise of peace, of reflection, of dreams.

And when I lie on the grass, I think how much I wished I could have been the one who saved you. I wished so hard that it bit into the very portion of my heart.

And it was then that I remember.

I remember that morning when you called me darling and when you said that you loved me. How that word seeped into my skin, intoxicating me with that electrifying warmth, his everlasting warmth.

In return, I whispered back those eight final words which lasted for an eternity:

"I hope we can always feel this way."

(Note: images were from courtesy of Tumblr)

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Love is...

And me, I still believe in paradise. But now at least I know it's not some place you can look for, cause it's not where you go. It's how you feel for a moment in your life when you're a part of something, and if you find that moment it lasts forever.

-The Beach

Truly this is a weekend of love, and what do I love?

~

Sunlight pouring through, kissing your face and bathing its glow throughout the entire room

Erin Fetherston

Dior and Chanel's Haute Couture SS 2010

Garden-inspired dresses

An American in Paris film

Balloons in the sky

Sitting under a big willow tree with a book in your lap... my grandmother used to have these two great willow trees in the front yard with a big swing underneath in her previous home and a small forest in the backyard... it was my escape to my own little world. I'll never forget those summer days I spent when I was a child there.

Jane Austen's works - i remember from somewhere that mentions how in her own life, she was not able to find her own happy ending, but that her characters in her novels she would give them that love and such beautiful endings that would make up her own.

Lace

Jasmine tea

Treehouses. My grandmother's neighbor had a huge one with a latch in the bottom of the room and slides, a bridge, and on the wooden front door, we painted "Our Club" on it. Adventures never ceased there.

Beautiful big open windows with white curtains being lifted from the breeze and the scent of lavender surrounds you on a summer's day

Bright Star

Going on a hot air balloon and having a picnic there

White chocolate

The English countryside

By the seaside in a white cottage

Painting with watercolors

Paris...

The sound of a cello against the melodic keys of the piano

Flowers in beautiful vases

When a guy has an accent...(it melts my heart, and I don't think I'm the only one who agrees)

Delicate perfume bottles (i've kept all of the ones I had)

Beautiful old journals

Old- fashioned feather pens with ink bottles

Walking along the boardwalk near the Harbourfront on a bright and clear day and watch ships sail by.

Letters.

Dancing badly (on my part). I get so blissfully giddy when I do that with someone I love.

Midnight chats with friends

Beautiful ballet-inspired dresses

Seashells and hanging them up with satin ribbons

Going to the art gallery and stand among the greats and their proof of the extraordinary.

So here you go, a glimpse of what I love, what are yours? I'd love to know!

Take care and that's all for now, ciao!

(Fashion pictures courtesy from style.com, remainder pictures from Tumblr)