Life In Limbo

Inspiration | February 13

February 13, 2015

I love love love this quote, but I think it should apply to things we think as well as what we say.

Wise words via Cup of Jo: “We don’t see ourselves reading a book, eyes fluttering and glowing. You don’t see yourself looking at someone with love and care inside your heart.”

This new music festival in Ontario looks pretty cool.

This week’s episode of This American Life about policing was really fantastic but also pretty upsetting.

A great post on redefining success: “How do I feel when I settle into bed each night. Am I proud of what I put out into the world today? Have I been respectful to and appreciative of the people and things that mean the most to me? Am I able to support myself and contribute to my family’s well-being? Am I, along with my family, happy and healthy?”

Artist Paul Ferney is doing a really amazing project offering to sketch anyone who posts to the hashtag #drawmepaulferney. The portraits so far are so beautiful and I’m praying he gets to mine.

Dylan introduced me to Bleachers last week and I’ve been obsessed this week.

Katie and I are going to Vietnam in a couple months (!!) and how about this video?! It’s getting us jazzed.

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I cannot believe it’s mid-February already. Time is absolutely FLYING which is a little bit scary but also so exciting. I’m still making travel plans and trying to make the most of my last weeks in Korea. This weekend will hopefully be low key, spending time with some friends here who are leaving soon. It’s bittersweet, but focusing on the sweetness. Hope you have an excellent weekend!

Also: Happy Valentine’s Day! Be good to yourself. I love you all! xo.

Photo Walk: Yellow

February 11, 2015

I woke up this morning and felt like going for a photo walk, so I decided to do the next colour in the rainbow I’ve been making: here’s red and orange. At the rate I’m going, there’s no way I’ll finish the rainbow while living in Korea but that’s okay with me. Maybe it’ll take me years to finish and I’ll have walks in a bunch of different cities and countries. I like the idea of that.

And as always when I do a photo walk, I realize that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I wouldn’t frame any of these photos individually, but I adore how they look together.

These photos were all taken Wednesday morning on a sunshiney day in Jangsan, my little neighbourhood in Busan.

You can see all my other past photo walks here.

How I Practice Gratitude

February 9, 2015

One of my favourite new habits has been taking gratitude more seriously. My word for 2015 is grace, which has been proving more difficult to put into practice than abundance was, so I’m working on incorporating it into my life in more practical ways. One of the ways I want to embody grace is to “say grace” by actively appreciating and counting my blessings, and keeping a gratitude journal is really helping me with that goal.

I wanted to use a Moleskine daily planner to keep my journal, similar to Austin Kleon’s logbooks, but I couldn’t find one here in Korea so I just bought a few little notebooks at the local stationery store. They’re small – each page has 18 lines – so it’s portable and the size of the page isn’t intimidating to fill in at the end of each day.

That being said, some days are definitely harder than others. Some days I can fill in the lines in just a few minutes, and other days I need to take a little bit longer to reflect on the day. Sometimes I have all kinds of different little moments to write down, and other days I feel like a broken record, ie. “Grateful for not having snow and having time to relax and watch Gilmore Girls!” On those days I sometimes have to dig a little deeper and remember to write down things like “Everyone I love is healthy and happy” or “I’m safe and warm”.

It’s a really enlightening exercise to look back on each day as well, and to realize what it is I’m actually grateful for at the end of each day. What are the things I actually love and appreciate. What is actually important? And when I look back I realize that for me, it’s always the little things. The comfort of a cup of tea. A text from my mom. A good conversation full of hysterical laughter. Being inspired. Doing work I love to do.

The front cover of these books says “bonjour” and I feel like that’s highly appropriate. Bonjour, directly translated, means “good day”. Practicing gratitude is, in a way, recognizing that every single day is a good, great, wonderful day filled with so many things to be happy about. It might sound a bit cheesy but when it comes down to it, the little moments and joys and days are all we have.

I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal since early December and I haven’t missed a day so far. Filling in my journal in bed each night has become a really lovely part of each evening for me. I haven’t done too much reading of old entries, but I know that one day these journals are going to be such special collections of all the good things in my life.

Do you keep a gratitude journal? Do you like to practice gratitude in your own life? If so, what does your practice look like?

Inspiration | February 6

February 6, 2015

Life is about to get kind of crazy in a couple of months, so the idea of taking on this 30-day minimalism challenge is really appealing.

Advice from a guy about finding a partner who meets your needs. This article was interesting too.

One of my favourite creatives was interviewed on a new podcast called Creative Start. The podcast is great and I am obsessed with the simple, beautiful website design.

This. “You have found your X. You are here. Let yourself be here, and let the Y be there. Now, get to work.”

My one wish in life is to avoid small talk.

Great tips on making your own decisions yourself. Has there ever been a bad MarieTV episode??

Good Morning Journal looks really cool so far – weekly interviews with cool people about their mornings.

The new clothing line by the creators of Lululemon looks dreamy, if a bit pricey.

Seth Godin in all his wisdom: “There’s always a shortcut available, a way to be a little more ironic, cheaper, more instantly understandable. There’s the chance to play into our desire to be entertained and distracted, regardless of the cost. Most of all, there’s the temptation to encourage people to be selfish, afraid and angry. Or you can dig in, take your time and invest in a process that helps people see what they truly need.”

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Lots of inspiration this week and tons more not shown here. I’m reading a lot, trying to be productive and get ahead on my favourite projects (the blog and the podcast), planning for my trip and keeping in touch with my fave people back home. The week has felt a little dull but looking back on it I know I have so much to be grateful for and so much to look forward to. This weekend we’re having a big goodbye party for a bunch of friends who are leaving Korea at the end of the month. It should be a happy/sad thing. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!