there are rainy days in paradise, too.

i took this photo of my friend craig a few months after i moved to christchurch...yep, he's up there on the top of Castle Rock.

hello hello!

my friend Nate is always badgering me to write for his clever, brain-child website, Ocsplora.com. all too often i'm too busy to find room in my brain for settling down with a cup of tea, a pen and a blank page to let the creative juices flow for long enough to craft a string of words together worthy of a website aimed at 'creative revolutionaries.' but when Nate told me that the theme for april was "Life Abroad," the aforementioned creative juices started trickling, all on their own.

as a canadian girl who grew up in the middle of nowhere, and has done the tourist thing, the round-the-world-in-80-days thing, the solo road trip thing, the sneaky weekend away with the girls thing, the volunteer abroad thing, and finally, the actually-pick-up-and-move-to-a-different-country thing, i had some experience to draw on for this one.

what i wanted to touch on with this short article was the repeated comments i got from people from 'back home' who seemed to think i was living in new zealand on a perpetual contiki tour, rather than actually doing normal, everyday life type things. i've used some real experiences, mixed with some artistic license... i'm happy with the finished product :)

click here to read it for yourself.

churr.

gratitude cafe

this week i am thankful for...

mom making sure the fridge is stoked with my faves (cottage cheese & grapes for brekkie!) - wearing my newly-polished fave shoes, and feeling awesome. - style-inspiring shopping at the biggest mall evaaaar - going through 2 plungers of loose-leaf mango lemon tea at steeps while hangin with jesus. - signs of new life peeking out from the what winter left for dead - so much chocolate milk! - hanging with my crazy brother...singing and dancing to the sounds of T-Swizz in his truck - delicious tea that won't rob me of my sleep - hanging with kids from my old youth group - so proud of them!

other glitterbombs of glory that i am thankful for this week:
- hanging with awesome angee - successfully navigating the edmonton transit system - two good interviews - running - the fitocracy app...a dynamo of fitness inspiration! - ska. always, always thankful for ska. - skype chats with mali - unicorns for socialism. alexandra franzen is totally rocking my world right now and inspiring me to infuse my vocabulary with awesomeness. highly reccomended. -  singing along unashamedly to a les mis dvd with my sister, regardless of the eye-rolling of our male relatives - the great gatsby - skype chatting with my favourite australasians - hanging with my parentals - hellogoodbye - driving with my littlest bro, who has the best music - being directed to dearphotograph.com (tear-jerker alert!) - emails in my inbox. - catching up with kim for the first time since school! yes, that's NINE years since we've seen each other. SO good! - picking up right where i left off with my radiant, power-couple pals alex&nathan - visiting my 'home' church and actually feeling at home - hymns -

i am so blessed.

what are YOU thankful for??

i love a good collage...

via offbeat home :)

oh boy, i just came across this set of collages by artist Nadine Boughton...using images from mens adventure magazines from the 1950s with images from Better Homes and Gardens from the same perio, she has created some pretty entertaining retro art. Check it out!

come now, old sport!

started reading the great gatsby today for the first time, and am absolutely devouring it! go, f. scott fitzgerald! loves it.

cause reading is just so awesome, here's another awesome person reading: houdini!

courtesy of awesomepeoplereadin.tumblr.com

gratitude cafe

hello! welcome to a new thing i'm hoping to do weekly here on my blog. let me explain: one of my goals this year has been to be more thankful. i had a pretty bad year in 2011, and i know that my perspective on life would have most likely improved, had i chosen to count my blessings more often. so, with help from my goal-enforcing friend mali, i decided to make a goal for 2012 to write something i am thankful for every day, and MAN has it ever been a great journey so far. on crap days, i can always find a couple things to be thankful for, and on great days, i fill at least one page in my journal with all the things i'm thankful for. since this blog is my 'delight adventure', i thought i'd follow the lead of many awesome lady-bloggers before me, and start a weekly installment of what i am thankful for. for me, just as much as it is for you. hopefully it inspires you to start practising gratitude in your life :) why 'gratitude cafe'? well, it's a nod to a song from a musician i am eternally grateful for - jason mraz.

without further ado, welcome to this week's gratitude cafe :)

fun last few days with my whanau - hanging with my canadian fam (driving with the bro) - tim hortons! - delicious sushi dinner with my sistah - swedish berries! best ever. - making epic dinner for dad & i - going to watch roller derby with dad - seeing my cousins (and adorable wee second cousin!) - traditional canadian 'weenie roast' with the fam! - hanging with horses and watching my cousin ride - this little monkey and his monkey - goldfish crackers!

other randomness that i'm thankful for this week:
- getting to canada safely! - a new phone...i hate to admit it, but the iphone is ruling. superfluous usefulness. - going to a stand up comedy night to see my friend lawrence... so funny! - skype calls with great pals - laughing...if you don't find this funny, there is something wrong with you. you should probably get that checked out. - being with my family!!! - going for a the first run in way too long - good music -

what are YOU thankful for!?

awesome person reading

 photo by Ralph Crane, 1957

love this quirky photo of Natalie Wood reading poolside :) courtesy of http://awesomepeoplereading.tumblr.com - love that blog!

melbournspiration...

as you know, a few weeks ago, i went to melbourne... i generally love wandering around a big city, getting lost and finding inspiration in all sorts of quirky places. well, let me tell you - when it comes to inspiration in melbourne, the churches and cathedrals are at the top of my list.

first, i found this memorial for the soldiers of WWI & II. It was obviously erected  after World War I, but what really touched me was the inscription that was clearly added after World War II had proved to be even more devastating...

'in 1939 the bugle called again
and was bravely answered by
all ranks of
Fifth Batallion
The Victorian Scottish Regiment
many of whom gave their lives
in divers fields of service
that we might live
to find a better way'

then there was this inscription, honoring the life of a former pastor... oh, that my life would be described with such words as 'generous,' 'devoted,' and 'faithful.' i found this so inspiring!

'his spirit has returned to God who gave it.
WITH CHRIST: which is far better.'

this plaque was small, and hidden in the back of a flowerbed, but it caught my eye, and i had to sit and ruminate on it for a while...

rock of ages, cleft for me...

i'm almost out of things to blog about melbourne... one thing is left, though: tattoo photos! i am still so amped on the ink from antony, will share soon!

thanks for reading :)

bienvenue a canada...

this is me, waving goodbye to new zealand... no wait. this is new zealand waving goodbye to me...

i don't know how we did it, but we managed to say goodbye without any tears! all of my farewells were so upbeat, and even the more sad ones were tear-free. i'm really grateful for that... its always hard to leave nz, all the happy send-offs made it much easier :)

and now...

i made it back to the motherland safely, with all personal effects in tow - yay! i am very thankful that after all the flying i've done, i still have never lost any luggage. met nice people along the way, including a random guy who drew a stick-figure picture of me...

when in rome...? well, when in LAX they drink at this strange cafe...some weird thing that vaguely resembles coffee.

...and now here i am in the 'true north'. it's cold. (i thought it was going to be spring when i got here!). had a few moments on the plane where i was like 'what the heck am i doing!?' but it only took a second of reminding myself of a few of the many reasons for this adventure in faith, and i was back looking forward to what's ahead.
...it's an adventure, and that's what counts :)

a few weeks ago i went to melbourne. i was absolutely enamored... perhaps i am just starved for the affections of a city that's alive with character and class and culture (and a cbd),  but i fell instantly in love with melbourne's sneaky lanes and gorgeous townhouses and art and food and color and sunshine... when i had to get on the bus to leave, i felt a genuine pang of sadness, like i hadn't had enough time to get to know it...

highlights included: - food! so much good food! i totally spoiled myself on eating out at every opportunity presented by a slight twinge of hunger.  - seeing chch friends! - hanging at green lotus tattoo shop with my man antony, and getting tattoed by him (details in a coming post!) - going to an EPIC punk gig... i forget that real punks exist, cause i haven't seen any for so long.... and being pleasantly surprised with a french ska band headlining the night :) - shopping in brunswick! - exploring downtown... finding creative and surprising little treats around every corner - victoria state library...so breathtakingly beautiful, could have stayed all day -oogling over angelique houtkamp prints at the outre art gallery - getting inspired by the beautiful churches and cathedrals of central melbourne...

 

oh melbourne, you pretty wee thing. i will come back to you as soon as i can - four days together was simply not enough! it was truly enchanting to meet you <3

what's brown and sticky?

illustration by marc johns - www.marcjohns.com

i love this. it kind of reminds me of my sister, and of the les miserables soundtrack. if you love les mis like we love les mis, you have probably conducted an invisible orchestra to play each epic song with a stick or whisk or bobby pin or whatever. haha, just kidding, i never do anything weird like that, ever.

i promise, i WILL post photos of my glorious time in Melbourne later today!