FUN LINKS

How To Travel The World And Never Get Food Poisoning

This comes from the This American Girl blog. Her decision to run away and travel scares me. In a good way.

Clever Ikea Hacks Anyone Can Do

Every once in a blue moon, I will attempt a DIY, but only if it's really easy, like these.

6 Unusual Habits Of Exceptionally Creative People

I usually try something different, a new habit maybe, to break out of my routine. Routines are inevitable, we tend to fall into patterns, so try one of these just to change things up. 

Write!

A writing app that promises to save you from distraction.

Send Anywhere

An easier way to send files. I personally don't like dropbox.

A Self Drive Safari Through Lake Manyara, Ngorongo, and The Serengetti

On the bucket list! The pictures alone make this post worth looking at. And then if you can find the concentration, it's worth reading as well.

Node

Fair trade rugs that go to help people in Nepal. As a bonus, they're not ugly. Sometimes, I'd rather just give money than buy something I didn't want to begin with.

THE UNIFORM AND THE CREATIVE WALL

Outfit Ideas

Maybe it's because I used to wear a school uniform. Maybe it's an upgrade from jeans and a tee. Whatever the reason, skinny jeans and a button down shirt has become my go to. Silk shirts have the best drape, better than cotton (although there's nothing wrong with cotton), it just depends on how you want the shirt to hang.  

I was on Pinterest the other day looking at my Style board when I realized I was not in fact on my own board. I had been looking at someone else's board. She (I assume) had pinned almost the exact same images I had. It was a sad and sadly horrifying discovery. The realization that you are in your heart a style cylon. Then I came to terms. This simplicity is what I sincerely enjoy. It helps me meet my daily pleasure quota. I no longer have to check myself out in random store windows to appear as if I am browsing when in fact I'm just making sure I still look the same as I did in front of my closet that morning, or if something has gone terribly wrong in the interim.

I have found my peace. 

The Fashion Cuisine

ON BEARING SORROW

"All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them."

- Karen Blixen

ALAMERE FALLS AND MARCUS AURELIUS

Two things that have been on my mind lately, catching waterfalls and cleaning my mental thought processes. To help move this along, I've been reading/attempting to read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (it's akin to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - but for the brain). And I thought I would share some excerpts.

"Spend not the remnant of thy days in thoughts and fancies concerning other men, when it is not in relation to some common good, when by it thou art hindered from some other better work. That is, spend not thy time in thinking, what such a man doth, and to what end; what he saith, and what he thinks, and what he is about, and such other things or curiosities which make a man to rove and wander from the care and observation of that part of himself, which is rational, and overruling. See therefore in the whole series and connection of they thoughts, that thou be careful to prevent what is idle and impertinent: but especially, whatsoever is curious and malicious: that thou must use thyself to think only of such things, of which if a man upon a sudden should ask thee what it is that thou art now thinking, thou mayest answer This, and That, freely and boldly, that so by thy thoughts it may presently appear that in all thee is sincere, and peaceable; as becometh one that is made for society, and regards not pleasures, nor gives way to any voluptuous imaginations at all: free from all contentiousness, envy, suspicion, and from whatsoever else thou wouldest blush to confess thy thoughts were set upon."

That is a very high bar, I think, to cleanse your thoughts so perfectly that you can allow yourself to be entirely transparent. You see the pattern: he lays out the common traps human pitfalls: envy, petty thoughts, malice and then lays out the standard: freedom from these hidden thoughts, thought which would otherwise make you blush in the light of day.  

JOSHUA TREE IN THE SUMMER

Going to camp in the desert in summer is not the best idea I've ever had. Every picture is taken around dusk right before sunset, which offers the softest lighting, but that is not why I took them. I took pictures around this time because for most of the day it was dead hot, at least 100 degrees. You can feel yourself baking in the heat.   

Here's the cactus garden. The needles are so sharp that even a touch will break skin. So I took a shot in close up with my lens.

If you can stand it until sunset, though, you will get your reward. The weather goes from baking to perfect. And you can sleep in your tent without the rain flap, and watch the stars all night long until you fall sleep. 

PERCEPTIONS OF PINK

Source Destination unknown.

Feeling inspired by perceptions of pink today, even though it's a color I would rarely wear on my person. It's soothing on the eye.

Pink Salt Pools, Mexico

Below it's not technically pink, but it's close.

Dona Ana Beach, Portugal

Hut Lagoon in Australia

Bali, Indonesia

ON THE READING LIST: MY STRUGGLE

My Struggle, by Karl Ove Knausgaard

This book has taken over the entire country of Norway and is inching toward European Union domination. In the US, however, it may better described as tilting towards stardom. Any synopsis of the book I attempt will likely sound bad. The Struggle is the story of the author Karl Ove Knausgaard's life, an ordinary Norwegian life, told in retrospect. Each book covers a period in his life and each book is epic in length. As my friend described, "he looks like just another sexy European man."

The novelty of the book, at least part of it, is that the author lays himself bare. He allows himself to be truly known, in a culture where this degree of self disclosure is unheard of. Have you ever wanted to be truly known? Not simply the good parts of your life, but the bad and even the mundane parts. Could you go back and surgically deconstruct your life? Could you do it in a way that captivates your country? That is also how my friend described this to me: she could not put the book down, and the book looks to be about 600 pages and a good seven pounds, paperback. 

I'm going to delve in soon, to the first book in the series, and see what the fuss is about.

CHRISTOPH NEIMANN: SUNDAY SKETCHES

Christoph Neimann.

This is wildly imaginative stuff. Call me a fool, but I thought the bottom image was an actual camera.

See more here.

FUN LINKS

Lake Titicaca

The Best Laptop You Can Buy Is

Every five years or so even the best laptop will die, and when it does, you might want to check out this video. 

Silicon Valley is a Big Fat Lie

It's not necessarily the content of this article, but the intense searing emotion behind it. If words could scream, this is what they would sound like. I live in California, and I don't hold Silicon Valley in any particular esteem, but there is a mythology that some people like to build around that area, and this article rips that right down the center.

Why I Am Wearing My Favorite Clothes Everyday

There is something calming about this article, it is the concept of minimalism mixed with pleasure. The two concepts don't often associate, you don't often think that simplifying can also be blissful, that is, until this. 

Lingvist

Did you want to learn a language? This is still being developed, but supposedly there is a formula to do this effectively. Apart from Rosetta Stone. Currently only French is available, but I would watch to see if more interesting languages come up.

Why Can't We Read Anymore

The art of concentration is a lot one, and that is sad as someone who loves books, because what is reading but not the complete immersion of the self into this other fictional world, where hours can be spent playing in the endless fissures of your imagination? 

Sandals

These are from Etsy, and they're made by hand. I hold a special esteem for cobblers. 

The 7 Reasons That Science Says You Should Pay For Experience, Not Things

You can chase happiness, and you can find it. There is a way. 

Book Recommendations from The Minimalists

I like the ideas expressed in their blog, often a complex concept presented with concise precision. So it wouldn't hurt to check out a few books from this list as well.  

Roadtrip: Ring Road in Iceland

Are you looking for unusual places to travel? Here's an idea, and it's a good one. 

ONDINE AT SUTRO BATHS

In San Francisco news, I recently saw the play Ondine at Sutro Baths, next to the Ocean. The play chronicles the love between a mystical ocean creature and a knight. It takes place in the open air next to the water, and you get to move from setting to setting along with the cast. It's freezing and wonderful.

These aren't pictures from the play itself. But in between location changes, cast members drape themselves artfully into the landscape for you to walk watch and admire. They also serve you meringues. It's one of the most unique experiences I've had in a good while.  

More information here.