Thoughts from the hippie

wise ram.....

Thoughts from the hippie

I want to start my 2012 in a positive way, not in a way where I'm making my new years resolutions and starting them at the start of the year. I'm recognising things I want to change in my life now, starting those changes now so that way when 2012 hits I won't be thinking of things I want differently in life and ways I want to change, I will already have begun that process. Part of this is sticking to a vegan diet for a while, I'm not putting a time limit on it, just for as long as I feel feels right. Like most people I pigged out for about three days over Christmas and although the majority of the food I was eating was really healthy, my portions were huge and I was going back for seconds, thirds and snacking all day. I generally don't have dairy in my diet anyway, but if I'm eating out somewhere, or if someone offers me some of their food and it has dairy in it I do usually have some but for the next while until I feel like I'm back to feeling really healthy. 

Another part of my getting ready for 2012 change is to stop wasting time. I've done a couple of blogs about this already and it's something I do so easily! So to combat this I'm going to deactivate my facebook before new years. I'm waiting up until then because I still have one more person to hear back about their email so I can still keep in touch with them as well (I have a couple of friends from the USA and one friend from Sweden). The thing that annoys me about facebook is that I hate how much time I spend on it, and I know that I hate how much time I spend on it, yet I still keep coming back to it. I don't even know what I do on there! I'm just getting sick of it and I also don't like the new timeline layout, so now seems like a good time to deactivate. 

2011 has definitely been a huge year for me, I feel like I have changed and learnt so much and I am so grateful for all the experiences and interactions that I've had and can only hope that 2012 will be even better.

These two songs are definitely a couple of many of my favourite songs from 2011.....

Thoughts from the fashionista. . .

I moved to Vancouver, Canada approximately 1 month ago on a working holiday visa. I had finished uni and had been working for about a year, so I felt like it was time to leave the country before life became too settled. 


Although I'm slowly adapting to the cold and learning the art of layering, the winter does get to me at times and I'm starting to miss the beautiful Brisbane summer sun. However it's not all bad, and being able to snowboard every weekend is definitely a bonus, something I may never have the opportunity to experience again. The other bonus is weekend trips away, made even better by long weekends. My future plans include San Francisco, Mexico, Hawaii, Las Vegas, New York, Seattle...now these upcoming weekend trips are certainly not possible back at home!  

Although I'm missing summer like crazy, Vancouver is such a beautiful city, with beautiful people. I'll always have Australia to go home to, so for now I'll just have to rug up and start embracing the cold!

Thoughts from the hippie...

These holidays so far have not been wasted! The other Sunday I ran the furthest and longest I've ever ran before (one hour and fifty minutes) and now I've finally learnt Incubus's song 'Isadore' from their new album. This song is probably my favourite song on this album, I have tickets to their concert in February aaaand there's a possibility I might be able to meet the band! If you don't know Incubus has their own foundation called the 'Make Yourself Foundation' and to raise money for it, they've created an auction that includes tickets to see their concert AND a meet and greet with the band! Bidding starts at $100, there's 3 days left, and so far I'm still the only one who has put a bid on. If I win this auction, I am going to be incredibly nervous, to meet Brandon Boyd, WOW! For those of you who don't know, since high school Incubus has been my favourite band and Brandon Boyd my dream man... oh wow, to meet the band... oh wow, oh wow, oh wow! Here's their song that I recently have conquered on guitar:

Thoughts from the hippie

I've talked to a couple of my friends who are artists to draw me up some compass designs for a tattoo.... if I have money left over from my Tanzania/Europe trip next year I'm going to get a tattoo on my foot. Exciting!!

Thoughts from the hippie

I doubt myself and my choices so much, thank you so much to my sister for showing me this...

Thoughts from the hippie

cute.

Thoughts from the hippie

I find it very interesting how easy it is to self sabotage yourself.... I've been seeing this guy who is the first guy that I've decided to not see any other guys while I'm with him (we're not in a relationship or have had the 'are we exclusive' discussion, I'm just presuming we're not exclusive) and lately I've been feeling actually scared about this, that maybe I've made a mistake about deciding not to see the other couple of guys anymore that I was seeing beforehand, that maybe cutting them off was too soon, that I'm just going to end up being really really hurt by this guy that I'm seeing. I've been feeling so weird about this thing that I've been thinking maybe I should go back to seeing one of the other guys, like a safety net so that when this guy I'm seeing gets sick of me I'm not going to be as hurt or something like that. He hasn't given me any reason to think this, and yet here I am considering sabotaging this thing I have with him simply because I just think if I let myself get too far into this thing that we have I'm going to end up just being hurt and that's not what I want.  

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go back to seeing another person yet, I think I'm just going to not have so much contact with this person that I'm seeing and just leave it up to him to see where he takes it for a while.

So that's just my little vent for tonight, about sabotaging something you have when you have no reason to, it seems so silly but it's so strange that your thoughts just seem to be able to make you have so much doubt about something that should be so positive.

Goodnight, dream sweet.

Thoughts from the hippie

Thoughts from the hippie

missing my sisters so much right now, an ocean a part is very far away!

Thoughts from the hippie

So often I see a piece of art, read a book or poem or hear an amazing song and all I can think of is that I'm never going to be able to create something so beautiful or meaningful, it's incredibly depressing feeling. Hopefully this summer I will create something that I am proud of.

Thoughts from the hippie

Thoughts from the hippie

Sorry for the lack of posts, here's a picture... hopefully write sometime soon.

Thoughts from the hippie

Thoughts from the hippie

Ahhh so what to say about my past week of regaining motivation and focus.... I think I’m pretty happy with how this week has gone even though I didn’t get everything I wanted to get done finished. I did finish most of my notes for uni, but I didn’t start on my major assignment, I did practice Spanish but not nearly enough that I should have, I went rock climbing, running, went to the markets for my veges and walked probably around 90% of the times that I could when I needed to to the city/middle of west end instead of catching the bus.

I find it strange how different running has made me feel compared to working out in the gym. When I was living in Lutwyche I still worked out but it was just in the gym, now living in West End I no longer go to the gym but I run at least four times a week for around an hour. I think it has something to do with just being outside and the fact that I do just love running, but I think running outside has made me less stressed and much more easy going than what I was before. I think at the gym I felt like I was working out to do something superficial for myself (as well as just being healthy in general) but running makes me feel like I do this because I love it, and it just makes me feel more wholesome and healthy than I did before when I was living in Lutwyche.

Buying my veges from the markets has definitely changed me, I’ve eaten more types of veges than I would have normally this week, it’s so much more cheaper buying my food this way and it just feels nice to know where your food has come from, and everyone is always so nice at the markets as well. 

I also finished reading “Start Something that Matters” by the creator of TOMS shoes, Blake Mycoskie. I strongly recommend everyone to read this book, it’s an easy read and incredibly inspiring and uplifting.

I am hoping that next week I do get as much uni done as I can, I just need to suck it up, deal with it and get stuff done. Although I’m happy where things are now, I know if I leave some things for another couple of weeks I’ll start to go out of my mind with stress. So all in all I think I have successfully regained my motivation and focus, I think I just need to try harder next week, no worries.

Thoughts from the hippie

This week off uni couldn’t of come any sooner! It was getting to that point in the semester where it was oh so tempting to just skip my lectures and just start to get slack with pretty much everything. So I’m using this week to regain my motivation and focus with pretty much everything. I want to make sure this week I’m not wasting my time, that I’m not just watching TV or spending a couple of hours on the computer not even doing anything important, just wasting time. Today my goals are to finish my notes from the past week for two of my subjects, do Spanish practice before my lesson today, fit in some guitar and if I have time before I go to work to put my congo drums on sale on gumtree.com. Tomorrow I want to practice Spanish, guitar, get a lot of my major assignment done/started from one of my subjects and go to the markets to pick up my veges rather than going to coles.

This week I also want to start making a couple of small positive changes, like buying my veges from the markets and whenever I need to go into the city or to the middle of west end during the day, to walk instead of taking the bus. It’s only a 40minuteish walk to the city and only about a 15-20minutes walk to the middle of west end, so I really shouldn’t be so lazy also this should hopefully save me a bit of money on my gocard. I also want to be really conscious of what I eat this week. I’ve been letting on go of my eating for the past week and I just really want to get back to how I was eating before last week.

So this week is all about regaining motivation and focus, I’ll blog about how I go when the week is out. 

Thoughts from the hippie

If you've been living under a rock lately the people in the Horn of Africa (which is Somalia/Ethiopia/Kenya region) are going through massive food shortages with the worst drought they've had in 60 years. More than 370,000 refugees are already crammed into three camps at Dadaab, built for a combined capacity of 90,000!

As part of World Food Day, I'm raising money to help support Oxfam's response and Gather to Grow event to the food crisis happening in East Africa.

You can find more about what Oxfam is doing here: https://www.oxfam.org.au/explore/conflict-and-natural-disasters/current-emergencies/africa-food-crisis

You can also donate here: https://www.oxfam.org.au/donate/current-appeals/gather-to-grow

This is a really important cause to support, so even if you only donate $5 you'd still make me really really happy! 

Here are some amazing photos from the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-14119487 

 

Thoughts from the hippie

Thoughts from the hippie

Recently I received an email from one of my friends in America,  in a nutshell, he was telling me about a career opportunity he had, how he felt like he was doing some soul searching and about wanting to pursue something that is truly meaningful and he asked me if I ever felt like that, feeling like you have to pursue something meaningful.

I definitely understood what he meant about wanting to pursue something meaningful in life. I get really annoyed with myself in my own life, I read about these people who are doing all these amazing things, like working in developing countries to try and make other people’s lives better, and so often it makes me really annoyed with myself that I’m not making a difference to anyone or anything, that I’m just existing and my life is just like a machine where I go to uni, go to work, finish my degree, get a job, bleugh. I want more than, I want to make difference but I don’t know how, and I don’t think I will be one of those people who make those differences in developing countries. I want my life to have meaning and purpose and I just don’t see it happening, it’s incredibly frustrating!

I hope by the end of my degree I’ll be able to go work somewhere overseas with animals, but it all just seems so far away, I can’t imagine myself being a ‘real adult’, I don’t feel that way, most the times I just feel like I’m just another silly young girl. Work is such a major part of anyone’s life, but I wouldn’t want my career or whatever to define who I am, but I think that’s the way it comes across in most developed countries, you are your work.

I want my life to have purpose and meaning, and right now I don’t feel like I’m any use or good to anyone. It’s an incredibly shitty feeling to have. I don’t feel like I’m doing enough in my life, but I don’t know how to start to do more.

Thoughts from the hippie

Thoughts from the hippie

Thoughts from the hippie

A Beautiful Life

I have a beautiful life, I really do. It’s taken me such a long time to get to this point in my life where I can honestly say that in general, I am happy.

Around two weeks ago I had a phone call from someone who I hadn’t spoken to around two years, long story short, he ended up saying something to me which made me practically snap at him and I gave a huge spiel all about why he is so unhappy in his life is simply because he is lazy, doesn’t challenge himself and is one of those people who are full of words but they have no meaning. An example of that last point for this person is that he would go on and on about travelling but just never do it because he’s too lazy to go get his passport!

After that conversation, I had a think about why do I feel so lucky, happy and think that life is beautiful? Here is what I came up with:

Feeling Lucky:

I have read so many books about women in third world countries and reading about what these women have to face everyday, I am really grateful for the life I have here in Australia. One of the books which really opened my eyes was Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. I think everyone: male, female, students and adults should all read this book; it’s incredibly eye-opening, sad and inspiring. It truly makes you value the kind of life that you have.

Feeling Happy:

There was a time where I was depressed for quite some time and I also had purging disorder for around six-six and a half years. Going through depression and an eating disorder you have so much self hatred for that time that it just toxifies your entire life and you feel as though you can’t imagine being happy. For myself how I managed to get through this was there a moment where one of my friends (who is only turning 21 this year) went over to Thailand to get a nose job, breast implants and liposuction. This girl, was/is already very beautiful and was quite slim, nowhere near to being fat at all, and for me it was like a light bulb just went off in my head; I’m not a bad person, I’m not a horrible, mean person, I’m healthy, I exercise, what the hell am I doing destroying my body and mind like this? I finally accepted myself, realised that as long as I was eating healthy and keeping fit I didn’t need to poison myself like I was. It sounds so simple, but when you are stuck in such a mind vortex it’s not as simple as just waking up one day and thinking “ok, I’m better now, I’m giving up my eating disorder forever”. So since then, I have been happy and enjoying life so much more because I’ve accepted who I am and realised I am not a bad person.

Life is Beautiful:

A part from the obvious aesthetics of the world, I think a key point into thinking about just how beautiful life is, is about challenging and pushing yourself and always learning. I play guitar, but nothing impressive and it’s just something for me, I learn Spanish, I go to uni, I run, I love rock-climbing, I love to learn new things about different countries,  I love to go climb mountains and all I want is adventure in my travels! I find the things that are harder to do, harder to learn, the things that push yourself, the things that bring out something creative in you, makes you more happier and inspired by life to think to yourself that yes, life is beautiful! If you spend your days on the couch watching TV or just moping round the house, of course you are not living, you are merely existing and so you probably do think that you do not have a beautiful life because you don’t challenge yourself or put yourself out into the world!

I don’t want to come across as being cocky as if I think that I have a perfect life, because obviously I don’t. However, I think in general that life is beautiful and I don’t need my life to be perfect because nothing in life is perfect. I just think that no matter what there are so many ways to not just simply exist and do nothing but to actually live and be happy, why would you want to do nothing?

Learn to accept yourself, be grateful for what you have and always try for something more.

Thoughts from the hippie

Tonight, the Fashionista and I went to check out the Cuban 'Ballet Revolucion'.

It was mind-blowing amazingly incredible! I wish I could be all sexy and move like a Cuban dancer...

I like to imagine that the guy with the long dreads is my future husband, although I will settle for a future shag.

Thoughts from the hippie

My favourite fictional book would definitely be Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I have read this book three times and even after the second and third time I still cried at the end. For me, this book is perfect, never have I read something so beautiful and I highly recommend everyone to read it! 


Everything that Jonathon Safran Foer does in my opinion, is flawless. His writing is incredibly beautiful it makes you think that you could never write something as perfect with such emotion quite like he does, he's an extremely inspiring writer. 


This book is full of quotes you have probably seen on a lot of indie-hipster blogs because (sorry for the stereotype) they all worship him and for good reasons too. 


I heard this book is being made into a movie, if whoever is directing/producing/writing/acting in it screws it up, I'm going to be insanely upset and angry.


Here are a few of my favourite quotes from the book:


"Just because you’re an atheist, that doesn't mean you wouldn’t love for things to have reasons for why they are."


“Being with him made my brain quiet.  I didn’t have to invent a thing.” 


“She let out a laugh, and then she put her hand over her mouth, like she was angry at herself for forgetting her sadness.”


“So many people enter and leave your life!  Hundreds of thousands of people! You have to keep the door open so they can come in!  But it also means you have to let them go!"


“I thought, it’s a shame that we have to live, but it’s a tragedy that we get to live only one life, because if I’d had two lives, I would have spent one of them with her.”


“I’m trying,” Mr. Goldberg said to me, as if only the two of us existed.  “Trying what?” I asked, in a voice more concerned than I’d wanted, he took off his glasses again, “Trying to be.” 


“I should have drowned us there in the room, ended our suffering, they would have found us floating face-down in two thousand white pages, or buried under the salt of my evaporated tears…” 



“It’s the tragedy of loving, you can’t love anything more than something you miss.”


I know that's more than 'just a few' quotes, but this book truly is so beautiful, every sentence is amazing. Enjoy!

Thoughts from the fashionista

I want . . .

www.wittner.com.au

These shoes caught my eye when I was at a shopping centre today. Absolutely gorgeous, I think these shoes could be worn during the day, out to brunch or at night, out to cocktails. I have to keep reminding myself of my spending ban leading up to my European/Canadian adventure . . .

Thoughts from the fashionista

Exactly 68 days (not that I'm counting) until I will be jet-setting overseas for my ultimate trip to Europe - Canada - and back to Europe for a Mediterranean summer!


I cannot wait until summer 2012 rolls around - I'm dreaming of a villa in Greece, a yacht in Croatia...


This Roberto Cavalli kaftan would be perfect (and a cocktail in hand):

Thoughts from the hippie

I remember one of my first posts on this blog was about Hello Sunday Morning (HSM), where I decided to take 3 months 'off' from alcohol. It has been over a month since I completed that and today it really hit me just how much doing HSM has had a positive affect on me. Since doing HSM, especially the past three weekends I have had a fair bit to drink, and today I guess I just had more or less a realisation about my 'relationship' with alcohol and how I only want it to play a very small role in my life.

"Even though it has been over a month since I completed my HSM, today it really hit me just how much doing HSM affected me without me even really realising it until now.

For the past three weekends I’ve been going out drinking although it hasn’t been anything too huge…the first weekend was a friend’s 21^st on the Saturday night and pretty easy going Sunday sess, neither of which were anything too messy, the following weekend was another Sunday sess which was a bit more messy, than this weekend the Friday night was a little messy, followed by only two drinks at my dad’s birthday on the Saturday night. The past three weekends haven’t been anything crazy where I’ve been waking up to a nasty hangover or anything, but it’s still been a very non-motivating three weekends where although I’ve been happy in those moments, when I think back on it, if I didn’t drink as much or not at all, I would have definitely just had more motivation and made more out of my weekends like I did when I was doing my HSM. I think this has made me realise that weekend after weekend it’s truly just not for me anymore.   

A perfect example of my non-motivatedness (I know that’s not a real word, but now it kind of is) is what I look like right now,…it’s Sunday afternoon, earlier on it was so beautiful, and here I am, still lying on the couch when I know I should be getting stuff organised for uni or practicing some guitar or Spanish, just something productive like I was doing the majority of the time when I was going through my HSM.

For me, realising this hasn’t made me want to do another HSM right now, but I am glad it has woken me up again even though it’s been over a month since I did do my three month HSM.

So this is just a little thank you to HSM. When I went three months without alcohol, it did make a huge difference in my life more than I had originally realised, and even though right now I’m feeling lazy and like a fool, I am still a little happy that I do know that I’m not going to keep going weekend after weekend drinking just because I’m not doing a HSM right now. Thank you Hello Sunday Morning!"

Here is the Hello Sunday Morning website for anyone who is interested: http://hellosundaymorning.com.au/

 

Thoughts from the hippie

"I love you also means I love you more than anyone loves you, or has loved you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way that no one loves you, or has loved you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way that I love no one else, and never have loved anyone else, and never will love anyone else." - Jonathan Safran Foer.

Thoughts from the fashionista

I love Kim Kardashian's style...she is my ultimate style icon. I absolutely LOVE her casual look - teaming jeans, heels and a blazer...

I think the blazer and jeans combo is a chic daytime outfit that is easy for anyone to pull off with minimal hassle. My own navy blue blazer gets a weekly workout...whether it be on the weekend or to work, it really goes with so much. One of my favourite buys! At the moment I am slightly obsessed with the orangey/coral colour, and the navy blazer really compliments my tees/tops of this colour.

Recently, I visited my boyfriend in Cairns and we spent an hour or so having a look in the shops on the main strip. I tried on an off white blazer in Witchery but put it back on the hanger as the price tag was a tad too expensive for me (given I'm 3 months from a European/Canadian/American holiday!). HOWEVER, my very sweet boyfriend went back to Witchery after I had flown home to buy it for me, and sent it to me in the post! I couldn't believe it when I opened it up...it is absolutely perfect, and goes with so much. I feel a million dollars in it and love it to bits! It will be perfect for Italy :)


Here it is:

Thoughts from the hippie

Any Australian who comes across and reads this post will know what I mean when I say that one of the only TV shows worth watching at the moment is Offspring. For any of you lovely international people who don't know what I'm talking about you can go to this website http://ten.com.au/offspring.htm to watch free episodes of, in my opinion, is one of the best TV series to come out of Australia.

Both my sister and I are huge fans of this show and tonight's episode it looks like Nina will finally choose between Patrick and Chris. For my sister and I, we are huge Patrick fans all the way and hope that Nina tells that Chris Havel where to stick it.

I think Adele's song 'I found a boy' is perfect for this situation..... So here is some beautiful music for you all....

Thoughts from the hippie

I want one

 

Thoughts from the hippie

 

 mmmmhhhmm.

Thoughts from the hippie

What Have I Done Today?!

A few blog posts ago I wrote about how I was going to try to motivate myself in everyday life by simply writing down "What have I done today?" and "What do I want to achieve tomorrow?". Overall this simple technique has been very successful for me.

I've finished uni for this semester, I have a month off and I want to feel like I'm actually doing something everyday rather than just simply work and laze around the house. So by writing down and asking myself "What have I done today", even if it's just playing music, reading or practicing Spanish, for me that makes me feel like I have done something rather than lay on the couch on the internet or watching TV until I have to go to work that night. 

So far this week I have been to the gym everyday, cleaned up around the house, gone rock climbing, practiced Spanish, started writing again, playing music and caught up with a couple of friends. Over the weekend I'm checking out a gig I won tickets to for Saturday night, having my Spanish lesson, hanging out with a friend on Sunday and hopefully doing anything else that comes up. So although these aren't any major exciting thrilling things, I find just doing at least one productive thing a day makes me feel a lot happier with myself and with life, that I am not just wasting my time.

I'm sure after a while I'll stop writing things down as I more or less make more of a conscious effort to do more in my life, but for now this is working for me and I'd recommend doing this for anyone who feels that they're just not getting enough out of life.

On another note, not only finishing uni for the semester I have also completed my 3 month Hello Sunday Morning. Hello Sunday Morning is simply an opportunity to take a 3 month/6month/12month break from drinking. I didn't have a drinking problem, for me this was just another experience, and at the end of it all, an extremely positive experience which I'm happy I did. Here's a link to my page on Hello Sunday Morning with my blogs from my experience http://hellosundaymorning.com.au/members/rhiannonrymer/.

To finish this post off, a quote from Jimi Hendrix,
"All I'm gonna do is just go on and do what I feel"
yyeeeaaaahhhh