Saturday, 23 June 2012

Thoughts from the hippie..

Exams are OVER! As much as I did try my hardest studying for chemistry, I still think I failed the exam which means I would of failed the subject :( But my other three final exams went really well, definitely happy with them. I guess I just have to wait and see obviously.

Today I'm leaving for Arusha, Tanzania and I'm feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement all at once! I've always been so intrigued by Africa so to finally be able to visit there, even just for three weeks is a dream come true. I can't wait to be completely out of my comfort zone, trying to make the most of each moment and have every experience I possibly can have. Hopefully I'll try to do a blog post while I'm over there, but for now I'll leave you all with a quote that's short and sweet...



 The sun doesn't set for a wild heart.

Saturday, 2 June 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

This week is the first week of SWOTVAC... the week before exam block where there are no lectures, no tutes, just study. Generally I'm pretty good with my study in this week although thinking back on previous SWOTVACs I probably haven't applied myself as much as I could have. This time though, it's different. This week is going to be hibernation study week for chemistry. I'm currently failing this subject right now so I do need a lot more than a pass for this subject. The thought of failing a subject actually terrifies me a little, especially the thought of failing chemistry. But I must remember it's not the end of the world if I do fail, I just have to do it again in semester one 2013, and it won't take any longer to do my degree. Who knows, if I do fail maybe there's some lesson to be learnt for me. I don't know, but I do have a good feeling that this week I will go study nuts. I'll update next Sunday to see just how much I committed myself to study. I really have no excuses, I'm not working all week (except Saturday night), I have no other commitments, just study! I must remember this isn't going to kill me, studying all the time is only for three weeks and that's it, three weeks and I'm free of this semester. I'm also scared of telling people that I failed, I feel like because I've spent so long figuring out what degree I actually want to do, I should be coasting by getting it done as quickly as I can. I think I will be fine studying for my other three subjects, it's mainly just chemistry I'm terrified of. All in all, this is a bit of a useless post, it's more just for me to be accountable to myself, telling myself this is what I'm going to do, this is what needs to be done, it's not forever, no excuses.


Friday, 11 May 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

"She loved life and it loved her right back
celebrate her passion
She listened to her heart above all other voices
celebrate her wisdom
She pursued big dreams instead of small realities
celebrate her priorities
She saw every ending as a new beginning
celebrate her resiliency
She discovered real measurements had nothing to do with numbers or statistics
celebrate her self-esteem
She was kind loving and patient...with herself
celebrate her tenderness
She woke up one day and threw away all her excuses
celebrate her accountability
She realized that she was missing a great deal by being sensible
celebrate her spirit
She turned her cant's into cans and her dreams into plans
celebrate her goals
She ignored people who said it couldnt be done
celebrate her independence
She had a way of turning obstacles into opportunities
celebrate her magic
She went out on a limb had it break behind her and she discovered she could fly
celebrate her faith
She discovered that she was the one she'd been waiting for
celebrate her self reliance
She added so much beauty to being human
celebrate her presence
She walked in when everyone else walked out
celebrate her friendship
She just had this way of brightening the day
celebrate her radiance
She made the whole world feel like home
celebrate her warmth
She decided to enjoy more and endure less
celebrate her choices
She decided to start living the life she'd imagined
celebrate her freedom
She coloured her thoughts with only the brightest colours
celebrate her optimism
She was an artist and her life was her canvas
celebrate her brillance
She ran ahead where there were no paths
celebrate her bravery
She crossed borders recklessly, refusing to recognise limits, saying bon jour and buon giorno as though she owned both France and Italy and the day itself
celebrate her joie de vivre
She held her head high and looked the world straight in the eye
celebrate her strength
She not only saw a light at the end of the tunnel she became that light for others
celebrate her compassion
She designed a life she loved
celebrate her joy
She took the leap and built her wings on the way down
celebrate her daring
She said bye-bye to unhealthy relationships
celebrate her happiness
She remained true to herself
celebrate her authenticity
She made the world a better place
celebrate her" - Unknown

Monday, 7 May 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

This image very much came into my mind today as myself and three close friends climbed up to the summit of Mt Tibrogarban. This climb was so much harder than Mt Warning, it's insane, I think it's because when you're climbing up the rocks to get to the top of Mt Warning you at least have a chain to hold on but at Mt Tibrogarban if you want to do the climb to the top, there's no chain and the majority of the climb is crazy steep... here are a few examples to give you an idea...
 I found it more scary going down than I did climbing to the top. There were two clear times going down where I had kind of gotten stuck and honestly thought to myself 'oh fuck, what have I got myself into, why did I put my body in this position where my foot can't touch the next rock, I'm going to get hurt!' The first time that happened I had help from a lovely stranger who could tell by my body shaking like crazy and my breaths sounding a little bit too quick that I didn't know what to do. This person took my back pack off me and talked me through how I needed to change my position to get down safetly, the whole time being so incredibly patient with me as it took me ages to just do small simple changes, I appreciated it immensely, ah the kindness of strangers! The next time was a lot more scarier, it's hard to explain what I had to do but I'll try. I was kind of in this corner of these rocks with the front of my body facing outwards, not into the rocks, it had gotten to the point where I wouldnt be able to squat down to stretch my leg out to get to the next rock down from me, I needed to get to the other side of this corner thing I was in to be able to get down, so with the help of my friend's boyfriend I had to swing my body and kind of jump at the same time around the corner onto this extremely small space to be able to get down properly. It was with the help of my friend's boyfriend's arm as a support that I was only able to do this, it felt like my heart was beating a million times a minute. But that's the thing afterwards I felt amazing, reaching the top of this mountain was hard, going down even harder, but all the fear, the physicalness all outweighed how accomplished you feel afterwards, you feel all like yeah, I did THIS! The view was sensational as well..


It was so satisfying being out of my comfort zone today, can't wait for it to happen again!

Friday, 4 May 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

WOOO! Today I ran the furthest I've ever ran before! It was only two kilometres more than my furthest, but still, it was more than what it was. This morning I ran 30 km, felt so good and so bad at the same time. My legs feel like death but I still feel so happy with myself.


Wednesday, 2 May 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

Aaaahh I apologise for this, this is going to be a boring rant, but I want to get it out...

I don't know of anything else that makes me feel as shit as university does. I'll be giving it so much money by the end, feeling like I've been a machine for the past four years and hating that there's no compromise with subjects. I understand that each degree needs to have its own list of subjects that everyone needs to do but I think a better way of the list instead of having 'compulsory' and 'elective' lists, why don't they just merge the two lists together to create a mega list that students can pick from ourselves for OUR degree that we have to pay for. Sure I think they can still set your minimum requirement of first, second, third and fourth year subjects, but fuck, at least let us choose the subjects to create our own degree. For example, I have to do a first year chemistry course. I hate chemistry, I thought I did ok on the mid-semester exam, turns out I failed, thought I did ok on the last online quiz, nooo turns out I failed that too. Now I'm going to start going to a tutor to help me understand why I think I was understanding chemistry when I actually wasn't, just so I can pass my final exam which I have to do to pass chemistry. This chemistry subject is the only chemistry subject that is compulsory for me to do for the whole time I'm at uni and I'm 100% sure I'm not going to remember a thing once it's over and that I'm not going to use it. I understand that chemistry is interesting, amazing and useful but it's just not for me so why do I have to pay for something that I hate and I'm not going to use or remember?! By having just one list of subjects to choose from I could create my degree suited for me and not be so bitter about uni.



Thursday, 26 April 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

Earlier at the start of the month I joined my first book club (yes, a little nerdy, I know!) and last night was the first 'meeting' about 'The Chemistry of Tears' by Peter Carey. Between the six of us it was unanimous... the book sucked. I highly recommend staying away from this book so you don't have to bore your life with it, there were unnecessary characters that for some reason had main parts (like the assistant, the fairytale collector, many others), the book was divided up by two characters, Henry and Catherine with the Henry sections being intensely boring, and the main part of the book that I had a problem with was that you knew pretty much nothing about Catherine and her affair with Matthew Tindall who dies at the beginning and one of the main themes in the book is about her grieving about him dying! It was a very annoying read, easy read at least, but annoying. I found it really interesting during the book club meeting hearing all of us get so worked up about a book we didn't like, and although we all agreed on why we didn't like the book, when it came down to the nitty-gritties of the book we all had different opinions about why these things made the book bad but we were still all agreeing with each other anyway, it was interesting to hear the different points of view of the same opinion. However, one thing about the book I will say is that there's this quote in it that I really really love:

"You are wholly unable to associate what you see with what your life has taught you."

I think there are plenty of people including myself who could really use this quote in everyday life. I love how it's saying you've been in this situation before why can't you see that, why aren't you using what you learnt that time around.



Right now I'm reading 'Papilon' by Henri Charriere, and WOW, it is amazing! I'm only 50 pages through but the writing is just incredible, I highly HIGHLY recommend anyone to start reading this book, it truly is mind-blowing!


Tuesday, 10 April 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

This weekend was my first experience with volunteering. I won't mention the organisation I've started volunteering with, I'll just say that they do such amazing work with refugees. The topic of refugees is such a huge divisive topic here in Australia and also within my family; my parents and I have very different views on the topic.

Over the weekend, I visited a single mother and her 8 month old baby who are clients of the organisation that I've started volunteering with. The visit was very casual and went for about two hours; I just went to the woman's house, we hung out, chatted, played with her baby and practiced a little bit of English. From this visit it was so obvious just how grateful the woman was, just having a bit of time to relax from the baby, to study her English and simply to have someone to be with her for part of the day as this woman has had a falling out with her family who are also in Australia and does not know anyone in the area. It was an extremely rewarding feeling of helping someone out for just a couple of hours, I didn't have to stay for that long, I could have left after half an hour but I genuinely enjoyed my time with this family, listening to the woman, just helping her out and just seeing how appreciative she was.

After this experience I recommend anyone to try volunteering, whether it is once a week or even once a month or whether it's working with refugees or working with homeless, disabled, or older people, it is such a rewarding thing to do which really does not take up much time at all.

On a completely different topic, one of my favourite people to search for quotes is Anais Nin, here are a few of my favourites from her:

“I am only responsible for my own heart, you offered yours up for the smashing my darling. Only a fool would give out such a vital organ” 

“Music melts all the separate parts of our bodies together.”  


“I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.” 

“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.”  


“I have no brakes on...analysis is for those who are paralyzed by life.” 

Thursday, 29 March 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

It's been a while since my last post (even longer for the fashionista...tsk tsk tsk) but I still haven't got the net at my new apartment yet so I have a bit of an excuse.

This is just a quick little post to let anyone who doesn't know about Khan Academy now KNOW about Khan Academy. This site is brilliant! It has helped me so much especially tonight as I try to cram for my chemistry exam on Saturday (exams on a Saturday afternoon, really uni, really?!). For anyone who's having trouble in their classes, whether it be from finance, biology, chemistry, maths, art history, pretty much anything, this site is for you. Even if you just want to learn something new, the videos on this site has helped me more than any of my chemistry lecturers have this whole semester. Definitely check it out to learn something new or understand any subject you need to http://www.khanacademy.org/ .

Also if you want to check out some awesome photography check out this guy, Zack Arias, he's rad: http://zackarias.com/blog/.

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

Here's the start of a brilliant article by Julia Gazdag I found today on one of my favourite sites, www.hellogiggles.com. I recommend EVERYONE to check out the article and to also check out http://www.ihollaback.org/. Here's the link to the full article: http://hellogiggles.com/no-catcalling-is-not-a-compliment-and-heres-why

"Halfway through high school, I transferred to an all-girl school and for the first six months, I refused to wear the cliché girls’ school uniform skirt and sweater. I figured that, for once, I wouldn’t get catcalled from every car that drove by on my walk home, because awkwardly fitting khaki pants and oversize grey sweaters were sure to render me invisible. Turns out, you can pretty much walk around in a giant potato sack; as long as you’re a girl, creepsters will still do their thing. Whoop-de-doo.
“But it’s just harmless flattery, why do you have to be such a Feminazi about a guy trying to pay you a compliment, Julia?” Well, me, I’m glad we asked us that. It’s not flattery, actually – it’s harassment. Street harassment, to use the official term. And the thing about street harassment is that it is not meant to be a compliment, but, in fact, an aggressive assertion of male dominance by dehumanizing and hypersexualizing someone. Fun fact: street harassment is not reserved just for women! It’s now available to all members of the LGBTQ community, too! Oh, yeah, about the Feminazi thing? Me standing up for my rights and personal safety don’t warrant a label trying to arbitrarily draw a comparison between my empowerment in the face of social inequality and the German National Socialist Workers Party  responsible for the largest genocide Europe has seen since the Crusades. You do sound like an idiot when you use the term, though, so thank you for identifying yourself! I can now avoid future interaction with you."

Friday, 16 March 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

Oh Justin Vernon, Oh Bon Iver!

I still remember hearing 'Skinny Love' for the first time on triple j when I was 18 and for ages I had no idea who the band was but I was obsessed with this song (probably like a whole bunch of other people were!). I also remember buying the album from HMV, going home so excited to listen to For Emma, Forever Ago and afterwards thinking that I hadn't heard anything so beautiful in such a long time. Fast track a couple of years and once again Bon Iver stole my heart with Blood Bank and Woods. Woods especially was and still is such an escape song for me, it reminds me of my favourite movie Into the Wild and whenever I feel like the city is getting too much for me, I just put this song on and just escape. Being completely obsessed with Bon Iver and even Justin Vernon's solo songs (The Orient and the Gatsby's Slew of Choices...incredible) I couldn't of been more excited for when Bon Iver, Bon Iver was released. While I was listening to the album I couldn't help but cry. I honestly simply just felt so much with this album, every song was perfect, I hadn't heard such a beautiful album quite like this that all I could do was cry because I felt as though every song was a part of me, it was just insanely beautiful.

Tonight I was finally lucky enough to go see Bon Iver play at one of the best venues in Brisbane, The Tivoli. This was by far one of my favourite gigs I have been to. I knew I was going to be impressed and be in love but it still took me by surprise just how amazing it was. Every song they played was perfect, Justin was funny, I had a perfect position for the gig, it really couldn't of been better. Bon Iver is one of the few bands for me that makes me scared, especially now after seeing them live. They make me scared in a way where I hear something of theirs that's so beautiful, the lyrics are so perfect that it makes me scared and in a way useless that I will never create something so beautiful or something that has as much impact as what they have done and in a strange way that's what I also love about them too. I love that their music can make me feel so much in a way that nothing else does, that hearing Bon Iver play live, hearing Justin's incredible voice that it actually feels like this music has made its way inside of me, that I'm feeling it circulate around inside my body.  That even though I am in a room full of people, that when I closed my eyes just to really listen that it feels like I am the only one in the room.


Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

I don't actually like this song, but the video is so cute and is bound to put a smile on your face! It shows life from the view of a carefree, happy dog...very sweet :)

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

Mmmmmm had a kilo of carrots for breakfast this morning, delicious!


On a different note, I found this quote on tumblr which I really really like:


"No one runs in my family. I am not built like a runner. My bones aren't weightless. My legs aren't gazelle-like. As a child, no one ever said, “Now that one…she’s going to be a runner.” I am not a marathon runner. But, I know that no one is a marathon runner until they actually run one".

I love this quote because I know that sometimes people are surprised when they look at me and they find out that I'm a runner and a vegan. I think there's this expectation that if you are a vegan you are extremely slim. I am not; I don't have a completely flat belly, but I've finally learnt to love my body and accept that I don't have an extremely slim physique. I know I'm healthy, I know I can run 28kms and just because I may not look like a stereotype running freak, I am. My body is a progress and as long as I stay eating healthy and treating my body properly I know in time my body will reward me. I love being fit and healthy because I love knowing what I can do with my body, I know I can rock climb with the body I have, do yoga with the body I have, run for three hours without a break with the body I have. Being this strong and healthy and knowing that I'm getting stronger and fitter week by week is a reward in itself. My body isn't perfect but that's ok, I'm fine with being healthy and happy.

Sunday, 26 February 2012

Thoughts from the fashionista

Am I asking too much to meet a guy who looks like this:


*Sigh*. My fingers are crossed that maybe this Saturday night it will happen! He is hot, hot, hot.

Friday, 17 February 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

WOOHOO! What an amazing way to start the weekend! Ran 28.30km this morning, furthest I've been able to run so far, about to shower, head to the beautiful west end markets, work tonight, rock climbing session tomorrow and maybe do a quick 10km run that arvo if I feel up to it. Feeling healthy and happy!

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

I DID IT!

Today I reached my running of goal of 25km and ran 25.91km! I've already blogged about how I've had problems over the years with an eating disorder, self esteem issues and all that and setting myself this goal was a way for me to put the past behind me. The past few months of just becoming and learning to be healthier and healthier has led up to this and I couldn't be more happy. I'm still going to be pushing myself further with my running because I love it so much it doesn't make sense to me that I'd just stop or just not try harder, but I'm so happy that I have reached my first goal.

Also last night at rock climbing I did my hardest climb that I've ever done before, I can't even describe how it really felt. It wasn't on an overhang but it was on a harder level on an incline not just straight up and down, and it was the hardest thing I've ever done. I put all my strength into it, seriously ALL my strength it was so hard I was cursing to myself when I was about 3/4 of the way up. There were times  when I was just hanging on with just my hands and my legs were dangling and I almost thought I didn't have it in me to finish it, but I didnt give up and just all the leaping you kind of have to do with your body, so hard and after I finished it I couldn't do another climb my muscles were just in too much pain but I was on this amazing high from feeling like I accomplished something, it felt amazing!






Friday, 27 January 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

My mistake..... my post from the 17th of January was actually partly wrong and I found this out last week. That day I read the wrong section on my miCoach so I hadn't been running 24kms, BUT my miCoach was still in miles so I had been running further than I thought anyway, more like 16kms not 24kms. Today though feeling pretty proud of myself as I ran 18.23 kms. Because it has been raining in the mornings this week I had been sticking to just doing quick 10km runs or 45minute interval running but this morning NO RAIN wooo so I tried to make the most of it. I still think I have it in me to do 25km, hopefully by the end of next month I will reach that goal.

Also today is Laneway Festival, most looking forward to seeing Husky, Feist and SBTRKT. Even though this guy isn't playing at laneway, he came in at number 3 on triple j's hottest 100, he definitely deserved it. I think this is such a beautiful song I wanted to share it with you all, good vibes to you :)

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

I've just finished reading 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky..... this book, WOW, amazing!

For anyone who loves anything that Jonathan Safran Foer writes will love this book. It made me laugh, smile and cry, it's absolutely beautiful and I'm definitely excited for the film to come out. I have a lot more hope with this film more so than Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I can't imagine Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks pulling off the characters and yes I know they're professional actors rar rar rar, but for me they just aren't the people for this movie and I'm actually scared about how disappointed I will be, but I'll try to keep an open mind for whenever the movie does finally come out in Australia because who knows, maybe they will do a good job.  So for Perks of Being a Wallflower, Logan Lerman and Emma Watson will be in the movie and I can picture them doing the characters justice.

Make sure you check out the book!



Also, went hiking last weekend which was just what I needed. I find if I stay in the city for ages I get kind of frustrated and need to get away. What made this hike that much more special was that along the way there was this waterhole where you can jump off the rocks. I have never really done that before jumping off of rocks into a waterhole, I always just walk my way in because I'm too scared to do it. I don't think it's a real fear of heights that I have, I think that it's just part of being human, just a natural fear that everyone kind of has, not anything serious. Anyway, I jumped off! And this wasn't just a small jump off either, it was a worthy height jump off into the water. It felt so amazing, the second jump into the water was higher than the first one and I actually chickened out and as the people who I was with and I were just sitting on the rocks drying off about to have lunch I just thought to myself something like "fuck this, everyone else has done it, I'm not going to die, I'm not going to end up paralysed, fuck me, let go rhiannon, fuck being inside doing nothing every weekend like a few people who I'm close to, I came here, fuck it". Seriously that was going through my head as we were sitting down about to eat, so without saying anything except 'fuck it' I walked up to the high rock and just jumped off. It hurt jumping in, but it hurt everyone jumping in and I was so happy with myself that I did that even though it probably didn't mean a lot to anyone else, for me it was about letting go and just doing it, whatever it is, just being in a moment!!! So yes, moral of the story, if it's not going to kill you or seriously hurt you, if it's something your scared of probably a good idea to go through with it, you feel much better at the end!

This picture isn't from where I jumped off, but it was part of the hike :)

Saturday, 21 January 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

This is probably my favourite clip from youtube... Adriel Luis and everyone from Ill-Literacy are incredible, I highly recommend you check out some of their other spoken word. The clips from this video matches perfectly with Adriel's words, kudos to Sam Figueroa...


Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

I feel as though this year my mindset has changed becoming a much healthier mindset! For around six years I struggled through an eating disorder so I obviously did not have a healthy relationship with my mind and body. Two years ago I became much healthier and let go of the eating disorder and although I am recovered, it had still been a long battle to not go back to old habits and to be where I am today.

So although these past couple of years I have been much healthier, my body is still not quite where I would like it to be but just to be clear, I don't have the hatred for my body that I use to now I do accept and love the body that I have, I just know that it can be better. The way my mindset has changed now is that I feel that I know my body is still changing, that my body will get better and that I will eventually have the body that I want because I am making the changes that I need to. I've always been into fitness, the reason why my body hasn't been at my ideal body is because of my eating, erratic eating or my portions being too large, just snacking all day, pretty much although eating healthy, eating 'wrong'. Now I've made the changes, I'm running further and stronger than I ever have before, I've started aerial yoga (more on that soon) and I'm getting personal training sessions once a week to work on my strength. It's just something that I feel that I know in my mind that my body isn't going to change in just one week but I just know that I will get there and I'm ok to wait, I feel happy to just progress along because like I said, I know it's changing and I know eventually I will get there, I'm guessing by April, and I'm stoked.

Also turns out my miCoach stride sensor that measures how far I run has actually been in miles, not kilometres, so those times when I've thought my runs have only been 15 kms (I do these larger runs up to 3 times a week), HAHA they've actually been around 24kms! I always thought it was taking me ages to run only 15kms! For running, I run 4 days on, 1 day off, 4 days on, 1 day off, and I LOVE it!

My final little rant is about starting aerial yoga. This is amazing! I absolutely love it, so much fun and an amazing strength work out as well. I've tried different types of yoga on and off over the years, my favourite was hot yoga, it always made me feel amazing afterwards but unfortunately it started getting too expensive so I had to stop that. If you have the opportunity definitely try it out, like I said, it's an amazing work out and a whole heap of fun, don't be afraid to try it by yourself, I didn't know anyone in the class and it was still a great experience. I signed up for the 6 week beginner work shop and on the first class they just throw you right in, you go upside down, a lot of core and arm strength, a fantastic fun work out, you feel like you're in the circus!

*this is just an image from google images*


To end here is another running quote that I found by John Bingham...."My running shoes have become giant erasers on my feet. Every foot stride rubs away some memory of a previous indiscretion with food or smoke or drink. Every successful mile releases me from the demons of failure. Every starting line is another chance to prove that my past will not determine my future."

Sunday, 15 January 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

Today at work I had one of those 'don't judge a book by its cover' experiences I thought I'd share....

This homeless man and his son came into my work for lunch (I know they're homeless, I've seen him on the streets and they definitely smell homeless), they had a couple of drinks, one pizza and a dessert, their bill came to $36, he gave me a $50 and I obviously gave the change back to the man. They stayed for about another fifteen or so minutes and once they left I went to clear the glasses off their table and there on the table was a $15 tip. I was so shocked that this homeless man left such a huge tip, especially since probably at least half of the people that come into my work don't tip (which is fine, it's not something I expect) and the fact that this man is homeless!

I think that this just goes to show you should treat people that you come across how you would like to be treated and to not 'judge a book by its cover' because they may just surprise you!



Wednesday, 11 January 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

"So she had to satisfy herself with the idea of love - loving the loving of things whose existence she didn't care at all about. Love itself became the object of her love. She loved herself in love, she loved loving love, as love loves loving, and was able, in that way, to reconcile herself with a world that fell so short of what she would have hoped for. It was not the world that was the great and saving lie, but her willingness to make it beautiful and fair, to live a once-removed life, in a world once-removed from the one in which everyone else seemed to exit." - Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated.

Sunday, 8 January 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

I LOVE running. For me, I don't run because I think I have to for a form of exercise, it actually feels like more of a hobby, something that make my days so much happier. Lately my runs are generally between 70-95 minutes and I hope to increase that to regular 120 minute runs by the end of March. Here are a few of my favourite running quotes. I especially love the last one, it speaks so loudly to me :)

"The truth is you can always run faster ... sometimes the truth hurts."

"Running is a gift I give myself almost every day. Even on those days when things haven't gone great, I can come home and give myself the accomplishment of a 30 or 40 minute fun."

"Whatever the pace, run softly, run tall."

"What the years have shown me is that running clarifies the thinking process as well as purifies the body. I think best - most broadly and fully - when I am running."

"The less you cheat, the more dramatic the effects will be."

"You can take anything away from me ... just don't take my running."

"Running distils life down to its basic elements... when I am out running everything is simple ... totally living in the moment ... it's a very pure experience."

Friday, 6 January 2012

Thoughts from the fashionista . . .

I adore these new heels that I bought for NYE. Although these heels cost me more than what I had budgeted for, I think they're the foundation for a fabulous party outfit and I know I will get my money worth wearing them on nights out. 





I'm wondering whether a bit of sparkle should be restricted to the evening or whether you can get away with it during the day? Lately I've been doing a smokey eyeshadow (during the day) using a light apricot colour on the inner and a dark chocolate colour on the outer, with both colours having a sparkly/shimmery effect. Inappropriate for the day?  I would never go OTT on glitter during the day, but I don't think a sparkly eyeshadow ever killed anyone!!



Thoughts from the hippie...

A small section that I absolutely LOVE from one of my favourite books: "Valley of the Dolls" by Jacqueline Susann...

'I'm talking about love,' he said hotly. 'Not begging! Love shouldn't make a beggar of one. I wouldn't want love if I had to beg for it, to barter or qualify it. And I should despise it if anyone ever begged for my love. Love is something that must be given - it can't be bought with words or pity, or even reason. I shall never beg you, Anne. I love you. You must know that. I shall always love you -'

Wednesday, 4 January 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

I've already blogged about how  I've deactivated my facebook in a hope to become more productive, and now another point about deactivating my facebook which I only thought about the other day was whether or not this decision might actually affect my results at uni. This is one point that I'm definitely going to follow. I  think this semester will be interesting to see whether or not my facebook use in the past was indeed actually affecting the time I could have been putting into uni or not. Hmmmm only time will tell!!                                    


Sunday, 1 January 2012

Thoughts from the hippie...

Every year at Woodford Folk Festival at 11:30pm on New Years Eve the festival stops for three minutes and everyone is silent to reflect on the year that has gone past, it’s such a beautiful feeling to be a part of. For my three minutes I was thinking about what I have learned this year, and I think the major issue that I learnt this year was about being single and learning to feel comfortable with being single.

To go from being in a relationship where it felt like you were with the person who knew the most about you, the good and the  bad, being with the person you felt most comfortable confiding in to just not having that is an adjustment. It was especially hard when two of my sisters left to live overseas which made me feel like there was this gap in my heart. Not having him to turn to during this time just made me miss him more. However, not just this experience but all the other times where I was upset this year after we broke up, forced me to deal with these experiences on my own, teaching me how to deal and making me realise no matter what, I will make it through anything.

There is this one song by Otis Redding which reminds me of this process, learning to deal on your own after a relationship: I’ve got dreams to remember. I think that often during a break up what people forget is that although this relationship is gone that you still ‘have dreams to remember”, things that you were planning for yourself, travelling, career, hobbies, anything, you still have all these dreams for yourself that just because you aren’t with this person anymore, there is still so much in life to experience without them.

Even though it’s been around eight months since I did break up with my boyfriend I still don’t feel ready to get into another relationship. I enjoy being single right now and I also think there are more things for me to learn about myself before I get into anything serious.

I believe that learning about how you are, discovering how you handle and experiencing being single is something that is extremely important to everyone to go through.

So to finish this post, one of my favourite quotes:
"We accept the love we think we deserve". Now for a bit of sweet Otis Redding....