Walking on a dream.

And then

all at once you feel alive and captivated by a world 

so free and majestic it could've been painted by a brush

that rises over us like an ethereal sun

and fills us with light and heat again.

Down on Copperline.

Ok.... I hope you had a better Sunday than I did!  

I'm practically bed ridden after an 8 hr day of training in Boston which would have been fantastic despite my ridiculously terrible cold that came out of nowhere and knocked me over like a freight train two days ago. UGHHHHHH.  ;)  I'm okay and the training was great but really when you're that sick and desperately holding a cough in, sitting in an almost but not quite bearable chair in a semi-quiet conference room among 35 other people is absolute torture!!  ha.  Seriously. I hope you never have to hold in a vicious cough the way I did.... even after taking every cough syrup/soother/droplet/pill imaginable to make it subside. :p

 Consequently, after my eight hours pretending I wasn't super sick and failing miserably in the process, then an hour drive in the pouring rain home, I was admittedly feeling more than a bit beat up and defeated by my own body.  I hardly remember sitting down but definitely do know I was surrounded by steaming soup, a massive bag of cough drops, and nighttime (aka please knock me out immediately) Robitussin, when out of both nowhere (and somewhere close to heaven at the same time), from one of Pandora's lovely (at least one song saves me every day) brilliant stations, came James Taylor's voice wrapping its tone around me like a warm blanket combined with candy and cough syrup mixed with sweet childhood scenes. Some of the best memories of my youngest years  always seem to intertwine with James Taylor's soothing and nostalgic voice, as I spent many hours as a young girl with his songs floating somewhere in the background, as if they were painting the backdrop and ingraining themselves in some beautiful permanent way. 

 This song and meaning has a way of whisking you to a familiar place; back to days when the world was enormously limitless, along with playgrounds, big suburban neighborhoods and summer camp. "Copperline" represents the childhood memories in every one of us, whether or not we knew James Taylor's music as children. We carry it always, holding it close through days of triumph, days of defeat and everything in between.  Whether it be a song, a scent or a certain voice, something always somehow from somewhere takes us right back to where we started: to Copperline.

Close your eyes, listen to it, and may we all have a
 deep, restorative sleep tonight. <3

"Even the old folks never knew
Why they call it like they do
I was wondering since the age of two
Down on Copperline
Copper head, copper beech
Copper kettles sitting side by each
Copper coil, cup o'Georgia peach
Down on Copperline
Half a mile down to Morgan Creek
Leaning heavy on the end of the week
Hercules and a hog-nosed snake
Down on Copperline
We were down on Copperline

One Summer night on the Copperline
Slip away past supper time
Wood smoke and moonshine
Down on Copperline
One time I saw my daddy dance
Watched him moving like a man in a trance
He bought it back from the war in France
Down onto Copperline
Branch water and tomato wine
Creosote and turpentine
Sour mash and new moon shine
Down on Copperline
Down on Copperline

First kiss ever I took
Like a page from a romance book
The sky opened and the earth shook
Down on Copperline
Down on Copperline
Took a fall from a windy height
I only knew how to hold on tight
And pray for love enough to last all night
Down on Copperline
Day breaks and the boys wakes up
And the dog barks and the birds sings
And the sap rises and the angels sigh, yeah

I tried to go back, as if I could
All spec house and plywood
Tore up and tore up good
Down on Copperline
It doesn't come as a surprise to me
It never touched my memory
I'm lifting up and rising free
Down on over Copperline
Half a mile down to Morgan Creek
I'm only living for the end of the week
Hercules and a hog-nosed snake
Down on Copperline, yeah
Take me down on Copperline
Oh, down on Copperline
Take me down on Copperline" 

On my mind.

Hello :)

The past month has been both lovely and stressful and thrilling and questioning all at once and I have been so preoccupied with finding a job that girlandlovelynotebook was sadly put on the back burner.  Every day I've felt the need to blog like a subtle magnet pulling me back however, so now here I am with a job, more stability back east, and a clearer head.  I missed being able to create, find inspiration and write, and will never give up on it, despite sometimes extended breaks when my world has somehow gotten too hectic.  When I devour all forms of art, a strange guilt comes with the release because it often feels too good to stop.  If life allowed, I could binge on color and words and music for days as the hours slip away almost as though they are non-existent in my pursuit for all that is real.

"Write, write yourself alive."

-Jacques Roubaud

Sometimes I don't necessarily believe in "balance."  I suppose that, (being the passionate person I am) one part of my life needs 80% while another part takes 20%.  Then I'll flip it and throw myself into another part whole heartedly that I intuitively know needs my attention.  I tend to rise and fall as tides do, rather than being constantly trying to balance the waters, yet I somehow find harmony in this method.  Everything moves, revolves and changes all of the time so I believe in flexibility and acceptance of this idea; flowing with what works for you each individual day as best you can, whether you veer quite obviously more toward one end of your life than another with the confidence that it all comes back full circle anyway. I DO think that we must follow this however:

I also believe as human beings, what we want is never simple.  We swiftly move along things we thought we wanted, but they aren't always as fulfilling as we'd hoped.  I know that all we truly want appears in disguise when we dream  and then when we wake, those things stay with us, buried as the animal within that aches for what we don't really know, then gradually can see with great clarity later through clouds and smoke and the full blown sun.

Speaking of ALIVE, if this song doesn't make you feel it, 
then I don't know what to tell you. ;)
Just kidding but this band, Cut Copy has recently been the soundtrack to my life.  
Enjoy. :)

Sweet dreams :)

Into your eyes.

I used to fall for objects, 
moments, words and art
shying always from people, 
a gypsy soul at heart.

But now

leaning into new days,
 shifting with the tides.

I throw my fears toward the horizon,
 as I fall into
 your eyes.

"Love it will not betray you, dismiss or enslave you

It will set you free

Be more like the man

you were made to be.

There is a design 

An alignment to cry

Of my heart to see

The beauty of love as it was made to be."

Be here now.

I think I'm in love with spring because the idea of blossoms pushing through frost, overcoming the cold and bouncing back in all their beauty reassures me that things always rise up again.  And again.  

Today I devoured most of my usual internet places searching for secrets and meanings that may come up unknowingly.  I've certainly learned over my time blogging as to what inspires and warms me.  Good books and poems and music written to change my mind and world as I know it.  Nature:  wind and waves, seasons and rain and flowering.  Large spaces: welcoming fields, farms, stretches of beach and looming mountains.  Vintage photographs, curtains, and lovely interiors. Horses, shadows, feathers and tea-cups.
 Night-time and warm air.

 Big questions, small moments, and how small we truly are in this universe that holds us in the palm of its hand, gently allowing us to think... to believe the control is ours to have.  We must be here now.  In this moment.  Recognizing ourselves and what we really want.

I've always loved this song by Ray LaMontagne.  

Have a good evening. :)

"Don't let your mind get weary

And confused your will be still, don't try

Don't let your heart get heavy child 

Inside you there's strength that lies

Don't let your soul get lonely child

It's only time, it will go by

Don't look for love in faces, places

It's in you, that's where you'll find kindness

Be here now, here now

Be here now, here now

Don't lose your faith in me

And I will try not to lose faith in you

Don't put your trust in walls 

'Cause walls will only crush you when they fall,

Be here now, here now.

Be here now, here now."

Spring energy.

Good morning and happy April!! :)

Although it is technically now spring here in Massachusetts we're waking up to the ground covered in snow.  Last night, it began to fall while my boyfriend, father and I sat in a little Newport pub and by the time we left the place, it was coming down as though it would storm all night. Wow. Really?  Snowstorm on the last day of March?  It feels like early January. Welcome back to New England huh? :) The ride back north was simply beautiful however, with the large flakes surrounding the car in all directions, while blanketing the empty beaches and the old colonial homes. I suppose it wasn't THAT bad. ;)


April, be kind.

Anyway keep your head up, have a fantastic weekend, and enjoy this awesomely fun, high energy song (one of my favs) by LCD Soundystem, who very sadly, are playing their last show tomorrow evening.  We're falling into spring, people.  Time to get that energy back. :)

Have a fantastic spring weekend. :)

Everything passes.

We tend to observe most colors 
in only endings and beginnings
each day.

If we were to look more closely we'd see
  multitudes of shades and tones  
with each passing hour.

 Clear blues, waxy yellows, bright reds and murky grays. 
 Darkness. 

 But each color emerges and wanes.  Then passes. 

 It's clear that everything passes.