When you're insanely happy, you're so happy to be happy, that you forget what made you happy.

Moments

Paper fruit cocktail decorations in the hair, lazy lunches with my parents, sand dunes and sunsets, hydrangea bombs and cooking club with lady friends. All lovely moments to savour!

Catmosphere

photo source

I wrote a small piece of Cat Cafes in Tokyo here. Enjoy!

Instant

My cute wee neighbor, always ready to hi-5

Living here, I've automatically started flipping peace whenever someone whips out a camera. Can't. seem. to. help. myself.

Dance festival on Sado island. Sugoi!

These ladies told me "I am strong woman. I am boss' and then burst out laughing. I think they have a lot of fun together.

My friend Mike tried on my denim jacket. Doesn't quite fit.

Occasionally it feels so good to talk English to other native speakers in Japan.

Hip hop night at a local club. Sometimes they'll stop the music and have a dance competition. I've witnessed some really cheesy synchronized moves. Amazing!

After toying with the idea for a while, I got a fuji film instant camera. It sure is nice to have a polaroid back in my life. I forgot the thrill of watching it develop before my eyes and the joy of being able to share it with people instantly. Thanks for all the lovely comments on the hyaku en post. I'll announce the winner tomorrow! 

We could travel forever

photos by the amazing Randy Newman. You can see his flickr here.

There is always the pull between home and travel. A comfortable place to rest ones head, a pile of books, and good nights sleep vs the wonders of the world, dusty unknown paths, new friends and the promise that adventure is around every corner.

For now, I sit somewhere in the middle of this pull. Before leaving New Zealand I pined for foreign lands. Each year that passed gave way to a heightened feeling of restlessness and frustration. When I arrived in Japan I found that each day was an adventure, terrifying and amazing. I was surprised that despite this wonder, my thoughts often skipped back to my home, my family and friends, and strange things that I never imagined missing like my op shop salt and pepper shaker collection. piles of photo albums and stamp collections and my brothers dog.

In the past year I explored Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and India. After the disaster I went back to New Zealand briefly. This year I have plans for the U.K, Vietnam, Okinawa and South Korea. I now know that I can't go everywhere and see everything. It's more important to enjoy the journey wherever I am, rather than rush through countries, hastily ticking them off my list. My mum once told me to slow down. I can't consume the world. 'You're so young' she told me. 'Savor things.'

So for now I'm going to try and taste each country slowly, and savor new experiences on foreign soil. I'm going to make an effort to make the journey slower. Because you can always go back. Because you don't have to see everything at once.  I'm also going to try and enjoy being at home, in my apartment, lying on the couch listening to music and reading a magazine.

They are equally wonderful. It just took me a while to realise that.

ハロ 夏 (haro summer)

Summer: lots of sun, surf and sand and excellent food. 

Brightening my day

Pate Tapes. I've been dancing around my apartment this afternoon. The Soul Stax Motown and John Peel sessions are amazing. Thanks for the tip Lucy!

Finding out about this movie.

Lusting over these rings via So Much to Tell You via Topshop

Catching up on my afternoon reading. Ku:nel, So En, Jill and Vogue Nippon. Bliss!

Life as a bum

Due to unforseen and rather unexpected circumstances I will be in New Zealand until May. This officially extends my status past beyond 'holiday' into the murkey area of 'unemployed bum'. I have been relishing the experience and trying to do things I genuinely enjoy, even if other people might consider it straight lazy. 

1. Lying on the couch and listening to favored albums while doing nothing at all. Just closing my eyes and listening intently. No multi-tasking allowed.

2. Staying up till guilty hours reading books and sleeping in till equally guilty hours.

3. Walking to local gardens when the sunshine allows and taking pictures of plants, flowers and wildlife. I used to think my parents were ridiculous for obsessively taking pictures of orchids but now I get it, sort of.

4. Worrying absently about my depleting funds (no income for a bum you see) but then realising that a hiatus of relaxation is way more important than money.

5. Going to the movies alone in the middle of the day.

6. Visiting local opshops and pillaging the magazine section for old copies of National Geographic. The pictures and articles are ahhhhmazzing.

7. Writing letters to loved ones in a relaxed and orderly letter writing manner. This involves sitting at the dining table with an assortment of coloured pens, magazines for collaging, scissors, blank paper, a cup of jasmine tea, and some biscuits on a plate. 

7. Developing film. Always a treat.

8. Taking 3 hours to prepare for an evening date. Bubble bathing, air drying hair and manicures and pedicures.

9. Scouring magazines for amazingly complicated meals, heading to the supermarket for ridiculously specific ingredients and  spending the afternoon cooking.

10. Making leisurely to do lists like

-wash hair

-watch parks and recreation

-trim and paint toenails

-sleep for 9 and a half hours

-pen love letter for boyfriend

(if only more to do lists were this enjoyable)

11. Visit  amazing local exhibitions at galleries like this one.

12. Make mix tapes and channel all artistic power into the homemade cover art.

Going home

Things have been getting a little bit too crazy around here so I am flying back to New Zealand this weekend. We are experiencing black outs as of tomorrow, there are still aftershocks, a food shortage and evacuees from Fukushima have started arriving in town.

I can't say how much happiness and relief I am now feeling after days of tension and anxiety. Thanks for all the support. I will be back with more posts when life resumes back to normality. 

xx

Happy home

Photos from: cargo collective, cameron smith, rowan tree, sayaka minemura, cat party, a clock without hands

A happy home comes from the little details

Crossing time zones