A place to lay your head

Home is the place you lay your head, relax and seek solace. I love to see the small details of a persons home that hint at an unknown part of their personality - whether it be a plastic cat on a mantelpiece, a post it reminder on the mirror, or a hand knitted collection of coat-hangers hanging in the wardrobe. Such small things make you feel honoured to enter a private space. Here you experience the intimate nooks and crannies, certain ways in which the light falls and of course, the individual smell of a dwelling. My friends apartment smells like chutney, hair shampoo, fabric softener and paint. It's a wonderful smell I associate with her alone, and nowhere else have I sniffed it. Seeing Mieke Ven Verbijlen's photographs is such a charming experience, and allows you to experience the intimacy of many a stranger's home and explore all their nooks and crannies. 

Home comforts

Cute postcards from my boyfriend

Dotty washi tape. I can't get enough!

My first charm for my charm bracelet. A sausage dog from Selfridges!

Rilakkuma slippers keeping my toes warm on cold nights.

I've become a little bit obsessed with Baba Yaga. So creepy and fantastical!

My Shironeko holga. Hilarious and ridiculous. Especially when the button is accidentally pressed while in my handbag and a little 'meow meow meow' slips out.

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.

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

Crossing time zones