The gift of the new year

Darling M,

Once again, most sincere apologies are in order. My lack of correspondence over the past months sits somewhere between rude and negligent. I could once again beg off that life got in the way – but we know that is simply a paltry excuse.

I have kissed 2011 goodbye, taken stock of the lessons I have the privilege of having been given over the last 12 challenging months, then indulged in a good healthy pat on the back for my achievements over the last year, and made a little oath to myself that 2012 will be the year of awesome.

I must impress upon you that each new year is a gift - it is a rare chance for us to do an assessment of ourselves, our lives and activate highly effective changes for the better. It is a present of hope and optimism for a beautiful brighter future. It is a time for reawakening, a moment for the phoenix of our spirit to be reborn from the ashes of the previous year, as it draws to a close. I have never been this excited to start a new year. It is a brand spanking new opportunity to be a better version of myself.

Create

Darling M,

I am so sorry I have abandoned you for so long. I am going to plead not-entirely-to-blame due to having been consistently blighted with tenacious illness, and an ever-increasing imbalance in my eternal quest for a “work/life balance”. My friends claim I have gone rather M.I.A, and living with Bear doesn’t seem to aid opportunity for regular heart-to-heart communication either. It is all rather ho-hum and causing some serious reassessment of lifestyle (or lack thereof) and circumstances. My biggest downfall is that I am still keen on being Master of My Own Destiny (read: owning my own business), and so continue to plug along accompanied by a vague hope that I have made the right call (desperately hoping that I haven’t turned left, when the sign clearly said right). We all live and learn though, and such is the journey.

To aid in fixing these sad and sorry worn-out workaholic circumstances, I have hit upon a new love. Creative Outlet. It’s where it’s at. Being creative for the pure sake of being creative is soul-food – it is yoga for my spirit. Goodness me, it is why I started writing to you in the first place. I needed to stretch my metaphysical legs. As an extension of this, I have discovered I need more creative license in my life. This is where baking, cooking, designing and sewing comes in. Yep, that’s right, I am finding comfort in creative domesticity. Who would have thought that was possible of me. 

After the fall

My M,

What is it about the post-apocalyptic world that fascinates human kind? Is it wondering what comes after the destruction of the very fabric that binds us as a global society? Would social mores uphold? Anarchy ravage the streets? Without the persistent sprawl, would the world slowly transform into a verdant megalithic garden? Wild and untamable and no friend to the species, who through greed and blind self-entitlement set out to bleed the very life from the planet for their own furtherment. Perhaps we won’t see the return of any of our conjured vengeful gods. There is every possibility that we will end our own diseased crawl across the earth with the very things that crowned our kind among animals.

I love watching post-apocalyptic movies. I love that post-modern, tribal yet futuristic take on costuming. Practicality meets individuality – forging an identity for self against a backdrop of crumbling ideals and metropolises. Think Mad Max’s leather jacket, Waterworld’s world worn blanket-stitching and braids, Planet Terror’s machine gun replacement for an unfortunate amputation. All very cool, yet perennial. 

It’s all good in the hood

Darling M,

I must tell you about something so wonderous, so profound that it will surely change your life for the better! Such positive occurences happen around these things that all of a sudden, you’ll find yourself believing that miracles do, indeed, occur in everyday life to everyday people.

I am talking about Spirithoods - a fantastic company based in L.A that designs and creates animal fashion accessories in the form of hoods. These fabulous hoods are made of environmentally-kind faux fur – have snuggly mittens with adorable paw prints and come in all types of animal great and small with lovely furry ears and pattern to match. BUT the part that I love the most is that the company donates a portion of their proceeds to animal charities around the world, who work tirelessly to protect, conserve and build the numbers of these endangered species. If the hoods don’t give you a lovely snuggly feeling – this fact in itself is sure to imbue a sense of the warm fuzzies.  

Pretty Ponies

Sweetest M,

Inspiration can come for the most unexpected of places.

Lately, I have been hooked on certain ideas. As mentioned in a previous post, I have an enduring fascination with Spring. I also adore Rococo styling and My Little Ponies.

Due to a passion for anything pretty and ornate, it follows that I would adore anything even slightly Rococo. Thinking about it, it is likely that this adoration began during infancy, when was borne a most ardent fascination and adoration of My Little Ponies. This happened when I was gifted my first little pony – Lickety Split, who came on many adventures with me and stood patiently through many hours of dressing, hairstyling and general playing.

These candy-coloured ponies are most certainly ambassadors of the Rococco – pretty pastels tempered with coloured neutrals. Their innocent expressions, overriding feminine design and sweet auras would leave them very much at home in the apartments of Marie Antoinette – that most vocal supporter of this particular school of style.
 

Nature's child

My dearest M,

Spring has well and truly sprung, the days suddenly filled with yawning azure sky, and a sun so warm your skin feels alive with the season change.

Winter was spent inside, industriously submerged in technology and career pursuits. Every day now, the warmth and new joy beckons just outside the window. Thoughts of mile long beaches, sun shining through trees and daydreams of laying in the grass, making pretty pictures in the clouds interrupts industrious labour.  

As I develop a stronger dependence on technology, and all the convenience and possibility it brings, I find myself moving my living back outside to reconnect with my innate, natural self. Long afternoons spent picnicking under sighing trees, climbing out of bed and into bathers to rush into winter-cold waves. All these things conspire to calm my being, and bloom my creativity.

This little light of mine

Darling M,

It takes a lot of energy continuing through life with the innate confidence to carry out your convictions in everything you do.  And I mean in absolutely everything. How you respect yourself, how you treat your friends. How you treat your family, how you love and cherish your partner.

From time to time, people will see it as their right to get out the candle snuffer and have a right go at suffocating your light. It is at this point you must shine your brightest. How punishing for those weak, negative souls to see you lit up and brilliant! They say the greatest revenge is just to live your life. Do this with a set of fiery fireworks I say.

As the poet Dylan Thomas so wisely said, “Do not go gentle into that good night/…Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” In this context, I encourage to use your spirit, your right to the good fight to light up your soul and let your true colours shine through, in the face of enemies and adversity. Then those whose souls are sullied with self-hatred, greed, jealousy, anger and insecurity cannot feed on the misery they so desperately seek to vindicate their own sense of self-loathing and self-entitlement.