the crimson petal and the white

Allan Ford and I have a special bond over many things - men, books, movies, music, and good television. We like nothing better than to curl up in his bed together for hours and watch amazing television. We laugh, we cry, we criticize, we feel deep embarrassment, we get into intense philosophical and psychological debates. I think a dream come true for us would be getting to direct and write our own series, but alas.

One of our mutual favorite books is "The Crimson Petal and the White" by Michel Faber. Its set in Victorian London, and follows the life of a prostitute named Sugar. She has the distinction of being incredibly articulate and well-read for a woman of her age and class, and when she's not, ahem, "servicing" gentlemen she spends her time composing a novel in which she gets her revenge upon all the men who have violated and wronged her in her life. She yearns to escape to something better. Luckily, she becomes the mistress and obsession of a man who owns a successful perfume and soap company - and leaves her old life behind. But thats just the beginning.

We heard for years that there was talk of making this incredible book into a movie - with Kristen Dunst, of all people, as Sugar. These, so far, have proved  to only be rumors. However, the BBC did a four-part miniseries based on the novel, and let me tell you friends, its an exquisite piece of awesomeness. The actors are superb and its so faithful to the novel in both script and atmosphere. Its one of the most beautiful creations I've ever seen, and exceeded all my expectations for a screen adaptation of the novel.

I beg you, if you have four hours to spare and want something visually pleasing, moving, and well acted to occupy your time, go find it! And read the book - its over 1000 pages long, but its amazing how fast those pages fly. 

XO

a girl & a boy.

 (This video is a bit odd, but I think its incredibly beautiful and the song makes my heart explode more or less everytime I hear it... which is about a 100 times a year for the last 6 or 7 years.)

This past week has been pretty lovely. I got myself a job! At Marie's Mini Mart. I get to wear khaki pants and a dorky little paisley scarf and sell cigarettes and bologna. Doesn't get any better than that. Oh, maybe it does... I got a fucking 70% in chemistry, which made me woop for joy and dance a bit. All the sweat and tears paid off, I suppose.

This Friday I got to celebrate my wonderful country's 144th birthday with all my best friends, on Mullock Street's very pimped out back deck. There was lots of wine floating around and weiners and Amki made this homemade potato salad (WITH HOMEMADE MAYO) that pretty much killed me. We all hung out on the street to watch the fireworks and oooh-ed and awww-ed quite a bit. It was fun. I got home at about 5am, when it was broad daylight out. Can't complain. I spent the night in a minimal drunken state around a blazing firepit with three of my very favorite people in the world, so seeing the sun come up wasn't so terrible a thing. I felt so warm and sleepy and happy and went to bed smiling, I assure you.

July 1st was also special because it was myself and the boyfriend's 7th anniversary. After 7 years I guess its not a big deal, but everytime it rolls around I'm filled with warm happy feelings and delightful memories and so much gratefulness and love. I got him Matthew Good's new CD (which was totally also a present for me... we listened to it on repeat all morning) and he bought me lunch and beers and we wandered in the sunshine. There was an old man on a balcony on the 2nd floor of the Yellowbelly playing folk songs on the accordion and singing, and all the old folks on the Trapper John's deck were wooing and singing along. It was a magical sight to behold.

So yes, I've had quite the lovely weekend. There really isn't anything like surrounding yourself with beautiful friends and love - AND SUNSHINE. The sun finally came back, and my back is a lovely tinge of scarlet just to prove it, and I am wearing my sunburn proudly. Who knows when I'll get another.

For the thousandth time... I am really so grateful and happy, always. My life feels so spot on of late, and I can't find a single thing to complain about really. A job, school, good grades, a beautiful boyfriend, the greatest friends a girl could ask for, sunshine... really, what else could I want? Maybe to win the lottery, but I don't want to jinx anything.

XO

west siiide

The last few weeks, I've had the strongest desire ever to be on the West Coast, for so many reasons. The salmon season is open, which means cabin season for the Skinners... I've pretty much spent 3/4 of every summer since I was a baby at my cabin. And its a place I adore, for so many reasons.

It functions as my dad's hunting lodge in the autumn (a family business thats been ongoing for two generations), and its been a dream of mine to have a party out there since I was a little kid. There are 3 bedrooms, each with 2 beds apiece, the comfiest couch ever, and a fold-out bed. Also, acres of fields behind it to pitch tents on!

Heatherton and Robinson's and the surrounding area are just lovely in general. Its like maybe 5 or 6 little communities, all along one road. Lots of farmland and marshes and rivers pouring out into the ocean.

Somebody in my family owns this plot of land, I don't even remember who. Does it not look like one of those COME VISIT NEWFOUNDLAND ads?

This is the mouth of the Robinson's river, down below my Nanny Delaney's cabin (which I'm sure I'll also be visiting!) This is where my daddy and I usually go sea trout fishing, and man are they tasty!

In less than 24 hours, I'll be home. I am excited to get out of the city and into the countryside for awhile, to just surround myself with beauty and family and tranquility. I'll probably be heading to the cabin on the weekend, as my father is going halibut fishing for two days the day I get out there (this trip was very spontaneous, and halibut is delicious so I'm not upset). But that just means hanging out with my momma, getting fed delicious food, and loving on my dogs, as well as my mom's new puppy, Bailey, who I am in love with already.

EXCITEMENT <3



XO

a bookgasm, but the kinky sort

I'm just biding my time at the library before class, and I've found some pretty lovely creations on the internet. I know Sarah Smith will like this. This is basically just for her, as she is a great lover of taking old books manipulating them into beautiful creations. You should see the Scrapbook she made for me last Christmas! Its been almost 7 months and I still can't stop looking at it. I first found something similar to this in poetry form on Stumble Upon (<3) the other day, and I was pretty entranced. In trying to find the same site again, I found THESE gorgeous creations by a lady named Karen Hatzigeorgiou! You are so fun, madam! Its poetry and art and craft loveliness all wrapped into one! I will post the text for each underneath, as you can't really read them in the images. Look at her website, its gorgeous!

Is it control
over my own mind
so contantly
on the verge
of calling up
peculiar dreads,
apprenhensions,
fears, loathings, pain
or doubt?

I live an imaginative life.
I lavish energy on plans
of minor importance
and build castles in the air
from moment to moment
my secret soul
puts itself in sympathy with
the whole creative tide.
Is not this a thing worthy?

Sew a
thousand
golden threads
over
her
dusty
world

Oh my god, AMAZING. Sometimes I love the internet, especially when it tosses gorgeousness such as this my way. Now it is time for sweet pre-chemistry cigarettes. MY LAST CLASS EVER YAY.

XO

the unbearable lightness of being

This weekend, my beautiful friend Sarah lopped off all my hair! Daniel took this gorgeous photo of it, and I just had to share. He has the best camera phone (the best phone, really) of all time, and he takes some marvelous photos with it. Thank you Sarah for your amazing skills! Thank you Amki for holding my hand and giggling with me through our mutual transformation! Thank you friends for being so awesome and making my Friday a dream!

I'm already reaping the numerous benefits of short hair. Its not a tangled mess when I wake up in the morning! I have to use a dime sized amount of shampoo! I don't need conditioner! It takes 2 seconds to style! I will never beg my mom to grow out her curlies again, nor question why so many damn soccer moms have short hair. Its cute and fun and simple to live with. Hence, I am in LOVE. Goodbye long mess of difficulty, hello sweetness.

This Friday was surely a dream - walks in the sunshine, drinking delicious wine, having lots of girl time, lightsabers, numerous cigarettes, and a beer funnel full of sweet drenching love. My friends are awesome. Seriously.

Now I am settling down to a lazy Sunday of studying chemistry and anthropology, reading about health care, and wishing for coffee like nobody's business. I have two midterms this week, in anthro and chem, and an assignment due and all kinds of other stuff to be at. I've been sliding off the ball lately in terms of academicness, needs to scooch my way back up there! GPA, I shall lift you to the heavens!

G'day, sweethearts.

XO

the origin of love

Last night me and my lovely friend Allan went for dinner and a show. We headed downtown for delicious food at Jungle Jim's (and multiple delicious cocktails that tasted like yummy tropical juice), and then headed to the Rock House for HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH. This was a really special night; Allan and I have been in love with the movie almost since we first became friends. I didn't know what to expect at all, really; I knew the play would obviously be very different from the movie.

It was incredible; the actor who played Hedwig was perfect. He looked the part entirely, and he was such a diva. I'd imagine its an incredibly difficult part to play; basically putting off a concert while in character, as a female, and he didn't break character once. He was sexy, hilarious, perfect really. It was essentially a one-man show, just Hedwig and her band, the Angry Inch. They even added a bunch of jokes about St. John's into the opening of it; it was basically supposed to be a concert, with Hedwig telling her story. The music was sensational, the acting was astonishing, and I loved how interactive it was.

If you've never seen the movie, I'd get on that. If you like musicals, its definitely a treat. A very sad story, sassy, hilarious. So many things. Hedwig had a sex change operation performed so as to able to leave communist East Germany and get married (a marriage which collapses rather quickly), but the operation was botched, leaving Hedwig with a mound of flesh that leaves her neither male nor female (her "angry inch"). Its a story about finding love and finding yourself. Super smart and funny. And the music is so goddamn catchy. 

My favorite part of the movie, and one of my favorite songs, is when Hedwig is telling a story that his mother told him, which is actually Aristophanes' speech from Plato's Symposium. Its about how humans used to be beings with 2 faces, 4 arms, 4 legs, and how the Gods were angered with them and cut them in half. Now we spend our lives trying to find our other half, and sex is how we try to put ourselves back together again. Its a beautiful story, both the song and its original philosophical manifestation.

Thats enough gushing for now (I could write a lot more, trust me). Now I'm going to go listen to music and read about the Athabasca oil sands (for academic reasons). I hope everyone is having an amazing weekend.


XO

are you human?

Another lovely weekend spent with my lovely friends. Friday we hit up Mullock House for exactly what I wanted after my hellishly stressful week - a sloppy, silly night full of awesome music, dancing, hugs and delicious food. I passed out in my friend Daniel's bed like a happy, drunken baby and woke up to a day of pretending it was summer with 10am outdoor beers and wandering around parks with two of my favorite boys.

I followed that up with two days of lazing around with one of other favorite boys reading and studying. Tonight the boyfriend & myself left the cozy confines of our underground lovenest for bookshopping and delicious food.

At the end of this weekend - which turned out to be lovely, stressfree, productive, and comfortable as anything - I could really not be happier. Its time like this that remind me how lucky I am to have the life I do, and to have the people in it that make it so very sunny. Thanks, friends & lovers <3

I decided to take the summer semester at MUN, as well. Its either go to school or have a shitty job, and at least taking classes I won't have my soul hollowed out by a minimum wage job. In the meantime, I get to stress about this semester and try not to think about my Centre for Nursing Studies application, which I am hoping is in loving, considerate hands.

I am in the process of writing a short story now, an odd thing for me. I don't usually write, well, anything. I am also working on another mysterious short piece (SARAH) which I'm hoping will reach completion by tomorrow at the very latest. I am way past my deadline.

That is all for tonight. I am off to sprawl out on my couch like a comfy, happy cat and finish reading "The Divine Ryans" by Wayne Johnston, which so far is actually really enjoyable.

XO

there are no words for what i'm feeling.

I had a pretty terrible Valentine's day, all things considered. I spent most of the day at school by myself, or curled up on my couch with my head poked into a psychology book trying not to run out of my house screaming. Its a long story, and mostly has to do with me being indecisive and insecure. Another time.

Then I got a phone call that turned my mood around entirely. It turns out my older sister, Sabrina, is pregnant! Not only that, shes also engaged! I am pretty much bursting at the seams with joy. This is both the first wedding and the first birth to occur amongst my immediate family, and to receive news of both within 24 hours is almost too much for me. Her fiancee is so sweet and kindhearted, I know he's going to take the best care of her ever and be such a good dad, and shes gonna be a wonderful mom.

My family has endured so many hardships over the years, so I sort of feel like our luck has finally turned, at least for now. New additions to our family, new life, new people to love. If I believed in God, I'd say he'd finally decided we'd had enough and decided to throw as much happiness as possible at us within the last year. My parents and siblings are healthy and happy, and now we get to spread so much of that happiness around. I can't wait for their wedding, and I can't wait to hold my new niece or nephew in my arms and speak French to them and buy them Dr. Seuss books and watch them grow up.

Life is fucking beautiful.


XO