Forest

Everything seems to artificial today and there's nothing green and luscious at all in my environment- needless to say it's driving my slightly paranoid and worried about the effects of urbanisation and the lack of trees and forests. I can't wait to talk off on my holiday to Canada next year, from my older brother's photographs and experience he indulged in doing mountain walks and absorbing in natural forest full of green leaves and wide trunked trees.

 

I suppose many days I'm quite happy not to leave the comfort of my home but today feels particularly lonely and absent of living creatures. I'm surrounded by things that are neither living nor dead- I'd love to instead feel the warmth of the sun and see luscious green grass and forest all around me. Maybe having a pet in my room such as a cat and something living and companionate would make me feel better about the little activity I participate in everyday. Next week is the start of many activities for orientation of university including scavengers hunts as well as an outdoor music festival. Finally then I'll stop feeling like a recluse and get some face-to-face interaction with new and exciting people.

  I wonder exactly how many American footballers enjoy meeting in the clearings of forests, fully dressed in shoulder pads and the like. I have the opportunity to maybe create my own photographs in this style and image in the coming months if I'm lucky enough. On the weekend I will be fixing up applications and cover letters for volunteer positions- one includes acting as a promotional photographer in order to advertise the sporting groups and clubs at my new university. While it may be a task a little over the knowledge of a simple lowly first-year, I'm keen to at least apply for such an opportunity but sourcing my own models as well as props may be another problem in itself.

My mother says that I'll love the trees and large suspended bridges of Canada when we go- the views are amazing and I'd love to see the forest shrouded in a veil of heavy trees. I just have to ensure that I have the discipline to save my money and keep working as many available opportunities as I can despite the fact I'm not loving my job at the moment. I'm sure when I'm holding a Canon 50D or something similar with a few thousand dollars in hand for a long holiday next year it will all have been worthwhile.

On returning to Melbourne after a semester of study in Canada, my brother was quick to criticise the landscape I had always viewed as on occasion hilly. He despaired at the lack of mountains and the flatness of the ground (just as well he never went to California, flat city). My mother plans for us to visit Canada in Summer which will still be chillier than our Melbourne Winter and I'm keen so see some mysterious cloud and fog banks engulfing rugged mountain terrain and trees.

I heard many a wonderful story about whole groups of raccoons raiding garbage cans at night but in my three weeks in America not once did I see these creatures- a pity really considering how seemingly domesticated they've become due to the encroaching of man into animal territory. I guess I'm just a sucker for any animal with large expressive eyes, unusual fur markings and a twitching nose expressing an inquisitive nature and a soul hungry to learn more socially.

I have a distinct policy about crosses and avoiding them being drawn on my body and especially on my forehead in the place of a bindi but I do rather admire the floral wreath and loose, sheer shirt situation and field of tall grass. Just my luck that there's no fields or parks where no one bothers to go in my area- I wouldn't mind giving the tumble in the tall grass a go but there is no doubt in my mind that my hair would become a horrible tangled mess.

Ah Melbourne, although there is a wealth of activities within the city and revolving around Federation Square for young bored people such as myself- there's definitely a lack in the culture of nature walks as well as interesting environmental scenery. Once you've been enough times, Melbourne Zoo can also be a lonely trip and tiresome although the grounds are so large and there's always animals you never get to see after an entire circuit of trawling around the place.

I wonder what a cat would think of a long and romantic walk around a well kept park full of beautiful plants and a noticeable absence of mice and rats. I can't say that I know the feline personality quite well but in my experiences they are wriggling jelly beans smothered in fur and do not enjoy long periods of being held and carried around. Also- cat leashes and walking around one's neighbourhood with cat in tow is a laughable matter.

This year I am determined to make a visit to my city's Royal Botanical Garden as well as Royal Flower Show as a photographic aesthetic experience and something fun to do with my mother- should we not be feuding at that instance and point in time. I haven't been in years and it certainly would be nice to feel inspired and also a bit ashamed about the state of affairs for my own garden. The last thing I remember about the show I last attended was engraving things on smooth looking river stones.

Sometime in the future I do plan to take a bit of a trek around modern Japan as well as contrasting the life between village and big city.

Beach

I had every intention of going to the beach last Saturday, but without having written the date down in my diary I had signed up for work the night before I realised when the beach trip was happening. It's a shame really since every experience one way or another had to include egotistical men who have no idea what really happens in the real world and are used to getting their way through complaining enough. 

I wouldn't have minded a day at the beach after all this had happened as a way to unwind but my shift was in the middle of the afternoon and the second last of the day so there was nothing really left to do except for enjoy the burn and sting of a hot shower. Water and cleansing is so therapeutic physically and mentally, I almost wish I could have more than one shower a day sometimes- to clean my hair and prepare myself in the mornings as a remedial way to energise oneself and then finally before going to bed to feel comfy and adjust the correct temperature.

There seemed to be a bounty of straw and floppy hats going for a dollar each at the second hand shop I loitered in front of today but I do like the allure of a smartly structured and brimmed straw boater hat a bit more. I do like the occasional floppy hat usually in felt and if it can be helped with a feather in it since they are the most helpful one protecting oneself from the skin and you can still look feminine and gorgeous while wearing one. Hats can be so subjective sometimes and although I do want to shade my face from the sun... I have some sort of fashionable reputation to uphold you know.

I know that I was the disciple of water and it's soothing nature but I do think that soaking in moss-infested water is taking it a bit far- yes, yes it's all very artistic and probably represents the spread of some disease plaguing some sort of metaphorical cause but I can't really imagine a more traumatising experience then having moss cling to my skin. Water is meant to clean you, not to stain your lovely white dress as you float about in it with a peaceful and mundane expression on your face and act as a magnet for small aquatic vegetation.

When I imagine trips to the beach, I like to envision myself as some beauty wrapped in a shroud of modest sheer white material as well as spectacular and bright sunglasses and a wide brimmed floppy hat. My last trip to the beach encompassed cheap broke moccasins, a t-shirt in bright green, board shorts and a broad rimmed and daggy looking hat borrowed from my mother that made me look more like a childish version of the Grudge. Not exactly how I planned to look but I suppose we all build up impressions of ourselves that can be hard to live up to at times.

I have many a wonderful of memory of swinging on what was affectionately known as 'The Tarzan Rope' at my local pool and I think it has been a bit of a crime that I haven't been there in so long. I had weekly swimming lessons and it was indeed the only sport I was encouraged to participate in as a child, my brother prospered at it but I instead chose basketball instead. That choice has been the greatest mixed blessing of my life.

It hasn't been a great aspiration of mine to go the swimming pool with my boyfriend and cling to him for dear life but I was sort of looking forward to a beach trip with my sweetheart sometime this Summer. Well, with only a few weeks left and Valentine's Day just around the corner I may be able to persuade him to be sea bound but I doubt it. In the grand scheme of things, it's not that vitally important to me but it would be nice to have that ticked off in my mental Summer check-list.

One of the wonders of the beach and shoreline that I don't think I'll completely understand is the amount of caves, small little islands and moats speckled along a shoreline. Of course it completely captivates my imagination and makes me think of scenes from Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo and Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'. One of my dear friends adores walking around and exploring nooks and crannies as well as climbing so it was fun running around after her last Summer as well on a few school camps. Ah, memories.

In order to think pure thoughts and be in a serene place of peacefulness, I think that pure, white linen clothing such a s a sundress maybe something gorgeous and showy such as this midriff piece worn by model Bambi could be worn to the beach. I rarely take a dip in the ocean and feel liberated by bathing in the water but I think I would be happy with strolling around yellow sand beaches, getting sand in my shoes and feeling the cold ocean spray and wind whip my bare skin. I'd love to have a midriff dress such as this, there must be something viable and close to this design handmade on Etsy...

Having a map/ network of train systems from a foreign land has been a small aspiration of mine but there's not a lot of available wall space in my room and I'm content to spontaneously decorating with magazine cuttings when the mood takes me. Instead I'll just buy some white sundresses and vintage lace pieces instead to satisfy my urge to get in touch with my inner hipster.

Pink Magic

 

I've been feeling rather green all day and there's definitely been a lack of colour in my cheeks as well as in my day. I shamefully bought two Yves Saint Laurent rings (one in black and one in pink) and although I ordered the pink one over a week ago and payed for the black stone ring yesterday, I received the black ring in the mail today. Fortunately with the much awaited photographs of Deadly Ponies new collection including the colour magenta as well as a few sunsets and surreal photographs including pink I feel a little better. I bet if I was a graceful mermaid I wouldn't feel this deep funk I'm in as well as this weird state of missing school. I have nothing to do for the next month or so except for continue to blog and keep trying to sell things on eBay- yes it is a very exciting existence.

One day I will drag myself from the comfort of the office chair and computer woke station and trawl the streets of Japan as well as many other notable cities of the world with my camera in hand drinking in exotic aromas, street food and absorbing bountiful amounts of culture and fashion. Until then I shall remain sorting out many of the images stored on my computer as well as wistfully writing about popular and amazing labels for jewellery, clothing, shoes and other accessories in an attempt to sooth my taste for fashion. It's never going to work though, if I hadn't have blogged about the Yves Saint Laurent Arty Ovale ring then I would never have bought two.

I've already posted this exact photograph of model Sky Ferreira chewing on a stick of mint gum but that was untouched and had minimal Photoshop appeal about it as opposed to its pink counterpart. That's the great thing about being blond, your hair can naturally take to dyes of all sorts of colours and the art of digital editing can also create the illusion of pink hair. The pink hair is given a real and edginess with eyeliner and mascara framing the outer edges of Sky's eyes- I prefer myself to have long and extended wisps of eyeliner in a cat-like effect.

I'm not one to wear a lot of pink myself but I do have a rather nice pink blouse in a silk-like fabric covered in small swallows in dark blue ink. They're about the size of the eye of a needle each so not as iconic as the Miu Miu 2012 collection but at the time I bought it I was mad for the runway models and the campaign so buying a thirty dollar blouse I love to death and wear about five times a month seemed like a good investment at the time. Once I find myself a pink maxi dress full of pleats and a bustier like front I think I'll be quit fixed of the pink phase in terms of clothing, shoes and accessories is an entirely different ballgame I'm afraid...

After having been there myself, I can confidently conclude that this is not the Disneyland Princess castle of California but may however be a newer Disneyland location- I'm not accustomed to seeing this jagged bridge and prefer the straight and narrow path myself to the castle but the swirling metal silhouette of Peter Pan's Tinkerbelle towards the top most tower is a nice touch. Both are painted in that familiar newborn baby girl pink that so many little one suits as well as young girl's toys are made out of.

Everything seemed to prosperous and prospective last week when I had a half a thousand dollars available in my bank account, I was even tempted to get some pink perfume, maybe Miss Dior of Viktor and Rolf's Flowerbomb in bright sparkly pink but since I caved in to desire once again, I'm back at square one. In the old days of my eBay use having my money at home was most perilous but since starting an PayPal account and linking it to my bank account it seems 'saving' my money is getting very tricky what with all the hours I spend online searching for vintage pieces as well as new and exciting foreign brands.