Love is…bus rides & Fever Ray albums on repeat

“Poetry is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.” -Adrienne Rich sunrises over farmer's fields with Ohbijou pouring out the car's speakers warm sun on my face in the middle of winter the artistic perspective of powerlines staring at the bare trees blurring-by outside dirty bus windows sumac along the highway abandoned buildings and …

Love is…lazy afternoons & whole-body-smiling (The Cozy Edition)

“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.” -Robert Frost lemon meringue pie movie marathons with good friends & red wine living room dance parties (dancing my face off with people I love to Girl Talk and 90’s pop songs) electric blankets and heating pads blankets …

Love is…New Years and New Purpose (a Reflection)

"Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one" -Brad Paisley 2012 was a year full of contradictions and extremes. It was a year full of struggle, loss, and change. It was a year that started off with health problems and a bout of depression and ended in a …

Spark your Creativity: 10 (+1) Ideas on How to Find Inspiration Everywhere (including your piece of toast)

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed" -Ernest Hemingway Do you ever find yourself in a place where you are completely blocked? Maybe you've done the same things again and again and are feeling bored and apathetic? Or maybe you're feeling completely overwhelmed, burnt-out, or restless? …

All That Exists is This Moment

“To stay with that shakiness – to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness – that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic – this is the spiritual path. Getting the …

Living With Pain, Feeling Through Pain: Tips on Healing and Self-Care

"Storms make the oak grow deeper roots" - George Herbert (1593-1633) These past couple weeks, I've had a string of days where I have been completely immobilized with all-over body pain and heavy fatigue, my body forcing me down against my will. I'm still learning to listen to it, to let go, to honour its …

Sharing My Story

Why do I write? Why is there urgency in my words? Why do I hungrily capture images every day?  Most people who really know me, know that I've been struggling with (currently undiagnosed) chronic pain. It began about a year ago in my neck and shoulders, causing almost daily debilitating headaches. It began wearing me …

Love is…self-expansion & bright colours

community gardens and new blooms spending a day off doing a circuit of the downtown coffee shops, consuming lots of caffeine, writing, reading & networking.  graffiti in the washroom: "for a good time, try knitting" girl on the street with punctuation printed tights! grammar nerd love! (i'm not a fan of american apparel, but there are …

Love is….a whole lot of uninhibited, gushing out laughter

"we stretched out side by side on the bed and began. By pretending, of course. Forced laughter. Laughable laughter. Laughter so laughable that it made us laugh. Then it came, real laughter, total laughter, taking us into its immense tide. Bursts of repeated, rushing, unleashed laughter, magnificent laughter, sumptuous and mad...And we laugh our laughter …

Love is…a pen, journal, and lots of caffeine

So, it's been quite awhile since I've been here. I had taken a hiatus that was both intentional and unintentional. An intentional move,in order to give myself some space from the pressure of always having something to say, and unintentional, due to some pretty tough physical and emotional experiences I've struggled through these past few …