A lover's a liar,

To himself he lies.

The truthful are loveless,

Like oysters their eyes!

A little blurb from my reading. 

This week has been a blur, I have inspiration for everything except blogging.

Dearest Spring Break, 

I have only just survived a year without you. Let's become reacquainted. 

Last year we saw the Chicago sights, this year I propose we relax in a house by a lake. A little boating, a little fishing, a little swimming. A lot of reading and a lot of sun.

I'll put my phone and computer away if you promise fair weather. 

Well now, I'm just about packed. 

Shall we go then?

In the bookbag:

Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

Ishmael, by David Quinn

And Pride and Prejudice. 

Desk Portrait

A desk can be as much a self portrait as a painting. 

  Spring has returned.  

The Earth is like a child that knows poems.  

-Rainer Maria Rilke

These daffodils were growing in a nearby and obliging field. They were too pretty to leave alone. Spring and break are almost upon us, it is time to transfer the dust from the floppy sun hat to the textbooks.

My beautiful sister modeled for the latest photography assignment. 

I don't know what I would do without her.

Hindsight

    “Kate, there are three different kinds of attractive girls. There are hot girls. There are cute girls. And there are just beautiful girls. You are a beautiful girl.”

Three years ago, when this was said to me, I actually took offense. Back then, I thought that when someone called me beautiful it was because I was too fat to be called hot or sexy. Beautiful was the cop-out word people used when they were thinking something else, when they were skating over the reality.

Back then, I didn't know anything about value. Or truth. 

It’s amazing how much we can change in three years. I am so thankful. 

Present Flavor(s)

With inspiration from:

una bella vita

&

things organized neatly

The Fragrance Bible

Michael Edwards released the 27th edition of his “fragrance bible” Fragrances of the World 2011 in January. The new guide lists approximately 8000 fragrances (with over 900 new additions) classified by fragrance family, and includes over 900 niche fragrances from 60 perfume houses. The reference book is used by numerous retailers to help customers find fragrances they might like based on the scent(s) they already know and enjoy.

Also included in this year’s edition: images of scent notes provided by Givaudan. The book is $195 USD.

Who would like to give this to me for my birthday?

Tea-Types

   

  Hot baths used to not appeal to me. You fill this porcelain hole that is too shallow for swimming with hot water and sit for about an hour in your own sweat and dirt. Baths only became appealing when I began to view them differently. I don’t remember when it started, but I began to think of a bathtub as a huge teacup. Of course, this would make me the tea bag (or tea leaves, depending on how dedicated a tea lover you are). The analogy could have stopped there, but of course it didn't. The tea-types began. I started by typing myself, and then it moved to randomly creating tea-flavors for people based upon their personalities. 

For instance, the Kate flavor would be something like this:

-Solid, blunt, black tea base. English or Irish breakfast perhaps.

-Romantic and sensitive, wild rose.

-Sweet and understated, vanilla.

-Spunky, stubborn, Ginger.

-And finish with something subtly odd, like a moss that can only grow underwater.

Not only do I myers-briggs everyone I know, I also tea-type them. 

I should probably think about getting a different hobby.

The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath

   She is the portrait of a woman confined by what her society says is best. Esther Greenwood comes to a place where she begins to truly discover herself; And when her ambitions don't match up with what others tell her is acceptable, she loses hope. Thankfully, the story doesn't end there. Her journey from depression into a suicide attempt is painful to read, but her metamorphosis post attempted suicide is beautiful. Her story is tragic and raw, but she ends it fiercely as her own person and ultimately content that way.

I savored the last page today in the middle of our busy student center.

I was ready for it to end, but I wanted the last page to be just right. 

And it was.  

"There ought, I thought, to be a ritual for being born twice- patched, retreaded and approved for the road."

La Douleur Exquise