Welcome to Holland

I read this months ago, but thought it was well worth posting here. It's a little story about when life takes a different turn to what you had planned and expected. Very applicable to relationships, among other things. I think it's really lovely.

Imagine that you're planning a fabulous trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go.

Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

Meanwhile everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland

Sitting on a bench with my best buddy... 

Talking about nothing...

Thank you for an awesome brunch and an awesome chat xox

Rain, the perfect end to a really great day - lise I hope your day was also awesome :) 

Because it's cute :)

 BIG

At this moment I'm dreaming of Zanzibar

What are you dreaming about lise?

Happy Birthday!!

Beautiful birthday girl, here are my birthday wishes for you!

Today I have to do something new and scary...I'm going to a party by myself (and that guy amy tried to set me up with will be there, and I'm scared it will be awkward) and I wish you were here to talk to...but then I read through the blog, and all the posts we have shared and it felt kinda like you were here after all :)

Although of course I still want you back in person!

I feel like we are heading in the right direction :)

They couldn't

but there will be someone who will, 

And they will be worthy of us, 

and hopefully we will be worthy of them. 

Go Sammy Go!

It's not long now!

Thinking of you today...and know that I am suffering too...had to get up at 6am to get to the world's most boring orientation at 8am and now of course I arrived half an hr early...stupid buses...grrrr!

Losing a tooth

One of my bloggy buddies either emailed this to me or wrote it on their blog - I can't remember how terrible! But i found it saved in my docs today, and it made me think of what we were discussing last night. And since it had the whole dentistry analogy I just couldn't resist ;p

She wrote:

“ Because he has been a major part of your life, of course you’ll miss him; it’s perfectly normal. It’s like getting a tooth pulled out; it needed to happen because it was slowly going bad inside your mouth. But how many times does your tongue run itself over the spot where the tooth once was? Probably a hundred times a day. Just because it was hurting you does not mean you don’t notice it. It leaves a gap, and sometimes you see yourself missing it terribly. It’s going to take awhile, but it takes time. Should you have kept the tooth? No, because it was causing you pain and harm. Pulling the tooth was the right decision, but it’s going to hurt."

We are free but we are not alone :)

I just loved this picture

It seems so full of hope and possibility. And so, it seems just right for where we are right now :)

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." — Marilyn Monroe

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."
— Marilyn Monroe

I think it's sad that she had to trust no one but herself - how lonely.

Our greatest fear

Your post on power made me remember one of my favourite quotes:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,talented and fabulous?Actually, who are you not to be?

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won't feel insecure around you.
And as we let our own light shine,we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others

Marianne Williamson

Since I can't actually be with you...

Here are a whole bunch of the hugs that I would give you...

Lise

Can I borrow some of your courage?

Because I can't stop looking at it

Don't forget to take a moment for yourself to relax with a cupcake, and a cup of tea :)

You do, 

And hopefully I do too. 

When uni is stressing you out

An oldie but a sweetie

We have been so lucky...

Our mothers are incredible. 

They are strong, kind, intelligent, and loving women. 

They would do anything for their children.

They have protected us,

They guide us,

They have played with us, 

They teach us, 

And they have loved, and do love us unconditionally. 

We can only hope that one day we will turn out to be half the women that our mothers are...

It's our choice

Feeling quote-y today...

"The most beautiful people we know are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out. these people have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.
Beautiful people do not just happen."
(Elisabeth Kubler-ross)

"And maybe, just maybe, her heart needed to be broken. broken and shattered and stomped into pieces. Then she could finally look down at the pieces, study each one and spend time getting to know the person she'd become. And when she finally had all the pieces back together again, a little crooked, a little jumbled but sealed firmly with love, she'd realized she was more beautiful than ever.

Because this time, she would love herself."

(source: this girl)

Saw this on another blog today and just had to share...

Because indulging your inner psycho is good every once in a while ;p

Everything we do to improve...

It may be a challenge but

Thank you for this lesson :)

When it's choppy out there... 

Take a deep breath...

And let go... 

Because underneath the chaos everything is calm... 

Damn straight I do

"people keep telling me i fall in love too easily - that i should protect my heart,
that i shouldn't wear my heart on my sleeve.
i fall in love at least twenty times a day,
i fall in love with the sky and the sun and the flowers.
i fall in love with smiles, with music on the radio, and with french fries and dr. pepper,
i fall in love with the sound of laughter, blue jeans, accents...
sometimes i fall in love with complete strangers, especially the ones holding hands and kissing in public,
the ones who aren't afraid to be in love with the idea of being in love either...

i don't mind the pain of unrequited love so much,
because i think they're wrong.
love looks good on me."
natalie ann erianson

"Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is simply the quiet voice at the end of the day saying 'I will try again tomorrow'"
mary.anne.radmacher

I'm back!!

Yep that's pretty much it...on the floor sleeping, studying or...no...it's really just those too ;p

One day I promise I will return to regular posting. Til then, some fave quotes of late are on their way up now - I may not post again til the weekend, so I'll compensate now by overloading :)