Loooong hiatus, sorry love.

Dearest Ginger,

Sorry I have taken so long to reply. Let's get this puppy back up and running, whaddya say?

So as you know, I'm back to living in the woods. It's pretty sweet; I've just been learning a new job writing grant proposals, cooking freezer-loads of soup like a crazy Italian mother of ten for my fabulous cabin-mates, and watching my hair grow slowly but surely as a New England winter kicks in good and proper.

You know what my new favourite thing is right now? These photographs by Sacha Goldberger of his grandma as a superhero. Have you seen these already? If you like this one here, you should check out the whole lot. They are amazing and make me feel like an exploding cannon of awesome. Kapow! You can see the whole series here.

I'm trying to plan a trip to D.C. soon, but first on my list is Nashville. Oh my goodness I am excited. I'm going to take a photo outside Dolly Parton's house and post it to Paper Tiger. Just you wait.

What is new with you, mon petit canard?

xxx
Rebecca

Run away from private school with me

Hello my dear

Sorry so distracted yesterday.

Miss you lots, wish I was with you in NY, and hope that returning to Lee isn't too boring xxx

Anyways, I saw this and thought about that time that we drove down from Auckland to Wellington in Pipsqk, and sang "Hungry Eyes" with the top down along the Desert Road. Lolz. Such good times. Also it made me think a little of that time at Bill's Bach. WANT TO GO BACK.

If your Mum hasn't already turfed Pipsqk, lets grab him when you get back and go crazy on a road trip. We should also do some srs op-shopping. And wear cat-ears.

Did I mention that I miss you Missy? I do.

Please will you get me some saddle shoes while you're in the States? Audrey from Twin Peaks wears them too. I'm jealous of saddle shoes.

xxxx Me

In Limbo

My dear Sarah Jane,

Oh so good to hear from you. And great to hear your decluttering is going swimmingly. It's funny you bring up old uni notes/books etc; I was just talking to my friend Riddle last night about the fact that I kept all my old uni stuff for YEARS AND YEARS and of course hauled it around the various flats I was living in for the better part of a decade. What an eejit. It wasn't until I was packing to come here to the States that I biffed it all, although I did actually keep that Honour/Fleming textbook, just in case. Good old Honour/Fleming. It's sitting on my parents' bookshelf and will probably never be read again. Ha.

As of today, the festival site is a ghost town. No patrons, no interns (apart from a handful rolling around like tumbleweeds). Some of the seasonal staff are packing up, permanent staff are alreday starting to plan for next year. Me, I'm in major limbo right now. I'm heading back to New York tomorrow for a couple of weeks which is awesome but I'm a bit worried about money. But I'm just going to do as many free things as possible. The key word here is FREE. My list is as follows *ahem*:

1. Go to the Guggenheim. They have "Pay-what-you-wish" every Saturday 5:45–7:45pm.
2. Free Tai Chi in Central Park
3. Hang out in Bloomindales and get a free makeover. Apparently they sometimes have parties for brides-to-be and prom-goers in those big department stores, with champagne, DJs, lots of goodie bags and stuff. I can pretend. Whaddya mean, I don't look 17? WHADDRYOUSAYIN'?
4. There are actually bars in NYC that have unlimited free drinks every Tuesday. Granted, it's el cheapo PBR, but still. I'm in.
5. There's also this thing where you can swap your drivers licence for a bike and go cruising the streets for an afternoon. I think they even shut down traffic so it's just a bunch of cyclists tearing around like loonies. If it's true, that would be amazing. Research required.

So in other news, I might have something lined up on the job front but nothing is finalised so I'll keep it under my hat for the moment. But of course I shall keep you posted my dear. Write me soon. It makes me feel so much more grounded to hear all your news and know that Wellington is ticking along just fine without me.

Kiss kiss, Rebecca

Worst. Correspondent. Ever.

I was having much fun writing this blog with you, and then I vagued out because we were talking so much via instant message and text and I wasn't so sure what to tell you any more. So... I'm going to roll with some free association. Enjoy, my love.

At the moment I am very obsessed with decluttering/reorganising. I pulled apart my concertina file of papers the other night, scanned in the one or two things that are actually important, and chucked the rest. It makes me so happy to get rid of things, I genuinely have a little frisson of pleasure each time I get rid of something. I sold a bunch of books and my hoop and have made $70 dollars this week. I spent most of this on my new Filofax which I am so in love with (what a geek!)

This evening Shan and Jo and I had beers at Duke Carvells and then a cheapish dinner at Sweet Mother's Kitchen. Fun! Book club was last night; we've decided we need to Skype you in. Shall I let you know the next book we're doing? Nat is very excited to get us reading something super clever, possibly some kind of biography.

I'm going to start watching A History of Christianity this week. I'm looking forward to the bits about the Byzantine empire and early Christian art - did you do that paper with me? I can't remember that much about it - except things to do with feasts in Roman catacombs. Oh, and beautiful illuminated manuscripts! I love illuminated manuscripts. I'm kind of a geek for medieval art ... love me some primitivist images.

I finally got rid of that text book BTW. Absolutely gorgeous pictures, but taking up room and gathering dust and I haven't looked at the images since that class. Did you know that nearly everything I've written here has segued into me obsessing about saving money and decluttering? I'm a woman crazed at the moment.

And now a toast, to you:

Love to you darling, I figure that you're probably packing up and making your way to New York about now. Have a fabulous time! xx

Hello Dolly

Hello darling SJ.

I love your cheer-up post. I'm taking all your advice, for it is all worthy advice. And I actually feel a lot better already. I just got the wobbles the other day when I got that disappointing news from the embassy, but really, it is not the end of the universe. Every cloud etc etc. And yes, fifteen days flitting about NYC is a rather marvellous silver lining. It's like me moaning that my diamond necklaces are dreadfully heavy and my gold shoes are weighing me down on the dancefloor. Ridiculous really.

Right now I'm listening to Arcade Fire, then I'm going to listen to some Dolly Parton. Ah, DOLLY. You are my patron saint. I will never tire of you. Here is a picture of a lovely piece of work by Jenny Hart. It tickled my fancy bigtime, and I thought you might like it too.

What was that great Dolly quote? "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap." Perfect.

Some Cheerful things

And also, some other stuff do:

♥ Make a playlist of your favourite upbeat songs and listen to them while working. Then take a dance break in the loos or somewhere else suitably private.

♥Take a walk in the sunshine. Soak up the rays. Concentrate really hard on your butt muscles moving and think about the Power of your Body and stuff.

♥Become a hug whore and get as many as you can from the people around you. SLUTTY.

♥Read this post from Lake about his performance at JPop Cafe in Japan and marvel at his Lake-ness.

♥Take a leaf out of the Pioneer Woman's book and reply "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE..." to everything that anybody says to you. For a while at least.

♥Find someone to bring you macaroons, the New Cupcake.

♥Know that I'm loving and missing you from afar.

xxx Me

Beer Review #2

SAMUEL ADAMS
Price: US$9 for a six pack
The website says: “Full flavored with hops and malt yet balanced and complex.”
Tastes like: Malty sunshine.
Drink it when: To paraphrase Mme. Bollinger, I would recommend drinking Sam Adams when you’re happy and when you’re sad. Drink it when you’re alone. When you have company, you should consider it obligatory. Trifle with it if you’re not hungry and drink it when you are. Otherwise never touch it - unless you’re thirsty.
Beer memory: I personally tried this beer for the first time at a baseball game on July 4th. The Pittsfield Colonials were giving the New Jersey Jackals a walloping; I was wearing jandals (sorry, “flip flops”) and holding an American flag. It was so hot that evening, the first gulp of beer went down like ice cold nectar of the Beer Gods. Bliss in a plastic cup.