reality leaves a lot to the imagination.

The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

avec amour, 

athina.

la vie, la vraie.

you have my heart.

avec amour, 

athina.

the fame monster.

i get to see her tuesday night. 

my heart is racing.

I AM SO PUMPED.

minor freakout.

avec amour, 

athina.

love (luv) n.,v., 1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. 2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection. 3. the feelings i have for you.

Hope ft. Jason Mraz - Love Love Love

avec amour, 

athina.

to the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may just be the world.

Belle and Sebastian - I Can See Your Future

avec amour, 

athina.

“he who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.” - elbert hubbard

"Our personas convince us that there is nothing that we don't know about ourselves --
that we are in fact the person we see in the mirror and believe ourselves to be. 
But the issue with this is that once we have brought into the story of 'this is who I am,' 
we shut the door on any other possibility and deny ourselves access to all of who we can be. 
We lose our ability to choose, because we can't do anything outside the confines of the character we're playing. 
The predictable persona we've constructed is now in control. 
We become blind to the immense possibilities for our life."

Debbie Ford
 The Shadow Effect 

forward's the only way to go.

lately i feel as though people have decided to bring me down.

well, not me specifically.

but the things i love.

i love art.

i love art history.

i love photography.

and i love design.

life is art.

my life is art.

so don't say it's useless.

where the hell would we be if leonardo da vinci hadn't studied the mechanics of the body and related them to science?

what about the ideas of perspective?

isn't architecture a form of art? i guess we don't need buildings.

and doesn't absolutely everyone use art to reflect things?

don't we make art to prove points -- political, educational, etc?

don't we put art everywhere because it's "pretty"?

don't we think art is the best way to describe emotions?

screw you.

i want to do art with my life.

and i will.

just because i probably won't be sitting in a leather chair making millions, 

doesn't mean my quality of life will be lower than yours.

have you ever thought our idea of success in life wasn't the same?

at least i'll be doing something i love.

boom.

bam.

over and out.

avec amour, 

athina.

there are far better things ahead than anything we've left behind.

Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck - Heaven Can Wait

avec amour, 

athina.

i think of you in colors that don't exist.

Jane Birkin - T'as Pas Le Droit D'avoir Moins Mal Que Moi

avec amour, 

athina.

the truth of all truths.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

avec amour, 

athina.

i wore salmon colored pants today.

today, they were.

avec amour, 

athina.

please don't mess with the fragile little thing that is my heart.

it doesn't have to mean a thing to you...

...to mean the world to me.

avec amour, 

athina.

and the world spins madly on.

avec amour, 

athina.

secrets secrets are no fun. secrets secrets hurt someone.

In the playground
children sing their songs and skin their knees
play, little monsters, play
i remember doing just the same so many years ago
and the things they'd say

i could handle sticks and stones
but those words still break my bones

little monsters that rule the world
you don't know what you're really saying
stop before someone ends up getting hurt
can't you see that we're only playing

i remember i was just another monster without life
'til the day you came
dirty creatures, tiny animals that crawl towards the light
don't you ever change

little monsters that rule the world
you don't know what you're really saying
stop before someone ends up getting hurt
can't you see that we're only playing

one day you will have to go
you'll have to learn to live alone

i can't hold your hand anymore
i can't always kiss you better
time to stand on your own two feet
time to see just where they get you

deep inside i'm still the same
just one more little monster
making out that she knows the rules
a sincere impostor

avec amour, 

athina.

beautiful day spent with beautiful people doing beautiful things. that's what today was. :)

I'll turn off the TV,
It's killing us,
We never speak.
There's a radio in the corner,
It's dying to make a scene.
So give me soft, soft static,
With a human voice underneath.
We can both get old, old fashioned,
Put the brakes in these fast, fast wheels.

Let's get old fashioned,
Back to how things used to be,
If I get old, old fashioned,
Would you get old, old fashioned with me.

Put the walk-clock in the top drawer,
Turn off the lights so we can see.
We will waltz across the carpet,
One, two, three, two, two, three
So give me the soft, soft static,
With the open fire and the shuffle of our feet.
We can both get old fashioned,
Do it like they did in '43.

Let's get old fashioned,
Back to how things used to be,
If I get old, old fashioned,
Would you get old, old fashioned with me.

So give me soft, soft static,
We won't need no electricity,
If we both get old fashioned,
We won't have to rely on memories.

Let's get old fashioned,
Back to how things used to be,
If I get old, old fashioned,
Would you get old, old fashioned with me.

Let's get old fashioned,
Back to how things used to be,
If I get old, old fashioned,
Would you get old, old fashioned with me.

Frightened Rabbit - Old Old Fashioned

avec amour, 

athina.

maybe it's just wishful thinking, just mindless dreaming.

avec amour, 

athina.

i hope she'll be a fool. that's all a girl can be in this world: a pretty little fool.

i will try.

avec amour, 

athina.

well, well, well.

bam.

avec amour, 

athina.

make your OWN happiness.

this image is quite quite fuzzy.

do i care?

not really.

it's still golden.

today was just. a GOOD day. 

prime, even.

wahoo.

smiles = back in business.

avec amour, 

athina.

don't worry. everything is going to be amazing :)

do not stand at my grave and weep.

i am not there.

i do not sleep.

i am a thousand winds that blow.

i am the diamond glints on snow.

i am the sunlight on ripened grain.

i am the gentle autumn rain.

when you awaken in the morning's hush,

i am the swift uplifting rush,

of quiet birds in circled flight.

i am the soft stars that shine at night.

do not stand at my grave and cry; 

i am not there.

i did not die.

i miss some people in my life.

and i love them.

avec amour, 

athina.

because to me you're golden.

you made me my new favorite necklace. 

and wrote my new favorite note.

i was blessed to have met you.

your soul is the most beautiful.

your heart is the biggest.

and our bond is just the best.

we'll be "those grannies" escaping the nursing home together to go drink wine.

loves to you, my dear.

avec amour, 

athina.

"it ain't no use putting up your umbrella till it rains." - alice caldwell rice

looks like i forgot to share a soundtrack for the day.

shameful.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - The Songs That We Sing

beautiful.

avec amour, 

athina.

"i am an optimist. it doesn't seem too much use being anything else." - winston churchill

i would suspect that that level of happiness is beyond INTENSE.

good.

avec amour, 

athina.

my 11:15 am struggle. aka life struggle.

my keep calm & carry on quote book just told me:

"don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant."

i think i like this.

if it were sunny out, i'd go plant some strawberries. 

:)

avec amour, 

athina.

questions for the day.

i feel like asking questions today.

or simply complaining.

i would like to know why as soon as i like someone, i expect things out of them. and then am surprised when they don't happen.

i would also like to know why those who have hurt someone in the past, feel it is okay to come back for round two.

nope, no it's not okay.

shoo.

go away.

especially during a month that's supposed to be filled with smiles and love.

i would also like to know why it's so impossible to please everyone, and yet i try.

and why those who are in a position of power, relish in destroying those who aren't there yet.

don't you know self-esteem isn't something to play with?

lame.

i'm also quite perplexed as to how, in a week, we can go from blizzard weather to sheer sunshine.

okay, i won't complain about that.

it's actually making me super happy.

i WILL complain, however, about that fact that i feel ready enough to go live and be an adult, and would therefore like to be in that phase of life.

aka i would like to up and fly away for a while.

globe-trotter mood.

how do people do it? smiling when things aren't fine? i like to sulk.

well.

that's enough negativity for today. 

time to go out and enjoy the sunshine and the warm company of loved ones :)

"to be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness." - bertrand russell.

avec amour, 

athina.

"you can take a man from his country, but you can't take the country from a man's heart" - john dos passos

someday. hopefully soon.

avec amour, 

athina.

IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! okay, i'm done.

i always knew i liked albert's little sayings. :)

avec amour, 

athina.

life is...a little bit of each. and i wouldn't change it, ever.

avec amour, 

athina.

"we make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give." - winston churchill

we all know cluttering is unhealthy :)

avec amour, 

athina.

fact.

good thing i love water. 

avec amour, 

athina.

it's a wish my heart makes.

avec amour, 

athina.

you make my dopamine levels go all silly.

i have found. this is true.

go out and LIVE.

avec amour, 

athina.

never stop dreaming.

i'm going to start up wishing again today :)

avec amour, 

athina.

i'd have to agree.

avec amour, 

athina.