January Edit
Giada running out of blankets and sleeping under towels, nye. Cody kissing me at 4am in that park. Lavendar-filled baths and wine-tasting in a garden filled with golden sun. Windy evenings at the jetty and Janae on the phone for hours every night. The V-line, Fletcher’s living room and huddled behind the couch with Corina, crying. Doing makeup on buses and wading knee-deep through water-filled tunnels. Shilo’s red room and the rainbows in her window, and the golden light on her skin the next day at the beach. Paige and Fletch in Sofia’s, smoking in the spa, Corina naked on the roof and wrapped in a towel on the floor of the shower. Oversized yellow patrol shirt, Eb’s car.
Caitilin and Brilee in mornington, the red vodka bottle on the pier. Dean calling me from Cody’s and laughing on the trampoline. Crying in the treehouse and Kyle punching the wall and holding me. Movie dates with Em, smoky night-markets and can’t find a maccas with a working sundae machine. Reading in her backyard at 3am. Shilo unlocking the boathouse, Australian flag wrapped around my neck and drying in the hot wind, Byron grabbing my hands in the rain and eating chips and telling stories under the table at that party to avoid the cops. Pushing Caleb off his board at Portsea, cross-legged and adrift in the ocean.
January fucked me up and then some. It was a boy and several bad decisions, house parties and getting caught and cancelling ubers and running out of data and missed calls. Best friends in tears, sleeping in his jacket, stupid texts and pages of life advice.
Can we just – like, call this month a free trial?
a whole pile of youtube videos. enjoy.
Wraps – for some reason, I’ve found literally any craving can be satisfied with a warmed wrapped spread with the tiniest amount of hummus.
Thai food – jasmine rice, satay skewers, spring rolls, curries and prawn crackers.
Mango Smoothies – a fresh mango, handful of ice and a squeeze of lime juice. Literally the best smoothie base, ever. Optional: Spoonfuls of greek yoghurt, berries, honey, etc.
Quesadilla – Mix up diced capsicm, corn, cheese and coriander. Spread over a whole-grain wrap, top with another wrap, and cook for 20 minutes or so. Eat w/ some greek yoghurt/sour cream. You can switch out your toppings to pretty much anything – add chicken, ham, peas, leafy greens, etc.
Passion fruit – I’m desperately searching for a way to buy these in bulk, because I’m pretty sure I would easily go through ten to fifteen a day, if I could. So fresh and sour-sweet, shells litter my desk every day.
Raspberries – If they weren’t $7 a punnet, it’d be lunch every day.
Your Own Magic – Podcast by Allie Michelle & Raquelle Mantra. I have no words. Find them on iTunes Podcasts, listen to the first episode, and you won’t stop.
Sea Foaming Mixtapes – we started making mixtapes. Moods in 20 songs or less. Listen to them here.
This month, we’ve been listening to…
Tears Dry On Their Own – Amy Winehouse
Cocoon – Milky Chance
God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
Friday on my Mind – The Easybeats
Hanging Upside Down – Lime Cordiale
Notion – Tash Sultana
Marinade – DOPE LEMON
Melbourne Bitter – Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebrand
The Story I Heard – Blind Pilot
Drive – Gretta Ray
Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
Go Fuck Yourself – Two Feet
Scrapbooking – Or, basically, shoving photos and screenshots and tickets and receipts into a $6 A4 sketchbook.
Working in new places – The local Maccas with $3 fries, the big library in Mornington with the floor-to-ceiling windows and overflowing bookshelves, on the train in a seat up the back. Working somewhere new, out of the house, can just be really focusing and revitalising.
Speaking – I’ve always insisted I found it easier to organise my thoughts on paper. And I do, generally – in to-do lists, in journalled notes, and when exploring specific topics. A youtube video never works for me – I have to write an article. But the connection between voice and soul is something I’m beginning to understand. Try recording more voice memos. Take ten minutes every day to record yourself just talking, about whatever you need to talk about at that moment in time. Things just sort of – fall into place.
Word flow – Kyla texted me a few days ago, excitedly describing how she’d spent the last few hours pouring all her dreams for the future into a google doc. She doesn’t like to write in journals anymore. She emailed me the link and I want to put them on my bedroom wall. But essentially, I think there’s some validity in that – pouring all your thoughts and hopes into words. Thought flow, word flow.
Just Kids, Patti Smith – My copy is now a battered, watter-spotted, spine-bent, marked-up book I refuse to leave the house without. I’m on my third or fourth – maybe fifth? – reread, and I feel I’ll never get tired of her words.
This is short. Sorry about that. It’s all coming this month, though. February’s new.