How have you all been?
I have hibernated.
Actually, I am not done.
I now get why old people move to warmer climes because I am really suffering from this weather.
If I didn't have such travel fatigue and an aversion to airports and adjusting to new beds, I would have gone somewhere hot but I couldn't face jet lag either.
Instead, I went into the fire and went skiing.
Only went because I had paid for it ages ago and it would have been a waste not to go.
Oddly, it was warmer there or it could have been that I looked like Michelin man.
Conditions were perfect or too much snow that it was a blueish white and I got massive motion sickness because there was no horizon and yet I was going fast.
Odd sensation.
I haven't posted because my blogger app is not working nor uploading and these were the only two pictures up.
Then I thought I should post anyway because this blog is hardly National Geographic so get a move on woman - I told myself.
New year resolutions?
If you missed January 1, then go with Lunary New year in February 16.
If you miss that then go with the spring equinox.
I have decided to read more.
I always read.
But I realised I hardly read actual books anymore.
So I am concentrating on that.
I have also decided to lessen social media because it is a time vacuum.
You can descent down a rabbit hole of links of feeds and hashtags and it's not like I am even searching through a potential love match's ex girlfriends feed or anything. Plus I am finding Instagram really repetitive and it is ruining my visual palette. Not to mention that every 4th picture is an advertisement. Why does Zuckerberg and his algorithms ruin everything? I now go on Facebook once a week to make sure everyone is safe and well.
Even though I am in no need of a visual palette perse, I no longer open my World of Interiors magazine with gleed anticipation. And that makes me slightly sad.
Odd thing is like Oprah who made a fortune on television rarely watches the stuff herself.
Steve Jobs wouldn't let his kids have an iPad.
Designers I have heard get their assistants to like people they are following so it looks like they are involved but mostly they just post pics and leave.
Plus I am trying to find a way to be productive in life.
I might be going through a mid life crisis.
It is overdue but I tend to procrastinate so much that even my mid life has been slow to start.
Thing is I don't want a Porsche nor do I have a gardener so how else to manifest a mid life crisis?
Anyway, I will continue with fiction and taking classes.
But mostly I can't wait for spring.
xx
I have hibernated.
Actually, I am not done.
I now get why old people move to warmer climes because I am really suffering from this weather.
If I didn't have such travel fatigue and an aversion to airports and adjusting to new beds, I would have gone somewhere hot but I couldn't face jet lag either.
Instead, I went into the fire and went skiing.
Only went because I had paid for it ages ago and it would have been a waste not to go.
Oddly, it was warmer there or it could have been that I looked like Michelin man.
Conditions were perfect or too much snow that it was a blueish white and I got massive motion sickness because there was no horizon and yet I was going fast.
Odd sensation.
I haven't posted because my blogger app is not working nor uploading and these were the only two pictures up.
Then I thought I should post anyway because this blog is hardly National Geographic so get a move on woman - I told myself.
New year resolutions?
If you missed January 1, then go with Lunary New year in February 16.
If you miss that then go with the spring equinox.
I have decided to read more.
I always read.
But I realised I hardly read actual books anymore.
So I am concentrating on that.
I have also decided to lessen social media because it is a time vacuum.
You can descent down a rabbit hole of links of feeds and hashtags and it's not like I am even searching through a potential love match's ex girlfriends feed or anything. Plus I am finding Instagram really repetitive and it is ruining my visual palette. Not to mention that every 4th picture is an advertisement. Why does Zuckerberg and his algorithms ruin everything? I now go on Facebook once a week to make sure everyone is safe and well.
Even though I am in no need of a visual palette perse, I no longer open my World of Interiors magazine with gleed anticipation. And that makes me slightly sad.
Odd thing is like Oprah who made a fortune on television rarely watches the stuff herself.
Steve Jobs wouldn't let his kids have an iPad.
Designers I have heard get their assistants to like people they are following so it looks like they are involved but mostly they just post pics and leave.
Plus I am trying to find a way to be productive in life.
I might be going through a mid life crisis.
It is overdue but I tend to procrastinate so much that even my mid life has been slow to start.
Thing is I don't want a Porsche nor do I have a gardener so how else to manifest a mid life crisis?
Anyway, I will continue with fiction and taking classes.
But mostly I can't wait for spring.
xx
Naomi sometimes I think technology is making us all brain dead! I've been reading more books too, not just online articles. I'm also working on my French and forcing myself to read historical biographies, for me they're like doing a class, I have to take notes so my mind doesn't wander.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been very keen on Insta lately except to check with a couple of friends who post on a regular basis. Blogging has been a way for me to slow it down, post some pictures and write something. Maybe you'll start blogging more, we'd like that!
Very brave to go skiing, I hate the speed and the height. But I do like apres ski so I just do that all day when we go skiing.
Wow that's just great that Steve Jobs didn't let his kids have iPads, thanks Apple. All of the kids are iPhone junkies these days. And they break them all the time, it's ridiculous $$$
And yes bring on spring. I hope this year we don't have Foreveruary. xx
I have really been enjoying you and Jen posting every day. I keep meaning to write that but it only confirmed why I love blogs more. plus all that scrolling on the phone is giving me carpel tunnel. I feel like I should edit more and add but I think like you two I might want to just posting little but more often. Skiing was so hard - honestly I felt my age. I felt like I was slowing down the others too. I am learning a language too and loving it! Bring on spring xx
DeleteHello Naomi, It sounds like a case of the winter blahs. I thought when I moved from Ohio I would escape the terrible winters, but apart from no snow, we are getting chilling cold and rain every day, and with no home heating to take the edge off it a little. Reading is always my favorite activity, and you are lucky that you are in Book Central. I have to schlep my books a few at a time in my suitcases each year. I just read a real winner--George Washington Slept Here, by Moss Hart and George Kaufman, a comedy play about people buying and restoring a Revolutionary-era farmhouse.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hi Jim! Yes I think it could be that and I bought Vitamin D yesterday just in case it is SAD related. Here it is cold but without the slopes so the worst of all worlds. I will look up those books as I need to get tips otherwise it seems the computers put you in a niche and you get the same old recommendations - it is a loop! Cheers
DeleteHello & I hope you have a wonderful 2018.
ReplyDeleteA big yes to spring in the northern hemisphere but I hope that our winter here in Oz is mild.
I’d definitely suffer seasonal affectation disorder if I lived where there were pronounced seasons which included lots of snow and cold!
It’s funny but in Athens in December it was 18 degrees and there was no wind and it was actually warm so my husband and I wore t-shirts. The athenians looked at us as if we were mad aliens as they were wrapped up in their puffers jackets/coats and scarves etc. It was even stranger in the museums where the central heating was on and the staff were still dressed for the cold.
The one thing that just wins hands down for the northern hemisphere was the proximity to all these other fabulous countries/cities. So i’m Still (as we all are) very jealous of your location but I get being adverse to airplanes, hotel beds etc.
Best sights on the slopes was seeing a priest in his black robes and the church covered in snow at the top of the mountain. Now that is something we don’t see here.
Den xx
Happy new year Den! Isn't it funny how tough you feel - like Braveheart in Athens hehehe
DeleteI do miss Australia and if it was located even 12 hours away I would live there but sometimes just the option of moving makes me stay at home bc it isn't like i pop over to paris on the train every other month like you think you would as I did when i lived in Melbourne. i wish tech would hurry up and come up with those beam me up scotty machines so could have a coffee in melbourne and nip back to london! xx
I hear that people who have midlife crises just start writing a lot of great blog posts;).
ReplyDeleteWhat classes will you take?
ReplyDeleteHey Cilla! I am learning a new language - Chinese - i have always had a block as i foudn it so hard but i am learning to speak but also read and write so it is taking ages plus i am learning some tech stuff too :)
DeleteHappy belated New Year to you, Naomi (also Lunar New Year). I too feel like I've come out of a deep winter sleep (although I've been rather sleep deprived lately) and finally I can at least pay attention to my blog and reading my favorites (like yours).
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't abandon us altogether as reading your blog is a highlight for me.
Anyway, enjoy your time away and I can't wait to hear how productive you've been and what you've been up to.
Ok, I'm so late to the party, but I really try to only spend time on my computer for work now.. which means insta is ok, as it's my phone... :( But it's not the same!! I do miss the old blogging days, and agree with you that I have the attention span of a flea. I was actually thinking about taking up tapestry again and watching tv shows at night. Like in the 90's. Except I don't really want any more William Morris tapestry cushions. I'm pretty sure my Dad is eyeing off my last big efforts and wondering how he can jettison them.
ReplyDeleteSo, on to your mid life crisis, I'm thinking you should channel it not into a porsche, or gardening (which is limited on a balcony), but Art. That is a neverending quest. You need to find a tiny, niche interest and spend hours and hours hunting things down. See, problem solved! I'm so looking forward to seeing you in person in September! Hooray! xx
Naomi
ReplyDeleteOf course, I bitch and moan about your absence, and then, when you do write something new, I completely ignore it. Oh well, what can one do about one’s fickle and flighty audience? Soldier on naturally, and, of which, I am so glad you decided to post again, I enjoy your writings so much, very witty, very keen, and, yep, Happy New Year!
xo
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI found your blog while searching for some info on Venetia Stanley-Smith whom I’ve discovered this year when I started watching NHK to improve my Japanese. I was wondering how such a timid looking lady was able to afford 100year old house with a huge garden in Japan and your blog offered some info :)
Anyway, Happy Lunar Mew Year! I agree on the importance of reading more off-line. I’ve come to this conclusion after I noticed my eyesight had gone worse from staring at my phone so much. Are you on goodreads by any chance?
Thanks for such a fun blog! I’ve been enjoying it!
Irina
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI found your blog while searching for some info on Venetia Stanley-Smith whom I’ve discovered this year when I started watching NHK to improve my Japanese. I was wondering how such a timid looking lady was able to afford 100year old house with a huge garden in Japan and your blog offered some info :)
Anyway, Happy Lunar Mew Year! I agree on the importance of reading more off-line. I’ve come to this conclusion after I noticed my eyesight had gone worse from staring at my phone so much. Are you on goodreads by any chance?
Thanks for such a fun blog! I’ve been enjoying it!
Irina
Happy new year Naomi! I agree with so many of your sentiments. I have for probably the past year been spending less and less time reading social media or blogs. Instagram I found a consumerism trap with far too much posing so I never even set up an account. I feel like "inspiration" is so easy to find now that everything feels far less original or interesting in the design and fashion worlds.
ReplyDeleteI still have my blogs (like yours) that I continue to read as much as possible but less time to comment as I've taken on a property development project, navigating non stop hatred of my job and it's politics, and finally managed to get pregnant after a long road! So a lot on my plate :) I've also started entertaining at home - something my generation seems to avoid - so all my guests are 15-20 years older as they invite us back lol! But I do understand as it is a lot of work hosting dinner parties and luncheons! (So I'm learning!)
Wishing you the best with your new hobbies and pursuits. Learning a language sounds fantastic. Maybe you will also fit in a few more weekend trips to Paris ;) I feel it's still a gloriously romantic city even in the rain and cold!
Hi Naomi! I am trying to read more this year too and I've cut back on blogging. I do still want to read your blog, GSL's blog (if he ever gets back to it, or has he and I just don't know it lol), and Feather Factor, so I hope you will keep writing! I am waiting very impatiently to see what VCA will release in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Vintage Alhambra line. Still obsessed! I am also waiting for a certain Royal Wedding to happen! xx
ReplyDeleteI love the change of seasons. I can see the appeal of San Diego but there is nothing like the first few actual Spring-like days in Chicago. You appreciate those days far more after a Chicago winter and also why I like and respect people more who have endured adversity, become stronger, and count their blessings...so out of fashion these days.
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