i'll bathe you in the crystal light

I bought these crystals yesterday while running errands with my sister. Tibetan quartz, citrine, and smokey quartz. While ringing them up the employee helpfully told me I could cleanse them by placing them in a saline solution, burying them in the ground for a day or smudging them with white sage smoke. I opted for the last method. Perhaps some of the crystals' qualities are manifesting themselves, because I did feel very focused and on task today. I hope I am not speaking too soon.

Y v H

After a hectic 6-2 yesterday I came home and, not wanting to feel anything on my body took off every dangling object, metal or otherwise and placed it in a pile on the table. I looked over at my sister's 'station' for the weekend and saw that she had done something similar, and documented the comparison for posterity. Two sisters, four pieces of jewelry, respectively.

through the sunset

Bailey Canyon. At the foothills there's a monastery, and the trail itself is something like a hundred or more switchbacks all the way up the mountain(s). I didn't think I'd be able to make it after 4.5 hours of sleep, but after the first ten switchbacks, huffing and puffing and leaning over to catch my breath it became strangely easier. At one point the trail forked and I ask Andy, which one do we take (eyeing the easier looking trail on the left). Andy gestures to the very steep trail on the right and replies, that one! I cursed while hitching my backpack up off my sweaty shoulders as Andy laughed saying I honestly didn't think you'd be able to make it this far. We got to a shady little cove and while listening to the trees, argued about whether a creeping green thing was a lichen or not, and started making our way back down as the sun began to set. Everything was bathed in gorgeous golden light and I couldn't help but stop at every other switchback to shoot a drop of sap, a shrub or spray of berries. After a tiring morning and week, an afternoon of hiking in the hills really helped restore me to a calmer state.

forbidden fruit

The pomegranates are bursting and ready to be savored...

sidewalk beauties

There is so much temptation at work it isn't even funny. And by that I don't mean AT work, but all around. A beautiful though sadly dilapidated mid-century modern chair, an amazing, adorable typewriter (that my coworker snagged for her roommate for only $7! WHAT) makes my thrifting ban really difficult to uphold, but I've been good for a month and a half, and thinking about the loans I have to pay off keep my spending strictly down to food and gas...

012412

1. This beanie from my pop's place houses my camera lately...

2. I got this, then didn't go.  I'm lame but I was feeling strange.

3. Jessica got this for me. I was touched, then felt bad because I feel a little more like storm clouds. But the cool thing is that the sun shines still, behind the clouds...

girls on bikes

Dutch girls, with curls and coats and boots and probably biking in all types of weather! Finally started fixing up my bike, and granted that I don't procrastinate on it might be able to have it ready to ride by the end of the month. It's going to be a little bit of a frankenbike, but as a wise person told me, "old + new."

Andy looking badass. 

 Context: dropped my camera like an idiot and while testing its functions to make sure everything was okay, snapped this candid of Andy. I love when subjects look relaxed/un-posed/natural.

sleepies

One magical afternoon the poopies snoozed, snoozed, awoke briefly, then snoozed some more.

to hold

I cleaned my room today. I guess after talking to James who'd been cleaning his all of yesterday for Chinese New Year inspired me to do the same, so I did that after work today and a lunch date with a new friend. James came by last night to give me some music and before he left he gingerly handed me the tiniest, most perfect sand dollar. It's about the size of a dime, and when I turned it over a trickle of fine sand came out. Beautiful.

follow your...

I'm itching to go somewhere! But as I'm still in L.A. (as I have been...), I'm trying to love it instead of bitching about being stuck at home. It's unproductive to be negative, and I feel like I've forgotten how to have fun (overdramatizing again). Time for bed! Working at 5 in the morning.

metal shop

It was a short day at the office today, so with the time I had to myself I went and bought an architecture book I'd been thinking about a lot, then I came back and went to the metal shop next door to practice my stick welding. "Daang those are some nice beads!" someone remarked at my practice welds as he passed by, but I need to work on getting them consistent when I'm actually welding one thing to another. I may have been welding for three hours or so. When I came home tonight my hair was stiff with metal dust and running my fingers through it got them dark and grimy, but today was the happiest and the most whole I've felt in what feels like months...

restless uncertainty

Feeling unlike myself, nothing new. Actually I feel like I'm me in transition, or so I hope. Unsure about where I stand with many people, and have been making many assumptions toward each individual, which is unhealthy but...natural. In an effort to battle/ignore these uncertainties I busied myself with imperative tasks all day, ones I'd put off for a few days, a week, some months. Maybe now that I've touched upon these things I'll begin to feel whole again. Nothing is as bad as I am making it sound; my words are all just steeped in an uneasy haze...

hello again

I thought I had lost this handkerchief forever. I was oddly torn up about it for a while, but I eventually accepted the possibility that it could have fallen out of my pocket and that I had never noticed. But when I went running two mornings ago (for the first time in years, ahh) I felt something in the front pocket of a dingy old hoodie I had put away and lo and behold, there it was! Finding it again made me think about losing things and how sometimes they can come back to you. How easy it is to obsess over losing something or someone and be upset and try very hard to get it back. Sometimes with time and perspective, things come back, people reconnect and pick up the pieces and start anew. Other times, time isn't enough, too much happened and the possibility of coming back is slim or nonexistent. In which case it is fine to mourn, but mourn and move on; don't let yourself fall into a cycle, don't let yourself get stuck.

'I have bad news for you, it's a duck, not a chicken'

I found this duck at the junk shop and the proprietor Ray said "That's $0.25!" I said YES my dogs are going to love this rubber chicken. And then Ray says "I have bad news for you, it's a duck, not a chicken." And sure enough it has webbed feet! The dogs like this duck but my mom doesn't, so for now it sits on my shelf next to my lobster and an owl clock.

This shirt came out of a $1 pile at the PCC Flea, and even though I hate when people call me "Hannah" I got it out of ironic necessity. I once had a shirt that said "I survived the Road to Hana" that a friend brought back for me from Hawaii but I totally wore it out. I miss that shirt.

Do you become a different person when a camera is pointed your way? I do. I'm so much more used to being behind the camera so when I get snapped I almost don't recognize myself when I see the resulting photo. I also stiffen up and make weird faces without even meaning to. I think cameras just don't like me, but when I look at pictures like this one I can say "Yeah, that's me."

found: foto's

My boss is funny in that he always complains about his fiancée hoarding 'so much vintage crap' (their house is filled as well as a storage unit) but he is just as bad. While she collects certain cute old things like figurines of cats and owls, woven lamps, toasters and shoes and books and baby clothes he's into machine parts, any sort of 'useful' junk and has a soft spot for anything from a time where pride and care was evident in the finished product. And things like this - an old photo album from the Netherlands of a girls' boarding school, find their way into his hands. I love the windmills and how every single girl looks like a tomboy. This is just part one, actually...

the one-eyed gypsy

Went out to the One-Eyed Gypsy on the edge of Little Tokyo last night, despite a 5am shift this morning and a ten hour workday before that. I had a PBR because I'd never had one until then and because one drink was all I could take. It wasn't so bad, just WEAK. The birthday girl slurred her words through red lipstick but was nothing but joy and semi-self-conscious apologies and hugs and it was all good feelings. Free ski-ball machines where we had to touch two wires together to start a game was so much fun as we tried to get the 100-point hole and we each did. Jessica and I found a photo booth and we took awkward photos and decided we need to work on our facial expressions, but it was more like we were trying a little too hard. It was still fun though. Some dancing and the drive home. A late night phone call and then work 2.5 hours later. I was a zombie but with three cups of coffee was okay. I have no complaints.

"I got you these crackers because they have your name on them."

promises

I bought a simple sterling band at the flea market on Sunday and have been wearing it on my ring finger ever since. I'm treating it as a simple reminder to stay committed to myself, perhaps a promise ring to put myself first and really work on achieving personal goals. No boys, no drama, no bullshit, etc. It sounds dramatic but it will keep me on track. It's all in the details.