Crystalline Moment

I spent my Sunday morning sitting at my desk with sunlight coming in my window and mums in a vase beside me, drinking new kinds of tea, eating strawberries, reading poetry (assigned poetry, but poetry nonetheless) and listening to Edith Piaf. It was lovely. I was productive this weekend on the homework front, but I just kind of took things slowly. I feel like I was just recharging my soul before heading into the next couple of weeks. They are the kind of weeks where there is nothing for it except to take a deep breath, brace yourself and dive in head first. But this morning was a lovely respite from the frustrations of my life last week and the impending challenges of my life this week. I actually felt calm, a rare sensation for me, and as if I had the space to simply breathe. It was this perfect, crystalline moment. Hours wrapped up in a bubble and suspended in the midst of an otherwise unpleasant scene.

Inspired by...

One of the things I have been occupying my free time with lately is catching up on a lot of my favourite blogs. I have several that I adore and will read daily. Even when I'm really busy I try to make room for a few of my favourites because they bring some beauty and inspiration to my day and that is something that I need just so I can continue to function. I feed off of beauty. As much as I can be a Negative Nancy, I truly do try and find at least one thing every day that makes me laugh or smile, something beautiful or amusing, even if it is just something tiny. Often as I'm perusing the blogosphere I will come across something that inspires me, something I find thought-provoking or intriguing or uplifting or just plain gorgeous. Sometimes these things turn into posts on this blog, but more often than not there isn't really a way to translate whatever I've seen into a post. Or I would need to go out and take some very specific pictures before it could appear on here. Plus, I'm often struck by other photography I come across and this blog just isn't a forum for that kind of thing. This phenomenon, and a desire to create a place that I myself could turn to when I'm feeling low on inspiration, led me to start a tumblr a couple weeks ago. If you ever wonder what it is that I find inspirational, check it out. It's really just a collection of random things that I find lovely.

One of the recurring themes in the pictures that I've been posting on the tumblr lately has been sunshine and glass, so I thought this picture that I took on Christmas Day was appropriate for this post. 

Balancing Act

Just in case several of my recent posts (such as this or this) haven't tipped you off, I am here to tell you that I am deep into end of semester insanity. The kind where hysterics are a daily event (whether these are of the laughing or crying variety depends on the day). The kind where sleep has become a thing fondly remembered but rarely experienced. The kind where every so often as you are walking along you are hit with a massive wave of panic. The kind where your desk is so buried under papers and books that you aren't actually sure what it looks like anymore. The kind where this disastrous state of your desk accurately reflects your mental state. This state of affairs is not helped by the fact that this year I am attempting to balance school and work. While I need the job and actually don't mind it, there are many days when I wish I could quit just to save my sanity. I am not good at balancing school and work. I figured this out in second year and it is why I didn't work in third year. I knew it was going to be tricky this year, but I had hoped I wouldn't hit this point in the year and feel like I was going insane. Sadly, this is not the case. Most days I feel like one of those plate spinners desperately trying not to let anything fall. I have taken to only focusing on one thing at a time. If I look at my to do list I get some serious waves of sheer panic. Despite all of this I am doing remarkably well though. So don't freak out. Trust me, I am doing more than enough of that on my own. I don't need any help.

I took this picture in Jasper a couple of years ago. We were walking along a trail around a lake and all of a sudden this little structure appeared as we rounded a corner. Someone must have waded out and made it. I liked how it looked with the lone stone perched atop of the pile seeming to float above the water. This is actually how I feel right now. Yeah, my life is an insane balancing act, and most days I feel like I'm losing it, but there is something grounding me and keeping me from completely falling apart. It's hidden beneath the surface of my crazy life, but it is keeping me from sinking under the insanity.