Capturing Country x Sunday Songs: The world is much too with us

Sorry, sorry, sorry! I haven’t posted in a week again, I know. But I finished my finals and my third year of university! But even more importantly, my first year as an Arts student. I feel so academically fulfilled. Now that I’m on summer vacation, I need to look for another job. But in the meantime, I will have much more free time, which should mean more consistent blogging (weather permitting).

This midi-skirt was my mom’s. I love the colourful floral print and it just has that country-prairie feel so I thought I’d play off that to create some country class with my ankle-strapped pointy toe sandals. Was so lucky to find that one of my Joe Fresh nail polishes just happened to be the exact same shade of pink!

Scarf, sunglasses, and button up from Joe Fresh, skirt was my mom’s, shoes and tote from Aldo

 

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not. –Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

–William Wordsworth

Though he became quite cynical later in life, I wonder, what would Wordsworth think of our modern world? If he thought that the world was much too with us in the 1800′s, what would he think of us now?

Sunday Songs x Sibling Rivalry

Leather jacket, button up and t-shirt from The Gap, jeans are APC, boots from Aldo, sunglasses are vintage Ray Bans, red bracelet is Mono (ordered off Colette), brown and beaded bracelet from PeruSo… I know I haven’t posted in a week. I’m so, so sorry but thank you for those who kept visiting and getting disappointed that I had nothing new up. It was my last week of classes which meant all of my term papers were due and somehow I ended up with way more shifts at work than usual. With everything compounded, plus my piano lessons, I ended up pulling two all-nighters and cultivated some extremely erratic sleeping patterns. Regardless, I’m finally finished! Well… except for finals but I don’t need to worry about that until later, right?

So to make up for it, I added another element to today’s post: my brother! Despite what the title suggests, we actually have a great relationship. Oddly enough, despite my 5’3-ness, my brother somehow turned out 6 feet tall.

I never thought I’d say this, but I think I actually LOVE these gold jeans. When I first bought them, I was a little iffy about them but I’ve worn them quite a few times since, and I’m so happy I bought them! Also, this leather jacket was a very recent purchase of mine. I had been looking for a leather jacket for awhile and am IN LOVE. Be warned, you’ll likely see this jacket quite frequently from now on!

Leather jacket from Danier, white sleeveless button up from H&M, gold jeans from Joe Fresh, ankle booties from Aldo, purse is Rebecca Minkoff, necklace from Front & Co., sunglasses from Mintage

We bloomed like spontaneous rapture in that unknown hour of night
By day’s reveal we left ourselves exposed to the penetrating light

We did not shrivel and wither away in the oppressive heat
But flourished like hope at the sight of dawn in a city of defeat

Yet when these petals fall and the ravenous scent of floral leaves no trace
Our roots shall remain intertwined like the wrinkles on our face

Thought it had been awhile since I added in one of my own poems which of course, has no title since I hate coming up with titles. Hope you all are enjoying the long weekend! Here’s a gratuitous shot of a prime rib sandwich from the American Cheesesteak Company on Davie and Granville. I highly recommend it!

P.S. All the photos were taken either by me or my brother so they’re not quite as nice this week because we’re both big noobs but it’s the boy’s turn to die in a pile of papers. Besides, I really have to practice my photography skills so my apologies again!

Sunday Spoils and Songs: After dark vapours have oppressed our plains

So me and the boy were at his campus as he was editing and I practiced some of my photography skills (which are severely lacking; the good photos he took). In his program, you work exclusively with real film which makes the work rooms super cool as they’re filled with rolls of film and old machines to edit and process the films.

Afterwards we went to The Water St. Cafe for lunch…

And then MacLeod’s which is my absolute favourite bookstore in Vancouver. If you’re a bibliophile, it’s simply a must. When you walk in, it’s just piles and piles of books everywhere which makes it seem disorganized but if you’re looking for something specific, you can always ask the people working. John Keats is one of my favourite poets so I picked up his Compete Poems anthology and a polemical work by Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas. Virginia Woolf is one of my idols; I think of Tina Fey as my modern-day Woolf. If you haven’t yet read A Room of One’s Own, I highly recommend it, especially if you’re a woman. (The cake pops are from my piano students, if you guys are reading this: thanks!!)

After dark vapours have oppressed our plains
For a long dreary season, comes a day
Born of gentle South, and clears away
From the sick heavens all unseemly stains.
The anxious month, relieving from its pains,
Take as a long-lost right the feel of May,
The eyelids with passing coolness play,
Like rose leaves with the drip of summer rains.
And calmest thoughts come round us – as of leaves
Budding – fruit ripening in stillness – autumn suns
Smiling at eve upon the quiet sheaves -
Sweet Sappho’s cheek – a sleeping infant’s breath -
The gradual sand that through an hour-glass runs -
A woodland rivulet – a Poet’s death.

– John Keats

John Keats was one of the second generation Romantics whom I love so much. I find his poetry to be so beautiful, and after studying him and his contemporaries a little bit more, they have come to mean a lot to me.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!