Literary Tattoos For This Book Nerd
So this happened today...A couple of friends and I went and got tattoos together. It was a ton of fun! I got two new tattoos, I guess could be classified as "literary tattoos" (I obviously can't get enough of this particular theme when it comes to my body-art.) They satisfy the book-nerd in me!
On my forearm I had "awake my soul" tattooed in Jane Austen's script. Why a Mumford & Son's song quote, written in a long dead author's "script"?When I was ten years old I discovered Jane Austen, and the writer in me. It happened at what is still one of my favorite places in the world, a library. Our local library was a beautiful building, the facade was covered in coral rock, the interior, dark mahogany wood, and it smelled like heaven. I happened upon a junior version of Pride and Prejudice serendipitously in the children’s library. I loved it, and soon discovered it wasn’t the original. I bravely made my way into the grown up library, a magical place with its shelves that reached the stars and quickly found my way to Austen’s classic. I didn’t realize it was a classic, as I stood on tiptoes to see the top of the check out counter. The librarian raised an eyebrow at me, and asked if I’d like to read the “junior version instead, you know, the one with pictures?” I replied in turn, I’d “already read that version- three times”, and wished to read the original. She smiled at me and stamped the card at the back of the book. I remember feeling like I held a treasure in my hands as I walked away.
The discovery of Jane Austen's book, essentially awoke my soul to writing. I also can't help but adore the meaning behind the lovely song.
Just below my thumb I had two teeny-tiny quotation marks placed. It's to act as a bit of a reminder to me, to not forget about my "passions". I especially love this quote by Truman Capote, "To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music the words make." It essentially describes exactly how I feel about the tattoos I got today.
We Have One Life - Tennessee Williams Quotes
“ When did we become so small and so apologetic? Why do we apologize for our humanity? Love what you love, and make no apologies. This is your identity. The most horrendous suspensions of freedom are self-imposed. We imprison ourselves daily, hourly. We have one life, one shot at all the glorious things of life, and we walk about constricted, apologetic, afraid. We have so little time; we have so little space upon which to spread our love and our talents and our kindness. Run toward life fulsomely and freely. It runs from us so quickly, like a frightened dog or youth or daylight. Chase it and care for it. ”— Tennessee Williams: We Have One LifeI've really nothing to add. My husband snapped this gorgeous picture, and I thought this quote rather lovely to go along with it.
xo
Author Anne Rice Offers Writing Advice
The End of Missing Someone #Quote
I came across this quote and it immediately spoke to me, as I am so looking forward to the end of the missing of my beloved.19 months and counting.
photo: I took it while on a plane back home during my failed attempt to see my husband in August. Sigh.
Venice Dreamlike
Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go. ~Truman Capote
Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go. ~Truman Capote
I've always been intrigued by Venice. As a little girl I would dream about sitting on a terrace overlooking a canal, and all the mysteries that floated on it's watery streets.
A few weeks ago I dreamed I was moving to Italy.
I dream very rarely-a side effect of insomnia. When I do dream, I take notice, because in the past my dreams have been prophetic.
hint. hint. hint.
love & gondolas,
nicōle
Photo: www.flickr.com/photos/mbell1975/
Ghost of Memories - Coming Home - Walk - Ayn Rand Quote
People create their own questions because they are afraid to look straight. All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don't sit looking at it-walk. Ayn Rand
**I wrote this a year ago - and never published it. Now that my husband's remote year - apart from us has turned into two... I'm sharing - because - Dear God, we've still one more year... "Look straight" - that's all I have to do... I need this reminder.*****So much is going through my mind these days. Half the time I'm secretly freaking out inside, while the other half of me is happy to be "home" in Miami - though with out my husband here it doesn't feel quite right. This time coming home - though I know it to be temporary - a year in the grand scheme of things really isn't that long - but it feels weird. I'm sure it has to do with how quickly it all happened - maybe I'm still a bit dazed - and my mind is still working this out. It's not the first time, I've come home - when duty has called him away. The big difference of course is now our boys are a part of this - and it's so important they feel like this is their home. I think they need that, a good strong tree, with roots that grow deep. All their life they've had wings - and though they're temporarily grounded while their dad is doing his "aiming high" gig, solo. His home now is completely strange and unlike anything he's ever experienced.Where as mine - is familiar - in so many ways and altogether foreign too.Home. It doesn't mean the same thing it once did.This time around for me coming home feels much like visiting your old neighborhood where you grew up- and discovering everyone's moved away. The tire swing you used to swing from, feet dangling with your eyes shut flying into the sun, always brought you back home. You realize that was - a part of what made your house feel like home. It's where later as a teen you'd sometimes come, feeling melancholy and angsty - Hole or Nirvana blasting from your Discman - in that teenaged in-between place, hands held tight to the rope, excited for what lay ahead - the places you'd fly when their was no ropes to tether you.Now back in on your old street, new people living in your house, all that remains is the ghost of that swing. The places you once called home - still are - but they're not. The ropes are gone, you realize and though you're not a complete stranger - the opportunity to discover this place - my new-old home, with new eyes - is something I want to look forward too. For so long the thought of home was like a glossy magazine picture, and truth be told it feels a lot less glossy than I remembered.That's the thing with memory - rose colored glasses and all.I'll find them, those shades and put them on and go out and explore this, my new old home. Rediscover the new places I love, and seek out my old haunts to see if they still hold the same magic and mystery. Except, I'll get to do this with my boys. Share stories of my child hood with them. They'll - for the first time in their lives will be surrounded by family--they have no idea how big their extended family is. I'll be their tree, and their swing - the ropes they can hang on to, should they need me, because unlike my swing, which broke loose from a tree, my roots can walk - and so - as Any Rand so aptly said, we'll "look straight" and walk into this homecoming adventure - which I'm sure will be awesome and terrible in varying degrees.
