25.10.08

my afternoon with annie leibovitz

boy, we've been feeling culturally deprived recently. its been since late august that we've done anything remotely to fill our 'creative' souls and we've been foaming at the mouth since then to do something, anything to fill this void. there just hasn't been much of interest on in london recently. we've seen most of what's great already and trying to save our pennies can dampen any efforts for we do want to do {the r.o.h's nutracker and their £50/$100 tickets come to mind}. so, we were pretty excited to go see an entire exhibition at the national portrait gallery, 'annie leibovitiz: a photographers life'. all i can say afterwards is my 'culture' cup now runneth over.

i love annie leibovitz and i am so drawn into her pictures. i saw some of her prints earlier this year at a vanity fair exhibition and am familiar with her work from various magazines, etc {including vanity fair}. what struck me about this exhibition was the professional and personal photos mixed together and how poignant they were---especially in respect to the photos of the loss of her partner, susan sontag. i felt a bit drained after the exhibition, which i think is a sign of 'true' art; something that captures the emotions and passions of the moment and shares these with others as a gift. i guess that's why i have grown to love art so much is that i feel like i'm making emotional connections on almost a primal level.

there were a lot of photos in the exhibition and i have way too many favorites to try to choose, so here's just a few that caught my eye :

queen elizabeth © Annie Leibovitz

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© Annie Leibovitz

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© Annie Leibovitz

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Her mother © Annie Leibovitz

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3.10.08

faraway friends

lucy & her adopted daughter

back in 2007 i first did a post on my work with the gan sabra society--since then i've managed to grow even closer to the owner lucy {see above} and i am continually amazed with her strength & inspiration. she is my age--in her early 30's and what she does for these kids infected with hiv/aids through no fault of their own is just amazing. i don't know how she does it, but she continues to be a mum to these orphans who have had such horrific tragedy & difficulties to deal with at such an early age.

the youngest members of gansabra

its hard for me to not feel guilty sometimes about doing more for them--i wish i had the money to buy them all new clothes, to completely pay off their mortgage so that lucy doesn't stay up at night worrying. i do what & when i can though which is ok for now and even though they always say how much encouragement & hope i give, what they have given to me back is twice as much if not more.

posing for the camera

building forts

to them its not about the possessions- the new t.v. {although they are loving watching 'heroes' re-runs at the moment}, the clothes or a fancy house--its about being happy and just being kids.


studying hard

even still they never stop working very hard for a better life {unfortunately in this area of india many with hiv/aids are lucky to reach their teens}.

lucy knows what education will give to these children---nearly all are always studying and many are even the top of their class! they are really trying to follow the example lucy is setting--she just earned a masters degree in social work from mizoram university.

i think everyone who comes into your life are there to be our greatest teachers for that specific moment in time. i'm so thankful for lucy & the children at gan sabra for coming into my life & what they teach me on a regular basis. although i forget my blessings sometimes, my friends in india teach me to never underestimate the power of positive thinking, hope & the real meaning of gratitude. i pray that one day soon {hopefully next year} i will get to visit and shower each & everyone of them with millions of hugs & kisses.

anyway, i'd like to end with a moving letter the children wrote to lucy on christmas. this was previously posted on gansabra's blog and is in lucy's own words:

I want to share with you what the children at Gan Sabra did-their gift to me for Christmas. On 24th December the children gathered around me and gave me envelops-the used envelops- inside there was letter written for me (separately from boy and girls). I was wondering why they gave me that and i started reading, it was writte by them and here it goes:

''Loving Mother

Christmas Blessing to you. this is christmas we want to give you many gifts. but we dont have things. But Mum, we love you and this christmas you know that we love you and we are telling you again.

You too love us and our family is happy. Our real parents died before now you are our parents. you teach us good things we will always keep them. you provide tasty food, medicines and toys too thank you. we will be good.

God bless you.

(sign by each child themselves and sign for by elder ones for those who cannot write)''

the best christmas gift i ever received and i believe the best ever always.

lucy


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if you want to help gansabra in any way this holiday season they are in dire need of blankets & bedding. they have recently had more children admissions and their supplies have remained the same. the winter for this year is being predicted as going to be colder than usual and lucy recently wrote to me saying how worried she is about staying warm. for address of the orphanage & further details on assistance this christmas please contact me {see side-bar}. if you can't afford to send something, adding them to your christmas card list would brighten their day.

1.9.08

greenwich, in-laws & the human race

over the weekend, james and i were super crazy busy {which seems to describe everything at the moment with me}. his parents came down from the midlands & we spent most of the time entertaining them in greenwich & canary wharf. although i enjoy seeing them having visitors can be draining. i'm the type that has to clean the house about 3 times over, getting everything perfect so i can relax but in reality that doesn't happen till they're gone. i like to put little touches when we have house visitors {thank goodness they stayed at a hotel though} like fresh cut flowers, nice organic biscuits to serve with a cup of tea & lighting candle/incense to create a soothing environment. i think the home is a real presentation of yourself which is why i go to such effort when we have friends over. either this or i must have some martha stewart blood running through my veins after all.

although i didn't get any pictures of his parents {camera shy}, here's a few highlights from Saturday. there wasn't a cloud in the sky all day i might add which is rare for london and made the day that much better.


we managed to catch a few minutes of a cricket game going on in the park. considering how hot it was, i'm surprised they were playing with their heavy clothes.


wandered around looking at all the trees in the park. i love trees & yes i occasionally do hug them {you should try it sometime}. this one is gorgeous & quick random fun fact ---some of the trees in greenwich park are older than america!


it was such a beautiful day. although you can see the pollution over the city---the sky was still blue, people were out with their families & it was glorious.

mildred

on the way home, we of course had to visit our pet ducks george & mildred at brookmill park. all george could do was feed his face on the bread that we gave to them {typical bloke eh?}---mildred though she decided to totally strike a pose & show off in the water. doesn't she look grand?

when we got home we raided the freezer for our skinny cow mint chocolate chip ice lollies/popsicles. a perfect end to the day!

sunday evening we were crazy enough to do a 10k run in the freezing pouring rain {thus no pics} for the nike human race 10k campaign held at wembley stadium.


i thought it was a great concept----25 cities across the world uniting for one day in the name of health & sports. it was more rock concert/race as there was pre race performances by moby & pendulum & there was great music around the course too including some coming from a swinging 60's double decker red bus. our time wasn't exactly the best we've ever done {we usually do 6 miles in an hour, hour/10} but it was wet & dark so i think that's a great excuse. although the race didn't start when we hoped cause of the concert, we were cold & didn't get home till nearly 11---it was a wonderful evening.

so that was my weekend in a nutshell. we're hoping for a bit more of a quiet weekend for the next couple of weeks, but i then remembered i've got a 5k race next weekend as well!

27.8.08

petits trésors

i had the best of luck shopping in paris this weekend. the theme for my 'finds' seemed to be little treasures {or should i say petits trésors en francais} and from the pictures you'll see why!



i've never seen such detailed and beautiful die-cuts before. i'd be afraid to use them in any crafts for fear of ruining them!

there are 25 of these petit little story books, each hand illustrated by the artist elisabeth ivanovsky.



j'adore the madeline books and it seems even more scrumptious in french! don't you love the illustrations?

if you can believe i found all of the above--- the die cuts, madeline book and mini stories all from the musee d'orsay gift shop? never underestimate where you may find things!

i found a collection of amazing vintage hand drawn postcards from marché aux puces de st-ouen in the antique market. these two are just a few that i'm going to keep & frame--the rest i'm going to hopefully get onto a new etsy shop sometime soon. the postcards all are early 1900's french {obviously} and are in my opinion adorable works of art.


you can see how much detail went into this when you look at it up close! i love the color and how their eyes are so permeating!

25.8.08

distractions

musée d'orsay (inside)--photo by me


recently distracted by:

asparagus and pea risotto {courtesy of the eurostar}
the métro on a friday night

antique dolls at musée de la poupée
booksellers along the seine
beautiful painted women at
le musée
looking out over the city on top
little books at the gift shop
jardin des tuileries
sephora on the champs-
élysées
shopping at comptoir de famille
catching up on sleep in a big bed w/fluffy pillows
grilled salmon & chocolate cake at aubergine
'i love paris' & jazz playing in the background

french breakfasts {all you can eat}
a 3 mile run w/the locals through jardin des luxemburg
seeing tai chi in the gardens
exploring the antique market
the accordian player on the métro playing 'la vie en rose'
adorable hand painted antique postcards
walking through the park in the rain
the smell of crêpes
warm quiche & frites at 'pauls'
wandering around st. germain des pres
side streets

windows with closeable shutters
fresh 'non london' air
cafés
catching up on my day dreaming
the best hamburger & chips in the world

mini pain au chocolat & croissants
champagne
vegetarian quiche & lemon tarts
comfy seats and nice french hostesses on the Eurostar
the french countryside
a glorious long weekend