spooky love for fever ray

i have developed a complete and utter obsession with this song - if i had a heart by fever ray - and the video is just wonderfully spooky. i can't stop watching it. or humming it, for that matter. her album is also absolutely brilliant, and you can listen to all of the tracks here.

i am also totally enamored of the way karin dreijer andersson has had her face painted for the video (above left) and the album promotion (above right). the concepts are both beautiful and - again - delightfully spooky.

images via fever ray's last.fm profile

dr. edith eger on how to be young and eighty-one

'smile with your eyes and give up the need for approval of others... truly celebrate the ability to find that little girl in you who can love again, and again, and again; and to be able to incorporate the past that you just blossom. every day is a gift...'

i may not be 81 - and can only hope to make it to such an awesome milestone in life - but i think that dr. eger's words are a pretty good model for life in general... especially the part about smiling with your eyes. when you do, it shows that you are truly happy - and that is something everyone should strive for.

part deux - some more tunes to keep sane

friday with a deadline... and a few tunes to keep sane.

it is our humanity, and all the potential within it, that makes us beautiful.

quote from aimee mullins' ted talk.

a little dose of inspiration for your day. cheers.

paris... unexpectedly

an unexpected layover far from home when all i wanted was to get back to arkansas to see my friends and family, combined with complete disorganization at charles de gaulle airport in paris four days before christmas could have completely ruined my day. however, i took it as getting the chance to see a city that i love and haven't been too since i was 12. it kind of felt like santa came a few days early for me...

after far, far too long, i finally got the chance to go through my photos of my day in paris... and here are just a few of my favorites...

the first view i got as i topped the stairs at the eiffel tower. one day, i will live in one of those incredible apartments in the center of the city. hey, a girl can dream.

little love letters and declarations and mini-graffiti etched all over the tower. it's one of my favorite parts about actually getting to visit the eiffel tower - getting to see so many people's stories while looking out over one of the most beautiful cities on earth... not to mention that i am a total structures-and-history-geek and the eiffel tower just makes me all kinds of nerd-happy.

the avenue des champs-elysees lit up for christmas and beautiful vintage metro signs...

more of the champs-elysees...

i think that the best moment of the day was climbing up the eiffel tower, only to realize that we had arrived just as the sun was starting to set... it was simply breathtaking.

le sigh.

the rest of the set is here.