the dreamers society

one of these days it's gonna be right soon, you'll find your legs and go and stay gone

2011-08-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

In just over a week I will be turning 21! It is impossibly exciting and scary all together. Although this summer has been terrible for the most part, I am excited to make 21 my best year yet. Like most 20-somethings, I am at that suffocating in-between place in life. Having just graduated from college, I took the summer off. I had planned on travelling Europe and having adventures, but painful family matters kept pushing my plans farther and farther from sight. I won't let that hold me down, though! Everything happens for a reason, and even though that reason is often hard to understand in the moment, it is important to have faith. You must have faith, girls!

So in the greatest leap of faith, I will be jumping out of a plane at 9,000 ft for my birthday! After that, who knows what will happen! It is taking immense strength at this point in my life to remain true to the person I am with the values I have. Shouldn't I be like everyone else? Go out? Party? Be in a relationship? Shouldn't I want what everyone else seems to want? Money? Security? Comfort? The shoulds are always scrambling around my head, confusing me. Fight back against them, my dears! Live outside the norm! Do something exciting and different! Those that try to put you down for it are simply unhappy with their own un-lived lives.

It's funny. I'm in my 20's and I feel like I should be this grown up, adult-like person already! Society tricks you in to thinking you need to be a certain way by a certain age. But we are still babies! If not now, then when? Why do we feel we need permission to live?

So stop asking for permission from others and give it to yourself!

...

2011-07-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

I don't know what's going on anymore.

I'm sorry for disappearing, but my family has essentially turned itself upside down in a matter of weeks.

I can't even think.

This summer is a whirl of tears and crushing humidity.

I've pushed so many people away. I feel guilty for wanting things. I feel guilty a lot.

I've retreated so far inside my mind that I'm paralyzed.

Analysis paralysis.

Too many decisions, and I can't move forward. My legs won't take me.

I'm waiting for some sort of sign from the universe that I know will never come.

Because that's my problem, I wait too long for life to happen, not realizing that life is now.

And I know, I know I need to push myself.

No more excuses.

So please, please realize this.

I'm saying this both to myself, and all of you out there that will read this:

Do not wait, that day will never come-it is NOW
If you are not scared, humiliated, embarrassed, making mistakes and failing, you are not LIVING
There is not enough time to worry about what other people think of you, besides, they are far too busy thinking about themselves.
Live for you, and the rest will come.

Jump

2011-06-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.

-Paulo Coelho

Keri Smith

“I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud. And I don’t want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that my life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and receipts and dirty dishes. I want to eat cold tangerines, and sing out loud in the car with the windows open, and wear pink shoes, and stay up all night laughing, and paint my walls the exact color of the sky right now. I want to sleep hard on clean white sheets, and throw parties, and eat ripe tomatoes, and read books so good they make me jump up and down.” -Shauna Niequist

Get up NOW and live
Buy the ticket
Hop the train
Kiss the boy or the girl
Let go of fear
Let love in
Take a deep breath
Jump

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2011-06-08T17:35:00.000-07:00

Mama and I like to grow things. We've had a garden in our backyard ever since I can remember, and I absolutely love it! These pictures are of last year's garden, as this year's is just starting to pop up now, but I will keep you all updated on our organic veggie goodies!

This year we are growing:

leeks
tomatoes
carrots
corn
onions
beans
peas
parsley
strawberries
basil
chives
one pumpkin, who will be sacrificed for halloween!
daisies, hollyhocks and other various flowers

I love, love, love spending time in the garden. Digging the soil over, playing with worms, deciding what to plant. Most of all I love that everything is organic, and grown by my own hand, without any chemicals. It's certainly much more delicious than store-bought! Nothing tastes better than a carrot pulled straight from the ground and simply washed off with the hose to eat right there, or sun-warmed strawberries, and cherry tomatoes that burst luxuriously in your mouth. Yum!

I also started a compost pile a couple of years ago, which we use daily for kitchen scraps.
The rabbits get a kick out of it.

Do you have a garden?

Wanderlust

2011-06-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

EF - Live The Language - Barcelona from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - Paris from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - London from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

Aren't these videos so inspiring and beautiful?

They make me dream of far off lands, exotic smells and foods, and falling in love with someone who doesn't speak your language.

Lovely!

Windswept!

2011-05-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

It is absolutely blustery and grey in my little corner of the world today! Where are you Mr. Sun? So in the spirit of would-be, wished-for summer, I conjured up a magical summer playlist of my current favourite melodies, and hopefully the sun will come out to dance!

Young Blood - The Naked and Famous
Rolling in the Deep - Adele
Kick Drum Heart - The Avett Brothers
Daniel - Bat for Lashes
Dancing on My Own - Robyn
Black River Killer - Blitzen Trapper
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
Barton Hollow - The Civil Wars
You've Got the Love - Florence + the Machine
Down the Line - Jose Gonzalez
Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons
Wagonwheel - Old Crow Medicine Show
Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
Always Like This - Bombay Bicycle Club
Paris is Burning - Ladyhawke
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

And of course:

Cruel Summer - Bananarama

Don't judge!

What would you add?

I've got this playlist on right now with my windows open wide, so, you know, the sun can hear. You should do the same, this is the kind of music that needs air!

Hello Again!

2011-05-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

Dearest friends, it has been some time I know. After a short stint on Tumblr, I deleted. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for saying sorry so much, I must stop, as it gets redundant and annoying.

How are you all, sweet buttercups? I have finally graduated from college, although I don't get my physical diploma until June 1st. So I am currently unemployed and dreaming of travels to foreign lands. It's hard, and a bit embarrassing when I see the rest of my fellow students out getting wonderful jobs, but I just keep reminding myself that I need to do my own thing. My current dream is to spend a year working and studying abroad. Perhaps in my mother's motherland of Germany (where I can hopefully become fluent), or in the UK or even New Zealand.

I've come to some revelations recently:

I don't want to spend my life living in one place
I don't want to spend my life doing one thing
My fears are stemmed from crippling perfectionism
9-5 cubicle work is hell (for me)
I don't want a boyfriend anytime in the near future-I want to do my own thing, on my own terms
I need to become wayyy more independent
I need to stop doing what I think others want me to do, and make my own choices
I need to actually do what I say I'm going to do!

Have you come to any realizations about yourself recently?

I think I will start making some changes to this blog to make it more of a source of inspirational homework (homework for dreamers?) mixed in with my own realizations. Do you have any suggestions or things you'd like to read about along those lines?

I've created a new email at: wearedreamers@live.ca if you have any suggestions, ideas, questions, or just want someone to chat with! I also think I may change my url to something more appropriate, and perhaps my name as well. I hope you'll tag along for the ride!

2011-02-09T16:01:00.000-08:00

i have three months of school left
that is it that is all

i need the sun to come back out and shine on my face
i am a summer baby, after all
i can't flourish in this cold climate

i'd like to move somewhere where it isn't winter half the year
where i can have a wardrobe that consists solely of dresses
and i can ride my bicycle everywhere
and walk barefoot
but i would miss my family too much
and besides, it can be quite beautiful here too:
the northern lights, the evergreens, the rolling plains
the wild wildness of it all

change is all i need
just a little bit of change