E-mag inspiration: So Much to See in Rue!

Hello Lovelies,

I am still alive and well! ;-)

I *do* need a break from it all - I have been (and currently still am) street harassed & stalked by weirdo neighbors who think I'm a natural-born victim just because I'm:
a) a woman
b) a loner
c) currently vulnerable health-wise and all
- but... no way!

I am NOT a natural-born victim. I have been the coincidental object of the violent hatred of my own family, and my mother in particular. It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the violent perpatrator of these violent and ongoing crimes.

That being said, right now I'm looking for a nice getaway for next weekend, somewhere near the Ocean (frequent, regular contact with natural scenery, esp. water has always  rejuvenated me).  I may do some couch surfing, but keep being careful of course.

Of course, I *do* crave some quiet time alone right now, as my neighbors as well as my own nightmares (back straight from childhood hell) won't let me rest and sleep at night, but maybe meeting new friends via couch surfing (or the like) could be a refreshing change of scenery (my inner city really sucks during summertime, with those unbearable heatwaves and all).

When I *do* feel refreshed and rejuvenated and my own self (probably for the first time in my whole life - I expect the feeling of being "me" for maybe the first time ever to feel just a little... weird or unexpected), only then will I be able to take the practical steps that will allow me to move to another better, safer place and simply move on with my own life.

So... what is it about Rue mag and home decor inspiration that I wanted to tell you lovelies in the first place? All this domestic violence is distracting me from the actual, beautiful & important things in life... ;-)

On may 7th 2013 - two of my favorite e-magazines released their Spring 2013 issues. If you have a quiet moment today, make sure you check out Rue Magazine’s May/June issue dedicated to Pacific Northwestern design as well as Matchbook’s Mother’s Day issue. Both are filled with beautiful interiors, fashion and inspiring women.

So take a few minutes for yourself, relax and...

ENJOY!

Here are a few highlights from this Rue Sping 2013 issue, articles, objects and design ideas that caught my attention - beware this issue is really chock-full of good decor tips & tricks! So:

gift guide for men - "north pacific cool" - page 16

rainy day essentials - page 18

page 46 - hindsvik typewriter for 40 dollars + ethanollie refleix camera for 75 dollars

dark grey inspiration objects : page 48

light grey inspiration objects : page 50

page 54 : bed room inspi dark grey wall + page 62 tips for creating a beautiful bedroom

page 64 : bagels recipes!!! Btw, it seems NYC bagels have finally hit France this summer! Hooray!

page 89 : the big black K letter in a monochromatic minimalistic home + page 97 home office

page 122 : graphic painting above bed + octopus tentacle sculpture

And in closing: a merry mishap (drool-worthy) atelier tour.

-Alix.

Pssst... More e-mags inspiration here: http://pinterest.com/teabutterfly/e-mags/

Simple Life, Simple Truth

Hello Lovelies,

Remember my mentioning earlier in June that (add link) I was participating, for a mere 10 dollars a month zh challenge

there is a direct LINK between my simplifying project, my saying NO to one thing a day, and my remembering my being abused as a child...

more on that later...

-Naomi

Where there is LIfe, there is Hope: the Hardest Truth to Tell.

Hello Lovelies,

I'm Naomi (aka Vic) Lipson, and a 41 yrs old recovering victim of child abuse. This is me today, looking at you straight in the eye, unapologetically glancing back at life, and YES, softly smiling - I love this selfie, taken jsut a few days ago:

I'm alive and well. 

I'm into "Fem Power" (see the Feminine Power FaceBook page) for E, D & A reasons! 

E stands for "Experiencing the intimacy you desire in the relationships in your life" - this is difficult of course for any victim of sexual abuse, in infancy and adulthood alike. 

D stands for " Infusing your life with meaning and purpose" - when your very own parents actively hate you and want you dead since your in utero state, it's hard to make any sense out of this life of absurd happennings and endless pain. 

Finally A - a little hope here - stands for: "Expressing your deepest gifts " this is my ultimate goal in life, after my full recovery is achieved. A few of the gifts I have already expressed in life: speaking fluently 5 languages, dancing, swimming in an athletic way, singing (lyrical soprano), acting, both in film and in theatre play, being a digitally published author, being an artist with multiple solo exhibitions etc... The last time I expressed anything was... 10 yrs ago, it's more than time to find again the path to my true, deep self.

This is me then, trying to escape from the steel motherly hand crushing me:

-Naomi

PS: I'm well most of the time and when I'm not so well, I sing out loud this song:

http://youtu.be/Tth-8wA3PdY

A Small Glimpse at My Behind-The-Scenes

Hello Lovelies!

I am currently thinking about moving this blog and other content in order to gather all my art, photographs and texts in just one address:

http://teabutterfly.virb.com/

Here is what it will look like:

screen shot of my TeaButterfly website homepage, as hosted by Virb.

 screen shot of my TeaButterfly website blog page, as hosted by Virb.

 

 screen shot of my TeaButterfly website - shown is one of my galleries.

I am still working on it, so it's visible online yet, but of course I will keep you guys posted!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

The Beauty of the Letterpress

Hello Lovelies!

I recently posted the following blogpost on my design/home decor blog (you can read the original post here), but thought I should really share it here, too!

Please read below, a new update awaits you at the end of this blogpost.

the Beauty of the Letterpress logo.

After reading this blog post over at "how about orange" (a fave blog of mine), I decided it was really worth donating a little dough in order to help the Hamilton Type Museum. You can donate as little as 5 dollars and get a nice letterpress postcard for your contribution to the project. 100% of your contribution goes to help the Hamilton Type Museum.

More details here and on the "Beauty of the Letterpress" contribution page.

image source : the Beauty of the Letterpress.

Since the "Beauty of the Letterpress" is a fairly new site, I am now off to explore all the goodies the printers and artists have to offer over there!

 image, my own. taken from my flickr "Beauty of the Letterpress" image set

[Edit: I am now so, so happy to report that the lovely letterpress print, a limited edition of "The Beauty of the Letterpress" pictured above has safely arrived to my mailbox. It now adorns my home office desk. *Swoon* will post pictures soon here on this blog and on my flickr "Beauty of the Letterpress" image set. You can also check out this other set of mine about interesting type & fonts as well as the "Interesting Type Face" set.]

For more visual inspiration, check out my "Type Love" pinboard.

Enjoy!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

"Why?": My Illustration of a Poem by Fernando Pessoa.

Hello Lovelies!

From the "Why?" series - detail. Lipson (c) 2013.

Here is a mixed media (mostly ink on paper) series of illustrations I did some time ago to illustrate a favourite poem of mine, by Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa:

" À l'Univers j'apporte un nouvel Univers

parce que j'apporte à l'Univers l'Univers lui-même "

Pessoa ~ Le gardeur de troupeaux

Enjoy!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

However Vast the Darkness: Thoughts on Simplifying One's Day & the Meaning of Life

Hello Lovelies,

One of my main goals in simplifying my day & life is this: "Do more of what makes you happy".

So... I have started to simplify my day and joined the June 2013 ZenHabits challenge. Part of my simplifying project consists in simplifying my online life, too.

I started emptying my email inbox, 35 emails at a time, 70 per day. My inbox currently has over 11 000 unsorted emails in it! I file away the important messages, answer immediately the really important and urgent ones, and toss the rest. I have subscribed to a gazillion newsletters over the years, as I surf the net daily since 1997... I unsuscribe from one newsletter a day. I still need to do the math as to know when exactly my inbox will be finally 100% clean & empty.

After that, I plan to go on a light media fast once i complete the June challenge, at the beginning of July 2013 (more on that later).

Simplifying my online life means that I started to clean and empty my email box, as I said before, but also cleaned my computer desktop icons - now I only have 10 of them, along with a new beautiful abstract painting desktop wallpaper from Ghostly, found via apartmenttherapy.com. It looks like this (you right-click the image in order to save it as a desktop wallpaper):

I also organized my many, many digital files, all the photos I have been taking digitally since 2003! While cleaning my photo files, I found this gem, and wanted to share the wisdom with you lovelies.

Excerpt from a Playboy interview with Stanley Kubrick:

Enjoy!
-Naomi of TeaButterfly.