226/365

catch you later,
Karleigh

“Race doesn't really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don't have that choice.” // Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah

225/365

Hugh Grant is one of my favorite actors; in fact, I remember watching the trial when someone recorded his phone calls just so I could watch him on television. He's been in some amazing movies, but his romance films are nowhere near his best. About a Boy is unarguably Grant's best film. Learning that you don't have to be alone, that you deserve happiness and successful relationships, is a very valuable lesson. We all need to be reminded of it sometimes. So let this be your daily reminder. You deserve love and happiness and relationships that fulfill you.

catch you later,
Karleigh

"I used to think two was not enough. But now things are great; there are loads of people... I don't know what Will was so pissed about. I don't think couples are the future. The way I see it now, we both got back-up now. It's like that thing Jon Bon Jovi said: 'No man is an island'." // Marcus, About a Boy

224/365

I have this love for Simon and Garfunkel and I hope that you do too. I hope that you like bad indie movies and eating pasta for every meal. I don't want you to like the cereal I do though cause you might eat it and pretend like you didn't. And I might get mad about it, but I hope it would be the kind of mad that I laugh off. I hope you like antique stores, but if you don't then I won't blame you. In that case, I hope you will love me enough to go in them with me. I hope you pay attention when you drive because one of us should. I hope you can deal with my anxiety and help me work through it. I hope I can help you with everything, that you don't mind me telling you when you are being stupid, that you tell me when I'm being stupid. I hope you have an interesting face, but you will because everyone does. I hope that I get excited to show people your picture, that I show everyone that will look. I hope you don't change my life but enhance it. I like pastels, but I would be okay if you turned up the contrast. Vivid colors aren't my thing, but if you like them then I would paint everything in your favorite colors, even puke green. No I wouldn't. I would respect you enough to tell you that I hated that color. I love myself and I hope you love yourself too. And I really hope you love Simon and Garfunkel.

catch you later,
Karleigh

"In his anger and his shame, / "I am leaving, I am leaving." / But the fighter still remains" // The Boxer, Simon and Garfunkel

223/365

I have this love for Tommy Hilfiger ads. I don't wear it, but I love the ads. They have this appeal, this attractive part to them. You know what I mean. It's so American, so down home, apple pie and red white and blue. It reminds me of prep schools, rich people and too many cocktails at a family Christmas party. Tommy Hilfiger was really big when I was young, it's still really big too I guess. But I always keep looking at the ads in magazines, looking for the same models, the same prints, the same prep school styles. Looking at the ads doesn't make me feel like I'm coming to my home but to a home that I've visited many times before, somewhere that I've spent the night, invited myself to dinner. I guess ads can be like that sometimes.

catch you later,
Karleigh

"I am lonely, yet not everybody will do. I don’t know why, some people fill the gaps and others emphasize my loneliness.” // Anaïs Nin

222/365

I moved into a new place today and then let myself get caught up in a whirlwind that I have to back my way out of now. It isn't a bad thing, but it is kinda bad to me. I do not like to call people back and tell them that I can't do something that I thought I could. Anyway, you have to do what is best for you.

catch you later,

Karleigh

"I belong deeply to myself.” // Warsan Shire

221/365

There is more to life than who holds your hand. There will be so many things to see and do and feel, and you can do all of them without someone else. I think sometimes about getting married and having kids. I have this ideal life, planned to the tee, and sometimes I want it so, so badly. Then sometimes... I can feel the romance, the thrill of living alone, of finding a companion in myself. I can be happy by myself. I think everyone has that fear of ending up alone, of having no one that likes you enough to live with you forever. And I don't think... I mean it isn't irrational. That is a genuine thing to think about and for some it is so consuming. I think it's hard to acknowledge that maybe your soulmate is you. You can hold your own hand when something goes wrong and you can congratulate yourself on a job well done. You can enjoy paintings, a slice of cake, a novel alone. You can eat alone and live alone and still be happy. Your happiness is not tied to marriage/family/job. Your happiness comes from within and not from the person that stands beside you.

catch you later,

Karleigh

"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” // Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband

220/365

It is easy to romanticize the loneliness of winter, to find yourself floating amidst snow flakes in search of a proper landing. You make your way through the cold, dark nights in search of warmth, something you can grasp and hold on to -- a steaming coffee mug, a clammy palm, the last thirty minutes of a Christmas film. We long for the warm lights in shop windows, the thick coats and pink cheeks. We smile at people as they pass and then December passes and we are left in a cold and dark purgatory. The never ending winter has grasped our frozen wrists, sunk its teeth into our happiness and we are left begging. Please let the sunshine come back. I would give anything for a few minutes of warmth. This damn coat/scarf/sweater is suffocating me. In the early moments of winter, we may be swept into a romance unlike any before. It is never the same as the previous year, but the feeling that follows... it is too familiar. The sinking sensation within our bones, the harsh reality that the trees are bare and you are left with cold fingers and chapped lips. It is easy to romanticize the loneliness of winter when we are easily distracted by the happenings around us but, like any relationship, the romance fades and we are left wishing for the sunshine to distract us, to shed outer layers that have kept us in the dark for too long. And when the sun makes its joyful return, we will soon be romanticizing the oncoming winter again. 

catch you later,

Karleigh

"I was always attracted not by some quantifiable, external beauty, but by something deep down, something absolute. Just as some people have a secret love for rainstorms, earthquakes, or blackouts, I liked that certain undefinable something.” // Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun