Dressing up is always a good idea.

This is Sarah, my friend that has the great talent to convince those around her to dress up for fun.

All friends should be like this.

This is us in early 2010 living in Hanoi dressing up.

And also us over this past weekend dressing up.

I bought my blue dress here:

and my creamy SHORT! lacy dress at Forever New in Jo'burg about two years ago.

Just a quick 'back in Nam' (with sparkles) story for you this cheery Wednesday. xoxo

All recent photos were sent to my Sarah, so aren't my own. 

Happiness

Sapa, Vietnam 2010

“I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy.
I think the purpose of life is
to be useful,
to be responsible,
to be compassionate.
It is, above all to matter,
to count,
to stand for something,
to have made some difference that you lived at all..”
― Leo Rosten

vietnam

vietnam:
 here i came for a 6 months adventure. here i stayed for almost 2 years, met my favourite person in the world and discovered a teacher in me, and i liked what i discovered.

my prayer this day

Ha long Bay, Vietnam, May 2012

i love this prayer, it comes to me often. 

“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, 

when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, 

when we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore. 


Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess,
we have lost our thirst for the waters of life, 
having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity, 
and in our efforts to build a new earth, 

we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim. 


Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, 
where storms will show your mastery, 
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. 
We ask you to push back the horizon of our hopes, 
and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love. 
This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ. ”

― Francis Drake

Back in Nam

time is funny. i left Hanoi, Vietnam a year ago after living there for 20months. and now even a year later it feels like my time in Hanoi was over in the blink of an eye. other moments i feel like a whole lifetime was lived, only now visible in my albums, souvenirs (one being a future husband) and trip-down-memory-lane conversations that usually end up in 'you don't know man, you weren't there, you don't know!', which inevitably ends the polite small talk the cashier was making...
in honour of my one year departure i've decided to share some of the first few photo's i took in around the alley i first lived.  

a sight i got very used to. motorbikes, small alleys and handy man telephone numbers painted everywhere

three brides in the park.

this remains one of my favourite photos taken in the Nam.

the birdcage boys

art

20 months and i never took a cyclo trip. back then it was because i was an expat snob, now i just think i regret that more than not bringing home that conical hat