Looking to the past...

One day while in Long Island, I sat with my aunt and we looked through some old photographs of our family. There were photos of new houses, honeymoons, babies, family pets and big groups of friends. A lot of the pictures were taken in the 1930s.

I never really knew my grandparents. A combination of being born 6000 miles away from them and my father being born later in their lives. My grandfather came to visit us in Japan when I was about 2 or 3 and I have patchy memories of that time. 

My aunt says that my grandparents were a real 'love match' and I believe it. 

These photos were taken on their honeymoon. 

 

Sometimes I think that as a society we are so preoccupied with "the new" and looking towards the future that we disregard the past. There's a distinct difference between dwelling on the past (which is not so good) and looking back toward it with curiosity (which is good). I feel like so much emphasis is placed on us as individuals that sometimes it would be good to pause, give our egos a break and think about how amazing and crazy it is that if not for chance meetings that were made so many years ago, we might not be here. So go hang out with some older relative and make the most of them. 

a day in the Hamptons

So this time about three weeks ago I was eating a lobster roll in the Hamptons. Ah sweet memories. Lobster rolls are delicious and I recommend that you go out and get one right away. 

It was really great to hang out with my aunts, cousins and their kids..oh and the labradoodle! 

We totally drove past Michael J. Fox's house! My inner teen was super excited as well as my outer adult. I watch Teen Wolf and Back to the Future like five times a year.. so yeah pretty big MJF fans over here. (writing in the style of a teenager is super fun if not slightly cringeworthy)

New York Trip Part 2

 I moved to Connecticut from Japan when I was almost 7 years old and the first person I met on my first day of school was Megan. She had made a card for me of a man holding balloons (which we still laugh about) and we've kept in touch all these years. So of course we decided to meet up while I was visiting the States.

It's so important to hold onto old friends! 

New York Trip Part 1

I arrived back to England this morning after a pretty short flight with pretty bad food. 

I had such a good time on my trip, where I spent most of my time with family in Long Island. I rarely get to see them so we squeezed a lot of fun into the short time I was there. I miss it already!! 

One of the highlights was going to the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met. Savage Beauty was haunting, beautiful, eerie and amazing! The installation type exhibits sectioned off into different rooms with different music made each grouping really atmospheric. One of my favourite things was the Kate Moss hologram which they recreated on a much smaller scale than it was originally seen. I stayed and watched it through twice. Beautiful!

After the exhibition we went to lunch and then onto the High Line which was really pretty. It started to rain but we persevered and walked from one end to the other. 

I love New York city so much. The moment I see that skyline I get this great feeling of excitement! 

Now I'm in that weird post trip haze where it's hard to comprehend how you were in one reality and then suddenly in another... and it makes everything seem a little weird!