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I don’t know when I stopped taking my own advice or feeling like I needed to be anywhere else but here. Now.
Here, the permanent present tense, has always been my lane. I’ve always loved that I could dance to my own drum, content and present; able to participate in and enjoy the magic unfolding in ordinary life (see: #QuestForBeauty). I’ve always believed in fully inhabiting a season without regret.
Continue reading “Present tense”
Alternative title: Never beating the allegations
This is a friendship love letter unlike any other: Its bittersweet, apologetic and kind; reflective. It’s also a 2024 retrospective, a photo dump (of my thoughts) x journal entry (by way of archived WhatsApp chats). But mostly: This one is addressed to me.
Am I getting by?
Am I happy?
Am I still the girl I used to be?
Barely.
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Allow me to reintroduce myself:
I’ve been away for a while (an obscene while) but I also never left ya’ll. Hi Im Ntoetse, I trade in personal essays and silly whimsy, this is my creative outlet and because I’m 31 now and here’s 31 things to know about me (by way of reintroduction).
Compliments of the new year and welcome back! Today I thought we’d try something a little different. I present: Selected transcriptions of my 2023 (pen and paper) journal. Whilst preparing for an (initimidatingly) overdue journaling session tonight, I was struck by the few gorgeous truths I wrote on the rare occasions that I actually put pen to paper in 2023, (quite frankly I’m a little freaked out that I wrote some of these in the first place to be honest).
Continue reading “This I know to be true”
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I am located right in the centre of my joy and I believe in perfect days. I believe that negative and positive experiences can be beautiful. My threshold for perfection may be low but “with all it’s sham drudgery and broken dreams, it’s still a beautiful life. Be cheerful, strive to be happy”.
Continue reading “Gentle Magic II”
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I was going through my gallery and realised I’ve lived through some perfect days in recent memory. I think people are reluctant to declare days perfect. Perhaps my threshold is too low, all I know is: if you can’t identify them in everyday life, you’ll wait for a day that won’t come. These are vignettes of joy, sorrow, the bittersweet and contentment featuring friends lovers and in-betweens. (disclaimer: I own everything that happens to me)
Continue reading “Gentle Magic”
This blog sometimes moonlights as a travel blog-come-photo album (and I’ve learned that these have actually helped ya’ll plan actual trips of your own!). It offers me an opportunity to share travel wisdom and document my trips so that I can show my uncle that I’m still enjoying (relatively) single life when he asks me where my husband is (it actually worked BTW, he begrudgingly had to admit that I was having a great time being an unmarried heathen when I showed him the pictures). OK let’s go!
Continue reading “Travelbug: Summer Romance”
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I am 30 now and I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night, startled awake by my own giggles. I greet my ancestors every morning now and every so often I sit in the peaceful warm embrace of my great great grandmother’s love. I’m trying to document how I got here and as usual, I’m bringing you along with me, with all the chaos of a stream of consciousness…
Continue reading “Surrender”
A sweet short study of my favourite yellows: a colour so good you can taste it. It’s also a feeling I’m always chasing that somehow often captures me …
Continue reading “Buttermellow”
Collaborative Eavesdropping 