Category: Beauty in the Everyday (page 8 of 9)
To some she was only a Pioneer girl, to others she was simply a TV character, but for many she was a writer who held in her books the secrets of their own heart’s desires; to run barefoot in a field with sun-kissed cheeks, as bonnets, hung from their necks, bounced along their backs, as they made their way home to Ma & Pa.
This quote by Laura Ingalls Wilder, to me, says all I need to know about her. She was a woman who realized the secret of life: that it is important to draw pleasure from the simple things, the little things, the everyday blessings, that we just might be too busy to stop and see and we miss out.
(Image by Mary Engelbreit)
Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun.
— Kahlil Gibran
— Kahlil Gibran
Happy Summer Solstice. I am going to enjoy every drop of sunshine on this, the longest day of the year! Here’s to sun-kissed days and starlit nights!
(Image by Mr. Michie, embellished by Mrs. Michie ♥)
Well, Mr. Sunshine has gone away for awhile, it looks like he will be on vacation all week by the weather reports, so the rain is here to stay. When it is raining like this, I want nothing more than to curl up on the couch with a good book!
This image looked like a cozy nook to curl up in and just read the day away. You can see the window from the bed, which I like because I stop reading and just day dream on rainy days like this and if you got too cold you could drag the rocker over to that adorable stove.
And on a day like today as Summer begins to fully blossom (even in the rain) I would be reading an old favorite, “Anne of Green Gables”. I wanted to be like Anne when I was growing up, I had quite the imagination, so it wasn’t a far stretch to pretend I was Anne Shirley who lived on the second floor of Green Gables with a window that overlooked the pastures, with my best friend and kindred spirit Diana Berry living just a short cut through the fields.
Like Anne, I too am moving on to new adventures, I am going to be working in a school this coming fall. I will get to put my degree to good use working in the Art Department of a local school and I am so excited and nervous and looking forward to this next bend in the road. It isn’t as quaint as Anne’s one room school house in Avonlea, but I will have my own nook to make cozy and I can’t wait!
“When I left Queen’s my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don’t know what lies around the bend, but I’m going to believe that the best does. It has a fascination of its own, that bend, Marilla.”
❈ Anne of Green Gables
(Image of “A Cozy Nook” found at: Gypsie, image of “Anne” copyright Sullivan Entertainment, “A Cozy Nook”, embellished with tape from a freebie by: The Pugly Pixel)
It is beautifully sunny today and might get up into the 70’s. There is a delicious breeze blowing, I have beach music playing on the radio and as the voices of The Platters drift over me, I can only think of being little; the window rolled down, the wind whipping at my hair, my fingers catching the updraft as the smell of pluff mud fills my nostrils, the beach is on the horizon and the diamond dazzling reflection of the sun off of the water makes me squint and very soon I know my toes will be in the sand…
So today as the sunshine sinks into my pores and nourishes my soul, I am more than content! I hope there is something making you happy on this beautiful sunny Friday!
Angela Kohler directed this video and it is so wonderfully dreamlike, especially with a song by A Fine Frenzy. I love Angela’s photographs there is such a magic to them, like this one:
and this one:
the colors just seem to dance and the 1950’s-esque quality is dreamy. I found this video on the Bloom & Blossom blog and it made me smile! I love the whimsy of it all, especially the whale and the teacup roses in her sunset red hair!
I think there just might be a black hole hiding all of those lost things! One, surely must be in my purse because things go in there and sometimes they never come out, just like the socks the washing machine seems to eat….
I love this print by Sarah Jane Studios. I have been staring at it for awhile now. Trying to justify its purchase, you know, the wants vs. the needs. But, this print just makes me happy!
Today on the 1st day of March the sun is shining, the sky is a robin’s egg blue, there a few clouds floating by, the air is fresh and as I gazed out this morning, I thought of this print.
We dance a lot in our house, randomly breaking out into dance while cooking dinner, while listening to good music. It is like living in a good 80’s movie. It is just happiness. Even on our first date, taking my hand in his, my husband waltzed me across the street under the moonlight.
So, tonight as we welcome in what feels like the beginning of Spring, even if it is just a teaser, I am going to ask him: “danse moi dans le printemps!” (dance me into spring) and laughing, I know he will oblige me, and taking my hand we will dance.
Visit Sarah Jane’s Blog here:
While attending the NEC a few weeks ago, we found the wonderful stand that sold Rob Ryan’s gorgeous cards! I have liked him for awhile now and love that he is doing cards, which are an affordable luxury to the masses.
I have always loved the art of paper cutting and have always liked that Rob Ryan takes this to a whole new level. His cards have such an air of whimsy to them. I used to sit at my kitchen table when I was little, cutting out heart garlands and angel garlands, making snowflakes to dot around my room. I loved the crunch of the scissors through my paper and the never quite knowing what the final product would look like, or if the garland would even stay together, or had it been cut to close to the edge?
Although, I know he uses a knife, I started out with scissors before I upgraded… I would trace a pattern onto my paper and slowly begin to cut away sections of it with my craft knife. Maybe this was why I loved printmaking so much? One flick of the wrist and your image was created by what you left untouched around it, or by you carving that away and leaving your image raised and ready to be inked.
I can’t wait till some of these arrive in my friend’s shop, I want to stick them up in frames. I have a card obsession you see! I collect cards I love. Some have been with me since my days in College and carried on to me obtaining my Master’s pinned into my little board of inspiration, of reflectiveness, of happiness.
I have a box of cards that slowly as I find the right frames or homes for them they go out, one by one, some being changed around with the seasons. These cards in his new collection are just beautiful! So, I can’t wait to get my hands on them, especially “City Story”, we are eternal newlyweds and this card really appeals to me!
“We had nothing, we had not much, we had enough, we had everything. This was our city story.”
Visit his site to learn more about him.