Pouring down rain.

It's storming like crazy. Finally. It's been brewing for the past 6 hours. My plants must be so happy. I love it when the house shakes with a thunder and then everything lights up.

Weekend plans.

These are some nice brushes. They remind me of a book I read once about a painter who was so particular about her brushes she wouldn't even let her assistant touch them. At the time I was like, That's obsessive? They're just brushes? But now I sort of get it. I've had the majority of my brushes since college, and I have definite favorites. Some of them are starting to fall apart. The ones I really love are sort of irreplaceable? Like really broken in tennis shoes or blue jeans.

Anyway, this image makes me happy. I really need to do something creative that's not done on the computer. It might be cleaning out the garage and rehauling the studio. I feel the need for a major purge and reorganization. I also really need to nap in the hammock. After I mow the lawn. I love laying there smelling the freshly cut grass.

Image by The Mountain Label, via A Thing For, via Lobster & Swan.

Love. Love. Love.

I see interiors all over the worldwide daily that I admire and am inspired by, but this one breaks my heart. The walls... The floors... The doorknobs... The fireplaces... And this bedroom! I mean it, this bedroom literally makes my heart ache.

And of course I'm sure it's in Italy. It doesn't say it is, but it is right? Just to make it that much more – what? – impossibly incredible? I can't take it.

Images from B&B Italia - Maxalto via Solid Frog. Coincidentally, I work right above Maxalto, which might make it pretty easy to get my hands on a catalog... like, tomorrow.

An odd overlap.

I know I've mentioned Crossfit over here in passing before, but I got a nice surprise when I looked up the workout on my gym's website today. These pictures of Emily.

Am I crazy or are they pretty beautiful?

These to me look very quiet and peaceful. The lighting with the early morning sunrise, the solitary act of the exercise, the graceful positioning of the body right down to the toes? The stocking feet match the time of day and make it feel even more like she's in pajamas and just woke up, yawning – an incredible contrast to the almost invisible physical exertion going on in real life. I also quite like then seeing the hard edges and true "weight" of the barbells on the floor, that you almost miss while busy looking at the seemingly weightless, floating figure above them.

Is it just me? I'm trying to find out who took these and then I'll give appropriate credit.

Things happening in my yard right now.

Daffodils planted in the front yard? A bit of a disappointment. Of the 80 I put out 40/40 over the past two years, who knew that so many would come back without a blossom? I refuse to hate on them tho, because the ones that showed up were THIS PRETTY!

Backyard is another story and where I spent my time this weekend. (I think that thermometer in the direct sun was reading about 80º. It was really about 65º).

It's so Spring-y here this year. Everything is blooming and not getting destroyed by rain in the process. Like these little delicate blossoms...


And all this shaded green stuff... I swear someone is making up for last year. And it's happening so significantly in the past few weeks, I honestly feel we're making up for lost time. In my opinion, last year was such a drag weather-wise that we've practically already made up for it in nice days.

I feel like we are in for an incredible Spring/Summer season. Surely this tree outside my bedroom window is optomistic!

My Mom Does It.

Click any image to enlarge.

Just before I went down to my parent's for Easter, Lisa over at A Bloomsbury Life did a post on A Well-Layered Room. My Mom totally does this. So while I was there, I snapped shots of a couple rooms. She does it outside too, as you can see above (dang those redbuds are pretty!). I regret not getting the family of stone rabbits on the shelf under the grill. Oh well... here's her sun porch. Note the collection of McCoy pottery in the shadows on the shelf above the windows.


And next a kind of overall shot of the living room, kitchen table, and hints of the kitchen. There are endless things to look at everywhere you glance. This style is not for everyone I know, but she has a definite knack for putting a room, full of little vignettes, together. (I'm not sure if you can see it – click to enlarge – but the wall to the right in the kitchen? She even hand painted a plaid pattern on it).

Here she is playing solitaire... with original, beautiful and personal stuff all around her.

I mean, this is her LAUNDRY room, where I'm pretty sure she pretends to "work" but doesn't really.


I swear this stuff is basically in storage, waiting to be rotated into the main living areas when their time comes, but still, it's set up like this in this little room no one even sees.

Not to be outdone, my Dad actually even does this in the garage. This is in case he, or anyone he knows, doesn't have time to make it to the local Wal-Mart and finds themselves in a fishing "emergency". The other side of this wall is likewise full, and there is another whole wall like it I didn't photograph. Behind it you might notice meticulously organized tools underneath a valance of fishing lures, and it's surrounded by collections of maps, baseball hats, and stacks of outdoor/fishing/golf magazines – all at your disposal in case you "need" them.

These 'collections' are ways I find that make a house a home. Rotating them around your living areas to look at every day is a wonderful way to express yourself, your passions, and to keep life interesting. At least, I think so.