i heart paper.

so most of you that know me know how much i love paper. i do. i love it. i wanna marry it. with beautiful letterpress invitations on cardstock dyed the lightest shade of ivory with letters made with loops and flurries and the color of the most beautiful copper penny.

ok, so maybe i'd rather marry a fabulous man that can change a light bulb and make me a delicious grilled cheese. who looks like he stepped off the pages of a j crew catalog, but could also build me shelves for all my shoes. but i do love paper. in fact, for those of you that know me well know that i would LOVE to own a paper and stationery store some day. and that is truth.

i found some of the cutest little cards both at work (anthropologie (sorry, not available online) & the CAMH store) as well as online. i love this card with the pinata party on it....reminding me how much i love cinco de mayo....

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i would want to carry that and some of these in my shop!!

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there are two card stores that i adore on etsy....and i'm going to give you the inside scoop. that's right, i'm going to give you their websites. enjoy blueeyebrowneye and the wheatfield. 

and think about investing in my paper store. i know i'd appreciate it.

so i don't normally do this, but today i'm re-blogging.

that's right. i'm not feeling very creative today, but after going through my blog updates, i came across a posting that made my heart ache.

i miss italy so much. the everyday walk from school to home. the noises outside that made my ears perk up over the excitement in the street. the smells from the restaurant, il sasso di dante, outside our open window. i can close my eyes and be transported back there in a heart beat. so when i saw this blog posting from the sartorialist, i just had to repost it here, because it literally took my breath away.

seeing something so simple, but so very italian. this is one of the things i miss the most about life in italy. simplicity. a willingness to let the world pass by. people that own a business NOT open 24 hours a day, but open when they want to be.
now ask me how badly i want to go back.

photo and link courtesy of the sartorialist.

scary. but funny.

31 may 2010

inspiration: fatal attraction
location: my couch. in my apartment.
what i love: that the reference made it into a girlie tom hanks/meg ryan movie.

"there is no way that we're going on a plane to see some woman who could be some crazy sick lunatic. didn't you see fatal attraction?...well, i did. and it scared the shit out of me. it scared the shit out of every man in america!"

so sleepless in seattle is on tv right now....and i know what you're thinking. 'amy. really? a chick movie? a rom-com???' (in the most mocking voice ever please.)

but before you judge, there is one line that cracks me up every time i have ever seen this movie. and it's the quote at the top of the post. and even reading it now, i'm smiling. you just can't see it. hee hee

i love that tom hanks has made all these silly movies in the past. don't worry though. he's actually really funny, and now he's making ron howard movies where people die in crazy scary ways and stuff. so street cred in tact. whew. but movies like the money pit, big, joe vs the volcano....all so good. and while not quite oscar winners, they're some of my favs. if you haven't seen them, NETFLIX NOW!

and meg ryan. don't even get me started. while she's dabbled in some serious films, her success lies in the rom-com and all its lady-captivating glory. the movies like joe vs the volcano, french kiss, when harry met sally...you get the idea.

while it's no fatal attraction, i'm enjoying sleepless in seattle tonight as i wrap up the memorial day weekend...so you enjoy your last hours before the next work day.

easter eggs and chocolate bunnies?....nope.

4 april 2010

inspiration: the love and grace of Christ
location: my heart
thing i love: that i can't earn it.

a few of my favorite things about easter:
1. it actually feels like things are in bloom on the day
2. one of the most celebratory church days ever
3. i always feel humbled...it's delightful to feel that way sometimes.
4. rejoicing for He is risen!

so not everyone looks forward to easter. i mean, it's no christmas. for kids, they've done all they can to foster a sense of silliness and fun, with easter egg hunts, chocolate bunnies, easter grass, and all sorts of colorful jellybeans and other candy, but it's just not the same as the surprise of christmas.

for me, it's different than that (i guess it should be since i'm not a child...). for me, christmas and easter alike are celebratory days, in which i take a look at the word, and relish in the gift that is the grace and love of Christ. what a beautiful thing. the birth of Christ is something we look at with such great expectancy. we can't wait until the story of the life of Christ unfurls and we get to meet this precious baby, who will give us new life...i mean, let's be honest, who doesn't LOVE meeting a new baby?!?!!! but the beauty of the revelation of a new life on earth that has been created by God for the sole purpose of saving us from hell...His coming, that we might have life...it just blows me away and makes me feel humble. undeserving. small.

but easter. easter is the day we all embrace that love. we say to the Lord, thank you for this gift. thank you for the love you unconditionally give. thank you for your Son. and we tell Him how much He means. to us. we celebrate.

this is one thing that i love about easter. another thing that i love about easter is my church. for those that don't know, i go to ecclesia, a small-ish community church here in houston. i love being a part of this heavenly family. these people are almost as much a part of my family as my family is. they love me in the best and the worst circumstances. they accept me just as i am. and they want what is best for my life, while encouraging me in the word. i love that. it makes going to church the most positive experience--to see the love of Christ in the faces of my church family....it's beautiful.

well, all that to say, the easter season is my favorite at ecclesia, as we spend days both mourning and celebrating the life of Christ. there is a stations of the cross art show installed for the duration of lent, there are services on ash wednesday, maunday thursday, good friday, and of course, easter sunday. and there is always beautiful music, beautiful words, and beautiful contemplation. this year, i went to the sunrise service, since i had made plans to help my mom work in the garage at her house in the afternoon, so i headed to church as the sun was coming up, and had the most wonderful time once i got there.

i wasn't feeling very well on my way to church, but as i received my candle and headed into the service, a calm and a joy washed over me and allowed me to sit and be comforted and humbled at the feet of the one who saved me. what a beautiful sunday. i didn't sit with anyone i knew, and i didn't see my friends when we greeted the others seated around us. it was all about newness for me on sunday. the newness of my heart, the newness of my fellow ecclesians, and the newness of the day.

like i said a wonderful easter.

all of this is more than i've ever known or seen...

Mood: thoughtful
Currently Listening to:
Mat Kearney
Nothing Left to Lose (album)

so i've been in a contemplative state lately....wondering if anything about my life is really making a difference in the lives of anyone else...so here's where you come in i guess......

i would love it if you would send me a message telling me something we've done together or just some way that i've been a part of your life...just letting me know that you care is one way to really touch my heart. i cherish my friends so much, and i would love to know what you think......

try not to leave a message here though....i want this to be just between us!! love you guys so much!!!!!

ps...i'm going to see mat kearney on dec 14 in dallas, and if you want to come with me, i would love it!!!!

the last train is nearly due.....

Mood: poetic

i have been hearing poetry all around me today. beautiful words that i could never conceive of, but that are so lovely. so i decided to share! i put two of my favorite poems below, and while i'm re-reading an old dorothy parker book, you can read these!!! love yous!!!!! enjoy the rest of your saturday!!!

i carry your heart with me by e.e. cummings

i carry your heart with me
i carry it in my heart
i am never without it
anywhere i go you go my dear;
and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling
i fear no fate
for you are my fate, my sweet
i want no world
for beautiful you are my world, my true
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life
which grows higher than the soul can hope or the mind can hide
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart
i carry it in my heart

one art by elizabeth bishop

the art of losing isn't hard to master
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

lose something every day. accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
the art of losing isn't hard to master.

then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. none of these will bring disaster.

i lost my mother's watch. and look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three beloved houses went.
the art of losing isn't hard to master.

i lost two cities, lovely ones. and, vaster,
some realms i owned, two rivers, a continent.
i miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
i love) i shan't have lied. it's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster.


i love those two poems.


(and this lyric title is from simon & garfunkel's "poem on the underground wall"...just in case you were wondering!)

love is all around me, it's everywhere you go....

Mood: contemplative

(official disclaimer from me....this is a lot deeper than what i usually write and ended up being sappier than anything, but if you want to read it, that's obviously what it's here for....and don't worry, there's still song lyrics in here...you just have to find them!!!)

i think love is the most important thing. ever. there are so many reasons why, but recently i was reminded of it by a friend of mine. i love when people can show you things that God is trying to tell you. getting to see faces that just make you smile--you don't know why or how, but they are faces that just seem to force a joyful expression to your face--those are faces of people that i love. i think it's so amazing the way that God brings that joy into your life. the joy of friendships. and of family.

friends have always been so valuable to me. i have always considered my friends to be my family, so if you are someone that i talk to on a daily basis, or even weekly, or monthly, know that is what i consider you to be. and you mean the world to me. when i lose touch with a friend, it really hears me, like losing another family member...which i realized recently has been more devastating than i had ever though.

i recently got a birthday card in the mail from my aunt. i haven't seen her in 7 years--the last time i saw her was for my high school graduation. it's not that she lives far away, or that i can't seem to get to her house, it's just that somehow,, she has slipped out of my life. after my dad died, we didn't see much of her. i don't know if i wasn't considered to be as much a part of their family anymore or what, but suddenly i felt like i was on the outside. but every year, i got another birthday card with a check for $25 in it. from the time i was about 6 years old to now.

my freshman year of high school, i got a letter at christmas from my aunt, saying that my meemaw had died a couple of months earlier, and suddenly i was filled with such unbelievable grief that i was actually angry, an emotion that i don't really express much. (that sounds ridiculous to say, but that's the best way i can describe it) it was like my dad had died all over again--it just didn't seem fair. that all these people were just gone, with no real goodbyes. that just hurt my heart all over again. it felt like that solidified a break--a break from that part of my family, like the only thing i had to connect me with them was my last name.

so anyways, i got this card in the mail, and as soon as i opened it, i just started crying. it didn't matter that all that stuff and hurt and grief had happened in the past. my aunt thought enough about me to send me another cutesy halloween card with a check for $25 in it. every year. what love that she has for me, that every single year, wihtout fail, she send me that card. and the messages on them are always so cheesy...like i'm still a little girl (i.e. here's "witching" you a happy halloween...i've seen them all), but i LOVE them. i treasure them, because i see the value. i get the message. love is all around me. it's one of those things that you can see in everything. all you have to do is open your eyes to it. how beautiful. God created love--it's manifested in everything you see--people can surprise you with their love for you.

i didn't mean to go that deep with it, but i just had to say that i am so blessed. i was simply going to talk about how the love of wonderful friends has changed my life--about how seeing God in the faces that bless me every day--but i think i will leave it at God creating love and showing us that love every day. in some way or another, we all get to see it.

Everybody's talking how i can't can't be your love...

Mood: contemplative

i love how sometimes songs just speak to you on a subconscious level...like you hear a song for the first time in a long time, adn all the sudden you just want to listen to it over and over again...
i think that it's one of those somethings that gets put in your head to help you deal with something going on in your life...so there you go. that and i just love this song, so it's what i'm posting today. sorry that these are so erratic, but whatever. i just write as the mood strikes me.

"Be Be Your Love"

If I could take you away
Pretend I was queen
What would you say
Would you think I'm unreal
'Cause everybody's got their way I should feel

Everybody's talking how I, can't, can't be your love
But I want, want, want to be your love
Want to be your love, for real
Everybody's talking how I, can't, can't be your love
But I want, want, want to be your love
Want to be your love for real
Want to be your everything

Everything...

Everything's falling, and I am included in that
Oh, how I try to be just okay
Yeah, but all I ever really wanted
Was a little piece of you

And everybody's talking how I, can't, can't be your love
But I want, want, want to be your love
Want to be your love, for real
Everybody's talking how I, can't, can't be your love
But I want, want, want to be your love
Want to be your love for real

Everything will be alright
If you just stay the night
Please, sir, don't you walk away, don't you walk away, don't you walk away
Please, sir, don't you walk away, don't you walk away, don't you walk away

And everybody's talking how I, can't, can't be your love
But I want, want, want to be your love
Want to be your love, for real
Everybody's talking how I, can't, can't be your love
But I want, want, want to be your love
Want to be your love for real

And everybody's talking how I, can't, can't be your love
But I want, want, want to be your love
Want to be your love, for real
Everybody's talking how I, can't, can't be your love
But I want, want, want to be your love
Want to be your love for real

I want to be your love, love, love


it's a great song...if you've never heard it, it's on my playlist right now!