Flowers on Friday

It's Friday! Since this is the first spring we've been in our new house, I didn't know what to expect in the garden. Each day has brought wonderful new surprises: a sea of dense lily-of the-valley (above), blankets of sweet woodruff (below left). I wish I could bottle the smell of these two together. They are two of my favorite  scents and humid, 80-degree days have created a heady warm blast of weighty sweetness and damp each time I walk out the door. Needless to say, I keep walking out the door and wandering in a lap around the house just to smell deeply.

The boy gave me a lilac—one of my favorites—for my birthday last summer (above right), and then I happily discovered a fairly large one with deep violet buds getting ready to pop in the next week or so in another part of the yard. It happens to be right next to another large bush, that I realized today is bridal veil spirea. It's like a shadowy, shady wonderland here — I couldn't be happier with spring.

Happy weekend! I hope you find time for some flowers. I'm off to Cincinnati for Crafty Supermarket and good times! 

Illustrator Brian Wildsmith

I discovered an amazing blog yesterday and I likey: Eye Likey. That's what it's called. Charming. It doesn't say much about who it is running it, but they have great taste. The site introduced me to illustrator Brian Wildsmith, who creates wonderfully vivid picture books with gorgeous and lively animal characters. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I am! 

Library Tuesday

Rijksmuseum Research Library, Amsterdam (via Flavorwire)

I'm here today with some library porn. Yes, that's right my fellow book lovers. I've read several good books lately and, if you follow along with my Facebook page, you may have noticed I have a certain fondness for Flavorpill lists. (If you're not familiar with Flavorpill, it is my all-time favorite source for fun lists covering anything from art and books, music and pop culture. As they say on their web site, "Highbrow, lowbrow, and everything in between: if it's compelling, we're sharing it.") This combo of bookish things to share seemed like a good reason to make it a semi-regular book/library-themed post. So let's begin!

If you're like me and the library is top on your list of places to visit in new cities, you'll probably enjoy this as much as I did: Flavorpill's list of the 25 most beautiful public libraries in the world.
 

 Royal Portuguese Reading Room, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (via Flavorwire)

Old Market Library, Min Buri, Bangkok (via Flavorwire)

While you're in one of these faraway libraries, you may want to check out a book or two. The first book I'd like to recommend is Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. This seems appropriate as most introverts are book lovers of one kind or another. Are you with me? Quiet is a well-written and accessible book filled with research and personal stories demonstrating how American society undervalues introversion, particularly in business settings. The author discusses, among other things, ways in which we can recognize and appreciate these traits -- within ourselves and others. As always, you can check out my ongoing reading list here.

If that isn't enough book business for you on this Tuesday afternoon, here are some buildings built from them. View the entire list of 10 Gorgeous Buildings made from Books here.

The octagonal Book Cell by Matej Kren (via Flavorwire) 

Home, a self-sustained book igloo designed

by Colombian artist Miler Lagos (via Flavorwire)

Here's hoping you find time to hunker down in a cozy nook with a good book this week!