Today I have been reacquainted with a previously dormant love.

I saw Les Miserables at the Capitol Theatre and was blown away. The effects, the voices, the story, the passion...I must re-read the book. The unabridged version.

Portrait of Cosette from the original edition of Les Miserables by Emilie Bayard 

What Posses Me (while I eat my Sunday morning cream scones) Part II

The English Countryside

Ightham Mote

Shaftsbury, Dorset, England 

What Posses Me. Part I.

One day, after days of studying are gone and textbooks are my past and beauty is my future, I will see...

The Blue Forest (de Hallerbos, Dutch for Halle forest) in Halle, Belguim. The bluebells bloom for only a few weeks every spring, carpeting the forest floor and transforming it into a fantastical dream land. 

It is where fairies live.

(Rubber) Duck Ponds + Orange Lipstick

A rainy day genius in her own right, Katie from colormekatie, a freelancing-interactive-artist-bombshell loving gave these rubber duckies new homes in muddy puddles. I find it such a simple way to spread cheer on rainy days like the one we're having on this grey Sunday in Salt Lake.

In other news; 

there has been a lot of discussion (and proclamations of love) about orange lipstick over at Julia Deno's blog The Cinnamon Rabbit. Julia is a phenomenally talented artist who recently illustrated the book Just Being Audrey. I read the book, and immediately fell in the love with the illustrations. It's exactly how I want my (future) children's book to look (when I get around to writing one). 

And in terms of orange lipstick, I stumbled upon the perfect shade a few mornings ago at a local cosmetics shop. It's a lip stain, (also a beautiful color on your cheeks, I particularly love it against my pale skin. No summer sun for me! No siree. SPF 50 all summer long) and therefore will not rub off on your new summery clothing. 

A history of French children's literature and the illustrated water cycle: Histoire de Perlette

Histoire de Perlette Goute D'Eau (History of a Drop of Water) a 1936 children's book by French illustrator Béatrice Appia (1899-1998). It  tells the tale of a drop of water falling from a cloud, to earth, and back again. The illustrations are so unique and alluring. I wonder if I can find a copy of this on the French amazon website? 

from BibliOdessey

Susannah catches Royal Wedding Fever, among other things, (admit it--you have it, too) and her love of tea becomes kitsch. Part I.

Hello all. And welcome back from your Easter candy induced sugar coma. Today is a groggy one for all.

Less than one week to go until the much-anticipated Royal Wedding, and you can bet your knickers I will be one of the loony ladies up in the wee hours of the morning drinking William + Kate's bath water (a.k.a., kitschy tea featured above, isn't it a brilliantly tacky idea? You should see the other wedding memorabilia available online...) and watching the whole royal procession live. I don't know whatever I shall do when the wedding is over. I feel I've jumped on the royal wedding train a bit too late--all the Will + Kate books are checked out of the library and I missed the new cheesy Lifetime movie documenting their love story. American and British media outlets are going totally bonkers over the shindig, even the Weather Channel is covering the wedding! Truly an acceptable occasion for gossipy media.

how the green buds blossom in the avenues; also, a lazy darjeeling tea time

This is what I awoke to yesterday morning outside my window on 5th Avenue:

 Real honest-to-gosh leaf blossoms on my real life tree. I spent the morning doing laundry and listening to Billie Holiday croon gently on as the rain fell and flooded the gutters. I knew it was going to be a good day. 

 It was. I went to my favorite lazy day haunt, The Beehive Tearoom where I had cranberry maple almond scones (must replicate!) and Darjeeling tea. (A London favorite of mine and Miss Rikki's)

A snowstorm of white and pink blossoms. 

Later, I went to Sugarhouse to visit my sister and was amazed at how the cherry blossoms and flowers literally appeared to have bloomed overnight. It was a beautiful, overcast day.