... the story behind the picture...

i've always had this thing for old photos.
as a child--
i can remember pouring over tattered boxes.
stuffed to the top with yellowed pictures.
ones of my grandmother.
and my great-grand mother.
and people no one could remember anymore.

i especially loved those really really thick ones.
mounted on dark cardboard.
they made me imagine a world.
where even simple photos were a novelty.
were precious.
were art.

i'm still drawn to old pictures.
and love when i happen upon big boxes of them.
at antique shops.
or garage sales.

today i found a couple of stacks at a towering used book store.
and these few jumped out at me.
each had so much character.
so many layers.
such a story.
(that one of the eiffel tower-
had my imagination running wild!)


i felt compelled to buy them.
and then equally as compelled to share them here.

enjoy.

:: heading into the august break...

{images via weheartit}

it's still summer.
of that i am most assuredly sure.
and most blessedly thrilled.

but fall is in sight.
winter is some-what tangible.
and that urges me to pause.
to stop.
to listen & look.
instead of speak.
to drink deep of the warmth and beauty--
of the season.

so i've decided to join susannah's
august break.
a month of posting one photo per weekday.
with no words.
just the image.
letting the reader take from it what they will.

my favorite rule of it all is that there are no rules.
so i'll be stopping by with things to say--
a time or two.

but mostly--
enjoy the quiet of the photos.
which- as they say-
are worth thousands of words in themselves.


happy summer!
happy august!

:: i live in a place where i can ride my bike...

{images via weheartit}

i've decided it doesn't matter that
i don't live in the heart of downtown.
or on the gorgeous countryside.
or in a quaint small community.

i'm going to start riding my bike.

i've been desiring to.
been dreaming of a place where things were close enough to bike to.
then i realized...

there's a starbucks 1/2 mile from my door.
a target 1 1/2 miles past that.
a yummy middle eastern restaurant in the same parking lot.
a bookstore across the street.
a bagel shop in eye-sight.

and it wasn't until i read the quote above that i realized.
wait.
i can ride my bike.
i just don't.

here's to rectifying that.

& to two-wheeled, earth-happy travel :)

:: the hippie ride...

{images via weheartit}

is it bad that i kind of really want one?


ahhh. volkswagen take me away.

:: zing zing zing goes the washing machine ::

{all images via weheartit}

i am literally up to my eye-balls
in piles of laundry.

but you know what
almost
makes the many loads worth it?

hanging the clothes on the line to dry.

there's nothing like a sun-dried dress to make you
close your eyes and whisper:


"thank you. it really is summer."

:: the little things are taking over...

[all images via 'weheartit']

this week i'm loving::


warm days---lazily sipping iced tea

basking in the sunshine

pouring through an amazing novel

all things hippie-chic

pink peonies

bike rides

& banjo pickin' tunes

paris in corktown detroit:::

:: the weather outside...

as metro detroit is blanketed in a gentle covering of quilted snow, i sit inside-- toasty warm-- thinking. pondering. sipping tea. and dreaming of a world where every room bursts with these colors. where the vibrancy of my soul adequately flows through my actions and words.
where i am bright pink. bright green.

or perhaps. just bright.

{via eat drink chic}

:: a photo for your thoughts. a song for your time.

{via here's lookin at me kid}

best veggie burger. period::

inn season cafe: jan 27th, 2010

a lovely photo.

by my lovely sister.

for this lovely day.

:: down to the wire

"birds on wire":: november 7th, 2009

working the midnight shift gives me the opportunity to view the morning in its most precious state. i pull out of the hospital parking lot, after each shift, somewhere between 7-730am. the sun has just taken its rightful position in the sky. the colors of day and night are colliding in a gorgeous mixture of dark and light. the streets are sparingly peppered with cars and people. the air is at it's most crisp--- even in the heat of summer.

and it's during these moments that i see things. notice things. it's on these morning drives home that i am most inspired. this past saturday morning, i was parked at a red light when i noticed a swarm of birds landing on the electrical wire. i was immediately taken with the image of their dark silhouettes against the brilliant sky. i dug frantically in my purse for my point-and-shoot to capture the moment-- and was so thankful no cars were waiting behind, for as you can see, the light turned green in the meantime.

when i got home, i zoomed into the photo and counted about 80 birds. i put my camera down. the realization made me feel so small. made me contemplate the co-existence here on this earth. we share our space with so many animals. plants. creatures. we feel like the dominant beings, but on that cool saturday morning, in the presence of one single, solitary human, 80 birds made themselves at home on this wire. showcasing their majestic journey-- perhaps unintentionally, but powerfully, none-the-less.

it reminded me that, regardless of species, we're all just looking for a wire to land on.

:: 16th floor view

{16th floor: may 2009}

if i could be anywhere right now, it would be here. in this cozy house. sitting on a wrap-around porch. drinking a mug of warm tea. book laying open at my side.

in may, my parents best friends renewed their vows on a beach in northern michigan. after the ceremony, we drove to a beautiful restaurant, located on the 16th floor of a rustic resort. this is the view my eyes beheld outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.

i stood there for a long time. staring. breathing. studying hard. trying to see the curve of the earth.

realizing i almost could.

(side note::: the swell season's new album is available here for a listen. go now. you won't be sorry)

weekend pictorial::

a few images taken throughout my weekend.

Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.

- Edith Wharton

:::: lovely images

a few lovely images, for what i can only hope & pray is an equally as lovely day.


via (the paris apartment)

via (english muse)

via (simply photo)

via (jkldesign)

"a rose by any other name" sept 2009

via (food & wine)