coterie

i have mentioned my love for the blog ill seen, ill said before but i can't say it enough. i've followed her for three years and still eagerly await her posts. she's fanciful and fun but serious and contemplative. now to top it all off she's opened an online store, coterie. the items are curated by her alone, and reflect her impeccable taste and standards, most of the items are sourced from her homeland of ireland. I almost didn't share this because the items are rare and unique. so you guys might buy them up before me. but i can't resist. somethings are just too good to keep to yourself and this is one of them.

most of you know my affinity for notebooks and this is my new favorite. i love that it looks like a novel but opens flat and is unlined. i can only imagine the doodles and daydreams and plans that would spill from its pages. my birthday is coming up, hint hint.

coffee

blogs. pretty much the best combination ever. here's a couple of links that will tell you everything you need to know about the changes that are occurring in the coffee industry.

dear coffee, i love you

{they have even more links on their site}

i love coffee

and incredibly enough at the last TED conference there was a coffee common. A grouping of the best baristas around the world brewing the best and most interesting coffees and brainstorming how to make the coffee industry better and improve what they do in their shops. i can't wait to see how it develops. TED only gets better and better. you should check it out if you do nothing else.

asparagus

via today's letters

i love this blog. her way of expressing love in her marriage and out is wonderful and realistic and funny. as if this wasn't enough it provided me with this amazing recipe for asparagus. browned butter and balsamic vinegar, how could i go wrong. i also used less asparagus and put it on top of rice with a fried egg and the sauce reacted really well with the other items and was so flavorful but not over powering of the vegetable itself. i've been a bit disappointed with spring's offerings so far but now have renewed hope in trying to eat seasonally.

tastespotting

i discovered this amazing new site today via my friend sadie. it is a collaboration between food bloggers and the best recipes and pictures are featured on the website. it is now impossible to run out of ideas for things to cook only very possible to not have time to do anything else. i already found an incredible looking pancake recipe. the pictures alone make me drool. yum.

blogs

i took a break from looking at blogs as they were beginning to overwhelm my thoughts, time and creativity. i want to focus on the things that add not detract from my spiritual, and emotional life. i want to at least know where i spend my time and this was a very beneficial fast in that area. though as i reenter the world of blogs in a limited way i can't help but remember my love for ill seen and ill said. her ability to pinpoint thoughts and emotions meets me in a very specific way. i love this post and its recognition of the sometimes uneasy place of finding where you belong and being happy with the choices you've made. while i've found my loved one i often feel uneasy about where we'll end up. this poem sums that up pretty well.

Places, Loved Ones
No, I have never found
The place where I could say
This is my proper ground,
Here I shall stay;
Nor met that special one
Who has an instant claim
On everything I own
Down to my name;

To find such seems to prove
You want no choice in where
To build, or whom to love;
You ask them to bear
You off irrevocably,
So that it's not your fault
Should the down turn dreary,
The girl a dolt.

Yet, having missed them, you're
Bound, none the less, to act
As if what you settled for
Mashed you, in fact;
And wiser to keep away
From thinking you still might trace
Uncalled-for to this day
Your person, your place.

philip larkin

new header

thanks justine for the awesome new header! hopefully my blog will live up to its awesomenesss!

the blue hour

i love this blog of photographs, food, and music, not least because,he lives in london, my favorite. check it out.

I'll Seen and I'll Said

this blogger is one of my favorites, stick with me here people, she's funny, but confessional, design-oriented but down to earth. i won a poster from her and she's the blog i check the most and never get bored by. she does one feature called where we blog from that's getting alot of attention in the blog world, cough-cough, i don't have homework to do okay??, but my new favorite is her inspirational women feature and i just didn't want you to miss out because it rocks. so far she's focused on two of my favorites Anna Akhmatova, a russian poetess who i discovered in college,

and Jo from Little Women, fictional, sure but i love her and the inside information she revealed about the book's ending was fascinating. she's also revealed women who i didn't know existed such as Land Girls & Jills, you'll have to check it out yourself, you won't be sorry, in fact i think you'll thank me.

for me-for you

I love this blog. I love this blogger. I love her necklaces. they are very whimsical and reminiscent of friendship bracelets from school.

she is doing a shop opening for target on July 4th but check out her shop as well, they're all sold out now, but she's updating in August so stay tuned.