New & Improved! Photos, blogs, etc ...

I can't believe it's been two months since I posted an entry here. I seem to have a mercurial relationship with my blog, and blogs in general. Why that is, I'm not quite sure ...

... though it might have something to do with my short attention span and generally on-to-the-next-thing nature. Perhaps!

Right now it's back to the blogs, and I have seen so many new (to me) gorgeous ones, of late. Among my new discoveries:

Pretty Little Things: http://prettylittlethings.typepad.com/lori_marie/

What am amazing little cottage/studio this gal has. I could easily step into that space and not leave again for oh, I don't know ... a week? Her posts and pictures on dollhouse-related things are a special treat. (Dollhouses = my latest obsession).

My Romantic Home: http://www.romantichome.blogspot.com/

This one is more on the fancy-schmancy side than I normally like, but one look at the gorgeous photos of white and silver XMAS stuff all around and I am a goner. For years I was a faithful reader of Victoria magazine, and this blog reminds me of why. My tastes run just about even between elegant/romantic and cute/cozy. This blog is a winning argument for elegant/romantic, though I daresay there is both cute and cozy to be found, too!

My Cottage of Content: http://mycottageofcontent.blogspot.com/

This beautiful blog is an armchair journey into gorgeous, inviting and cheerful rooms of pretty little cottages ... and the heart of a woman who loves them ... how irresistible is this? There is even a soundtrack to the blog (I think it is from a recent Austen film, though I can't place which one). What a photo album! What's not to love?! (On the masthead photo: a pink teacup and saucer, a rosebud teapot, a piece of cake frosted pink, pink heart shaped petit fours ... get the idea?)

Rachel Ashwell, eat your heart out :).

Movies ... were we talking about movies? There's never a bad time to talk about movies! I watched (three times in two days) the 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. Good grief, has a movie ever been more romantic? Keira Knightly lights the role of Lizzie Bennett from within. Her fiery, confident portrayal of the oldest sister of five is winningly watchable. The film is so pastorally pretty it almost hurts (well, in that good kind of wistful, melancholic "hurt" that a certain kind of soul lives for).

(Altogether now, ooooohhh!)

And of course there is the English countryside, pre-Industrial Revolution (glorious!), the merry dancing, the sumptuous halls of the rich, and most of all the charms of a one Mr. Darcy, who -- though he is nearly too late in revealing said charms -- turns out to be a princely one, in the truest sense. It doesn't hurt that his long lashes clump together so fetchingly in the rain, either. (What is it about those English men?)

Well. I find once again that I cannot apologize for my sappy heart. It keeps me alive and interested in life, hope and possibilities when little else can.

First real snow here today in MA (for my town, anyhow). The world is sugar-powdered ...

Remember to take a moment to treasure and honor yourself today.

And every day.