Wearing: Triple Buckle Belt

"I am sick of four walls and a ceiling.

I have need of the sky,

I have business with the grass."

Richard Hovey

Good evening, mah dears!

Finally, some pictures that don't include snow...

I might be imagining it, but it seems we all breathe deeper and

laugh easier the minute we cross the threshold from winter into spring.

After months of hibernating, I always anticipate the change of the seasons and

long to escape the confinement that is both physical and mental.

Part of the lure of the outdoors is that it represents so many things that the indoors does not:

pure freedom, a lack of restrictions, unlimited possibilities, and the space to dream and play.

Perhaps that's why I'm so often telling my children to "go play outside,"

because nature fosters exactly the qualities I want to nurture in them.

(LOFT blazer, Anthropologie Triple Buckle Belt, Target Merona tee, KristinaJ. Sedona skirt, Rampage oxfords)

Photos courtesy of LookNook

Thanks for being so patient with me during the time I've been absent

from the blogosphere...I've missed the interaction with all of you beautiful people,

and can't wait to show you what I've been up to--can't wait to see what you've been up to either!

The past two weeks have been a time of purging and cleansing for me...

a time to finally get an overload of information and inspiration trapped inside my head

out into a form that is visible, and I'm beyond excited to share these things with you.

Nothing changes your outlook like a couple weeks of solitude and silence.

So, here's to spring...to new beginnings and fresh perspectives.

I'm overwhelmed with the excitement one feels when setting off on a new quest.

Great possibilities lie in the pathways just beyond...

a new source of delight awaits discovery around the next bend and I

can't wait to see the freshness that comes next!

Much love, as always.

Wearing: Drifting By

Putting my cute, 1950's armchair in the middle of the road was

probably the dumbest idea I've ever come up with,

and I'm sure the man in the red pick-up thought the girl out there

blocking the bridge and reading Ivanhoe was quite possibly insane,

but it seemed like a great idea at the time...you know, thinking it could look all romantic and stuff.

It's really a severe personality flaw, being kitschy that way,

but I figure, I might as well just be myself, 'cuz nobody can do that like I can.

And anyway, don't you think it's the quirks of a person that make them

real, lovable and just downright entertaining sometimes?

The things that annoyed me most about my brother when he was alive

became the very things I missed most about him when he had gone.

Nathaniel and I were different as night and day.

He was street smart, driven and focused.

I was driven...but I just never quite knew where I was driving to.

I spent my childhood annoyed with him for thinking

he was always right, for knowing so much about everything.

I have to admit he did have just cause to be aggravated at times.

The first time I filled my car up with gas after getting my driver's license,

I very carefully squeezed the nozzle up to $18.50 worth of gas

and was headed in to pay when Nathaniel glanced at the pump and asked,

"Why didn't you put twenty dollars in?"

"I did", I said, "but I only have a twenty-dollar bill and I wanted to make sure I had enough to cover the tax."

Nathaniel hung his head like he'd failed me in the worst way. "Kristina", he said with great control, though I could sense he was seconds away from losing it, "the tax is already included in the price."

I felt like such a...well, there really aren't words. But, of course, I laughed at myself.

I'd always been that girl, the book-smart one whose IQ never quite

made up for what was lacking in common sense.

I'd like to think I've gained a bit of savoir-faire since then,

but the raw truth is that I'm still a little off--head in the clouds--a bit too awkward to actually be cool...

but maybe, hopefully...my natural exuberance is the thing you'll miss most about me when I'm gone.

(Anthropologie Drifting By Dress, J.Crew Ethereal Cardi, Rampage oxfords, HUE tights)

Photos courtesy of LookNook