♥ what she liked was simply life.

i am a big sucker for stationery, so you can imagine why i would love this candy-colored collection of she notebooks and cards,which have just about the simplest, most encouraging messages on them. they make me say yes to life.

♥ you can only perceive real beauty in a person as they grow older.

timothy always jokes that i am going to grow up to look like boston socialite & former fashion retailer, marilyn reisman, who if you are not familiar with is never seen without her signature full face of kabuki makeup and blunt black bob.

i have actually passed by her on more than one occasion at a number ofevents in the boston design center, and i have to say that living to a ripe old age of 80+ while maintaining my own sense of style like the inimitable ms. reisman seems like a pretty lucky fate to me!

when she was named one of boston's 25 most fashionable people in 2006, she described her style, "i like to have a total look. it has to all go together. it has to have the right proportions. it has to spell "you." it has to portray indepdenence and individuality and that i'm not a follower. no one's ever accused me of being a follower." she is certainly a woman after my own heart.

on a similar note, the new york times magazine recently featured advanced style,

a blog completely devoted to the personal style of new york's most stylish and creative elders.

according to blogger, ari cohen, "my eyes have always been drawn to older people and from a style point of view, i find them more interesting because they are of an age where they don't

have to impress anyone and can wear what they want." now that is a perspective i can get behind!

what i have learned so far in my twenty six years,

(and what i have heard repeated many times on movies and in boooks)

is that who we are as children is the same as who we are as adults,

so develop your personal style now, my darling readers,

it is something that no amount of time can take away from you.

♥ i always believed that paradise would be some kind of library.

what is my favorite scene in disney's beauty & the beast, you ask?

why, it is the scene where the beast bestows one of the most

amazing gift upon the bright eyed belle: his entire library.

{ jealous!! }

although i do agree that one should never judge a book by its cover,

i also believe that it is ok to judge a person by the number and

breadth of books that they have in their library.

my apartment is literally littered with literature;

configurations of books are stacked everywhere serving

both utilitarian and decorative purposes.

here are some libraries that i think would easily rival the beast's:

if this were my bedroom, i would never leave. source.

books in the rafters. what a grand use of small space. source.

books in the fireplace. so farenheit 451. source.

also, love the vertical book stacks, source.

which are held together with the help of a sapien bookcase.

love this glamorous book display. source.

i believe that book shelves should double as mini art installations. source.

or be completely over the top like this

alicia martin streaming book installation.

sooo inspired by this anthropologie store display.

i totally might nail a few novels to my ceiling tonight...

i love this genius stack chair, although i feel that

its more about the concept and less about comfort.

this trompe l'oeil style stacked paperback wallpaper

and genuine fake bookshelf from artist, deborah bowness

are my own personal brand of eye candy!!

if only they were scratch and sniff...

which is why i must have:

in the library perfume,

made for those of us who agree that there is nothing more

wonderful than the scent of a much loved book.