♥ love pops up in the most unexected places.

as you can glean from the recent images on my blog header, i have developed quite

an interest in graffiti and murals,and have my eyes constantly peeled and my camera

ready to snap a shot of anything that represents the slightest glimpse of glamour.

you can therefore imagine what a feast for the eyes it would be if i lived in philidelphia,

and passed by steve powers' love letter mural project while taking the train everyday!

last summer, in a matter of 3 weeks, powers, a former graffiti artist (who tagged under the clever name, espo,which he claimed stood for "exterior surface painting outreach")

and a group of 25 artists created a series of 50 murals along the elevated train tracks

in arough area of philly, generating positive changes and positive vibes for neighborhoods

that were hit hard by the recession. with the permission of the city and a grant for $260,000

powers and co. came up with some collaborative efforts that are reminscent of old time ads,

but instead have a message that will leave you smiling.

according to his interview with the new york times, powers' inspiration for his

love letter project came from the work of one of the first most famous graffiti

artists ever, darryl mccray aka "cornbread," who began his life of illegal art to

impress a girl and then went on to successfully tag an elephant and the jackson 5's

private jet!

"graffiti started out as a love story,"(source), and steve powers' lovely murals

are certainly just a continuation of that story.

♥ splish splash!

maybe i am jumping the gun here,

but this week of gorgeous weather has got me

looking forward to beach days spent

in nothing but a swimsuit, a tan and a smile.

i am in love with the latest offerings from

anthropologie.

they make me want to dive headfirst into summer.

♥ if music be the food of love, play on.

{my favorite horse.}

{summer 2001}

{summer 2002}

just last year, the members of one of our most favorite bands,

neutral milk hotel, played an instrumental role {pun intended}

in saving the paragon carousel in hull where we were engaged.

along with the help of lead singer, jeff mangum, julian koster composed

a gorgeous letter requesting that all of their fans vote daily for a

$100,000 historic preservation grant to save the carousel,

and amazingly enough, they won!

here is a copy of the letter {from pitchfork},

which sounds just as lyrical and poetic as their music:

The Paragon Carousel is a beautiful machine that has been my dear neighbor for many moons.

Now 81 years old, it is in need of a little love and attention in order for it to survive.

It is my sincere wish for the Paragon Carousel to be a part of the magic of long seaside

summer afternoons for many years to come. But it might not get to.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where the great whirling contraptions of mechanical music

and light are not as profitable to operate as other things, and carousels are worth much more

taken apart and sold in pieces to museums, where one must pay to look at them behind glass,

rather than having them simply existing in the world that we now all share.

for those of you whose ears have not yet been blessed with the timeless

and majestic music from neutral milk hotels' masterpiece,

in the aeroplane over the sea,

get ready to fall ever so deeply in love.

just like the words in the letter of appeal to save the carousel,

neutral milk hotel's cover album quietly reflects "the taste of mangum,

[who] was always into that old–timey magic, semi–circus, turn of the century,

penny arcade kind of imagery." (wikipedia)

luckily for us, his taste has never waivered.