a home with a library

Happy Monday! We are having a family day today (my husband works most weekends and gets random days off) and we are headed to a local tourist attraction that we got free tickets to. I had planned to go to the new library branch, but I think I'll save it for later in the week. I thought it only appropriate though, that I share with you my love for library rooms. My whole life I have dreamed of having shelves and shelves of books in my home. Not quite there yet, but still, my heart stops when I see one I like. I normally go for more light and bright spaces, but when it comes to library rooms, I am attracted to more deep colors. Cozy looking places to sit are a must.

Both found via Pinterest:
1. Linked to You Are My Fave, though I cannot find the original page or source. PLEASE let me know if you know it! Love to give credit where credit is due.
2. via Canadian House and Home

adorable illustrations // priscilla burris

I told you I love cute illustrations, right? Yes, I believe I did.
Well... I HAVE to tell you about Priscilla. Her illustrations literally make my day.
When they pop into my Facebook feed, my whole life brightens.
The way she draws children is so right on. She captures that sense of wonder and silliness and she captures how much little things mean a whole lot in their eyes. Makes me so happy.

You can check out her website. Her blog. Her Facebook. Click like now! And she also posts sketches at The Sketchables. Give yourself a dose of happy, check her out and let her know you do!

must-read kid's books

Kid books are my favorite. I really like reading adult books, but I could spend a serious amount of time reading kid books. I've always loved cute illustrations, so I think my obsession stems from that. I take my kids to the local public library just about every week.. we get 10-15 books and we read the heck out of them. And we also go to the bookstore fairly often. Sometimes I get to go alone and I grab a magazine or two, a cookbooks, a couple of nicely designed nonfiction novels to peruse and then a giant stack of the latest children's books. I'll admit, I pick mainly based on how much I like the cover and the name of the story. But then I really read them!

Here are some books that I am currently loving to bits:

1. Stop Snoring Bernard // Zachariah Ohora
2. 1-2-3 Peas // Keith Baker
3. This Monster Needs a Haircut // bethany bARTon
4. Otto the Book Bear// Katie Cleminson
5. Ladybug Girl at the Beach// Jacky Davis & David Soman
6. The Boy Who Cried Ninja// Alex Latimer

reading and writing

Nobody knows I'm writing this blog. At least nobody I know. Except Eric.. because we share everything. I need to come to a place with it that I like and that I feel comfortable sharing. I need to come to a place with it where I feel proud of what I put here and I can feel proud to say that I am a writer. That I write this blog and that I am writing a book. It's difficult to find yourself in this world. I mention it a lot here- the idea of finding oneself. I'm on that journey and it is so damn hard. It's really easy to make the wrong decisions, but really hard to find the right ones. We're not supposed to be searching for them. They are meant to be there for us. We can't wake up and decide who we are, no matter how much we wish that we could. We can't wake up and find success. We have to work for it. We have to pour our souls into it. We can't just half-ass life and hope to find money or recognition or happiness. Happiness is there for us, but we have to be willing to let it in.

My kids love books. They love them. They look at them with such innocence. They don't have judgments and they don't analyze them... yet. They just like the pictures and the characters and they like when there's a silly word. They like to flip the pages and they like to stack them and they like to occasionally rip a page right out. There's tape for that. Books give them happiness. It's so simple for them and I hope it always will be.