like the rain to the earth.

It's Friday.

The end of the week.

A long week.

Too little sleep, too many chores and commitments, too much mess, too much grumpiness, too little time to slow down and relax and breathe in deep, too many bad attitudes and missteps.

To be completely honest, I'm exhausted and tired, frustrated and snappish, feeling behind on EVERYTHING, overwhelmed. My house is a mess, the laundry is piled up, and the dog desperately needs a bath.

But, guess what?

It's springtime!

And it's very hard to stay grumpy or peevish for very long in the spring.

These pictures were from a few weeks ago, but my (sadly neglected) garden has offered up such lovely gifts of color and bloom lately, fragrant and soft and bright. They grace my table and my view from the window, using their charms to make my spirit bright and soft too.

As I type, my girls are out in the backyard digging in the dirt with trowel and hoe, scattering wildflower seeds and making, I'm sure, more of a mess with the hose than is really necessary. But they are happy, so I am happy, and as they plant and play, today's delicious breezes are blowing away any dismal dust left from the week, making us shiny and cheerful again.

 I always love this time of year in our city, these sparkling weeks between foggy cold and downright HOT. It's a time of year when everything is green and pretty, and the sun is welcoming and warm, the world just a little bit softer around the edges, framed in blossoms and blue skies. A time of gray clouds and rain-scented air followed by drops and puddles, everything fresh and clean and new for when the sun comes out again. I love the rain, and how overcast days of wet and cloud are mingled so closely with days of pure blissful sunshine.

We need the rain, just like we need the sunshine.

I came across this verse in Hosea a little while back, and it's so beautiful to me when I'm tired and beaten down, when I need to be reminded of what is important and how my God will always come through.

 

"Let us know,

Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.

His going forth is established as the morning.

He will come to us like the rain,

Like the rain to the earth."

Hosea 6:3

 

Just as the morning always comes, just as the rain always falls as a blessing and a benediction to the earth which needs it...

so will the Lord come to us.

 

and I, I will come to Him, again and again, and breathe in deep of His mercies and forgiveness and grace, and feel His spirit in my soul, sweeter even than the springtime.

 

 

snapshots o' summer

A Civil Wars concert in LA with some of our best friends. Words cannot even describe how amazing.


Father's Day with the best daddy ever.

swimming lessons for two little wanna-be mermaids.

the cutest band of VBS-goers you ever did see. (Rosalie, Annabelle, Emma, cousin Faith, our sweet neighbor girl Hayley, and cousin Jason)

Lots of fun and laughs with Auntie Lydia (we love having her here everyday!)

Piggie-tails on a two-year old blondie. I die.

Playtime outside (when it's not too hot) and pockets full of posies. Gorgeous blue eyes and sun-kissed cheeks.

A shaven and shorn but oh-so-sweet puppy dog, who likes to snooze in our cool house and wait around for the lovin' we will inevitably give her.

Tomato plants growing large, corn growing tall. And we await the bounty.

a day trip to Cambria, alone, for the two of us. happiness and wonder. love.

summer-y and much-shorter haircuts for these sisters. chop, chop!

also: rompers and dresses and great big smiles. all-around cuteness.

trips to the library (it gets us out of the house! it's cool! it's FREE!) which always results in three little readers all in a row, and me smiling at the very sight.


this summer is flying by in quite a blur. But it's a happy, sunshiney, memorable, colorul, mellifluous, lovely sort of a blur. 

And we'll be soaking up every last little bit of it that is left.

a very flower-dy post

(does anyone else use the word "flower-dy"? you know, instead of "flowery"? I do, just for fun. it drives my husband crazy. I'm sorry, honey.)

Spring is such a speedy season. I can't believe it's already May!
And I know May will fly by too, for it is crammed full of many things. I also know that it will be summer here before we know it. It was 97 degrees here yesterday, this is how I know.
So, I'm trying to soak up as much spring as I can before the heat arrives for good and the season is officially over.
We've been spending lots of time outside, doing our schoolwork for the day on the patio at the little table covered in the strawberry-print tablecloth. Reading in the playhouse on pillows and eating lunch in the sunshine. Riding scooters and getting covered in chalk-dust. Being chased around by the puppy and playing with neighborhood friends. Digging in the dirt, planting tomatoes and corn, hollyhocks and roses, basil and creeping fig.
My garden has been so good to me lately, with flowers blooming in wild abandon and honeysuckle and jasmine scenting the air with delicate perfume. When I take Violet outside early in the morning, I wander from plant to plant and just drink it all in. The beauty of the garden feels just like a gift to me, something I can enjoy without care. My house is always a mess no matter how hard I try, the laundry always needs to be done and is never finished, and the closets and cupboards never seem to stay organized... but outside, in the garden, it's a different story. This beauty doesn't rely on me. It's not a project that awaits my hands in order for it to be lovely or complete... this beauty just happens, thanks to the good Lord above. Once upon a time I simply stuck a plant in the ground, and now, for years after, it simply IS beautiful, growing and gracing our yard and home even when everything else might be less-than-lovely.







It makes me happy. And thankful.

You know what else makes me happy and thankful?

These three little ladies, clad in their Easter dresses on that Sunday.

Yes, indeed, they make me quite happy and thankful. I love my girls.

Even if they won't let me take just one good picture of the three of them together.

teehee.

a letter of sorts.

Dear Blog,

I'm writing because I realize I have sorely neglected you of late. This was certainly not intentional... but life somehow seems to speed by at rate which continues to surprise me.

And I find that, in those rare moments of solitude and rest that I get, you're kind of the last place I want to be. 

oh dear. Have I offended you, blog? Don't take it personally. I mean, you're great and all, and I still love you, and I'll always be around, but... well, it's just that you're not quite as wonderful and rich and alive as so many other things in my life. Friends. Family. Books. Creativity. Adventures. Conversation. My husband. My girls. My Lord. I'm so richly blessed, you know, in so many ways, and I don't want to miss out on any of these things. So, please, don't mind if I spend a little less time with you... you know it's all for the best!

oh! I must tell you about something lovely... Spring. Yes, spring! For it has arrived here, and the days are cloaked in many and varied glorious shades of it. The daffodils have lifted their cheery golden heads and bob merrily at me in my backyard. My ranunculus bloom layer by delicate mauve layer, and the tree in our front yard has burst forth with such a show and abundance of blossoms that I have christened her The Pink Lady Most Wondrous. As I write this letter to you, Emma, Annabelle, and Rosalie are in the backyard, barefoot and carefree in the sunshine, their hair teased and mussed by the fresh breeze, their cheeks kissed with light. I throw my windows open in the afternoon when the temperatures have warmed and I sigh happily at the blue, blue sky.

After I've told you all these things, dear blog, I know you won't hold my absence against me. And I'm glad, for I shall be absent again for a little while. You see, my sister is getting married very soon! We are traveling to Denver to be there for that most special day, and I'm just so excited. ALL of my family is going to be in one place for the first time in well over two years, and I can't wait to wrap my arms around them all and soak up each moment while we celebrate and rejoice together.

The preparations for this trip have me running around and filling every moment with something, so you can see why I won't have time for you this week. I know you'll understand; you always wait patiently for me.

Will you do me a favor, blog? Will you please tell all my lovely friends who visit you from time to time that I shall be thinking of them and that I'll be back again soon? I'm going to have so much to tell you, and them, about! The adventures of this month are going to be many, from travels and wedding and family and birthdays, to the excitement of new additions in our little house. (I'll give you a hint: one of them has two legs and opposable thumbs, and one of them has four legs and fur.) 

So, I bid you farewell for now, dear blog, and will write to you again when I return. As you can see, I've included some pictures I snapped of my happy lovin-the-springtime beauties. I hope they'll make you smile until the next time.

With sincerest love always,

Talia

xoxoxo

ps. would you like to see something fun? My good friend Lorie, who has a blog of her own (oh! maybe you two know each other, being of the same type and what-not) put up a post about some beautiful ladies and a very lovely time we had here at my house not too long ago. You should take a peek. (And will you please make sure everyone who stops by knows about it too, in case they want to see? thank ye kindly.) k, bye!

i love...

...these colors.

When I picked these roses from my garden and put them in a vase, I thought they looked so gorgeous together. And when I put that vase on my coral coffee table, I loved them even more. In fact, the other day, I realized that the outfit I had on echoed these colors exactly. They really catch my eye right now.

Pinks and oranges just seem so happy together.

Which, in turn, makes me happy, to see them residing so cheerfully and brightly in our living room.

Maybe these roses are so happy because they've somehow managed to survive for days now, even though a certain little one-year-old does insist on plucking them from the vase and carrying them haphazardly around. I suppose I should just move them. But I want my table to look pretty, by golly!

And it does look pretty. Cheers to you, Lovely Roses!

What color combinations are catching your eye lately and making you say "lovely!" ??

i love

hydrangeas.

Always have, always will. I wanted desperately to have blue hydrangeas for our wedding flowers, but they were far too expensive.

So, now, I am fulfilling my love for hydrangeas by growing them in our very own front yard.
And, now, I can cut them and put them in a vintage pitcher on my kitchen table whenever I want.

happy sigh.

these are a few of my favorite things

a cheery new flowery tablecloth to brighten the kitchen

long walks and even longer conversations with a dear best friend

teal nail polish

my new Liberty of London top (I also got this one. They were on clearance! happy happy!)

thanks for taking my picture, Emma Joy

this verse:
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong, and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

and this one:
"Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life." Proverbs 4:23

Running to Muse's new album

this silly little girl and her new phase of funny faces and attitudes. She's a hoot.


wonderful friends who have birthdays and invite you to a swanky hotel to party till midnight (till midnight? who are these wild people?? I hardly knew us.)

egg/salsa/avocado wraps for lunch

new piano books

picking rose buds from my garden and then watching them bloom on my kitchen table

what are a few of your favorite things these days, my dears?

forgive me, I realize this is a cop-out post, something to fill the space ... but I'm really busy this week getting ready for my mom and sisters to come on Thursday. whee!! :)

today, I am...

...glad to be home.

....laughing at myself, because as of right now I have 4 other major events that I've been meaning and wanting to blog. But instead of writing any of those, I'm doing this silly little one. Hey, it's my blog. I'll write what I want, when I want. hehe. (even though Lydia is probably very upset with me right now. loveyousister)

... absolutely in love with my garden. Roses are blooming profusely, watsonia are coming out in glorious bunches, the smell of jasmine fills the backyard, my clematis is about to burst forth in bigger and better blooms than ever, and the camellia bush has given me lovely and luxurious pink flowers. Ah, little garden, you make me happy.


... feeling rather sick. My head, it hurts. My throat, it is on fire. (can someone please bring me a super-duper sized milkshake? Minus the 1,000 calories? Thanks.) Today was supposed to be a day of actually going to the gym, lots of schoolwork and piano students, AWANA and errands. Instead, we are napping and watching movies while I do a load of laundry here and there and try to prevent my house from falling into complete and utter disarray. Which it has a special knack of doing whenever I am the least bit ill. hmmm.

....so glad that my Emma, who started us off on our sickie day this morning by throwing up, seems to be feeling MUCH better now.

... relishing the peace and quiet that fills my little house right now. It's a rare thing, and thus very treasured.

... wondering if/how/when I should chop off my hair....!

...missing my husband. If only he could come home right now and snuggle with me while we watch Sherlock Holmes and Glee (two things I've been waiting very patiently to see). But I suppose I am quite thankful for the fact that he has a job at which to be.... Yes, I am. ;)

... extremely beyond-words thankful for the fact that Mom has been doing so well with her radiation treatments. Today is #15 out of 25, and so far the bad side effects have been minimal. PRAISE GOD.

... listening to the sound of my dishwasher running. It doesn't matter how messy the rest of the house may be or what other chores have yet to be done; when the dishwasher is humming merrily along I can't help but feel so accomplished and industrious. Such a nice little boost! (am I the only one who feels this way? am I weird?)

... incredibly excited and happy because my mom and sisters will be flying into California on May 6, and they will be here for at least 2 weeks. I will finally get to pamper and take care of my mom to my heart's content, the girls will get to enjoy grandma and aunties... it will be SO wonderful. Also: sister-time!! Not to mention, Dean and Sam are coming too. Hoo boy oh boy! (yes, that's right: Supernatural. I blame my sisters for my falling in love with the Winchesters.)

... done rambling at you all, and going to go do some of this myself now.

(isn't she so sweet? I simply had to include this picture, taken yesterday when Annabelle was quite tuckered out.)

Happy Wednesday to you all, my lovelies! xoxo

sunshine and lavender

I close my eyes, because the sun is so bright. I like it that way. My legs are bare and the grass tickles my skin as I stretch them out fully. I rest one arm above my head where my dark hair, already warmed by the sun, spreads out on the grass. In my other hand I hold a sprig of lavender, plucked only moments before, and I play absentmindedly with it as I lay there, brushing it past my nose so I can catch the scent. I think to myself "hmm, I'm actually laying in the grass. when was the last time I did that?" and then I don't think anymore. I just lay there, the sun on my face, the fragrance of lavender lingering on my fingertips, an ant crawling across my toe...

Somewhere nearby a bird chirps, and the pleasant noise of Emma and Annabelle playing together drifts through the yard. Rosalie crawls bravely across the grass (she usually hates it), her cries of delight causing me to open my eyes, lift my head and look. She is headed for a puddle, and I choose to intervene.

So ends my reverie. But I don't mind, for there is a picnic to be had, with two little girls giggling as they eat their sandwiches and goldfishies, which of course will taste much better than they do if you eat them inside. We did our schoolwork outside too, because it is infinitely more delightful to learn of subtraction and long vowels when one is bathed in friendly sunshine and soft breezes.

These are the days. The days of windows and doors thrown open wide to welcome those soft breezes and that friendly sunshine, and the sound of the twittering of the birds who gather in our yard to eat my cat's food. (I don't mind, as long as they sing for their supper.) The days of blooms and blossoms and green growing things... soft-petaled roses and sweet jasmine, petite blue flowers and frilly white daffodils.


The days of bare arms and legs, attached to two small girls who fly happily through the grass, glad to be outside in the pleasant world where they and their imaginations can run free. Days of tangled curls that blow in their smiling faces and get wilder as the day goes on, of chalk-covered fingers and knees, bare feet and dirty toes. And freckles, freckles that sprinkle themselves across Emma's sun-kissed nose and cheeks-- a new one every minute, it seems.



Days of color and life, vibrant and full, rich with blessings and everywhere reminders of God's goodness no matter what. 

Hello, oh happy spring. And welcome.

what's your favorite thing about spring?