Adding a little beauty to my day

The Earth laughs in flowers ~~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The other day I bought myself flowers. Yes I bought myself flowers. That's a photo of them up there. For a long time I've been minorly obsessed with the idea of having fresh flowers in my home. I remember flipping through a book of my Mom's when I was a lot younger--like early teens. I think it was called Living a Beautiful Life by Alexandra Stoddard. The only thing that I remember from this book is her suggestion to splurge and buy flowers whenever you can. In my young, romantic little imagination, I strongly believed this would add so much beauty to a house. I have never been able to give up this idea. I love flowers, though it hasn't been until recently that I could even consider buying them. (I thank Costco for this development, by the way. Right now, at least, they have the most beautiful flowers at the best prices!) The times that Jeremy has given me flowers I always enjoy the effect they have on a room. They brighten it, soften it, make it more cheerful. I've also always been a little mesmerized by the idea of having a beautiful cutting garden in my back yard, but without a backyard, or the gardening know how, to make that dream a reality. Seeing Tasha Tudor's flower garden in the current issue of La Vie Claire (thanks for that one Jill!) has renewed that interest and infused me with an interest in going outside to plant a flower garden. Click here to read the story. Anyway, the point is that over the last several days every time I walk by my kitchen table I feel a little thrill of pleasure to see that vaseful of white hydrangeas and orange tulips. It makes me feel that achieving a little beauty is not such a difficult thing to do. It's also amazing how much happiness something as simple and beautiful as a vase of flowers can bring.

Oh, and speaking of happy things, I look this picture of a stack of books I bought at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago. I needed a little retail therapy, and this was the result.
I'd been hoarding this reading list for a gloomy day. The books I bought were Giada's Family Dinners by Giada deLaurentiis, The Agony and the Ecstacy by Irving Stone, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, Bridedshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh and Excellent Women by Barbara Pymm. Also included in that stack were a new journal, and La Vie Claire and Domino magazines. It was a very satisfying evening at Barnes and Noble, and I might add, that little collection of books made my book shelves a renewed source of happiness and beauty for me.

So what do you do to add beauty to your life? Although my job as a wife and mother adds a good amount of happiness and beauty to my life, I find that external stimulous is sometimes necessary. Do you need external stimulous, like I do, or are you able to carry beauty in your head and revisit it whenever you want?