If...

Another beautiful day.

Apparently I'm on a continuing search for beauty here in this big city, and I'm going to find it all! After soaking up the Cedar Ridge Preserve, I recruited my friend Bre {and her baby Jack} to journey with me to the Trinity River Audubon Center to see what we would find there.  It was open wide and centered around a lake.  Very Walden-esque. 

Here we are with our koala babies...

It was rather windy and a bit overcast so we didn't stay too long, but I'd love to return on a beautiful sunny spring day to enjoy the wooded forest path.  It seemed the perfect place to curl up with a journal, waiting for birds and butterflies to make their appearances.

And the best part? Right before leaving, we stopped in the nature center's "Art251" gift shop to peruse the shelves of gifts and handmade items by local artisans.  While I was swooning over a set of large handpainted bird postcards and a baby onesie that said "Small Footprint," Bre called me over: "Look! There's my photo!" Indeed, in the back of the shop, next to a display of locally roasted Oak Cliff Coffee, was a clipped article about our store, Urban Acres, from a past issue of The Dallas Morning News.  The article shows a photo of Bre working the counter while pregnant with Jack.  It was encouraging to meet the director of the store who knew about us and to connect with other like-minded folks in Dallas.

I didn't leave the store empty handed.  In a back corner, there was a display of handmade clay plaques with inspirational sayings on them. I dug through the pile and knew immediately this was the one I wanted:

It's now displayed on my kitchen windowsill where, amidst chaos and disarray and a nonstop agenda, I can always stop and remember - it is another beautiful day.  And I must continue to search for and find the beauty all around me.

First strawberry of the season...

A happy announcement today - our garden has been revitalized!  Last year it suffered some neglect, what with me waddling around pregnant and the hubby being preoccupied with our small business and all.  But we're back, baby!

Here's the very first strawberry of the season - YUM!  I'll be sharing more photos as things develop...

Free download: spring butterfly desktop wallpaper.

This photo I took last week at the Cedar Ridge Preserve is making my desktop very happy lately. Thought I'd share it with you too! Choose your screen size to download below, with or without the quote...

1280 x 960 | 1024 x 768 | 800 x 600 | 2048 x 1536 {full size}

1280 x 960 | 1024 x 768 | 800 x 600 | 2048 x 1536 {full size}

Care for a spot of tea?

This, here, is my lovely vintage English tea tray that I found at a local thrift shop for $1.  Can you even believe how beautiful it is?  Please notice the adorable dragonfly/butterfly design facing to the right in the very center, a detail I noticed and loved immediately.  When I saw this tray, I knew it should come home with me.

The scuff marks on the underside of the tray silently speak of tea service past.  I can only wonder whose pinkies were delicately turned upward as they reached down for a cup and took a first cautious sip.

Did you know a "spot" of tea actually means a teacup full?  Perhaps my U.K. readers can verify!

Late last night after finally coaxing our teething daughter to sleep, this is how I served tea to myself and my husband - complete with two vintage pottery mugs and a vintage Vera Neumann napkin.  He had Sleepytime, and I had Decaf Sweet Coconut Thai.  It made me smile after a long day.  Doesn't tea always?  Taking that first hot sip of tea is a cup of life, warming you down to your toes, washing away every ounce of stress from the day.

Happy tea-drinking today!

Where we should be.

"It is simple. We are where we should be, doing what we should be doing. Otherwise we would be somewhere else, doing something else."

~Richard Stine

"The smell of mulch is good for my soul!" I said aloud at the moment my feet touched the soft mulched pathways.  A bit overdramatic perhaps, but a typical statement for this idealist. I had returned to my beloved Cedar Ridge Preserve after a very long time, and it was good. Very good.

From the moment I awoke today, I've felt almost an audible call from God to get outside and commune with Him in nature, to take my little girl with me to play and explore and enjoy all the gifts that are waiting outside our front door.  I've been wanting to go back to the Preserve since having had a baby but was waiting for warm enough weather.  Then, the warm weather came {80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky today!}, but none of my girlfriends were available to come with me - one had plans with family, one was working feverishly on a book proposal, another was in line at the Apple Store for a new iPad.  But God said, "Just come!"  So it was me, and Belle in the Boba carrier.

I need nature.  This is something I know very surely about myself now.

On the short 15 minute drive to Cedar Ridge, I felt myself getting excited, as if I were about to be reuinted with an old friend.  And I guess in a way I was; I couldn't wait to introduce my daughter to this place that was a refuge for me, whose trails were worn many times by my running shoes before she was in my belly.  The sign at the entrance had changed, but everything else was just as I'd remembered it. 

Here we are at the entrance - this child is so utterly happy when she is outdoors, and I couldn't be more proud. 

Let's go!

I nestled Luci Belle into the carrier on my back and set my feet to the trails.  The trees waved and creaked overhead just like always.  So many treasures awaited us, even though spring has yet to bloom in full form...

By the time we came to the clear stream that flows under the wooden suspension bridge, the little wiggly pack on my back was ready to be free.  So I carried her down to the sandy edge and dangled her inflate-a-feet in the water.  At first she jumped at the chilliness and then started bouncing up and down with glee.

Crimson berries seemed strategically placed just at the spot where you needed a bit of color, a break from forest brown.  A strip of blue sky peeked through the branches of a Bradford Pear in full bloom.

And at the end, we made a quick stop in the Butterfly Garden and actually found one alighting on the branch of a Cherry Blossom tree!

The entire time, we saw only three people: two passersby on the trails {who both grabbed my daughter's chubby ankles for a little tug}, and a volunteer gardener named Sharon who was vigorously pruning an Autumn Sage.  When we got in the car, I felt refreshed.  So refreshed.  It really is simple.  The Preserve was undoubtedly the "somewhere" we were meant to be today, enjoying nature the "something" we were meant to do.

Treasures.

Found these treasures on our walk today:

Hmm, what to do with them?  I have a small craft project in mind for the smooth river stones, which I found scattered on the sidewalk in front of someone's house down the street.  The sidewalk is fair game, eh?  The pine cones - well, who doesn't need a few extra pinecones?  The Bradford Pear branch now lives in a small jelly jar filled with water on the kitchen windowsill.  But not until after the little one was quite enamored with it for awhile.  Oh, the wonder of a child!

Every spring...

I wish everyday were like this.

The neighborhood itself is an ode to spring. 

Seemingly overnight, shrubs are flowering pink and coral.

Pale green buds have appeared on trees, sending tiny bud-leaves twirling in the breeze. 

The air feels like summertime in New Jersey, without a cloud in the sky, the perfect temperature for a long walk, the kind that makes your legs ache in a good way and makes your skin smell outdoorsy and sweet.

The bakery on the corner sends the scent of chocolate chip cookies on the breeze.

I look around at yards greening and coming to life again, see my daughter's bare toes dangling from her stroller lazily, feel the sun lightly tanning my shoulders. 

And I realize that it's true - every spring seems like the only spring...it never loses its astonishment.

I do wish everyday were like this. 

But if it were, today would not be so beautiful.