what fills the void on a day like today?

a cup of gold blend barry's tea

cadbury mini eggs

a favorite collection of short stories

something warm to cuddle with (photo of ella bear: doug rice)

rolling in the deep

WARNING: Blanket statement to follow:
Adele saves the children simply by existing.

let england shake

i have a feeling this will be my favorite album of 2011.

oh, you pretty things...

although it's a guilty pleasure to check out what's going on during fashion week, it's not often that i see items from runway shows and think... "oh boy, i could totally wear that."  like most women, i don't have the body type for most of the designs, nor the disposable income, both of which i've grown a LOT more comfortable with since leaving new york.

but once i went into prada with a purpose.  i was going to walk out with a dress.  my dear friend kate came for moral support and helped me find something dreamy: a hand-dyed shift with layers of beaded silk.  it's weight defied it's ethereal qualities and i wanted it to come home with me.  in the time we were genuinely looking, not one idle sales person checked in with us, as other customers were hastily brought espresso drinks and items in different sizes.

when i approached a sales woman standing a yard or so from me and asked if she could show me a dressing room, she obliged reluctantly.  the dress wasn't right, the sales person was a character (she mentioned it was my height, not the dress that was the problem). the experience was horrible.  and so, i haven't gone back to prada or any shop like it.  it's just not my lifestyle.

but then, i saw this:

would someone like to go to marc jacobs with me?  i know we'll walk out dejected and deflated.  but we can get gelato and port and laugh about it afterwards.  and really, no dress is better than that, no matter what kate moss says.

the architect of flowers

there's a saying, those who have spent a lot of time in the dark have the tendency to find great beauty in the smallest hints of light.  the characters in william lychack's latest book, The Architect of Flowers are great examples of this.  lychack's slim collection of stories will introduce you to a cast of delicately developed characters facing heartbreak and disappointment.  You will then get to bear witness as they find beauty in their seemingly mediocre lives.  don't be surprised if you find yourself pausing between stories, lost in dreamscape to recapture the characters' regrets of everyday failings, small victories or memories of past joys.  well-crafted, each story has a depth and detail that defies its brevity.

lychack's skill is clearly infusing the ordinary with special qualities: the softness of summer's yellow morning light in a kitchen, the depth of a mother's longing for her adult son and what she's willing to do to bring him home, the haunting of wanting to make something right years after an event.  it's a rare skill and one to be savored on a quiet weekend afternoon with tea and blankets.

The Architect of Flowers will be released as a paperback original on march 23rd.  william lychack will be reading at the odyssey bookshop on thursday, march 31st at 7pm.  come out and get lost with me.