I went on a Jaunty shopping spree recently... and not a stitch of wardrobe-related stuff was purchased.  Who doesn't have a love of beautiful things? That love can extend to the world around you, including the very yard of the home you live in. Gardening isn't for everyone, and it's definitely subject to moods -- I didn't feel like doing much yard work last year when Indy was sick, we just wanted to enjoy time we had with her, so everything around us certainly suffered. But it's a new year, and I have a new outlook on life (with a new fuzzy friend), and that inevitably translates to a need to grow and blossom.

I know it's been a steady stream of summer flowers, blooms and dogs -- but this is a personal blog, and I feel like it should reflect what's happening in one's life. I haven't been super excited about things to buy or what's "on trend," instead, I've been inspired more by special moments and experiences. I've always said that Real Life informs how we express ourselves, in work, appearance, etc. It's been a year of emotional up's and down's, and I feel like more than ever, I need the simple but powerful inspiration of life around me, and not what's in a magazine or on a store shelf.