• “love is when you kiss all the time. then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. my mommy and daddy are like that. they look gross when they kiss.”  (emily - age 9)

• “when my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. so my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. that’s love.” (rebecca - age 7)

• “when someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. you just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” (billy - age 4)

• “love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” (karl - age 5)

• “love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your french fries without making them give you any of theirs.” (chrissy - age 6)

• “love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” (terri - age 4)

• “love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is ok.” (danny - age 7)

• “love is what’s in the room with you at christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” (bobby - age 7)

• “if you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.” (nikka - age 6)

• “love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.” (noelle - age 7)

(image by coulson macleod)

1. happy-go-lucky

2. maple candy

3. wild love

4. summertime

5. skip-bo

(photos via visualize/random)

i love rain.

i love the way she conveniently falls out of the sky at the most appropriate times, showing her face for mere moments, before disappearing without a sensible explanation. i love the way she brightens up a child’s day by providing puddles of mud whose sole purpose is to stain a perfectly clean shoe. i love the way she washes away the sorrow in our lives and graciously offers new beginnings. i love the way she rearranges our superlative schemes, forcing us to take an unexpected approach and find a more creative way of doing things. i love the way she furnishes the most splendid backdrop for lovers to do whatever it is lovers do. i love the way she promises (and eventually delivers) blue skies and sunshine.

AND, i like people who smile when it is raining.

(photos via visualize)

although it was nowhere near blizzard-like conditions, this weekend (especially sunday) was a bit chilly. i could not help but take advantage of the curl-up-under-the-covers-kind-of-weather with a bowl of fresh cherries, a movie marathon and a whole lotta miles.

(words from hope floats)

(words by ray lamontagne/images via visualize)

1. barbra streisand movies

2. sweet, juicy mulberries

3. jyoti bihanga

4. lyle lovett

5. cloudy days

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in

my heart) i am never without it (anywhere

i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear

no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

poem by e.e. cummings

(images by coulson macleod)

(words by kahlil gibran/photo via visualize)

i can’t get enough of this song.

1. pink

2. pandora radio

3. earth cafe cheesecake

4. the beach

5. something beautiful by need to breathe

(image via weheartit)

take bread away from me, if you wish,
take air away, but
do not take from me your laughter.

do not take away the rose,
the lance flower that you pluck,
the water that suddenly
bursts forth in joy,
the sudden wave
of silver born in you.

my struggle is harsh and i come back
with eyes tired
at times from having seen
the unchanging earth,
but when your laughter enters
it rises to the sky seeking me
and it opens for me all
the doors of life.

my love, in the darkest
hour your laughter
opens, and if suddenly
you see my blood staining
the stones of the street,
laugh, because your laughter
will be for my hands
like a fresh sword.

next to the sea in the autumn,
your laughter must raise
its foamy cascade,
and in the spring, love,
i want your laughter like
the flower i was waiting for,
the blue flower, the rose
of my echoing country.

laugh at the night,
at the day, at the moon,
laugh at the twisted
streets of the island,
laugh at this clumsy
boy who loves you,
but when i open
my eyes and close them,
when my steps go,
when my steps return,
deny me bread, air,
light, spring,
but never your laughter
for i would die.

(poem by pablo neruda / photo via weheartit)

(images via post secret)