in the fields, she stopped and took a deep breath of the flower-scented air. it was dearer to her than her kin, better than a lover, wiser than a book. and for a moment she rediscovered the purpose of her life. she was here on earth to absorb its wild enchantment.

~ boris pasternak

painting doesn't always come easy for me. in fact, this painting took a lot of effort and toil to push past the doubts and dislikes in my mind. but sometimes, in those rare moments, once you reach the top of mountain, all it takes is a little push over the top and something beautiful starts to form, quickly and suddenly. this is what came of my afternoon the other day and i ended up working an hour later than I was supposed to just to reach the finish line. i have to say, i am quite pleased. though, i have yet to decide what to use it for. ideas are gratefully accepted.

there's a blog that I love called reading my tea leaves. erin, who writes faithfully every day of the work week, does this fantastic post series called, my week in objects. it's one of my favourite things to read and i like the simplicity of it. i wanted to try to follow a similar vein as a practice of habit for this blog in the coming year. our church has been focusing on habit and this past week, our life group started an experiment involving listing ten things to be grateful about each day. because i'm a visual person, i wanted to also create a visual aspect to that list. 

now, this week was actually a hard one. i was pretty down and out, emotionally and it took a lot of effort to get any work done, let alone think of things to be grateful for. but i managed to remember to take at least one photo everyday. and here's what my week looked like in the objects (and beings!) that surrounded me. 

1. this weathered face.

(because not only has the other face on our wall has found his long lost brother, it represents the thoughtfulness of a new friend.)

 2. this soon-to-bloom hyacinth.

 (for breathing a bit of life into a dark week.)

3. this simple spool of twine.

 (for waiting patiently for me to start on this weaving project.)

4. this small stack of hanging clothes.

 (for being delivered in a package waiting for me when i got home.)

5. these little legs.

(for bringing me so much joy every time i see them.)

things to take to the weekend:

to make you remember your first date (or was that just me?)

to make the practical things pretty.

wine and cheese party upgrade.

spending a winter week in paris.

in case you missed these the first time.

how could you not want to be here?

hope all of you have a restful weekend.

 You may have seen this floating around on Instagram yesterday, but I've been thinking ahead to Valentine's Day already. To be honest, Valentine's day has always been one of my favourite holidays (surprisingly, as I've only ever had one real Valentine and he only came a few years ago!). I suppose I just love the fact that it's a day that gives me an excuse to give as many random love gifts or encouraging cards as I'd like and tell those close to me how much I love them. Because doing that sort of thing brings me so much joy.

 And so, I started designing a few one-of-a-kind valentines, trying to decide what to do with them. And then, of course, came up with a most brilliant idea...secret love notes! And candy grams! And snail mail! If this sounds as exciting to you as it does to me, you can now find a listing in my shop for hand-drawn illustrated cards to send anonymously (or not!) to lovers, friends, and family. Each one will be unique and created especially for the person you're sending it to. You can choose your quote or theme and if you'd like to attach a little candy to sweeten the deal, there's that option, too. A very special and personalized way to say I love you for $7 /card. Click the link above to purchase, visit my shop or send me an email to jenni.haikonen8@gmail.com.