Thursday, Beautiful Thursday

I love beautiful spaces. I love looking at Better Homes and Gardens and seeing what other people have done to their homes. I think that's why I'm such a junkie for HGTV. It let's me peep inside other people's homes--because that is a peep into their heads. It never ceases to amaze me how different we all are in what speaks to our hearts and what we like to surround ourselves with.

And yes, I am that kind of person who likes to walk in the evening. Just so I can look in people's lighted windows and see a little vignette of their lives.

Yesterday I had such a fun afternoon. I spent it with my friend Susan, who is a GENIUS scrapbooker. She is trying to gently push me into the world of scrapbooking. So, she invited me to her house to talk, eat lunch and see her scrapbooks.

When I walked into her craft room, I was GOBSMACKED. It looked just like a magazine! I just turned around in circles, and I am absolutely CERTAIN that my mouth was hanging open. She laughed and said, "Boy, I wish I had a camera to take a picture of your reaction."

I have seen beautiful magazine articles. I had never seen anything I thought was so well done IN REAL LIFE. Look. Just look.

This is so completely Susan. If you could see everywhere in the room, you would see a comfy chair to cozy up in to read. A sunny windowseat to dream on. And a whole 'nother wall unit of ORGANIZED supplies. Be still my beating heart!

And it's beautiful at a microlevel as well. Looky here:

Now, I will never be that organized. My tastes run to the funky and eclectic. Sitting on my desk, I have a mixed up set of containers that hold my supplies: A tin box that sat in my mother's bathroom wihen I was little that holds my rulers and scissors and stuff like that. A cream pitcher from my grandmother's dish set that holds my pens and pencils. Two funky old bowls from who knows where that hold paper clips and rubber bands. A silver piece of stemware from my friend that holds pushpins. I like 'em and they bring me joy (and maybe they'll be next week's beautiful thing, you never know!) But even though our styles are different, I think it is beautiful what Susan has created for herself. Her own space.

What was it that Virginia Woolf said that every woman wants? "Five hundred a year and a room of her own." Well, my friend has that. And she has made it beautiful. And she DOESN'T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT. She told me, "Terry, it makes me happy. It didn't cost all that much. I put it together over time. It doesn't hurt anyone. Why WOULDN'T I enjoy it."

Why, indeed.

It's a beautiful thing.