Enchanted Forest

Taken in Central Park, NYC, the weekend before Thanksgiving 2009.

Staircase to Somewhere

Stained Glass

Finding Art in Shapes and Shadows

Light a Candle For Me

More photos from St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC. I'm not Catholic, so I'm not sure of the entire significance of these candles near the entrance of every cathedral I've ever visited, but they're beautiful and I love the idea of lighting a candle for someone.





I really love this close-up. I like the way the flames reflect off of the glass holders in addition to showing from within them.



Or how about black and white?

Merry Christmas To All, And To All a Good Night!

Happy holidays, everyone! Here are a few timeless and classic Christmas quotes for your holiday cheer. Enjoy!


"Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need to be taken seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few occasions on which men become entirely alive."

-Robert Lynd


"Time was with most of us, when Christmas Day, encircling all our limited world like a magic ring, left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound together all our home enjoyments, affections, and hopes; grouped everything and everyone round the Christmas fire, and make the little picture shining in our bright young eyes, complete."

-Charles Dickens


"Christmas is a time when you get homesick -- even when you're home."

-Carol Nelson


And of course, no compilation of Christmas-themed quotes is complete without the well-known and oft-quoted...


Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897. [See The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9.]

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

'Tis the Season, After All

Christmas at the Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

Christmas is such a great excuse. You can use it to justify all sorts of impulse buys beyond your price range, as I have found out over the past two Christmases.

I bought myself my Christmas present today. I really shouldn't have, as I definitely can't afford it right now, but I couldn't help myself. How often do you run across precisely what you have spent several years been looking for--and it's on sale?

It was meant to be.

I've been trying to find a good weekender bag for quite a while now, even going so far as buying a poor imitation all the while knowing that it wasn't what I wanted just because it was close enough, and I was desperate. Then I was reading one of my new favorite blogs today, La Dolce Vita, and she had a great gift guide posted, including several really cute things from the online store Cerulean. I'd never heard of it before, so I went to the website and it immediately became one of my favorite places to shop, if only from the tagline alone:

"Cerulean--A World of Style Delivered to Your Door."

How great is that? Not to mention that the merchandise is fabulous. Being my usual broke self, I went straight to the "Sale" section and the first thing I saw was this amazing weekender.



The best part is, it's on sale for $93 instead of its usual $124. How can a girl pass that up? This bag appears to be everything I've been scouring the internet and luggage stores for, it's absolutely adorable, and on sale to boot! I had to get it.

So I did. All I can say is: Thank goodness for credit cards :)

Rowing Through the Very Heart of It

Amazingly enough, I took this photo in the heart of New York City -- Central Park. It's probably one of my favorite images from the trip, mostly due to the incongruity that lies at the heart of the image as well as the city itself. New York is unlike anywhere I've ever been before.

As my friend who visited with me told me on arrival,

"This is New York. Anything goes."

That is very true, and as a result, contradictions flourish everywhere. And I love contradictions.

Probably because I am one.

The Center of the Universe

Otherwise known as Times Square, NYC.