spring means

 Spring means daffodils, tiny lambs, and startlingly changeable weather. It means Easter Sunday, green leaves filling up the bare trees, and a little more sunshine. It also means rain (but so does winter, summer, and autumn, because this is Ireland after all).

“The beauty of winter is that it makes you appreciate spring.” 

- Lucy Maud Montgomery

currently:

reading: Silver on the Tree (The Dark is Rising #5) by Susan Cooper

listening to: Santa Fe from Newsies

fan-girling about: Oh my gosh the Catching Fire trailer.

a book by it's cover

 A couple of my very favorite book-covers :)

A Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge // Lion Hudson Publishers
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner // HarperCollins
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart // Little, Brown
Middlemarch by George Eliot // Penguin Classics (Clothbound Collection)
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham // The Folio Society
The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green // Puffin Classics (Clothbound Collection)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll // Puffin Classics

Iceland // Wanderlust

 The Land of Ice and Fire

 There are so many places in the world that I desperately want to visit.

 Iceland is pretty up there on that list.

 There's just something fascinating about this country - it's wild beauty, it's contrasting landscapes. It's many volcanoes, waterfalls, geysers, glaciers, and fjords.

|disclaimer: none of these pictures belong to me, all found via google and pinterest|

  These photographs that I've rummaged through the internet for are certainly beautiful, but I'm sure they're nothing compared to the real thing. I hope that I'll get the chance to see Iceland in person someday.


currently:
listening to: Hoppípolla by Sigur Rós (how can you write about Iceland without listening to this band?)
reading: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

recent diys // vol. two

  Here are some (mostly pinterest-inspired) crafty projects I've been doing lately.

 1. These really couldn't be simpler, or cuter. You just snip off the corner of an envelope and decorate it anyway you like. Voilà, an adorable bookmark!

2. An "Earring Book" made of a couple of felt pages that I sewed together. I like it, but I think it's best as a temporary place to keep them (while traveling, for instance), maybe not for every day use because it can be annoying having to put them back every time.

 3. To pretty up a couple of my dresser drawers I taped down colorful scrapbook paper. 

 4. Making zig-zags with a pliers on a wire hanger makes an easy, cheap, cute necklace hanger. 

  5. And finally...two uses for mason jars: a pencil holder and candles.

lots of love, Hannah

an excellent library

“In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.”

― Mark Twain

“A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them.”

― Lemony Snicket

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”

― Jorge Luis Borges

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”

― Jane Austen

“Libraries are not made; they grow.”

― Augustine Birrell

“A little library, growing larger every year, is an honourable part of a man's history. It is a man's duty to have books. A library is not a luxury, but one of the necessaries of life.”

― Henry Ward Beecher 

|photos don't belong to me, found through pinterest| 

currently:

listening to: Ice on Her Lashes by Brooke Fraser

reading: Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis   

a long-awaited snowfall

  After waiting for snow all through December and January, I had pretty much given up hope. Finally, at the beginning of this month, it snowed!

  It only lasted for a couple of hours, but I was glad we got to enjoy a little bit of snow at last. :)


love, Hannah

on my bookshelf: fairytale retellings

 

    I've been completely in love with fairytale retellings ever since I read Ella Enchanted a few years ago. I like so many different sorts of books, but there's always something especially lovely about books that include princesses and princes, magic mirrors, fairies, and the perfect happy ending. They are just so fun to read. Here are a few of my all-time favorite fairytale retellings on my bookshelf.


 - The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
 Okay, so I'm a complete Hale fan. Her books are awesome. She has such a lyrical, poetic way of writing. The Goose Girl is one of my favorites by her; it's based on the Grimm's fairytale of the same name.

 - North Child by Edith Pattou
  (In the U.S it's called East.) This one is based on the Norwegion folk tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon. I could blabber on about this one for ages, but to sum it up in a few words: this is a beautiful book.


 - Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
 I needed to include this one, even though I've talked about it here on my blog before. It's too great to leave out. One of the things I love about this one is how hilarious it is. It's loosely based on Cinderella.

 - Beauty by Robin McKinley
 I just read this a few weeks ago, but it instantly become a favorite. It's based on my favorite fairytale: Beauty and the Beast. I'm looking forward to reading more books by Robin McKinley.

 - The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye
 Somehow this fits with the rest of them, even though this one isn't a retelling of a specific tale but a twist on your average, ordinary fairytale. It's the sweetest, most adorable little book ever. Definitely a classic.

love, hannah



currently:
reading: The Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
listening to: Cathedrals by Ramin Karimloo (I can't stop listening to this song. go listen to it now.)