beauty's an addiction

I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'm completely addicted to beautiful things--landscapes, my daughters (people in general--one of the reasons I love photography), rooms, vignettes and tablescapes (I could just sit and stare at a beautiful table vignette forever, scary), blogs (blogs especially because there seem to be an infinite number of creative minds all pouring out their perceptions of beauty for all to see)--to the point that real life sometimes falls by the wayside. I feel like I need an extra day in the week just to absorb, look at, and reflect on beauty--sounds cheesy, but it's a struggle and a problem! I notice it especially with blogging here because I could spend 5 hours sifting though beautiful images that I've collected or photographed, and in the end I run out of time to actually share them! Does that happen to you?

SO, as 2009 draws to a close, I'm going to celebrate with my favorite pictures from the year. Tonight let's start with people and events since they're the most beautiful! Mostly chronologically starting with the summer...

This is what our backyard (and girls) looked like for a good part of the summer. Our neighbors love us.
I wish everyday was 4th of July! We had our second annual Independence day party with my sister/next door neighbor, and this year we were blessed with sun, 200+ plus friends, and a long, long night of rowdiness (I mentioned our neighbors love us, right?)

Cousin summer time

DC has the best selection of carousels. We like to visit them all!

I love this picture! It was taken on the hottest day of the summer. We were invited to Gianna's derby birthday party, and I don't think I ever had so much fun snapping pictures. Kids! In hats! On horses!My grandmother's house is the strangest mix of chaos and peacefulness. My mom is from a huge family, so half the time it's overflowing with people (40 + grandkids!), but when it's summer time, it goes through a magical transformation especially if you go into her garden. She never seems to be concerned with plants being a little too untamed or overgrown or kids being a little too messy, ad that's what makes it so peaceful. It's a wild sort of beauty, and it's even more beautiful to see my girls making the exact smae kind of memories I had in her garden growing up.


All for tonight! Sleep's beautiful too!