Happy Birthday Miss Ida Marie!!

You are such a gift. I'm grateful beyond words for you, my dear.

One year ago today =)

Christmas tree hunting

Beautiful girlie! 

Love you, my little, girlie friend!

Happy 1st!

Happy Birthday to a favorite =)

Happy Birthday!

This may seem a bit shallow... but I am a huge fan of Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.

I mean, I did get up at 2.30 am to watch her wedding.

I paid money and waited in line to see her stunning wedding dress.

[So incredible in person. There were details that a camera could never do justice to.]

Being a fan of Catherine, I just want to take this opportunity to wish her Happy 30th Birthday!

29 was a very big year for Catherine.

She got married.

Became royalty.

You know... just a few things to check off the list before turning 30 =)

Here's hoping 30 is another red-letter year.


...And while we're on the topic of todays birthdays, a huge birthday shout out to my gorgeous identical twin cousins, Amy and Karen:

Happy Birthday =)

Happy Birthday to someone very special...

A very Happy Birthday

to Jane Austen!

[Jane Austen, December 16, 1775 - July 18, 1817]

[frontispiece for Sense and Sensibility, the first novel "By a Lady," celebrating its bicentennial]

[chapter 1, Pride and Prejudice]

[quote from Sense and Sensibility]

[her six novels in order of publication]

[one of the few mansucripts we have of her novels]

This past year, I am more grateful for this author than ever.

This year I have written 4 research papers on her, re-read all of her novels (plus some juvenalia), walked where she had walked, visited her house, left flowers at her grave, and discovered so many unanswered questions I want to probe.

[Austen's writing table]

[signature to a letter]

Here's at least one thing I can agree with Virginia Woolf on:

“Anyone who has the temerity to write about Jane Austen is aware of...[the fact] that of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness...”

 

[her grave]

[my flowers]

Happy Birthday to "a Lady" who did so much for literature--who pioneered within the novel form, who opened the door for other women writers, who created unforgettable characters paired with undeniable wit. A very happy thing that she was born indeed!