♥ Gorgeous pink flowers, seen at Pike Place Market last weekend. Oh, how I love that place!:

I’ve been there so many times, yet I’m always so enchanted with it and always become very absorbed in it. I love the flowers, the little shops spread out over so many different floors, the restaurants with the views of Elliott Bay, the bakeries, the musicians (I sat for a while and watched a man who was singing Simon and Garfunkel songs very beautifully), the hidden treasures. I also love the vitality of it all and really like to wander around and watch the crowds and the activity.

I was in Seattle with my mom for a few days. We had a great time and very much enjoyed downtown. Sometimes I really, really miss living there and would love to again, if it becomes feasible to do so.

And, oh goodness, the Seattle Central Library is gorgeous and wonderful! It was my first time visiting it. I’m generally not a fan of Deconstructivism (which is probably the most accurate classification for the building’s style), and most often prefer classical/neo-classical type architecture/buildings, but if a building is splendid and beautiful, then it is, regardless of its style:

I would love to spend more time there! ♥

It’s always so wonderful when I’m listening to my I-pod, on shuffle, and, by chance, a song comes on that feels so appropriate and perfect for what I’m doing at that moment. While in Seattle, I was sitting on an outdoor terrace at one of the downtown malls, eating lunch, watching everything intently, when M. Ward’s “Hold Time” came on (it’s from the album of the same name. I’ve been rather enamored with it since it came out in February- definitely recommended) and it perfectly reflected the wistful, poignant loveliness that I was feeling/seeing. It’s one of my favorite songs, and the video is mesmerizingly beautiful:

My favorite lyric is:

I wrote this song just to remember the endless endless summer in your laugh

And a screenshot from the video, with that lovely lyric:

So gorgeous ♥♥♥

More soon! Thanks so much for reading. ♥

♥ I really love vintage maps, both because they’re often very beautiful, and because it’s fascinating to see the ways in which various parts of the world were depicted/known at the time of the map’s creation.

This one is a world map from 1864, from VintageMaps.com. It’s much too pricey for me (most are), but I love to look at them and would really like to have one on my wall someday.

♥ A couple of musical things that are making me happy lately:

This live performance of The Bird and The Bee’s cover (from the Please Clap Your Hands EP) of The Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love” is beautiful, swoon-worthy, and so gorgeous:

I quite like their music in general, but this is especially lovely.

& This is Colin Meloy (of The Decemberists), performing a solo version of The Decemberists’ “We Both Go Down Together,” one of my favorite of their songs (and, ha, yes, I will admit that part of the reason that I love it is that my name is in it (”Meet me on my vast veranda/ My sweet, untouched Miranda/ And while the seagulls are crying/ We fall but our souls are flying”), and my name doesn’t appear in songs too frequently, but it’s also just a gorgeous and lovely song overall), a version of which appears on his wonderful live album, Colin Meloy Sings Live!. This was apparently recorded in an elevator in Amsterdam in 2007. It’s a beautiful and adorable performance:

♥ I really like this darling dress, from Only Hearts’ spring collection:

And this one, too, from Odd Molly’s spring collection:

They’re both so wonderfully ethereal and pretty and summer-y!
(Images taken from their websites.)

♥ And, oh, how I love this wonderful bag that I recently ordered from Topshop. It’s important to me that my bags are big enough to hold quite a few things, have a long enough strap to go across my body if I want to wear them that way, have a top zipper, and are not leather, and this one is all of those things, plus it’s so soft, too!:

(Image taken from their website.)

And me & the bag, yesterday. I love that coat that I’m wearing, too:

& This was taken at my parents’ house yesterday. More coat love!:

(I’ve redesigned the blog quite a bit, and have moved it from wordpress.com to .org (in order to have more control over the design), and that has changed the url for the feed, which is now feed://www.burningtheletters.net/?feed=atom Thanks!)

♥ More soon!

♥ Anna Karina is so delightfully pretty and wonderful!:

(The first is from Une Femme est une Femme, the second from Bande à Part)

And here’s a beautiful video of Anna singing “Sous le Soleil Exactement”:

Oh how that makes me want to be on a windy beach on a slightly overcast day, romping about in lovely clothes and with windblown hair, giggling and enjoying the wistful beauty and ephemerality of it all. ♥

It’s from Anna, a French television special from 1967, with music by Serge Gainsbourg (who also sang “Sous le Soleil Exactement.” I much prefer his version, but Anna is so charming and lovely that I quite like hers, too.) I haven’t yet had the chance to see it in its entirety, but would love to, as the clips I’ve seen are wonderfully beautiful and dreamlike.

& Another adorable clip from Anna, with Anna and Serge:

That’s really quite delicious! ♥

Lots of loveliness, indeed.

(The subject line is a quote from her character in Une Femme est une Femme.)

More soon!