Recommended Reading / 47.

Every Monday, words to start the week. 

This week, from The New York Times: an essay by Frank Bruni too beautiful not to share (even despite the fact that it's 16 days old — practically a decade in Internet time). The piece calls attention to the importance of spending substantial, meaningful, distraction-free periods of time with those we love, rather than attempt to cram so-called quality time into measured doses over Christmas or New Years. The reason? "People tend not to operate on cue," Bruni writes. "At least our moods and emotions don't. We reach out for help at odd points; we bloom at unpredictable ones."

He continues: "With a more expansive stretch, there’s a better chance that I’ll be around at the precise, random moment when one of my nephews drops his guard and solicits my advice about something private. Or when one of my nieces will need someone other than her parents to tell her that she’s smart and beautiful. Or when one of my siblings will flash back on an incident from our childhood that makes us laugh uncontrollably, and suddenly the cozy, happy chain of our love is cinched that much tighter. There’s simply no real substitute for physical presence."

Read more, here. Photo by Jesse Chamberlin.

Three more, just because: 
-The world's most beautiful cocktail.
-Monet, Renoir, Rodin, and Degas at work.
-Hitchcock says: "I have a feeling that inside you somewhere, there's somebody nobody knows about."

More recommended reading, here. Have a wonderful Monday.