harper happiness

if you know me, or have even read my "favorite books" section on my profile, you might recall me mentioning charley harper. i only recently discovered his work, but i am overcome by it! truly. i have seen a lot of good art in my day, but something about charley's work speaks differently to me. it inspires me in ways that few pieces have. and i am so happy to announce that i am now the owner of charley harper: an illustrated life, thanks to my very special friends, becca and casey. 

yes, those are the same two friends that i stood up a few weeks ago at the bath house. and they still took me out to scalini's for a belated birthday dinner last night and then presented me with this book (as if scalini's weren't enough...as if just hanging out with them weren't enough)! these two know me well. i spent several life changing months with them back in 1999, crammed in a 500 square foot london flat. we didn't know each other beforehand. and we didn't know anyone else in all of london either. 

we made some pretty stupid decisions back then, too. this was the time before cell phones were common enough for us to carry around on an overseas stint....so we didn't bother with things like letting anyone else know that we'd decided to fly to switzerland for a weekend in december and hike up a snowy mountain at night in our GAP jackets and tennis shoes to stay in a sketchy-filled hostel with no food or drink, or place to buy food or drink. we didn't seem to mind though. someone gave us a loaf of hard bread. my time with these two could have turned out horribly. but, it was quite the opposite. i lived a lot with them in a short period of time and i'm so thankful. and i will miss you, becca, when you make your move to chicago in a few days!