My favourite thing to do when visiting the library is to cruise up and down the beloved nature & animal stacks and pick out books with titles that catch my eye. WET and FAT was too good of a tagline to resist, and the illustrations inside are just as fascinating. {ISBN 0-919519-76-8}
I am seriously sitting here bewildered, wondering where the entire month of September went! Since the move, time has been flying faster than I can even remember, and this past month was the quickest yet. I’m sure that people who are currently attending school are especially wondering where the time has gone! For September’s collaborative post I asked readers to submit “Old School” imagery, but sadly like me, time got away from everyone and I didn’t received any submissions; I remain hopeful that more people will submit to October’s themed post: Autumnal (click here for details). So for now, in place of your pretty artwork, I thought I would share a few pages from Uppercase‘s collection of artists’ renditions of chalk dust, pink erasers, wooden desks and all the sweet memories that go along with them, in their gorgeous artist book Old School. 
Don’t these artworks just make you feel all warm, fuzzy and nostalgic? (not to mention eager to learn!?) This book is so utterly fantastic; a paperback throwback filled with perfect renderings of classic grade school education!
It’s rare that I need to be reminded about how lucky I am; I have a really good life, I know it and I am ever so thankful for it. Living in this beautiful country, in a safe home and being able to stay in contact with the people I love dearly, makes every day a blessing. So when an occasion like my birthday comes along, I am reminded of this fact even more so. Below are the generous and very thoughtful gifts that my loved ones gave to me almost a month ago now, for my 26th birthday. I am definitely spoiled rotten. 
From top to bottom: 1.An incredible Dutch pop-up & interactive art book, Verborgen Vogels, from my sister & brother-in-law 2.Incredible cast bronze owl hook, from my sister & brother-in-law 3.Hand-me-down wedding books, from my sister. 4.Discarded library book gem found and re-lined by my sister: John James Audobon’s entire Birds of America 5.A constantly-waving Queen, powered by the sun, from Olivia Delorme & Nick Oostyen 6.An illustrated edition of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species (so much better than my previous words-only copy), from my mother and father 7.A really special piece that once belonged to my great grandmother: a carved ivory tusk depicting a beautiful herd of elephants marching in a line. My mother graciously handed down this antique to me, which was assumed to have been acquired by my great grandmother’s brother, who constantly travelled the world. 8.Books right up my alley: The Moon of the Bears, The Moon of the Owls and The Charlton Canada Stamp Album & Storybook, from Marcus Jackson 9.Stationery, art and craft supplies from Carney Oudendag, my mother and my sister. 10.Three vintage finds, National Geographic’s My First Pocket Guide: Woodland Wildlife, Canadian Nature Guides: Mammals and Some Canadian Birds, from Carney Oudendag. 11.Custom-ordered, hand-made leather fanny pack by Loves Jules Leather (arriving in June), from John Helm …See what did i tell you? I’m ridiculously rotten!
