Happy Spring!

I saw some stunning flowers in the Arboretum last week. I'm loving this deep purple hellebore.

Spring is my favorite season for sure. I have been counting down to the first day of spring - March 20, this year* - since early February. I love the longer days, the fresh scent in the air, spring cleaning, spring fashions and, of course, colorful spring flowers such as peonies, daffodils, tulips, fragrant daphne and pink cherry blossoms.

 

The March issue of House Beautiful magazine is the Spring Color Issue. The masthead is a bright, juicy orange and the cover story headline reads: "The Power of Pink! It's warm, flattering, sexy (and men love it!)." Well, that got my attention! The magazine's pages are filled with tons of ideas for incorporating pink and other fresh spring colors into your life. As you may recall, I dedicated a whole week in February to writing about pink, so I was tickled (pink!) to see that it is in fact a chic color for spring.

And, did you hear that Pantone designated Honeysuckle as the color of the year for 2011? They describe it as "A Color for All Seasons. Courageous. Confident. Vital. A brave new color, for a brave new world. Let the bold spirit of Honeysuckle infuse you, lift you and carry you through the year. It’s a color for every day – with nothing “everyday” about it." There is oodles of information on the Pantone website about how to incorporate this gorgeous color into your home interiors, spring fashions and more.



 

And I just had to share this darling image from an Hermès email I received last week with the subject line "Spring into action." It's pretty fun, don't you think? The Hermès orange box is oh so versatile!!

Finally, in celebration of spring I bought these fragrant yellow hyacinths and added some branches of pink quince from my yard for my kitchen counter. And I'm planting some spring annuals in my garden, replacing boots with flats (with no socks, hopefully soon!), finally taking down the Valentine's decorations that my three-year-old insisted on keeping up, wearing colored tights instead of black tights (thanks for the inspiration Jeanne), and taking a photography workshop this weekend.

How are you marking the arrival of the season of renewal?


*The first day of spring, or March equinox, usually falls on March 20, 21, 22 or 23. In the years 2010 through 2017 it will fall on the 20th of March.