best day so far.

Today was so perfect that I hate to see it end. And I know I've said that same thing before, (probably even within the last week) but really, truly, today was so perfect that I absolutely tried to mentally photograph almost everything about it.

It all started with a sudden detour to downtown Takapuna.

Usually when I fly out to New Zealand during Christmas break, it is so sunny and warm, most people are crowding the shops wearing their swimsuits; but this time, the rainy, wet weather reminded me so much of fall. Everyone was rushing in and out of stores to avoid the cold, and it all felt so much more like a cozy and quaint secret than the usual tourist stop. After aimlessly walking in and out souvenir shops for a while, (and after unfortunately discovering one of my favorite stores had been closed down!) we began to make our way back to the car just in time for the pouring rain. Thank goodness we left the house in too much of a hurry to remember our umbrellas, because we stalled and found our way into a used bookstore.

-- Now, I love any old bookstore as much as the next person, but this one was different - and excuse my exaggeration, but it was really like a step back in time.

After finding hundreds of perfectly old and worn books, (Bronte, Austen, Tennyson) and after reading Matthew Arnold tucked away in the corner, (best: "Alas! is even love too weak, To unlock the heart, and let it speak?" -- gosh I love that) I really, completely lost track of time. Boxes filled with pictures from fifty, sixty, seventy years ago were cluttered all around the store, and everything I found felt like it must have been a treasure to somebody at some point long, long ago.

That's when I discovered the most darling book of all-time entitled, "Christmas Is A Time of Giving" - published nearly sixty years ago. All I could think of while turning the pages is of the future Christmases I'd spend reading that same book with my own family. Definitely the best ten bucks spent in a long time, and I'm already searching online for any/everything else the author may have written... all so cute.

But anyway, to end the evening my mom and I sat in Starbucks drinking steamers and hot chocolate discussing (mainly) my sisters upcoming wedding this fall, and all the future family reunions and vacations we'll get to have. On our way out the door I fell in love with a boy who was wearing a blue shirt and had brown eyes. Kylie you will kill me because I kept on walking, but I did turn around to look three or four more times. I talked about him the whole ride home, imagining with my mom a scenario much like this one (minus getting hit by a car) from only my most all-time favorite movie ever... If only my nerves hadn't gotten the best of me.


And now I'm sitting by a space heater. I'm eating Tim Tams and Pringles, telling the internet about my day because my cell phone doesn't get service down here, and so there is nobody I can really call. But the point is, today was really perfect, and I don't think I would trade anything in the world for it. That's all.