Let Heaven & Nature Sing

Hope you guys had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday! Chris and I were truly blessed and thankful for all the quality time spent with friends, family, and each other. Our friend from India, Sanjiv, joined us for the weekend, and we had such a blast setting up our Christmas tree together! We did not expect this tree to look so humongous in our apartment. I got chills when the lights came on :)

I mentioned a while back that I wanted to create a themed tree. Well, we finally decided on a "Nature" theme! We've split the tree into three tiers - Air, Land, and Sea - and are slowly collecting ornaments that represent various habitats. Here's a peek of what we have so far~

Air:

Land: This section has been the easiest to put together. Not sure which biome to classify the Sock Monkey under...

Sea: All we have right now is a lonely walrus. I picked up some dried starfish from Evolution to nestle in the branches and keep him company in the meantime. This section has been a bit harder to collect for, but that's part of the fun!

Chic Geek

There's something remarkably enchanting about wandering the corridors of a beautiful museum and getting lost among galleries of rare curiosities. Some of my fondest childhood memories involve family trips to the Smithsonian museums in Washington, DC. My favorites were the Natural History Museum, the Air and Space Museum, and the National Zoo. These exhibits sparked an insatiable curiosity about the universe and fostered a deep appreciation for the natural sciences.

I spotted this gorgeous book while Christmas shopping at Barnes & Noble, and immediately became obsessed. I wanted to dash to the nearest register and make it mine. But I resisted, promising myself I'd purchase it after the holidays. Delightfully, my wonderfully generous cousin-in-law sent me this very book just a few days later!

After reading this gigantic book cover to cover, I felt as if I had visited an entire museum from the comfort of our couch (wearing a robe). Natural History is a visual jewel box filled with over 5,000 species and specimens. It's packed, page after page, with incredible photographs, detailed illustrations, and intriguing facts. This compendium is not limited to plants and animals. Rocks, minerals, fossils, bacteria, protists, and fungi also make stunning appearances. Although the book highlights certain species more extensively than others, it does a fantastic job at showcasing astounding diversities in nature.

   

I also received DK's enormous History and Science guides, and can't wait to sit down and devour them both. These impressive books are sure to be regulars on our coffee table. By the way, if anybody is looking for a museum buddy, you know where to find me!