In the past 12 months, I've begun to come alive again by reading. I stopped in college. I didn't have time. But since college has ended, and my ridiculously stressful job is in the past, I now find pleasure in the written word. So much so, that all I asked for for Christmas from my husband and his mom were gift cards to bookstores. Those have come to be quite handy and my favorite gift besides plants.

Along these lines of loving the written word, I discovered this post recently, and it linked to this blog, and I am now obsessed with these incredible words that so many of us don't use on a regular basis or even know about. They are beautiful and mean such wonderfully specific things. My favorites are below:

Vorfruede: (n.) the joyful, intense anticipation that comes from imagining future pleasures.

Nemophilist: (n.) a haunter of the woods; one who loves the forest and its beauty and solitude.

Erlebnisse: (n.) the experiences, positive or negative, that we feel most deeply, and through which we truly live; not mere experiences, but Experiences.

Fernweh: (n.) an ache for distant places; the craving for travel.

Smultronställe: (n.) lit. "place of wild strawberries"; a special place discovered, treasured, returned to for solace and relaxation; a personal idyll free from stress or sadness.

Hiraeth: (n.) a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.

Photo credits: via