quick update

I know I said I was going to schedule some blog posts for later this week, but I lied. Or forgot. Or was too busy.

So what you get now is a quick update and a "I'll be back later!" note.


Spring is here! The last two days were beautiful. Short sleeve weather, no jacket required - call it what you will. Of course, today is a big rainy mess. The kind of rainy day where you have to get up early and go get a new windshield wiper for the car at the last minute because you should have done it before a rainy day when you have to drive a long way to pick up your mom at the airport. Robert deserves a trophy for his help with that.


Look at my rabbit friend. Look at him eating a leaf! I'm so in love.

Okay, that's about all I have time for! I have a couple of hours to finish cleaning the house before I've got to head to the airport. My mom and I are going to have some fun adventures over the next couple of days-- I hope! I hope the sun comes back and we get to visit some baby goats on a farm.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest-of-the-week and exciting weekend! I will probably not be online much until the beginning of next week.

pictures from my trip home

I'm back! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and excellent weekend. The past few days have been so full and busy! A lot happened in Texas: two Thanksgiving meals with different families, a couple of mini-reunions with high school friends, visits to favorite restaurants, and a lot of general hanging around with people! Here are the prettiest things that I was able to capture.

Zazie, my sister's hedgehog!

That's MY DOG. We got him when I was 12. I haven't seen in 9 months! He's crazy. Do you like his outfit?

Most of the rest of these pictures are nature shots. My parents recently bought some land and we got to spend an afternoon there! It was originally a Christmas tree farm, so there are plenty of overgrown fir trees, along with a pond and a shack! Really, the building on the land was appraised as a shack, and for good reason. My mom is planning to fix it up for fun. They're not going to live there, but it's a neat place to visit! I had a lot of fun finding little things to photograph.

This guy is just a neighbor! He wouldn't come talk to us.

Caterpillar buddy

Sap! They were chopping down some trees to clear a little road.

Peeling paint on the door of the shack. I like it.

Grasshopper pal!

The view from my sister's front door.

The pool at my sister's apartment complex. MONEY!

All in all I think it was a nice visit! But it's good to be back. And there's plenty to catch up on here!

recently

I've been kind of quiet here lately. To be honest it's because I'm trying to figure out what happens next in my life. Big, vague ideas! Anyway, part of that is trying to spend less time online. And spending less time reading blogs. I sincerely hope that no one feels ignored - I'm still catching up on all of your blogs when I get time, but often I'm so behind that I just reply to the most recent blog entries!

Just wanted to put that out there. I have time to catch up tonight because Robert is at a basketball game with a co-worker. Isn't that weird? It's weird for him. It may be the "manliest" thing he's done in his whole life. Heh, male bonding! I think it's cute that he was invited out. So, here are some pictures from the past week!


I think I may keep the above shoes, which are from the vintage stash which Robert's grandmother passed along to me. She wants me to try sell everything, but I'm afraid these aren't in good enough condition - the insoles of the shoes are barely clinging on. I don't know if they can be glued [anyone have any advice?], but I wouldn't be comfortable selling them in this condition. I still think they're very elegant!

Madeleines from dozen

Yesterday afternoon, Robert and I went for a little walk and got somewhat lost... It was exciting! I didn't realize that the main road we live off of went on for so long. We've never walked out that far, but we found some amazing fields and were able to see barns in the distance.


On the way home we made a kitty friend! This gorgeous little cat was very cuddly, but wouldn't stay still for a good photo. It also tried to follow us home, and the best idea we could think of was to run away. We just started running, and the cat followed for a few feet but then gave up. We felt really silly and we laughed about it the rest of the way home. I just didn't want to lead it too far from home!

Speaking of, I'll be headed back "home" for Thanksgiving next week - it will be my first trip back to Texas since February. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed here, and all that has happened!

wildlife in the graveyard

Yesterday afternoon, Robert excitedly called me while he was on his way home. He bikes through the cemetery as a shortcut on his way to and from work, and he'd just seen a fox "frolicking" - he claims it was acting like an exciting puppy, sitting up on its hind legs and waving its arms around. So when he got home I grabbed my camera and we went for a little cemetery walk, in search of the elusive fox.

The weather was perfect - lately it's been freezing in the mornings here, but everything warms up nice by afternoon! So we set out through the graveyard, scanning around for a little red fox. We never found him, but when we got to the very back of the lot, we saw this:


This little animal was standing so still for so long that we seriously considered the idea that he might be a stuffed dead animal (though that would be in really bad taste for a graveyard). I snapped a picture and had already moved on as Robert approached the little beast. Then it ran away! We were very excited to realize he was real. After some research, I'm certain he was a groundhog (aka woodchuck), and that makes me so happy - first groundhog I've ever seen in real life! From wikipedia: "It is common to see one or more nearly-motionless individuals standing erect on their hind feet watching for danger." There you go!

small town

This past weekend, Robert and I took a very short roadtrip. Really it was just about a 20 minute drive to a nearby town... But it was very scenic and many *pictures were taken along the way there and back! In case anyone is getting tired of my "small town" pictures, I decided to run them through TiltShift maker to spice them up-- now they look like pictures from a miniature town. I hope you're happy!






The above picture wasn't the right type for tilt shift, but I still wanted to share it! I will never get tired of barns and silos. I think they're so exciting to have in the scenery.

*All photos by Robert, since I was the one driving!

autumn is here

This weekend has been pretty amazing-- Robert's family came into town for a visit and we had a very nice time! Saturday was cold and breezy: for the first time this season I actually had to wear a jacket. We had a nice trip to the farmer's market where we couldn't stop ourselves from buying little pastries and I picked up quite a collection of fallen leaves along the way.

A tiny pecan pie! It was begging for a photo shoot.

We went on a day trip to Murfreesboro to check out MTSU, where Robert's brother is planning to go to school. It was cloudy and I was sitting in between the two guys in the backseat of the car, but I still managed to snap some pictures of the drive!

I have a thing for fields. ..

...and fake horses on top of buildings.

Oh, and also exciting barns!

We spent quite a while walking around the campus just looking at things. It was a nice day!

This tile mosaic on a science building was probably my favorite thing.

That's all! I know blog apologies are sort of lame (and happen too often), but I did want to say sorry for not being around much lately! I've got zero excuses since I really don't have anything going on lately; I've just been trying to find more fulfilling ways to spend my time! And I regret to report that I haven't found anything to spend my time doing. Ha ha... I've spent way too much time thinking about things I could be doing but never do. Do you know what that means? I probably need to be looking for a job. It's true: I finally got bored!

rainy days

Check out this awesome rain coat! Yesterday afternoon I decided to check out a thrift store* I haven't been to before, and I'm so glad I went. My first impression was, "Wow... this place is nice." Everything seemed in very good condition and thoughtfully arranged. I wasn't sure it was my kind of thrift store, though (I'm sure you know what I mean!), until I found a rack of 50% off Autumn coats. Everything on that rack was amazing, and I immediately grabbed an armful of retro raincoats that were priced between $5-8 (and marked half off of that). I had to calm myself down when I found all of the boots... I actually had to go put most of the coats back because they were getting in the way of my boot-looking. Oh, I wish I'd had an excuse to buy some of those boots! Unfortunately, most of them weren't vintage (so I couldn't justify getting them to resell) and none of them fit me. But I shall return in the future to peruse that boot section!

Anyhow, there's an incredible thunderstorm going on today and I'm trying to figure out how to jump-start my brain [it's so dark out - I don't want to do anything]! I've obviously fallen off the blogging-wagon this week. There are just so many things to do. I'm going to try to add a few things to my Etsy shop this afternoon - keep an eye on it if you'd like!

*If you're curious, it was Our Thrift Store, and I'd definitely recommend a visit by anyone who happens to be in the area! I had a little chat with the owner; he was super nice! I can't wait to go back for more thrifting action (and for personal shopping.. because really, I wanted everything there).

exploring franklin

Here are some more pictures from my birthday! This is actually the rest of them, aside from some very silly portraits we took which shall not be appearing here; Robert and I are totally unphotogenic together - every time I try to take a serious picture of us, it turns into an episode of [very unflattering] hilarity.

So! I mentioned in the last post that he took the afternoon off and we went exploring. This was our first time to check out some neat places in the town we recently moved to. I found an excellent antique mall! Here are some highlights.

Shelves of old children's books... very exciting to me!

Light and airy + warm and glowy things!

A painting that I am 99% sure my sister would have purchased. Check that kid out!

OLD DEAD ANIMALS!!! What is this, a museum of natural history? Intriguing.

I saw so many things I wanted, but I didn't buy anything! I have this problem now where I refuse to pay reasonable prices for neat things; I just keep thinking, "I bet I could find this so much cheaper at an estate sale!" Which is true, but also unlikely because I'm not very persistent about treasure hunting. Maybe I'll get over myself one day and buy some nice antiques.

Above: the Franklin Cinema, which is apparently in need of saving. I just noticed there's a bubble in this picture! A bath shop had bubbles blowing all down the sidewalk.

After our walk around downtown, we later ventured out to a cemetery. We're those sort of people - are you that sort of person? Some people like to visit graveyards! This place is right across from our apartment; we've been meaning to check it out.

It's not a very spooky place, and I think that's because it's so big and open!

Something's missing here! Hint: a head.

I'm really into grimy old statues, but this one was kind of creepy!

Well, those were my terribly-exciting birthday activities! Clearly I like looking at old things, but you probably already knew that.

summer is officially here

It's HOT outside. I got in my car earlier and when I touched the steering wheel it burned my hands! Fortunately I keep a handy pair of Batman gloves in my car. They certainly weren't dainty driving gloves, but they did the job. My fingers still hurt, though!


Who can tell that I got a haircut? I know, it's not very noticeable as far as length goes (just about an inch and a half), but it certainly feels better to me! It was getting out of shape and starting to annoy me. I've been trying to grow it out, but I keep coming back to this length. I think it suits me pretty well and it's very easy to maintain.


Does anyone know what this thing is? Robert and I took a walk to the library and post office yesterday evening - it was fairly magical. Aside from seeing about 7 rabbits along the way, we began noticing lightning bugs (or fireflies... whatever you call them!) and we even caught one on a library book for a little bit. And then we found this thing on the ground.


We took it home to do scientific research (i.e. we cut it open and then Robert licked it and made a face and threw it away). It looks like a breadfruit, though I think we're very far from its native region. Anyone want to take a guess? I thought I'd see if I could get some answers here!

walking to the library

On a typical day, Robert and I walk to the library near our apartment. And by "typical" I do mean "nearly every day." It gives us something to do when we have nowhere else to go, and we feel nice getting some exercise in. Plus, Robert reads A LOT. He reads when he's cooking, he reads in the bathroom (even when he's going #1!), he reads while he's playing video games... He is an amazing multi-tasker, and he always needs new books to read. Sometimes when we walk there, I bring my camera. It's a very nice walk.

Heyyyyy.... I'm silly looking!

Do you see this squirrel? I like squirrels.

Not only am I in love with clover, but check out this mushroom thing!

Last time we were at the library, I decided to look for a book. It normally takes me a couple of weeks to read a book, because I don't read as persistently as Robert. I'm more of a leisure reader. Anyhow, I'd run out of things to read and then I remembered something: Diana's husband has written a book! My library had it and I checked it out. Do you know how cool it feels to check out a book when you kinda sort know the guy who wrote it (or at least kinda sorta know his wife)? Pretty cool! I was also happy to see Diana's name credited inside the back cover for the author's picture. "I know her! I know her!!!" I wanted to tell the world. (That's only a slight exaggeration, but I appear to be doing that just now.)

I finished the book in a couple of days. I have to say it's definitely worth reading! When I told Diana I was reading it, she said Scott couldn't believe it and wanted to know why! Why? Is there a reason anyone wouldn't want to read it? No. In fact, this book is highly entertaining and informative! It's basically a bunch of memoirs from working in public libraries. Since I'm such a good library patron, I found the stories to be very interesting. I've never had to work with the public, so I didn't realize how many crazy people there are who do scary things. Also, there's a whole chapter near the end of the book [SPOILER ALERT] where he meets Diana and they fall in love and stuff (my synopsis is not doing this any justice). That is SO CUTE. Every once in a while there were too many footnotes on a page (though they were mostly great additions to the narrative), and sometimes things got a little repetitive (mostly the message about libraries being a community), but honestly I have no major complaints! A little bit gross, quite funny, somewhat touching - overall a good read.

Now, I think most of you know Diana, at least through blogging. Anyone else read Scott's book? WHY NOT? He seems pretty awesome to me!