yes, let’s distract ourselves with much more pleasing thoughts.

perhaps from the next room over, out of ear shot.

a refrigerator full of beverages.

few things please me more in the summer than opening up the fridge to see well-stocked shelves and a myriad of beverage options.  iced tea, cucumber-strawberry water, izzes, limeade, leftover soda and beer from a barbecue, sparkling water.

if i can fill a kiddie pool with the beverages in my fridge, we’re in the right area.  in fact, let me just go do that right now, so i can bathe in the bountiful beverage lagoon of goodness.

grown-up bed.

it was time for the boy to have a bed that reflected his 30 years of living, rather than, say, a 22-year old who, upon graduating from college, acquired a good mattress and thought that having matching colored sheets, blanket and curtains sufficed for bedroom decor.

enter wife, stage left.

i brought over my bedroom furniture, but our bedding/sheets/pillows area still felt lacking.  as we walked the aisles of ikea during our honeymoon, i lingered a little longer in the textiles section, and unearthed this perfect duvet cover.  an earthy pea green set, queen size, for the unearthly sale price of $17.  i snatched it up quickly, along with some soft slate-colored sheets, and insisted that we were taking them home, even if i had to sit with them on my lap on the plane.

the boy did not protest, but he seemed somewhat indifferent, only weighing in that the colors were acceptable.

then, after strategically shifting all of our loot around on the floor of the sea-tac airport so as to not go over the limit on baggage weight, the lovely bedding arrived home and i put it all together.

after just a few hours, the boy exclaimed (he would protest here, saying he doesn’t exclaim, but i know differently) that he loved our new bed and it was like sleeping in a hotel bed.

cheers, wife.

smiling, husband.

end scene.

bud vases with wedding flowers.

speaking of loot from ikea trudged home by a determined new bride, these bud vases rule.  they are sturdy and monochromatic and small and cheap and cheap and have i mentioned they were seriously only about a dollar fifty a piece cheap?

i’ve definitely been into the white on white decor lately.  i think i’ll start referring to it as my bob dylan phase of decorating, because perhaps that will make me feel that this is less boring than i fear it is (see also: blonde on blonde).  these pretty ladies perch right up near my desk.

trip vases.

i never know where to remember things.

i mean, i know how to remember things (except, apparently, my cell phone, keys or wallet as i walk out the door), but i never knew how to keep mementos from trips, ticket stubs, pictures, programs and general trip ephemera.  i’ve never been much on the scrapbooking kind of tip, nor do i want to just have boxes of vacation crap that i feel too sentimental to throw away and only visit when it’s time to lug heavy crap boxes to my next location.

early last year i was meandering around the internet machine when i spied a fantastic solution to my dilemma.  i forget where (so if anyone knows, i’d be happy to link), but on a blog someone wrote about how they stored trinkets from their trips in antique mason jars (cost: free to approx. $12) and lined them up neatly on the shelves.  it limits what you put in there, it displays it in a streamlined way, yet keeps everything as part of the decor of your house.

we have one from our trip to vancouver canada last year, and one from our honeymoon to seattle this year, and my only issue with this is why i didn’t think of such a simple and great solution myself years ago.

also, the polaroid mio (or, i suppose now, the fuji instax camera film) is a perfect size to fit.

of course.

a succulent that does not suck…ulent.

i really can’t help succumbing to the pun.  you’ll forgive me, right?  i know it’s bad.  i’m hideous.  don’t look at me.

i kill most plants.  and, full disclosure, the plant pictured above is currently in a stint of rehab [read: my mother's house] because it started to droop a little at the bottom and turn brown despite my following of the precise directions to not water it much and give it indirect sunlight.  but, it’s still not dead, and i’m hopeful that it will live.

the porch swing.

ohhhhhhhh, ahhhhhhhhhh, omgggggahhhhhhhhhh.

two words:

porch. swing.

along with two more words:

cocktail.  hour.

when no other words will do, these four will save your life,  and probably save my new marriage from becoming an old stale/hateful one.

you think i’m kidding.

into the woods bathroom.

i can’t say that bed bath and beyond is my idea of a bastion of style, but this shower curtain is certainly one of my favorites.  we bought this with one of the gift cards bestowed on us for the wedding, and although the boy was initially unsure, once we put it up he quickly rescinded his previous doubt and fully embraced the stark tree silhouette greeting those entering our forest.  er, bathroom.

i like that it’s not too graphic-y, but not too nature-y either.  it’s a perfect balance, and about as close as we get to being outdoorsy.

time.

oh, summer.  i wondered if the summer would past too quickly, like the quick gulp of air you get between getting dunked in the pool repeatedly by an older brother; the abrupt breather between strenuous seasons.

thankfully, although it has been a full and somewhat quick summer, i don’t feel that way.

between finishing college, planning a wedding, pursuing and securing a job, and moving, the months from january to june were quite the blur.  my post-wedding june consisted of a house to establish, a marriage to enjoy, meals to cook and paperwork to fill out.  july has been a hot but glorious respite, and in my last two weeks before beginning my first year as a teacher, i feel like i’ve finally surfaced from my underwater dwelling and have actually had time to float, float, float.

the luxury of time will never be undervalued currency in my life.

the time for my soul to expand and breathe, the time for my exposed nerves to heal, the time for my mouth to open wide, wide as i laugh with friends i haven’t seen in what seems like ages, time to ingest food that came from the ground, made with my own hands, instead of from a paperbag crumpled in my grip.

time, sweet, time.

one of the things charming me, every day.

*     *     *     *     *     *

Tagged: life, lists, things charming me today ]]> http://thesaradarling.com/2010/07/27/things-charming-me-today-summer-installment-two/feed/ 0 sara, darling beverage central. bedding. bud vases. trip vases. succulent that doesn't suck. the porch swing forest curtain. time. http://thesaradarling.com/2010/07/15/scenes-from-a-thursday-afternoon/ http://thesaradarling.com/2010/07/15/scenes-from-a-thursday-afternoon/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:56:45 +0000 sara http://thesaradarling.com/?p=1579 ]]> the heat finally did me in.
i had to cut my long (well, it was really just medium-length, but long for me) hair short again.

so, the wondrous meg squeezed me in to her schedule and chopped my locks into a lovely new do.

which i wanted to share with you.

[i did not intend for that to rhyme].

exhibit a:

but the boy is very curious, and wanted to see what i was up to in my office.

[this is also a picture of my office, you see.
i'm all about the multi-tasking picture].

i got suspicious.

but he just wanted to kiss me.

which is always welcome.

except that then he tickled me.

and took a picture of it.

of course.

.

sneaky, that one.

Tagged: daily, life, picture pages, the boy ]]> http://thesaradarling.com/2010/07/15/scenes-from-a-thursday-afternoon/feed/ 1 sara, darling new hair. boy sneaky. boy kiss. boy tickle. http://thesaradarling.com/2009/10/18/sluggish/ http://thesaradarling.com/2009/10/18/sluggish/#comments Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:26:56 +0000 sara http://thesaradarling.com/?p=1332 ]]> i’ve been feeling  a little very sluggish lately.  the last month has been incredibly busy for both the boy and i, and thus we’ve spent less time cooking and more time eating out at the last minute, which, although tasty at the time, leaves us both feeling greasily like we’re weighted down with bricks.  bricks made of crap.

delightful, no?

as he and i were talking about this last night, after a healthy late night meal (at midnight) of jack quinn’s fried potatoes, i was realizing that the most exercise i had gotten in the last month was walking the three flights of stairs to my class.  once a week.  if that.  yikes.  an unfortunate occupational hazard for me is the requirements that make me spend copious amounts of time on my ass: reading, writing, typing, researching, meeting-ing, and making up new words like meeting-ing.

combine this with my tendency for naps over hikes, even when i’m not in school, and we’ve got a bad thing coming before too long.

time to change course.

i’m fighting inertia, busyness, and a long-term committed relationship with my bed, people, so i need some assistance reminding myself i’m alive and have working limbs.  especially when it is starting to get cold outside, making it even less appealing to venture out.  i’m going to need reinforcements.  thankfully, i’ve done this before, so i knew exactly what to do first:

ipod shuffle playlist.

awwwwwww, yeah.  i scoured my music and have a bitchin’ list of 54 songs that make me want to bounce about like a crazy person.   i’ll refine this playlist over the next few weeks of moving my elbows and knees about, tossing out the songs i thought i’d love but regularly skip over, adding new ones i hear (or that you SUGGEST to me, hint, hint*) until i get it right.  and this will work until about the end of the year, when inevitably i will want to  vomit every time i hear these songs and they have to go on hiatus.  but, that is months away, and i’m stoked (that’s right, 1980′s, i am STOKED) about my list.

MGMT, we have a date.  the beastie boys are my new running mates.  we’ll walk past all the haters, jill scott.  me and my musical posse, we’re totally on it.  who runs this town?  jay-z.  and me.

let the unslugging commence!

* this is more than a hint.  do it! don’t make me call you out like ira glass on a npr membership drive.  or kanye at the VMAs.  cough up your badass dance/workout/party songs.  YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

here’s what i’m not doing right now.

i’m not telling you about my day or week.  i’m not mentioning how arduous teaching a particular class was this week, like hauling 30 sophomores uphill, on my back, while they complain and, audibly in some cases, think that i suck.  i’m not worrying about the outcome of a lame situation that i have gotten myself into by accident.  i am not thinking about how tired i am.  i am not mulling over how much i need to work on, and how i feel like i will not ever be a good teacher because of reasons having to do with my personality. i’m not telling you about how technology keeps failing me.  i’m not telling you of my learning about just how much weight i’ve gained in two years of being in school/stress mode (and i feel every ounce of it) that feels too big to talk about, while feeling ultimately deficient in the will to change it.  i’m not telling you about how inspired i am daily by excellent teachers, being dazzled and amazed at their brilliance, while simultaneously feeling daunted and nervous that i will never be this good.  i won’t tell you about how much i want to be good at life, and how much i think about it.  i’m not telling you how many 15 year olds i bored this week, or how many told me so, or how many told me how i am their least favorite teacher.

to be fair, i’m also not telling you about the fortunate time i’m spending with my two favorite older nieces.  i’m not mentioning how adorable my youngest niece and nephew are, and how i can’t help but be in a good mood when i see their cute chubby little faces.  i can’t being to describe how nice it is to start to feel like you have a few good friends and have weekly time with said friend for once.  i’m not mentioning how awesome my drive to work is, an early morning technicolor explosion that only lasts a few weeks each year.  i’m not explaining how helpful my parents are in ways physical, emotional, and spiritual.  i am not raving about the boy (The Boy!) and how tangibly happy I am with him.  and i’m certainly not talking about how bitchin (that’s right, folks, BITCHIN) a small coterie of my student-teacher friends are who get together and share secrets and laughs over cocktails.  i will also not note that when i told a number of my students i was leaving next friday (to go to the middle school), they got very sad and wished that i was not leaving.

because it’s all there.

however, in the meantime…

my issues will not clear up overnight.  my students will not miraculously come in tomorrow, motivated to work.  i will not enter school tomorrow with magical new relationships with my students (which i feel is one of THE most important keys to my success in this endeavor) in an instant.  i will not suddenly sprout inspiring new insights about life, philosophy or early american literature with which i can inspire the masses.  my crisis of confidence, the one with the gnarled roots at the base of my whole life, will not disappear without effort, like it was just an unfortunate occurrence of indigestion.  this weekend i will not wake up and suddenly be unburdened and become thrilled with who i am.

i will also wake up and know there are any new amazing things that can happen each new day.  really.

these things, they take time.  but in the meantime…

ever looked at that word “meantime”?  the most difficult of times, the times in between where you were and where you so desperately want to be, can seem long.  and truthfully, they are long, because there is no “there” there.  there are new plateaus and new mountains around every corner.

and in the meantime…

mean.  time.  that’s what it is, because these stretchy long bits are MEAN.  angry, sometimes.  sad, can be.  MEAN REDS.  and small triumphs.  and, luckily for me, strong and capable people in lock-step with me (despite my tendency to want to hide from them occasionally, with copious amounts of chocolate and blankets to hide until the foreseeable future).

so.  in the meantime…

what do you do, besides forging onward (which i am doing)?  how do i deal with all this detritus, this stuff that is stuffing up my brain and my spirit and my energy.

give me a four step plan, please.

in the meantime, then, i am

not worrying about anything.
instead, i am praying about everything (and i mean EVERYTHING).
i am telling God what i need,
and thanking him for all he has done.  (phillippians 4:6)

WRIT LARGE.  ABOVE MY DESK.  if i could have this tattooed on my arm now, i would.

my four-step daily plan for dealing with stuff.  if that doesn’t work, do it again.  and again.  and again.  it’s working.  if it means you can keep going, it’s working.  if it means that it brings you peace sometimes, it’s working.  if it means you are saying it by force of will, it’s working.

if you want to know what it is that i’m doing at any given time, it is this.

all, of course, in the meantime.

let me say this, there are many expected pleasures of joining a CSA (community supported agriculture) group. [note: if you have no idea what a CSA is, go here or here to read more, but in short, you pay money up front and get a weekly delivery of organic, locally grown (my favorite part) basket of seasonal veggies/fruit/dairy or what you signed up for).  after you wheeze a little from the dent in your wallet (after all, even if it is a good deal, paying up front for anything necessitates a lie-down and the commencement of cocktail hour), you get a present each week of very fresh food from your CSA, or as i like to refer to it, the magical vegetable fairy.  convenient, healthy, all-granola and politically correct, you know, all that.

my parents and i decided to split a small vegetable share and a single fruit share (they have shares ranging from single to large family), and chose a pickup that is 1/4 mile from our house.  every tuesday, around 3:00, one of us goes with our bags in hand and picks up our loot.  we sort through the trade box to offload anything we have too much of or want more of, say hello to the other veggie-philes, and haul it home.  surpassing the expected plusses, however, is the unexpected good stuff.

i'm not going to lie, it feels a little like christmas, each time.

i get really excited to pick it up, peering inside the basket to see what awaits.  see, you don't ever know what you're going to get.  [insert overly-used and unfunny forrest gump chocolate box comparisons here.  or don't, because you're my friend.]  sure, there’s a calendar showing which foods are in season which months, but you don’t know which kinds, how much, what’s new, which farm had a frost…it’s a surprise.  and if i like anything, it’s gifty-surprises.  and the fact that this surprisey-spirit now surrounds not electronics, or clothes, or music – but vegetables. (side note: my family calls surprises  “sussies”, does yours?)  VEGETABLES.  now, i do enjoy vegetables, but in the busy-ness of life, i often forget how much.  i settle for the quick food that comes in its own packaging and requires no less than 30 seconds to get at it.

i’m food impatient, sometimes.

well, if we’re honest, i’m impatient about many more things.  i am a card-carrying member of the instant gratification league.

so this is why the CSA is perfect for me.  because it is conveniently inconvenient.

conveniently,
- it reminds me, weekly, to eat my vegetables
- it is overall much, much cheaper
- it supports local farmers
- i don’t wander around the grocery store figuring out what to buy; it makes the decision for me

inconveniently, but rather good for me:
- i’ve already paid for it, so regardless of whether i’m in the mood to eat veggies or not, i do.  i don’t like things to go intentionally to waste.
- it puts food in front of me, food i would never have chosen, and forces me to figure out a way to cook it; thus, i find new recipes.
- i have to clean all the vegetables and find a place for them, therefore making me LOOK AT EACH VEGETABLE and naturally think about when i’m going eat it and with what = built-in meal planning
- i have to spend TIME.  not a huge amount of time, mind you, but just time paying attention to what i’m eating.

good, good, good, SO GOOD for me.

now, lest we affix that healthy-halo a little too tightly to my head, let me say that not all my recipes are the healthiest.  i mean, put enough spices, oil/butter, sour cream and cheese on something, and i’ll make anything taste good.  but those are just first few weeks trials, as you get used to cooking new foods and fearfully add more fat so that you don’t disappoint your dinner companions.  or the weeks when i’m too tired to cook and clean up the meals (although it should be said that the boy actually likes doing the dishes, the weirdo, so i’m lucky).

also, what else can you do with that much dill or cilantro but make lots of creamy dips, I MEAN REALLY.

i have never bought so much buttermilk in my whole life; i now have the facts that the small container is $67 cents and is the exact amount i need memorized.

but it’s good.  it’s been one of my favorite things this summer, both visually (i took all of these pictures) and especially gustatorily.  this week i’m making salmon salad with dill sauce, lime-cilantro chicken fajitas with pea-pasta salad, and halibut fish tacos with greens and roasted radishes.

doesn’t this make me sound like a fancy cook, or even someone who cooks rather than only reads books about julia child and watch the food network, jealous?

good thing we all know the truth

thanks, magical vegetable fairy and sidekick fruitman, you’re making my life better.

so, i’m going to tell you the story of how i came to look like i got in a barfight, and why i forget things now and have to be santa in july – making my lists, and checking them more than twice.  this is going to be long, so feel free to just look at the pictures and cringe/recoil.  and then say nice things to me

when summer began, i had the bright idea that this summer i would begin to learn how to long board.  a long board (maybe longboard, if you are into that brevity thing) is just a skateboard that has different dimensions: it’s longer (obvs), and has larger wheels.  some argue this makes it easier to navigate.  all i know is that after years of skateboard envy and a very unsuccessful stint in learning (or not learning, in my case) how to snowboard, my desire to want to learn was at an all time high.  i was jealous.  i didn’t want to do tricks, i didn’t want to go fast, i just wanted to get from point A to B in this alternate form of excellent transportation.

i promptly announced this to the boy who decided that this was a sound endeavor, and that he, too, would learn.

good times.

our friend garrett, a long time longboarder, happened to have a very old board in his car that had been drafted into service as a furniture dolly.  he graciously lent it to us, and we freed the board of its unfortunate servitude in search of smoother pavement and a return to its true calling.

sounds grand, doesn’t it?

we were suprised to find that we took to it quicker than we had imagined.  we took it to a smooth parking lot near our church, turned up the music, and rolled around.

indeed.  it was lovely fun.

flash foward to last week, when i arrived at the boy’s house monday evening and we decided that we should board around a bit in before we ate dinner.  i was wearing flip-flops, so we walked up a block to my brother’s house and stole borrowed some shoes from my niece hayley who was napping there.  now, i had wanted to ride on the mostly flat road in front of the boy’s house, but in order to get there, we had to walk back down the block between my brother’s and the boy’s houses.  this road, it should be said, is also not steep, but it does have a downhill slope.  it also is much rougher than the pavement we had been riding on.  it didn’t look bad, so i decided to ride the ONE BLOCK to where we wanted to board around.

one measly little block.  oy.  what is that saying about the majority of accidents happening within 1 mile of your house?

anyway.  i hop on, going fairly straight.  i turned a little to my left, but generally was going straight because the rough road and the somewhat loose trucks on the board were making it a little wobbly = hard to maneuver and stay upright.

as the road got a little steeper, and i started going wobblier and faster, i decided that this would be an opportune time to divest myself of the board and regroup.  i was approaching an intersection full of holes and cracks, and did not want to crash in such an area.  being that the only way we knew how to stop was to jump off (which had worked successfully up until now), i made a quick decision to hop off.  girl genius, i am.

i should say that from start to finish, this entire scenario was about 20 seconds.

as soon as my feet meet the pavement upon hopping off the board, i quickly realized that i was going a bit too fast to simply hop off.  i start putting one foot in front of the other, hoping i can keep up running and slow myself down.

yeah, that didn’t work.

after a few steps, i fall on my left shoulder and right wrist.

and then…nothing.

totally blacked out for the next few minutes.

i woke up to a very fuzzy vision of the sky, the boy’s face on his phone saying something about our location, and two strangers staring at me.

the boy later tells me that he watched me fall, and it didn’t look too bad, so he just kept walking behind me (he was up the block watching me ride).  but then, i didn’t move or get up.  so he sprinted to where i was and asked me if i was okay.  my eyes were open, with a huge knot on my forehead the size of a ringbox, but i wasn’t saying anything and my eyes were rolling back in my head.

he freaked.  and by freaked, i mean he calmly took control of the situation and called 911 and stopped thinking about me being brain damaged for the remainder of my life.

so, when i woke up and realized the boy was calling an ambulance in my delirious state, i promptly said what anyone else would say: “i can’t afford an ambulance; i don’t have insurance.”  i am nothing if not pragmatic in traumatic situations

so the ambulance came quickly, checked me out, and we rode to the hospital.  once i was safely under the EMT’s care, the boy then became woozy and felt sick, having not eaten dinner and also witnessed me become unconscious with an orange under my scalp.  the EMT put an IV in, asked me a bunch of questions and told us that i had a hematoma, one of the largest they’ve ever seen, and i needed a CAT scan.  my vision had that blurry-edged feel that looks so great in photographs, but notsomuch in real life.  i also became really nauseated.

so we hang in the ER: the boy, me, and our longboard.  they give me painkillers, do a CT scan, it looks all clear; i fill out paperwork and we wait to get discharged.  all told, about 1.5 hours in the ER – the least time i’ve ever spent in one visit.  my parents were called and they picked us up from the ER.   the diagnosis was a good-sized concussion, sprains to my wrist (and neck too, although i didn’t really feel pain in my neck at the time), and abrasions on my arm and forehead.  weeks of recovery, and a large hospital bill.  good times.

i was feeling alright.  sore, beat-up, and with a fairly pounding headache, but altogether in good spirits.  apparently i was making sarcastic comments in the ER, as is my modus operandi for serious situations.  it makes me feel more normal.

this is what that first night looked like:

see?  i wasn’t worried, this would be fine.  swollen, sure, but otherwise happy.  the boy filled my prescriptions, got me in bed, and stayed in the guest room so he could watch me during the night and wake me up to make sure i was okay.  because that’s just how he rolls, in all his dreaminess.

i had no idea what i was dealing with.

the next three days ranged from painful to excessively painful, like, i would pay someone to cut my head off from the rest of my body.   i was up all night monday and wednesday night, and i went to the chiropractor on wednesday.  by thursday morning i was in such pain i had to see the doctor to get something to alleviate the pain from my neck, which was, at this point, immobile. they prescribed muscle relaxers, and i almost made out with the nurse right then and there.  seriously, muscle relaxers and ibuprofen were my dream cocktail, and i spent the weekend in dreamy haze, sleeping my pain away and trying to do productive things like, say, shower and talk coherently.  this is what wednesday/thursday looked like:

yep, that’s a swollen shut black eye and swollen head.   beautiful, no?

but now it’s monday, and i am finally feeling better.  and better means that i only take pain medication once a day, have more range of motion in my neck, and feel pretty spacey most of the time.  the temporal lobe handles focus and critical thinking, so a blow to that area means that i get dizzy often (even just sitting down), can only concentrate on writing or reading for about 15 minutes at a time, and get headaches from too much stimulation (tv, computer, people talking), etc.  according to my doctor, it can take a few months for this to fully go away.  this is great news, being that i will be student teaching while experiencing a daily hangover feeling this fall.  PARTY!  this also allows me to make very inappropriate domestic abuse comments when i go places with the boy so that he gets dirty looks.

just kidding.

but, i am thankful that it wasn’t more serious – brain surgery or death, like natasha richardson.  i am taking a few online classes, but have managed to not get behind.  i don’t have any huge pressing engagements right now, so i was able to take the entire week last week to recover without much worry.  although expensive, i will be able to (slowly) pay the bills, my parents have been cooking for me, and the boy has been nothing short of amazing in taking care of me.  get this: he even drives slower and more carefully when i’m in the car so as to not make any sudden moves that would make my head hurt.

seriously.

so now i just have to slowly make my way back to the land of the living.  i drove to school today ( i can only handle very short and straight distances), and was able to work for about 2 hours, and get a bunch of administrative things done that i needed to.  and then i took a good long nap because i was exhausted.  that’s what my life will be for awhile: many lists (as to not forget things), many breaks, taking things slow and putting off cutting my long bangs that currently cover up most of my black eye.

i feel the need to apologize to people for my face, or wear sunglasses indoors.  ironically, i had just told the boy the adage that there are only two kinds of people who wear sunglasses indoors: blind people and assholes.

and, apparently, head injury patients.

it hasn’t put me off longboarding, actually, i’m anxious to ride around again, but on FLAT roads with very smooth pavement.

the boy has already tightened the bolts on the board.

so, that’s the story, folks, with the much inquired about photos.

i’m sure the people of vancouver won’t care if i look like a hoodlum when i fly there next week, right?

fin.  the end.

- watching movies i’ve seen before when they come on television

- ordering in

- macaroni and cheese

- a really good conversation, preferably by a friend who knows you well enough to bring drinks over

- wearing the grey sweater i got 12 years ago from the gap that has a hole in the collar and too-long sleeves

- windows down, perfect song on loud, driving in the car

- holding hands

- looking at my baby nephew

- reading a quote that perfectly captures my thoughts

- a spontaneous matinee

- a tight hug from my dear

- iced tea (summer), tea (winter)

- almost anything from the container store (true)

- getting lost in a story

- talking to god, informally

- stolen naps

- specific compliments from unlikely sources, or likely ones (i’m not picky.)

- brushing my teeth

answer:

definitely.

spring is a very good time to fall in love.

for the first time.

or, again…

friday afternoon:

- getting all of my stuff out of my old car, and bidding a fond (and sad) farewell.

- remarking to the boy that i’m glad i took pictures of myself in my car now that its gone.

saturday:

- another trip to target, then to the y for some running.

- stopped by tucker & julie’s (brother & sister-in-law) on the way back to the boy’s house, since they now live only 5 minutes away from each other. a fantastic fall day (one of the last, i’m sure) in the yard and puttering around.

the boys working on tucker’s vespa.

julie & addison enjoying some swinging time.

and many, many cute pictures of addie. i’m totally biased, but she is SOOOO cute. because of her amount of cuteness, however, my brother is convinced that his new son will be uncute. he’s only kind of kidding.

sunday:

- church, then hamburgers and sharing malts with the boy. i’m pretty sure we’re going steady now, but i’m still waiting for his letter sweater.

- a small nap

- working on work and school, and not wanting to do either. whatever doesn’t get done today gets done tomorrow.