I....I predict a riot.

~kaiser chiefs

my dear friend lisa b-w called me out on my lack of blogging last night, and I realized that she is right. :)

so here's what I'll tell you...

I read The Time Machine.
I'm now reading The Girl Who Pl@yed With Fire. And you know what? The front cover is CHEEEEESY. I didn't even notice how cheesy until yesterday. But it's cheesy.

Last weekend was very wonderful and very, very much needed. I went to Ohio to see Jessica. Jessica my bridesmaid, Jessica my friend of forever, Jessica the awesome. We decorated more of her little girl's room (Jessica's due in late September) and did a whole lot of sewing. Some of it I'll be putting on my photography blog, and some of it I have to wait to tell you about until after tomorrow because it's a surprise for her husband Cody.

we also made pi0neer w0man's watermelon granita. and it was DELISH. we really, really loved it. it was kind of hysterical getting the pans of granita in her freezer (she has the double-door fridge/freezer) and we almost got granita everywhere because I was laughing hysterically, but it made it in, and we ate it. and ate it. and ate it. mmmm...oh and the watermelon we got was amazingly ripe. and in the picture with the knife, all I had done was push the point of the knife into the rind and it split like this. crazy!

also, we went to the farmer's market (I have pictures, I'll add 'em later) and we found out about Ludlow cheese. It is UNREAL. And it's pasteurized. I liked it so much I got information from the farmer because they ship their cheese. We made tacos on Saturday night, along with guac and our watermelon granitas, and you know how usually in tacos it's the beef that steals the show? Well we had ground turkey, and let me tell you--I didn't even notice anything other than the deliciousness of that ludlow.

what else, what else....

yesterday we won our softball game, which made me very very happy! I love my team, but it's been a bit hard playing on it this season 'cause we've not been winning much. I firmly believe it's how you play the game that matters, but let's be honest, it's nice to win sometimes! So I was super excited to win! After our last game I told our team that if we won our next one I'd buy the first round when we went out to eat. We went to a Mexican food place in Morrisville, and I totally lucked out--because I give you Girl Scout's honor I didn't know, but draft beers were only 99 cents! Matt and I had dinner and bought a round of beer for $16.32! AMAZING!

tonight I'm going to the Bull's game with the KayDees and tomorrow I head to Charlotte for the wedding of the fabulous Thomas and Suzanne!

I've been reading.

a lot.

and I decided I should try and write out the books I've read this year. It's probably the most I've read in a loooong time. ready?


The Lost Symbol
(most of) Italian Survival Guide
Unwind
The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay
The Underland Chronicles: Gregor the Overlander
The Underland Chronicles: Gregor and the Prophecy of the Bane
A Discovery of Witches (which I LOVED)
Her Fearful Symmetry
and I think there were one or two more but I'm not recalling right now...

and I'm currently reading
The Alchemist
The Time Machine

and I have a bunch of other books waiting at home for me to read, but I am ADDICTED to reading on a kindle. especially because I can read it on my iphone when, say, I am waiting in line. or at lunch. LOVE that.

I've been reading, too, as a kind of stress releasing thing. When I was in college I would allow myself to read Harry Potter for 10 minutes every night, no matter how busy I was or tired I was, because it was something fun to do! So I'm trying to read just a little bit every night. And I like it.

Any book recommendations?

I think I am nesting.

not in the way that you say it about pregnant women (not pregnant, y'see), but in the way where we've decided to continue to reside in our home for a while, so we're re-appropriating the space. and the previous most-eyesore-ish of a room is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

but I am showing the "the tendency to arrange one's immediate surroundings, such as a work station, to create a place where one feels secure, comfortable, or in control." (here)

I was too ashamed to take a "before" picture, and we're still working on it. but the room is going to be pretty kickin' when we're done.

But, here are some in progress pics: Namely, clockwise from top left, "Sweet Mustard" paint, a piece of art to color-coordinate in the room, said "free desk" pre-painting (and relocated from who knows where before) and the moved and reorganized shelf! The color-order part of it is (understandably) distressing to some people (oh, no! the harry potter books aren't all together! how will you find them?) but it makes me very happy! I have plans to re-work the books a little so that some of the pink from the top middle shelf spills over onto the shelf o' white books at the top left, and it was also suggested that instead of putting my little knick-knacks and chotchkies (Matt says that word in a hilarious way, ps) with their matching colors, perhaps I should put them with complimentary colors instead. we shall see.

Next up on the list: (in no particular order)
-fill magazine holders w/ magazines that are throughout the house
-go through the boxes of stuff that were under the desks
-put bins in the other shelf and fill them as needed (cat stuff, exercise stuff, games, who knows what else)
-return Nicole's silverware! neither of us realized I still had it!
-decide what to do about my kl!ppan loveseat! (re-cover? donate?)
-decide what to do about my tullst@ chair. (re-cover? try to re-cover myself?)
-get a slip cover for matt's beloved recliner
-maybe build/buy/create some kind of a cover for the litter boxes?
-decorate!!! (cover the fuse box with something easy-to-remove, potentially put up our beer decor we've been collecting)
-decide how to paint the vintage metal file drawer I bought a while ago. (on my birthday weekend!) not totally unlike this one. it is currently dark green, a little rusty in places and definitely needs to be cleaned off. I'm thinking it might end up in a metallic something or other. possibly pewter or silver? I dunno. I need to see how it looks on/near the desk :)

and also? attack the other rooms. I keep telling Matt how different our house is going to look in a few months! Let's hope I'm right!

let's see here...DC.

I have, let me see...ZERO pictures from our quick jaunt up to DC a few weeks ago--but let me tell you, it was worth it.

We went to meet the cutest little girl. Her name is Lily. You probably have heard tell of her parents--Mary Alise and Michael. I've known them for...whoa. Is it nearly seven years? Or going on six years? I'm not sure. But in any case, Mary Alise is one of my best friends, and Michael is like the older brother I never had. And I love them very very much. And I love their little girl too.

She was fussy and sleepy, but she was also so cuddly and warm and loving. And I look forward to taking her on a roller coaster in, like, twelve years. Mary Alise and Michael don't *do* roller coasters--so "Aunt" Carrie and "Uncle" Matt have agreed to take on that duty. :)

We left for DC at, oh, 11am-ish. I had been at a wedding in Burlington the night before and got home around midnight. So we packed up and headed their way! We got there around 5 (traffic. bruegger's. gas. bathroom stops. more traffic.) and hung out for a bit, held Lily for a good while, talked about poop and breastfeeding and the joy of getting enough sleep, and ate some yummy pizza.

And then? Crazy folks that we are--we hit the road to return to Durham. We brought stuff to stay the night, but decided to drive back instead. I guess we left at like 930? And got home at like 2. Matt wanted to get back so he could go to the teacher workday that Monday, and I figured I'd just go to work late on Monday instead of taking PTO. Plus, no $$ on a hotel! (they would've let us stay with them, too, but we didn't want to disrupt their system!)

I am already looking forward to seeing that little cutie pie again! And of course my dear friends. :) Yay for dear friends having babies! Quite a few have in the past year and a half! And of course I have two new nieces in the last year too! :)

it occurs to me that...

it's been nearly a month since I last posted. for shame. for shame!

it's actually really refreshing knowing that we are staying in our house for a while longer. it means we can DO things. and it's worth our while to organize and decorate further. okay, well, let's be real...it's always (almost) worth it to organize further. decorate? eh, not so much.

it has been far too long since I last did something "creative." okay, that might be a bit over the top too. technically photography is being creative. but girlfriend needs to paint. or sew. or craft. anybody want to come craft at my house? my pinterest is full of ideas. :)

I have lots of stories to tell you. I'll get right on that. to hold me accountable, we've got DC, Asheville, Charlotte and Oklahoma to talk about. el pronto.