"I rescue burning babies from trees. with my puppy."

~geoffrey the giraffe

who was our server at Six Plates. Which Jennifer and I looooooooove. It's where we go on our "date nights" and it makes me happy. I took pictures of our delicious meal on Thursday but I am too lazy to upload them.

suffice it to say--their cheese plate NEVER disappoints, we love their lamby joes, and since they're returned to having unusual gelato/ice cream flavors again, we are in heaven! we had plum and and apricot something or other, I think. and I can't recall the third but they were amazing.

AND the dude at the table next to us, named Jay, secretly bought us our first round. I've only had that happen a handful of times in my life (Misha, remember when that dude on the Oklahoma Senate or whatever bought our drinks at Friday's when you took me out on my birthday after studied for the FE?)

so, yeah. pretty awesome. and a welcome surprise for our pocket books!

this weekend though--this weekend was a doozie. as someone at lisa & richard's party put it "man, you really ramp up on the weekend, huh?" and, um, yeah. it was a little insane.

friday was low key. matt and I rejoiced in going to bed before 1130. It was joyous!

Saturday Matt had a 1010 soccer game and I had a 10am newborn shoot. In Carrboro. And then a 1pm baptism in Wake Forest. It was CRAZY! Tulsa people, that's like a drive from Claremore to Mounds. With a photo shoot and a costume change inbetween!

And we followed it up with a fabulous engagement party. And then, when we got home around 545, I took a two hour nap. And it was amazing. :)

Sunday was better, but still pretty ridiculous. We went into the beginning of last week with only two things to do--the baptism and engagement party--but it quickly spiraled. Therefore, next weekend we are trying to be as chill as possible. Whew! I do have a day o' photography on Saturday, but other than that, we want to relaaaaax.

and I am also going to try to make my very own eggs benedict because I love it so much. wish me luck! especially because matt has agreed to "try" it, so if he hates it he'll probably never ever try it again!

tomatoes, tomatoes everywhere

okay, so as I have told y'all many times, I really really like my CSA. reasonable prices, delicious produce and meat and so freaking convenient! but...except...sometimes...

well, sometimes they are out of the things I want. over and over again. they haven't had beef or chicken or eggs for three weeks running. and I don't really eat pork--it's not on principle or anything, I just don't really care for it other than as a breakfast food. I have actually only made porkchops ONCE in my life, by the way. but anyway...

so as my weekly CSA rolls around I find that I keep ordering gobs and gobs of tomatoes because I don't know what else to get. I mean, I have other produce, sure, but tomatoes always round it out.

luckily, my friend Maria posted this link yesterday about what to do with all those tomatoes. and there are a few recipes I'd like to add...

1. I call them mo-bas-tom sticks. It's an awesome appetizer. mozz cheese + fresh basil + cherry tomatoes or chunks of tomatoes all on a toothpick. You want to put the cheese on last and use it to dip in some balsamic vinegar. SO yummy. I have these at parties and by the end of the night they are always ALL gone. :)

2. smothered chicken. mmm mmm mmm. AND you can make it in your microwave! I often substitute the mayo for plain fat free yogurt (which also makes a cameo in my green smoothies). I change this recipe around a little, though. I don't use the tomato paste, I cut up a tomato or too and add them in. Sometimes I put 'em in a blender first to make 'em more paste-like.

3. this is on my top 5 list of meals I make that I LOVE. chicken with paprika sauce--mmmmm! I always add garlic to this dish. next time I make it I'm trying whole wheat egg noodles. this is a great dish for reheating, too. tum!

4. pasta with chicken, tomato and feta. another delightful use for tomatoes. and the abundant basil! yum!

and on that note--if anyone in my neck of the woods needs some basil PLEASE let me know. I have so, so, SO much. I even made homemade pizza (another good use of tomatoes!) this weekend and although I removed 2+ cups worth of basil from my plants it looks like I didn't even touch them!!

what are your favorite tomato-using-up dishes?

"changed for good."

~wicked

so, I wasn't going to post this. I've left it as a draft since monday. I've been doing that a lot. but I was talking to Lisa and it made me want to share this with y'all...

as recently as a month ago, and as long as four months and nine days ago, I would have emphatically informed you that being married "isn't really all that different." and I meant it.

and it isn't that suddenly it's all THAT different. but the dust has settled. and we have settled in. and our roller coaster has become more like a sunday drive and less like a tumultuous, heart-in-your-throat, weightless then pressed to the seat kind of journey like it was before. a calm has come over us. and I like it.

and now we are able to make PLANS. not plans like what we're doing this friday (by the way the answer is NOTHING and we intend on keeping it that way!) but plans as in how we'd like our life to unfold. I touched on this when I mentioned the dave ramsey book (we are still trudging through, btw).

and for all that we're doing, it still feels like that sunday drive. and I like it. Matt and I argue/disagree less, now (but, still, no one ever wins our fights. per usual), and we say " I love you" more. And it makes me really, really happy.

the end. :)

trouble....deep, deep trouble...

I remember when I was a kid and it was terrible that my mom let me watch The Simpsons because of the burping and the crudeness. I distinctly recall thinking that was ridiculous, the show was funny and I really liked Lisa. :)

I know there are lines when it comes to language and behavior and appropriateness--regarding cursing, racial slurs and discussing politics and religion at the dinner table. I sometimes blur, bend or break them, but I also know they're there for a good purpose.

However, this morning *I* was appalled by the story on the BBC world service. As I drove into work, drinking my coffee and eating my breakfast sandwich, they were telling a story about some people somewhere--I could've told you where, but then the following happened....

during my less-than-ten-minutes drive to work, and within three minutes of one another I heard the following phrases "three people were hacked to death..." and "he was drug along by a rope tied around his genitalia."

I heard these phrases on free public radio while I ate my breakfast.

and I was disgusted and kind of lost my appetite.

and I kind of can't believe they are allowed to say those phrases on the radio. I mean I KNOW that's as sterile as you can get for explaining those situations--but did they have to use the word hacked? and more importantly, did they HAVE to specify how he was dragged? I get letting the people know the real severity of the situation, and the horrors of others' actions, but WHAT? You can say that on the radio at 930 in the morning?

gracious.

okay, dave ramsey...

Matt and I have just started reading a Dave Ramsey book. The Total Money Makeover. His brother George had been URGING us to read it. He actually bought us our very own copy and mailed it from Colorado. He also sent us the Financial Peace University book and the Sink Reflections/FlyLady book about cleaning and organizing and decluttering.

Although some of you might be thinking that those kind of gifts are kind of like when a man gives a woman a new mop for Valentine's Day, for us it was a much-desired tool for improving our lives.

I've been reading the FlyLady book and although we aren't doing all of the things it says (because the book is geared towards stay at home moms), we are already learning some useful tools. Within 10 minutes of reading I had already gained knowledge and could actually DO something. I appreciated that.

Yesterday Matt and I read, together, the full intro to the Total Money Makeover book. We also read the first 10ish pages of the book. We spent 45 minutes reading the dang thing, and when we were done we had learned nothing to help us in any way. Oh, we definitely learned what the book is NOT and how DR came to writing it, his life situations that he's recovered from, that this information is from God and your grandmother and about the people who lost it all in 2008.

We realized that Matt and I are reading this book because people we love and care about have said such good things about it. It occurred to us that most people reading it NEED to be convinced and they need to be shown examples of this book's amazingness. We get it. But we have George and George who are advocates of this system, and Leanne is too. So we didn't need further encouragement, you know? But still. So.

So I decided to just "flip through" to see how long it would take to get "instructions." And I finally found baby step one in Chapter 6, many many pages into the book. And, fortunately, it's something we already have. We are also already working on baby step 2. But DANG. Six chapters in a self-help type book before you get to any meat??? I don't mean to be insensitive, but I'm glad this isn't a book about depression or having ADD, because really??? yikes.

anyway. we will read more tonight, I am sure. but I just had to rant about that. it's like a chemistry textbook waiting 60 pages to tell you what an element is and instead just trying to convince you, up front, that chemistry is scientifically sound. or something. it just kind of boggles.

live a life less ordinary.

~carbon leaf

I previously used the second part of this song lyric as a title. now it's time for the beginning. and I think it's kind of funny that I have to double-check every time I use lyrics for a title unless I found out about a band in the past, like, two months. :)

anyway...

this is a post about being grateful. and about embracing contradictions. and the like.

but first, a tangent: I am often reminded of my "super-skinny" days. the days where I weighed ~105 pounds. all through college. I am 5 feet 5.5 inches--you do the math, that is not a healthy weight. however, sometimes I look at the number on my clothes or see old pictures and I must remind myself that college Carrie was WAY too little. way.

and that takes my brain down the road of what has happened since college. how I came to north carolina. about the jobs I've had since I came here, and how that stupid job at the gap is actually what brought me to my current job. and the life changes that have taken place in the last seven years. and in hindsight, I realize it was all part of a grander plan.

for me to find matt.
and for me to embrace the gifts I've been given.
and for me to be me.

I guess I've just been thinking a lot about it the past few days because at lunch earlier this week someone asked me how old I was--and I told them I turn 30 in two months and change. My other co-worker corrected me--Carrie, you are 29--TWENTY-NINE. Don't round up.

I told her I am EXCITED about being thirty. I told them both that thirty is not old. I told them that when I am in my thirties I am going to experience some pretty fantastic things. I am going to go to Italy. I will go to Europe for the first time in my life. Hell, it'll be the first time I've been on another continent.

When I am in my thirties I will (hopefully) have babies. Plural. Perhaps a George or Cleona/Claire or Lilah or Nathaniel. Only time will tell.

When I am in my thirties I will celebrate ten years of life with Matt. And he and I will buy our first real house. With a yard that he mows. A yard with space for a garden. And where our children will play.

I will remain a photographer AND an engineer. (which is, to most people, a contradiction. and I have actually been told it isn't FAIR, by the way. I find that humorous. anyway...) And maybe I will go to grad school again. Matt will most definitely go to grad school. with any luck I will finish up my 50 states photography project in my thirties.

And actually, now that I think of it, in my thirties I will meet my new niece Cameron, and hopefully many other nieces and nephews. And also my "nieces" and "nephews"--aka my dearest friends' children.

And as I sat on the couch last night with Matt I just kept thinking about life choices. And how "green" I've become. And how many people tell me about their green accomplishments when I see them. And the roundabout way in which I became a photographer. And an air quality engineer. and how DIFFERENT that is from me 10 years ago. and how different it is from what I used to think my life would be. And I realize that were it not for moving to North Carolina, were it not for the friends I have made here, were it not for my contradictory nature (hello, libra-scorpio combo), were it not for the innate skills I didn't even realize I had...well...for one I don't think this blog post would exist :)

and I am grateful. even in the chaos that's happening right now, I remind myself that I am grateful.

anyway. enough is enough, yes? thank you for reading. I know I will come back to read this when I get frustrated or overwhelmed. and when I turn thirty, just in case anyone tells me they think I'm old. :D

"together we can take a cake or two"

~maryanna sokol*

*who happens to know my friend renee, btw. and maryanna's music is pretty awesome, methinks.

did you know that I have started, like, four blog posts and saved them as drafts this week?

I started to tell you about the changes I made to my diet, but then decided it wasn't interesting enough. to sum up: green smoothies. with ground flax seed. eating an egg over hard with only 1/3 of the yolk and a light english muffin every morning (sometimes with tomatoes, often with avocado and always with reduced fat cheese--the cabot stuff is amazing AND real, actual non-plastic cheese.)

I started to tell you how this weekend Matt and I had a huge talk about baby names and how I fell in love with a boy's name that I didn't even know I liked. All because I looked up "old fashioned boy's names" on our way to Charleston. we were there to shoot a wedding, by the by.

if you're curious, the name is Nathaniel. more specifically, Nathaniel Jahue. Matt and I are gonna have to have a lot of kids in order to use all the names we've cooked up, ha!

last night matt and I finished the second of the national treasurers. oh, how I love those movies. I also like watching movies I've already seen while I edit--because it takes most of my attention to edit properly :)

um, yeah. that's it. kind of exciting, kind of ho-hum. kind of okay with me. :)

"and this, is my brain. its torturous analytical thoughts make me go insane. and I use mouthwash. sometimes I floss."

I've got a family and I drink cups of tea.

~kate nash.

recent developments:
I have been quite successful in my giving up of soda. I will drink it with liquor, and occasionally splurge on the deliciousness that is Dr Pepper or root beer. But I used to drink one every day. Then it became every other day. And now I think I haven't had more than one a week, often less, since before our honeymoon.

I am also down 7 pounds since early april and have set a goal of losing 5 more by my 30th birthday. and after that, I have zero desire to lose anymore. just for the record.

work is, once again, making me want to cry. and if I hear my project lead say one more time about how our goal should be to make the client happy, I might throw something! it's not that I disagree with her--it's that not charging for her extra time means they will think we can do this again. and we can't.

and, uh...other recent development: the following isn't actually happening. for, like, a long time. we're just TALKING ABOUT IT as though it is happening, oh, tomorrow. I have kind of become my sister's financial permission-giver. Like, I hold the checks. Ish. It's not all totally set up yet, but I will be the "check" before she can get $. I knew this was coming. I thought I would have to worry about this when we were, say, in our sixties. But nope. I don't really feel comfortable sharing all the gory details, but let's just say I had no idea it would happen so soon and I am SO not up for it right now. however, this part still applie....I have a lot of ranting I could do involving my sister and her expectations but suffice it to say: just the thought of thinking about it is leaving me exhausted. gracious.

this weekend is the last time until NOVEMBER that I have formalized plans to go out of town. we might go to the mountains for a weekend or something, but other than that, I don't have out-of-town weddings or friends to visit or anything like that. I need to take a trip to Texas at some point, if I can, to do pictures in Dallas (which makes me want to see if I could perhaps squeeze in a visit to both San Antonio and Houston, but going to all of those places in one visit isn't really possible).

I am really looking forward to being home so we can organize our un-organized spots, order our new couch and convert our guest room into more of a "Carrie-space." I am pretty pleased that we really only need to tackle our garage, guest room closet and bedroom. Which might sound like a lot to you, but since it means we've already been cleaning and purging and organizing in our kitchen, living room, dining area, guest room and bonus room, I think it's a definite positive. AND we can have guests over now without a mad dash, and I really like that too.

:)

post-party damage control

le sigh.

this weekend we had a beer tasting. it was really fun! there were thirteen of us. we were supposed to have eighteen, but people's plans changed last minute. it was probably a bit of a blessing in disguise, however, because our living room was pretty full as it was. if there had been more people it definitely would've been cozy.

that's all of the beer we polished off. we gave people 37 beers--and everyone drank ~ 1 ounce per type in their little Ikea glass with their beer band around it.

but so, about that damage control. well, let's put it this way: we are blessed with many, many friends. we live in a townhome that has plenty of room for us, and adequate room for small parties. groups larger than 20 require segregation into different areas of the house, which is not ideal for a beer tasting. I suppose we could've had, in essence, two beer tastings (one in our living room, one in the basement) but that would've meant I didn't spend the evening with Matt--and I am SO not up for that. we also have inadequate parking availability and, well, it's just how it worked out. we did not get to invite everyone we would have liked. it's how the cookie crumbled.

we invited people we hadn't seen in a long while. we didn't even do courtesy invitations. I didn't even invite some of our friends who I knew were going to be out of town or unable to come--just because I figured the more people we invited, the more likely someone who wasn't invited would find out about our party and have their feelings hurt.

Matt thought I was being paranoid. Um, no. This morning I have already sent out two "I didn't mean to offend you" emails. I am afraid I'm going to have to have a little chat with the "boo-er" as well. It ain't pretty. And it's a little frustrating because none of this would've been a problem if people had just taken a little closer look at the guest list :)

does this ever happen to anyone? whether inviting over a a friend or two, or a couple, or whatever? because I worry about this kind of stuff EVERY time we have people over. It actually made planning our wedding events a huge pain in the ass because any shower or whatever needed to be held at a place that would accommodate 50 people because I didn't want to hurt any feelings. it was out of control, I tell ya. dad-gum libra tendencies :)

In any case, though, the party was fun. I don't think any permanent damage was done. And we had a very relaxing and productive Saturday in our CLEAN home. We need to tackle our bedroom, the guest room closet, the garage and the basement, but over all our house looks quite put together. and that pleases me greatly! maybe, just maybe, we will share pictures soon. maybe.

"you're one of our *elite* patients."

~my ear, nose and throat doctor

goody, goody gumdrops. that is JUST what I like to hear from my doctor--completely makes my day. he also told me that we're going to have to go outside of the textbooks with me, now, and that if the test of the gunk in my sinuses comes back positive we might get me some kind of machine with which to take my antibiotics. apparently it's some kind of special aerator thingie, and it makes it so the antibiotics are ONLY present in your sinuses instead of in your whole body.

which, I think, is kind of awesome because I really, really don't like using antibiotics but when it comes to my nose, I know that if it's bad enough I've gotta. so I REALLY like the idea of concentrating it to just the area that it's actually needed instead of giving my whole body a dose.

today, as I sat in my doctor's office I also couldn't help but think how VERY awesome it is that he is actually quite anti-medicine. I mean, he kept saying things like "we want to keep the drugs out of your system" and "we need to give you as few medicines as possible." I think this is probably because when I was starting my sublingual allergy therapy (aka allergy drops underneath my tongue instead of shots) and he told me it usually took people 3-5 years to complete their therapy I said "um....what happens when/if I get pregnant during this timeframe?"

but back to that elite patient thing--we joked about how maybe I should get a certificate. or a plaque. because I've been seeing him for five and a half years. because I've had two sinus surgeries and I'm a regular enough patient that the people there KNOW me. not as well as my sushi lady, but well enough. and because now we get to play a "guessing game" instead of do the normal treatment.

'cause I'm doing all of the things they've told me to, and all of the things I know, and it just ain't cutting the mustard.

on the plus side, though? I am SO, SO, SOSOSOSOSOSO much better off, sinus wise, than I was 5 years ago. The kind of congestion I have now is a cake walk compared to what used to happen. So I think I am definitely on the right track. And I might get a certificate out of the deal. ;)

i have a million things to tell you

but you just get one for today. or, mebbe two.

playing catcher is a dirty job. this is from my softball game two weeks ago. you can't fully tell, but I am COVERED in dirt. I mean--check out my ankles, huh? and, chec out what's stacked up behind me in front of that red shelf! yep, it's boulevard wheat that Steve and Harvey brought me when they came to visit :)


we have another game tonight. I hope it doesn't get rained out.

also, the weekend before this picture was taken my friends katie and taylor got engaged and taylor made sure there was a photographer there to capture it! that'd be me, of course! so here's a few from that, too! and a picture of the brunch-goers in the morning, too :)

more soon! about our honeymoon and other fun topics. :)

my princess bride moment. or, the life lesson of how things are always better when you know the whole story.

on saturday night, while celebrating the engagement of my fabulous friends taylor and katie, I had a moment of that awesome combined feeling of anger and being ashamed.

you know the one. where someone calls you out on something, or says something that is totally uncalled for but is clearly them judging you, and it makes you feel/look bad? yeah, that.

this time it was one of the "friends" who is a professional photographer. (and clearly, I'm not meaning nicole!) we were on our way to a second bar and she was, quite literally, standing at the entrance to the outdoor patio/alley and yelling "BOOOOO! BOOOOO!"

I was kind of waiting for her to jump into the "rubbish, filth, slime, muck" part. So I walked away and left her booing at me.

oh, and by the by, she was booing at me for two reasons. 1. I did not have my 7D in my purse. 2. I own a point and shoot. And when I said "Um, I own a point and shoot because it's handy and because I don't always want to carry around $3k in camera equipment." She started booing. Oh, and did I mention her nice camera that she'd just used to shoot a wedding wasn't in her purse, either--it was in her car?

yeah. so, we have a history, and her comment was quite upsetting. so as Matt and I are walking down the stairs I'm saying to him "can we stop before we go inside? I just need to complain about this for like 10 seconds and get it out of my system."

and then a crazy thing happened--a girl who was by herself and going up those stairs stopped and said--"me too. so tell me about it. and I'll tell you." so I DID. and she said "well, that's pretty awful of her, but...why do you even care what she thinks?" and I said, "well, it was totally rude and ridiculous, but you have a really good point there." she told me how her recent-ex-boyf was out on the town and flirting with the gals and it was like he was doing it to annoy her 'cause he saw she was there. and I told her that he's an ass and she can do better if that's how he's going to behave.

whew!

also, not 15 minutes later, the Boo-er and her husband were sent home, in a cab, because they were both really crazy drunk. turns out she'd been drinking wine at the wedding for like three hours, and then turned to martinis at the bar when she met us.

this all felt a lot less like an attack when it became evident that she was superdrunk.

and reminded me that I need to think a lot more about whose opinion I value. and whose I blow off. it's like how kristin was telling us this weekend about the hateful, horrible things students said to her during her first year of teaching. and how she would go home and cry her eyes out. but how by the end of the year she realized they weren't worth the tears and would just respond by telling them "nice. haven't heard that before." or "can't you come up with something original" or something else to just make it not matter.

anyway. all in all a weird experience.

picture from T&K's engagement soon. There was a surprise party and it was so much fun, awkward life-lesson moment notwithstanding. :)

the post where I complain.

I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.

I do. I swear. But right now I kind of want to yell "screw you, stupid job!" and walk out the door. Or at least take a day off.

Yes, my honeymoon is coming up. And yes, I'll be able to take that week off, yessiree. But...

so, my days have been going a little something like this: get up later than I am supposed to. hurry in to work. work all day at a level that is far below my actual capacity--except I can't even come close to that capacity because I am so damn tired. head home after 9 or 10 hours, eat food, edit pictures, work on cleaning my house for Harvey's visit. Go to bed too late because I didn't even get home until 8pm.

repeat.

and the worst part is: when I, say, stayed up until 130 am on monday night cleaning up all of the damn ants that had invaded my kitchen, what I REALLY wanted to do is say "okay, work, I'll be in at noon." Or next week, when my brother Harvey and his dad Steve visit, what I really want to do is use my PTO.

except I can't. I mean, like, legally-speaking I could do so. But between my workaholic project lead and my I-don't-think-she-ever-sleeps lead at the place who contracted us, taking off work is pretty much not an option. and it frustrates the ever-living crap out of me.

and it's because I'm in the midst of this.

and I hate it because I KNOW I am doing a sub-par job. And I KNOW I could do better. I am capable of much better. But I just don't CARE about it right now. Instead I'm just trying to trudge through it and get to the end of this craziness and then, hopefully, resume working a normal-ish schedule. One where I get to work earlier, work a full day and then go home. Take my salaried amount and roll out instead of working overtime every damn day.

(and for the record--I know lots of Chemical Engineers work 50-60+ hour weeks. but they get paid a bajillion dollars more a year than I do. or probably 1.5-2 times as much. one of the perks of my job is that I'm supposed to work a 40 hour week and be done with it. and that is why I am more than happy to get paid less than the ChEs who work their rears off every single week putting in lots of extra hours. I get why they do it, but it's not what I want to do. anyway.)

so now I am regretting things such as:
-going out of town last weekend (though it was superfun)
-being out of town this coming saturday night.
-buying tickets to see RENT this evening
-opting to watch 45 minutes of TV last night.
-oversleeping (again) this morning
-taking the time to type out this blog post.
-etc.

please excuse my whining. I know I am lucky to have a job, and especially one that makes a difference and is important to me. And especially in this economy. But even though I am fortunate in those regards, I think it's fair to say that I am also in a pretty yucky situation. le sigh.

going greener by using plastic.

no, really...

so, I am an advocate of eating locally. it is important! it reduces waste! it is very good for you AND for the planet! it supports the local economy. etc.

and I take part in a CSA that comes to my work. the food is DELICIOUS. I am so glad I do it. but sometimes...

sometimes I have WAY more food than I can handle. Matt and I get $12 worth of local produce every week--which may not sound like a ton when eggs are $4 a dozen. But bell peppers are 75 cents a piece, and a POUND of green beans is only $2.50. And there are a lot of green beans in a pound. Certainly more than two people would eat in a week! Even if they do happen to be extra yummy local green beans.

so, I decided to go out on a limb and try some Debbie Meyer Green bags. I had seen them many times and always balked at them. Add more PLASTIC to my life??! Puh-leeze. I don't need no stinkin' plastic...

except I did need a way to keep my veggies fresh longer. my kale for my green smoothies was wilting at an alarming rate, and my strawberries were going bad quite rapidly! so I invested.

and you know what? they rock. because:
1. as I type this, there is kale in a bag that has been in my fridge for TWO WEEKS tomorrow. and is still crispy.
2. I was able to keep strawberries perfectly ripe for over a week using these bags.
3. They are reusable up to ten times. You just rinse the bag with water, let it dry and voila! New bag to keep your fruits and veggies fresh.
4. They are see-through. Which is awesome, too! No mystery containers in your fridge.
5. They are affordable. Which rules. $12 for 20 bags that can be used 10 times a piece?? After the third time they made my produce last longer they had paid for themselves!

And a tip: make sure you close the bag up tight! I sometimes use clips (which they don't advocate, but I am careful!) and I will twist and fold until I'm sure it's closed up.

try 'em, you just might like 'em!!

symbolizing hope for an everlasting union between two people...

last thanksgiving my friend gurdas mentioned that he would like it if I would paint something for him. he would pay me, he said, but he was kind light on the requests. he said colors, maybe red and yellow, maybe blues, maybe greens. and he said he wanted something on the bigger side of the size spectrum.

I had been wondering for MONTHS what to paint for him. I had no idea what to paint. I hadn't had time to paint, either, which helped, but really, I felt like I was at a loss. and then one day, I started thinking "what flowers come in reds?"

because, you see, I don't particularly care for red flowers. I really can't see the beauty in red roses. And even red ranunculus or red poppies aren't particularly appealing to me. I'm not sure why, but it is just is what it is.

but somehow I knew that dahlias came in red and yellow--and sometimes yellow with red tips. so I decided to paint a "red dahlia for gurdas." and here it is.


I told him it was a good thing that I painted it in colors that don't "go with" my house. or else I would've had a hard time letting it go. although it does make me quite happy that this painting now lives in the house of a treasured friend.

fun fact that I did not learn until AFTER I finished this painting....dahlias are a symbol of hope for an everlasting union between two people. and gurdas recently got engaged! is that kind of awesome or what?

oooooh and...only because I'm super pumped about it--last week I also sold one of my birdie paintings I'd put on etsy. I am so excited to have sold TWO paintings in ONE week!

these pictures are more than a month old.

but I like them.

we went out to celebrate neidy's birthday in may. we went to a bulls game. lots of people saw me on the jumbotron. I hadn't been there for five minutes and already my head was the size of a billboard. :) over the course of the next week like ten people asked me if I went to the Bulls game that saturday...

the little girl in front of us caught a ball. a lady about 100 ft away got smacked in the head by a foul. and then that ball ricocheted off and hit an infant!! it was scary. everyone is okay though. takeaway lesson: very small kiddos need seats under the big net.

next, we went to tobacco road. it was yummy. I forgot it was the same as the one in raleigh. but cooler, 'cause it's in durham! we took lots of silly pictures, drank lots of yummy beer. oh and jennifer and amy saved the day by instructing Taylor NOT TO PULL OUT MY CHAIR FROM UNDER ME. He thought it would've been funny. And it might've been except that that happened to me about three years ago, the dude didn't apologize when I fell on the tile floor and started crying, and it was awful. so, um, yeah. thank goodness!

oh AND Matt and I took a picture in the saaaaaame spot from 3 years ago. this picture was taken like four days early, but still. my, my, how we have changed :)

some day I will post about...

my CSA.
and debbie meyer green bags.
and how I wish I made pies from scratch more often.
about books I've read.
and glass straws I've used (thanks maria)
and an update on the green smoothies I drink every weekday.

additionally, I have a picture of a painting I did for my friend gurdas.
and I want to show you the picture.
and I want to get suggestions of what to paint next.

I have goals of telling you about the rest of our wedding festivities.
and of telling you how awesome freshly picked north carolina strawberries taste.
and of my new love of kale.

but for now, friends, you get a list.
and me saying that I am thankful for:
little itty bitty baby boys
the pieces of paper you roll coins in
ET
my husband's incessant corny jokes
debbie meyer green bags
interference acrylic paints
my tabletop easel
knowing what a filbert brush is
air conditioning (and sunblock!)
swimsuits that still fit
dvrs
cold draft beer
growlers
and ice water.

more soon, I hope.

hey, I want one of those.

er. sometimes...

people keep asking Matt and me if being married is different. or what it's like being married. and I'm-a-gonna let you in on a little secret: it's really not that different. Matt still takes out the trash. I still do all of the grocery shopping and 90% of the cooking. We still sit in the same places on the couch, we're still watching Smallville (but we're almost caught up for REAL!) and we still sometimes get in dumb fights, such as, for instance, a brief spat because he was talking during the end of a show (it was IMPORTANT!) and I started talking and explaining to him that he was talking during the important part, and he got annoyed that *I* was talking, and then we both laughed.

right. you know those kinds.

anyway, so, there are a handful of ways where things are different. see: last post. (ps: thank you for making me feel like it's normal to feel this way, thank you for giving me different perspectives and thank you for showing me I could be more extreme if I wanted--glad to have support AND options!) additionally, we now have joint checking (which always makes me think of the scene in Sweet Home Alabama where they're in his kitchen and he is drinking a beer and it looks like his eyes are going to bug out of his head). and we call each other husband and wife. and we also can talk about babies.

and sometimes, I think "hey, I want one of those. like, NOW."

this week is one of those weeks.

but, thank goodness, Matt and I have a plan. said plan is: go to italy next summer. wait until after that to get pregnant or have a baby. no sense in going there if I can't enjoy the wine or eat half of the food, right?

see? a plan. a solid plan. a GOOD plan. but nonetheless, a plan that does not keep me from sometimes tacking on a "like, NOW" to that whole "wanting one of those" thing.

in the meantime, I will just love on as many of my friend's babies (and toddlers and kiddos) as I can. and this year, if all goes as planned, I will still have many, many opportunities to love on them. there's jude and luke, who I see regularly, and more kiddos I see occasionally, and many little ones on the way. and I am an AUNT now (to two cute little girlies AND there are two more little babies on the way--kind of special that they'll be the first I'll be an aunt to their whole life long!), so that helps! so I hope seeing the tykes and giving them cuddles and kisses will simultaneously serve as birth control for now AND also make me even more excited about our future plans. birth control because it will tide me over, mind you--not in the way that babies have no shame in sharing their bodily fluids with you and cry and all. :)

oh yeah, and ps: our babies are gonna have Fry for a last name. period. end of statement. in addition to this being Matt's sole request (slash deal-breaker) I think it just makes a hell of a lot more sense for us. Especially since (and this is a long story) my last name isn't actually supposed to be my last name, genealogically-speaking. And it's freaking LONG.

Also, the last name Fry will go well with his planned middle names, "Deep," "Stir" and "French." Oh, and "Joseph." :)

more organization...this time of the artistic kind...

have you noticed a theme recently? one of organization and sorting and cleaning out? it's a slow process, but we are getting there...

saturday I painted a bird for my friend kara. I have a picture of it, but it's on my other camera. anyway, painting it made me want to paint two more, which I have put up for sale on my etsy, here and here. while I was getting things out I also found some paintings that I had nearly finished before I moved, and that I never managed to complete. so I got those out too.

getting out all my paints and brushes and rummaging for some canvases made me kind of frustrated--y'see, I had two little boxes FULL of paint, and I'd have to DIG to find anything.

so on sunday evening, after the second party I attended that day, we went to target and found this gem. seven 12x12 drawers, each of which is also its own carrying case!


when we got home I sorted out all of my paints into what just happened to be seven piles. and now they are neatly organized by color in the bin!



and here are some of the pretty things I've painted (or finished painting) recently. :) it has been nearly two years since I last broke out my brushes, and it's been a nice change of pace!

this is so unfair.

okay, maybe not unfair. perhaps unrealistic. or inconsiderate. or freaking ridiculous.

today I need to remember:
I am lucky to have a job. A job that pays well.
I am fortunate to have just received a promotion.
And more fortunate still to have gotten a raise.
My boss is nice, my co-workers are friendly, and I have an office with a door.

BUT FOR PETE'S SAKE...

my lead wanted my PTO schedule for the summer. fine, fine. whatever. I gave it to her. And then I said to the project leader that I hadn't included times I planned on being out of town over the weekend. because it's THE FREAKIN' WEEKEND BABY (I'm about to have me some fun--thanks R. Kelly).

e.g., when I am out of town for a wedding. or when I go to visit Renee in July. or if I just want to not turn on my work computer on my days off.

but then my project lead told me to ask. to offer. because GUESS WHAT? I am, apparently, supposed to be working over the weekends between June 11th and July 31st.

all I have to say is: it's a damn good thing they just started paying me better, because I am already frustrated about this. I've already done the whole 7-day work week thing, and it ain't pretty. and if they even start to suggest that I do work on my honeymoon, well, I might just blow a gasket. yeesh.