portland, maybe?

Hi friends,

It has been a crazy couple of weeks filled with birthdays, wonderful friends, food adventures, summer bucket lists, completing summer bucket lists and a slight bit of unexpected car trouble. Actually, when is car trouble ever expected? Never. Somehow though, even the car trouble turned into an awesome weekend trip packed with lots of friends and fun.

A few of weekends ago, I went down to Port St. Lucie to visit my friend Carolyn. She had planned a weekend FULL of fun and checking things off the summer bucket list for my birthday. We went to a minor league baseball game, made a kite, flew a kite, rode bikes, swam in the pool, swam in the ocean, picked up shells, made popsicles, went vertiglow bowling and ate delicious food. Whew, it was awesome and consequently, I can’t wait to be retired and living at the beach. There I said it.

The next weekend was spent in Tallahassee visiting my brother, spending time with old friends and meeting a few new ones. There was also a trip to Krispy Kreme because the hot now light was on and well, it just had to be done.

During the past couple of weeks a really exciting thing happened too! I had two skype interviews and was hired as an intern at Sseko! I should mention that Sseko is located in Portland, Oregon. So my friends, on Saturday (!!!) I will be flying three thousand miles into the pacific time zone. 

I will be blogging about blog adventures in Portland on another blog called Plant by Water. You can find it [here]! The PSL will still be here but it may be on a slight hiatus until December. So come visit me over there!

Here are some pictures from my most recent adventures: 

ps. I'm moving to Portland.  
pps: Typing that felt crazy and kind of awesome. 

the greeting card project.

Let me start by saying how much I LOVE the United States postal service. Lucky for me, my friends and family do too.

I have found that it doesn't matter whether you are on the sending or receiving end of the mail situation...it's all smile worthy. The greeting cards started to pour in when I left for college and was no longer living at the same address as my mother. She would send me cards all the time and still does, sometimes multiple on the same day. My friends are really good at writing encouraging, thoughtful, sometimes ridiculous little notes as well. It's part of the reason we're friends. I'm sure of it.

Ok...so true life: there are people out there have no problem placing the card they have just received directly in the waste basket the very moment they have finished reading it. I am not these people. (By the way, it's totally ok if you're one of these people. I would probably still send you things in the mail.)

So what does a person who can't throw away cards do with them? I have tried several ways to store the them in the past but I feel like I am finally on to something with this. Introducing the greeting card project:

1. gather some of your favorite cards. 

2. find yourself a little binder with some crafting potential.



3. the neccessary supplies:

4. document a postcard from your mama.

5. use your permanent marker to mark the area for hole punching. punch away.

6. fill er' up.

7. decorate the front with a pretty (documented) postcard from your mama.

8. Enjoy your greeting cards. All in one place. One little place of organized love and memories.

happy birthday carol.

I love birthdays. It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the life of someone you really care about with them. A couple of weeks ago I got to do just that. Carolyn (widely regarded as Carol)  is one of my dearest and sweetest friends. She's the kind of friend who is totally ok with eating ice cream in bed while watching You've Got Mail. The kind of friend that you can share you opinions and ideas with because she can easily relate. She's the kind of friend that will loan you her red lipstick and make you coffee in her french press. She's the forever kind.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to be able to share her special day...err...special weekend with her. The highlight of the weekend was definitely the surprise party coordinated by her brother and his wife (remember them?). The party was not only to celebrate her and but also her photography. It was a great venue with delicious food, pretty flowers and fun people. A wonderful time was had by all.

lately.

1. & 2. hymns and home

3. loose leaf tea in a single girl pot

4. lemon water for the sick days

5. celebrating a best friend's birthday

6. taking a photo on a bridge while operating a vehicle (a.k.a) the tennessee river at sunset #worthit

7. the blooms of spring at the local grocery

8. an afternoon with joy the baker is an afternoon well spent.

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february love.

I know it was a few days ago but I hope you had a dee-light-full valentine's day!

I spent mine with this girl.

Baking this cake.

It was a lovely way to spend a sweet day. 



saturday's are great for...

PANCAKES!

A last minute trip to Florida has been quite tasty so far. Remember the last time I visited my friend Amanda? This time has been just as fun. I've found that the greatest thing about best friends is that you (nine and a half times out of ten) have a fantastic time together doing just about anything. Especially when that 'anything' is making pancakes with BACON inside of them. I know...crazy right? Crazy awesome. Major credit for this delicious breakfast goes to my friend. She's da bomb.

Ta da! They were deee light full!

Nashville, revisited.

The last time I went to Nashville it was wonderful and delightful and any other word you could think of to describe a positive experience. Today's trip to Nashville had a different agenda but my sentiments about the city and the people I went with this time remain the same. It's just a cool place to be. I think it's neat to go to new towns (especially cool, hip ones like Nashville) and observe the people; you can immediately tell who belongs there. 

This brings me to my question of the day: do people inspire a city or does a city inspire the people? Maybe it's both. People are desperate to belong to something. Something bigger than themselves but not big enough that they can't fit in. We the people like belonging. It's just a fact. Observing the people at Fido in Nashville today lead me to believe they have figured out a pretty sweet balance of this. They seem to be unique individuals with expressive styles and personalities and yet they fit nicely into a mold that the place they reside has set for them.

These are just my thoughts. You may totally disagree & that is ok.

However, there will be no room for arguing with me about the delicious food and beverages at Fido. The black bean burger I had for lunch rocked  but my favorite treat of the day came later in the afternoon in the form of a local honey cinnamon latte & a blueberry goat cheese muffin. oh. my. yummy. I plan to recreate this muffin some day and wanted to see if there was a recipe online somewhere. I did a simple google search and found this girl, who also loved the muffins at Fido made them herself! I'm telling you, blueberries and goat cheese in muffin form...sheer bliss.

Four noteable things about this wonderful day.
1. Food makes people happier.
2. Laughter is absolutely a cure for most things.
3. I wanted to take more pictures of my food but I didn't want to be that girl.
4. Nashville is pretty darn cool.

2012, say what?

Friends, it's 2012!! I can hardly believe it's true.

2011 was an eventful year: I threw a successful surprise party, visited lots of new places, started this blog, graduated from college, got my first real job & moved to Alabama. Most of all, I learned so much about myself and other people. I would say I even learned a little about the "real world" (whatever that is, right?).

The end of the year tied up nicely with the holiday season spent in Florida hanging out with people I love a lot. There was lots of laughter, silliness, family and friends. It doesn't really get much better than that.

I hope your year was rounded out in a way that made you smile.

A few memories:

  

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It is a miracle if you can find true friends, and it is a miracle if you have enough food to eat, and it is a miracle if you get to spend your days and evenings doing whatever it is you like to do, and the holiday season - like all the other seasons - is a good time not only to tell stories of miracles, but to think about the miracles in your own life, and to be grateful for them, and that's the end of this particular story.” -Lemony Snicket, The Lump of Coal (via this fun blog)

Cheers to a New Year.
It's going to be great. I just know it.