A little and a lot

The past few weeks have been filled with trying to milk the hours out of spring break, taking care of wedding business, and just living the life. Right?

Mom and I went antiqueing and found some of my favorite things side by side: mint green, coffee, turquoise, and vintage Pyrex. I love mint green and love love love vintage Pyrex. I gave up random shopping for Lent so these treasures are still at the antique shop for the taking. I've been collecting old Pyrex pieces and have a small bowl in the same shade of blue, but not an entire set of nesting bowls. Should've bought all of it. Coulda woulda shoulda.

Z and I went on a coffee date, our Saturday morning tradition. This week we tried out Cheffie's.

Just ignore those March Madness brackets. This was the morning after the Tigers lost. Boo!

I caved and joined the 21st century. And I love it. No more 1890s for me!

We went to Nashville for a little day trip and I bought a ring at a hippie store. Awkward picture of my hand, sorry.

I found a new bubble tea place! On the way to my parents' house, I randomly glanced at a shopping center which formerly housed a little sushi restaurant. To my surprise, the "Yume Sushiya" sign had been replaced with "iTea." My gut told me it was a bubble tea place. (My gut also told me cross 3 lanes of traffic like a psycho in order to turn into the parking lot.)  I was semi-correct; iTea is a sushi restaurant which serves bubble tea. Their selection is small--really--and they didn't have any boba ready when I was there. To be honest, it was about 2:30 and they were getting ready to siesta before they re-opened for dinner. But I am super psyched to have a new  place to try. They should really follow up on their name, just saying. Anyway, huzzah! It's all about the little things.

BFFs

This past weekend I enjoyed a girls' night with two of my closest friends, April and Leigh Ann, to celebrate April's birthday and also to mark my impending transition from swingin' single gal to married lady.

We went to Do for sushi and sangria. No pictures of the sushi, but rest assured--it was tasty!

Post dinner, we debated on going to the Deli for a beer. However, we unanimously agreed dessert was the more attractive option. So we went to YoLo instead.

A red velvet cupcake, a Guiness cupcake, 2 servings of gelato, and some vanilla frozen yogurt/orange sorbet swirl (tastes like a creamiscle!) later, it was 11 pm. Not bad. It's a big deal for us all to stay up past 10:30. The only person missing was Erin, but she's in California with her baby boy. I can't wait to meet him!

Cue the violins...
All of my friends are important to me. But there is something special about growing up together, celebrating milestones and new chapters in our lives. And also being there for each other during the darker times. If there's one thing the years (decades!) have shown me, it's knowing these ladies have my back, and I have theirs.

A blast from the past--Leigh Ann, Erin and I at our "charm school" graduation. Aren't we charming? We were taught things like which fork to use first in case there are 3 different forks at dinner.  You know, the important stuff. I think this was middle school; I am assuming so because of my glasses/braces/eyebrows trifecta. How strange is it those glasses are trendy now? 

Leigh Ann and I star in "When Bangs Attack." Someone remind me of this picture when I start talking about wanting bangs. Thank the Lord for flat-irons, and for the 90s.

Judging from this picture, I'm around 18-21 years old. Someone remind me of this picture when I start talking about cutting of all my hair. (Literally, it took about 4 years to fully grow out of this haircut because my hair just grew into weird shapes.) I am really happy about something--a birthday present? April and Leigh Ann are rocking the Mom Jeans. The person at the furthest right of the picture might be Christina when she put Sun-In in her hair and it turned orange. 

I gave them the link to this blog, but I'm not sure if they check it! They will be thrilled to know pictures of our youth are on the internet now. Anyway, we'll always be friends--at the very least, because we know way too much about each other and all have the same embarrassing pictures!

In honor of the Mom Jeans above (I was probably wearing them too) and because our conversation at YoLo revolved around baby names:

I didn't forget...

Row1

Day 2: Fruit: I eat bananas every day. They are portable and self-contained; you don't have to wash them before eating.

Day 3: Neighborhood: My 'hood rules-- most of my neighbors are awesome. Ronni knows who is not awesome.

Row 2

Day 4: Bedside: Reading helps me relax.

Day 5: Smile: The window display at The Drum Shop. I saw a smile!

Row 3

Day 6: 5 pm: Zach loves streaming Netflix.

Day 7: Something I wore: Bought these shoes in Austin last month and wear them all the time, to the point where a student said, "Hey, you wear those shoes every day!" Oops.

Row 4

Day 8: Window: When it's sunny outside I'm a little creepy and watch people walking their dogs.

Day 9: Red: I cannot live without my Moleskine planner. Originally I wanted a black one but the red has grown on me. It doesn't get lost in my black hole of a purse.

Row 5

Day 10: Loud: Z's turntable, which I'm afraid to touch for fear of breaking it (I break everything). Ironically, the Yo La Tengo album on the record player is the quietest album ever.

Day 11: Someone I talked to today: My dad, who loves to talk to us! He is judging me through the rearview mirror.

A Week in the Life

One of these days, I will learn not to make things more difficult than they need to be. Several months ago I found this picture on Pinterest and thought vertical garlands would be a cute idea for the cake table.

via Green Wedding Shoes

I may have accidentally stolen the color scheme too. Anyway, I put off sewing it together until Monday, because my gut was telling me it would be kind of a pain. And it was.

After making one garland with the clear thread, I switched to regular polyester thread. Working with the clear thread was like running a strand of hair through a sewing machine. The normal thread was easier to handle, but kept getting tangled. This is going to be a long project.

They look impressive from a distance, and maybe against some light?

On Tuesday night Zach and I went for a walk in Cooper Young. We stopped to say hello to the residents at the House of Mews.

I'm a dog person by nature, but cats make me laugh. And my extended family members love cats.

9 pm on Friday night. Once upon a time I could hang, but not anymore. I'm okay with it.

On Saturday we resumed the Taco Tour 2012, this time at a little taqueria y panaderia only a stone's throw away from where we ate last week.

Grilled leeks and radishes on the tacos, mmm.

Baked goods = danger

I still prefer my secret taco place, but Los Caminos de Michocoan does have something Secret Taco Place does not: churros!

Naturally, I had to get a churro. My high school Spanish textbook was called "Churros y Chocolate." I remember it described churros as a stick of fried dough dipped in chocolate, and it's a common street food in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries.  (I can't speak the language to save my life, but can extract one tiny paragraph about food from the recesses of my brain. And something about Don Quixote and windmills. My memory is very selective.)

Delicious. I tried to make it last by saving half for the next day but it was better fresh. Eat  your churro immediately!

In the evening we did a little shopping and I bought a hat. Normally hats look silly on me because I have a large head and even bigger hair. It's not a good hat to hair ratio.

Imagine a baseball cap instead of a tophat = me in a hat.  That's also how my hair dries naturally.

However, I read an article about sun exposure hitting the scalp where you part your hair, and over time increasing the odds of skin cancer. It freaked me out because I'm pretty good about sun block, but on the scalp? Yikes. In the summer I'm always outside and since it's March and already 70 degrees, I may as well get a head start (get it? haha) on limiting the UV rays.

My new hat and I posing for pictures outside Target.

On Sunday I spent some quality time with my mom and dad--we went to Millington to go to the base but stopped at a Filipino restaurant. I got a chance to practice my (horrible) Tagalog.

The base is full of childhood memories for me, like learning how to not drown swim, buying groceries at the commisary, and spending hours the Navy Exchange. I'm always gonna be a Navy girl.

Life is good! 

Dreams, Part II

My hairdresser is a no-show on the morning of the wedding, so I'm left to do my own hair with 15 minutes until the ceremony. I twist my crazy hair into Bjork-like little buns using bobby pins. Looking at the clock, I realize I'm running 30 minutes late. My dad is in jail (?!!!) for a parking ticket. Unfazed, I grab my mom and she walks me down the aisle. Meanwhile, my hair is falling out of the pins.

The reception is moved from the church reception hall to the wedding coordinator's house. About 5 people attend, so I ask about taking all the leftover food. (Specifically, the pork tenderloin.) The caterer tells me no. I become bitter and angry about 1) not being able to take food home, and 2) my friends not coming to the reception. Then, I notice Zach and I didn't exchange bands during the ceremony and I'm wearing his wedding band as a thumb ring. I become fixated on sparkly rings while at the same time maintaining my bitterness. I wake up feeling distressed.

Possible wedding hairstyle.

Special Occasion

This Saturday was Zach's birthday, and we celebrated by drinking lots of coffee, eating tacos, and watching movies.

We had morning coffee at the Cosmic Coconut, a vegan juice bar. I ordered sweet potato/carrot/cinnamon/ginger juice. It was good but potent--the ginger was overwhelming. Oh well, it's healthy, right?

Z actually has a juicer, but it's a lot of work and money to juice! Maybe we aren't doing it correctly. It seems like an entire bag of apples goes into making 2 cups of juice. That's just wrong. Plus, cleaning out the juicer is a pain.

Juiced!

For lunch, I took Z to my secret favorite taco place.  I stumbled upon this tiny restaurant last year. It was like finding a buried treasure underneath a pile of rubble.

It doesn't have a huge menu, chips and salsa, or margaritas. Just tacos, burritos, fajitas, and menudo on the weekends. I love the simplicity of it. We drank horchatas and watched Telemundo.

Zach is distracted by the variety show on TV, while I ignore my tacos to take pictures.

We also watched some movies--Iron Man 2 and Hanna. Iron Man was fun but pretty silly. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like Robert Downey Jr. plays the same kooky character in Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes.

I did like ScarJo and Gwyneth! And I'm looking forward to The Avengers.

Hanna: I enjoyed this movie but felt it needed about 30 extra minutes to explain some of the characters' motivations.  What draws me into a movie is how the characters are developed and seeing the psychology behind their actions. Hanna just left me feeling unsettled. I wanted more! But, it's always nice to see a girl kick some ass, and I love Cate Blanchett. Eric Bana is easy on the eyes.

We rounded out the birthday festivities by eating more tacos (!!!) with Zach's family on Sunday night. Any weekend in which I get to eat tacos twice is a great weekend. I'm glad Z had a good birthday and hope this coming year will be special for him!

In like a lion, out like a lamb

When I find a blog doing in photo challenges --posting a photo a day, month, hour, etc--I'm always too late to participate. It's inevitable. Technically it doesn't matter if/when/how I post things on this blog, but it seems more official and special if I'm adhering to the guidelines. Following directions is important to me.

Some blogs I've come across do Fat Mum Slim's photo challenges. The prompts are fun, inspiring, and open to interpretation. Her blog is pretty. And she lives in Australia! G'day, mate! I love taking pictures. One day when I have the time (ha) and money (haha) I'll buy a big, fancy, expensive camera and sign up for a photography class.

Anyway, I marked it on my calendar and I'm going to do this! Hopefully I'll stick with it. Just being honest about my laziness. Also, the whole thing seems to be geared towards Instagram, which I don't have because of my lack of smartphone-ness. It does seem to be easier to take pictures with your phone and post them right then and there. One day I will join the 21st century.

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