I am SO excited to have this long weekend away from work and near my amazing family. I am going to take Julina's, Elise's, and Steven's photos, since it's been FOREVER since they've had a real picture done. I'm also going to take our family picture and my friend Genny's family picture. Joe and I will get to hang out with Melody and her little family on Friday. I get to eat my favorite sandwich ever, a turkey reuben grinder from a yummy sandwich shop in Columbia...
I get to get crafty and creative with my sis beckie and my sis-in-law mary and my mom...
I get to listen to christmas carols for the official start of the season, watch movies, and play games with the family...

I am so so so ready for this little holiday.

Love to you all! Hope it is perfect for you, too.

random fun project last night...

these little things are 1" by 1"... SO tiny. and i love them. with all my heart.
'cause they're so CUTE.

Which one(s) are your favorite? Click on the photo to get a close up, then message me to let me know.

:) have a good week!

Snapshots of Home...

playing with my NEW CAMERA!! It's fun to take pictures of the things we see everyday... the things we take for granted. It helps us remember what we are blessed with. Today's gratitude is for our cozy, charming, quirky little apartment in the top of the Masonic Lodge. {the head of our street... gorgeous in the fall.}

{our front door} {mail call!} {guests welcome...} {refrigerator magnets...} {kitchen tools.} {stove top fun} {keys and cocoa mugs} {when life gives you lemons...} {everyone neads more of this.} {my luxurious bedchamber might be my favorite spot on earth.} {the face pot i made in college ceramics class... still cute.}

a little piece of me.

i am...

still bad at procrastinating.
more artistic these days than musical. I kinda miss the music.
getting better at teaching.
so puppy-dog devoted to my hubby.
always up for filling out surveys.
growing a bit of a headache right now.
loving my iPod.
excited to start listening to Christmas music.
a bit wacky.
watching Season 1 of Arrested Development with Joe right now.
excited for dress-down day tomorrow.
almost caught up on my grading.
grateful for our cozy, cute home.
inspired by Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and Anne Morrow Lindbergh right now.
ready to go to bed tonight. yum. I love sleep.

joe chopped his hair too....

{AFTER}

Now i know some of you will think we looked better before... but i am really really happy with the change. Like taking some weight off, you know? And the short hair on the back of joe's head is so soft and touchable... and i know he'll have his curls back in a few months, so it's nice to get a different version of him now and again. (Plus, he's much hotter when he isn't all buttoned up in church clothes...) So... ta-da! It's like we're totally different people...

{BEFORE}

reviewing my not-so-little blessings this week:

1. Friends. Specifically, Katie Benson and Genny Dawson, for sending me love in the form of treats in the mail. These caramel apples were shipped in a refrigerated box all the way from utah from Katie... as a "cheer-up" surprise. They are so pretty, i haven't yet been able to eat one. maybe today.

2. Home. My little nest in the attic of the Masonic Lodge. It might not always be clean, or "magazine-perfect", but it is so warm and inviting and full of little treasures... It is a healing spot for me. This little spot is the "green-thumb-practice zone", where i attempt to keep plants alive and my parakeet fed.

3. My NEW CAMERA! This is my lovely lovely Canon digital SLR, which came in the mail this week after a three-month wait. I have been in HEAVEN, playing with it, practicing all it's tricks, and basically just trying to master the most basic functions. *SO* exciting!!!

sexy, too, eh?

4. Autumn in my neighborhood. Stunning, inspiring, ever-changing, bittersweet... Such a joy to be able to watch this yearly cycle and remember that everything eventually DOES renew itself... (even my poor, beat-up little body).

It's time for y'all to read Education of Little Tree again... if it's been awhile.
If you have NEVER read it, you must.

all in all, i have too many blessings to be in a funk for long.
thank you.

long time, no blog....

wow.... some of that early blog passion has obviously faded. I guess i don't know if anyone even checks it out, and if i am only using this as a "journal" or a place to vent, it's not somewhere i want to spend much time...

'cause if i dwell or vent or purge or whatever, i am afraid i would just let myself get more and more negative... so i tend to avoid this place.

Plus, i haven't felt very inspired, creatively, so i don't have many pictures to post.

it's been a weird two weeks.
Miscarriage will do that to a life, i guess. *sigh*

(and i didn't even post that i was pregnant. so. all you lurkers. there's the news.)

so. i guess to try to put a positive spin on this downer blog entry, I'll throw in some of my latest scrapbook pages i've done. it's been good therapy
(click on any layout to see a bigger version of it):

[dedicated to our
quirky Masonic apartment]

[joe's little bro David...]

[my newly-preggo page...
leap of faith to create it,
since it was so early, still risky.]

[joe was having a rough post-miscarriage day...
so i made a page for him.
it has sad song lyrics on it.]

[crazy about soccer.... ain't he cute??]