the thankful week (part six). A BONUS!

Technically speaking, "thankful week" is over, but hey. Here is my final piece of the thankful list.

6. My education. Because my teachers educate me (on a daily basis) that the little fire inside my heart to help others will not be extinguished, but fueled. That when others have told me that I can’t make a difference, I can. That the cause I stand for is noble and good. That I will never walk alone throughout my journey as a teacher. Through my program I have been introduced to some of the most inspiring people. I attend class with people like me. People that want to change the world, and believe that they will do it. I love sitting in a room full of people that think education matters. It makes me smile.

Clearly, the past few entries are not an extensive list of all the things I'm thankful for. I will never be able to express my thankfulness for all the blessings in my life, and I am so thankful for that.

And finally, I'm thankful for you, my readers. Your words and comments mean so much to me. I truly hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. :)

xo, R.

*picture found here.

the thankful week (part five).

5. My best friend. Sometimes we don’t see each other for long periods of time, and it’s weird. But I know that if there were ever something wrong (big or small) I could call Sara, and she would know just what to say. Growing up with her was the most amazing gift I could ask for. I think everyone should have a childhood friendship as magical as ours. I’m so thankful we’ve been able to hold onto that long past childhood. She is the kind of person who will be in my life for a very long time, and I couldn’t be happier about it. :)

xo, R.

(I have one more on my list. Hopefully I'll post it later today!)

the thankful week (part four).

Sorry I disappeared yesterday, but it was Thanksgiving. You understand.

4. My family. I would not be who I am today without them. When we get together at the holidays, I just want to sing. They have always supported me no matter what I was doing, and I know that it will always be like that. They taught me that quirky is okay, that we should embrace our imperfections, and just go with it. What a valuable lesson that I know I could not have learned from anyone else.

xo, R.

PS. That is only one side of my family. We aren't the best at taking family pictures during our gatherings. The crookedness is because we used self-timer, and the self-time usage was because we all wanted to be in the picture, so there ya have it! :)

the thankful week (part three).

3. Jeffrey. I could write volumes and volumes about the goodness that Jeffrey has given to me, and I still wouldn't be able to express it (and we'd be here for a lifetime). My happiness, to Jeffrey, is number one. He thinks of me first, always. I don't know how I was blessed with someone so incredible, but so it is. He loves his family with a fury that is contagious. The needs of others are before his own. I just...I wish I could say everything I want to about Jeffrey, but his wonderfulness exceeds words, expressions, feelings. His humility floors me, floors me. I am so blessed to be tied to him, and I will never forget that.

(I like taking pictures with this guy.)

More thankfulness here! And here!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving y'all! xo, R.

the thankful week (part two).

2. My sister. I look at my sister and wonder how that much goodness was crammed into a small person like herself. And yet, it’s there. And she shares it with everyone she meets. To know someone like that is incredible. It’s a gift that I try to remind myself of daily. Her passions are her passions. Her love is steadfast and loyal. Her zest for life is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Yes, my sister amazes me every minute of everyday, and she doesn’t even have to try. It’s just there.

More thankfulness here.

Be back tomorrow! xo, R.

the thankful week.

I have been given a boatload of blessings throughout my life, some of which I’m sure I take for granted (most of which I’m sure I take for granted). I’m truly grateful for the life I’ve been given, but I don’t think I proclaim my thankfulness often enough. And that’s what this series of posts are for. To talk about all the things that make my heart swell.

1. My parents. I feel like this is obvious, but then again, maybe it’s not. I was blessed with an exceptional family that literally taught what it means to love. I often consider what my future family will be like. I ask myself questions like, “How do you be a good mom?” I mean, right? That’s such a daunting thing to think about. If I could bottle up all the things my mom taught me, or write them down in a journal, or rewind to parts of my life where I’m sure I asked my parents extremely difficult questions, and they had some eloquent answer, well, I’m sure I would. If I am half as good at parenting as my parents are, my children will be truly blessed.

* I'll be back tomorrow with another piece of thankfulness!

have a great weekend.

{ We went cherry picking in Wisconsin this summer, and it was really fun. Kinda wish I was there right now. :) }

I've got plenty of schoolwork on the agenda, but maybe I'll find some fun somewhere in between my pile of assignments. I went to a little math night last night at a local elementary school, and it's always so nice to be somewhere and think to myself, "Yeah. I was totally meant to be a teacher." The kids were running around because it's oh-so-exciting to be at your school after hours. It just made my heart feel full. Someday pretty soon I'll be a teacher at one of those schools. And that makes me really happy. Have a really beautiful weekend. xo, R.

i'm sorry i'm obsessed with my dog.

But he's really cute, right? His ear totally looks like a bat's ear, and I think that makes it about 100,000x cuter than it already was. Plus, he's got that model pose spot-on. And obviously I don't prompt this stuff because a) you can't force that cuteness and b) I've never met a dog that models on command.

In other news, I ate at Leonardo's with Jeffrey today, made chicken noodle soup with him for dinner, and watched American Pickers (our new favorite show). I also pretended to get some work done, then actually got some work done, then watched Maid in Manhattan while I was supposed to be getting work done, and now I'm going to buckle down and get some work done. I think it's time for Thanksgiving break. xo, R.

the weekend.

Lots of buses were used as vehicles for different businesses. Some of them still have the original painted-on logos!

Some of them are super rusty like this one! Lots of bus enthusiasts like them this way. :)

Jeffrey's overall favorite of the day. That's the original paint job! The windows that pop out in the front are a hot commodity and so is that roof rack!

It was a crazy weekend.

1. It all started when I got a phone call from Jeffrey that started like this: "Rox, I'm okay, but my bus caught on fire." I'm pretty sure I skipped over the "Rox, I'm okay" part, and focused solely on the "my bus caught on fire" part. What the what?! It's scary enough that my boyfriend drives a vehicle that requires the presence of a fire extinguisher at all times but, like Jeffrey said, I never thought he'd actually have to use it. The good news is that the bus is going to be totally fine. Jeffrey's quick thinking and help from some friendly fellow interstate-drivers got the fire out in no time, and there is minimal damage to the engine.

2. For the first time ever, my dog Petey seemed really old. It made me feel a little sentimental (most things do), but the fact that he still jets out the door (and nearly pulls your arm from its socket) every time he gets to go for a walk is comforting.

3. Jeffrey and I got stuck in traffic on the interstate on the way back to school. I really hope everyone involved in the accident that caused all the traffic is okay. We spent our hour delay talking about Jeffrey's dream bus. It quickly became my dream bus, too. I try not to love those things (endangering my boyfriend's life with a fiery engine doesn't really appeal to me), but sometimes it's really hard. They're just so freakin' cute!

4. My sister's birthday was on Friday and we sorta-kinda celebrated with her! She opened her presents with us via Skype (what I got her), my mom and I made the same cake she made all the way in Wisconsin, and we ate it together via Skype. Yay Skype!

5. And the craziest thing of all: There was no trip to Target. Not one, I tell you. I think we were all shocked. And, to be honest, a little upset about it. Don't worry though. A trip to Target is already in the works for when I go home for Thanksgiving.

Things that happened that weren't crazy but still awesome:
We went out for pizza topped with mozzarella, ricotta, and meatballs. SO. GOOD.
Bulli Brigade was a success (even though Jeffrey's cute little red bus was not able to make an appearance).
The antique show was wonderful, as always.
I enjoyed breakfast with Jeffrey and his grandma (love and adore her!).
I spent some time in my mom's classroom. She has the most adorable class this year!
And Jeffrey and I shared McD's fries and a chocolate shake on the way back to school.

How was your weekend? xo, R.

because we all need to be reminded sometimes.

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
...If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may just never be enough; Give the world the best you have anyway.

lalalala.

I hope you all had a great weekend! I had such a wonderful time at home. We went shopping, ate BBQ, camped out in the backyard, made s'more's, went to Target (twice!), and ate brownies almost every night.

Now I'm back at school, and I'm really tired for some unexplained reason. I guess it could have something to do with sleeping outdoors in 50 degree weather, but that's just a guess. I've also been uncharacteristically grumpy today, so I'm making the effort to change that. And I need to stop worrying about everything because it's clearly not getting me anywhere.

Jeffrey and I made calzones (he made them, I watched...and made a salad) and they were delicious. I'm going home again this weekend for a bus show & an antique show, and to spend more time with my sweet little dogs. Why do I love dogs so much? I don't know. It's a mystery. Their furry cuteness probably has a lot to do with it.

This is a pointless post, but hey, I'm feeling all over the place today, so I think it's pretty accurate. xo, R.

links + stuff.

I'm home for the weekend and I couldn't be happier. On my drive home yesterday I thought about 1 million different things, which I guess is a good thing since I had 2.5 hours to kill. Suddenly, I felt better about a lot of things. I've been freaking out about grad. school lately, and I think the car ride helped. I thought about a few other things, too, but grad. school is the only one I feel like sharing. I guess sitting down in a car with no one else forced me to look some of my fears in the eye and tell them to leave me alone! I also got a Coke, which was awesome.

Because I don't really have anything to talk about, check these:

1. Elsie just opened her store, and the photos are amazing. I'm sure you've probably already taken a peek at these, but if you haven't, go. right. now. And if you have, look again!

2. Bridget photographs cute kids.

3. Anthropologie's dresses right now. (And I need these tights.)

4. Have you ever read my sister's engagement story? Her ring belonged to my Grammy!


Also, it's cold. And I didn't pack clothes for cold weather because the forecast predicted straight 70s all weekend. Thanks, weather forecast. xo, R.

What's the Good News?

Well, the candy consumption is getting a little ridiculous over here, and I don't even feel bad about it, so there.

Good News #1: I am going home this weekend.
Good News #2: Jeffrey bought me lunch today. Love that guy.
Good News #3: I get to clean my room! (This is not actually good news. I am trying to psyche myself out though, so let's just pretend it is.) I will listen to Frank Sinatra while doing this, so that actually is good.
Good News #4: It's November. Hello, Sister's birthday month, Thanksgiving, and [hopefully] cooler weather.
Good News #5: I went to the gym yesterday. I don't want to lie and say I loved it, but hey, it's progress, so I'm goin' with it.
Good News #6: I've got a brown bag full of Halloween candy sitting on my desk, and it's all for me. :)

What's your good news? xo, R.

a-camping we did go.

First of all, I'd just like to say that Jeffrey and I made caramel apples on Friday night. My baking game is back on (even though caramel apples don't actually require any baking skill whatsoever, it still totally counts). Camping was a success! We left Saturday around 2:30 once we [thought] we were prepared, we loaded up Jeffrey's bus, and drove 20 minutes out to our campsite. Our site was pretty cute (and we saw two other buses while we were there!), we set up real quick, went to the library to try to find some book I need to read for class (the library ended up being closed), went back to our campsite so I could change my shirt (spilled root beer all over the other one. Real bright.) and decided to grab our bikes to go for a ride. Just as we were getting ready to leave, my parents walked up with Andy! They totally surprised us. Since they didn't have bikes we decided to go on a hike where we saw the most amazing dilapidated house (this sounds weird written down, but I promise it was awesome), walked through sand that looked like snow (which made me feel special), and made our way through a huge, tangly spider web (scary).

Jeffrey and I had originally intended to make hobo meals (veggies wrapped in tin foil and placed over the fire), but our camping preparedness was unsatisfactory, so we ended up ordering a pizza, and eating it with my parents before they left. Hey, we'll be more prepared next time. (We also forgot water if that tells you anything about how "prepared" we were. We did remember root beer, though. Clearly we have our priorities in order.) We also carved this super awesome jack-o-lantern. He's scary, right? I know. I think it was one of the first scary jack-o-lanterns I've ever made. We usually make nice, happy ones. He's awesome, though. (We also didn't have any tealight candles so we used birthday ones. Resourceful thinking, I tell ya.)

We did make s'mores, but we each only had one because there is nothing worse than having a super full stomach while lying on the cold ground. Then we sat by the campfire and talked about all sorts of different things. It was so nice to be together without any inclination to do schoolwork (because we couldn't since we were in the middle of nowhere!). We played Uno in our tent with a flashlight (we also forgot lanterns), and then called it a night. I couldn't sleep, of course, because earlier in the day I had caught a creepy glimpse of some murderer from the 50s (The picture was in one of Jeffrey's roommate's photography books.) and I couldn't get his image out of my head. Search Dick Hickock if you want to be creeped out for life. He's been dead for over 40 years, but of course that didn't matter in the dead of night. After finally falling asleep, I woke up at 1:30 with the urge to pee (It would happen that way. Once, I had to pee 4 times in the middle of the night when we were camping. True story.) and of course I couldn't go by myself because Dick Hickock was totally waiting by the girl's bathroom for me, right? So I woke Jeffrey up and we walked to the bathroom. It was freezing out and Jeffrey was totally incoherent, which would have been funny if it wasn't 1:30 am. After that I wrapped myself in my blanket, curled up in a little ball, and tried to think of things like cotton candy so that Dick Hickock wouldn't come crawling back into my brain. Apparently it worked because I woke up at 8:30 to the sound of singing birds, and our neighbors' crackling fires. Yay!

We ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast, which our neighbor totally scoffed at, but hey, we were wrapped in our cozy blankets while he tried cracking open eggs over his skillet while his fingers were freezing cold. So who's the smart one now, buddy? We packed up, went for a beautiful bike ride, and called it a day! I'm always amazed at how much camping restores my love for Florida. Sometimes I get caught up in thinking of all the different states I could eventually live in, but Florida's pretty awesome, and I'm glad I live here! I hope you had a fabulous Halloween! Jeffrey and I roasted pumpkin seeds and did schoolwork. We could have been more festive, but that's what we get for totally shirking all responsibility the day before. It was worth it. xo, R.