little snapshots.

1. Sweet flowers from my sister's rehearsal dinner.
2. Our bookshelf.
3. French toast + Chai tea.
4. Miniature ice cream (yum!).
5. Some paintings from my sister's self portrait series (plus our cherished German clock).

This weekend Jeffrey took me out for a celebratory dinner (after I received good news about an exciting opportunity next school year!), we made french toast on Saturday morning, and we bought miniature ice creams to enjoy while watching a movie. It was all quite lovely and relaxing.

friday inspiration.

{ lovely flowers & a lovely quote }

...

Have a beautiful weekend! xo, R.

list twenty-two: good reads.

1. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant

2. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer

3. Ape House, Sara Gruen

4. Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen

5. The Glass Castle: A Memoir, Jeannette Walls

6. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith

7. Chocolat, Joanne Harris

8. The History of Love, Nicole Krauss

9. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

10. Chrysanthemum, Kevin Henkes :)



image.

the (fabricated) story of my ring: part 1.

Sometimes I look down at my engagement ring and imagine the woman who wore it before I did. My ring is an antique, did you know that? My mom and I found it in our favorite little town, Micanopy. When I showed it to Jeffrey, I had a feeling it would be the ring that ended up on my finger.

I like to think that the woman who wore it before me had a grand, romantic love story. Nadine was in love with George, who was 10 years her senior. They met in a hardware store, where George was immediately struck because Nadine looked more purposeful than he did. She was wearing a sweet floral skirt crouched down, examining the screwdriver heads. Little did he know she was decorating her newly rented apartment, just above his. She had rented it because the sun spilled in just perfectly at 4 pm. She always made sure to be home at that time to sit in complete and total relaxation with her sweet cat, Matilda.

Nadine was an employee at a theater, where she was always eager to audition for the parts, but could never quite work up the courage. Her boss, Gerald, was kind enough to let her leave for one half hour daily at 4 pm to enjoy the aforementioned spilling sunlight.

George was a writer. The kind of writer hopelessly indebted to his characters -- so indebted that he rarely left his apartment. Except on that fateful day, when he walked into the hardware store to ask an employee about how easy it would be to self-repair a broken typewriter. And that was when he saw Nadine, her hair pulled back just so. He stood in shock and awe -- he felt as though he was witnessing a sweet and perfect creature from one of his stories, the kind of woman that could only be true if she had been written that way.

Nadine was trying hard to look as though she knew what she was doing, although she really had no idea. George caught her eye because his hair was perfectly tousled. It reminded her of her childhood friend, Raymond, who had gone to war and never returned. She cocked her head in disbelief. Alas, it was not him, but she instantly felt comfortable without even talking to the man in the hardware store. She liked the way he was wearing a dress shirt without a tie, and the way his pants were too short and revealed bright red socks. She wanted to know this man, befriend him, walk with him in the park. What a silly thought, she said to herself. George wanted to hold this woman's hand, show her his first draft stories, and buy her a coffee on a cool, bright evening. Nonsense, he said to himself.



{Part 2 here.}

junk.

The Junk Lady has been providing entertainment for our family for five years now. An outdoor garage sale with a hodge podge of items, the Junk Lady's inventory is nothing short of extraordinary. It never fails to amaze us that she can have completely different stock each time we arrive. And a description would never paint an accurate picture of what this place really is: A yard with tables upon tables upon tables of stuff. Weird stuff, creepy stuff, interesting stuff, neat stuff, old stuff, useless stuff, any category of stuff ever. Ever.

little snapshots.

Recently I've been feeling really inspired by the little things in my life. Noticing small objects or moments that are so sweet and special I want to put them in a little locket and keep them close to my heart. I think it's the time of year -- the promise of new beginnings and fresh starts -- it all makes me feel really happy. Breakfast in bed on a cozy morning, Chai tea on a sunny afternoon, and preparations for a hearty, vegetarian chili to eat on a cool evening; my heart is overflowing with these tiny little bursts of pure joy, and I love it.

friday inspiration.

{1} A very sweet moment.
{2} A good quote to remember.
{3} Darling wedding invitations.
{4} Cold! But cozy.
{5} Rainy love.
{6} Salad inspiration.

list twenty-one: my favorite things about winter.

1. Cozy socks.
2. Holding hands.
3. Hot beverages (Chai tea latte! Green tea! Apple cider!).
4. Candles.
5. Hot showers.
6. Handmade scarves (especially ones knit or crocheted by your sister).
7. Heated blankets.
8. Soup.
9. Sleeping in.
10. Warm hats.
11. Oatmeal.
12. Sweaters.
13. Tights.
14. Paper snowflakes.
15. Boots.
16. An excuse to stay inside and read.
17. Freshly baked goods.
18. Pea coats.
19. Flannel.
20. Fresh-out-of-the-dryer clothing.

satchel's (or the best pizza on earth).

I have a confession to make: My family, we're pizza connoisseurs. As in, we've made it our mission to find the best pizza. And we think we're pretty good at it. You can search high and low for the most perfect slice, but you will continue to search until you eat at Satchel's. You'll realize that your quest is over and you'll be simultaneously happy and sad. Happy because you're eating the best pizza ever and sad because your quest is over, which means that you don't have an excuse to eat pizza whenever you want it. But do you really need an excuse? (The answer is no, you don't.)

a little town + a little birthday.

I like birthdays. Is it okay to say I really like birthdays that aren't my own? Because I do. I do so much. My dad's birthday was on Saturday. My parents came to town so our family could do something fun and celebrate a person who means a lot to all of us. We went to a nearby town to a couple antique shops and rummaged through pieces of the past. My sister found a stack of old photographs to take home with her and we stopped at Starbucks to get some warmth.

It was a lovely day dedicated to a lovely person. A person who passed his undying concern for others down to me, his sense of humor, his appreciation for a perfect song, and his brown eyes (perhaps my favorite feature about myself). He also made a really smart decision when he married my mother. For these reasons, and so many more, he is very worth celebrating.

morning music.

Yesterday was the first day of my final semester as an undergraduate. It seems very surreal to be here when I still feel a bit like I just arrived to this campus. I reminded myself to cherish the little moments that might normally aggravate me, and I think it really helped! I had a great day full of old and new faces and I enjoyed every little bit of it. Of course it also helps to listen to some music and eat delicious oatmeal (gifted to me from my sweet future mother-in-law!) before embarking on a new day.

{1} Sing Sung Saing -- Peggy Honeywell
{2} Towers -- Bon Iver
{3} I'm Coming Home -- Kitty, Daisy, & Lewis
{4} The Perpetual Self, Or "What Would Saul Alinsky Do?" -- Sufjan Stevens
{5} It's Real -- Real Estate
{6} Wagon Wheel -- Old Crow Medicine Show
{7} Never Going Back Again -- Fleetwood Mac
{8} Horchata -- Vampire Weekend
{9} Whole Love -- Wilco
{10} Dancing in the Moonlight -- King Harvest

sunday morning doughnuts.

On our last day off from school Jeffrey and I decided we needed to do something fun. We filled coffee travelers with chocolate milk, got doughnuts from the local Krispy Kreme, and took them to one of our favorite, most peaceful spots on campus. It was such a lovely way to end a wonderful, relaxing, perfect break.

list twenty: dinners to try.

Jeffrey and I often find ourselves in what we call the dinner rut: A period of time in which five or six meals are in constant rotation. That's fine sometimes, but it's a shame to get sick of well loved meals because of eating them too often. Occasionally, I get in the mood to scour Martha Stewart or Real Simple for recipes that fit our tastes and lifestyle. I'm not kidding when I say I could spend hours doing this. Since we are embarking on a new year, I think now is a better time than ever to make a new list of fun and fresh meals to test out within these next few weeks.

1. Empanadas.
2. Spiced Chicken + Couscous Salad.
3. Sesame Chicken.
4. Thai Chicken & Noodle Salad (with Spicy Asian Dressing).
5. Penne with Ricotta and Pine Nuts.
6. Steak Quesadillas.


Honorable Mentions: Skirt Steak and Bok Choy Stir Fry, Kitchen-Sink Quesadillas, Slow-Cooker Orange Chicken with Potatoes, Slow-Cooker Vegetarian Chili with Sweet Potatoes, and Slow-Cooker Pulled-Pork Tacos.

final breakfast of 2011.

Breakfast is perhaps my favorite meal of the day and going out for breakfast is even better. On New Year's Eve day my parents and I (and Andy) went to one of our favorite breakfast spots to enjoy an egg scramble and french toast made with banana bread. It was the perfect final breakfast of 2011! We then took a walk at a local park where we saw a Great Horned Owl and discovered an oddly shaped tree. It's the little things, isn't it?

I recently saw that it is good luck to wear a color that represents the feeling you want to emanate in the new year on New Year's Eve. It sounds kind of silly, but my family is pretty superstitious so we instated it as a new tradition this year. I chose to wear a coral color to represent cheer. I am going to try to live happily and cheerfully in 2012, which works well with my resolution to smile more!

cappy's.

Pizza. One of my all time favorites. And finding a good pizza place? Well, that's the good stuff. So when we found Cappy's, we told everyone about it and promised to visit it again and again (and again). Nestled in an old home, the Chicago style pizza and Greek salad is some of the best there is. And if you give Roxanne some pizza, chances are she'll want a Coke to go with it.

P.S. I am aware that the amount of Parmesan cheese I put on my pizza is obscene.