Shhh...

I'm back. It may be temporary, or it may be the start of something a little bit bigger, but nevertheless I'm here. Fingers are clicking against keys, ideas are whirring in my brain, and I think I'm ready (after a year hiatus) to get back into this blogging thing. I've done a lot, learned a lot, and I'm ready for a whole lot more.

XO.

Busy Bee

As always, I've neglected the one piece of the internet that I love so dearly. Too many of my blog posts start out like this, unfortunately. We moved houses at the end of May and have been ridiculously busy since then. Traveling back and forth, setting up the house to make it feel like a home, searching for jobs, dealing with car troubles and Pippa troubles (the latter of which is, thankfully, over with and our little girl is feeling much better).

This isn't to say I haven't had the time to do a quick update now and then, I just got out of the swing of things and it's been difficult to get back in. It makes me much sadder than it probably makes you, my lovely readers. I won't promise I'm back to blogging every week, but I'm definitely stepping up my game. I have an exciting plan for my tiny plot in internet city, and feel like I have to put in more effort to accomplish my goals.  This is purposefully vague.

In lieu of an actual post, I'm going to give you some of my favorite house related Instagrams. I'm calling them HouseGrams... Just go with me on this.

1) Pippa packed up and ready to go (with a fresh haircut to boot)! 2) Taylor and our new (rented) place. 3) The most gigantic bathroom mirror and the duck collection. 4) The closet I could live in. 5) Taylor's side of the room and how we spent a week watching Spartacus. 6) A new kitchen for new food -whipped cream!

It's a very happy home. I walked around for the first few weeks saying "You know, I really love (insert random point here) about the house." Everything from the giant closet to the gas stove, the big backyard to the little frogs that inhabit it. The house has good energy and I've found elderflowers in the backyard, a sign that the fairies are near. We also have a gorgeous crepe myrtle and a "pond" where turtles swim, but mosquitoes like crazy. I'm going to plant some mosquito repelling plants out there soon to see if that helps. It's been busy, but we're really enjoying ourselves and I'm loving having an empty canvas to decorate. Also, the designers of this house were genius -the lighting is wonderful! See, just one more thing to add to my I-Love-This-House List.

Possibly an outfit post soon? I have one that needs to be edited from a couple weeks  ago. We'll see. XOXO.

Disney Dreams

This is going to be pretty picture heavy, just a fair warning!
     It's been over a month now since I went to Disney for Spring Break, and I'm dreaming about it more and more. Taylor and I bought Seasonal passes, so we're getting to go at least a couple times next month before our Blackout dates start in June. First with our good friends, and then with my Aunt and Uncle at the end of the month for Star Wars Weekends! We're super excited, but I figured I should probably give you all a better peek at the last trip before I go on the next trip!
     My Aunt Mer and Uncle Dan and I arrived on Sunday and checked into the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which if you've never been is absolutely wonderful -the animals are so cute! Taylor was going to drive down that night after his rugby game in Alabama and my brother was supposed to head over that afternoon. Or so I had been told.

Birthday pin! Celebrating 21.

     I was taken to the bar to get an Ecotini (best drink ever, btw) by my Uncle, which I found out later was just a ploy to keep me away from the front desk where my Aunt was getting our room keys. We got to the room, I unpacked and my brother, Cory, showed up. Him and Dan went back down to the lobby, or so I thought once again, and I started blabbing away to Mer about what outfits I was going to wear on what park days. And then, to my utter and complete shock and surprise:

My Mamma showed up!! I was seriously in shock, my family is a group of pretty terrible secret keepers, and somehow all of them kept from me that my mom had flown down from New York three days earlier and was surprising me for my birthday. It was absolutely perfect. Taylor arrived in late that night, and we had SO much fun all week. Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Magic Kingdom were on our agenda. I'll stop gabbing away here and just show you pictures now...

I love this moment that Mer caught. He was in the middle of telling me how tired he was.

Wearing red, white, and blue for our Epcot day.

Taylor's favorite part of Disney- the Norway Pavilion.

A Skye-sized rugby ball!

I LOVE this picture, haha!

With our Seasonal passes! Too excited.

     I have tons more pictures, but they're mostly of shows and random street signs/buildings and food. Yeah, a lot of food, the food is probably one of my favorite parts. Hopefully you enjoyed these, because I definitely enjoyed being present in them and I'm extremely excited to be back. Disney is just such a magical place, don't you think? XO.

Avoidance is Not a Dance

     I'm sitting here with three large papers looming over my flower and glitter and sunshine filled head, with no urge to complete any of them and a deep need for summer to arrive. One is about pagans, the other about women on the American prairie, and a third is about Weetzie Bat.
     Which is how I got so distracted tonight and didn't end up writing about any of the three, though feeling quite inspired to write. You see, pagans made me think of "Shit New Age Girls Say", which brought me to Youtube, where I had to watch the new Florence + the Machine video. And then Weetzie Bat had me looking up the brilliant author, Francesca Lia Block, which led me to the Wildfox Couture-run blog featuring a wondrous story written by her -seriously, go read it right this very moment, stop reading my silly ramblings and read what I only dream my writing will sound like one day. And lastly, the prairie made me think of wildflowers and wide open spaces, and I was sucked from one imagery wonderland into the beautiful world of photography on this blog. So you see, I haven't been just avoiding my papers, I've been letting my paper topics inspire me. I've been in what you could call a rut lately, just going through the motions, not feeling inspired and feeling fairly overwhelmed. A lot to do, not a lot of time, and a sense that everything is moving too fast. Classes are ending and signing up for new classes has given me more than one headache these last couple weeks (which still haven't sorted themselves out, ugh). So spending an evening with magical images and enchanting songs and bewitching stories has calmed me, enlightened me, and lifted my spirits to where I think I can make it through until the warm summer days lingering in the distance.

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     So if you're in the same water-logged boat as I am, take a few minutes to explore something lovely. Except don't do what I did and go outside to take your puppy out and then almost run into the biggest spider web ever in existence complete with yuckiest looking spider in the entire world. That would be bad. Instead, sit on your bed and cuddle with said puppy and eat something delicious and drink some tea. Much better. Feel relaxed and inspired yet? XO.

The Ten Acre Woods

     A few weeks ago I had a super wonderful, dreamlike week, full of Spring Break adventures, Disney surprises, and some quaint celebrations with family. It was just what I needed and I'm finally able to share some of the outfit pictures Taylor took for me! My cord conundrum is fixed and the pictures are here, so look forward to more memories soon.
     These are all from the last day of our break, after my Uncle's birthday party as the sun was setting. My grandmother's Ten-Acre Woods are full of picture opportunities, so I made Taylor follow me with my phone camera and snap a few a million pictures. These are some of my favorites -that top one with Pip's little face peeking back? I swoon!

I love the look of complete joy on my face in this one. I love throwing leaves.

Hat, Dress- F21; Shoes- Ross; Key bracelet- Lucky Brand, old; Acai nut bracelet- came with my Eco-tini at Disney.

Barefoot is the best way to go. I lived most of my childhood like this.

     Taylor and I are taking it easy and not doing much, as these next couple weekends will be pretty busy. We're making lots of changes and getting prepared to move in a couple months, find jobs, and, for me at least, take summer classes. So this weekend, we're keeping calm. Friday the 13th was a truly great day, which is weird because most people are frightened by it. I, however, seem to always have good days on Friday the 13th, and yesterday was no exception. My military ID picture came out perfect, we bought hot dogs from the nicest gentleman, had lunch with friends, looked at houses for rent, and then ate Thai food for dinner. Today I'm catching up on TV shows I missed and running a couple errands once Taylor wakes up from his after-practice nap. Hope you have a dazzling (and stress-free, if you need it) weekend! XO.

Telegrams from... Thursday?

     This blogging thing has taken a back burner to this whole April-is-the-most-stressful-month-ever thing. And by ever, I really mean EVER. There is just so much happening and so quickly and so disorganized. I'm having trouble keeping my head above water through it all, but I'm making it work. So here's a little Telegram that I meant to post on Tuesday.

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The Drop, that wrestles in the Sea—

Forgets her own locality—

As I—toward Thee—

She knows herself an incense small—

Yet small—she sighs—if All—is All—

How larger—be?

The Ocean—smiles—at her Conceit—

But she, forgetting Amphitrite—

Pleads—"Me"?

Emily Dickinson

       Also, Pippa on the beach may well be the most adorable thing ever. She digs and digs and runs and then hates the sea water. It's pretty uplifting to watch her frolic. Now back to procrastinating working on writing papers. XO.

Oh, April

     Hello pretty month. Full of April Fool's and April Showers. Easter is here, Spring is in the air, and I'm ready to embrace the happiness that is April. Yes, you will stress me out with your many papers and exams that will arrive, but I will handle them with calmness and grace and the hope for summer to come as quickly and painlessly as possible. Taylor will practice on the beach for his Championship game in Colorado, we'll restart our weekend dates, I'll get back to blogging more often, and the Spring semester will slip away and lead us into a wonderful summer. April, you're a little difficult at times, but your blooms and sense of finality are just what I need right now. XO.

Drinks before I left for the weekend. I hope April is full of more afternoon dates like this. 

Hello Kitty Band-aids & Flowered Headbands

     So my cord still isn't working. I went to buy a new one and then saw how expensive they were and left the store. I left quite a few stores empty handed today. Except JoAnn's. But that was only due to a kind woman giving me a coupon as she walked out of the store and my inability to turn down saving money. Anyway! I just emailed myself a few of the photos so I could get something up. I feel like if I stop blogging again, even for a few days, it's going to be just that much harder to pick it up in full force.
     These are some photos from... sometime this week. I forget what day actually. It was nice out, so it had to be Monday-Thursday? And Taylor took them so I'm guessing it was possibly Wednesday? For someone who hates wearing the same outfit two weeks in a row, I sure have a terrible clothing memory. Oops. Also, sorry about the not-so-great quality. Pretty sure next time I need outfit pictures I'm going to just drag out my Canon. It's heavy, but the picture quality is so much better. This may have been the day where I was suffering from PDD, or post-Disney depression, and that's why my hair is up. That day was just no good at all. Everything kept going wrong and I felt like crying all day. It was kind of ridiculous. Actually, I think this was Tuesday. I cut my arm on Monday and that's why I have a Hello Kitty band-aid on. Yeah, definitely Tuesday.

Dress- Bealls; Shirt- Hollister/thrift find; Belt- Ross; Sunglasses- American Eagle/Ross; Headband- F21

This headband is kind of my favorite right now. It looks like just fabric, but it's got a wire piece inside so it's bendy! and so comfortable.

Pippa's Leash/Collar- Petsmart

     Little side story, I didn't realize until last Friday that there are people in Petsmart specifically there to sell you their brand of dog food. An employee casually talked to me about a shirt I was getting for Pip and then segued into a ten minute spiel about why the dog food I bought was the worst on the market and that I needed to buy his. Of course he was polite and I'm way too polite to just leave the guy, so I went along with it, but really. I wanted to get in and get out and they should know that I'm too nice to say no! Also, his brand was 3x the price of the one I buy. No way, Jose. Next time I'm in there, I'm definitely bringing Pip as back up so I can excuse myself so she can pee.

 

     Now to go read Mockingjay. Yes, you've read that correctly. I've finished the second book in one day. Taylor comes home sometime after midnight from his BIG GIANT WONDERFUL WIN! and I've got a lot to do tomorrow, so I doubt I will be up late reading tonight. As soon as I get a new cord, you shall have new pictures. XO.

P.S. Our 52 Dates of 2012 should be returning promptly next week! We've been so busy lately that we've done things together but haven't pulled any from the jar. I'll be so happy when, after next weekend, we can stop running for a couple weekends and just hang out.

Cord Conundrum

     I said I'd be blogging this weekend, and I kind of am, but until I get a new phone cord I can't upload any of the really good pictures I have to share. You see, my darling dearest puppy decided that chewing on the white iPhone charger was a brilliant idea a few weeks back. At first it was okay and still worked, but then she got a hold of it once more. I taped it up best I could and it works for charging... barely. I have to wiggle it just the right way. And when I plug it into my laptop to transfer pictures? Nothing. I'd do the sensible thing and go buy a new cord, but I already went shopping once today and forgot about it, so I'm not going again. I could also just email myself all of the photos, like I've done in the past, but there are far too many to pick that option this time. Thus, you'll just have to wait for the two (or was it three?) outfit posts and the Disney recap. I can, however, give you a little peek at some Instagrams lately.

Went to Target to buy sandals. Bought cereal bowls and flowered sneakers. Yeah... I do that a lot.

Flowered sneakers: Target (in the little girls' section, 10$)

And this is why I can't get too mad at her when she eats my phone cord...

If I've ever sent you mail, you'd know that I adore confetti. I was attempting to put some in my thank you notes when all of a sudden -poof! The bag ripped open and fell everywhere! This picture makes it look tame, but trust me, I had to swoop in like a mama bird and steal the little pieces up before Pip decided to eat them all.

     Now back to what I've been doing all day, lounging and reading The Hunger Games. I finished the first in less than one day -like, I started yesterday at lunch and was done by this morning. I'd say, oh I don't know... six hours total? Yeah, I'm a pretty quick reader when I want to be. Anyway, now I feel like I should publicly take back anything bad I've ever said about them, ha! It took me so long to read them because I'm stubborn and don't like liking things that everyone else loves. Taylor jokingly calls me a Hipster, but in that regard it's kind of true. Sad, but true. Anyway! I've gotten over it and I'm hooked and so should you. Now I just have to wait for Taylor to get home to see the movie... patience is not really my best attribute. XO.

Why Hello / Telegrams from Tuesday

     Fancy meeting you here. Why you ask? Because once again my little internet home has been a bit neglected. That's what happens when your 21st birthday and Spring Break are two weekends apart I suppose. I'll be updating on those exciting events probably Friday, but for now I'm just stopping by to leave a late Telegram from Tuesday and say that I will start blogging more again, pinky promise. This week has already been busy and I'm dealing with a bit of post-Disney depression, if you will, so I'm kind of looking forward to a weekend with just me and Pippa and my laptop. 

     That being said, I'm going to miss Taylor a whole bunch. He and his rugby team won their last two games, making them USA Southeastern DIII Champions! or something like that. I can't get all of those fancy-schmancy titles right. He's heading to Virginia for the Eastern semifinal something-or-others on Friday (go donate here!) so I'll be catching up on some Disney posts and a few outfit posts, maybe even a craft or two. So here's a bit of prettiness and some wise words from Mr. Walt Disney to accompany it.

"I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained."

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."

"Or heritage and ideals, our code and standards - the things we live by and teach our children - are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings."

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

"When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do."

     After being at Disney again this break, Walt's words ring even louder in my ears -he was such a visionary and a dreamer. I can't wait to share more Disney photographs with you. XO.