one of these mornings, you're gonna rise up singing

whenever i don't write here for a while, it's always hard to come up with a clever way to start a new post. but no worries because it's summer and you know what's awesome about summer? waking up to the sound of...well, mostly nothing. sometimes birds. maybe a hello from one of my cats or the sound of my landlords and their two sons, who all wake up earlier than i do. but what's missing is the awful sound of my cell phone alarm. sure, there are more pleasant sounds on my phone, but they just don't do the job. if a sound is pleasant in any way at all, it can somehow be wrapped up into my subconscious sleeping self. it takes a REALLY OBNOXIOUS sound to get me out of bed and it takes three times (yes, i set all three alarms on my phone) to really get me going.

so you can imagine my annoyance when my phone went off the first monday of my summer break, since i'd forgotten to turn it off for the summer.

oh, summer. it's been a pretty good one so far. mom and i took an awesome (albeit nerdy as hell) roadtrip the first week after school ended - gettysburg, cleveland and fallingwater. the pictures are here. since we returned, i've been keeping myself pretty busy, but in a really nice, slow tempo sort of way. i'm teaching lessons two days a week and loving the sweet little life my temporary extra income allows me to enjoy. there have been weddings and picnic lunches and pedicures and barbecues and trips to ikea and a sudden burning desire to finally decorate the carriage house to my liking.

yes, internet...i've finally decided on a color scheme for my living room. this is pretty huge because i lived in my old apartment for four years without ever really making it MY SPACE, you know? but the carriage house and me? we're getting pretty serious here. i think it might be love and i would not mind living here for several years to come, as long as tim and kristina will continue to have me.

aside from the decorating, i've been on a major organizational binge lately. in the house, things have been recycled and thrown out and moved to make my daily life flow better. online, i went through every photo set i have on flickr and organized them all into collections. (this was inspired by my sudden decision to share my flickr with all my family members...a decision i'm mostly sure is ok, but we'll see.) i am finally using my igoogle home page to its full potential, my gmail contacts have all been cleaned up and put into groups and i moved allllll my subscriptions from bloglines over to google reader.

and then there's the travel planning. did you know that mom, laurel and i are going to san francisco? i only talk about it every minute, it seems. plane tickets have been purchased (hell, we bought those back in february), a private room at the green tortoise hostel has been secured and several tours have been booked. but really, i would not be lying at all if i told you that one of the things i especially can't wait to do is take my picture in front of the FULL HOUSE HOUSES.

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on weight loss and summer travel plans

last night, i ate an entire small four cheese pizza from the pepper mill by myself in the course of a few hours. i also polished off a vanilla milkshake. today, my stomach is mildly annoyed with me. but you know what? it worth it because that pizza and shake were DAMN GOOD. i have MISSED pizza and milk shakes.

i changed my weight tracking day to friday because weighing in on monday morning right after the weekend? not such a smart idea. i am 0.4 pounds away from "officially" losing 30 pounds. my body feels so different to me in a really great way. i'm averaging 3-4 days of tae bo a week and doing an hour long yoga class every wednesday after work (the girls comes to us at school - we have class up in the library!) and i just feel so damn good. i feel stronger and healthier and more flexible and also? more feminine. it's a really fucking beautiful thing - i find myself running my fingers down my side, over more defined curves and i feel all RAWR.

earlier this week, plane tickets were purchased for a summer trip to san francisco that mom, laurel and i are taking. we've sort of been casually talking about it for months. ("oh, wouldn't it be nice to go to california?" "we should do it!" "yeah, someday...") well, this past weekend, we got a little more serious and decided to just go for it. i'm currently researching hostels all over the city, checking for updates on the events calendars and studying the bart and muni transit websites. i plan to know my way around the city by the time we step off the plane. i need to buy a new notebook to fill with ideas for while we're out there, but the fact that we'll be staying in a place with free wifi as opposed to some hiking hostel on the appalachian trail will certainly make things a bit easier. laurel says i should be a vacation planner because i love researching new places and making plans. i blame grandmom for giving me a pile of outer banks vacation rentals books back in college and letting ME pick out the houses our family stayed in for three summers in a row.

i need to start thinking about doing my tae bo for the day and i might even shave my legs, which i haven't done since the weather really turned cold. tonight is heather's birthday celebration at landmark and i'm very much looking forward to having a few beers with all my work friends.

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happy birthday, mama bear

today, we celebrated mom's 51st birthday. she came up to my place yesterday morning and spent the weekend here with me. yesterday, we did some tae bo, went grocery shopping and picked up takeout from subway for lunch. we relaxed for a while and then made chicken paprikash & mashed baby red potatoes for dinner. we tried to go see "the wrestler" after dinner, but it (and every other movie we were interested in seeing) was sold out, so we rented "the secret life of bees" and watched it at my place with our candy we were going to sneak into the theater and some coffee from wawa. at midnight, i gave mom a kiss on her forehead and told her happy birthday before going to sleep.

today, laurel came up and we made an awesome brunch, did tae bo together and then went out for indian & thai food at this amazing place called spice that mom and i discovered last night before our failed movie attempt. we shared a huge thai appetizer plate and three different kinds of bread (the buttery one stuffed with nuts, coconut and raisins was our favorite) and then stole bites from each other's entrees. after dinner, we came home with full bellies and somehow managed to find room for ice cream cake. needless to say, mom and i did NOT count weight watcher points today, though i had 33 activity points and 27 weekly allowance points left, so maybe i did okay.

i'm just coming down from the weekend now, watching the amazing race and waiting for the oscars to start. my heart feels so big and happy and i'm totally ignoring the fact that i need to have a finalized research topic and questions by 5:00 tomorrow for grad class. i've got a general idea of what i want to do - i'm sure i can find time at work tomorrow to type it up all official like and come up with a few questions/definitions for my proposal. right now, i need to get my laundry out of the dryer and put on the kettle for some peppermint tea.

*pictures from the weekend are here.

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show a little faith, there's magic in the night

it's been snowing pretty much all day. around 8:30, the words "early dismissal" were buzzing all through the halls, but it just never started sticking to the roads and we were stuck there all day with crazy snow on the brain kids. my landlord is outside getting a start on the shoveling (right, NOW it starts sticking) and i'm just too tired to help him tonight. after work, i went grocery shopping, came home and did 40 minutes of tae bo, took a shower and then cooked myself a feast of a dinner - multigrain pancakes (in my new cast iron!), turkey bacon and scrambled "eggs" with cheese. this all happened because today's lunch at school was french toast sticks and sausage and i could NOT get breakfast food out of my brain for the rest of the day.

the grad class i'm taking right now? oh, it's awful. i sort of knew it would be going into it, given the professor and the topic (research, ugh), but it's even worse than i expected. in three weeks, i've taken maybe 4-5 complete lines of notes. the rest of my papers are covered in the crazy doodles i have to constantly draw in order to keep myself awake as he rambles on and on about anything OTHER than research.

i'm in my pajamas and i've got my violin out on the couch. i've been working on learning how to play the violin parts in random horse feathers songs. so far, i've got all of "finch on saturday" learned and have made a dent in "hardwood pews". i keep getting distracted by various torrents i'm downloading (more springsteen and the current seasons of big love, the l word and flight of the conchords). junior orchestra starts back up again tomorrow morning at 7:30 and i'm just not ready to be in a room with all 50+ of my beginning string students at once again. my left thumb is so torn up from the constant tuning in the crazy up and down weather we've been having lately.

oh, and i have big news! yesterday morning, while teaching a violin lesson, i somehow managed to get through the wachovia center's ticketing website and purchase two tickets to see BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN on april 29. every time i remember that it actually happened, i get giddy all over again. it almost doesn't feel real. this is one of those things that i've been promising myself i would do before i died since i hit my "adult" years and it's going to happen in less than three months! i'm going to take mom as her belated 51st birthday present and it's just so perfect because the first (and only time) she saw him live was with my father back in 1981 when she was pregnant with ME. oh, i cannot wait. and in the meantime, there's ben kweller at the tla with suma and laurel on february 27, solas at world cafe with sara on st patrick's day(!) and girlyman at world cafe with tracy and sarah on april 5. i feel like i'm in college again, with all these shows!

ps. official weight lost so far = 22.8 pounds!

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oh, what a day.

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take a ticket to my own fate

it's snowing just enough outside to make me not want to leave my house at all, which is problematic because my plans for today included going grocery shopping (and then putting a whole mess of chicken & veggies in the crock pot) and doing laundry, both of which require going outside.* my stomach's been bothering me, though, so maybe it's best that i just hibernate for the day. so far, i've gotten down a cup of hot tea with lemon & honey and half a grapefruit. currently, the only thing that sounds remotely good (and safe) to my stomach is pancakes. i think mom left some low fat bisquick here from our christmas morning breakfast, so dinner will probably be a stack of thick, fluffy pancakes with real vermont syrup.

baxter doesn't know what to make of the snow. he's seen it before, but this house has SO MANY MORE windows than my old apartment did and we're on the ground floor here, so it's a whole new experience for him. he's been running around and hopping on window ledges in every room to check out the many views. he finally just curled up with boo for their mid day lovers nap.

i haven't really posted anything of substance since the new year. things are pretty good. i've lost 18 pounds so far on the weight watchers plan (and that's including some pounds gained over the last three weeks of december when i just gave up counting points altogether). laurel gave me a great tae bo set for christmas (i LOVE tae bo) and it includes a 4-week workout rotation calendar, with all the workouts mixed up and built in rest days. i started day 1 of the calendar yesterday with "jump start cardio". today's workout is "fat burn accelerator".

i've decided to do the self portrait version of the "365 days" project over at flickr this year. if you want to keep track, my set is here. i'm hoping this project will challenge me to get more creative with my photography and really learn more about my camera. i'm also hoping it will help me become less self conscious when whipping out my camera in public. pulling out a palm sized point & shoot is easy, but a dslr with a 17-70 zoom lens attached? not so much. i have no idea what my picture will be for today. the fact that i'm not leaving the house now and no longer have as much of a need to really shower and make myself presentable might make it slightly more challenging.

lately, probably because it's january and dark and cold and just generally bleak, i've been feeling a little more alone than i usually do, which resulted in my creating a profile on okcupid.com. so far, i've talked to two guys on the site and both ended up being...well, really boring. i mean, i get that we don't know each other yet and first conservations can be awkward, but they were giving me nothing to work with. it sucks because in their profiles, they both came across as well-spoken and actually interesting...guess not so much without a little planning and editing. then again, i seem to have these completely unearned high standards and absolutely loathe introductory small talk. i need to work on these things and learn to be more open to possibilities that don't necessarily fit my desired ideals.

tomorrow at work, they're going to project obama's inauguration ceremony on a big screen for all the students and staff to watch. yesterday, i sat on my floor and watched his speech at the "we are one" concert. when he talked about lincoln, i started crying. when bruce springsteen and pete seeger played "this land is your land", i cried even more. it just all feels so special, you know?

i feel like i haven't seen my mom in forever. she's looking at a house to rent today. i hope she loves it and that it helps her move on from anthony and really love her life again.

i'm excited for the lost premiere on wednesday night. on friday night, i'm going to see devotchka at world cafe with kara and christen. then on saturday, i'm heading to jersey to babysit noah with mom and laurel and then hopefully, we're going dancing in philly later that night (well, not mom). maybe sunday will be the day i finally break in the crock pot.

i think i'll go eat the other half of that grapefruit. and maybe take a bath and listen to horse feathers and start the new knitting project that's been waiting for my attention for weeks (though, i'm making mine as a scarf and not a shawl).

happy dr. king day, everyone!


*the washer & dryer i use are in the bottom of the barn/tim & kristina's house, which requires walking down my my rock steps (which aren't the safest things even when not wet and covered in snow) and across the driveway. it doesn't seem like much, but it gets really old after the 2nd or 3rd trip.

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haul out the holly

merry christmas, folks!

ok, so it's christmas eve. but christmas came a day early here in my little part of the world since the very grinch-like powers that be at laurel's place of employment decided that she needs to work both tonight AND tomorrow night. so, mom and laurel came over last night for a merry slumber party. i put out a plate of different cheeses (smoked gouda, silver goat & extra sharp cheddar) and roasted pepper spreads, which we ate on thick, crusty bread and washed down with the bottle of champagne that madge (parent to two of my favorite students) gave me last week. we cooked a pot of homemade chai and watched love actually and prancer and ate christmas cookies all curled up on the couch. mom and laurel were crazy giddy with the gift excitement. after we all opened our stockings, they kept saying, "should we open one more each? how about another??" i finally had to say NO so we'd have some left for this morning.

we did presents and our traditional christmas breakfast (homemade biscuits with sausage & jellies and grapefruit halves) this morning and just hung around until they had to leave at 11:30. i then promptly got super weepy and emotional and spent the next few hours watching parts six & seven of the civil war documentary while trying (unsuccessfully) not to cry. i just got back from a lovely dinner for 14 across the driveway with tim and kristina (my landlords) and their family and am heading out in another hour or so for a big celebration with maureen's family. tomorrow, i think i'm going to have to set my alarm so i make it to jersey by 11:00 for brunch at mom's and then "dinner" (yeah, it's at 2:00) at aunt joann's. meanwhile, snapfish decided to never ship the photo book i had made for grandmom and really, i can't even start talking about how annoyed i am over that. at least i just (FINALLY) got all that money that paypal took out of my checking account back...now if i can just get my bank to refund me that overdraft fee.

my belly is full and i'm feeling feeling a little overwhelmed (in the good way) by the generosity and kindness from all the people in various parts of my life. mom and laurel gave me such awesome things this year (and i'm happy to say that they loved the things i got them), but being able to spend last night all curled up and excited together and waking up in the same house this morning, just like we've done nearly every year of my life, was really what i wanted most of all.

no matter what number it may have said on the calendar.

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where webs of snow are drifting

so, since i joined weight watchers, i don't believe i've really had any full fat dairy anything of substance. until today, that is. a few coworkers and i went out after work to an awesome placed called four dogs tavern. really, it's everything i could ever want in a bar - good beer selection, bartenders who know how to pour a damn fine guinness, a roaring fire in the corner, lots of wood, high ceilings, good food and just a really great feeling to it. but i totally overdid it with the cheese today and have been paying dearly since, in the form of stabby chest/abdomen pains and twisty, churning, knotted up intestines. seriously, fun times here.

i'm home now. i can still smell the fire in my hair and i love it. i've got comfy clothes on and the first two discs of the civil war documentary to keep me company while i continue knitting away on adam's scarf and drink multiple cups of peppermint tea to calm my stomach. right now, i'm listening to my NEW FAVORITE BAND IN THE WORLD (as of this morning, when i finally took the time to give them a solid listen) - fleet foxes. really, how did i not know about them before now? i made a fleet foxes station on my pandora today and listened to it while i hung more snowflakes in my office and it was one of the best mixes of music i've heard lately. i have lots of downloading to do.

there was a raffle going on all week in our upper school for an ipod touch. the money went to the yearbook club, so i gave them all the cash i had on me ($12) in exchange for 14 tickets and what i thought was a fighting chance. alas, i didn't win. so now, i'm seriously thinking of buying myself one after the new year if i get any money for christmas. because i still drool over the ipone a little bit, but mostly because of everything BUT the phone part of it. i don't know, we'll see.


the carriage house is all decorated for christmas and it's just as cozy in here as i knew it would be. i put all the decorations out this past sunday morning and then braved a particularly blustery day to go pick up a tree at a random stand nearby. sara came over and helped me get it up. she put on the lights and i did all the ornaments and we both agreed that it's a nice looking tree. i'm having my big holiday fondue party a week from tonight, after two straight days of assemblies and concerts and i'm very much looking forward to relaxing with all my friends, eating good food, watching christmas movies, playing games and toasting to the start our glorious TWO-WEEK-LONG winter break.

my shopping is almost done. laurel, ryan and i are hitting king of prussia tomorrow to get everything else we need. my goal is to have everything wrapped under my tree before my party next week. maybe it's silly, but i like having all the gifts i'm giving people wrapped under my tree. it's a nice little feeling.

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put some records on while i pour

last night, mom, laurel and i went to the woodstown candlelight tour. we had dinner at sweet tomatoes cafe, walked around town and toured the old 1800s houses, listened to my old high school's strolling strings group playing at a church with hot cups of wassail & homemade cookies, shopped at the ten thousand villages "store" set up in the bottom of the quaker friends meeting house, listened to an awesome celtic band play old, traditional carols and warmed ourselves around a fire with civil war actors in full uniform. it was a pretty amazing night.


today, i drove into philly and celebrated ten years of friendship with some of my absolute favorite people in the world - joe#1 (who is temporarily "home" from chicago), adam and kara. we went to brunch at sidecar and had good beer and excellent bloody marys and somehow, two hours went by like nothing. we went back to adam and kara's place and just hung out until kara had to leave for jersey and take joe with her. i stayed a little longer until i realized it was starting to snow outside...

and then i sort of freaked out (mostly on the inside) because the ride home from the city is about 40 minutes in PERFECT driving conditions. so yeah, i was a bit of a nervous mess and was definitely that person on the highway that you hate to be behind when it snows. and i get it - it's annoying as hell, but come ON - it's a two lane highway and you can totally go around me WITHOUT tailgating me and flashing your high beams at me. and yeah, if you do that to me, i AM going to give you the finger and call you an asshole as you drive by me.

really, it just gets me very angry, mostly with myself. because i really am a GOOD driver. i drive with confidence and love to do it and am pretty great with directions. but let me tell you something - it's really hard for me to drive in any sort of winter weather. i didn't grow up (and don't live) in a place that gets a lot of snow and i never learned how to properly drive in winter weather. add to that the fact that nearly four years ago, i totaled my first rav4 by doing a full 360 across two lanes and hitting the median HEAD ON before spinning back into my original lane when it WASN'T EVEN SNOWING thanks to a giant patch of black ice. so yeah, i get nervous.

but i'm home now and i'm hoping that the roads aren't frozen over tomorrow because i really want to go get a tree and do all my decorating. for now, i'm willing to admit that the snow does look really pretty outside the carriage house since i'm all warm and cozy here on my couch. i've got harry potter on the tv (thanks, abc family!) and a big cup of hot spiced cider and lots of knitting to keep me busy for the night.

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made from scratch

seriously, people. if you have ANY interest at all in ANY of the following - chickens, bees, angora rabbits, sheep, gardening, making your own clothing, sled dogs, mountain music, teaching yourself an instrument and/or homesteading in general and living off whatever little bit of land you might have - you will like this book. it’s full of great information and resources and jenna’s writing is welcoming and funny and makes you feel at home. honestly, she’s an awesome person and your purchase of this book will help her along on her way to a bigger & better cold antler farm.

available at a bookstore near you today!

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