Fall mountain house

Boats and ponies

If Lyle Lovett had a boat, he'd go out on the ocean, and if he had a pony, he'd ride it on his boat.

I saw Lyle Lovett on the talk show Charlie Rose once, and Charlie Rose asked him how he managed to get such gorgeous ladies since Lyle Lovett was, well, not gorgeous.

And I was all like "Charlie Rose, you are so clueless! Lyle Lovett is charismatic! Lyle Lovett is talented and funny and he is a lanky Texan with giant hair! He sings songs about tough women! He sings song about his truck! He is charming!"

I mean, if I was Julia Roberts I totally would've married Lyle Lovett too. And unlike Julia, I would not have divorced him. I would stick around so he could write songs about me. ("She's got big red lips/ She's got big brown eyes/ and she treats me right/ It's a big surprise/ She don't do the things that she says she'll do/ She makes me feel good/ She makes me feel good.")

Blue Ridge Parkway

We drove home on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The views were spectacular. As seen here.

Mountain morning

The view from my parents' house in the mountains never, ever gets old. Its beauty is especially, well, beautiful in the fall.

This is what I wore to stay warm, stay comfortable and do a little lovely mountain walking.

My sailboat scarf is a new favorite.

We took a walk around an island surrounded by the New River. My shoes got soggy from the grass. It smelled like fallen leaves. It sounded like falling leaves. It was just absolutely lovely. 

This was my favorite tree from the walk. It looks like a fir tree, but it's not evergreen, it's super orange! Does anyone know what it is? I love it!

Things I've been loving lately...

Things I have been loving lately include but are not limited to: 

Green curry. I made it. It was yum. It had a ton of tofu in it. Tofu is your friend. At least, it's my friend.

Celebrating the birthday of another Sara. (She spells her name without an h. We are friends even though she totally spells her name wrong.) She shared her creme brulee. That's the kind of lady you want to keep around.

Robert went to IKEA and bought a ton of tupperware. He then got rid of all our mismatched tupperware. We now only have matching tupperware in our home. This man brings peace to my life.

My best friend Sherrie sent me a picture postcard of herself and her husband on the Appalachian trail. She's hiking the whole thing. THE WHOLE  THING. That is so much trail! Six months of trail! She is awesome.

I heart fall

Robert and I regularly take a walk through our neighborhood into our small town's downtown and back home. It is an absolutely blissful walk now that fall has arrived in all its splendor.

I love the crunching leaves. I love the cool breezes. I love the COLOR! I love spending time with my fellow.

Halloween decorations are up and adorable. Here I am hanging out in my new green coat with a very skinny, white dude.

Look at those yellow leaves! I think part of the reason I love fall is it's so transitory. It doesn't last. It's here for a sneeze and then it's gone. It's special. It's fleeting.

Hey, check out my heart sweater. It expresses my feelings about fall: Heartfelt love.

That's right, fall. I full-on heart you.

Moon River

Audrey Hepburn singing moon river is my favorite movie moment ever. Ever, ever, ever.

'70s vibe

I'm wearing clogs all the time now. I think I'll remember the fall of '12 as the time I became a teacher, wore clogs a lot, chopped off my hair and regularly listened to Amanda Palmer

The shirt and pants are thrifted. I love these pants! They make me feel very '70s, especially when I pair them with the clogs. The shirt is all loose and draped and comfortable. It's my favorite shirt in the world right now.

See that pattern? So fun. I thrifted this last spring, and I've probably worn it once a week since then. Last night, I wore it to The Melting Pot with Robert's parents and sister and our very best "couple" friends.

We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and hit The Melting Pot for dessert. The Melting Pot is a fondue place so the evening had a '70s vibe. Clogs: check. Wide-leg jeans: check. Fondue: check. It was pretty groovy. (Pictured above is the "Ying Yang," a delightful dark and white chocolate combo.)

This is a dark picture of all the things you put in that melted chocolate: strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, brownie bits, chocolate marshmallows (who knew such a thing existed?)... the list of sugar-comma inducing items was long.

I drank sambuca from a snifter because, you know, drinking sambuca from a snifter is always a good time. (There are coffee beans in there. Why? Who knows.)

This is a clog-tastic picture of the end of our evening. We drove home from downtown Charlotte (Charlotte: you are so pretty, and therefore I am pretty into you right now) listening to Amanda Palmer and chatting it up. At home, Sunshine attacked us with love because that's what she does. Dogs are the best. They're never like " How dare you stay out so late and then come home empty handed? I like cheesecake too!" Instead, they're always like "Why are you so awesome! You are just SO awesome. And I really, really love your clogs. Super fabulous." At least that's what my dog was like last night.

Loving lately

Things I have been loving lately: 

1) The artist Nikki de Saint Phalle:

Robert and I hit up the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in downtown Charlotte to see a Giacommeti exhibit because I like Giacommeti and his strange, thin statues. The exhibit was great. The exhibit was sad. The exhibit was steeped in existential angst. It made me pensive. But outside the Bechtler was the Fire Bird by Nikki de Saint Phalle, and that Fire Bird, I tell you what, it lifts you up (like a really shiny Whitney Houston song). I love art.

This is a picture from more than a year ago with what is maybe my favorite piece of art ever. That colorful, giant skull had a short visit in Charlotte, but I'll remember it forever.

2) The cold. It's amazing. It's almost like fall is officially here. Part of me had trouble believing the heat of summer could ever be conquered. Really. I was doubtful fall would show up. (In my defense, I wore shorts last February.)

3) "The Bed Song" by Amanda Palmer. It wins. At everything.



4) Drinking hot coffee early in the morning driving in the dark to school listening to "Bust a Move" to get pumped for my day. 

5) Homemade pretzels. Oh. Yes. (By my amateur baker husband.)

Fall!

It's fall! Fall, fall the very best season of all! I love fall so much. I love its weather and holidays and the pumpkin-flavored-ness of things. I also love fall clothes. Sweaters, people! It is time for sweaters!

This Sunday had that awesome in-between weather that allowed for a crazy shorts/sweater combo. I'm living on the edge, I know.

I bought this most-excellent over-sized men's sweater when the weather was warm, and I daydreamed about the day I could wear it. Pictured: dreams becoming a reality.

Here are my second pair of Danskos. They arrived this weekend, and they're pretty awesome. I am all about some comfortable footwear, and I am all about buying said comfortable footwear on eBay for half the price of a new pair.

Hey look! I have bangs! And a sour expression! Cheer up, lady, your bangs are awesome. And so is your over-sized sweater. If you're feeling chilly, just go inside and make yourself some pumpkin-flavored coffee. I promise you'll feel better.

Shortness of hair

Chopped all my hair off on a rainy Saturday, and it was liberating. Now, a week later, I am as in love with this haircut as the day we first met. Today, I took it on a date to the Bechtler Museum of Art and the Sleepy Poet Mall in Charlotte. It was a excellent date indeed. Lighthearted. Breezy. Henry Mancini music was playing in the background.

The dress is thrifted and adored. I've had it for years. The bandanna is Urban Outfitters and perfect for my short 'do. The shoes are Dankso via eBay and kind of my favorite thing ever. Terribly, terribly comfortable. Teacher-tried and teacher-approved! The bag has a bit of a Mary Poppins vibe in its ridiculous largeness, but let me tell you what, I need a big bag! I have a lot of things to carry around including but not limited to notebooks, Luna bars, pens, lipstick, books, a planner... and so on. It's a wild, wild world in there, folks.

Long time, no see

As a first-year teacher, teaching is pretty much all I think about these days. I love my job. I love my smarty-pants kids. But this job is all-consuming! My new goal is for it to not consume all of me. I'm going to attempt to have a "work-life balance," which I hear such lovely things about. And so: Blog Revival! Blog Reboot! Blog 2.0!

These are pictures from two weeks ago. They show my beautiful dog and my large amount of (bunned-up) hair. I have since chopped all my hair off. Stay tuned for pictures! And other posts! Because I'm back, baby!

P.S. Although I have not been posting on here, or commenting anywhere, I have still managed to be an avid, addicted blog reader. Thanks ladies for all your pictures of puppies and knick-knacks and thrifted sartorial gems!

Vest

My time with contacts was short. Somehow, one broke in two while still in my eye. Then I couldn't find it. (Then I did.) True story. Truly unacceptable. I just had the two contacts so I'm back to glasses at least temporarily. (My eyes will be coming in contact with new contacts soon-ish.)

In other news, I wore a vest. Wanna see?

Vest!

$4. Thrifted. Classes up my jean shorts and my husband's undershirt fo sho.

The flowers also class things up. Crape Myrtle. I love them so much I daydreamed about having a daughter and naming her Myrtle. Oh imaginary Myrtle, all your schoolmates will tease you mercilessly for your old-lady name, but Mama loves you (and Crape Myrtles)!

(Disclaimer: I am not pregnant. There is no actual threat of me naming an innocent child Myrtle.)

See? Pretty. Blue sky. White clouds. Crape Myrtle.

P.S. I thought you spelled Crape Myrtle "Crepe Myrtle." Like a delicious dish of a tree. I was sadly wrong.

Shorts and a tank top

The 99-degree days have greatly affected my style this summer. I'm all about shorts and tank tops all the time. And a messy pulled up bun. Shorts, tank tops, pull up that bun and you're done. 

(In this photo: my tank is thrifted, shorts are from Target (I have thrifted zero shorts in my life. Thrifting shorts is hard.) and shoes are from H&M.)

It's not the most exciting of sartorial choices, but it's cool and comfortable, and that's what I'm all about right now.

Summer dressing for me is often about survival in the heat. I have more fun with clothes in the fall (so mild, still warm, not insanely hot) and the winter (so mild, we rarely get snow in my part of North Carolina). But summer has more parties and more watermelon and more barbecued chicken so I'll let it stick around for a while.

A whole bunch of stuff

In this photo, I have a whole bunch of stuff to do.

True story: This one time, I was so worried my summer would be spent bored and isolated that I planned a whole bunch of stuff to do during said summer.

That was this summer.

As a grown up person experiencing summer vacation for the first time in more than a decade, I was intimidated by the sheer amount of free time I was facing. My solution? Fill up that time with a whole bunch of stuff.

Was this the best solution? I didn't experience the alternative, but I think my summer could have survived with a lot less stuff filling it up.

It kind of shocks me I only have two weeks left (and those two weeks have already been over-scheduled by yours truly).

The whole whole bunch of stuff conundrum has a lot of fans. I've noticed that most of my friends respond with "busy" or "stressed" when asked how they're doing. I've noticed that lately I've been responding with both "busy" and "stressed" when asked how I'm doing.

Um, I'm on summer vacation. What's that about? I do not have to be busy and stressed. I've obviously made the choice to feel this way.

I think it's about the value we put on being busy and stressed. If you're not busy and stressed then what on earth are you doing with your life? You have to be busy and stressed in truly live. Allegedly.

Last weekend, I overbooked myself to the point that my family members noted it. Perhaps, they suggested, I didn't need to schedule a drama camp performance (I missed it, but felt guilty), emancipation party (not my emancipation, someone else's), mountain kayaking adventure (kayaking is awesome), post-kayaking small-town exploration (this included pistachio ice cream so it was a pretty big deal) and freelance faith assignment ("Bible Boot Camp") during 48 hours.

After they noted it, I noted it too. And then I started saying "no" to things. Here's the thing with saying no to things: It is sad to say no to things that sound fun, but it is also insane to say yes to everything.

And: I think it's silly to place value on being stressed and busy. I'm going to work on it. I really liked this article that addresses that topic. (Seriously. Read it.)

And finally: Although it made for a very busy weekend, I certainly do not regret my mountain kayaking adventure. It was super awesome. As seen here.

A kayak built for two

Truth and beauty

Dad

Go Dad Go!

Tandem kayaks are for newlyweds (newly-ish-weds)