Loving It

Lately I've been loving...

1. All the snow photos I took. The snow is gone, but the memories remain!
2. Marchesa's latest runway show For the Highlands-Prowling Woodland Fairy in You
3. Root beer. Not as good as beer beer, but still pretty good.
4. House of Cards on Netflix. Oh man. All the people are so terrible. Why do I obsessively watch it?
5. Big ol' chunky necklaces. The bigger and chunkier, the better.

Loving It

Lately I've been loving...

1. Polka-dot shoes on a polka-dot rug. I do enjoy the polka dots.

2. Fresh flowers make me feel like a civilized adult.

3. I have been making myself fruit/spinach smoothies (you can't taste the spinach, scout's honor), that look pretty gross, but taste pretty good.

4. I love this Sophia Loren poster I saw at Ikea. I didn't buy it, but maybe some day. Love you Sophia!

Lace

Robert shared his beer with my family, and it was a big hit. It's nice to have a home brewer in the family! Robert was happy with how much people loved it, and he was also really happy that his beer had "lace" -- those bubbles on the side of the glass are a good sign. Also: There is no sunset like a mountain sunset especially one enjoyed with a home brew.

Loving Lately

Lately I've been loving...

* This "Come to Here" sign, which was at the line for the shuttle at the Highland Games. Excellent wordage!

* Big Boss' Hell's Belle is spicy good fun and goes great with orange cream bars! Happy summer to you!

* Salami-covered hot dogs because, you know, hot dogs weren't unhealthy enough to begin with (yum, yum, yum).

* Vance Toe River Lodge is such super fun. We went there last weekend as an excursion away from the Highland Games. First, we went on a ziplining canopy tour (no pictures allowed, but it scared me, people, it scared me, but I tried to keep cool, and it was pretty and I survived!), then we tried their microbrewery Blind Squirrel (and then Robert started daydreaming about quitting his day job to become a full-time brewer, which is the daydream he has every time we visit a microbrewery), and then we had a yummy dinner. If you're a North Carolinian or visiting the Appalachian mountains, give this place a go!

* This sign, which was posted in the Blind Squirrel Brewery's bar. Ha! So true. So, so true.

* I've also collected a couple of fun links from ye ol' interwebs this week. Check them out:

          --- Dustin Hoffman brought to tears when talking about women and the movie "Tootsie"

          --- Leslie on xoJane explaining why "Dirty Dancing" is a subversive masterpiece.

          --- Forever 21 fans can now buy a "Retro Phone Handset," which I think is hilarious

          --- French lady fashion inspiration

          --- And finally, this post on pin ups from Little Chief Honeybee. Enjoy!

On age and excitement

I bought this guy in Guatemala when I was 24. He hangs out next to the angel I bought at the same time. I feel like I was 24 just a sneeze ago, but it wasn't a sneeze. It was 8 years. That's the age of some of my students. It's crazy.

I feel like the stability I have in my life now has brought me fantastic freedom I never had before. This freedom makes me feel young. The world still feels big and exciting. Hanging out with 8-year-olds reminds me I'm old(er), but, hey, maybe in the long run this connection with kids will keep me young.

I like making them feel excited about things that are exciting (poetry, algebra, recess).

Something that's exciting to adults, but not to kids? Making beer. It's exciting! Such a process. As seen here.

Definitely an appropriate 30-something hobby.

Wearing leggings as pants is exciting and allegedly not appropriate at any age...

And if you want to go from exciting to SUPER exciting, then you have to bring up our owl with the pineapple hair who has survived the winter and is about to be put back outside. 

Because summer's coming, y'all, and that is something that excites the young and old alike!

Loving Lately

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

1. Running into former students. I ran into one of the second-graders I taught (as a student teacher) last year. He was so tall! I was with Robert, who had a basket full of perfectly respectable items such as potatoes, carrots and broccoli. I was holding boxed wine. Of course. Not just wine. Boxed wine. I foresaw this happening. I always, always knew the first time I saw a student (former or current), it would be in a grocery store, and I would be holding wine.

2. Boxed wine. Black Box is good. It just is. And it's cheap(ish). And eco-friendly. I have no shame. Except for the shame I have. But I only have that because I live in the South.

3. Snow in the South. So while living in the South (and more likely for seven years in a very small southern town where I was a freakishly public personality for being a 20-something quirky chick) has made me a little paranoid about appearing like a lush in public, it has also made me a massive lover of magical, transient snow. We never get it! But sometimes we do! And when we do it is so beautiful. Snow in the South is a very specific, beautiful thing. It is not the same as snow in other places. We haven't had snow like this in three years. It was powdery and crunchy and stayed for less than 24 hours. MAGICAL. As seen here in blurry photos.

4. Ebay. I have developed a problem. I am now off of Ebay. Allegedly. Not coincidentally, I am now the owner of some awesome combat boots. I feel very myself circa 2000.

5. This song. I heard it on Jimmy Fallon. Cause me and Jimmy, we're still besties.



6. Bath salts. Not the drugs. The actual salts you put in the bath to relax. I'm really annoyed there's a drug called "bath salts." I feel it gives for-real bath salts a bad name when they are so healthy and awesome.

7. Looking forward to something. It is maybe not Zen to look forward to things. It is, perhaps, better to focus on the present. To just live in the Now, man. But I have always been a forward-thinking lady, and I find I am a much happier person if I have something very specific that I'm looking forward to. Right now, it's visiting my math-professor/gorgeous-genius sister in California. She is the bee's knees. And she lives two hours away from Disneyland (and no-hours away form the Farmers Market Ben Affleck shops at). So it will be an epic visit, and I may or may not come back with mouse ears (and Ben Affleck).

Loving lately

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

1. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Thanks to Hulu Plus, I can watch this show even though I go to bed at 9 p.m. (True story. I went to a concert last weekend and it lasted until midnight and I was sort-of-kind-of falling asleep by 11 p.m. The only day I can stay up late-ish is Saturday because I did not spend the whole day with kidlets and will not be spending the next day with kidlets. Friday, it turns out, is a no-go.)

Jimmy Fallon is really funny and has really positive energy, and because I was raised by Californian hippies, good energy is important to me. Enthusiasm is underrated. Geeking out over things is where it is at (see the number 2 thing I am loving).

This week has been especially awesome. He had Tavi Gevinson of "Style Rookie" (the blog) and "Rookie" (the website). She is a hero of mine, which feels a little weird because in general my heroes/role models are my own age or older. I guess that changes the older you get? Anyway, she's a junior in high school, and she's my hero.



Even though I was totally Team Katy after watching her documentary (Oh, I watched it. It even made me cry.), I have to admit I'm still a fan of Russell Brand. He cracked me up.



Those were just two highlights from the world of Jimmy Fallon. My all-time favorite moment was when Obama came on and slow-jammed the news. Now that was epic.

2. Geeks 

I am taking college courses on gifted kids for my AIG certification, and one of things we talked about last week was the word "geek" and how "geek" used to be a terrible thing to be called and now it's more of a badge of honor. It's no longer totally uncool to be smart. Even the word "nerd" is now more of an adjective or verb (I'm going to nerd-out on some homework tonight.) than a definition of a person.

3. Home brew

I got Robert a beer-making kit for his 30th birthday in January, and now he is all about making the beer. Like all about it. I'm pretty pleased. Below, you can see beer making is a little bit "Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble" but without the witches.

His best friend helps him with the brewing. Their micro-micro-brewery (as in our backyard, kitchen, hallway and hall closet where the beer-making and beer-sitting-for-a-long-time-doing-its'-thing takes place) is named "Dem Two Guys with Beards." Beards are good and so is beer.

'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.