Hot, hot, hot

I got this necklace on eBay, but it's not vintage. It's faux-vintage. Still cute!

Working my third-trimester belly in this green maxi dress. It's already getting so hot in North Carolina. This week, it's supposed to hit 100 degrees. That's too much! Too many degrees, I say! 

Slight upside: Ice cream is more delicious when it's hot out. Robert and I split this ridiculousness (raspberry/brownie/ice cream sundae), and it was scrump-diddly-ump-tious. Ice cream -- definitely one thing I love about the summer!

Loving It

Lately I've been loving...

1. Seeing that kooky Blue Man Group. That was a bunch of the right kind of crazy!

2. Eating homemade margherita pizza. I'm spoiled. Thanks husband.

3. Finally used pregnant-lady parking! So exciting for me!

4. Egg English muffin breakfast sandwiches with a side of strawberries....

5. ... which I enjoyed looking at this lovely, lovely view.

Loving It

Lately I've been loving...
1. Romantic doughnuts
2. All the strawberries all the time
3. "Call the Midwife," excellent television programming
4. Reading "Insurgent"
5. Barbra Streisand singing "Second Hand Rose." (She only wears second-hand clothes.)

Loving it

Lately I've been loving...

1. Snow! It's uncommon and special here in the Charlotte area, and I loved seeing it! Sounds like other parts of the South had some southern snow craziness happening though.
2. Watching the first season of Sherlock Holmes starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
3. Lemonade popsicles even though it's winter.
4. Disney's "Frozen." Great movie!
5. Polka dotted knit hats that keep my ears warm.

Loving It

Lately I've been loving...

1. Friends and family playing board games on our giant table.
2. My job. Really love it. For real.
3. London Grammar's song Strong. 
4. Sweaters with elbow patches.
5. Friends who are gardeners who bring giant amounts of collard greens when they visit.

What a pretty parking garage

 I went to "The Nutcracker Ballet" last night in downtown Charlotte and there were gorgeous, lighted, extravagant Christmas trees everywhere, but where did I snag an outfit photo? In the parking garage. That's right -- the parking garage. Isn't it just stunning?

That's a thrifted cardigan that I refer to as my "grandma sweater." I never, ever wear it, but I can't give it away because I love it too much. Last night proved to be the perfect occasion! Trust me, it looks better in front of a Christmas tree than a parking garage wall, but really, it's grandma-licious no matter what the location.

Before "The Nutcracker Ballet," we caught another show. This one starred animatronic bears singing Christmas carols. It was kind of the best.

And to conclude this post, I have a picture of a festive, Christmas doughnut. That makes up for the parking garage shot, doesn't it?

Self portrait with donuts

Yum to the yum.

Loving It

Lately I've been loving...

1. Dansko clogs. They are so comfortable. So comfortable.

2. Community. I thought this show was going to be too smug and cerebral for me, but it turns out smug and cerebral is sometimes just my style (and there's heart too -- which saves it).

3. "The City of Ember." I'm reading this as a read aloud to my older students, and they are loving it. (And I love it too. That's why I picked it as a read aloud.)

4. Books on Tape. Or, I guess, Books on Cell Phone. I've been listening to "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" while cleaning and working out. It makes time pass a little faster!

5. Dinner club. We meet every two months and bring food based on different themes. Last Saturday, our theme was "Ballpark Food," and it was delicious. I made caramel corn that was crazy addictive, and I've had too many leftovers! Too much caramel! Too much corn! But so yummy! Maybe our next theme will be something healthy like "Raw Vegetables and Kale Juices." What do you think?

Loving Lately

Lately I've been loving...

1. Thrifting. Last year, I barely thrifted at all during the school year because I was always just too exhausted. This year, I've discovered I actually still have energy on the weekends, and I am making use of it! Yesterday, I had one of the biggest hauls ever at a single thrift store. (Totally bought that purple embroidered dress, but in real  life I'll probably wear it with skinny jeans or leggings as it's a wee bit short.)

2. Target donations. I found four, count 'em, four, Target dresses during my thrifting, and they were all cute and my size, and they all came home with me. (Those first four piled are Target.) I love that Target donates its clothes that don't sell in the store. Some companies destroy unsold clothes, which hurts my heart!

3. Post-thrifting sushi. What to do when you've been thrifting all morning and have developed a significant appetite? Get sushi for lunch! I know, I know. I live a charmed life.

Loving Lately

Lately I've been loving...

1. Owls. They have maybe taken over my classroom.

2. The Dollar Store -- one stop shopping for the start of the school year! I bought all sorts of things, most importantly book bins for all those books I bought for my classroom this summer. School starts tomorrow! 

3. Tuna salad sandwiches complete with ginger dressing, carrots and lettuce. (Made by Robert who does most of the cooking in our house, which some find shocking, and I find awesome.)

4. Visiting my childhood home and seeing my old toys, which my parents have brought out for their grandchildren (my niece and nephew). That doll is named Isabella, and when I first got her, she was as tall as me! The big bear is named "Big Bear" and he belonged to my brother. I'm happy they're out to be enjoyed by a new generation of kids.

Loving lately

Lately I've been loving...

1. Taking pictures of tiny children. Look at that cutie! (Mary's baby. Or toddler. When do you make the shift from toddler to baby? He's not yet walking on his own, but he might be toddling on his own...)

2. "House of Cards" -- engaging television programming, but it also makes me feel a little depressed (but that doesn't stop me from watching it).

3. "A Discovery of Witches" and its sequel "Shadow of Night." "Shadow of Night" is set in Elizabethan England, which makes it all the more delightful.

4. Reuniting with my dog after a trip away. She is my Sunshine!

5. Sea salt caramel gelato is soooo amazing. Freakishly, deliciously good. We bought it in a Publix in Florida, and I took a picture in hopes I could find it in NC.

6. Flip flops

7. Being told by my friends that I remind them of Georgia and Alie and then looking up Georgia and Alie (Classy Ladies!) and feeling flattered instead of offended. These are two cool girls! I love that I remind people of them! (Most of the time people say I look like (aka remind them of) Tina Fey or Sarah Palin and, come on, I am more than just a chick with brown hair and glasses!)



8. And a few links for your reading pleasure:
          --- Kate Middleton showed her "mummy tummy," and it's kind of a big deal.
          --- Zero to well-read in 100 books.
          --- This article about sexism at Comic-Con.
          --- Revisiting Murder She Wrote.

Loving lately

Lately I've been loving: 

1. Cinnamon Buns. Yum. YUM!

2. Buying polka-dot sweaters super cheap because it's summer.

3. Going to literacy training and starting to gear up for the school year (four weeks away, but two of those four weeks I'll be in workshops). 

4. "Orange is the New Black" on Netflix Instant. I binged. It was SO good.

5. These illustrious and illuminating links:

 --- Just cause you're in your sixth decade doesn't mean you stop having inappropriate crushes or start driving slowly. Good to know!

--- Cat bow ties. CAT BOW TIES!

--- DIY diorama bookends. I love dioramas! I love bookends!

 --- How do cultures define the prevailing boundaries of style decorum and why are people who don't conform often shunned or ridiculed? Or so asks Melanie of A Bag and a Beret as she dons a blue wig

--- 11 tips for thrifting.

--- Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Happiness can be scary. I hear ya, Emily!

Homemade popsicle

This pospicle is so delicious. I ate six of them in one day because sometimes I'm overly enthusiastic about popsicles. It is made with flavored water (I think I used "white grape"), lime juice and frozen mixed berries all zazzed together in the blender and thrown into popsicle trays into the freezer. So delicious and even good for you! Summertime at its finest.

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!

Loving Lately

Lately I have been loving...

* Visiting the Brew Store -- Robert has been brewing some super delicious beer, and each beer starts with a trip to the brew store, which is in the middle of nowhere in a huge warehouse full of strange, smelly things. I'll post more about this later!

* The Only Way is Essex -- I have to admit I've been watching England's version of "The Hills" pretty regularly. I like it because it's trash TV, but it knows it's trash TV and is kind of tongue in cheek. Plus everyone has English accents.

* Thrifting -- I have fond some STELLAR items. I love thrifting so much! I used to thrift three times a week when I was a reporter during my lunch breaks, but as a teacher, I don't have lunch breaks, and I'm totally exhausted at the end of the day so my thrifting really diminished (although I did reconnect with eBay, which is not as cheap or as fun but totally addictive!). It is nice to have time and energy to get my thrift on.

* Fresh mint -- Last year, we tore out the dead bush in front of our house and planted mint. It's alive and well this summer, and I can just pluck some off as I walk inside to go in my water or a watermelon salad.

*Popsicles -- I am soooo into popsicles. They are the perfect summertime treat. I love strawberry shortcake ones and juice ones and homemade ones (blended flavored water and lime juice and frozen berries) and Firecracker ones, which are perfect for the Fourth of July!

And on that note, Happy Fourth of July everyone! Go eat something grilled, play with some sparklers and enjoy a good popsicle!

On one woman's love of beef jerky

Portrait of a Marriage 

"You don't love me despite beef jerky, you love me because of beef jerky." -- Me. 

"I know." -- Him 

Loving lately

Things I have been loving lately:

1. My sweater with the sheep on it. Because sheep are adorable and woolly.
2. Tea. All the time. So. Much. Tea. Green tea, lemon-ginger tea, tension-tamer tea, chamomile tea, Lady Grey tea (very ladylike), Earl Grey tea (he's quite dashing)....
3. Being a teacher. It's a lifestyle choice. You work long hours and when you're not at work, you think about work, but you also get to hang out with awesome kids all day and teach them about some really cool stuff. I'm a pretty big proponent of learning.
4. Weekends away with tall, dark and handsome men (okay, specifically one man, that one I'm married to).
5. Seeing old friends who are pretty much the same now as they were 17 years ago (the same meaning awesome).
6. Sweet potato pancakes. As seen below. Tupelo Honey in Asheville: It's kind of a big deal.

7. Katy Perry's documentary. I totally just watched it, and it made me cry. I like famous pop stars who celebrate weirdness.
8. How excited kids get about the very idea of snow. (I live in North Carolina.)
9. Amy Gross' strange, fungal, fairylands. (As seen below.)

10. Thinking about my Grandma. Thinking about how she wore sensible shoes to the USO dance during WWII, and how that's what drew my Grandpa to her. Thinking about the time, 60-some years after that dance, he pointed to her as she was walking away and told me "You see that little old lady? Inside that little old lady is a beautiful, smart, young woman." Thinking about how she said she was ready to die after he died. Thinking about how much they loved each other and how much I love Robert. Thinking about how even when someone dies at the age of 96 in their sleep (What is a better way to die?), death still sucks.

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.

'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.