Tug-the-rope

Emotive Cat

Clines in the Vista (Columbia, SC)

This past weekend at Sarah’s wedding, she invited me to Clines as she got her hair and makeup done. I had never been inside of this little shop, but appreciated it’s quirkiness. The owner is an avid collector of art and put her collection everywhere in the shop. It’s just like stepping into that tea shop in Harry Potter…a little overwhelming of a look as a whole, but man does it keep you entertained. there are so many things to look at. They had an Anthropologie chair made into a hair setter/dryer and a pair of Aveda Lips pasted onto the ceiling. My favorite thing was a little napkin with a sketch from Blue Sky on it.

be still and move

I wrote this a few weeks ago and never posted:

These past few weeks have been a stretch. Work, anxiety about things to be done, and the things done that I cannot undo all arrive me to a constant state of weariness. It’s probably just in my mind, I hardly exert my physical force everyday. And I can hardly say my burden is something so horrible in comparison to what the rest of the world must face everyday. In fact, I always kick myself for complaining since there are some who are struggling with so much more.

Perhaps this is what “ to each his own” means.

If I were going to make a bad decision to stay up on a work night, I should spend it editing. 

Every now and good to make an unwise choice (aka going to the beach late at night when you have to wake up at 6am).

…

I don’t like to bring my camera to the beach, but mars was supposed to be out and I wanted to try my hand at stars.

It was way to cloudy for any star shots,

but we ended up taking some typical long exposure shots,

(until zack’s phone died that is.)

then we just walked, enjoying the moon and the dark shapes.

That little bit of salty air, a little exercise and a letting go for a bit really helps to ground me again. Makes me stop. helps me remember that I’m a tiny creature on a planet. Helps me communicate clearer – deliberate time to talk to God-even if it’s admitting a need. You see somewhere along the way, I've started to leave out my confession to God. I’ve stopped asking for things…like it’s going to bother him. but confession, my admitting something pushes me to see a need. I need to change. Change is promoted and possible through grace.

and then I realized that I was thinking about sin while walking down a beach named Folly.

Turned Down

Charley and I went apartment hunting again this morning, and to summarize we were turned down promptly and without second glance. it went something like this:

“Your names? okay lets fill out this little form and we’ll show you around….do you have any pets? a husky? BYE!!!!”

Huskies are listed on every “dominant breed” list for every apartment around here. Sure, huskies are a little more pack oriented than other dogs but aggressive? I demand breed equality amongst the housing!! here- here. unfortunately my typed protest is heard by little an ear…and the insurance companies aren’t going to change their policies. Apparently apartments don’t accept “aggressive breeds” because their insurance goes up. All I can say here is “LAME, lame, LAME”.

We’ve only had one apartment say that they’d screen the dog and then decide (and that was the one without washer dryer).

I brought my camera this morning, fully expecting to take pictures and take notes and compare our carefully listed selections. Well, no pictures of apartments today. We finished up at the grocery store and got in some team cleaning of the house (it sure is easier if we both do it!). FYI this is what it looks like to take a picture of your cute husband from the inside of your purse (since I wasn’t sure if camera’s were allowed). I couldn’t resist….he’s adorable when he get’s all shoppy. Most men fear the grocery store, but Charley has skills…and he prices what’s going to be on sale before we go.

 

and I uh tried to snap a picture of his cleaning in action too….he just started organized the kitchen cabinets…crazy kid

he then made us dinner: seared chicken with asparagus and parsnips with Dubliner cheese sauce.

and speaking of being spoiled to death, we went to dinner last night at the wild olive with our roommate and luisa. (I stole the pictures off their site).

we shared two appetizers:

1. Crispy calamari with marinara, garlic aioli, lemon, parsley
2. mussels in a spicy red tomato sauce

charley got the agnolotti with pork and chicken in a veal sugo

I got the lasagna with lamb sausage, goat cheese, tomato, mushrooms, mozzarella

and we shared a chocolate torte with hazelnut gelato

 

We really splurged with the $ but we’d been saving up so we could go here and we’ve been working so much that we thought it was time for a taste bud vacation. and wowzers, the food was so so so so so amazing…I really cannot describe how delicious it was. This is definitely on the list of favorite places…and it might even trump my favorite Italian place downtown, Il Cortile Del Re. Nothing beats the heartiness and hominess of Italian food, and man that lamb sausage was to die for.

It was such a blessing to spend a little time with the hubby. The odds of us having a day off at the same time are like once  a month. I had just gotten back from Columbia from the weekend…making that two weekends in a row for weddings which I vowed never to do again about a year ago. A little bit of time makes me forget how tired I am after a wedding, but they’re a emotional drainer. Moreso, they’re another 1,000 or so pictures that I have to sort and edit and that’s where I fail miserably.  I’ve progressively learned to take less and less and delete as I go but I am always overwhelmed by the postproduction process.

In other news, Charley found an expensive pair of sunglasses at the beach:

We may or may not have stolen this sign some time ago:

(Dear rich person whose yard we took it from, I apologize for any lowering of the poll numbers for Tom. Refer any citizens to the next nearest sign….which happens to be two feet away and on every block in your neighborhood. )

and Lizzy, you left your hat at our house. I fully intend to wear it until you return:

It’s uncanny how much this is like our dog

 

to the sea again

I was recently informed that I have been slack in my bloggy postings. Therefore I will attempt to document the mundane things of life over the past weekend…since you know, we’re like on a coffee date or something.

Like the little mermaid and her failed sequel, I had to return to the sea this friday to shoot a wedding  for my friend’s Stephanie and Drew. From Charleston sea, I went to Myrtle beach sea. They rented this amazing beach house and had their close friends and family chill with them for the weekend. I got to stay at a hotel nearby with five amazing friends…a happy mixture of work and play. We had a happy moment eating bagels before I headed back home Sunday morning straight to my nanny job.

 

My employer threw an amazing little Easter party with like a gazillion people, so she needed some help watching the kids and getting ready for it. I manned an egg dying station, a little craft corner and face painted about 40 kid’s. I started off doing chickens, bunnies, Easter eggs and flowers but then I had a kid ask for a blue Pegasus and it all went crazy from there. I had requests for Koi fish and speedboats and I was so glad someone finally asked for a dinosaur (a personal face painting preference)…anyways, I had a blast. The had a huge Easter egg hunt, an inflatable jump house and all kinds of good food.

That night we went out for Mexican at La Hacienda on King St. to hang out with friends visiting from DC. Charley had just gotten back from his trip to the Carolina Cup with them. Our apartment is so tiny that finding room for everyone was funny and more people ended up sleeping on the floor than was needed. By the way, the hubs went to the cup dressed like this:

 

Monday was back to our usual routine. Little man has been doing those melt into the floor tantrums on me. He doesn’t make noise, he just turns into lead. Just like this. We had a few extra kids over for some art lessons. We usually paint outside on the porch since the weathers so nice. We worked on horses …I had  a cute photo of our product but my ipod has gone missing.

Today Charley, Zack and I went to look at an apartment in mount pleasant. We loved the two bedroom model with a  washer/dryer but the one bedroom in our price range didn’t have laundry. We’d be back to the coin/wait routine. I think I could do it again, but Charley wants to keep looking. We went grocery shopping and pretty much ate dinner in free samples. (Trader Joes always have fruit samples and we go to Whole Foods to try cheese).  Charley made us a low country boil back at the house.

and I took an accidental picture of Juneau :

 

we were playing our usual midnight game of eat-the-foot.