a day at the beach

Good friends K & C drove down from New England and rented a cottage in Sandbridge for the week. Quickly upon their arrival, they invited everyone over for a cookout.


Bobby and I wrestle daily with our choice of staying in the area. It's days like last Sunday, surrounded by good friends and beautiful natural surroundings, which help validate our decision.

breaking news

David Sedaris is coming to Chrysler Hall on October 7!

YEEEAAAHHHHH!!!!

i'm off to our fine capital.


I'm driving up to DC tomorrow for a couple days on a little business trip. I love staying in hotel rooms alone for some reason. There I feel no guilt while lying in bed, drinking beer, and peering over a bag of potato chips balanced on my stomach in order to watch back to back episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls.

See you over the weekend!

Oh, you want to know how the picture of vultures relates to this post? That's for you to decide.

i hope you're taking care of Timmie

Someone in Singapore looked at this blog a couple days ago. I think it was Timmie with some assistance from T & B. Hope you guys are having a blast. Missed you at the carnival.

homemade...


There is something about the crudeness of roadside hand-lettered signs I find very endearing. They're not flashy, just a simplified form of communication.

I can imagine the farmer pleased with himself after finding a piece of scrap plywood, white-washing it, then paying his nephew five bucks to scrawl the name of his produce across the surface. You can see the pencil marks in the sign above, but somehow the painter didn't consider the letter "e" when tracing the shape. Just abstract shapes thrown together to form words.

The sign has been there for ages, so I guess it gets the job done.

beware of bad dogs


Cause they're nasty and mean. I saw this abandoned storefront and it reminded me of the "beware of dog" sign I just removed from my own chain link fence. Did I actually fool anyone?

I should make my own sign - one that says "Please don't bother - I possess nothing of interest."

route 13


Has some of the country's finest lodging establishments.

carnival time!

good morning - 070707


A cup of coffee* and a little read before we hit the road to Chincoteague. It's carnival time on the island!

Had mojitos last night in PTown with some dear friends. My friend's parents just completely renovated a Victorian farmhouse in Port Norfolk and it is stunning. Modern inside with period touches. Metallic gloss walls (sounds horrid, but it looks cool) in the dining room and hi-gloss white cabinets in the kitchen. I gawk and drool every time I go over there.

I left last night with a new pedestal sink and toilet - one's they had removed when updating the bathrooms. Lucky me! It pays to drive a minivan.

*only on saturdays - sigh

if i had the money...

I would hire a landscaping crew. But for now, I'm very grateful to have my husband and parents on my work team. My father turned 69 today and spent his birthday and holiday cutting down trees in our yard.


This is our yard. You've seen this view before, huh? This is only a 1/3 of our back yard and I deliberately crop our patio photos as such. Notice the lingering dirt pile in the background.


Alright. Here's the rest. On closer inspection, you would be able to see the lovely dirt we're growing, an aging basketball hoop, and a tangle of ivy, old leaves, and other various vines threatening to swallow up the rest of our yard.


So, we tackled it today. I pulled up my socks and dove in, snipping and raking up everything in my path. My pasty white bird legs are now covered in red scratches.


You see, the reason why I stress out about my yard is because of this:


This is what I see when I visit my parents' house. Is this not perfect? They do all the work themselves and my dad even made the fence. My mom is in the final phase of her master gardening classes and it shows.


Eh. Maybe someday. I'll just be happy when we're able to grow actual grass.

coffee = to-do list = mania

So I gave up coffee over a month ago. I now drink black tea except every other Sunday when I treat myself to one cup of coffee. Coffee is now like speed to my system, I suppose.

Must make chore list! It's very long and there is no order regarding priority. I frantically tackled four items today before two 0'clock, but finished zero.


Anyhow, I pulled out the panels of glass I had cut for my spice cabinet over 6 months ago. Our spice cabinet is an old ironing board cabinet, so it's large.


Armed with a can of spray "glaze" and some painters tape, I quickly decided upon and cut out a stencil - free form. Tape isn't the most fun surface to cut, as it has the tendency to gum up your scissor blades.


Alright - stencil done in less than an hour - my kind of project. Took it outside, sprayed and was tacky to the touch in less than 20 minutes. Voila!


Now just one more panel to go. Sigh. Losing steam.

a b c

I gave up Blueprint magazine after the premier issue. While waiting in line at good ol' Teeter, I picked up the July/August issue, flipped through it, and actually liked what I saw.

I fell in love with this alphabet poster Blueprint featured in a baby shower article (which is worth checking out for the decoration ideas). Now, before Marissa and my mom start getting all excited, we're not expecting; I just love the colors, the various typefaces used, and the style of illustration.