Routine and Random

The second week of school has commenced and Grant and I have sunk back into our "academic routine". For us,the "academic routine" mainly effects our week nights together. Meaning that I usually take a nap, Grant cooks dinner, we eat together, and then usually around 10:30pm  I turn the coffee maker on as Grant kisses me goodnight.  Having opposite schedules sucks, but I am grateful for the time that we do get to spend together.

Last night we took advantage of the fact that I was able to leave school around 3:30pm and the two of us sat at a coffeeshop working on our respective projects. I love those evenings - when the late afternoon drags by in a lazy fashion and I could not be happier.

Tonight I am going to attempt a new way to brew cold brew that needs to sit over night. I got the recipe from my friend Sam who swears by it, so we shall see!

Some Random Thoughts:

1) I hate checking my mailbox and often forget it exists.

2) I want to read this book as soon as I can.

3) I really like muscle car shows.

4) My balcony is my new favorite place.

5) I turned 25 and I got ''Pearl' on vinyl.

6) These images are totally random. Well, the first one is of plants on my balcony. The other two are from Eureka Springs street art, maybe I was feeling the Janis vibe stronger than I thought.

The Sound of Drying Leaves



Who remembers this screen background?

It might just be that overcast skies are forecasted for this entire weekend, or it might be the emergence of Halloween decorations already on store shelves, or it could even be the return to school and the smell of musty books that is doing it, but whatever the reason, fall is creeping in.

This time of year always makes my heart race a little bit faster. I love the change in weather, the grey days, the sound of drying leaves shimmy-shaking in the breeze, the smell of apples, and my growing desire to watch kid's Halloween movies (yup, any and all of them...it is a weakness) culminate in my mind to signal the coming autumn. I am already preparing for bonfires, s'mores, horror movies, pumpkin carving, drinking cider on our balcony with blankets, making homemade soup, hayrides, and fall festivals. Since I will have to wait longer for most of those things, for the moment, I am content with a pumpkin spice candle burning on our dining room table.

This last week was back to the books for me. School started on Monday and already my schedule is filled with thesis research, faculty guided readings, office hours, a T.A.ship (which I am loving), and multiple trips to the library. Not to mention my fellow grad students and I redecorating our office in the Art School. All things have been good this week and I am glad to be back in the swing of things.

Photos: Colors and Moods

The Sun Sets on Summer

Today is my last day of summer "break". I am in complete denial. Grant and I rebelled this weekend by spending some quality time together. This included a Rockabilly dance party, a Battlestar Gallactica marathon until 3am (Doubleshot coffee was involved), a trip to the farmer's market, getting free plants, a fantastic thunderstorm that cooled down the entire weekend, the discovery that bacon and basil is our new favorite flavor combination (we made BLTs this weekend, but instead of lettuce we used basil...it was fantastic), we made this (another new fav), and I got to feel like an adult as I registered for my office hours and ethics training.

Now, with the windows open and the birds singing outside, we are enjoying the clean summer breeze floating through our house. Tonight we are going to watch Hugo as I finish some last minute things for class tomorrow. I even got us Fig Newtons for a snack...because we are five year olds.

This pictures: 1) a very cute card sent to someone who taught me to appreciate red boots. 2) the belly of my new favorite, gaudy-awful lamp. 3) a bench outside of a church near campus that is overrun with morning glories and sunflowers. 4) the coolest garden gnomes ever. 5) that storm I was talking about. 6) Oren didn't like that my thesis research was covering up the entire table...so he sat in the fruit dish...no, it was not empty. 7) Nyx does not always sit still long enough to get her picture taken. This is a rare glimpse of our demon cat looking adorable. 8) Melting chocolate and butter for the goat cheese and raspberry brownies I made for my birthday.

Photos: Vales and Visions

Enjoy these pretties for your weekend!

All You Need Is...

LOVE. Our vacation is officially over and now it is back to the real world for us. It was so good to recharge our souls with some of the people we love best.

Photos: My Oklahoma

The Three R's

Recycle, Reduce, Reuse

This has been a summer of "greening" for Grant and I. We started recycling, buying organic produce, using vinegar as my primary clean-up spray, supporting more local businesses (read: local restaurants and plant nurseries), made an outright bird haven on our balcony, and the list keeps growing. We have had to get creative with our ways of living "eco/local-friendly" because the ways that we know how to be green usually involves having a bit of land and a house. Obviously, we have been on the look out for apartment friendly ways of being environmentally conscious since we will probably be apartment renters for a long time to come!

Recently a friend of ours turned us on to Eco Nuts, a laundry 'soap' that is made from soap berries! I love the idea of it! This is something that we can do in an apartment laundry facility easy peesy. For the amount of berries you use/load (2 or so) you can use them for up to 40 loads (if I am remembering the product pitch correctly).

Has anyone else tried these? Any thoughts? What would be some other things that we could do in an apartment to check our consumption of goods and do our part for a green planet? What has worked for you?

Also, check out this awesome list of household tips from Buzzfeed.com. It has changed my life.

The First of Many Pretties

I have decided to start a new tradition. Each week I will post some pictures from my image library. These are images that I have saved to my computer for the last seven years. I am sorry that I no longer have photo credits. I wish I knew where these images came from. :( Oh well. I hope that you enjoy these pretties! I know I do.