Smoothie Spendor

I just want to broadcast to the internet that I LOVE SMOOTHIES!!!!!!!!!!1

I enjoy at least 5 smoothies a week. They make me so happy and there's just something about eating fruit that makes me feel special. I learned the about a blender's magic at a young age because my mother was always making people so happy with her margaritas. We got to make virgin ones. After a few pitchers had made their way around the house, we got do pretty much whatever. 

I have wonderful memories every time I drink a smoothie of my days as a counselor of "Beauty Inside and Out" and "Campcraft" at Camp Mystic.  I would lead 4 and 5 classes a day up a big mountain called "Sky High" and the campers and I would enjoy smoothies as a treat for our hard work making it up the big hill. 

At camp, I used honey, and at home I prefer to make mine extra sweet with a 

.

Luckily my pet dog pitcher, Greyson loves them too. Weezie loves them too, but he's been taken hostage by my mean old man. And my mother, Laurie, loves them even more! She has one every single day. 

Becky Fly Trap

I had the most medieval thought the other day when I noticed that I had a fruit fly problem amidst my kitchen. Because I live up on a pretty high story of my building, and am the first tenant, I decided that the fruit flies must have spontaneously appeared out of thin air. How else could it be explained?


After a bit of research, I realized I was very wrong. That definitely goes against modern science. A bit embarrassing. 


Fruit Flies are attracted to alcohol and fruit that is fermenting. 2 departments my apartment is anything but lacking on any given Sunday. They have very acute olfactory senses and can creep in with your groceries or through the door crack, even when it's shut.

So, my fly trapping began last night. I put slices of an orange and a banana in this milk carton and it's working. Lucky for us, their brains are not as strong as their sense of smell, or we might've become extinct a while back.


Flee Flys! 

I want to live like an Old Fashioned Human

I looked at the way technology has changed the way I live, and wasn't happy. My quest for an old fashioned life in a new fangled world began by deactivating my Facebook page and turning off my cell phone more so that I can focus on the tasks at hand. 


Since the deactivation, I have been a little peer pressured by some friends to return. I think it's going to be a while though. 


The absence of these things has liberated me:
1. The invites
You, married friends, may not be able to relate to this, but my weekend plans were somewhat dictated (without my realizing it) by invitations sent to me by friends to their weekend parties. Now, when Friday rolls around, I don't know what's going on unless a good friend is hosting, or it's been talked up by people that I actually talk to. This makes me feel free to decide what I want to do, and sometimes that means just staying in. It's nice. As my Uncle Mark said one time: "I have been to that party".


2. Feeling a connection to people that I don't see in the real world because we exchange wall posts. 


3. Of course, I miss the pictures, but man, what a time suck. When I think about it, I don't miss the pictures. 


I should mention the times when it's been necessary to get on facebook for a few minutes...
1. to get pertinent information for my friend's funeral arrangements. 
2. to check for mutual friends with a potential sublet applicant. 
3. to look at someone's profile pictures that I found cute at a party last saturday, in order to hypothesize my chances. (He look's pretty single and pretty)


Au Revoir Facebook! Maybe I'll see you in 2011...?

Sub-let-luck

My plans for my summer in Chicago are moving right along. It's so great when you put faith in everything working out, and sure enough, it does.


I had one Craigslist offer on my place a couple weeks ago; a girl from Virginia. I promptly internet stalked her and found a mutual friend who told me that she is more than trustworthy. What a relief that was.


Then, last week my mom gave me contact info of Adam and Lauren Allen, who just agreed to sublet me their Lincoln Park place for a total steal. I couldn't be happier.  It's a 3 mile walk, and quick subway ride to where I will be studying, which is going to be so nice. Man, I never thought that I would have all this squared away so early.


I imagined myself having this great story wherein I arrive to Chicago with a bag, no place to stay and I have to rent a hostel for a few nights with Europeans. One of the Europeans and I fall in love with each other and with the windy city and never return home. 


Oh well, I'm sure there will be other good stories.

Seek and ye shall find...

Well, I usually don't do too much preaching, but my discovery yesterday at New Bohemia on South Congress is undeniable proof that miracles do happen.

The shoe pictured above has seen better days. She and her sister shoe were bought at a Lamar boutique called Fettish in college, to be worn in April of 2006 in the wedding of my dear friend, Leslie Guinn (now Jerkins) in Memphis Tennessee. They were more than I usually pay for shoes, but I thought they were really something special.

The pair was my favorite set of shoes post highschool, but all good things must come to an end, and with each wear in the past few years, that fact was becoming more and more evident. I wished and wished that I could find another set, but the outlook was dim.

I went into New Bohemia on Sunday and loved 2 1960's party dresses, but decided to sleep on them, and come back if I was still thinking about them. On Monday, I set out to make them mine. While in the dressing room, I overheard quite the "high maintenance" customer, to say the least. When I was ready to checkout, she was asking the clerk to validate every proposed item she was hesitantly trying to purchase. It was pretty crazy. Her checkout time could not have been under 20 minutes.

Trying to be patient, I tried browsing the shoe rack and sighted a nearly identical pair of my cherished silver snake 2 and 1/2 inch heels!

"But shoes are always so darn petite in vintage stores, these'll never fit...maybe I can get them for Katie who wears a size 7 1/2", I thought to myself.

I slipped on the shoe, which fit like a glove, and winked at the big man upstairs.

Fredericksburg>>>photos!!

I recently went out to Fredericksburg to stay the night at Katie and David’s. Whenever I am around Katie and David I am inspired spiritually and artistically. I’ve always looked up to Katie, and when she met David, I think he challenged her to be better, and the two of them combined definitely mold me into a better version of myself. Whenever I see them, it is always time well spent.

Sometimes the ways of the world have people convinced that it’s cool to be dark and coy and mysterious, and even sad. Katie and David are definitely cool, but the best part is that they are happy, genuine, kind and JOYous, AND cool. They both have excellent style and charm, and their living space is personified by its happy inhabitants, making it one of my favorite places to go. On this visit to their happy home I noticed what a difference the display of photos can bring to a home.

Katie and David had over 7 guests for soccer, cooking, dinner, and evening games. After soccer (WHERE I MADE 2 out of 3 OF THE GOALS in the second game), the 5 of us girls sat in the living room talking and discussing current events. Meanwhile, on Katie’s coffee table sat a large bowl of loose photos of memories ranging from the 80’s to present. After we ate dinner we came back into the room. The bowl of photos provided an excellent source of side entertainment throughout the afternoon and night, while we talked and played the boys in “Taboo”. It was so much fun to pick a picture at random, and know that for every picture there was a story.

When I came home, I, for the first time in years got online and ordered hundreds and hundreds of photos and found a bowl to put them in on my coffee table. I sent out a few duplicate copies to friends, and everyone has showed their appreciation.

At Wolf Camera, if you order on Tues or Wednesday, 3X5 prints are just $.06. That’s not a standard frame size, but if you’re not framing them…who cares? And I love to get them printed with a white border, it’s like a built in frame!

Thanks to Katie, my home now has special moments spruced about it, reminding me of my loving friends and the happy times we have shared.

I think that framing photos is great, but in my home, I think it’s fun to find ways to display photos sans frames, to keep the atmosphere casual and relaxed. Here are some ways that I displayed my photos.