Covet List

1920s style bungalow is my current dream home. Well, that's a lie. My dream home is a huge ancient plantation style home like something from out of "Gone with the Wind", because I have a thing for columns. But if I'm being realistic, this kind of house is my real dream home. I'd love to buy one someday that needs a little fixing up and really make it my own.

I have a thing for blue kitchens with white cabinets and stainless steel appliances. I also have a thing for any kitchen larger than a thumbtack, in which I can pan broil ribeyes to my heart's content. But especially ones that look like this.

As mentioned, I have a wedding to attend next month. It's a casual affair so nothing too dressy is required. I'm thinking a dress along the lines of these three. And since I rarely have an opportunity to dress like this, I'm super excited about shopping for this event. And attending I suppose, I do quite enjoy the couple. ;)

A wedding also means I finally have a reason to show off my mad stilleto skills. Y'all, I can walk in the pretty shoes now! After much heartache and a realization that I should be buying an 8 1/2, not a 9 (hi! am not as large as I think I am), I get to actually feel pretty and elongated in some shoes. Yay for me.

I can't stop perusing the lovely halls of Etsy. The idea of an online art village of handmade goods is incredible to me. It makes it super easy to find wonderfully handcrafted gems of all sorts. Like this sparrow print I've had my eye on for a few days:

When I own my own home it will be full of beautiful prints like this one. Love, love, love it.

Let's not kid ourselves, I'm not getting married in the near future. But what is a girl to do when no marriage prospects are on the horizon and she wants a diamond ring?

She buys herself a right hand ring. Whoever came up with this little creative ploy is a marketing genius. Because I totally want one.

Also. What's a girl to do when she can't come up with blog material? She makes of list of things she currently wants to own.

Worked out quite nicely huh?

Going to the Chapel...

I've mentioned that I have an upcoming wedding to attend. The soiree is taking place the weekend before my vacation. So in the upcoming weeks I have all of the vacation last minutes to take care of, along with shopping for that perfect wedding attire.

Tonight I spent a little bit of time researching the proper June wedding apparel ettiquette.

This is an excerpt from my favorite article on the subject. It is my favorite because the bolded part is exactly how I fear I am going to experience this wedding.

Last summer, with two weddings rapidly approaching, I purchased a sexy yet
tasteful Nanette Lepore pale-pink sundress with a bird-and-butterfly pattern.
Since the guest lists promised to have little crossover, I planned to cheat and
wear it twice.

The dress never made it past the first wedding, which took place in
Vermont. Depressed that my personal life would never match the picture
of purity and simplicity at the quaint church where my friends exchanged vows, I drank too much at the reception and made an ass of myself on the dance floor. Sadly, the dress was not up to the task. Or, more precisely, I wasn’t up to the dress—I didn’t have the cleavage to hold up the scooped and gathered front. The ruffled straps kept falling off my shoulders, taking the
rest of the bodice with them. Several times, the entire dress nearly fell to my
waist. I have not asked to see the wedding photos.

Happy for them? Of course.

Mildly depressed for myself? Most likely.

Photo of the Day

I'm not lying when I say this plate of sweet and sour chicken and lo mein was the most exciting part of my day.

I'm not complaining

Zapped

There are times with this blogging thing that I feel like a machine. A million things swirling around in my head, furiously posting several times per day.

And then there are times like now, when I feel creatively zapped.

To be honest I think it has to do with my current pace of life. My days are filled with nothing more thrilling than watering plants. And the most exciting thing I've done this week is watch Dancing with the Stars last night. (I know, sad.)

The writing is not for lack of trying, if you took a peek into my blogger account you would find no less than 12 attempted blogs. 12 very stupid, very incoherent, very boring blogs.

My flickr account holds 1,675 of my photos. And out of those 1,675 I can't find a single one worth a photo of the day. And three nights ago, Molly, the dog of Satan herself managed to chew my cleanest SD card to little tiny bits.

I've not bothered to replace it yet.

This week I have to purchase a wedding shower gift. From a gift registry. I hate gift registries. And apparently my options are down to a blender, a lamp or a rug.

The excitement around here is downright palpable I tell you.

So that is what I've been up to. For all of you who, I'm sure, could not contain yourselves any longer with my lack of material.

Yeah.

Something to Consider

Bullitt Woman Charged with Abusing Daughter with Belt

You know, my Dad was hit with a belt as a child. My mother watched her brother (who is now homeless and a drug addict) get hit with a belt on numerous occasions. I realize this was and I'm assuming still is a form of discipline for some parents.

But it doesn't mean it makes me any less sick to my stomach. If you cannot trust your parents to keep you safe and not harm you in any way, who can you trust?

Identity Crisis

In my lifetime there are many things I thought I knew about myself, or the way my life was going to go. Like how I never wanted children, would graduate in four years from UK, would never enjoy frugal living, wouldn't dream of having savings accounts and investments and by now I'd have gone to Europe at least once and met some beautiful Greek man of my dreams. I would also never do things like garden or work my hands through a container of cow shit.

Oh how life makes liars of us all.

It goes without saying that I am most definitely not the person the 16 year old version of myself thought I would be. And I would say I've embraced these changes in myself and my attitude towards life. My biological clock is ticking, I'm perfectly fine with being a 5th year Senior, I love saving money, can't wait to have investments, and Greek men are no longer my idea of perfection.

However, I can't say I've embraced the goings on of the past two weekends. And today as I was elbow deep in compost and topsoil I whispered to myself, "I don't even know you anymore."

I can tell you this little "hobby" of mine is time consuming, body ache consuming, and pocketbook consuming. But I am loving it. Every single, dirty-icky-disgusting cow manure filled minute of it.


Last weekend I finished the bird retreat. This weekend I put the final touches in by planting various little plants, not visible to the naked eye yet, and finally putting the container together for the dogwood.






I then proceeded to "what the hell, let's go for it" and put together a small garden. Without a tiller, might I add. Saturday I drug my mother to Cheeks Produce in Elk Creek and bought 16 beautiful tomato plants. I picked up three squash plants today and a cucumber bush to complete the ensemble. I worked the ground the old fashioned way, added soil and compost, planted and added the weed-ex lining. I ran out of mulch to finish the top, but pretend it's all covered.






And when I was done with all of that I decided I wasn't done yet, so I dug a hole for my Redbud tree (yes, the one I dug up myself), staked it into the ground, mulched it and stood back to enjoy the view.





And while I'm tired, overworked and underpaid and no longer know myself I have decided in the end it is all worth it. Especially when I can sit back and watch these little critters:

Photo of the Day

english daisies
Originally uploaded by apsies

I planted these English Daisies last week in my bird retreat. At this point their life expectancy is looking a little iffy as they decide whether or not to thrive in my soil. I still have high hopes because they are so gorgeous. Even if they are all wilted right now.

Live...dammit....live!

In other news one of my favorite times of year is upon us.

Here are my picks:

Oaks: I don't normally like favorites, but the Oaks is the race for a favorite to actually win it, which is why I cannot help but like Proud Spell. My second pick is Little Belle, who made strong case for herself by winning the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland last month, and the fact that she is the daughter of A.P. Indy.

Derby: Eight Belles because she's an incredibly strong Filly and I would love to see a Filly take it again. I liked her in the Oaks originally, but now she's my favorite Derby longshot. And Colonel John because of his Bob Baffert connection. Bob is my favorite horse trainer, he doesn't have a horse in the field this year but the guy training Colonel John worked for Baffert for a number of years. If that isn't the proper environment to really learn how to prepare for the Derby, I don't know what is.

Happy Derby Weekend!