bad bad blogger

I know, I'm the worst. We're packing up and moving this weekend from New Orleans to rural Virginia which is crazy and stressful (especially since, we still don't have jobs there yet!) but hopefully things will calm down and I can actually be a good blogger.

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Life Lately

I thought I'd do a quick update via y iphone pictures =)

new vintage camera. I love the style.

Really??? This is January???? 

purple nails and my favorite quilt

this coffee is amazing. even more amazing, it was free in the mail. 

so many yarn projects, so little time.

What I'm reading. It makes me nervous but it's much less raunchy then the first one. 

new old school cocktails

99 Things

I've had the worst week ever. I'm going to find a way to put it all in words later, but needless to say I've been feeling uninspired so when I found this I thought it would be a nice post..

1. Started your own blog -obviously, that's where i'm posting this

2. Slept under the stars - We used to lay out in a field when I lived in KY, so many stars

3. Played in a band - does the church band count? hah I played the guitar badly

4. Visited Hawaii 

5. Watched a meteor shower - my mom woke us up when I was a kid to see one

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland - it was actually Disney World, but that counts right?

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo 

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning - beyond awful

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 

18. Grown your own vegetables 

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train 

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked - I lived over a year with no car in the burbs. it happens

23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill - I like to call them "mental health" days

24. Build a snow fort

25. Held a lamb 

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise - I wish

33. Seen the Niagra Falls in person - a long long time ago

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seem an Amish community - My mom's family lives in PA, They're surrounded by Amish

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo's David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater - In Eden, NC it's so fun

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen - In Washington DC, we were right by the white house and there were so many people that didn't have anything to eat. It was completely eye opening.

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies


62. Gone whale watching


63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma


65. Gone sky diving


66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check - thank goodness!!

68. Flown in a helicopter 

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
 - Stuffed animals, I loved them

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 


71. Eaten Caviar


72. Pieced a quilt


73. Stood in Times Square


74. Toured the Everglades


75. Been fired from a job - Yay Belle Terre!

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London


77. Broken a bone


78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle


79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person


80. Published a book


81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car


83. Walked in Jerusalem


84. Had your picture in the newspaper- This is how small my hometown is, I worked a booth at a fair called the "chicken wing fling" and I ended up on the front page holding a rubber chicken. I also had a few pictures in for doing river cleanup.

85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve


86. Visited the White House
 - We just saw the outside, it was right after 9/11 and no one was allowed in. 

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
- no, thank you.

88. Had chickenpox


89. Saved someone’s life


90. Sat on a jury


91. Met someone famous - I met a munchkin from the wizard of oz which made my life, I also worked a couple of golf tournaments for charities supported by the NFL so I met lots of football players

92. Joined a book club


93. Got a tattoo


94. Had a baby


95. Seen the Alamo in person


96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake


97. Been involved in a law suit


98. Owned a cell phone


99. Been stung by a bee - I am allergic. I swell up like a blimp.

Thanks for reading this. I needed something to get my creative juices back flowing :-)

there's finally a word for that feeling

Saudade (Portuguese): The feeling of longing for someone that you love and is lost. Another linguist describes it as a "vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist."

It’s interesting that saudade accommodates in one word the haunting desire for a lost love, or for an imaginary, impossible, never-to-be-experienced love. Whether the object has been lost or will never exist, it feels the same to the seeker, and leaves her in the same place:  She has a desire with no future. Saudade doesn’t distinguish between a ghost, and a fantasy. Nor do our broken hearts, much of the time.

Christmas wrap-up

For Christmas this year, Rob and I drove to my parent's house for a few days. Even though its a much shorter drive then to Rob's family, it still took us 17 hours to get there and 15 to get back. Below are some of my favorite pictures/stories from the trip.

McKenzie: You're the silliest.
Me: No, I'm not.
McKenzie: yes you is. You is.
Sara/my mother: YOU ARE.

McKenzie also goes to preschool with a child named Cash Money.

Nana (to Rob): I gave you $25 but don't tell anyone, I only gave them $20.

Rob told me after driving back and spending 15 hours in the car together, he was going to miss me. I asked if he was sick of me and he told me never.

on the road through Tennessee

more on the road pictures

me, my mom and sister 

my dad and uncle

Girl Cousins

all packed up

Merry {Early} Christmas

As if I needed another reason to love Zooey Deschenel... I present you this awesome video.

I know. it's awesome.

25 Before I'm 26

I've been seeing things like this everywhere. Since I just turned 25, which seems like a big important birthday, I've started thinking about things I like to do this year.

1) Write an inmate. I have a bit of a bad boy problem but I'd like to send some encouragement to someone who might need it.
2) Visit 3 new states. I think Texas is first on the list because it's right next door and I've never been.
update: it wasn't a new state but we stopped in Chattanooga for a bit on the road trip and it's so nice. I just love Tennessee. 
3) Get a passport. Just in case.
4) Read a book a week. I read a lot but I'd like a more routine reading.
update: I've read plain truth  and between the lines by jodi pocoult, reread some chuck klosterman (my favorite!), and started working on an Alex Kava series
5) Actually complete a photo-a-day challenge.
6) Make a habit of going outside, enjoying the light, relearning your friends, forgetting the internet.
7) Finish a scarf a month. Again I love to crochet but it tends to be all the time or never with me.
update: I made one for my mom for December and I'm working on a couple of projects now.
8) Paint some wall art from an idea off pinterest. I have so many cute things pinned and I need to complete at least one.
9) Learn to cook at least four things really well.
10) sit on a beach.
11) Grow something. I think cactus or tomato plant.
12) Actually put up that tent I've had for ten years.
13) Develop an exercise routine I can stick with.
14) Get over the fear of riding a horses.
15) start planning the wedding.... EEEK!!!!!!
16) send at least 50 handwritten letters.
update: I sent out 10 for Christmas and a hand colored postcard for my nana
17) create the five year plan.... Even if it's just waitressing, work on having some real goals.
18) laugh a lot. (i already do this but even more!!!)
19) Visit the Before I die wall in New Orleans
20) go to church.
Done! We went on Christmas Eve. I'm also working on an online bible study on fresh starts.
21) Tip 100% 
22) Kiss under the mistletoe
Done! My Nana has a fake mistletoe she hangs up every year.
23) work on developing a style I like.
24) Finally change my address on my driver's license (I have not lived at the address on my license in about 3 years, it's time).
25) get at least one reader for the blog :)