Petsmart

Petting pets at petsmart.

Say that three times fast.

That is exactly what Adele and I did Sunday morning.

We really wanted to pet and hold little critters so we went to Petsmart.

However, all the animals were locked up, so...

we pretended to be potential adopters.

It all started when we wanted to hold one of the cats and the worker asked us

how long we had been thinking of adopting.  We answered that we had just started looking into it.  (hmm, like in the last five seconds?)

Somehow between the both of us, we seemed to answer all the rest of her questions as well.

So if you hear that Adele and I are in the market to adopt a cat, you'll know why.

However, we did get to pet a fluffy orange cat and hold a dwarf hamster.

Success.

Perhaps we would be better off adopting this guy?

The Village

Adele and I took a small trip to The Village this Saturday.  The Village features a block of cute little shops and restaraunts.  It reminds me of a small Galena almost.  I've been meaning to go for a while and was so happy I got to go with Adele.  She's quite a good shopping partner.  Actually she's a good partner for pretty much any adventure. ;)

On the top left is the deal of the day: Adele purchased an adorable eye glass case with little piggies on it for a whopping three dollars and fifty cents.

On the bottom left is Lagomarcino's, a confectionary and ice cream parlor.  We stopped in for a mid-afternoon snack and fell in love with the place upon entering.  It has the old-fashioned feel of a fifties parlor complete with a soda fountain.  And of course, we sat at the fountain bar.  We both ordered sundaes- Missippi Marvel for Adele and an Italian Sundae for myself.  I kid you not when I say that that was one of the best desserts I've ever had.

I think it's safe to say Adele and I were quite charmed by The Village. 

wheelin' about

Tonight Adele and I took what was my first bike ride of the season.

It was such a perfect evening.

I think we covered just about every neighborhood, but it seemed to go fast

(probably because of the good conversation!)  After I got home I realized

we had been riding for an hour and a half.

(To me, this is impressive.)

I can't wait to get out on my bike more. 

Summer just can't come fast enough.

things i'm loving right now...

1. Anne Hathaway's hair in One Day.  I saw this movie over Christmas break and to be quite honest, I thought it was just fair.  However, the aesthetics-costuming, locations, etc. were quite breathtaking. And the hair.  It stuck with me.  I love it.  Makes me want to cut mine again!

2. Floral pants.. I don't currently own any, but I'm quite enjoying the thought of them.

3. This Volkswagen toaster would make mornings oh so much brighter!

4. I love the simplicity of this typographic print.  You can get it here!

Birthday Lunch

Today my very good friend, Adele, took me out for a birthday lunch!  She happened to be in town, so we made a date of it.  Our lunch consisted of soup and bread and salad, which was all delicious.  I got to catch up with her on her recent trip to Nashville to the Phi Theta Kappa National Convention.  It sounded like an awesome time!  We also shared notes on research projects: hers is on substance abuse in college fraternities and sororities and mine is on the effects of physical cleansing on moral judgment. Whew!

So as much as I hate to admit it, twenty caught up with me.  I never thought I'd be one of those people who didn't like birthdays, but I was resisting this 2-0 thing.  Why, you may ask?  Selfish reasons, of course. Haha!  I'm doing a lot of things in my life whipfast, including college.  I like being ahead of the game, and well, to me, 20 doesn't put me ahead of the gang, it puts me in the crowd if that makes any sense.  Plus, I didn't want to not be a teen anymore.  But enough of that.  Yes, you can feel free to roll your eyes now. ;)

This being said, I really love my life right now.  I love where I'm at and what I'm doing so with this in mind, I think twenty will be a really good year.  So bring it on!

Luau

Last night, Saturday night, was Spenser's music fraternity's annual luau. 

This and the winter gala are two of their big events of the year.

Going with Spenser to the luau really made me appreciate him for simply being him.

I won't go into the details, but

I'm really glad he's my date.

Anytime. All the time.     

little treats

Since it was my birthday weekend, Spenser decided it was necessary to feed me lots of little treats.  At our late lunch he stealthily bought me this carrot cake cupcake (carrot cake is our favorite!)  Then as we were about to leave he talked me into a strawberry smoothie.  Twisted my arm, I tell you!  And the rest of the day was filled with "pretzels? frappucino? scone? ice cream?...."

I sure do enjoy these little treats! 

I'm quite glad that Spenser equates my birthday with treats.

it's a birthday!

I don't have a recent picture of Jeremy so this is him "sharpie-fied" by me.  Jeremy turns twenty today!  If you know Jeremy, you know he's just. plain. awesome.  And if you don't, I'm telling you!  He's taught me everything I know. ;)  Plus, he and I share in a love of shel silverstein, the ramones, toyota siennnas, wonder white bread and much much more.

I hope he has the very best day!  (Knox, you can lay off the math homework for tonight, please and thank you.)

Happy Birthday, Jeremy!

I can't believe I, too, turn the big 2-0 in six days. I'm not sure why, but I'm kind of fighting twenty.  We'll see who wins.

Easter

We celebrated Easter at my grandparents with a big lunch and lots of visiting.  There were probably about thirty relatives or so there.  The little blond guys up top are my cousin, Kristi's, kids.  Aren't they adorable?!  They loved playing on Grandpa's power recliner.  (kind of like Spenser and I in the La-z-boy store...) 

The relatives and I also tried my cousin Simon's home-brewed mead.  Simon lives in Oregon and has started his own small business, Blue Dog Mead.  He was kind enough to send a few of his bottles so everyone could have a taste. 

We didn't have an egg hunt this year because there aren't as many little kids in attendence.  When I and many of my cousins were younger, the family used to have a big Easter egg hunt throughout my grandparents' backyard.  Instead, this year the little kids got baskets of candy- no looking required!

Spenser was the family photographer of the day and was nice enough to snap the photos of my parents and I.  He uses the continuous method, which is where he takes 100 shots in a minute and hopes one turns out.  Quantity over quality he says. :D

Oh yeah, and did I mention the swings?  Everybody loves the swing.  Spenser and I were pretty much on swing duty between pushing the little kids and taking turns ourselves.

Happy Easter! 

love,

C

playing easter bunny

When I was younger my mom's friend, Jan Marie, always used to make me the cutest Easter baskets.  And I mean the cutest!  They were perfectly put together because that's how Jan Marie is-she makes everything look so good.  She just naturally has an eye for arranging and decorating.

This year we decided to make her an Easter basket. (We usually exchange small gifts around the holidays.)  So my mom and I gathered up some Easter goodies:

mixed caramel/cheese popcorn

decorative flowery napkins

a hopping chick

assorted jelly bellies

hersey's kisses with almonds

mini robins eggs

bath fizz and lip gloss

homemade card

We then put it all together in the basket you see above!

Being the Easter bunny for the day was a pretty fun job.  

a little shopping never hurt...

This Thursday afternoon was my first day of Easter break!  (Really it's not so much of a break as a long weekend, but the word "break" is quite appealing isn't it?)  Luckily I didn't have my field experience this week, so my mom and I made a day of the afternoon and went shopping!  And what kind of a shopping trip would it be if we didn't start with frappucinos? ;)

We went to quite a few different places looking at clothes, home decor, purses, and anything else that caught our eye.  Even if we don't buy that much, we always just love looking at the new displays.  Plus, everything is so springy!  I bought my best purchase of the day from a young entrepreneur- a girl scout of course!  She had Thanks-a-lot cookies, which the local girl scouts in my area do not carry.  Bet you didn't realize they were a rarity! ;)

look what I found!

Remember this?  Well when I was rummaging around in my pantry for lunch today,

I found this little note.  Ironically I did not have mac&cheese for lunch.  Disappointing, I know. 

How could I not after that, right?  I'll have to hold off on the mmm...s til next time.