things i loved this week.

dear anna, 

i really love it when you wear flowers in your hair.

 

dear sunshine,

thanks for spilling into my windows and lighting up my house.

dear kim, 

remember that time we talked and ate freshberry on the sidewalk and didn't move, even as the wind picked up and it started to rain?

dear emory,

i laugh every time i think about your little red riding hood eco-friendly bag and its wolf case. it makes the grocery store so much fun.

away they go.

sad day spent helping my friends move away. away from our college, away from our city.


i hated packing their things and i really hated the part where we said goodbye, but i wouldn't have missed this day with them.

  

i am quickly coming to the conclusion that today means i am really lucky. the goodbyes were terrible and life is quickly changing, but it is only because these friendships have been so wonderful to me. how lucky am i to have so many people to love, to love me back, and to miss when we are apart?

paris.

this time two summers ago, i was here: 

{i may or may not have teared up the first time i saw this}

{dessert first, always}

{tour de france}

{red, red, everywhere}

{oh, hey there, rocky. nice to see you in the louvre.}

{i did not yet know emory when i went to paris, but what i know now is that she and travis were engaged literally feet from where i am standing in this picture.}

{paris at night}

rewind, please.

blame it on the heat.

not going to lie. 

i'm not loving this week.

emory is moving to virginia on friday.

kim is headed to dc on saturday.

i am still wrestling with my master plan.

and it's hot.

as in, yesterday's-heat-index-was-122-degrees hot.

but things are looking up.

because williamsburg and dc will be fun to visit.

my life is bound to fall into place.

and august is just around the corner, which means autumn will be here before i know it. 

so i'll just blame my bad mood on the heat.

 {i met this little fellow on the corner of st. philip and cannon this evening. i shared my water with him and he shared his pretty eyes with me.}

christy.

us. my college graduation, may 2010.

christy is both my parent and my friend and i am very thankful to have her in my life. we have so much in common, from yoga and books to music and cooking, that it is hard to believe that we are not actually related by blood.

i like talking to christy because she is very cheerful and she gives great advice. she is easy to relate to and she has a really cute giggle that makes me laugh. usually her giggle gets me laughing way harder than whatever it was that was funny in the first place.

she is thoughtful and often does things just because, like surprising me with a table for my porch when she knew i wouldn't buy one for myself. she is also encouraging, from reading my english papers and helping me research cameras to reading my blog and complimenting my photography.

she can knit, sew, cook, garden, and make the world's best mashed potatoes. i love the way she finds so much joy in doing things for our home and family, from sunday dinners at home to making fresh guacamole with tomatoes from her garden. when i visit my family, i can always count on fresh flowers on the coffee table and a "hey, you!" as soon as i walk in the door.

christy, thanks for bringing so much love into my life! happy birthday! xoxo

i love birthdays.

whitney's birthday gave me the perfect excuse to spend a saturday doing two of my favorite things: baking and planning a surprise.

in lieu of a gift, i decided to go way out and bake her a twilight-themed cake. this girl LOVES twilight. and cake.

it was my very first attempt at baking a cake entirely from scratch and, with the exception of one icing setback-induced meltdown (julie & julia style), it went very smoothly!

in keeping with the red-and-black color scheme, i used martha stewart's red velvet chocolate cake recipe. then, after two failed icing attempts (and a mini-meltdown), i googled "white icing" and struck gold. apparently the best icing for decorating cakes only requires four ingredients: confectioner's sugar, shortening, water, and clear vanilla. so much for complicated recipes!

i was so excited to surprise her with it and i think it's pretty safe to say that she loved it.

we celebrated her birthday with drinks at the vendue rooftop followed by dinner at muse, one of my very favorite restaurants.

 {birthday jewelry}

{tuna carpacchio, cheese plate, and a meze platter}

{gnocchi gorgonzola = amazing}

muse was, as usual, completely charming and we finished up the evening with cake, wishes on candles, and a sleepover at whit's. it was a perfectly lovely birthday celebration!

writer's block.

a perfectly appropriate host gift for a renaissance literature professor, no?

adventure in the great wide somewhere.

my one-year-ago self was on the brink of adventure in the great wide somewhere.

i was on a plane to ireland, where i would study celtic mythology and irish folklore. i would read irish literature where it was written. i would visit the 8th century monasteries responsible for producing the earliest examples of english literature.

translation: i was living the (english major's) dream.

 it was magical.

maybe best of all was my recognition of the magic as it happened, because today, as i think of my one-year-ago self and the then-unknown adventures that awaited me, i remember the way it felt to live in the moment and wake up every morning knowing that i was in the midst of a story i would tell for the rest of my life.

about the summer i was twenty-one and read my way through ireland.

{"you are my eyes. see all you can." -- my dad, just before i got on the plane.}

little brother is a teenager!

my sweet baby brother is a TEENAGER today! 

i don't quite know how it is possible. 

wasn't he just born?

davey is my favorite person in the great wide world. he is sweet and funny and (don't tell him i told you) he likes to cuddle.  his mind is a steel trap for numbers and statistics and he loves learning how to cook. he is a natural athlete. and have i mentioned that he is sweet? he held my hand on my college graduation day. i guess he isn't too old for his sissy yet. i hope he won't ever be.

when i visit my family, the moments just before sleep are our special time. he really likes to hear the story of when he was born. so i start to tell him of how we left for the hospital when it was so early it was still dark outside and he says, "no, no, start from the beginning. when you wished for me." so then i have to start over. i tell him how i wished for a brother every day of my childhood. i tell him about my letters to santa and bedtime prayers. then i tell him about the day we found out he was a boy and how i was allowed to miss school for the ultrasound after my 3rd grade teacher took a poll to see if my classmates thought i'd have a brother or sister. then i tell him about how i was the first person to hold him, even before mom or dad. and then he smiles and drifts off to dream.

he might be a teenager now but i think i'll always baby him. despite what my dad says, i know davey likes it.

happy 13th birthday, brother! i love you oh-so-very-much.

music and wine and a tuesday night.

emory and i intended to spend the evening watching movies. 

but then we sipped chocolate wine and listened to music instead. 

sunday brunch at the blue rose cafe.

i have been wanting to try the blue rose cafe for a while and this was the perfect morning for an irish breakfast. 

with mismatched plates, fresh flowers on the table, and a friendly owner with an irish brogue, the cafe was charming.

everyone at my table ordered the sauteed spinach and crab omelettes with grits and no one was disappointed. not even close. the scones were fresh, the butter was creamy, and i was delighted to realize that the coffee tasted just like it did last summer in ireland. 

with next thursday marking a year since i left to study in ireland, there was no better way to remember the biggest adventure i have ever been on. 

"friends, they are jewels."

a surprise visit, a just because trinket, and a handwritten letter. 

friendship is such a blessing.

*title lyrics by iron & wine. 

she'sss baaaaccckkk!

anna's return from a year in prague called for a five loaves celebration.

over goat cheese gnocchi, grilled eggplant, greek quesadillas, and a bottle of wine, we caught up on the year. 

a year seems like a long time, but it's really not. it feels like no time has passed at all.

welcome home, anna!

things.

1. it's amazing how good my very own bed feels when i have been out of town for a week 2. i went to triangle for dinner tonight and i am sort of angry that i have lived in charleston for two years and have never tried it before now.  i had the very best sweet potato fries of my life. they serve them with apple butter and i was too busy enjoying them to take any pictures 3. i have only been back in charleston for one day and my allergies have already returned and i have a huge mosquito bite above my left eye. it looks awesome 4. my sweet friend anna has returned from a year in prague and i get to see her. tomorrow. at five loaves. hooray! 5. i already miss my brother. when i was bored today and wishing i was still in the keys, all i had to do was think about the crazy ridiculous things he said and did all week and how hard he makes me laugh. i instantly felt happy.

oh, i love this kid.

i love you, july.

as far as i am concerned, july is one of the very best months. i don't love the extreme heat or the humidity, but i do love what july means to me.

when I was little, july meant summer. school was forgotten, i was always barefoot, and my hair was tinted green from swimming every day. i would even postpone my birthday party until july so that I could have a pool party (because really, when you are seven and live in sc and it doesn't snow ever, much less in february, what is the point of a winter birthday?).

july is the month that i became a big sister. years of writing letters to Santa and saying bedtime prayers for a brother finally paid off when davey was born.

july is also my travel month. it is when, three summers ago, i spent a week in jackson hole and went paragliding off of the grand tetons. two Julys ago, i was living in germany and spent weeks in italy, austria, and france. last july, i was studying celtic literature and folklore in ireland.

and right this july moment, i am unpacking from a blissful week in the florida keys with my family. it overwhelms me to think about the things that i have been so blessed to see and do in my short life.

and i think that july is magical.

{jackson hole, july 2007}

 {germany, july 2008}

{austria, july 2008}

{italy, july 2008}

 

 {paris, july 2008}

{ireland, july 2009}

{summerland key, july 2010}