i made a list of 25 things to do before i turn 26. what's exciting is i have already accomplished some.
1. knit a scarf - i've knitted 2 so far!
2. clean out my closet - i started on this last night, so far i've done tanktops, shoes & work clothes
3. make homemade tortillas
4. learn to screenprint
5. run a 10k
6. go camping
7. brew my own beer
8. make something creative once a month - so far, so good, i've made draft snakes and scarves
9. don't by new books, use the library or buy used
10. start working on a new portfolio, i want to apply for mfa programs next year
11. take a class, in anything
12. travel to a new city - i went to san diego last week
13. plant a garden
14. take horseback riding lessons, i miss riding so much
15. practice my german
16. ride my bike more
17. let things go
18. shoot more with my mamiya
19. go to the movies
20. learn to skid stop
21. stop watching so much tv
22. grow my hair out
23. talk to my friends more often
24. take my photographs
25. save money

everyone is posting fall images and it is making me sad/jealous.
it is 90 here today! 90!!

just saw this on cnn



LAWWLZ. guess i need to leave.

i spent the weekend in lubbock visiting eric and my parent's. i think all we did the entire time is play with dog's.


baxter and bueller. baxter is my parent's new dog and he is 7 months old. bueller reminds me of an old dog now, even though he is only 2.


i had a lot of fun just messing with baxter, such as wrapping him up in a blanket.


and putting toys on his head.


but bueller might still be my favorite.


i started this dancing game with bueller when he was a puppy. he sits there and i repeat watch me, watch me, watch me, with my finger on my forehead. after the third watch me i say watch me dance and start dancing and he gets really excited. he still remembers how to play the "game" every time. baxter didn't quite get it.

back from vacation, it was nice, but i didn't take any photos. grissom is enjoying the fact that i haven't unpacked.


we went crazy at the grocery store on sunday.


and i made some basil couscous with toasted pinenuts for dinner.


we also toasted some almonds for pesto, which we will use tonight.


we made tacos/burritos/fajitas/whatever last week and they were delicious. we made them again last night.

i make potato pizza a lot, but it is so good.

leaving in a few hours for family vacation. very excited.

the cats used to do the same thing with my homework. lay all over it while i was working. now they do it while i am cleaning. kitta marie has a bad habit of doing it while i am on the computer, except she ruins EVERYTHING. like deleting all of my music by accident. either way, the look cute doing it.



oh and i got in my first accident in my new car. i was stopped at a stop light on my way home when a car rammed into the car behind me, pushing that car into mine. my car is drivable and not really ruined, i just need a new bumper. shit still sucks.

a few weeks ago eric and i bought the most delicious honeydew. since then i have been craving it and we decided to buy another at the store. "honeydew" was the hot buy! we picked out what we thought was a good "honeydew" then we came home and sliced it, and it was in fact, not honeydew, but cantaloupe. not funny central market, not funny.
AND LOOK AT THE SKIN, THAT LOOKS LIKE HONEYDEW SKIN, NOT CANTALOUPE.

you should read this book. seriously.


4 day work week! because we are going on family vacation! unfortunately our original vacation was canceled due to hurricane/tropical storm dolly. i was bummed, but my parent's saved the trip and now we are going somewhere in texas i have never been! and it is a good thing we aren't going to the coast because another tropical storm is about to it.

i have always wanted a scooter and i am getting more serious all the time! hopefully we can go look at some in the next few weeks so i can decide if it is worth it. my route to work would be perfect for a scooter.

the heat is bad. really bad this summer. i don't even remember it being under 100. eric and i had such big plans for summer but it is just too hot to do anything. we try to take walks in the evening, but it is still 100 hot.

the rest of the time i was in pennsylvania we hung out in ellwood city, where eric's family lives.



it was so green!



i had heard of bocce ball, but i had never seen it played, nor had i played it, but i was able to do both. it is probably my new favorite game. i need to get a set asap.


eric and his brother. i have never seen two brothers who look so different.

this summer is going great, but i can't believe how quickly is it going. it seems like we have been busy every weekend.
i just booked up tickets to go to the beach in august, we are going to philly next weekend, and we just got invited to go to the lake with some friends this weekend!
but last weekend we went to the pittsburgh area to visit some of eric's family. i had never been to that part of pennsylvania and it was beautiful. so green!
we went to pittsburgh one day, but only had a few hours. we made the most of it and ate at essie's, went to the cathedral of learning, and walked across the bridge to the southside. i can't wait to go back!


fries from essie's. we wrote about this place in the magazine a few weeks ago, and i had to try it. the fries were amazing.


the cathedral of learning. i really didn't know what to expect with this place, but it was so cool! they have all of these rooms, the nationality rooms, that are decorated to resemble different nations, duh, but they also represent different time periods.

( more )

my family had their family reunion:


i went mostly for this lady. my 89 year old grandmother.


and to see this guy, my cousin's 3 week old baby.

( more family )
i am going to pittsburgh for the weekend! yay for new places!

i was stuck at home for most of saturday with no car, so i cleaned my apartment pretty damn hard. and rachel has been asking me to post pictures of my apartment, so since it was clean, i finally took some photos!
i am not finished decorating, and i really need to figure some stuff out, but here it is.
also, HEY RACHEL, eric had said i should just post one picture to lure in you and to see the rest you have to come visit! but i am nice and showing you most of the apartment!


living room and part of kitchen, from one of the corners. that wooden door is the front door.


from another corner.

( more of the apartment )

kitta marie's surgery went well. they removed a bunch of small stones from her bladder and one large stone. the stones have been sent off for testing, and i should know in a few weeks what is causing them.

i can't wait to have room to grow a garden, instead of always taking eric's mom's herbs.


homemade croutons are the best.


in other news, kitta's ultrasound went very well this morning. me being there helped me so much and she was very calm. they did fine stones in her bladder, so she is going to have surgery, but bladder stones are better than kidney stones. i just want this to be over.

Kitta marie is still sick. She isn’t fighting this UTI. The vet was unsuccessful yesterday and we are trying again on Friday and I will be present in the search for kidney stones. I just want her to be better.

My other cat, Grissom, is acting weird. He doesn’t want anything to do with me. I think it’s because I have been taking care of Kitta so much, or he has completely disowned me for Eric.

sunday lunch:



it was a really good lunch, except i got a killer stomach ache later and got sick and it sucked and ruined what i had eaten. boo.

kitta marie has been very sick lately. i should find out tomorrow if she needs surgery.


i eat too much bread.


and potatoes.

i had a very busy memorial day weekend. there was too much driving and too little swimming.
i did get to the farmer's market on saturday though.