​1. It's National Best Friends Day! So send your bestie(s) an e-mail, or a text message, or give them a call, or mail them a card, or a letter (snail mail is pretty much the best thing ever) letting them know how awesome they are and how much you love them! And check out 13 reasons a bestie is irreplaceable -- so very true.

Love you, ladies! ♥
2. The Next Food Network Star is finally back. Yesssss. It's still early in the competition, but I think my favorites are Michelle and Jay. They both seem genuine, have point-of-views that are interesting, and delicious sounding (and looking) food. I'm also pulling for Rue -- I think her background is really unique and she can bring something totally new to the stage. That Mozambique stew she made sounded ah-mazing (minus the peanuts because I can't eat peanuts. But for those who are peanut-eaters, I'm sure it was delicious). But, she's got to work on her camera presence and how to describe herself and her food. "Aggressively charming" -- what what? What does that even mean? Come on, Rue! I'm rue-ting for you! (Har, har)
And then there's Matthew. I think B. Flay summed it up best when he said, "Hashtag? More like WTF." That's pretty much all that can be said.

3. Can I just say how much I love Emily Henderson? She is one of my favorite designers, hands down. Her style is amazing, she's super down to earth and hilarious. One of her recent posts, 12 annoying things I ignore every day, is a must-read. Keeping it real, girl!

4. I've been kind of obsessed lately with putting kale and radish slices on my turkey sandwiches.

5. One of the highlights of my day yesterday was when parents were coming to pick up their little kids from summer Sunday School, and I told one of the girls that it was very nice to meet her when her nana came to get her. And she said to me in a very matter-of-fact manner, "It was very nice to meet you too. I hope that we see each other again." Adorbs. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

​1. Happy Memorial Day, everyone!! Thank you to all who have served and are serving our country -- "land of the free because of the brave." I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend! And -- here's a little history on the origins of Memorial Day.

2. Apologies for the long absence, yet again! Sheesh! This past week, I was awfully sick with a cold and an ear infection -- not pretty. On top of that, I started another new job. It's going to be a busy summer! Yesterday was my first day assisting with delivering/setting up floral arrangements for the new job. One of our tasks included setting up a chuppah -- on the beach. On the super, duper windy beach.

​Oh. My. Goodness. Pretty much everything was working against us. The beach slopes downward, so the chuppah is kind of slanted (okay, not just kind of slanted...really slanted!). The wind was INCREDIBLE down on the beach. Those posts are unwieldy enough trying to move around under regular conditions. Try moving them around when it's super-duper ultra windy! Some of the posts weren't fitting where they were supposed to, etc, etc. It was a challenge. But we did it! Good thing we didn't need to put a canopy on top. That would have definitely been in the ocean in about .2 seconds. After running around delivering boutineers, corsages, and floral arrangements (and assembling that beast of a chuppah), I was exhausted and ready to just veg out. My plan once I got home was to make dinner and watch a chick flick. (I do love chick flicks. The cheesier, the better). Which brings me to...

3. The Ugly Truth is a terrible, terrible movie. I think I saw the movie in an article like, "Top Ten Chick Flick Movies" or something similar. So when I was mentally running through chick-flicks, figuring out what I wanted to watch,  I was like, "Oh yeah, I remember I kinda wanted to see that movie." I mean, I loved 27 Dresses (one of my all-time favorite chick-flicks) and it has Gerard Butler. Yeah, the premise seemed kind of dumb, but a lot of chick-flick movies don't really have the most impressive premise. So, I decided, why not? Seems like a good vegging-out movie. ACK -- so terrible!! First off, WHERE IS GERARD BUTLER'S ACCENT??! WHERE. IS. THE. ACCENT. The movie had pretty much lost me right then and there when I realized Gerard Butler didn't have his lovely Scottish accent. 

​WHERE'S YOUR ACCENT, GERARD?!?!

Secondly, Gerard Butler's character Mike is SUCH A JERK. How does Katherine Heigl's character Abby fall for such a crass meanie? I mean, I get the whole opposites attract thing. But, seriously? He has no redeeming qualities. Yes, he did turn down the offer from CBS so that he could stick around for his nephew and be a "father figure," so that's good and all, but seriously. And okay, I (sort of) understand Abby's warming up to him after that conversation about CBS, his nephew, and Mike's chain of messed-up relationships. But then -- THEN -- after the elevator scene and Mike returns to Abby's hotel room but Colin answers the door and Abby tries going after Mike, he's such a JERK! Again! Completely undoes the very little that he did in the previous scene. You totally screwed up and missed your chance, dude. And don't even get me started on the hot-air balloon scene. So. Much. Wrong. Mike tells Abby he loves her, BUT also calls her a psycho in the same sentence. ?!?! Then, Abby launches into a diatribe about not being a psycho. Mike tells her he loves her again. Abby continues her diatribe. It's pretty cringe-worthy, watching that scene unfold. When Abby FINALLY addresses Mike's statement about loving her and asks why, his response: "Beats the [crapola] [<-- my word, not Mike's] out of me, but I am." Oh, how romantic. A real keeper, that one. </rant> 

Ah, okay. I feel much better now! And I need to watch a good chick-flick ASAP! 

​Today, my walking route took me by a couple of ponds. I love the ocean, but I also love ponds. I love the fresh smell of the water mixed with the smell of the pines. I love the way the water sounds as the small waves break against the shore. 

​It's so lovely and peaceful.

​There are plenty of lovely trees along the rail trail. Which also means I walked through way more winter moth caterpillar webs than I cared for (one is too many, in my opinion).

Darn those winter moth caterpillars. They're absolutely EVERYWHERE now. They're crawling in my car, and I'm pretty sure I've picked at least four of them off of me today. And one on my sneaker. They're like glitter, only far less pretty. And much more destructive. What eats winter moths caterpillars? We need some caterpillar predators around here, STAT! 

​ANYWAY. There was lots of gorgeousness going on to negate the grossness of the caterpillars. (How many times can I say -- er, type -- "caterpillar" in this post?!)

​Isn't that such a cute little house on the far right? I love the red front door. And it has an adorable little balcony.

​And then there's this house that's right across from it. It's been under construction for quite a while, but it's looking pretty done now! Love the screened in porch on the side.

​And it has a sweet chimney. Gorgeous stonework!

The one thing I don't understand is the small landing underneath the window on the far right and the slider next to the window. Was it a door initially? And whoever was building the house (or having it built for them), was like, "Oh, I'd rather have a window there. But leave the landing. Oh, and the slider." And having a slider for an exterior door like that would be kind of odd. I mean, how do you lock it? Granted, there aren't any bands of hooligans running around (none that I know of anyway), but still. I would want a locking exterior door. 

Anyway. Besides the strange landing and slider, I approve.

​Hope everyone's having a beautiful Thursday!

​
I know, it's been pretty quiet around here lately! Last week was a busy week between my brother and sister-in-law visiting, starting a new job, and starting to move in my brother and sister-in-law into their new apartment. And, the weather is finally coming around. In fact, it's pretty much like summer already. Spring basically doesn't exist anymore. It's winter, maybe like a couple of days of fake-out spring, and then, BAM! Summer. That's all right though -- I'm not complaining! I've been able to get in more walks with the beautiful weather.

This house is along one of my favorite walking routes. This house is probably the reason why it is one of my favorite walking routes. It's just so cool. It has an AMAZING view of the bay (which is like right behind the house). There's a walkway/hallway with glass walls that connects the main house to another part of the house. How perfect would that be for a dining area?

​You can kind of see it a little better in this picture. Anyway, that would have a FANTASTIC view of the bay.

It's just SO. COOL. There are no words that can possibly describe the amount of cool-ness this house has. The outside is so fabulous -- I'm dying to see the inside! I remember years ago -- probably back in high school, or maybe right after I started college -- my mom and I LOVED this historic home back in the town I grew up in. We would walk by, gaze, and sigh at the gorgeousness of this beautiful Victorian. One day when we were walking by, the owner was outside working in the garden and noticed us admiring her house. We struck up a conversation, and the owner graciously offered us a tour of her home! The inside was just as stunning as the outside -- incredible original hardwood floors, trim, casings, and a gorgeous kitchen that was modern, yet still payed homage to the historic style of the house. Not only was the house beautiful, but it had a very interesting history as well! On the tour of her home, the owner showed us a trapdoor in one of the small closets. The original owners of the house were a part of the underground railroad and hid runaway slaves in their house. History + design = a whole bunch of amazingness.

ANYWAY. Back to the modern house. Every time I've walked by this house, no one has been there. It's clearly just a weekend/summer home, which is sad because I would totally want to live in that house year-round. But, a couple of weeks ago when I was walking my favorite route and went by, there was actually someone there!! I almost, ALMOST, told the person how much I admired the house in hopes that I would get a tour of the inside, but I chickened out. Maybe one of these days!

The beautiful weather also means furniture projects! Oh, how I love to work on old pieces and breathe some new life into them!

​These chairs are one project I've been working on. I found them at a thrift store for $5 each. Score. 

​This coffee table is another project I've been working on. It's almost done. So. Very. Close! Painting it has been a pain because of the angles and rounded surfaces on the legs. Every time I think I'm done with all of the touch-up, I find another spot that I've missed! But, it's getting there! There will be pictures of the finished products soon, promise!! (That is, if I ever finish them! Ha!)

So that's some of what's been happening around here! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend, and here's to a great week!