dear diary

things i'm loving about this week:

1. i'm finding my classes to be super easy...like mind-blowingly, i-didn't-think-college-could-be-so-easy easy.

2. today, or technically yesterday since it's now 12am, was z's and my 4 month anniversary. yippee! best 4 months of my life. :)

3. i've been sleeping with my window open because the temperature has cooled down to perfection.

4. i got my violin restrung! it's been sitting unplayed in our dusty parlor for well...2 years now. hopefully i can pick it back up quickly!

5. i have a surplus of german chocolate. 

things i'm not loving about this week:

1. i haven't made it to the gym yet.........

2. i can't sleep! i don't know why, but i've been tossing and turning until about 2 every night.

3. i feel like i'm not alive. have you ever felt like that? like at night when the day's over you ask yourself, "did i just live this day?" maybe it's because i haven't been sleeping well but it's super weird and i need to fix this. 

4. i have nothing to read.

5. my old macbook who has always run at the speed of light has become increasingly slow the past week or so. waaaaaaaa....:( it's like the end of an era.  

anyways, i hope anyone and everyone who stumbles upon this post is having a good, happy week. :) 

it's that time of year

that time of year when we load up with only what can carry on our backs and head for the blue ridges...

i'm ready! 

(the last 4 pictures are from my pinterest board, "take me here")

the south

all true southerners share a huge pride in where they come from. that sense of pride is something that you don't find in many other regions of the usa. there's just something about growing up in the south that gets in your blood and never leaves. it turns you into a homebody, a mama's boy, or a daddy's girl; it fills your daydreams with tree-lined dirt roads; it almost defines you. it's hard to describe to someone who hasn't grown up here.
my family has been here for generations and generations. not all, but most of my ancestors hopped off the boat into virginia and the carolinas when america was still in its beginning stages. i didn't realize what a rich heritage i had when i was younger - it was just normal life. i used to want to get out and i almost resented the fact that i was born here; there were bigger and better places out there, so i believed. as i learned more and travelled more, i began to really understand and appreciate my roots, and now, more than ever, i take strong pride in who i am as a southerner.

i read this quote and it immediately struck a chord with me... i feel like i could have written it: "this town of churches and dreams; this town i thought i would lose myself in, with its backward ways and roads leading to nowhere; but, i found myself instead." (excerpt from American Honey) 

here are a few things i love most about the south:

-classic southern hospitality and good manners. it's true - you won't find nicer folks anywhere else in the country. the more i've traveled, read, and watched tv, and the more people i've met, the more i've realized how genuinely nice the people are here. every single day on my way home, a stranger waves to me from a passing vehicle, men always hold doors open for me, and i rarely enter someone's house without being offered something to eat or drink.

"not a tangible thing, but an attitude which has been ingrained in southerners forever. it's a feeling of being sincerely welcomed as a guest or a long lost friend; a way of life that lets people be as warm as the climate. it's an easiness in speaking with total strangers or anyone, a unique friendliness encompassing the whole way of life in the deep south. it's not something one does, it's the way one is." 
(dee jackson) 

-the food. homemade biscuits, grits, barbecue, sweet tea (a one-member food group), endless fattening casseroles, fried okra, fried chicken, fried everything, fresh garden greens, to name a few. mmmm...

The best sweet tea recipe here

this photo courtesy of Garden and Gun

Grits & Groceries - delicious down-home restaurant with a gourmet spin in upstate sc

-the music. bluegrass, folk, country, blues... soulful, inspired, nostalgic. 

here are some of my favorites from these categories (don't judge):

-southern summers. tree-lined dirt roads, fields full of hay bales, porch-sitting, fireflies, humidity, days on the lake, wild flowers...  

“summer in the deep south is not only a season, a climate, it's a dimension. floating in it, one must be either proud or submerged." (eugene walter from the untidy pilgrim)


-conservatism. enough said. ;)
“all that the south has ever desired was that the union as established by our forefathers should be preserved and that the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth.” (robert e. lee)
“i love the union and the constitution, but i would rather leave the union with the constitution than remain in the union without it.” (jefferson davis)

~
“breathe there the man with soul so dead
who never to himself has said,
this is my own, my native land!”
(sir walter scott)

berry tea

this morning i really wanted a smoothie but i didn't want all that heavy dairy (i usually make mine with whole milk and greek yogurt) because it always ends up being too much and making me feel sick, which could have more to do with portion control, but we won't go there... anyways i decided to use tea instead of milk and of course nix the yogurt. i didn't think it would turn out well but it was reeeeeally tasty and refreshing. it turned out more like a drink than a smoothie so it wasn't as filling but it was so good and tasted really similar to something i've gotten at starbucks.

you should try it!

just add...

one cup of frozen mixed berries, or really any kind of frozen fruit

about a cup of tea that's been cooled. i used earl grey because that's what i had on hand.

and my favorite part:

about a tbsp of honey.....or more. 

blend all this together and you've got yourself a 130 calorie glass of frothy berry tea goodness!

there will be lots of seeds in the bottom especially. i don't mind them but you could obviously just strain it if that's something that will bother you.

(skype session with a handsome soldier optional)

enjoy! ;)

comparison

i have a confession to make: i've caused my relationship with my boyfriend to suffer lately because i keep comparing it to other people's relationships. you know the couple that just seems so perfect? he appears at her front door every single morning with starbucks and roses and drives her to work/school so that she can do her mascara in the car, allowing her to sleep in an extra 5 minutes in the morning. she is perfectly cute all the time and when he's sick she makes homemade chicken broth, all the while in a hand stitched apron that she made herself. just kidding and if you do these things.... seek therapy. 

but you know what i mean. you can't even imagine them fighting, they have the most loveable pictures together on facebook, they consistently do bible studies together every wednesday morning, etc, etc. you know who i'm talking about, right? 

well here's the deal... my boyfriend and i get in arguments. not all the time and not super regularly, but we still fight. most of our pictures together are of us making faces at the camera, we tried to do a bible study together but failed, and we endearingly call each other "bro." 

i love all this stuff about our relationship (except the failed bible study part of course) but sometimes i start looking around at all these couples who are just so insanely perfect and i start to question what he and i have. 

he reminded me today that i don't know what the people who i think are perfect are struggling with behind closed doors and that some people could even see us as being a perfect couple....and lawd knows we ain't.

anyway, thankfully i realized you can't compare what you have to someone else's. i definitely know that there are exceptions; there are abusive, toxic relationships out there in which cases it's good to realize that you need and deserve something better than what you have, but if you have a guy who loves God, makes you laugh, brings out the best in you, and likes you better in a ponytail than in heels, the grass is DEFINITELY the greenest on your side and, in this case, on my side. :) 

i'm going to let comparison stop robbing me of joy. 

sunshine & duke

i couldn't resist going outside and enjoying a pretty orange pre-sunset with my trusty little companion maggie.

 speaking of dogs, my brother and sister-in-law lost their sweet little two year old pup last night. he got hit by a car at my parents' house. duke was one of the best dogs that ever lived. i'm getting teary-eyed as we speak. here's to all the faithful dogs that have found their way into our hearts and to one of the best dogs that ever lived and who will never be forgotten. 

i love you, duke! 

colder weather

i can totally smell fall in the air and i absolutely can't wait. usually i dread the end of summer but we had such a mild winter and spring this year that i feel like summer's been here for ages. it will be so nice to snuggle down in some colder weather. 

 a few things i want to add to my wardrobe:

fabric coat - zara

puffy quilt vest - jcrew 

shrunken anorak - jcrew

denim western shirt - jcrew

ankle boots - zara

cowboy ankle boots - zara

(ummm didn't mean for there to be a slight western theme going on here...)