Adventuring with Ashley

My apologies for missing last week! I had a splendid time adventuring and catching up with my friend Ashley, also affectionately known as "Carlizzle." Ashley and I have known each other since high school when we were put in the same cabin at camp. And then we eventually both ended up working at said camp. And, so they say, the rest is history. Well, to make a long story short, she ended up dating someone from just down the road, who happens to know, like, ALL of my...

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A Birthday to Die For

(Lunchtime Fiction.) He chewed on his sunflower seeds, spitting the shells into the cup. His fisted hand clamped the steering wheel so tight as he sat watching the children play. It didn't need to happen this way, but they made it happen. His child died, after all, so why shouldn't they also know the burning pain that seers through your heart every moment of every day. His son would never get to play football with his buddies, go fishing with his family, flirt with girls in his teenage years. If his son would never experience life, theirs shouldn't...

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Paint the Light

One of my favorite films, albeit rather cheesy, is The Christmas Cottage, a fictional film representing the work and life of a great artist, Thomas Kinkade. I've always been fascinated by his work. His paintings seem to capture enchanting scenes of a life I wish for. Streets filled with the laughter of children, or a quaint and charming cottage tucked in a corner by the riverbed, where the water meanders its way through the pasture. My favorite, of course, are his...

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handprints

I love walking around our neighborhood. I've met several of the families that live on our block, and typically have conversations with Jerry, our neighbor, on a weekly basis. On one of my recent walks I found a line of handprints outside of a home. I'd never noticed them before, but as I walked past, they had an inexplicable draw that kept me staring at them, trying to guess who each family member is, how old they were, and how their lives have changed since. I'm always...

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It's a Writer's Life

Plotting each act for my different characters One of my favorite things about living in a house with these girls is we are all in one facet or another creative people. Mackenzie is creative in many endeavors, but shines in her career field as a fashion designer for 2b while building up her own business as a custom wedding gown designer. (You can find her exquisite work here.) Alli is in school pursuing an art degree, and in the meantime, paints occasionally for decor...

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3 things I learned from Butternut Squash.

Last night I got all excited about the autumnal weather we've been having and decided I needed something "fall" to make for dinner. So a variation of butternut squash soup it was. I learned several things while doing said activity. Here I slave away on my butternut squash soup while Rachel takes it easy. She was on doctor's orders to do just that, so I insisted that she could, in fact, make herself useful by chopping the onion and reading me directions from a seated position.  1)...

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The Rain Protector

I was born in Elmsford, New York, a small town just a short drive northeast from the city. It's a quaint and cozy place, one where people nestle among the trees, sipping their coffee as they drop in and out of each others' homes and businesses. The town was named after my predecessor, Mighty Ulmus the elm tree. Mr. Ulm was the town protector, and upon himself he took the duty of sheltering the town as he could by stretching his branches and leaves along the town....

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. october .

Making: a novel, a yearbook, and a website design.Cooking: French Dips and Au JusDrinking: peach teaReading: Escape to Morning by Susan May WarrenWanting: to come home and drive unhurriedly up the North Shore of lake superior with all the beautiful fall foliage, which should be nearing its peak really soon.Looking: forward to doing laundry with a non-leaking, working washing machinePlaying: Branches on PandoraWasting: gas on a drive down the PCH to Malibu.Sewing: something...

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Inspired.

It's so refreshing to have a new design on the blog. Like a fresh start, there's a renewed energy towards blogging. My beautiful friend Julia keeps inspiring me with her beautifully simplistic posts. Part of me used to, and admittedly, still does, think that I have to have something incomparably beautiful to blog about, and if I can't compose anything that could compare to Jane Austen, there's no reason to write it. I had a Saturday excursion with the lovely Samantha...

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