i want to ride an elephant

sometimes i'm an adventurous person, in my head.  the other day i saw a picture on facebook of someone i used to know who is in thailand.  she was riding an elephant down a river, and i thought someday....i really really want to ride on an elephant.

the truth is there are a lot of adventures i want to have someday.

when i was younger, a family friend took hailey and me to the circus.  there was a big ring where they were giving rides on two very sad looking elephants.  and i wanted to ride so much.  basically i've wanted to ride an elephant as long as i can remember and although this opportunity was quite a bit less than the idea of riding an elephant down a stream while wearing exotic clothes and balancing a basket on my head, this was my opportunity!  we went to stand in line.  i remember how ecstatic i was - i could barely contain myself!  then i said something about my excitement and with a look that said really? grow up.. the woman who was our chaperone told me that i was much too old to ride the elephants.  we were only in line for my little sister.

and so my search for an elephant continues.


there are a lot of other adventures i want, too.  someday i want to go on a backpacking trip - a legitimate one.  i want to rock climb (outside... not just indoors).  i also reeeaaaalllllly want to go on a river rafting trip down the grand canyon.  and run a marathon.  and maybe do a triathlon someday.  and absolutely learn to snowboard.

and i want to see the great pyramid and what's left of the sphinx.  i want to walk the great wall of china.  and see the kangaroos, koala bears, and platypuses in australia.  while i'm at it, i'd love to go to hobbiton in new zealand and learn to surf and scuba dive.

i want to do a lot of things.  be a lot of things.

and someday i really am going to ride an elephant.  and if my kids ever want to, i'll tell them they are never too old to ride the elephants.

music and homemade bread

burned bread again today.  well, at least the tops.  i haven't seen the inside yet, but one thing is certain: baking bread in a toaster oven is tricky business.  our almost-dead ancient horrible oven died for real last night.  i wanted a BIG pan of roasted veggies!  but...when the heating element caught fire and started sparking all over the place, i decided it was time to retire the thing for good.  at least the veggies were finished by the time i saw the sparks, right?

also, this has nothing to do with vegetables, ovens or bread, but wesley blaylock's new ep is absolutely beautiful.  here are a couple of my favorites.  i especially love hannah blaylock (featured in the second).

thanks to taylor for finding this gem!  ....on repeat :)

thinking of painting tonight... it's been a while and i'm itching to get back at it lately.  also i'll probably have three more slices of that bread.  while in the middle of writing, i already had one and it was glorious.  for some reason the toaster oven always turns the tops of the bread black, but it's never really burned....?  the bread is so moist it doesn't get hard at all.  and it doesn't taste too done at all.  horrah! for another toaster oven success.  really, sisters.  thank you.  it's because of you that i've been able to cook anything in the oven at all these last six months.  love you! :)


ps. chopping all my hair off is now inevitable.  the next time i'm even remotely close to lubbock, it's all coming off.  all of it!

tossing the closet

today i began the arduous task of cleaning out my closet (...a sub-project of cleaning out my whole apartment - which started last week).  and okay, it's not really that arduous; it's actually kind of fun.  at any given time i probably only ever wear 75% of what's in my closet and dresser.  lately that statistic is more like 15%.  if that.  i'm always grabbing for what's most comfortable and functional, and that ends up always being the same 10 items.  also, while watching videos from dress your truth (really, i'm pretty much obsessed) i heard that the average american woman has $6000 in her wardrobe (clothes, shoes, bags, accessories).  while i think i'm actually way way way below that number, there are definitely things in my closet worth a pretty penny that i haven't worn in months and months - or that i've only worn for a total of four hours.

seeing as the job search continues, i figured i might as well cash in the clothes i don't want anyway for some extra change... or extra money with which to pay our internet bill or something.  currently, there is a stack that takes up half our bed (and is at least two feet high) of clothes that i'm probably going to get rid of.  there's another stack on a chair about a foot high (stacked single-file) that i'm definitely going to sell, toss or give away.

now is the time when i really wish i were one of those famous bloggers with 15000 followers who cleans out their wardrobe by creating a subsection of their blog with images of clothes and prices.  i've known more than one woman who bought an article of clothing that way just because so-and-so owned it.  because it hung in her closet next to the one she wears in her profile picture.

yeah, it'd be pretty awesome to auction my clothes off and have obsessed women out-bidding each other for the skirt i wore in my profile picture two years ago.

BUT because that's not the case, i think ebay is going to become my new best friend.  and if that doesn't work, then i'll take the stacks to a consignment shop in lubbock... or something.

any online selling suggestions will be greatly welcomed.  i'm new at this.

in other news, i'm reading animal, vegetable, miracle (which has been on my list for ages) and absolutely eating it up (pun intended).  i already wanted to grow a garden.  now i think i'm going to go buy pots and start one on my balcony.  ....once the money starts flowing again.

speaking of vegetables, dinner tonight was delicious: lightly sauteed red onion, carrot, summer squash and kale; one hard-boiled egg; and a juicy plum for dessert.

yum.

it doesn't get any better than that, folks.