Whereupon I Discover I Do Not Thrift

I need summer clothes. Abilene gets hot. Really, really hot. I've been feeling like I'm wearing the same thing over and over now that the weather is warming up, so the other day I separated my closet by...warmth. Jackets together, sweaters together, long sleeves, short sleeves, then vests and the like. I realized I felt like I was wearing the same thing over and over because well, I am. A couple basic short sleeved shirts, a sweater vest, a professional vest, and a couple tanks. Granted, I can still wear long sleeves to my icebox work, but I'm not entirely sure that will last much longer either.

I think the shrinking of wardrobes is inevitable in the spring and summer. All winter long, you've been wearing all your short sleeves, with long sleeves and with sweaters, with jackets and scarves and everything else piled on top. Suddenly, it's just too freaking warm to wear anything but a shirt and some jewelry, so the wardrobe gets cut in half. Or worse.

Mine was worse. Much worse. So I scrounged up a little extra money and gave myself the allotment to spend. I need plenty of clothes, but the budget isn't massive...aaaand I've been hearing a lot about all the great things everyone's finding at thrift stores these days, too! I went thrifting. Two hours and two stores later, I discovered I am not and never will be a thrifter.

Even Ross was just a flat out disappointment. Not only do I get overwhelmed at the endless rows of clothes all sorted by size, I get frustrated at my lack of options. Perhaps for those who shop as a hobby, a thrift store wouldn't be that bad. After all, if you have 6 hours to kill and no particular needs, you can wander up and down those isles to your heart's content! But I shop with purpose. If I need a pair of jeans, I don't want to go into a store to see that they have 2 pairs of jeans in my size and 7581 dresses. Not cool.

I looked through all 7581 dresses and found 1 that I liked. I tried it on and it was pretty decent, even. Then in exasperation, I nearly shouted, I'M NOT LOOKING FOR DRESSES! Frustration.

No, I want to shop somewhere that I like the clothes. Somewhere I know I can walk in and have some of everything to choose from. Somewhere things aren't already used and tossed aside and somewhere things aren't marked down 27 times because no one else wanted them.

I have accepted that I am not a thrifter and never will be.

Next week, I'm going to the mall.

Birding Adventure - Lake Kirby

Basically, we bird all the time. Every run outside and drive to work we're both spotting all the birds on the ground and in the air. The more extravagant adventures are worth it, though. Just a bit ago we took the little drive out to Lake Kirby on the south side of Abilene. What we saw was amazing.

The sky was on fire that morning! The pictures just never do a sunrise justice, but that's one of my favorite parts of birding. In Texas, there isn't anything to obscure the sun when it's rising, so it surfaces big, red and bright. We ended up seeing about 20 different species of birds, many of which were new. As we were getting close to finishing up, an old man pulled up to us in his truck and asked if we were birding. After some fun conversation, the man (Sam) told us how to get to the other side of the lake. It was much less visited, he said, and we'd be able to see lots of different kinds that won't go on the main side. Those directions started another adventure that lasted about 2 more hours.  Finding the other side was harder than we thought (why there aren't as many people to scare off the birds), and we ended up driving around the lake about four times before finding the turn off. It was absolutely worth it, though.

The above picture is our new friend, the Red-winged Blackbird. These guys are beautiful. Big red shoulders, with a bright yellow wing stripe visible in flight. I'm glad we caught them in the spring because all the males were scoping our their territories and their territorial calls are wonderful. We also saw a few Great Blue Herons, a bunch of Double-crested Cormorants (which are really the most mysterious water birds ever), some Snowy Egrets, a few Killdeer and Greater Yellow Legs, several Northern Cardinals, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (my favorite), a group of Wild Turkeys, American White Pelicans, tons of American Coots and other ducks, and an unidentified hawk - still working on hawks, they're proving tough to differentiate.

Along with the beautiful morning birds, our conversation with Sam was meaningful. Every morning, he comes to pick up trash around the lake and to watch the birds. He says he likes it because it gets him and his wife out of the house. His wife, who has Alzheimer's sat in the truck beside him. He had just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, but lamented that she didn't understand what was going on. He worried they wouldn't make it to their 51st. The conversation touched me, as did his love for and knowledge of the birds by the lake. He said fairly soon, we should be able to see a Green Heron come into town. Green Herons are a favorite we'd love to see in the wild - the king of all grouch birds.

Again, birding was restorative. It brought back a deep sense of wonder and awe for the beauty of the world we live in and the millions of different creatures that call it home.

I hope to see many more Red-winged Blackbirds this spring. Spring continues to promise new sights by sending us a female Indigo Bunting on our feeder - undeterred by the squabbling sparrows. She's spunky and apparently a rare sight. They're secretive birds, especially the females. We have our eyes wide open searching for her bright blue mate. Spring also brought barn swallows - the little torpedo bird. I can't wait to see what the warmer weather blows in.

Cookie Adventures

A week ago (or so) I got a big craving for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. This isn't that unusual, but this time I really wanted to try a different recipe. I've used the same one for as long as I can remember, which goes back to preteen days. Swimming in the backyard pool with my bestie Jessie W. and eating cookie dough to our heart's delight while playing Stratego, now that was what I call a summer break. It's been a long, long time. I've tried other recipes, but they just never seem to measure up... So I stick to the one that tried and true: the cookie recipe of my childhood. But this day, this day I found a recipe to trump all others. My friend, meet The Chocolate Chip Cookie...

Yes, this is the ultimate chocolate chip cookie. Chewy and warm. Crisp on the outside, but ultimately gooey in center. Basically the best cookie I've ever made (which, I'm telling you, was the biggest success of the year considering the condemned oven this apartment houses).

And here's our cookie face:

That might not look like a good face...but it is. I promise.

Recipe credit goes to In the Little Red House. She's right - the sprinkle of salt before baking just does wonders.

birding #1

we are adventuring! 

at the beginning of the year, we decided that last year we sat around more than we'd like. it was great to have a good amount of time to just sit and chat, cook together and read books indoors. and there's more both of us want to do with our free time.

i have a good long list going of projects.

together, we decided it was high time we started documenting more of our adventures. more pictures! more spontaneity. more... fun.

so, last sunday we went on our first official birding adventure:

Phantom Fort Hill Lake

it was 30 degrees. in texas language, basically that might as well be -30 degrees.

all those white specs way out there are American White Pelicans. they are HUGE. and beautiful! we saw a little flock of thirteen.

they look a lot better through binoculars! :)

these are our gull friends.  they tolerated us and stayed pretty close - all the others we had to keep a pretty good distance from or they took off!

this was an absolutely beautiful morning. the sunrise was pink and orange coming up over our backs on the lake. we saw five Great Blue Herons, thirteen American White Pelicans, a ton of Ring-billed Gulls and one California Gull. one funky little Black-necked Stilt (with long bright red legs!), some little Gadwall clans, and a few we haven't identified yet.

i'm glad it's warming up because there are definitely more of these outings in the near future!

faubus lake

while i'm not really in love with abilene {and neither is taylor} it's taken a little while to start finding things that  really grab me about this place.  the first thing i really started to love was faubus fountain lake on acu campus.  it's not a lake at all - just a little pond.  kind of a glorified version of byu's duck pond.  at first (when it was cold), i'd just run around the track and see the lake for a good ten minutes of my run.  once it started getting warmer, i'd walk down the stone steps to sit by the water and read while i waited for taylor to stop therapatizing people so he could come play with me.  now, it's become our picnic spot.  we pack up our sandwiches and our mutual book sometimes and head over to watch the birds and fish while we eat and take turns reading to each other.  it's hot lately, but the sun is darn good for my legs!

this is our friend, the great blue heron.  he's a lonely bird that doesn't let any of the others (or us...) get close. i'm glad he's sticking around for the summer - he's about the only majestic part of abilene there is. {okay, okay, except for the lightning and thunder.  which is amazing, by the way.}

aaaand these are my toes loving the sun.  you can't see them in the pictures, but there are MASSIVE coyfish  in the pond.  bright florescent orange, red and glowing white.  and then there's one that's probably 3.5 feet long - really.  there's also a little angel fish that hangs out by the rocks.  she's pretty cute.

and here (at long last) is the grackle.  these birds are everywhere in abilene.  this is guy came over for a sip of water and was angry because the water level was too high for him to climb down.  they make an awesome sound with their heads tipped all the way back.  pretty cool birds.  sadly, everyone here hates them... well, except us i guess.  :-)

it was taylor's turn to read, so i sneaked a picture while he was at an exciting part.  we've just finished the fablehaven series and neither of us is finished grieving yet.  one of the best fantasies ever written, in my opinion.  just plain amazing.

even if most of the city is pretty sad, i'm glad there are a few little spots that satisfy my need for nature.  here's to hoping i find more!

bb&b and some captain america

every once in a while, my husband will call from the front room something like "you have to come look at this!"  this captain america comic is one of my favorites of his finds yet.  someday i'm going to either buy or make a really massive reproduction and hang it on the wall in my living room.  really.  i love it that much.

also, i probably love it that much because we watched captain america this last weekend.  fantastic movie, really.  it's fun, smart, and the characters are just flat out good.  and that's my favorite thing about it: characters that make you think yeah, i wanna be more like that.

as part of the same date {sub shopping and a movie for dinner and a movie}, we went to bed, bath, and beyond to blow the $50 gift card we've had since our wedding.  it was one of the funniest shopping trips i've ever been on.  it took us well over an hour and a half to figure out how to spend 50 dollars.  typically, i'd have that money spent in a flash.  we even had a list!  but we wandered around the shopping loop about six times before buying more kitchen supplies.  as if our kitchen wasn't stuffed enough.

we ended up with a garlic press, a new can opener {which will restore taylor's sanity}, a beautiful glass pie pan, a big-enough bamboo cutting board, ice trays, and a misto.  yes, i've wanted a misto for several years now.  ever since ari moved into the fleur-de-lis apartment and brought with her the coolest little olive oil sprayer to replace our pam.  the misto is one of the coolest things ever.  i think.  and now i have one.  it was a last minute grab as the store was closing, and it put us $5 over, buuut since i've already used it about twelve times, i think it was probably worth it.

the things we wanted but didn't find have been on my mind, though: a littler box, food and water dishes for a little creature, and a food processor {that one might be a few years...}.  but the cat stuff... well, that's in the making.  after we both get jobs.  oh money.  sometimes i love the left-over wedding gift cards just because they let us buy things that aren't exactly necessities, but are pretty darn desirable.  like a misto.

and yeah, the cat's a necessity, but it'll just have to be pending for few months more until we pay tuition and can find money for food afterward.  then we'll go look at cats.  until then, i'm avoiding them for fear of not being able to resist.  you know..

the only natural thing to do was build a fort.

here i am: college graduate with a job.  my job might just be working as a shift lead for red mango, but it's still a job after college.  in addition, my husband {still can't get used to that phrase} scheduled his first client last week as an interning marriage and family therapist.  all that growing up in our house simply had to end. and be celebrated.

so, naturally taylor and i gathered all our furniture and blankets in one room {not to mention clothespins and hair ties} to build a fort.  it's basically the coolest fort in existence, complete with a queen-sized mattress, a television, a scrabble table, electricity, and tunnels to the bathroom and kitchen.

you can't move from the front door to any part of our student-sized apartment.  and today that could have been potentially hazardous.

the fort has been in place for several days now, and this morning we decided that to better move around our apartment, we'd better take down the tunnels.  which leaves the coolest part of the fort installed.

backing up slightly, a vital piece of this story starts weeks ago, when our shower rod started violently plummeting to the floor every other time we'd shower. or so.  this last saturday, we decided this had to be fixed. and quick.  so, saturday afternoon we marched down to the front office of good old apartment complex I.R. and put in a work order.

this morning, a man came to fulfill that order.  i thanked my lucky stars we'd uninstalled the tunnels not an hour before.

the really funny thing is, i don't think he even noticed the massive tent-like fort of blankets, chairs, lacrosse sticks, and mattress.  the short man moved so fast you could barely see him and without so much as an odd glance at our fortress monstrosity, he came, fixed the violent shower curtain, and left.

and from now on, i will not be afraid to show the repairman that we are a fort-building companionship.

although, i will keep the walk-ways clear every time we put in a work order.

christmas in the air

happy december!  i'm a few days late, but it's the first sunday of the month and the first time i've really remembered it's already here.  december houses so many different exciting {and sometimes bittersweet} happenings: the end of the semester is flying toward me, christmas is creeping up, finals are looming, two of my sisters are coming up so soon, and i have so many presents to give away and little surprises and treats for people that i'm practically bursting at the seams!  the evening of the first sunday of december usually finds me curled up on the couch watching the annual LDS christmas devotional, but not tonight.  annalisa, my sweet roommate from summertime had four tickets to attend the devotional in salt lake city today!  i was thrilled when annalisa invited sabrina, natalie and i to shuttle up north with her to see the devotional in person!

this is the second year in a row i've been to the devotional, and just like last year, it took my breath away.  temple square is even more beautiful in the december fog and christmas lights.  the conference center was a spectacular sight.  as always, the devotional moved me almost to tears.  the girls and i sang christmas songs, laughed about the ridiculous christmas music on the radio, and took a million pictures!

being at the devotional again and walking the temple grounds afterward made me extremely contemplative, and. . . reflective, mostly.  i attended the devotional last year in much different life circumstances.  it's a memory i still treasure - an important period of my life that caused so  many significant changes, shaped me and steered my path in life, strengthened my faith in my Savior.  i'm different now.  much different than i was back then, a year ago.  it's interesting how much a year can change a person.  it's been one of the most changing years of my life.  one of the most unexpected, one of the more challenging.

i'm putting a lot of thought into my goals for this coming year, that's for sure.  it was almost a disconcerting experience to look back and realize that i've changed in so many ways i didn't ever expect to.  i'm different now in ways i didn't expect to ever be different in.  next year when i look back, i'd like to have anticipated a few of those changes, if even just for intentionality's sake.

thankful:

1. i'm thankful for wonderful x-roommates.  the little excursion tonight was exactly what i needed to set my focus on christmas instead of all my little problems {not to mention finals}.  annalisa, sabrina and natalie are three of the people that make me smile the most, i think.  i love being around happy people, and they are certainly happy people!

2.  i'm thankful for christmas lights, christmas trees, christmas songs, and christmas spirit.  i love seeing people be a little more kind, a little more thoughtful and giving.  it makes me want to do the same.  believe me, this year i have plans for just that.

3. i'm thankful for genni - we have such wonderful heart-to-hearts.  so telling.  inspiring enough to let me see myself and others more clearly.  and that clarity is always a large relief to me.

4. i'm thankful for hot chocolate, hot ginger tea, hot water with lemon juice and cayenne pepper. . . and all the things that makes them hot!  after being outside tonight, i needed a good warm-up to stop the shivering!

5. i'm thankful for the encouraging words and beautiful music tonight.  it lifted my focus to where it should be, gave me the strength i'll need for the coming week, and set my heart as ease during this crazy time.  it helped me to slow down and ponder more.  to appreciate the simple things and be thankful for everything i've been given.

ps. i know things with heat are becoming a repetitive theme - this will probably continue through february or march at least, at which point i'll be eternally thankful for spring.
pps. merry christmas!!

excursions

it's been three weeks since i moved from my beautiful sunny red mountains to the mysterious green and cloudy ones.  it's crazy how fast times flies - especially once classes begin and all thoughts of the passing of time (except for the upcoming deadlines) just sort of... fly out the window?  anyway, it's been a crazy three weeks.  natalie and i laughed so hard at the end of the first week because it had taken us so long to move in!  an entire week and there were still boxes everywhere.  so, to get away from the boxes, we decided to take a little trip.

notice natalie, buried behind all the boxes and completely unable to come out of her room.  this is why we needed a getaway.

we also needed haircuts; it had been a terribly long time.  so we took a little drive up to my aunt julie's for a trusted trim (and new bangs for natalie).  afterward, the real fun began.  we drove a little further north, to the gateway mall - i'd never been before, and considering the rather landmarkish destination point it is, we figured it would be worth the short drive from my aunt's to the mall.  and oh, oh oh, it was.  

my favorite part of the day: anthropology.  i'm a long-time catalog collector (the photography is so artfully beautiful!), but i'd never actually been inside the physical store, just the mental one.  luckily, we hit some killer sales, as well.  who would pass up a pair of two-hundred dollar pants for thirty dollars? not me, certainly!

the aprons were to die for.

and the home decor practically screamed my name.

two happy girls!