Frances is the undisputed road trip queen.  She LOVES the car.  She LOVES road trips.  She LOVES her little nook in the back of the Prius filled with her sleeping bag.  SHE LOVES IT ALL.  

Anna on the other hand .....

Needs constant attention, a bajillion chewy things and a run before we actually enter the car.

Unfortunately the run before an 8 hour trip in the winter is not exactly what I call practical.  It is cold outside.  It is dark outside.  And really, I'd just rather get there.  This time both MAS and I made the trip and I think that got her overly excited.  She did not sleep for more than half an hour on that entire stupid trip.  The way back home was better, but still not exactly the most awesome.

Next up Anna, South Florida.

still summer here.

typical case of the grass is always greener syndrome.  i'm sure once may rolls around and the temperatures are steadily hovering around 45 i'll wish there wasn't evidence of my saying it, but summer ... go away.

that being said, maybe we need to take summer vacations to places that still have glacial ice?  maybe that is the solution.

{image by olaf otto becker via but does it float}

// i took a break from the internets.
\\ we went to canada, new hampsire, massachusetts, rhode island and new york.  i'm tyring to figure out how to get back to rhode island.
// i continued my break from the internets.
\\ mas' work trips were nixed!
// i decided to quit the internets.  "cancelled" my facebook account, closed my reader "for good," and started writing a farewell to blogging post.
\\ we went to california.  i had a lot of cheeseburgers, mas had a week long class in santa clara.
// since we were on that side of the country, we went to los alamos.  mas is trying to figure out how to get back to los alamos.  ok, i am too.
\\ mas' second round of work trips were postponed!
// i turned 31.
\\ i logged back into my reader.  had too many posts to even consider reading.  unsubscribed to about 50% of my feed.
// i decided that quitting the internet was perhaps just a harsh reaction to a couple of bad days.
\\ we wound up with cable and more importantly hbo.  our one tv is in the basement ... where other people are currently living.  but hbogo runs very well on the ipad.  i've since blown through big love, true blood, and hung.  ok i didn't blow through hung, i stopped watching it.  also newsroom.  we're obsessed.  and game of thrones.

// i missed the internets.  so i came back.  except for facebook.  i think that relationship is over for good.

{photo from our road trip from santa clara to los almos by way of big sur}

so much food i need a special dress.

this week i'm going to next.  it's my first time.  i kind of want to celebrate with a new dress.  a new dress that will allow me to eat and drink everything placed in front of me, and there will be a lot, i will need room.  also, there will be cocktails, because it's the week before election day, and my mom is running.

{dress}

new favorite sea creature.

 

mas and i started oceans last night.  started, not finished.  i conked out around the 27 minute mark ... it was a long day ...

but don't you want an blanket octopus now?  isn't it one of the most amazing things you have ever seen?  if you've not seen oceans, i would recommend it* if only for the floating silk cloth that magically turns into a real life octopus.

*i'm actually a bit disappointed with the educational value of oceans.  i've yet to learn anything other than the name of the creature i'm now obsessed with.  it's a quiet and more poetic take on a documentary, which is fine, but not what i was really hoping for.

{image via wired science}

my solution to self defense.

after 19 houses, one failed attempt to make and offer, four nights in dc and too many miles on the prius we have *maybe* figured out where we are going to live.  yay!?  we kind of rushed through the visit of our number one choice this weekend due to scheduling conflicts, so i think i'm going back north with my mom tomorrow to double check/make an offer.  (what? who? a house? for owning? and not moving out of in 18 months?)  there are things that we need to know, like, um does that crapped out ac unit REALLY work? and is that gross red carpet really hiding hard wood?  like hardwood that isn't all rotted out?  and then one last peek at the neighborhood, with a mom, to confirm we aren't crazy for believing our neighbors when they say that their only real complaint is that it gets loud.  though one did admit that there are fights, and the police will be called semi-regularly about those fights.  but it's safe, that was repeated.  they've lived there for four and six years.  they are all our age. one set of neighbors has a baby, and the other set, a garden! if that isn't a glowing review i'm not sure what is.

but mas was kind of skeptical.  so when we returned home from dc last night he did a bit of research on the area, an obscure corner of capitol hill called capitol east, or hill east, or something east ... and while the results were apparently not very helpful, the last thing he said to me before he left for work this morning was : you should look into self-defense classes today.  i smiled, and he said, no seriously look into them, closed the door and left.

i'm totally game for carrying around pepper spray or something, but self-defense classes?  i think i'd just prefer a bike, cut the walking alone at night out altogether. and if i'm going to be biking, i'm going to need a bike.  i mean, i can't be expected to ride my orbea around town, it has clips and i don't do clips in crazy city traffic. so, when i found these, via  design*sponge this morning, i knew it was obviously meant to be.

also i can't say another dog wouldn't be nice.  frances needs a friend to frolic around with in our YARD, which is outside of our HOUSE, which is about five blocks from eastern market and a whopping one block from the metro.  plus it's honest to goodness in our price range and has 2 working wood burning fireplaces and bay windows.

{1.  caferacer  2.  holymoly  3.  vinyl  - all by creme cycles}

the sun is my enemy.

we all spent some serious time out of doors this weekend and no one left unscathed.  there was the minor mishap of forgetting sunscreen and then being in an awkward situation that didn't allow for the procurement of any. follow that up with an ocean, lots of sand and no umbrellas.  it took a toll on everyone, frances has only been awake long enough to pee (since yesterday afternoon mind you ... that's pushing 24 hours) and both mas and i are bright and splotchy pink in places ... there was a relatively fruitless attempt to lather up in face lotion that was spf positive. 

but despite the failure of grown-up sensibilities there was a wonderful time running around in the sand and flitting through charleston, great city, that one.  and now, it's back to the regular old week, and i'm kind of liking it.  we are going non-stop these days and it's always nice to catch a break.

dc.

there were houses, there were shit holes, and there were more houses.  there were lots of low blood sugar moments that resulted in fewer squabbles than i would have guessed.  there was good food, and then there was bad (though, the bad came mostly during the low blood sugar emergencies and sometimes just made things worse).  there were three FULL days of house hunting and learning of all of the neighborhoods one tends not to visit while *just* visiting dc.  there is still no home, but there is a serious front runner.  there was also furniture :

well over 15 houses into the weekend we came across well built and promptly started decorating our new city diggs before we even really have a new city OR new diggs.  i'm totally pumped that this place is exactly 1.2 miles away from where we want to be living in a few months, and maybe after we re-coup all of that money spent on a place to live we might actually be able to furnish it.

{hepburn modular sofa via well built}

iceland, i'm ready to go back.

you know, during the summer, with our bikes.  we could pedal around the whole country.  find random holes in the ground filled with steaming water.  just enjoy the ness of iceland.  and maybe never come back?

{images by olaf otto becker}

places to go.

sometimes when things get crazy i just want to drop it all and travel.  to china, brazil and mt.everest ... or you know, to wherever.  and with that we dive into the actual move, none of this a few boxes every trip stuff.  internet turns off in the old house and on in the new (fingers crossed at least) TOMORROW, so hopefully our bed and my press will there by then.

{images from national geographic found via pintrest}

the move.

we're moving! again! erm, yay?! it's just down the street and around the corner ... into a *maybe* ridiculously large, recently restored, very old home.  i'm not sure how i feel about the largeness of it all, but i'm in love with these things :

+  it won't leave the musky odor of mold on everything we own.

+  on the second floor there is the most amazing bathroom (original sink/tub/toilet set, complete with black and white tile from way back when).

+  my office is quadrupling in size.

+  we are chucking our ikea malm bed (you served us well, and lasted three moves, but that paint job i gave you really cheapened/ruined you) and are replacing it with the fancy sleigh bed we found in mas' parent's basement after they moved from avl.  you should know i am also planning on sanding the sleigh bed and staining it black ... which might be cause for some concern due to my past experiences, but i'm much older and more mature now.  plus it's made of ACTUAL wood and i would use sandpaper and real wood stain, not floor paint.

+  our washer and dryer will now perform magic tricks (i LOVE a nice washer and dryer).

+  knowing that the day after we move everything in and paint the walls, we will get a phone call letting us know that we are moving to japan - this summer.

+  also knowing that it is very nearly too late to receive such a call, landing us in the new house for a whole year, and then freeing us up to live wherever in the world we want ... which might be japan, but more likely somewhere like, um, say .... california?

+  walking the half block to our most favorite restaurant ... as opposed to walking three.

+  not having to worry that our landlords (not so) secretly hate us for not purchasing this house.

and then there will be the things that i will miss, as with all houses that become homes :

-  our insanely large fenced in side yard and our insanely large not fenced in backyard (frances will miss the fence the most, or maybe it will be us, at midnight, in the rain, when we can just throw her out the door anymore).

-  being 15 seconds from the public library.

-  the weird eight inch gap between the bottom of our bedroom door and the floor.

-  the attic, that allows us to store all sorts of things we DO NOT need.  it certainly is easy to just leave them alone and not have to see them ever.

{image found on abandunce due to following a link from color collective}

alaska.

mas has never been, but i have.  and while i think we are tied at 46 states a piece, i might be able to convince myself that booking a trip for this summer might not be a bad idea, you know as long as we swing through south dakota* ...


{images by christopher baker for martha stewart living}


* one of my four states not visited ... which sucks because WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GO TO SOUTH DAKOTA?! the other three we share ... and they are: oklahoma, arkansas and rhode island.  although now that i think about it, maybe mas hasn't been to idaho either?!  oh i might be on to something here.

it was crazy.

my mom and i headed north for a quick girls weekend.  we went to dc and attempted the rally to restore sanity/fear.  but, neither of us are too fond of crowds, and we left after standing in line for t-shirts and spending about an hour staking out our territory and being smushed out of it.  there were just too many people and there was an incident involving a bathroom break that resulted in the two of us scraping along strangers giving us dirty looks for a good 20 minutes - separately.  yes, we should have known better, and yes we left before it started.  we went straight to good stuff eatery and soothed our frayed nerves with cheeseburgers and french fries (what else would you expect?).  but dc was wonderful and it was fun to take a road trip with my mom, because the last time we did that i was 14.

chicago.

i'm going to say that being back on the east coast is good for a couple of reasons, but so far one of the best is being so close to chicago.  we've been back twice in the past three months (three times in the past year) and with those two trips we've spent about two month's rent on food - which was obviously  so. completely. WORTH IT.

this time it was the publican for delicious food and beer, sultan's for falafel, fox and obel for eggs bene and oatmeal, the wormhole for a honey latte and peanut butter mocha, mercadito for tequila drinks, and veerasway for scallops and chutney.  our last meal was argo tea at the airport, which i guess ranks only slightly below potbelly at the airport (and really since it was morning, argo was much more appreciated).

we also saw friends, went to A WEDDING and walked for hours.  oh, oh i finally made it into the boring store! which was (shameful, i know) there while we were residents, i'm so embarrassed i never bothered to figure it out.  but we went and it was awesome.

apparently i eat and work - and that is all.

and since i can't quite (though ALMOST) share my work, i'm settling with sharing my food.  because recently it has been delicious and abundant.  like our bbq dinner from 12 bones while we were in asheville a couple of days ago.  also i may have finally perfected our salty chocolate chip cookie recipe, which i will happily share before the end of the week.  it's one for keeping, i promise you.

it was 80 hours.

it was 16 hours in a car, a stop over in connecticut, an introduction to fall.  it was our most favorite people having our tent set up when we arrived (ok not our tent obviously but a much bigger, sampley-er kind of tent).  it was our most favorite people and their friends having shiners waiting for us in the morning when we finally rolled out of our sleeping bags.  it was the constellations, eli "paperboy" reed, alberta cross, rubblebucket, dr. dog, the super secret project, ampm, adeem, the tan vampires, sean bones, the walkmen, !!!, and javelin (the last two being my faves though sean bones, dr. dog and adeem put up a good fight).  it was a party under a bridge, a ton of tents and sleeping next to a very calming river.  it was some sort of gluten-free concoction of deliciousness called buckle.  it was another 17 hours in the car (stupid rain) and three cheeseburgers in three days.  it was the catching up mas and i hadn't had in the two months since our last road trip and it was the seeing of our favorite people.  it was the nor'easter and it was wonderful. 

ps - fall has maybe hit eastern north carolina ... i say that with a fair amount of trepidation, but it's in the low 70's at the moment and it is noon.

what we did, where we went.

1. + 2. surprise trip to balsalm mtn preserve, oh my god amazing. 3. zip lining 4. hot springs, the first and last visit of ours. wnc hot spring weren't all we were hoping for. 5. + 6. chicago for a long weekend of eating here, here and here. 7. late summer flowers in asheville.

falling garden.

{via, via}

tuesday. part II.

so it is august 17th and i have spent four nights in our house this month, FOUR. before august began i had planned one trip, a long weekend in chicago.




how four nights away turned into four night at home i have no idea. more to come in a little bit.

{1. surprise trip courtesey of mas 2. the three dresses i packed for ONE dinner (i was so close to going black until i remembered i was going to eat myself silly and ended up wearing the white one) 3. course number 12 and an all time fave at the previously mentioned dinner.}

i am not here.

though i really should be ... care to join?

{image}