Tiny Things That Are Making Me Happy

Unexpected wildflower bouquets waiting for me at home.

This ridiculous cigar cat-nip toy (Maudie's part cat).

My dishes out in full force!

Happy Monday, loves!

Weekend Scenes

Get-out-of-work-free cards for Caroline. Strolls in the city. Finding our way into the Newseum (for free!!). Long-awaited coffee talks. Visiting groups. Reunions in the Basement of Sin. VP PSLs. Nails done hair done errything done. Banana french toast. Trader J catch ups.  Pizza Pizza! Joyrides in the ole T-Bird. Fantastic start to a beautiful spring. 

Made just for Caroline...

"THAT'S QUEEN CAROLINE, TO YOU!"

Soaking it in.

And then...Molly's birthday! Authentic 80s garb. Bad, bad hair. Violet and green eyeshadow. One-piece glitter jump suits with tight-rolled pants. Dinner at Whisky Jar. Drinks at Sky Bar. Tickets to the Legwarmers! 75-degree nights downtown. Blingidy bling. 

She don't mess. 

....and I got Internet in my house! The clouds have parted and the angels are singing! Or at least my blog may be revived....fingers crossed!

xoxox,
Hannah

Paint By Number

Got a serious itch that needs scratching... starting with the front door. 

It's my last night in a hotel with INTERNET and barfing kids. 6:45am breakfast call. Drive back home. Answer millions of work emails.  Is it summer yet?

Yellow is never mellow.

Stenciled mosaic amazingness. 

I will never not love a Tiny House...

Ready to chop off my ear at this point. 

Sigh.

xoxo,

Hannah

She Lives?

It's been a while and it may be a while, but I'm popping in to say hi! I've been buried under dust and construction, but my tiny kitchen is coming along and it's almost finished (!!). I'm preparing myself for the next step...the dreaded bathroom. Eeek! I've become a pro at indoor camping, and I am loving the wall colors we picked and the way my jars look so nice all lined up in a row. I'm waiting until the final-final product to post some befores and afters, but the pictures can really do no justice, anyway. We've come a long way, baby...

Meanwhile, I've had birthday celebrations--I've worked up to running 7.5 miles!--and I've finally started to get the hang of things at work (...sort of).

 The weather in Virginia has been insane. We had 5 inches of snow on Monday, and by Friday it was 75 degrees, sunny, and we were lunching on the roof.

 Old faithful nom nom...

Jimson weed discoveries at Windy Knoll. 

Down on da farm.

 Perfect nose for smooching.

 Hanging on for dear life.

Steve Keene looking good in every nook. 

Finally got to break out my Pyrex dishes!! And Iced Capp season is upon us, so life is beautiful!

I am so so lucky and thankful to have my wonderful grandpa and all his craziness. He may be old and he may be long-winded, but he has always given everything he has to make sure we're happy and taken care of --I   am more grateful that he probably knows. By the time we're finished, ole Bennington won't even know what hit it. 

Happy Almost-Daylights-Savings,

Hannah

El Salvador del Mundo

It's full moon here. Saturn and Jupiter line up across the tropical sky and we wait. Our eyes focus and the sky becomes a color after all.

It is April, and you are the friend I most long for. My students line up in their sad rows of chairs and no longer move me, our little country of unhappiness exploding over and over. Last night I trailed a bottle of Tick Tack down Paseo Escalón, the red label fluorescent in the bright dark of our altitude.

What is the savior of the world doing among these wire fences, in all this broken glass? If the street were a sky, glass would glitter like stars, a thousand broken pieces along the curb. The planets would swing on their startled orbits, the earth, a heavy fist of heart, turn blue as death, flexing its chambers of love and sorrow, easing its way into some stone hand of God.

--Janet McAdams

Life Around Bennington

Abita lovin'

I want to paint this behemoth dresser super dark glossy navy (almost black) and replace the pulls with clean white knobs. Thoughts?

Mantle in the making.

Tomtes keeping watch

My good karma keeper.

120's getting there.

Random Resolutions

Well, they're not really resolutions, per say. More like things I want to do and would love to accomplish and will keep me motivated throughout 2012.

1. Start a Calendar Journal. Saw this on Pinterest like everyone else and thought it was a great idea. I saw someone who started a morning-photo scrapbook (take a new picture every morning and see what you can find), so maybe I'll mix the two ideas and see what I can create.

2. Read more books. Right now I've got one I found at Oh Suzannah on sale for $4, and I'm loving it. It's inspiring me to set up a chicken coop in my little back yard and take beekeeping classes at PVCC this Spring.

3. Try to spend very little dolla bills on stuff like soap or coffee or shampoo or food I can make myself.

4. Start riding again.

5. Spend my savings on gorgeous a rendezvous in France or South Africa or Peru or somewhere else breathtaking and far far away...

Trust me, there are plenty more aspirations and ideas that I have up my sleeve--I wouldn't want to limit them to one little list. I feel like I've already taken 2012 by the horns, and we haven't even had our first snow! First up on my un-listed list: live simply, expect little, give much, love extravagantly. Stay tuned?