It ain't easy getting to the top

Wow, it's been too long since my last update. The internet has been up and down for the past two weeks. I missed out on the daring bakers over the weekend, but everyone's Lavish crackers looked really good. Ashley made tabbouleh!

So much has been going on lately that I've wanted to blog about. The weekend before last I drove to my home town in WV for a family/friend visit. The annual fall fest was going on in Dunbar which isn't at all impressive, but I've missed going to it. I got some decent deals at this years book sale too. 50 cents for hard cover books and 25 cents for soft. My favorite is "Bright Stars" a collection of artwork from 1775-1975, published in 1975.

Oh! On the way back from the fall fest we stopped at a yard sale and got some cassette tapes. This guy had over a hundred cassette tapes and a really good collection. I came away with Simon and Garfunkel, The Dave Mathews Band, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Michael Jackson and a couple others that I can't remember. It's pretty amusing that we're listening to cassettes in the car, but the CD player doesn't work and why not?



Yesterday we went hiking up Buffalo Mountain, about 30 minutes away from where we live. It was a serious hike up, which I wasn't really expecting. I was thinking nice leisurely fall stroll up the mountain. Hence the red knitted cap. Getting to the top was defiantly worth the hike, the view was incredible! Check out my flickr for more photos from our adventure. There is one photo Josh took of me coming up the last stretch and I'm literally dragging myself up with my walking stick. I left that one out.

Where are you, Lynette?

I haven't been posting a whole lot this week due to some internet issues, but I'll admit sometimes its nice to be unplugged. We make a living on the internet which can be hard when there are so many websites to get distracted by. I'm always checking in with my favorite blogs which I love, but can be a time drain.

One of the perks of working from home is creating your own schedule, but I'm feeling (sadly) that I need more structure in my days. Yesterday I got up at 6am because Simon decided to jump on my stomach and rub on my face in an effort to get food. I got so much done yesterday before noon because of it. I avoid a regular schedule like the plague. Something about my mom waking me up at 9am every single Saturday to clean ruined me for routine. Or maybe it was the 7am start time in high school. Whatever it was, I've yet to become one of those people that has days for things. Sunday dinners? nope. Saturday cleaning? not here. Wednesday gatherings or meetings or something? no. I don't even know where to start with that. Its coming though.

Our new habitat is slowly becoming more home-like. I've had some requests to post pictures and that is coming soon. I took a picture of a shelf in the bathroom because it sort of made me smile to think it is the adult realization of the decorating I did when I was a kid.

I used to spend a lot of my summer afternoons watching Lynette Leanings and Christopher Lowell decorate in the latest 90's trends. It probably wasn't the best way to spend my time when I was 12, but I loved it. Almost daily, I'd watch their projects and look around the house for the best ways to recreate them. With some old jars, cardboard, string and glue I'd make some particularly scary home decor.

This one time I made a pretend window frame out of cardboard and saran wrap. It had a little sill attached to the front where I placed my cocoa cola bottle with flowers. I was obsessed with glass cocoa cola bottles, I always cleaned them and held onto them for decorative purposes. That is until my dad threw them out, obviously missing the vintage decorative point to it all. Man, I was a weird kid.

And so here I am years later trying to find new ways to use old stuff:

Mabry Mill

I've been getting more acquainted with the new town lately. Friday afternoon we went to Floyd Fitness and before that we went to the school house fabric to get some leather cord. I could have spend hours in there, but I think it's a place that you go to alone or with people who have the same appreciation for fabric and crafts. I imagine Josh felt a lot like I do in an electronics store. Eyes glazed over. He was nice company though and even looked at trim with me. Trim!

Saturday afternoon we went to Mabry Mill which a about 25 minutes from where we live on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Mill was built in 1905 by E.B. Mabry and functioned as a gristmill from 1910 to about 1939. It was restored in the 1950's. Lately, I've been feeling a shift in my perception when it comes to history. As a kid I would go on historical tours and just sort of be there, looking around and touching things.

In history classes you learn about events and dates and are taught to memorize wars and leaders. But, you never really understand context. Its hard to grasp that these were people, living their lives. Now, I can't help but to feel the surreal and transient nature of time and existence when viewing a place or object from another time. Its weird to think that this was a place where people lived and worked. This was the mundane and everyday stuff, making a living.

A whole lotta stuff

Haven't had too much of a drive to blog lately, still catching up mentally speaking to new surroundings. I'm pretty much in the category of late and slow when it comes to change. I'm feeling a little brain heavy lately and finding it hard to believe its Friday. Really?

So far I've caught up with a lot of the boring necessities that come with moving: new license, voters registration, library card, new bank, driving insurance etc. We are both trying to get into the groove of new work habits and new schedules and all of that, which is really hard lately. We are not on a normal schedule, its not 9-5 around here. Its more like 11-7, up till about 2am.

Speaking of voting, I'm also finding it hard to believe there is any real closeness in the polls between Obama and McCain. Seriously country I live in, you must be kidding. The choice is obvious for me: Obama. Sometimes I feel like people just want another American Idol contestant to believe in and root for. In this case, they were given Palin.

Last night we watched Lars and The Real Girl which was so beautiful in a quiet and weird way. We also finally finished the entire series of Carnivale (only two seasons) a couple nights ago. We basically spread the two seasons up over the past few months, I feel like we've been watching it forever, they defiantly left a lot unattended to, but I also feel that it could just keep going forever and just get dumb like most series do that run on forever. I kind of like thinking about it and figuring out what could have happened next.

Oh, I also got a senseo recently and for someone who isn't a coffee purist, like me, its great. One cup at a time and I can add a little sugar and cream and there it is, in three minutes or less. The pods are pricey and I use two at a time, so I might get myself one of those pod makers.