30 July 2011

counting shooting stars.

"The first stars tremble as if shimmering in green water. Hours must pass before their glimmer hardens into the frozen glitter of diamonds. I shall have a long wait before I witness the soundless frolic of the shooting stars. In the profound darkness of certain nights I have seen the sky streaked with so many trailing sparks that it seemed to me a great gale must be blowing through the outer heavens." Antoine de Saint-ExupĂ©ry.


My entire week has felt like late afternoon on a school day. You know the feeling? When it's lazy and relaxed, without very much to do besides read and drink beverages much too hot for the weather.

It's stifling hot and vibrantly green here. I'm so ready for fall. I've looked over my posts from last fall several times. They only make me wish October would come quickly. In no particular order, here are the things I'm ready for about fall:

-jeans and boots.
-the leaves.
-the weather.
-apple cider.
-soccer season. (no, I don't play, I watch.) (speaking of soccer, Barcelona and Manchester is tonight!)
-You've Got Mail.
-picking apples.
-youth group. I. Miss. It.


Regardless of how ready I am for fall, summer is beautiful.

In the month that I was gone, two of my best friends went to Central Asia, and my younger sister, best friend since birth, went to Colorado. The four of us reunited on Thursday. There's a tradition we started last summer when I returned from Jordan that we've continued throughout this summer. We drive over to my grandma's house. She has a bunkhouse on the edge of her pond that we sleep in. It was perfect this time. The water in the pond was much warmer than it was earlier in the summer, and we had an entire month of stories to catch up on. Anna starts school in a week, the earliest of the four of us, so we have time for roughly two more sleepovers out there.

We watched the stars for a long time. I saw approximately six shooting stars, not counting the airplanes are fireflies. Have you ever done that, faked a shooting star? I think that if you stare at the sky for long enough you start to imagine them there when they really aren't.

I wish you could have seen how heavy the sky was with stars that night. It was so bright out, I'm not even sure how to describe it. About stars:

There's a line in a Regina Spektor song that I really love. It goes like this, "Beneath the stars came falling on our heads/ But they're just old light."

Have you ever thought about that? That the stars we see at night might not even be there any more? I very quickly googled this just to make sure that it's correct, and from what I saw, it is. The nearest star takes four years for its light to reach us. Four years. By the time we're seeing a star, it's just "old light."

So yes, the sky was covered with old light on Wednesday night. There were layers and layers of stars fading out to the edges of the horizon. Night is gorgeous.


I've been reading my way through the various books I brought home from the library this week. Yesterday and today have been J.D. Salinger, specifically the Catcher in the Rye (yesterday) & Franny and Zooey (today). 

Tomorrow and Monday will be Madeleine L'Engle, Tuesday and Wednesday will be the miscellaneous leftovers. What, you don't plan the books you're going to read? 

I've been to the library twice since I've been home, unusual for our family. Normally we go once every two weeks, and I stock up on enough to last me for a while. I love going so often. 


Miss Annie sent me a notebook in the mail a few days ago. It was a really good day, but I think her unexpected package took the cake. This is number three in my collection of Eiffel Tower journals, and I like how different they are while still containing such an iconic structure. 

So tell me: what are you looking forward for most in fall? Do you have any favorite summer traditions? What's an incredible book that you've read recently? And lastly, was there something unexpected about your week that made it just a little bit happier? 

27 July 2011

lately.

"You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintery light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person died for no reason." Ernest Hemmingway


The photos: 

The past few days I've been having hagelslag and strawberries on toast for breakfast. It's incredibly delicious. Healthy is debatable, but delicious for sure.

I sent off six postcards to various parts of the world earlier this week. Oregon, England, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas...there's a very high likely-hood that at least one person won't get theirs, because I have a tendency to write addresses wrong.

We stopped by Speedway today to get an 89 cent slushie. I got the big one. 44 ounces of blue raspberry delicousness. I have a killer headache now; I'm blaming it on the high sugar content.

I have photos of my wall uploaded and ready to go, but for the past two days I've been trying to write a post to go with them and nothing.

There's not much going on with me. I miss France, and the heat is sucking my energy.

Goodnight.

24 July 2011

happy lists and dancing songs.

Last summer when I got home, my best friend had a copy of 1400 Things to Be Happy About waiting for me. Since then, I've been slowly working my way through it, writing some of my own in the margins and underlining the ones I loved.

And so, in no particular order, here are a few of the things I've been loving lately.



Chasing Pavements, by Adele. Our favorite creperie in Lille played Adele all the time; I fell in love with this song. I'm dying for an iTunes giftcard so I can buy it, but for now I'll be content with Youtube.


This quote. Quotes about travel hit close to home with me.


Obviously; bokeh, spiderwebs, and rain. I hadn't realized how much I missed the daily storms in the afternoon until I yesterday while it was pouring. The rain makes for an amazing reading environment. AND I miss using my 50mm lens. It's not so great for wide scenes, mainly what I've taken this past month, but it's amazing for everything else.


Breakfast dates with the siblings. Joseph and Anna played chess; I sat back and gave bad advice on the game. That right there is my first Starbucks in over a month. Now that we're back in America, I can drink coffee black again- European coffee is just a wee bit too strong for me.

 (credit unknown.)

This photo. It's my favorite Abbey Road photo- maybe even more than the original. (I'm actually not even sure it's the real Abbey Road, but it's similar enough for me.) I have a file on my desktop entitled "pictures to print" (9 cents for the small size from Walmart) and this is among them. Can't wait to have it hanging on my wall.

The non-photographed items: 

-My new copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. This book is brilliant.

-My wall. I'll have to show you a picture sometime. Besides my bookcase, it's my favorite part of my room. I just added a picture of the Tower, my I Heart RBX sticker, and half of the Shakespeare and Company bag, not to mention train tickets.

-The pomegranate green tea we bought in England. It's lovely.

-The pile of scarves I have hanging on the wall. You can't beat one euro each. Right now I'm wearing the bright blue one with roses. Picture later?

What's on your happy list today? Have a happy Sunday!

23 July 2011

paris: the bokeh edition.


I like how the light filters through all the intricate details of the tower. I think it helps to take things you've seen a million times- the Eiffel Tower, for instance- and look at them a different way.

22 July 2011

paris: the photo edition.


I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Question: these are only thirty-some out of over three hundred. Are you interested in seeing more? Or should I just go with one more post I already have planned and leave it at that? Your choice. :)