Indoor Oasis

When I'm working and start to deposit paychecks, I acquire these inflated notions of my wealth, contrary to what my bank account actually says.
When I am in my room, I am at the height of my generally debilitating scatterbrain habit.  I'll start working on something, see something else or have a flash of realization, literally drop what I'm doing and move to that.  Then I'll work on that intensively and then have another idea, move on and pull that out.  Before I know it, my room is a disaster of unfinished projects and loose ideas.
How does this all tie together?  Well, I'm using this summer to unleash the environmental caretaker within me.  I started a compost pile next to my barn and this past week I went to a local farmer's market and bought an array of herb sproutlings.  They are now planted in a nice box on the other side of the barn-- painting that box will be the next step!  Then I went to Lowe's because I've had these illustrous visions of house plants enveloping my room with their gentle rustling from an open window and fresh O2 via photosynthesis and charming accents of color on my shelves, and before I knew it... I spent $50 on my new plants.  At least I had a Wal Mart gift card for the additional $20...  Oh well, these things are definitely worth it.

Meet the family:

 Pre-potting.  I bought 3 cacti, 4 succulents, a baby Jade (which may count as a succulent, I have no idea) and 2 'exotic' house plants!

 The qquarium section outfitted me with pretty stones for the bottom of the pots (which you actually can't see though because of the soil haha), while glass dinner ware bowls became the new habitats!

 

 

 

 Hahaha there's a sparkle setting on my camera-- perfect for making daily life look a bit more fabulous. 

Who knew that succulents and cacti were so damn photogenic?

I'm crossing my fingers that I can help these plants thrive where they reside in my room.  Unfortunately, the cloudy conditions of Western New York are definitely working against these sun-thirsty gardens.  We shall see..!

I'm going to San Francisco this Wednesday with my parents-- I am stoked and ready to take several hundreds of photos if necessary!!  I hope you have an excellent week, and you'll be hearing from my soon.

Listening: "Up From Below" by Ed Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

p.s. Any thoughts on my new blog layout?  I felt like it was time to change it up :) I especially like the new page tabs at the top, although does anyone know if you can create multiple posts within those pages??

May's Last Stand

Hey, marvelous news: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros released a new album on the 29th called Here!  With it having nine songs, it costs $9.99 on iTunes but Amazon is selling the mp3 for $5.00.  Now, I'm a general advocate of tangible items, but I am also unabashedly frugal; perhaps digital purpose will be the way to go.  If you're unfamiliar with this 11-piece troubadour, then I suggest you check out their arguably most well-known hit, "Home" that expresses love and nostalgia through folk-driven, instrumental-thumpin' chords and chants.  I cannot wait to have my hands (ears?) on their new music!!

With May on its last leg, I guess this means that we are tumbling into summer.  I like blogging about what's happened to me from the school semester because if you've been following this blog you should know by now that basically all I do is work.  As usual, I ended up greasy and with tired feet, though yesterday I had time to go out to dinner and a movie (The Avengers, which was actually pretty good) with my friends.  I also bought a few herb plants and I can't wait to see how my planting box progresses!

 

 

Here are a few photos from the gorgeous last weeks of school.  I took higher quality photos with my camera because I had no choice but to shrug off studying and lie beneath the trees to capture the temporary blossoms.  And hey, even though I go through cycles of panic and self-doubt with school work, I had my best semester yet academically (and otherwise)!  So it seems you can take time to stop and smell the flowers and finish what you need to do successfully :D.
Regarding the last photo, I never found out why, but the knitting club went on a guerrilla knitting spree (at least that's how I like to think of it) and they created public knitting installations all over campus!  On bike racks, railings and that tree, which happened to be fantastic because it made the tree favorable to look at and hug.  Random as it was, I hope they do more of that next year!

Listening: "You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon

Altitude

Last Monday I went to the Adirondacks to romp around in the woods with my recently graduated housemates plus a few other friends!  My housemate Hannah, her family has a cabin on a 5,000 acre members-only property that's full of stocked lakes and ponds, pine-needle paths, dignified lean-tos, antique cabins and water craft.  

We swam and had a cookout at a lean to the first night.

There were 15 of us causing ruckus in their beautiful Scotch-pine cabin, built in 1890!

There was plenty of lounging about, bacon cooking and snake wrangling.  As in the giant garter snakes that kept appearing in their side room (the doorway with the antlers over it!).

The misty rain didn't stop us from going to the boathouse.  I went rowing and fly fishing for the first time!  Figuring out how to row really demonstrated how uncoordinated I am...

We had the two dogs in our boat, who kept shoving me off for the a seat haha.  I was an unsuccessful fisher-lady, but my friend Kate snagged a brook trout on our way back in!  We grilled that 17-incher up later that evening, with a delicious mustard seed spread :).

The pond was incredibly still after the rains, like a mirror.  I understand why people never would never want to leave.

Granted, I was only there two days but it was a darn good time.  It's just fantastic to be around people you are completely comfortable with.. which bites, because 11 of 13 of them won't be around next fall.  Alas, we all just need to keep moving to the next thing.
On the way to Kate's house where my parents were to pick me up, we had an absurd car accident.  I won't let Kate, who was driving, take the blame for this-- it was equally my fault, because I was blabbing my head off, not paying attention to the GPS and being a terrible co-pilot.  We took a right turn too hard and drove straight into the gas tank of a logger truck from Quebec that was, fortunately, stationary.  And the miracle was, everyone was alright.  We were kind of in shock, but minus a few bruises and whiplash, we didn't have any injuries.  The front end of the car was totaled, but the logger was able to drive back up to Canada.  Mind you, that made the afternoon a bit longer; we went to the nearest hospital that was 30 minutes away from the no-reception site of the accident, then my parents sped for two hours from my house to retrieve me (Kate's parents came from an hour away).  I'm not sure if it was a miracle, but it certainly reaffirms how lucky I am to be alive. 
And then the next day I was back to work, and from Thursday to Sunday, I clocked in 42 hours.  I know I say this everytime, but I am exhausted... But happy to be alive!

Listening: "Stuck in the Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel