Just because

I'm blessed that I live on an old farm where the grass grows tall around the house and the wild flowers bloom every spring.  I took a quick trip up to one of the front fields this afternoon to take a few shots of these pretty little purple flowers that are just covering a few areas of the field....

 See the dark blurry area in the lower right of this photo?

It was this:

One las shot. Just because summer comes early here in Florida... check out these blackberries that are already ripening. Not quite sweet yet but they were a little tart last year too.

Catching up....

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted. It seems like time is flying by since Christmas... so much going on! Quick list of what I've been doing:

- Work. It's been busy. I've gotten one paper accepted for publication (yay!), one on it's way out the door for review and have a few experiments to finish up for another paper (which should go out for review sometime late spring).

- Farm. Between riding the demon pony and keeping the farm up and running, I've definitely gotten my barn time in lately! Everything is starting to settle back down into a routine with all of that, for which I'm extremely grateful!

- The Tudors. Oh, how I have gotten addicted to this show!! I'm not sure if it's the romance of the period, the amazing costumes, or just that I'm a sucker for (good?) history dramas, but since we returned from Pennsylvania we've watched the first season and are most of the way through the second season.....

- Home. Cleaning. Ugh. I really do not like cleaning. Organizing? yes. Cleaning? Heck no. So I've been mixing up a little organizing here with some cleaning there and attacking it all pretty slowly. As part of my organizing, I've been wanting a French memo board to put up near my desk. See, I've got this really large white area right next to my desk. I also have a bunch of photos and tear sheets that I've been wanting to hang somewhere. So instead of spending $20 and buying one of those little 16x20 French memo boards, Jared and I decided to make one. Well, two actually. Two 24x24 boards.... which are fabulously big. After the first minor fail with my gorilla glue soaking through the thin cork I bought and gluing itself to the large particle board I was using for weight, I got things figured out.... Quick pictorial on how I did it:

You can tell that the Bella dog was not overly excited that my project was taking up her living room floor.... And the final product:

(Please ignore the rest of the mess.... it's a work in progress!!)

I'll be back soon, I promise... have a few exciting shoots coming up in the next couple of months!

Home Inspiration

I have never been one of those people who has one of those homes. You know, the one you walk into and feel like it's perfectly decorated. Like everything was hand picked to fit perfectly into each room. The ones where the colors are all complementary (or purposely chosen to stand out). My excuse now is that we're in a rental -- can't change the floors, can't paint the walls, and why do I want to buy things that will match this house when I know I'll be moving in the next year or two anyways? But really, that's just an excuse. Even when we owned a house, I wasn't one of those people. Don't get me wrong -- most of the things in my house matched, and went with a general theme if you will, but it wasn't well decorated.

So why am I talking about this? Well, for Thanksgiving, Jared and I visited a friend's house (well, a friend's mother's house) and w.o.w. It was Amazing (that's right -- with a capital "A"). Mrs. C has the quintessential Southern house. It was beautiful! But the thing that impressed me most was that while it was well decorated and extremely well thought out, it was also very livable. It was not a museum -- people lived here (and it didn't hurt that it smelled like a wonderful Thanksgiving meal being cooked....). I could go on and list the things I loved about the house, but that's not really the point of this post. It reminded me of what I want someday, when once again I have my own house. A pretty house, a put-together house, but a livable house. A place where my eventual children can play, a place where my friends always feel welcome, a place where I am always at ease. My place. My home. So I dream. And I keep photos of the things I like. and the things I love. Here's a peak at my dream, in no real particular order:

Someday, I will have floor to ceiling bookshelves...

Maybe ones that look like this, though.

Love this wine rack/cabinet for the kitchen... plus the bonus counter space!

This simple bed from Ikea would look awesome with a darker or splashy bedspread...

And I love this!! How can you resist wanting to look in each of those drawers for treasure???