Sense of Smell

You know those silly surveys you get thru email? Well I had a realization last night:

I love the smell of the laundry vent from outside.

You know when someone is washing clothes and you walk out and can smell the dryer sheets and soap in the warm air escaping out the back? This is one of my favorite smells. I never remember this smell when I'm asked in surveys. It's one that I typically only remember in the moment. That moment was last night as I walked out of Dorothy's home. I had to stop and just breath it in.

They say that the sense of smell is attached most strongly to memory. I'm not sure if there's a specific memory attached to this one but there definitely is something psychological going on here. I can walk outside body tense and mind stressed and immediately it slips away. It's almost an involuntary action that I seem to relax my shoulders and smile. Last night I almost raised my arms to help me breath in more deeply. I don't think I can explain just how much I love (and how surprised I am-each time- by) this smell. But I just wanted to put that out there.

What are some of your favorite smells and do you have a memory attached? Tell me about them. (please) :)

FALL!

i don't have much time to say hi to y'all like i should. today is now grocery day (i set up a weekly schedule courtesy of fly lady) and i need to get a move on. but here are two quick and happy thoughts:

1. My dogs are home!! they've been boarding at the vet for 3 weeks now (oh my!) to get treated for heartworms. it's so nice to have them home. when i first saw them they looked odd to me. out of proportion almost. they have such broad shoulders and muscle-y butts. they are beasts! such sweeties tho'.

2. I'm getting supplies for a cute craft. And by supplies i mean construction paper. But really, this is a cute one. I'm excited to put some together this evening and see how they turn out.

& here's where i found it.

oh and 3 (i said two... but who will really complain?): Wally's building an airplane even as we speak. it's a little remote control one. he's pulled out the parts on a ready to fly version and is making his own "flying wing" version. i'll have to take pictures of the process.

OH! (4:) And today is a wonderfully fall-like day. It's rainy outside and cool. I can look out our living room to our deck (for which walter just built a railing yesterday), aunt janet's hanging impatien plant, and the soy bean and rice fields. while walter and i cleaned we watched dead poet's society. i got to sit down with some hot spiced cider and watch the end in peace in a clean cozy room! you can't ask for much more. :)

r.e.a.d.i.n.g.

It's been a long time.

But long posts aren't really my thing. Emily recently mentioned to me that she'd read an article about how the internet is changing our thought processes and attention span and how she found this to be true with her ability to read long books. And I can relate! Not only do I rarely devour books anymore but I tend to read them bits and pieces and many multiples at once (rarely finishing even one). Also (and more to my point here), I don't even have an attention span enough for parts of the internet anymore... when blogs get long my eyes glaze over and I scroll down hoping for pictures to satisfy my hunger for a quick fix. A sad but true fact.

I've always thought that I just wasn't good at reading on the computer. It wasn't as interesting. I'd rather be holding the written word in my hands. This is why I buy newspapers and haven't bought a kindle (tho' that really is more of the cost... it seems like an absolutely wonderful idea for the airport). But recently my inability to read has spilled over from the computer screen and onto real life. It's a sad sad day.

Walter & I went to Birmingham to help Mike renovate his new condo. I brought 3 books and one magazine in preparation for the times when I believed I might be in the way of some truly skilled labor. And although I had time to at least crack them open... nope, didn't crack a single book. I did manage (and this is a feat!) to read some of my magazine. This is the third issue of Biblical Archaeology Review I've received since renewing and it's the first issue I've begun to read. How sad! And that's something I'm really interested in.

So today we're heading up to Ohio. We're going to visit friends and family and meet little Zechariah Emerson Vest. Walter may get some scouting work done (no details as of yet) and I will bring (yet again) my books. We'll see how it goes this time. The 9 hour car ride can't hurt my chances! :)

MFM Find

I've been wanting to post for a few days but couldn't get my computer to link up and find this picture. Last week I bought some purple beans at the farmers market. They're beautiful and, I was told, sweeter than their green counterparts. I'm not so sure about the sweeter business but they are definitely a lot of fun! Here's the stirfry I made with them. Did you know that they turn green when they're done? I'd heard this but doubted I'd want them cooked long enough to turn (I'm not into mushy veggies). It was so fun to watch them change color. It's as if they have a built in timer to show you when it's time to serve. So Fun! I missed the Farmers Market today but will go to an estate/moving sale and maybe swimming with my nieces and nephews instead. Tomorrow Walter & I are grilling amazing shish kabobs (one of our favorite recipes ever) and (hopefully) hosting a pool party. Gotta get summer in while it's still blazing. :)

a short night, or was it long?

in a strange turn of events... i'm up, and in time to head to the farmers market at an only slightly picked over hour. i'd specifically planned not to be.

you see, yesterday walter & i decided to see The Dark Knight on opening night. At our theater the 7,7:30, & 10:15 were all sold out. We ended up buying tickets for the 10:45 showing at about 7pm and then exploring Memphis in between. We ate Cajun (-ish?) food at the Bayou Bar & Grill walked all around the pretty cute neighborhood our favorite theater is in, explored the city by car, took another walk and then enjoyed the in theater coffee shop before hopping in the (now long) line forming outside. the movie started 20 minutes late (as usual) thanks to the advent of car and tv commercials set within the listed showing time (does this annoy anyone else?) and we got out at 1:30.

i don't really want to say anything much about the movie but i am interested to hear what other people think. maybe it was the late hour , maybe it was just that good, but it was darker than i had hoped it would be (i know, what was i thinking? the Dark knight). when we got home i decided to watch the final episode of Dr. Horrible to lighten the mood a bit. By the time we finally reached our bed it was almost 3 o'clock (it has been a long time since college and a very long time since such late nights).

on that note, i decided not to go to the weekly farmers market (a sad decision) and to sleep in instead. unfortunately the dogs slept while we were in the theater. instead of asking for breakfast or to go outside they simply decided to try to serve themselves. their stealth needs a little work and here i am. alas. at least there's room in the day for a nap. i'm pretty sure i'll be needing it.

so now it's time for a quick shower and off i go. plus, my fabric came in on thursday and i can finally begin my roman shades for the living room! i can't wait to see how it looks.

Here's to fun fabric and privacy! I'll have to show you them when they're done.

Again!

Today is our anniversary. (hi, btw, it's been awhile...) 3 glorious years! :) Well, obviously not every moment has been glorious (mostly my fault, I'm very sure) but I am very happy to be married and very happy that it's to Walter. (yay!)

So what did we do? Well first off, Walter did NOT go to the court house bc he was excused from the current jury duty case (hooray). He got called up this month. Instead, we slept in, ate a delicious breakfast of homemade biscuits and real pork sausage (we normally go for the healthier turkey alternative), and made the decision to join the hordes of people "geocacheing". I have no idea, hordes may be an overstatement. But if you check it out there are tons of little geocaches out there. All over the place. It's like a random little treasure hunt that could send you anywhere in the world. It's supposed to be a great way to get off the beaten path and explore with a purpose. I'm not sure about that yet.

We tried to find 3 that are supposed to be right here in town. To no avail. One street had been re-done, presumably removing the cache. A parking lot was being repaved (or something). And the one we are absolutely certain we were exactly where it should be just wasn't there. Probably an over zealous gardener found the item and disposed of it promptly. Alas. A slightly less than stellar begining but at least we figured out the website and got ourselves a user name. There's no stopping us now. ;) It's pretty geeky but we had fun travelling around and exploring fields, gazebos, etc. Very nice.

After our geocaching adventure we headed over to Memphis to pick up Walter's present. We don't normally do big deal presents but this was just perfect so I made an exception. :) We scouted out a few music stores and headed home with a bass guitar, amp, headphones, stand, and two instructional dvds. I've been promised a serenade for our next anniversary. Although I bought this with Walter completely in mind I have to say that I'm not entirely bummed to have an instrument in the house. I've already had him teach me a little of what he's had a chance to learn. I'm going to have to remember that it is HIS present, not mine. :)

Walter took me out for my absolute favorite coconut shrimp (Joe's Crab Shack) and even let me steal one of his hush puppies (an old favorite from the days of Long John Silvers... oh my). All in all, a wonderful day so far. Lots of smiles. Lots of laughs. And the night is yet young.

So on a different note:
I've got some fun online finds I really think you should check out.

• Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog This one you gotta move fast on! It's a free internet tv show that is only free until 20th. And Act I is great! Especially if you're a big Nathan Fillion fan (like me).
• xkcd A fun comic Walter introduced me to (he even made me a super cute anniversary card with one of the strips). This is where my new header came from. I can't vouche for all of it but I have enjoyed what I've read so far. It does come with a warning. Check it out at the bottom of the page. Made me chuckle.

Quick! Totally worth it.

Midnight Cravings

I found this idea from an eatingwell.com newsletter i get emailed to me. and even tho' the picture next to the recipe looked... less than tasty... to me i still had to try it. they're Amazing! here's what you've got to try: graham cracker spread with ricotta cheese and jelly (mine was marion berry). it's your own super quick cheese cake. i had 5 or 6. so addictive. so wonderful!

The real culinary props, however, go to Walter. He strained and strained raspberry seeds out of the puree in order to make this ridiculously tasty sorbet (so sorry the pic turned itself sideways... too late to figure out why just now). It's the first recipe we've tried in my new Baking with Agave Nectar cookbook. So far 100% success. I think next we're trying watermelon sorbet bc it takes less agave nectar than the raspberry one.