{video archives} down for the count

After crying for 45 minutes...

book nerd.

I am a total bibliophile.

Have you ever heard of a book rescue? It's an event where books are offered for free {usually by schools or libraries}, before they're thrown away. I love, love book rescues. I have a sweet friend who went to one once. It was held in the middle of a sloping parking lot, during a downpour. The books were under a tent, on top of tables, but the tent happened to be on low ground, and it was raining so hard that the water was knee-deep. My friend brought her rubber wellies and {literally} dove right in. She emerged completely soaked, and many books richer. This friend is my hero.

;)

A few days ago, we finally got around to buying bookshelves for my books. Because, you know, I have lots of them. {My husband will account for that. He's had to move them three times in the past six months. Poor fellow.}

Marty put the shelves together. I watched. ;)

Before...

After...

Have I read them all? Nope. Will I ever get around to reading them all? Hopefully... but that's not the point. The point is, they're there if I need them.

{Note: I still have more books that need shelves. Nuts...}

Some of you are thinking, "NERD."

Yes indeed. Just call me Book Nerd. The nerdiest book nerd of them all.

Any other book lovers out there? I'd love to hear from you. We can start a support group: "Book Addicts and Their Spouses Who Put Up with Them."

baby shower

The sweet ladies at my church threw me a baby shower last week to welcome little Charlie. All the gifts were absolutely lovely (including the above: a timely cookbook, for sure...).

I'll let you in on a little secret...

Every night, I get twenty minutes, all to myself. Sometimes I blog, or clean up the kitchen, or if I'm really feeling adventurous, I'll pay a few bills. Yup, livin' on the wild side over here.

The secret to my twenty minutes of awesomeness?

Daddy-Charlie bathtime!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to fold some laundry before my twenty minutes are up...

vintage fan {copycat}

I've talked about Joy and her brilliant blog before {if you haven't read it yet, go check it out}. A few months ago, she wrote a post that imprinted the thought of vintage fans on my brain. And then, while visiting my sister in Minnesota last week, I came across this beauty in an antique shop:

The pricetag? $12.99 {and it runs like a champ}. I've got a place all picked out for it in my yet-to-be-assembled office, and every time I see it, I get happy goosebumps.

So thank you, Joy, for sharing your happy goosebumps with me. I hope I can return the favor, one of these days...

{p.s. Another reason to check out Joy's blog: she's been posting about her recent trip to Israel. Fascinating insights, for shizzle :) }

{video archives} dinner at two weeks

Because I have a 2-month-old, and because I'm not totally technologically-savvy, I'm just now getting around to posting videos from the last few months of our life. We were given a Flip camcorder before Charlie was born {compliments of Auntie Bev and Uncle Mark!}, and I can almost feel their glares from 200 miles away, chastising me for not posting these earlier ;)

So, forgive me for backtracking a bit, but in the coming days, I'll try and post a few clips from our "video archives" of the past few months.

First up: life, circa two weeks after baby arrived...

magnolias, and other nice surprises

When I was a little girl, me and my sister were friends with Sarah K., the girl who lived next door. Bordering our houses was a beautiful magnolia bush that bloomed every spring. One year, right before the flowers burst open, the big, thick blossoms hung on the bush in tightly-clustered bunches. We were playing "house," and we needed food to put on our dishes. So we grabbed a pair of gardening shears and a big wicker basket, and we clipped each and every magnolia bud from the bush. I'll never forget the snip, snip of the shears as they crunched through the ripe blossoms. We brought our basket, laden with magnolia blossoms, over to the porch (our makeshift "house"), and served a triumphant meal with our beautiful, newly-harvested "food."

I don't remember what sort of reaction Sarah's mom had when she saw her mutilated magnolia bush, but my mom still shudders when she tells the story.

So you see, magnolias and I go way back...

We may have bought a house in desperate need of rehabbing, but we did get something good out of the deal: a big, juicy magnolia tree, right in the middle of our backyard.

The blossoms are almost gone now, but you should have seen it in full bloom. Absolutely breathtaking.

I think we might have seen the magnolias last year, but we were in the middle of contract negotiations on the house, and simple things like blooming trees didn't grab our attention in the midst of broken sewers, stinky cat smell, and raccoons in the attic.

This year, cats and raccoons are gone, the sewer is fixed, and every morning for the past week, I've looked out my window, seen the beautiful magnolia blossoms... and smiled a quiet little smile, thinking only of poor Mrs. K's magnolia bush.

weekend morning

Today was one of those perfect Saturdays, when you can throw the windows open, cook breakfast, and then go back to bed for a couple of hours.

Or, at least, that's what we used to do, before baby came along ;)





{I turned after taking that last picture, and here's what was staring up at me.}


Happy weekend!

two months

At today's two-month checkup, Charlie weighed in at just under seventeen pounds, and the doctor definitely asked if we've been feeding him Miracle Grow. I mentioned something about Charlie being "chubby," and the doctor said, "Oh no, not chubby. We like to say that he's 'healthy.'"

Here's to "healthy" baby boys!

{coming soon}

starting tomorrow...

I'm really good at putting off 'till tomorrow what I should really be starting today... such as that post-pregnancy diet that really should have begun a few weeks ago. I am the self-professed queen of rationalization. "One slice of cheesecake won't hurt a thing... Ice cream? Sure, why not?" Right now, I've got oodles of Easter candy sitting on the counter, leftover cake is in the fridge, and three {yes, three} half-gallons of ice cream are in the freezer. {Oh, the plans that I have for you, Mr. Double Fudge Brownie.}

To combat my lack of will-power in the sweets arena, I've decided that it's high time I started exercising again. Tomorrow, I'm starting the Couch to 5K running plan, with the hope that in just two short months, I'll be running three miles at a time. Seeing that at this point, I can't run for three minutes, let alone three miles, this should be quite the transformation. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Until then, I'll be enjoying my leftover chocolate bunnies. Cheers :)

love in unexpected places...

...like strawberry hearts on a breakfast table,

or the Savior of the world, risen from the dead.

Happy Easter!

happiness

{my baby sister, and my baby}