HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LIL

Thursday was my roommate and BFF, Lillie's birthday.  I love birthdays because it gives you a chance to dedicate to spend an entire day celebrating someone you care about and showering them with love and attention.  Lillie particularly makes my life significantly brighter through her zest for life, radiant hair and smile,  It is an opportunity to thank people for loving you with actions, not just words. 

We celebrated Lillie by going to South Street Brewery at midnight where a live band very slowly played their rendition of "Happy Birthday".  In the morning we ate homemade pancakes and then ventured off to Castle Hill Cider for the afternoon (check out the website...it is incredible...definitely a fantastic venue for a wedding).  We tasted cider, ate scrumptious cheese and hula hooped (yes, you read that correctly).  We then watched the sunset from Carter's Mountain while picnicking and people (aka couple) watching.  The night ended with birthday cupcakes and champagne.  A successful 21st if I do say so myself (and I do!).

What do polo and orzo have in common?

My most recent Sunday!


During the summer King Family Vineyards hosts polo matches on Sunday afternoons.  This past Sunday a group of lovely friends and I headed out to Crozet for the sophisticated fun.  To add even more wonderfulness to the day we stopped at Bellair Market for sandwiches on the way.  I had the Ednam - harvarti, bacon, avacado, turkey and tomato!  The polo match was fun, but there was sadly no Prince William or Lord James Browning sighting of which to report.

That evening I made this delicious salad.  Gosh, summer is just the BEST time to eat salad.  In my humble opinion the goat cheese made the dish.  So. Good.  In case you can't tell, I am really working on my culinary skills this summer.  Gotta domesticate myself, y'all.

Nice going, NPR

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=3&t=live4&islist=false

Obsessin'

Y'all I have two new obsessions.  No, I am not being dramatic.  They are not mere interests and to call them that would do a disservice to how great they are.

1) INSTAGRAM.  Holy moly. I've mentioned it in earlier posts, but it is the best app ever created in my humble opinion.  For a wannabe artist such as myself it is the perfect outlet for my "creativity".  It is easy and the results are so so great.  Here are some of my best ones so far:

2) Jane By Design, yes I know it is a silly, mindless, predictable television show.  But, I love it.  I'd like to claim that I only like it for the design aspect of the show.  However, that'd be a bold face lie.  I enjoy the high school half of her "secret" life just as much.  Would it be embarassing to admit that I kind of like to live vicariously through her...her high school experience is MUCH more exciting than mine was.  Please don't tell anyone about this particular guilty pleasure...let's just keep it between us.

P.S. Isn't she adorable?  How can ya know love her?

[source]

Sometimes life is hard and you just have to play this song (O Love That Will Not Let Me Go) on repeat:

Tuesday 5

Five things that were great about today:

1) Discovering this song (Maroon 5 - The Way You Look Tonight)

2) I went to a study at the Stud (redundant?) on The Chronicles of Narnia and we discussed the significance of the fact that Aslan (the Jesus-figure) dies only for Edmund because he is the only one that needs to be redeemed of the Pevensie family.  This is different than the Biblical narrative as in the Gospel everyone fails Jesus, not just one.  In C.S. Lewis's tale the fact that Edmund only betrays Aslan points out that Jesus died to redeem each individual person, not just humankind as a mass group of sinners. Boom, truth.

3) Discovering several (and by several I mean way too many) blogs via this blog.  Check em out.  And there went my productivity while studying for the GRE.

[from the blog...duh]

4) Buying Gouda cheese at the grocery store...and coming home and snacking on it and some blueberries.

   

[images via google images]


"my favorite's gouda" -- anyone???

5) Viewing Sense and Sensibility for the first time!  So much romance...but more heartbreak.  It's actually realistic.  Fancy that.