shutterbug friday

photo moments this week:

i love summer.

silence is golden

piedmont park 

was so quiet today, as Lars and i walked around, 

after having stalked a house down near there that

was just too good to be true online (and was) ...

you could still hear the highway, sort of, and some

construction - or something - beeping. but really, 

it was mostly quiet. there was this hush created by

the really lush trees, foliage and grassy knolls, if

you know what i mean. it was kind of wonderful.

i'm loving nature right now, even though i'm not

much out in it - probably because i'm not much out

in it:) and these little unexpected trips down to 

visit parks that aren't part of my regular routine

make me really feel like it's summer.

unfortunately i didn't have my camera on me, 

since i thought we were going to the dog park. 

instead, here's one i took last summer at piedmont,

which is probably very contradictory to my title...

oh well.

escaping apartment living

an overcast sunset...

or what i could see of it anyway. 

when the sun sets over an overcast sky, 

and the light changes to gold and greens look more green,

i feel like i can do anything.

it is my favorite weather moment of all. 

and it sure makes me wish i were in texas

right now where the sky is so much bigger!

( like all things texan ;)

when i got home from class i took my camera

and my dog and we went on a small walk, 

to try to soak up all that beauty. it went so

quickly and then it was night.

and now i want to live on a farm.

maybe in montana. i hear it's nice there.

another lunch date

lunching with a new friend...

at alons, of course! 

which means: gruyere panini and salty, crispy fries

and new friend, who is so pretty and sweet and sporty!

makes my heart happy:)

bedtime reading

the verdict. 

barry reed's exciting courtroom drama. 

reading it for class and i'm told the movie is good too.

might have stayed up till 2am last night reading it.

tried to explain to jazz (many times) that reading in

bed (at bedtime) has the opposite effect on me as him.

he usually wipes out after 30 minutes. it wakes me up. 

interrupts that precious little 5 minute interval i literally

have to go to sleep in, before my mind wakes up again - 

and keeps me up for hours.

but, it's also testament to how interesting a book is:)

and, after he tried to turn the light off in his sleep at 2am, 

i finally put it down and yes, eventually got to sleep.

oh baby

this lovely lady's new baby boy!

besides being super cool and

super beautiful (and makes a super 

mean butternut squash soup:), she's

now going to be the best mama ever. 

i'm so excited for her. 

congratulations mama and papa chanpong! 

leslie in the kitchen from the good ole days:)

precious oliver amos chanpong

also, after reading about this baby shower's

theme, i think i have to get some cool books

for baby oliver.

what are the best "first" books?

the mex.

chips and guac. 

while we may have been secretly planning where

we'd eat breakfast tacos in austin this november, 

(torchy's and jo's on 2nd made the list so far)

we also really like taqueria del sol, here in atlanta

(as does everyone else apparently-the line was super long).

cheese enchiladas, mexican rice and beans and

almost nothing beats chips and guacamole. 

am i right?

someday (soon i hope)

unpacking my book boxes

and having them all out for me to look at.

these are just 2/3 of the boxes that have been

sitting full of all my books for a year now. 

the rest are in our bedroom. 

i can't wait to move them into a new space

and shelve them. or not - just lay them out on 

tables and stack them on the floor for 

makeshift end tables. 

i'm sure there are some i need to get rid of —

so i can buy more! :)

this is where i'll be...

Atlanta magazine.

where i'm going to be interning this fall.

i'm so excited! i can't believe i get to intern at 

such a cool magazine. i always thought 

magazines were much too competitive and

elusive for the likes of me...

curled up on the couch

my summer schedule.

it may not include a lot of pool time, 

or tubing down the river,

or working with my hands, 

or fairs or visits to the farmer's market,

fresh fruit picking, camping,

barbeques or picnics, drive-in movies, 

day trips to museums or weekend get-aways.

not much going on around these parts,

but at least there's no alarm clocks, 

plenty of AC, plenty of coffee, 

plenty of time to read and write, 

going to classes at art school,

and exercise. 

photo from last summer's trip to Vancouver

bedtime

a little movie.

this is what bedtime looks for me

american writers

raymond carver.

before starting this collection of stories, 

i'd only read "a small, good thing."

which was good and sad by itself.

it's kind of hard to describe what reading

raymond carver is like. it's sort of like 

chewing your way through a bag of 

pretzels. they're small, and not great, 

and at the end, you feel full of nothing, 

but for some reason, there's pleasure in 

the constant, continual, small munching.

and you feel you've gotten something.

i doubt that really means much. i should probably

come up with a better comparison. 

well, this collection is entirely too obsessed with

emptiness and sex and really sad people.

and yet, i could probably learn a thing or two

from him about how to tell a story well, simply, sparingly.

spicy

ginger cookies.

something about overcast, lazy afternoons that make

me want to bake (yeah, that cookie diet didn't last very long).

unfortunately these spicy ginger cookies

could have been better. as in, not square, flat and crispy. 

they weren't cold enough before baking and maybe

should have been smaller :)

further and farther

a going away party

for our friend pearl who is going to north carolina 

to start a phd program at chapel hill!

congratulations pearl!

pearl smiling for the camera

riley, the dog, hiding from a three-year-old

games!

flowers!

chandelier!

lemonade!

i kind of really like exclaiming!

photo friday

fresh (colorful) food love.

and other photos from this week: