i'm dreaming of...

a house with character.

i dream of dark, hardwood floors, exposed brick, 

huge, sunlit windows, open-plan layouts, bunny soft rugs, 

mini herb garden above the sink, freestanding bathtubs,

copper pots, spanish tiles, acres of white bedding,

a chair on a patio, miles of bookshelves, 

cabinets with lots of drawers and a writing desk.

that's all. 

now, convincing jazz we should take the house

we looked at earlier today. it had three or four of those

things, after all!


dream-house worthy photos:

via camillestyles

via

via

via

via

summer munchies

red and blue food

is only the best. 

have a happy weekend! 

way to go class!

launch party!

last quarter i was in a class that collaborated with

local publication, Atlanta INtown, to produce their

july issue, you may remember me talking about that. 

well, tonight we had a little launch party for the 

issue. it looks beautiful, thanks to another

SCAD student who did the cover illustration. 

and i'm proud to say that i have my name

in print in a real-life, bonafide newspaper. 

yessiree, folks. better get your autographs now.

they might be worth something someday. ;)

i want to take a moment to express my frustration 

at trying to take pictures at an event i'm also 

attending. i do such a bad job of it, and it's because

i'm so awkward. contrary to popular belief that you can "hide"

behind a camera, i find it actually makes you more conspicuous,

to wander around with a camera up to your face, instead

of mixing and mingling (which i'm also awkward at).

and so i take a few pictures really quickly, trying to make

it as unnoticeable as possible, 

feeling so rushed and awkward. and then i 

get home and wonder why i don't have better pictures.

ugh. 

ding,ding,ding,ding

we have a winner!

congratulations, hannah! random.org says you won 

the magazine subscription for my six month mark giveaway! 

darn it all if it doesn't pay to be first! :)

email me your address and which magazine you'd like

a subscription to at: reb.grace@gmail.com,

and i'll send that baby out! 

i hope you enjoy!

thanks for playing everything, 'twas fun!

the russians are coming

the great nabokov. 

i remember when someone first told me they loved

lolita, and so, knowing nothing about it, i went 

to check it out and was horrified and aghast,

i must say, when i realized what it was about.

it's not a bedtime story. it's not an inspiring, 

encouraging, heart-warming, uplifting, 

fortifying—or even a nice—book.

but, it's picturesque and turbid and heart-breakingly poetic, 

it's lyrical and obsessive and compulsively,

neurotically, unendingly, undeniably, disgustingly,

beautifully passionate. 

for me, it's not about the passion in the story,

that i find so enthralling or worth reading.

it's the passion for words, for the written word,

for language itself.

and that is what makes it beautiful. 

p.s. if you haven't read it and are now going to based on my 

suggestion, you should know that it's about an older man's sexual 

obsession/desire for a prepubescent girl. just so you know. 


p.p.s. You still have till the end of tonight to get your comments in for the
six month mark giveaway, if you haven't already!

the real celebration

happy, happy 4th of july!

our amazing picnic plans were rained out this afternoon, 

so we decided to picnic in our living room, 

which really cut down on travel time, so that was nice:)

all of our food was coincidentally

color-matched for the occasion. it's rarely

a good thing to have no greens on the table. 

chips, homemade salsa, grilled cheese: jazz.

watermelon, roasted carrots, raspberry lemonade tea: r.

we were just lacking a red, white and blue dessert.

oh well, next time. the watermelon was dessert enough!

independence day pre-celebrations

stone mountain laser & fireworks show.

i can't believe how many people were at stone mountain

for a pre-fourth of july fireworks celebration.

we found a parking space, squeezed into a small

patch of grass, ate some mango and saw the largest

laser show in ... the country? the world?

also, some really good fireworks. 

added bonus: a breeze and no humidity.

juicy, juicy mangoes ;)

unintentionally patriotic blankets

lovely family.

just the (three) of us

summer saturday.
(almost like vacation)

i've blogged about it here, but today i introduced jazz

to the bakeshop, most wonderful of all lunchtime bakeshops.

we woke up late and decided to head down to midtown, where

we're still convinced we'll find a perfect and perfectly priced living space,

for some café au lait (for me), americano (for him), caramelized onion quiche,

turkey blt and croissant. there are so many awesome

things about this place: huge, wooden tables for communal seating,

bread bread and more (freshly baked) bread, wooden panel decor, breakfast

till three p.m., good coffee ... need i say more?

afterward, we went back home for some writing (me) and reading (him), 

before taking lars to the park for some much needed puppy play time. 

off to eat some dinner at home and plan fourth of july happenings!

mail, mail, something in the mail!

the big six! (months)

as you know —or maybe you don't — this blog is about celebrating something everyday.

 the last six months have been challenging and very, very inspiring. most of all, 

i've learned that happiness, at least some kinds of happiness, must be worked for, earned,

sought out. it doesn't just grab you by the ears and waltz you down the stairs.

it must be found. and for me, it's usually found in the little things. 

i've also discovered that i celebrate food, writing, reading and photography a lot.

so, in honor of six months of celebrating, i'm giving away a one-year magazine subscription 

to one of these very nice publications: poets&writers, bon appetit, or garden&gun. 

all of them have been sources of inspiration for my daily fêtes, as well as being personal favorites.

i'd also love to hear about some of your favorites, especially if they are specialty magazines. 

such as, maybe you have a favorite photography magazine?

For a chance to win, leave a comment here telling me what your favorite magazine is and why.

You have until the end of Tuesday, July 5th. I'll announce the lucky winner 

(decided by random number generator) on Wednesday! 

Thanks for playing, I love you guys!

another photo from our beach trip:)

this week's happy

on my list:

1. cereal with blueberries

2. taking the plunge & putting pen to paper

3. sweating through thrice weekly jogs

4. the glorious picnic photos in this magazine

5. news of friends' engagements

(and being asked to take engagement photos!)

6. the thought of sleeping in on saturday

7. the sixth month mark of my 365 day celebration!

8. my first art history class ever

9. getting to take classes in the main building

weekly reading

sad short story

f.x. toole's short story million dollar baby.

i hadn't seen the movie (until watching it in class today)

so i wasn't prepared for the terribly terribly sad ending.

i know that i've said that i don't mind sad endings. 

but, i take it back. i don't mind tragic endings, 

but only in works longer than short. i know

that's meaningless. but it's hard to appreciate

a short story with a sad ending. for me at least.

i recognize the wonderful writing, the idea, the

characters, the emotions, etc. i enjoyed it

for that. but i am not happy about it. 

has anyone else read this? 

p.s. the movie, of course, is a different story. and quite good, so far!

scary, exhilarating, thrilling, tiring

the next three months

are going to be interesting. 

i'm challenging myself to write

everyday on a certain project.

i don't know what's going to 

happen, but i'm excited. 

day one:

p.s. just to be clear, the project is not for poets&writers.

not what you think ... or maybe it is

back to school with jack black. 

 

 

 

 

 no, that's not star wars. 

it's jack black as georgie from the film adaption 

of the short story "emergency" by denis johnson. 

because, 

for one of my classes this summer we're

reading a bunch of books and watching

the film adaptations. terrible, huh?

i know. it's just torture. ;)

letting go

last weekend of summer break.

i concentrated really hard on enjoying myself

this weekend and disregarding all the little thoughts

about what i should be doing and how i wasn't

being productive enough and that sort. 

i find it's really an exercise to let go of worry

and anxiety and to enjoy the days for whatever

they are — i have a really hard time letting go of

my desire to control each day, to make it the day

that it "should" be, to work things out. it's not 

that i always want to be working. it's just that

i even have an idea of what needs to happen

for it to be a "good" day. and i've been realizing

that i actually have no idea what that means. 

i'm realizing that happiness is a state of being, 

not an outward circumstance or thing or experience.

yes, i have many duh moments in my life. 

so, this weekend i enjoyed: 

1. a movie date with jazz

2. salads with fruit

3. opening the blinds to see the thunderstorms

4. turning disagreements into laughter

5. sunday afternoon naptime

6. watching too much netflix

7. running, feel the burn

8. arguing about what our family traditions "will be"

9. laundry and other mundane chores

10. cereal for dinner

here's to starting the summer off right!

snackbar

candy at the movies. 

just a little saturday afternoon date.

i hardly ever eat candy and when

i do it's usually twizzlers. but

i decided to go for the gummy bears

today since i was sharing with jazz.

he doesn't share my twizzle-love,

sadly. 

hope you're having a good saturday!