Leafy Love

Once upon a time i got a house plant from a friend. it was this tiny, sick, pathetic plant that had been neglected and forgotten. my dear friend was moving out of her shoe box of an apartment and moving to Denver, with no need for a house plant on the trip. so i rescued it. i took it in, re-potted her (in a very stylish white pot from IKEA) and gave her TLC (and i'm sure the water and sunlight helped a little, too). but most importantly i gave her a home and name - Gloria. and now she lives up to her name and is quite glorious.

i tell you this story so that you can hope for the next story i am about to tell. last weekend, i rescued another forlorn and forgotten house plant. he was intended to be a Christmas present to me when he was fresh from the store - green, fluffy and full of potential. Alas - somewhere along the way in the journey to my home (i won't name any names...) he faced some serious trials - and took a beating. But he was a strong little guy and pushed through... never completely giving up, although some others did. he finally reached my home a couple days ago and i took pity on him and have also given him a name and a home. This is Clark.

i know he may not look like much right now, but you just wait. with the same TLC given to Gloria, Clark too can grow to be strong and handsome. he sits in my window, soaking up the sun and most importantly - Clark is not alone. He has someone to gain inspiration from every day.

Clark and Gloria - i think they make a good pair...

i hope you enjoyed that story - i promise i'm not crazy, but i have been named the plant lady... so i suppose you should not be surprised that i have such a soft spot for those little leafy guys.

on a completely different note - here are some pics i took on my drive home from work tonight. "drive by photography" is what i like to refer to it as... seeing as how i never got out of my car. haha i know the people around me thought i was crazy. i'm starting to think it might be true.

today i got something in the mail.

"here's the mail it it never fails it makes me wanna wag my tail and when it comes i wanna wail MAAAAIIIIILLLLLLL!!!!"

what? no that is not from blues clues, i made it up myself. ok, fine, it is from blues clues.... no shame.

anyways...

what did i get in the mail, you ask? oh - it's a card... but not just any card. it is a very special homemark VALENTINES card made with lots of love and care from my dearest friend, Megan.

it has my inital on it! and not only that, but it is SPARKLY!!!! i love sparkles. you might remember this about me. it is very reminiscent of my graduation cap. it also had sparkles... see....

i wonder if she did that on purpose. probably so... she is a clever one like that. gotta keep and eye on her...

here is what the other side of the card looked like. it was a love note. don't read it! it's personal.

oh but there was one more thing in the envelope. a very attractive thing...

P.S. - i love you too, Luke Wilson

what a great valentines surprise. i feel so loved! love you Megs!!! can't wait to see you soon!

Love,

N

Paintbrushes and Perspective

so lately i've felt like painting... i wanted to pain the sky and earth. i love dramatic clouds. i love the sky. i love when the sun breaks through clouds and lights them from behind so that they glow.

i wanted to paint that. i think i was fairly successful. expect for when i showed it to my parents and they said "oh pretty... what is it?" dang it. not quite as talented as i thought. i found that as i was trying to create this masterpiece, i found it hard to give perspective to the sky. how do you fit the sky into a box? how do you condense it and give perspective. i have no idea. and maybe that is why i love it so much. it always reminds me of how simple i am and how majestic my God is.

i found more luck when painting winter trees. i've had an itch to paint this scence ever since the first snow. i finally got to put paint on canvas and satisfy my creative desire. i did this one on sunday. i apologize that these are out of chronological order. that is something that bothers me, but i am too lazy to fix it. ha.

the paint, the brush, and the ice tray

love,

N

Snow Day!!! woo hoo. so grateful for a day without work to enjoy staying all bundled up at home and adventuring out into the cold just to capture the graceful snow. i love how quiet everything gets when the snow falls. with just its gentle touch a busy world becomes still. i love it.

here are a few of my favorites from my afternoon photo shoot with the snow...

Love,

N

if only i could make up my mind

alright so we are back to trying out the old blog... well kinda the old blog. its got a new look, like it? i pretty much love it.

still not sure what i am gonna do about posting pics. i changed some settings in hopes it would be easier, but alas... i'm still having the same problems. stay tuned. there will probably be some more changes. in the mean time, enjoy one of my favorite pictures from Chicago.

love,

N

We Are Who We Are

tonight we're going har har har har har hard.......

oh ke$ha. how can I hate you and get addicted to your songs at the same time?

That has absolutely nothing to do with what I am going to "post" about, I just thought I'd share my most recent and unfiltered thoughts with you. I mean what is a blog for if not that very thing?

So sorry it has been quite awhile since my last post. All of the Christmas craziness got to me but alas, here I am, sending my thoughts out onto the web so that my dear friends can read them.

So lets talk about christmas. I was quite saddened that Knox-vegas did not get NEAR the snow that Chatt-town did... but there was a light dusting of snow on Christmas morning, so it wasn't competely without the joy of being "white". What was my favorite present you ask? Only the most adorable white peacoat that I got from Lerner New York! Sooooooo fun! It's white, and long, and it has layers that are kinda like ruffles... just not as ruffly as you might think. I picked it out back in October and have been anticipating opening that present for months. My other favorite present was quite unexpected.... the OFFICIAL 45th anniversary edition of The Sound of Music Soundtrack!!!!! Soooo fun. Don't worry - I did it justice and listened to the entire album Christmas day. There was much singing and even a little dancing too. E, you would have been proud. :)

After the rush of Christmas was over I went on a trip throughout the southeast with my work. I didn't know at all how this trip would go, if i'd have fun, or if it would be really boring or awkward or just be wishing the whole time i was back in the comfort of my home. But it actually turned out to be pretty fun. Which was relieving. With only a few awkward bursts of anger between some people on the trip - we all managed to get along very well and have a good time! We rented a HUGE tour bus and traveled to Charleston, Savannah, and then Jacksonville Florida and went to the Gator Bowl. Then we drove all the way back to Knoxville. It was a nice break from work though, and many memories were made.

The best part of the trip is that I won $75 in a bet on the Tennessee bowl game! Now normally Iwould not participate in such an activity but everyone else had already paid to play and I just figured why not. So I just had to fill in squares with my name to bet on what the score would be at the end of each quarter. And lo and behold... 3 out of the 4 quarters it was my name in the box!! ha. The best part is that I know absolutely nothing about football and don't care about it at all. You should've seen the look on all those guy's faces. Priceless.

(I will post pics on Facebook because it is WAYYY too complicated to post pictures on this bloggy thingy... i mean seriously...)

*queue classic look from A*

Anyways, other than being kinda sick this week that is about all that has been going on in my life. work is normal. Still living at home and trying to figure out when/where/with who I will be moving into an alternative abode. Oh but in some interesting news I have been put in charge of managing my companies' facebook page, so... drum roll please.... I will now officially be getting paid to be on facebook. hahaha. I kinda like it.

for now, that is all. Now go sing your favorite Ke$ha song in honor of me...

N

Doggy Goes Woof Woof

so for thanksgiving my sister and her family left the frozen north and came down to good ole TN for thanksgiving in the 70 degree weather! it was soooo good to see them. i hadn't seen them since september and every time i see my little nephew Jack, he is just so much bigger and smarter and older. they grow up so fast... tear... ha. no but really! he is crawling now and he pulls up all the time to stand. and we even taught him a few new things in the five days he was here! he knows that a doggy says "woof woof" and then every time we went outside and he saw Leah he would "woof woof woof" constantly. it was precious. we also taught him where his toes are. we would say "jack, where are you toes?" and he would think for a second and then grab his toes. he is so smart. so here are a few pictures from thanksgiving.

sweet boy

then it was time for thanksgiving dinner! i tried to get creative and take artsy food pictures. you be the judge. but it was really fun!

it is our family's tradition that every year, the day after thanksgiving, we go get our christmas tree! we go to the same farm every year and pick out the best one they have! it was Jack's first time to get a christmas tree!

success! got the tree and stopped in at starbucks on the way home. couldn't ask for a better thanksgiving! Merry Christmas!!!!