Flower vs. Dead Leaf

All those beautiful flowers, and all Violet wants to examine is the dead leaf!

Look at those chubby thighs!

My nature girl, all pretty in pink.

Spouting eloquent about the wonders of that darn dead leaf again!

Title Me Tuesday

It's baa-aack! Got a clever caption? Post it in the comments!

A little background... thanks to Mike and Sabine for the functional yet fabulous stair gate. Here's hoping my husband doesn't get too mad at me for posting this picture (he has a legitimate issue with Violet appearing naked on the internet where fifteen years from now her friends can find her - hopefully the censoring will help). The spot you see on Violet's back is a crazy birthmark that showed up a couple weeks after she was born and should disappear over time (they tell me). Now, have at! Bring on the wit!

Serenbe

 Have you ever heard of Serenbe? Maybe not. Probably not, in fact. So allow me to introduce you. Serenbe is this amazing little community just south of Atlanta, quite near where I grew up, actually. It holds homes, an Inn, some amazing restaurants, galleries, shops and studios. And all of it is built under a model of balanced development and sustainability. Eco-friendly. Reclaimed goods. Organic. All those hippy words. But stop rolling your eyes, it is actually an amazing place.

The Inn at Serenbe

I went to one of the restaurants, The Hil, for a birthday dinner a few years ago. The menu changes as the seasons change because most of the ingredients are harvested from the farm that surrounds the community. It was delicious. In fact, to quote myself... [my birthday scoop of] ice cream must have been made from the sweetest cream from the richest milk from the happiest cow, who was probably hanging out behind the restaurant contentedly star-gazing as we sat inside. So good. I'm already scheming of ways to get Matt to take me back there (and it's conveniently located to the Grandma's Free Babysitting Service of Peachtree City!)

Well, the scheming has succeeded, because we are taking advantage of Spring Break by sneaking off to Serenbe for a night! I am so excited! I'm really looking forward to exploring the community, indulging in some delicious food, and taking some time to focus on being something other than a mother. Don't get me wrong, it's the best job in the world. But Matt and I need some time to focus on ourselves as a couple, and I'm so ready!

all photos property of Serenbe

Photos and first hand accounts will be provided once we return, but for now, I encourage you to take some time and explore Serenbe for yourself. It's okay, I know you're jealous.

Signs of Spring

So I was going to do an elegant post with nothing but pictures, letting you, my reader, interpret the photo and meaning as you like... But darn it, I just like to talk so much, I couldn't do it. Besides, one of these pictures deserves an explanation. So since I've ruined my wordless post, I might as well go all out, right?

At  school the students and I have been discussing the idea of nature detectives. What does a nature detective look for? What could you find? If you were a nature detective trying to find out if spring has come, what are some clues you would look for?

Well, around our house, we have quite a few good leads. First of all, our cherry tree is busting out all over. And our other blooms are even more vivid and colorful. But most exciting of all, a robin has decided to build a nest inside the wreath on our front door! We discovered it the other day when we opened the door and startled poor mama bird into flying away. A quick peak revealed four delicate blue eggs, and I'm hoping we can follow their journey as they hatch and learn to fly. Although it might mean barring the front door from future use for a while, it's totally worth it (not to mention the right thing to do).

My sweet girl is loving the warm weather. I see lots of dresses and short sleeves in our future!

Getting Old...

Well, it finally happened. I turned 30, and now I'm falling apart. My knee is killing me. I've never had joint pain, or aches and pains anywhere really, so this is unfamiliar and unwanted territory for me. On Tuesday I was walking through the school hall and realized my left knee hurt a bit. The next day, it hurt a lot and I'd lost some range of motion. Now it aches to walk up the stairs and I definitely can't kneel on the floor to help get Violet's shoes on.

And no, I don't know what I did to it. I don't remember doing anything, actually. It just started hurting. Although... it hurts a lot more when I hold Violet. In fact, I've had to change the position I carry her because of it. Could it be that the strain of holding my own child has busted my knee? Good grief! (Although she does weight 24.8 pounds, and I've been toting her around for more than a year now, so I guess it's possible...) So, what can I do for knee pain? Besides complaining about it. Because frankly, that hasn't been helping any.

Looking all grown up...

Someone else who is getting old is our cat Spooky. Yesterday we came to the solemn realization that she is deaf. As deaf as a doornail. And possibly has been for some time now. We should have realized something was up when she stopped hiding under the bed during thunderstorms. She's been riding them out on top of the covers, hardly bothered at all, and we've had some pretty violet weather lately. I thought maybe she'd finally grown out of her fear. Alas, it seems she just can't hear anymore.

Checking the fridge for a "nak".

As for the rest of the family, Matt and Violet are both battling sinus infections. So we're pretty much falling apart over here! But only one more day until sweet, sweet Spring Break, so I think we'll survive. Over-achieving plans for the break include painting our bedroom, dentist appointments, getting my hair cut, going to a wedding shower and birthday party, hitting up some thrift stores in search of goodies for next year's classroom, and (drum roll please) leaving Violet overnight for the first time! We'll see how much actually gets accomplished, but right now I'm choosing to be optimistic!

Nak? Are you there? It's me, Violet!

Going Crazy

Currently

I love finding a television show that has been airing for a while, I just haven't been clued-in enough to follow it. Because it means I can start DVRing the heck out of it and always have something new-to-me to watch. I remember when Matt and I finally started watching House. We watched at least an episode a day until, within a few months, we had caught every show. The downside of this method of tv watching is that we tend to overdose ourselves, but boy, is it a fun ride while it lasts.

Right now, we are currently smack in the middle of a Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations gorge-fest and loving every second. Part travelogue, part food-fest, this show combines the best of both worlds. Bourdain, the host, is the icing on the cake. Yes, the show travels to random sites (the rerun I'm watching now takes place in the Azores - Bourdain's eating some boiled eggs cooked by putting them in a sack and tossing them into a bubbling hot spring that happens to smell like (his words) a wet fart) and odd food is consumed. But Bourdain's wry commentary on it all gives a dry hilarity to the happenings. He doesn't spend too much time describing the taste and texture of what he's eating, one of my pet peeves with other foodography shows (because you telling me it has a creamy, nutty flavor is really going to help me experience that bite of food through my tv). Instead, he just eats and nods with appreciation. Or not. On the Icelandic adventure, Bourdain seemed rather disgusted more often than not, and didn't bother sparing the natives' feelings.

Speaking of currently, I just started reading a new book, One Day (Vintage Contemporaries Original). It follows the relationship of Dexter and Emma over twenty years, but here's the catch- the story visits them on the same day each year, revealing snapshots of their lives over the two decade span. It sounds like an interesting gimmick, and word is that the story has already been optioned for a movie. So perhaps it will end up being one of my book club picks.

And speaking of book club, next month we'll be reading (or in my case, rereading) Water for Elephants: A Novel. The movie-version comes out in theaters mid-month, so we'll be catching it on the big screen, yay! If you haven't seen the trailer, check it out here. It always makes me nervous when Hollywood takes a great book and attempts to turn it into a movie, but so far I like what I see. Do you agree?