All the Kids

 Vegetables. From left celery, carrots, peas, corn, and zucchini.

 Just look natural Zach.

This is from a few weeks ago, Zach and James came over to hang out around dinner time. The thing about Thomas and Beth's house, is you feel completely at home after just a few times hanging out. These guys got to stay up and watch a show and even though it was probably Diego or Arthur, they plopped down on the couch just the same. You bet I did as well.

Out My Window

The sun set as an enormous cloud, swirling and churning like waves in the ocean hovered above our neighborhood. Soon we heard the wind that was pushing the clouds around above us, and rain began to hit the windows sideways. The sky erupted with cracking and grumbling--for hours it continued to roar.

Rainy Day

We've been having a drought.

All summer.

Yesterday it finally rained. This morning I woke up to a cloudy-rainy-sweet-lazy sky. The Alina, Levi and I drew pumpkins this morning and hung them on the fridge.

I've been working at the Library for about a week now and I absolutely love it. I'm getting faster at shelving books and it's so amazing to work in such a wonderful, quiet, peaceful environment. Sometimes I catch myself reading the picture books and often I find books I really want to read and they end up on my cart to take home.

Currently I'm reading Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campell.

Currently tea, James Taylor radio, and a cozy house full of people are filling my day.

Team

If I start to write less, call less, skype less, answer your text messages less, get back to you after a few days rather than later the same day--please be patient with me. I got another job.

The exciting part about all of this is that I was hired at a local library! I will be shelving books about 18 hours per week, at night. Yesterday was my first day and I love it already. I work mostly on my own, there is a lot of quiet, and it is only a few hours a day. Today I worked in the children's room, a blast.

However this means I will be working 50 or more hours a week. There will be less time for internet usage and I may not pick up my phone as often. I'm trying to work as much and save as much money as possible.

Because we're getting married.

James also picked up another job, which may be more news for some. He will deliver newspapers for the San Antonio Express at night and keep his current position during the day. He pulled out all the seats in his car so he can stack papers up high.

He'll sleep in the afternoons.

We may not see each other much.

But in all of it we feel as if we are on a team, working together, fighting back to back. We're saving up money, paying off debts, and investing in the season to come. Thank you for your love, your support. Thank you for believing in us and loving us from wherever you are. We wouldn't be doing great without you.

Stand By Me

Yet again. San Francisco, how I love thee. Branches, you've stolen my heart.

September

This is my favorite month. Absolutely, without a doubt, my favorite month of the entire year.

I discovered my love for it while in college. September in Costa Mesa and Newport means warm, sunny coastal weather, empty beaches and delicious ocean. It means the start of a new school year, breezy afternoons on coffee shop porches with slanted sunlit spaces. It means cardigans and bike rides on empty beach-town streets. Poetry and art, fire pits and friendship. It contains naps in hammocks lazy painting afternoons.

September in Oxford, England means books and walks through parks. It means lattes at Blackwells and romps in the countryside. Bells ring and leaves begin their journey into beauty. Ice cream walks. Pub nights and theological debates about humanism. There are picnics in meadows and journeys through palaces. September in Oxford brings soft strolls around the libraries to get sandwiches for lunch, with jackets and boots and scarves. Sunday afternoon tea with oranges, cookies and a door propped open to let the fresh air in. Apple scrumping and painting by the river.

In Maryland September means beautiful. Full of hope and life it fills old houses with sweet smells and laughter. It means stinkbugs too. Early mornings with hot tea and chocolate chip pancakes. There are big backyards full of garden wonder, and a cat that lays lazy in the light. Train rides with books and seats full of people. Fresh crab dinners on the back deck, port that pairs perfectly with chocolate chip cookies. Brie cheese with honey and fruit. Salads and potato-leek soup. We wear tights and with skirts and boots there in September. The whole green world hangs suspended in time waiting for the perfect moment to explode with color.

The light of September is different somehow. The sun hangs differently in the sky and and it's warmth inspires me.

This morning it happened. With a cool breeze September arrived.

Scenes From Austin

Here are some of my artsy pictures from our double date to Austin last week. James and I went with our friend Olivia and her boyfriend Matt. We started the morning absorbing the wonders of Book People, a local bookstore I could live in. Star Seeds Cafe for lunch, a self guided tour around the Capitol Building, and a wander down Sixth Street. We enjoyed bottomless iced coffee on the porch by the lake at Mozarts in the afternoon. Definitely a city I would love to continue to explore, full of music, farmer's markets, and authors doing book signings. Austin, I like you.

We Hang Out

This little one has started wandering into my room to visit lately. He's figured out how to climb up on my bed, with the help of a blanket trunk that sits at the foot of it. He points at things and I tell him about them. We laugh.

And just hang out.

Quiet Time

I spent some alone time at a flea market near where I live this afternoon. I'd heard mixed reviews but it was only a dollar to park so I decided to give it a go. I take after my dad when it comes to nic-nacs. Someone else's junk is usually a misunderstood treasure. He would have loved and hated this place. Many people had shelves and shelves full of treasures, and others not so much. But as I walked through alone I looked and looked it was nice to have my camera along, an excuse not to buy. I did come home with one thing, a copy of John Steinbeck's The Red Pony. It was 1.50 and I paid in quarters. 

Then I went to James' house and we fell asleep on the couch watching the race. My head on his shoulder, his head on mine. I remember laps 130, 68, 32, and the victory interview. All in all a delightful, restful day. 

At Work

There is a woman who comes in every now and then to get coffee, and in my imagination I pretend she is a hobbit. I mean this with the utmost respect and adoration; you see, she's about 4'5" and has a slightly British accent (not that anyone in Middle Earth had a "British" accent, but you know...). She is a peach and I've been waiting for an excuse to talk about something more than what she's ordering. 

Yesterday she stopped me mid-sentence and said, 

"Oh your ring!!" 

My heart may have burst. 

She asked me about it, I told her it's story and how it came to reside on my finger. She listened intently and we got to talk a little while. Her drink was ready and she complimented it again, "it's beyond beautiful". What I love most about all of this is that I have gotten a lot of compliments since donning said ring, and each time it makes me think of the person who gave it to me. I'm so excited about our story. We've been planning and organizing, brainstorming and thinking, and working as much as we can in preparation for this big day. 

It's individuals like this woman who really help me to get through each shift.