day 24: love

['Love' can be a difficult thing to capture on film. However, I think I got it! This photo embodies love in so many ways for me: from the Scalamandre vintage Zebra print wallpaper to the corner of the Sprinkles counter where this was taken, I love everything about it.]

month of June: what I did

Here are the Top 10 (ish) photos of things I did in June. Blogging got away from me. Better late than never.

I mentioned this before, but I went to Salt Lake City. This pillow was on my bed in my hotel room. How adorable. Look at that salt shaker.

I visited the Mormon temple. Actually I didn't go IN, but I did a few loops around. It has beautiful architecture, interesting place.

Then I migrated to the South - 'the loveliest village on the plains' south. I went for another Four Friends wedding, and this time I took Brendan with me.

As you can tell, he's very happy to be on the Plains for the first time! (Although I may have been the happier one that he was finally getting to experience Auburn...)

I'm not sure why but I really love this candid shot. Thought I would add it for good measure.

Reunited again! The second time in just 3 months. We could get used to this... Rose I guess the pressure is on for you!

I found out that Rose had never climbed the Auburn sign to take a picture! That changed quickly when I learned that. We made our way up there with the beautiful Samford Hall in the background!

And then to make Brendan feel like a true Auburn-er, I made him climb up to take a picture too. He could pass for an Auburn grad!

The beautiful bride before the wedding.

Backstage waiting for the big event. (I forgot to mention: Rose and I were candle lighters in the wedding! We had to really focus or else a small mishap could have burned down the church and ruined Rachel's big day. We made it through successfully-whew!)

At the Greystone Mansion for the reception.

Tyler and Rose

Trying to catch the bouquet (I get competitive with this stuff at every wedding.)

Still waiting... and probably encouraging Rachel to throw it to me.

Even after all of my theatrics, I still didn't catch it.

So naturally I made Brendan go for the garter (you can see him in the far right of this picture above).

He didn't try very hard... and he didn't catch it.

Our wonderful hostess and the sweet Roberts girls.

I think Brendan was saying here "Please take my picture again!" So I obliged. (That's actually probably the exact opposite of what he was saying.) I like the picture though!

Goodbye to the newlyweds!

After the wedding, we headed back to Tuscaloosa. I spent the day on Sunday with my family and at the lake. I couldn't ask for anything more fun!

I'm pretty certain this was way over 10-ish photos. Too much to commemorate, I suppose.

anthro display

I've been to a lot of Anthropologie displays in my day, but this was one of the best I've seen! Although, I think I say that every time... I love all the different shades of wood tone and colored drawers with the various pulls.

day 23: black & white

day 22: landscape (a real landscape)

[I guess this is more of a real "landscape" view...I took this a couple months ago in Salt Lake City. Beautiful.]

operation organization

I've spent the majority of my Saturday cleaning and organizing my room, kitchen, apartment... everything. Unfortunately, my closet did not look this nice and tidy before I started. And even more unfortunately, it didn't look like this after I finished either. I don't know how things take a turn for the worse so quickly, but I think I've gotten them (somewhat) under control again... now to see how long they stay like that.

[picture found here]

800th post!

I meant to do this way back at 500, but I guess I forgot. I can't believe this is my 800th post!! I never thought blogging would have kept my interest when I started this blog way back when as an idea LeeAnne gave me in November 2007 to make a simple countdown until I moved back to New York City.

[via pinterest from adorablelife]

day 22: landscape

[NYC landscape, anyway: Freedom Tower]

day 21: micro up close

tempted

I'm very tempted to try this out at a Starbucks somewhere this morning. I don't think I could pass for Harry... but maybe Hermione?

[thanks.]

day 20: water

day 19: summertime

Picnics and Sheep Meadow in the summertime. There's nothing quite like it.

oh happy day

This will make even the gloomiest of days happy. I love this picture. Thanks LA for sending it, many moons ago.

[found here at 20x200]

day 18: eyes

the verdict is in:

Pies N Thighs is incredible! The food was so delicious. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

LA and I split the Fried Chicken Box and the Superbowl so we could cover more ground on menu items and try out more of their sides. Good call, LeeAnne!  And then to end, we tried their Sour Cherry pie. The meal was worth every calorie!

day 17: bokeh

[If you are unsure what bokeh is - as was I - check it out here.]

pies n thighs

Tonight I'm heading over to Brooklyn to try out LeeAnne's church and also this restaurant that I've been dying to try: Pies N Thighs. What could sound more appetizing than that?! I've been scouring the menu for at least a week trying to decide what I want to try. I still haven't decided and think it will come to a game-time decision...luckily, I probably can't go wrong with anything I choose! There's nothing like a good southern meal in the summertime, even if it's in New York.

julia child's kitchen

A few weekends ago, I was at an exhibit that had a display of Julia Child's kitchen. In the event of full disclosure, I didn't/don't know much about her except that she was the inspiration for the movie Julie and Julia (which I also have yet to see). However, I was thrilled to see her kitchen! It was fantastic. And made me dream of the day when my entire job can consist of being in a kitchen all day baking and cooking. Ah, what a dream!

day 16: mason jar

day 15: action

heat wave

A heat wave, that's surely what we are having in New York today (and tomorrow, for that matter). When I woke up this morning before 8 AM, the temperature was already 78 degrees with 88 percent humidity. And the temp is only rising with tomorrow expected to reach 101. Whew. I could surely use one - or two - of these in this weather.

[found via pinterest here]

3form at the smithsonian

Another neat thing I was able to see at the Smithsonian was the Star Spangled Banner flag made from 3form material! I had heard a lot about it, but hadn't seen it... it was spectacular!

day 14: someone you love

ordinary day

This is my friend Melanie Penn and her new music video, Ordinary Day! She is super talented and super cute in this video...and all of the time, really. (I can't stop watching it!) You should buy her album, Wake Up Love, on Amazon or iTunes. You won't be disappointed!

day 13: reminds you of childhood (re-do)

[I wasn't satisfied with my daily photo yesterday, so I cheated a bit and snapped this one this morning. However, I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier because this article was published in the NYTimes yesterday about the resurgence of 1990's cartoons. Perfect. Read more here.]

first ladies campaign

When I was at the Smithsonian a couple weeks ago, I made sure to hit the First Ladies exhibition. I was, of course, mesmerized by the beautiful dresses and fashion of them each, but found these campaign pins so fascinating! For some reason I had never thought specifically about the First Ladies having to campaign as well...I liked the thought of them being such a "team" with their husbands.

day 13: reminds you of childhood

[I must say, I was really stumped by this one - hence the delay in posting as I said I would. But quite frankly there is nothing in New York that reminds me of my childhood. However, I did have quite a few rainbow stuffed animals as a kid...not much has changed.)

hand-painted packing list

So beautiful...and useful. Wish I had the time or patience to do this! Maybe my next trip...

[found here via Design*Sponge twitter page]

washington dc

I recently spent 3 days in our beautiful nation's capital, as I mentioned earlier. Katherine and I went down to visit a couple of friends (and I went to, er, sight-see for the 5th time). We stayed with a friend of Katherine's from college and she hosted us with such wonderful hospitality! We ate brunch at a fantastic place called Founding Farmers, which I particularly enjoyed because of all the southern fare. Then we toured around, went to the Holocaust Museum (which I highly recommend while going in with the expectation that it will be a tremendously heavy experience), ate dinner at a great burger spot (Good Stuff Eatery) and went 'monument hopping' Saturday night. Sunday we made the most of our short time before we caught the bus and went to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, which was soooo great!

I was a little sad to board the bus back to NYC, but alas vacations can't last forever. Since I took almost 200 pictures in the short weekend, I'll spare you and only add my faves here.

Fried green tomatoes and chicken & waffles. Can you go wrong?

Julie at her summer job: the Treasury Department!

True tourists: the Capitol at night!

I heart Alabama!

Good Stuff Eatery: 5 different flavors of mayonnaise to try. (And beautiful in rainbow order!)

Honest Abe, still the same from the last time I saw him...

Hello landmarks of DC!

3rd longest escalator...in the world? Yes.

God Bless America!

I should have won scrabble on this word alone!

There she is. And everywhere we turned: The Washington Monument!