A visit with Ellie

Sweet baby Ellie is growing so fast. 

Brian and Amy invited us over for the weekend, and said to bring the pups along. So we piled in the car for a long, and overdue weekend.

We had so much fun together, and she is seriously the sweetest and cutest little girl! She absolutely loved Oliver - and he never left her side the entire trip.

She got a kick out of him trying to steal her food :) 

eyeballing the food... 

he got one.... and ellie loves it! 

playtime with ellie and ollie

A highlight of the trip for me was having dinner at this adorable little Mexican restaurant. They are well known for their mohitos... and they should be because it was possibly the best I'd had. I wish we lived closer than 3 hours... 

Once.

In 2007, David and I were just in the beginnings of a relationship - the learning and excitement of something new was always in the air, and there was never enough time for all we had to take on! This part is always so much fun. On one particular night, we decided to stay in and have a movie night. He brought the movie, one we had both never seen, but had heard great things about. This movie was called "Once." 

Once.

This is now in my top ten movie list. It is just truly an amazing film. I fell in love with the characters. I fell DEEPLY in love with the music. That very night, after the movie ended, we bought the soundtrack and listened to falling slowly over and over and over again!!! 

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova... the stars. In love in real life. (later on the relationship ended, breaking my heart as well...) After 2 years of hearing their voices through the Once Soundtrack, they made another album together. The Swell Season, Strict Joy. 

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing them live at the Orange Peel in Asheville, N.C. (one of the greatest venues ever!) It was beyond phenomenal. We were front and center. Absolutely perfection, and one I will never forget.

Waiting for the doors to open

the fabulous orange peel

Amazing!!!

A notable mention of the show was when they sang "In These Arms." This is one of my favorites on the album and the lyrics are so telling.

And if you are ever in the Asheville area, and you love wine, you MUST go to the Asheville Wine Market. They have everything you could imagine, plus wine tastings!!!! 

Planting TIME!!!

It is time to get growing!

It's getting hotter by the day here in South Carolina, and my flowers are in pots and growing beautifully! We are moving next month, so unfortunately we can't put anything in the ground.... until we get in the new place :)

Some of my pots that I simply LOVE...

my hibiscus tree that has been with us for three summers!

first herb of the season

Herb bowl

In my garden there is a large place for sentiment.  My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams.  The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.  ~Abram L. Urban

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

A book I read sometime ago changed me for the better. It made me carefully assess everything I do, say, see... before taking my next step.  It made me believe that on the inside - when healthy - I will thrive. 
Eat. Pray. Love.
Three words to live by - or a book passed down to me by my sweet, novel addicted sister. And may I add, this book changed me. 
A self discovery... To live and let live... To let go... To just be.
I found myself SO engaged in the hours spent reading, and sad when the end was near. 
This was a woman without a plan - just an enormous dream, and a decision to take a chance with the unknown.  A dream to rid her life of every mistake and fill that space with light, beauty, and love.
Please read if you haven't already. It will lighten your heart and lift your spirit.


One of my favorite passages along the way...
"I walked home to my apartment and soft-boiled a pair of fresh brown eggs for my lunch.  I peeled the eggs and arranged them on a plate beside the seven stalks of the asparagus (which were so slim and snappy they didn't need to be cooked at all). I put some olives on the plate, too, and the four knobs of goat cheese I'd picked up yesterday from the formaggeria down the street, and two slices of pink, oily salmon. For dessert - a lovely peach, which the woman at the market had given to me for free and which was still warm from the Roman sunlight.  For the longest time I couldn't even touch this food because it was such a masterpiece of lunch, a true expression of the art of making something out of nothing.  Finally, when I had fully absorbed the prettiness of my meal, I went and sat in a patch of sunbeam on my clean wooden floor and ate every bite of it, with my fingers, while reading my daily newspaper article in Italian.  Happiness inhibited my every molecule."