Beautiful wild horses in Corolla, NC.

I just got back from a week of sunshine & relaxation in the Outerbanks of North Carolina. I went with my family which is always nice & care-free. Now I know what all those bumper stickers were talking about! I spent my days at our private (!) swimming pool or soaking up the sun by the beach. But, now I’m back to reality. My apartment is in complete disarray as I begin the transition of moving into the new place. I hate clutter & it seems to be suffocating me at the moment. AHopefully I’ll be able to get things organized, packed, & moved into the new place by the end of next week! In the mean time, here are a few of the pictures I took the past week. I didn’t take too many because my dad is quite the photographer & I left a lot of the picture-taking up to him. Perhaps I can snag a few of his to post later.

Kevin couldn’t come on vacation with us because of work, so his only request was for me to taking a picture of (in his words) “the place on the beach where they put up the fences and there’s high grass growing around it” because it’s his favorite part. So, here you go. These are for you, Kevin!

This was the SUV we drove around in for our wild horses tour. A little bumpy, but so much fun!

Kevin & I walked around the neighborhood of the new place earlier today. Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati is such an interesting neighborhood. There are abandoned houses right next to newly renovated, beautiful homes. Today was my first time really venturing out into the neighborhood to take photographs. I am looking forward to doing it more often in the future!

Kevin loves exploring new places.

Myself; looking pretty “natural”. I don’t really fix myself up too much in the summertime. I get too hot and sweat it all of anyways!

These stairs are on the same street as our apartment.
Someone painted them with these awesome swirls.
I envision many a photoshoot here in the future!

These little lizards are everywhere. I almost stepped on a few of them.
Kinda freak me out, but I’ll be okay.

Well, I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into my new ‘hood. As I said, I hope to take more photographs of it sooner rather than later!

I had the absolute pleasure of attending my friend Liz’s wedding in Fortville, Indiana yesterday. I didn’t get a chance to take as many photographs I had been meaning to. Actually, to be honest, I took a lot at first but realized my memory card wasn’t inserted into my camera correctly! Urghh! Regardless, it was an absolutely magical wedding. Liz decorated it herself down to the smallest detail. Everything was beautiful! Congrats, Liz & Steve!

Honey!

Me & the lovely bride!

This is such a beautifully simple idea. Its a great example of how taking an idea & running with it can yield fantastic results. To see more, along with a complete list of full addresses visit Papercut.

(source)

Hello all you lovely people! I am not even going to address the fact that its been almost two months since my last post. I am not going to apologize or any of that business because that’s just life! The good news is that I am now on summer vacation which means I have all the free time in the world to blog my heart out! I’ve heard  veteran teachers tell me summers off is the biggest perk to being a teacher, but I don’t think I realized what a great deal it is until I began living it a few days ago!

Without a doubt, summer is upon us. The almost-ninety degree weather & humidity have sent my senses into a sort of shock. All I seem to want to do is lay in bed with the fan turned directly on me, reading or napping or simply staring at the ceiling. This hot weather definitely makes me less productive. I plan on fighting it this summer with all that I’ve got. I need to take advantage of this awesome summers off thing. So, here are a few tentative goals I plan on accomplishing this summer. Feel free to add your own!

1. Exercise & eat healthier. One thing that is an actual plus with summer weather is that my need for snacking actually seems to dissipate. I seem to lose a bit of my appetite what with the hot, balmy weather. I’ve been fairly decent as of late with exercising and eating better, but I think I might need to join a gym because I have zero desire to go out and do much of anything in the 90 degrees temperature. I just want to get in better shape though. I want to feel better about myself and my body’s appearance. I know this is a long process that should probably start with more of a mental mind game than anything, but I’m determined. Eh, we’ll see. (Hah.)
2. Say hello to old friends. I admit, I’m bad at this one. Keeping in touch with friends is definitely something I need to work on. A lot. I am just down-right lazy when it comes to this subject. My goal is to get better at this. I know relationships of any sort take effort. I need to show them that I care!
3. Read as many books as possible. I’m already well on my way. I’ve already finished the amazing book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I want to read the sequel, like, yesterday. But, it’s not available at the library. They’re all checked out! I am trying to read a lot of new, great young adult books this summer so that I’ll have some great recommendations for my students this fall.
4. Fine-tune & reflect on my teaching skills. I’m a teacher & a teacher’s brain never stops thinking in a “teachery” way. I’ve  caught myself in a grocery store having to stop what I’m doing & get out a pad of paper to write down an  idea I’ve had for a lesson (true story). This was my first year as a teacher. I’m taking this summer to decompress all the experiences that I’ve had & try to put together a game plan for the coming school year. As any teacher, I strive to always become better!
5. Relax, try new things, take more pictures, & blog about it! Okay, so this was actually more like four goals in one, but I’m really just too lazy to elaborate. These are pretty self-explanatory. Am I right? Definitely want to focus on the taking more pictures aspect!

Now, what about yourself? What summer goals would you like to set yourself?

(Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins)

A friend of mine on Facebook posted a link to this awesome collection of rare photographs of famous people. Have you seen this? There are a total of 125 rarely-seen photographs featuring celebrities from Marilyn Monroe to Meryl Streep. I LOVE old photographs in general. I think they are so intriguing. Add to that celebrities & you’ve got pure gold in my book. Below, I’ve included a few of my own personal favorites. If you find these enticing, you should check out the rest. Which ones are your favorites?

(Salvador Dali)

(Elizabeth Taylor)

(Marlon Brando)

(Marilyn Monroe)

(Johnny Depp and his niece Megan)

Hello, blog world! I’m sorry I’ve been absent lately. These middle schoolers are making it hard for me to figure out what’s up & whats down lately! However, I’m happy to announce that I’m on my first official Spring Break as a teacher. How lovely, right! I hardly know what to do with myself. It’s as though I have to force myself & my mind to relax & stop thinking about school-related things.

Anyways, my plans for spring break thus far:

1. Finally getting around to joining that gym.
2. Finally getting around to getting my jeans hemmed.
3. Finally getting around to cleaning my apartment.
4. Etc, etc, etc.

Are you sensing a theme? Do you have any big spring break plans? Do tell!

And, so this isn’t just a text post, here’s a picture of me with my nails freshly painted my new favorite color! Loves it.

Here are a few images that I’ve found myself drawn to especially over the past week or so.

There are so many freaking adorable details in the illustration.
Every time I go back to look at it, I find more!
{by Maria Lamar}

Yes, yes it could.
{via Simply Lovely}

I absolutely love Elsita. She constantly amazes me.
{via Elsita}

I like this photograph because I want to be the kind of girl that can wear something like this.
{by Eleonore Bridge}

This absolutely blows my mind. Enough said.
{via Henry Gunderson}

Good morning! Today is my second snow day in a row! I’m quickly learning the perks of being a teacher. Yesterday & (so far) today have been full of luxurious amounts of nothingness! Here are a few photographs I’ve taken thus far today. As you can see, my cat Atlas is joining in on the laziness as well. He was sleeping with me when I decided to get up & make the bed. He wouldn’t move, so I decided to simply make it on top of him. He doesn’t seem to mind too much, does he? He actually stayed that way for about ten minutes! What a nerd.

A view from my apartment window. I’m too much of a baby to go outside & take proper photographs.

Kevin helped me commemorate my very first official snow day by marking it on the calendar. I wrote in “Snow Day #2″ today. How cute, right?

My cute necklace stand given to me by my dear friend Ashley. I just felt like photographing it today for some reason. The thing on the left is a CD that my mother decoupaged with my favorite Emily Dickinson poem on it. So sweet!

I suppose that’s it for now. I am going to go read Pride and Prejudice, drink my chai, & bask in my own laziness.  Are there any photographs of my life that you’d like me to take? I’m taking requests.

{Photo courtesy of AwkwardlyAlex}