you scream...

I am never allowed to buy Edy's Girl Scouts Thin Mint chocolate ice cream again. Never ever. Ever. Ever. It is definitely not making me thin. It's making me sick. Thank the high heavens it's being sold for a limited time only. Open mouth, insert spoon. Repeat indefinitely.

Blasted. Swimsuit season, here we come.

time trials...

Today was fulfilling. Peaceful. Rewarding.

Some work buddies and I participated in the Trolley Run this morning. Had breakfast after, and coffee. Delicious coffee. Then spent most of the afternoon editing photos and working up a DVD presentation. Good day for it, as the clouds were heavy with rain and the sun was afraid to shine. I could watch the great outdoors all from the comfort of the dining room window.

This week is going to be long, but the weekend sure was nice.

Even went to the RiverMarket farmer's market. Bought a carton of crazy-good strawberries. I had forgotten how real strawberries taste. Oh, that's right. Like pure awesomeness.

i am woman...

Today was a big day. Last night I purchased an external hard drive for little Mac so he could have more space (yes, I've used that as a break-up line too). This morning I formatted the new hard drive and felt like a bad ass. Yep, I did. Bad. Ass. And with only one call to my tech hotline in the process (aka either Doll or my brother... this time Doll) I felt like I'd accomplished something from complete scratch. Something I, twenty-four hours ago, knew nothing about.

Rwar.

And tonight I had an engagement session with the cutest, sweetest couple. Ah, they were so wonderful and took beautifully fierce shots. Can't wait to dig into those this weekend. It's like candy to me, sorting through all the photographs and selecting the best. And now that the photo files have a new home on Happy Place (I named my external hd, okay? It's weird, I know, but it means the world to me as I could not operate with it...) And, just for fun, attached is a photo from the shoot. I don't usually cross my personal blog with my photography blog, but eh, what the heck.

I just can't help myself.

Nighty night.

so lost without you...

My precious little MacBook is plum full and has no room for even an itty bitty file on it's hard drive. Which is incredibly sad to begin with, but even worse that the photos on the Nikon have to sit patiently on a memory card until I purchase some external hard drive space. Sniffle. Seriously. I'm uploading from that thing about every other day, now it all comes to a screeching halt.

There are worse things in life, absolutely. And I'll survive. I sure hope the Seagate external drive I have in mind goes on sale soon. Until then, blog is pictureless.

Did have a fabulous weekend though - parents came to visit, stayed in Manhattan Friday night, then worked our way up through Topeka and my cousin's volleyball tournament, to Kansas City. Where we shopped a little too much, took naps and read at Loose Park, then went neighborhood cruising around Brookside at all the beautiful homes I would someday like to own. Someday. Like in ten years.

don't give me no pop...

You could say I'm quite obsessed about all things food - eating it, figuring out how it was made, consuming responsibly raised meats, and trying recipes beyond ground beef and casseroles. Before tasting something I've made my roommate typically points, wrinkles her nose, and says, "What is that? The things you make are just... weird." Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment. That's why I was ecstatic (seriously, like a little kid on a field trip) our work group recently spent a beautiful morning at Shatto Dairy - a family owned farm just north of KC where the cows happily munch grass in green pasture and are not injected with the growth hormone rBGH

You might have noticed the Shatto milk brand on the shelves of Hy-Vees and specialty grocers in the Kansas City area. Their brand is cute and clever and the milk is packaged in beautiful glass bottles with quirky words that make me smile. If I wasn't a fan already, (I was, but my nearest grocery store doesn't carry it - darn them!) after touring the dairy I was hooked. The family operation is incredibly transparent. The tour began in the milking area, which milks twelve cows at a time (I think... forgive me if some of my logistics are off; I was going a little crazy with the camera at this point). They start at 3am (no thank you!) and shuffle over 150 cows through in record time. Next we had the opportunity for everyone to milk a heifer. It took me a few tries before having much success. And although it wasn't exactly as I thought it might be, I could see someone getting the hang of it pretty quickly with a few practices.

After petting baby calves and enjoying the patio out front via porch swing, the tour continued through the rest of the facility. My favorite part, of course, the cheese cave. The room is set up - temperature, humidity, mustiness - to perfectly mimic a cave. Apparently this is the best environment for cheese to hang out in and get more delicious by the minute. If you haven't tried Shatto cheese, um, get your booty to the grocery store. Pronto - go! It's delicious. And it supports a local farmer.
The last leg of the tour was taste sampling. We tried Rootbeer Milk (awesome, awesome, awesome) and Chocolate Milk (even better) and vanilla ice cream. It doesn't get much fresher than that.

Our tour guide was actually with farmer who started it all (Leroy, I think...?). He is a laid back, hilarious, and completely down to earth guy who, quite frankly, is humbly dumbfounded at the huge success his dairy has had. If you look around it's easy to see why it works so well - he has a wonderful, delicious product and he does things the right way. Leroy isn't looking for shortcuts; he just wants the best product his cows can provide to land in the hands of the all-consuming public, as soon as it possibly can. And he works his butt off to do so. No wonder the Shatto craze is catching on.

If you're looking for something out of the ordinary to do over a spring or summer weekend, set up an appointment with the dairy and spend an afternoon at Shatto! Pack a camera and pack a lunch, then be prepared to enjoy life in the slow lane for a few hours. Heck, even the drive out there had me forgetting all my work-filled woes. And don't come back until you've reached homemade ice cream nirvana. Ah, food bliss.

thank you sir, may i have another...

Before thinking I've gone more than nuts for posting a photo of a miniature Beanie Baby penguin named Zero, I shall explain.

I'm detoxing my life, my closets, my cubbies. All this stuff - crammed in boxes, shoved into corners, stacked on shelf upon shelf, in every nook and crannie of my existence. I'm over it. Done-do over. Over the clutter. Over the dust collectors. Over the distractions.

This weekend was the first installment of uncluttering my life. I went through piles, threw out things until it hurt a little, and even resorted to the, "hey, take a picture of it so you'll keep the memory and not the stuff". So, therefore, my friend Zero, who has lived in a shoebox for over a year, had his picture snapped and waved goodbye (can't you tell he's signing off?). Hopefully he'll soon have a home with someone who loves him dearly. I love who gave it to me - Dad, a couple of years ago for Christmas (because I had a very weird obsession with penguins awhile back... it's not my fault, SeaWorld made me) - but I don't love having too much stuff. And I hold a special place for all things Dad gives me, because he's not typically the gift giver; that's Mom's department. So when he picks something out all on his own, it's really special, because it must have reminded him of me, and it's a reflection of how much he cares about his kids. But it doesn't equal Dad's love, and I know he won't be upset it that I'm not keeping it forever.

The continuous process of uncluttering my life now consists of analyzing every purchase, maybe to the point of annoying myself a bit. Do I NEED this? Do I really, really NEED this really cute, difficult to find, perfect beautiful THING to set on my beautiful, perfect and expensive SHELF, because that SHELF needs more THINGS to set on it. Do I really NEED it? Really? OR...

Will it sit there collecting beautiful, perfect dust? Most of the time it IS a dust collector, and I don't need it. I just really wanted it. So it's stays on the shelf in the store. And I can admire it every time I return without spending a hot-diggity dime.

Don't get me started on shoe consumption... I have a minimizer plan on those as well. But I'll save it for another time. And yes, I'm a girl, and I love shoes too. Perhaps I just don't need as many...

exhale...

Some days are hard, but then again, some days can't get much better. Like this whole weekend. Sunshine, bird-chirping, sandal wearing bliss.

Deep breath in. Aaaahh.

And I cleaned out closets. And drawers. And basements. Triple aaahhh.

someday...

Tonight is a lonely night. Thoughts spin around my head until I feel dizzy and disoriented. And although it's quiet in my room, even throughout the house, my mind reverberates with loud, clanging and unconnected pieces and parts. I want to sleep but haven't been sleeping well. Last night I dreamt I was in an airplane when the engine stalled and we began free falling. I started praying, preparing to die. Everyone around me was doing the same. At the last moment the engine caught and we swooped upward, seconds from crashing into the city below. Immediately after realizing we were going to be okay, I swore off flying forever. I felt better after that, peaceful almost. Like I had some sort of control in this crazy life - I never had to get on an airplane again.

Maybe I'm homesick. Above is a photo of my Dad taken Easter weekend. It's his playful sad face. I think it's his basset hound face... imitating our beloved puppy, Missy. Or maybe it's because he couldn't find enough hidden eggs for his Easter basket. I loved being back, loved spending time with the family cooking, playing, storytelling. Just being. I wish they lived closer, so we could just be more often. I hope they know how much I love them. How can you ever show someone enough?