Archive for the 'Blabber' Category

Cox wedding

Published at September 6, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

This past weekend, Chris and I had the privilege of shooting my cousin’s wedding.  Congratulations to Zach and Christa!

I have been very sick the past three days, so I only have about 25 photos edited at this point, but here are a few.

 

Zach and Christa got married at Hurricane Hill in Bedford, VA.  We weren’t supposed to go romping through the fields since the facility owners don’t actually own all of the land.  However, I was able to get them this far and take advantage of the amazing mountain views.

 

Zach and Christa share a strong love for cars.  This has been their favorite shot so far.  :)

 

 

More shots here!

Baby Robinson

Published at September 6, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Wow.  I haven’t updated in a long time.  This past Friday, Christopher and I had our 22 week ultrasound.  This was “the big one” where we found out the gender.  And of course we found out.  So, Baby Robinson is a healthy baby BOY!  We’re so incredibly overjoyed and thankful for this wonder blessing.

As you may be able to tell from the photo, he had his legs up over his head and was playing with his feet with his hands.  It was adorable.  I’m not sure what yoga pose that is, but I was thoroughly impressed.

Ivy Lake

Published at June 27, 2010 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Christopher and I have been beating the heat with frequent trips to Ivy Lake.

Abed-nego has not been beating the heat by playing with golf balls with Christopher.

And I’d like to introduce you to the first zucchini of the summer, which will be made into zucchini bread.  In about ten minutes.

baby time!

Published at June 11, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

I don’t think that I have mentioned on here that the Robinson family is extending.
Yep, we’re having a baby!
Here is my ultrasound from today.  Nine weeks and six days!  Due January 9th!

 

 

We decided last November that we felt ready to start trying come spring.  So there you have it!

sneak peak at the Riverside Park wedding

Published at June 6, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Sneak peak at Stephanie and Bernard’s wedding photos at Riverside Park

Grayson Highlands, take II

Published at May 18, 2010 in Hiking, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Last weekend, we went out to Grayson Highlands State Park again.  Last time we went in August, the blue berries were ripe, it was hot hot hot during the day, and cold cold cold at night and morning.

This time, it was freezing all around.  Here in Lynchburg, the weather has been nice, the trees have been fully green for over a month, it feels a lot like summer.  Well, the Highlands were a different story.  It felt like early March!  Cold, breezy, bare trees…  But, as always, it was an amazing trip and totally worth the four-hour drive.  It is just interesting how different areas can be due to elevation–and, just so you know, Lynchburg is indeed in the mountains as well, just not that high up I guess.

Anyway, the main point of the trip was to celebrate my friend Kimmy’s 24th birthday.  Kimmy and I have know each other since kindergarten, so it was tons of fun to show her around Lynchburg, take her camping, introduce her to the ponies, and all that.

Kimmy and her husband, Josh, at the campsite.

Kimmy and Josh hiking to find the ponies.

Christopher and Josh on a crazy rock-mountain that they climbed.  I still don’t know how.

Christopher and a pony.

Me talking to a pony.

Group shot at an overlook.

HDR at the overlook.

More shots on flickr.

weekend in Chesapeake

Published at April 21, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

We spent last weekend in Chesapeake visiting family.  I hadn’t been back since Christmas!  And now a couple of shots of my niece and nephew.


I love that Matthew always wears a cowboy hat.

After dinner and helping with dishes some, I went outside to see Chris on all fours in the grass having a growling contest with Matthew. So silly. I jumped on Chris’s back for a “double monster,” but Sydney quickly wanted a turn and I gave her my spot. After a little while, I realized that Sydney had an accident…. Here is Chris crawling around in the grass, growling back and forth with Matthew, with Syndey clinging to his back, and she has peed on him, yet he didn’t notice yet. It was hilariouss.

 We came home to see that my salvia has bloomed!  Stokeddd!  I’ll post photos some other day of our garden all coming together.

Natural Bridge, VA

Published at April 9, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Christopher and I were feeling like an adventure today, so we drove out toward the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Then we had the sudden idea to just head on over to Natural Bridge.  Why not?  In the nearly three years of living here in Lynchburg, we hadn’t been.  After only about forty minutes of driving, there we were.

 

First, we drove through the Safari Park (which is much more expensive than it used to be) because Chris had never been!  Everyone should drive through the park and feed the zebras, llamas, long horns, and all the other animals at least once.

 

 

We also got to feed giraffes.   It was an unbelievably windy day, so my hair was one, big mess.

 

Also, we went by Foamhenge, a life-size replica of Stonehenge made of, well, foam!  Don’t worry; this one was free.

 

 

By then, it was dinner time and we had major hunger.  Off to the Pink Cadillac Diner, a “restaurant” with just half a star.  It did have this giant gorilla, though, which made it all better.

 

 

[ More photographs ]

cherry blossoms

Published at March 31, 2010 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

The cherry blossoms!

 

in the garden

Published at March 28, 2010 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

The time for planting is almost here and our yard was not ready to receive anything at all.   A while ago, Chris and I decided that we would cut in a new flowerbed along the back fence in our yard.  Last summer, we cut in a vegetable garden by the shed, which was incredibly difficult because we were just using a shovel and rake, the ground was super dry and hard, and there were all sorts of huge mystery roots.  It took days in the heat of August, and we decided that next time (this time?) we would rent a tiller.

Well, the time came to cut in the new flowerbed and Chris kept reminding me, asking if we could do it, and I kept saying, “Later… later…” because I didn’t want to have to deal with the work again.  I remembered last time.  And I wasn’t entirely sure how to go about renting a tiller.  In the end, Chris said not to worry about the tiller, that he’d just do it himself if I simply showed him where I wanted the flowerbed.  How nice, huh?

That idea lasted for a few moments, but then I was actually kind of having fun with helping out.  Chris did all of the shoveling, I bagged leaves and raked up little roots and clods of grass.  It went a lot smoother this time.  Few large roots and the ground was softer–probably because it had recently rained and we weren’t dealing with the same dry dirt as last summer.

So, as of yesterday, it was all cut in, but we need to do a little more raking.  We filled up our trash can completely and decided we should probably take a break.  Not completely finished, but really close.  We did find a ton of bricks, though–easily ten–buried in the dirt.  And two snakes!

Here is our yard as Chris got working yesterday.  Since the grass looks so awful in the winter and early spring, we plan to plant some grass seed in the fall.

 Chris also trimmed back a giant rose of sharon that needed some pruning, which our dog enjoyed devouring.

3/24. Four days into spring

Published at March 26, 2010 in Blabber. 0 Comments

Our daffodils bloomed last week. The tulips of Rivermont are peeking their heads up. The cherry blossom tree in front of my house is about to burst into a thousand little stars that will dot my lawn when the deer stand on their hind legs to eat the cherries from low-hanging branches. It has been a long, cold, but not lonely winter.

A hike at Sharp Top

Published at March 15, 2010 in Hiking, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Weekend four

Published at March 15, 2010 in House renovations, Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

We have come to the end of weekend four of our bathroom adventure.  Seeing as we took it all back to the studs and none of us had tackled such a project before, complete with tiling, I think we did it quite swiftly.  However, it has felt that it has taken forever because of all of the canceled weekend projects in between due to snow and life in general.  We started the demolition on January 4th, so we have been tub-less and down a bath for over three months!

This weekend, though, has it brought it nearly to the end.  I have been saying all along that this weekend would be the “fun” one because nothing should have been too hard aside from the tiling.  Everything was difficult enough, though, and I learned a lot.

Let me remind you, internet world, what we started out with:

 

Behind the badly-weather wood and stained plastic insert stood crumbling, broken tile and rotting, foul wood.  I don’t think that the “before” photographs quite show how awful it once was.  I didn’t like showering or taking a bath because it all felt so dirty.  The bottom the plastic enclosure did not even have caulking anymore where it met the tub, but instead horrible-smelling black mild dew.  So gross.  And rust-stained.  And it was sooo hot because the radiator was really keeping it too toasty and the fan didn’t work since someone had blown insulation over top of it in the attic.  I hated it all and was so embarrassed by it when family would visit.

We ran into a lot of surprises and there were times that I worried about ever finishing.  I guess things just come up every step of the way when working with a 72-year-old house.  But now it is nearly done, and I couldn’t be more pleased.  I think we freshened it up a great deal while maintaining the cottage-y feel authentic to the house.  Even though it took a long time, I think our weekends went rather quickly.

Weekend 1:  demolition–took it back to the stubs and the plumber updated the plumbing.
Weekend 2:  pre-liminary re-building–re-did the wiring, framed and put in the glass blocks, leveled the floor with concrete, took out the radiator, bought the green board and concrete board.
Weekend 3:  re-walling–put up the walls and spackled.
Weekend 4 (this past weekend):  re-prettying–sanding the walls, painting the walls and ceiling, tiling, installing the wainscoting, installing the molding, installing the shower faucets and handle, installing the lights, installing the mirror, installing the toilet.
Weekend 5 (next weekend):  having a professional re-glaze the tub, installing the last two pieces of crown molding, painting the molding and wainscoting, and hooking up the sink.

 

weekend 3, day 1

Published at February 27, 2010 in House renovations, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

 More bathroom work, more insulation, more wiring, more green board, more spackling.

More done.

All of the green board is up and first coat of spackling doneee!  It all feels so much better, so much closer, so much more like a real ROOM!

 

 

 

 

I also recently purchased this chalkboard from an Etsy store.  It is made from old barn wood and sits perfectly on our kitchen wall in a bare spot that we simply were not sure what to fill it with.

 

bathroom week two

Published at February 21, 2010 in House renovations, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

With the snow melting, we’re back to renovating the bathroom!  By Friday night, Christopher and my dad had completed the wiring (two new outlets, the new light fixture, the new ceiling fan, and fixed the light switch box), put up insulation, removed and capped the radiator, and put cement down along the edges to level the floor.  We had hoped to salvage the old tile, but it had many cracks and was severely damaged by the radiator.  Instead, we selected a nice laminate floating floor that will hold up well against moisture and look similar to the rest of the flooring.  Not only is laminate incredibly inexpensive (less than $80 for the whole bathroom), but wood and bamboo floors are not suggested because of water issues.

Saturday brought a new day with new goals and another trip back to Lowe’s.  Chris and my dad picked up the greenboard and concrete board.  I’m not sure how they managed to carry all those boards–so heavy!  Instead of putting in a window, we opted for glass blocks since, well, it is in the shower.  Creating the frame was quite a pain because, as you can see, the original frame wasn’t even level.  I was so thrilled to see the window finally uncovered.  It let so much light in!  I can’t express how dark and grimy our bathroom used to feel.  Then they managed to get some greenboard up.

I picked up these knobs from Anthropologie to dress up the new vanity.  They have a ton of great hardware.  Kind of pricey, but very nice.  These were $6 each.

We thought about shifting plans around and getting a clawfoot tub instead of tiling for about ten minutes.  I wish we could, but it would just be too expensive.  I know it will look great anyway.  So, next weekend we will get back to work again, take a week off, and then hopefully be in our last weekend of work.  And be done!  I am planning a red ribbon cutting ceremony and everything.  I think that my dad should be honored with the first shower because he has been such a big help through all of these projects.

As the upstairs bathroom project is coming kind of near a close, I keep thinking up new projects.  Too many. Ahh!  Home renovations are fun, but I could go broke with all of my ideas.

Winter kept us warm, covering/Earth in forgetful snow

Published at February 6, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Another six inches of snow.

 

in the trees

Published at January 31, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 2 Comments

So, I like the snow and all, but it gets kind of ridiculously boring not being able to go anywhere.  I thought I’d brave it last time and ended up getting my car stuck, causing me to never want to drive in the snow again.  This snow, we got “just under a foot,” according to the news, and they didn’t plow our street until around 4:00 pm.  No luck in getting out at all.

Fortunately, our house is within walking distance of a lot of great places to eat.  Chris and I decided we needed out and headed down to The Caviler.

Afterward, we grabbed the sleds and headed over to Vista Ave, a very, very steep road in our neighborhood with trees on either side.  This road is so rough that it has been closed down twice for the snow, making it awesome awesome awesome for sledding.  So we thought.  We took turns using the old traditional sled that belonged to Chris’s dad and also a green, plastic, modern sled that resembles a trashcan lid.  Both worked great, but the newer sled did now allow for as much control and usually left the rider spinning.

After a few trips down the road, a snow plow truck came through.  And as you can see in the last picture, this road is so bad and crazy that the snow plow actually got stuck!  We never did see that situation come to a resolution and I sure hope that he isn’t still sitting there in his car.  Poor guy.  That road is nuts!

So, we decided to pack it up and head home when I had the bright idea of filming a sled ride from “my perspective.”  I chose the green sled since it lends itself for a more crazy ride.  Yeah.  Bad idea.  I spun out of control, cruised right over the road’s curb, flew straight down about six feet (at least!!!) into the woods.  And ended up sitting on top and kind of inside of a little tree.  You can see the video here.

It was so fun and crazy and I’m lucky that I didn’t slam into a larger tree.  Goodness, this could have been so bad!  I have bruises all over and am super sore, but I certainly cannot complain much.

And I plan to do it all over again tomorrow.

second snow

Published at January 30, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments


Lynchburg got about nine inches of snow, our second of the season.

 


Neko was not so sure about us going out into the white stuff.

 


Chris shoveling out a path in the back yard.  He kind of looks like a marionette puppet to me.

More photos

Point of Honor

Published at January 18, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Free museum day in Lynchburg!

We toured Point of Honor.

Nekoooo

Published at January 12, 2010 in Blabber. 0 Comments

me:  Hey!  Look!  A fortune on the floor…  This must be from the fortune cookie that Neko [our cat] got into….  “Money isn’t everything.  You can buy a doctor, but you can’t buy health.”  What a horrible fortune to give a cat with leukemia!

2010!

Published at January 6, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 2 Comments

I haven’t really been thinking about the fact that the year has indeed clocked over to 2010.  Now I keep wondering how I will say it.  “Twenty-ten” or “two thousand and ten.”  The former is much short, but I don’t like it.  So I won’t say it.

Here are my goals for 2010–not resolutions, just goals:

-Finish the Ed.S. after this summer.
-By the new year, have 3/4 of my doctorate coursework completed.
-Come up with an awesome dissertation topic.
-Maintain a 4.0.
-Write fiction or CNF at least three times a week–whether or not I feel inspired.
-Submit three manuscripts for publication.
-Politic with MFA department heads.
-Teach three English courses per sub-term for LUO.
-Try to teach English  as an adjunct residentially with a local college.
-Work on my family history project.
-Get my family involved in my family history project–see, you guys didn’t even know I started one!  Months ago!
-Get that bathroom remodeled.
-Exercise consistently.
-Eat healthily consistently.
And now…  2009 in photographs.

K for Katie at the apartment!

So much thesising happened.

Ice storm at the end of January.

After the worst job fair ever.  Our worries for the days after graduation grow.

Snow in March!  The next morning, I was offered a job interview in Tampa.

A few hours after my Tampa interview.  I guess they decided that they didn’t have a position after all? It was for the best.

Mt. Pleasant.  One of my favorite places.

Graduation!  M.A. in English.

We got the jobs in Liberty’s education office on the drive to vacation at Pompano Beach (but this was taken in Key West).

And then we vacationed in Nags Head.

Chris was hired to teach English for LUO.  We began our doctorates.  And we bought a house in Lynchburg’s historic neighborhood, Rivermont.

Backpacking with ponies (Grayson Highlands).

Apple Orchard Falls

We adopted Neko in October.

McAfee Knob

Hosting our first Thanksgiving

I was hired to teach English for LUO.  Snow in Lynchburg!

Building a gingerbread house with my niece and nephew, Sydney and Matthew.

gingerbread

Published at January 1, 2010 in Cooking, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

I guess I should be updating about the new year, but I won’t quite yet.  I forgot to post Christmas photos.

 

I gave Sydney and Matthew a gingerbread house.

 

 

 

Other Christmas adventure photographs

the corner of Riverside and Rivermont.

Published at December 21, 2009 in Blabber. 0 Comments

The sound of dripping water, melting snow, collapsing ice.
It did not soften soon enough for us–stuck in the sludge at the corner of Riverside and Rivermont.
Two views of the one River, streaming James out to Richmond, formerly the ferry of Thomas,
Namesake of our city.
Fortunately, Lynchburgers are kind.
Two strangers and our neighbor helped to push us out.

I’m not leaving the house again for at least two more days.

Did I mention…

Published at December 20, 2009 in Movies, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

…that it snowed?

(More photos)

Like, a lot.  Over fourteen inches.  Man, the last time I saw so much snow in Virginia was when I was nine.
Fortunately in Lynchburg, we seem to get at least one good snowy storm a year.  Last year was seven inches.  But, really, I don’t know when we’ll be able get out.  Until then, it is time for Star Wars (particularly Empire), Lord of the Rings, and Indiana Jones.  Epic-movie time.

jobz

Published at December 18, 2009 in Blabber. 0 Comments

By the way, I am LUO’s newest English faculty member.  Pretty awesome, huh?  I can’t wait to teach again.

Does that mean I am a professor or just an instructor?  I don’t know, but it is better than being just a GSA.  I’m still GSAing in the ed department, though–and happily doing so.  Free tuition?  Yes, please!

vulturezzz

Published at December 18, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

 The other day, there were at least 100 vultures in trees and soaring around our neighborhood.

 

Nutcracker Revisited

Published at December 13, 2009 in Blabber. 0 Comments

Chris surprised me yesterday morning with tickets to see The Nutcracker in Roanoke.  I have always loved that ballet as a kid and looked forward to renting the movie each year and receiving a nutcracker as a present.  We had a fancy dinner downtown and then walked over to the civic center for the ballet.  Very exciting.

After spending years critiquing and analyzing literature, it is difficult not to apply it to most every area of entertainment.  Movies do not go unpicked apart, and sometimes I’d like to turn the literary critic off in my mind, but I do think that it is good to constantly be analyzing.  On the way home, Chris and I discussed all of the subtleties of the ballet that we noticed.

When I was younger, there was this oneee version of The Nutcracker that I loved and would rent every Christmas.  Then the video store changed hands and I could never figure out which one it was.  I was so disappointed and for years searched for that film without any luck.  Well, after doing some online searching tonight, I finally found it.  And watched it on Hulu.  And was incredibly disturbed.

I could go on about how they adjusted the ballet far too much:  playing songs out of order, not even having the Spanish dance be done with Spanish dancers, not having a Sugar Plum Fairy at all, and the Sugar Plum world being a kingdom ruled by the godfather–and the dancers all dancing in response to the crack of a whip opposed to out of, I don’t know, a magical existance?

What bothered me more than anything is how horribly creepy the godfather is as he seems to try to seduce Clara–thus, pissing off the Caviler–because this odd undertone of a tension in the ballet is something that I’d like to ignore.  And I don’t think it is supposed to be that way.  This movie, though, completely emphasized and highlight it.

Well, I know this is all not even worth writing, really.  I didn’t finish watching it because I hadn’t sat down with intentions of watching the same ballet all over again.  It is an old, silly movie, but it is interesting what you notice when you’re older.

Published at December 9, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

We finally decorated our tree last Sunday

 

And I tortured the pets by pretending to hang them in the tree like ornaments.

because the quotes page isn’t around anymore

Published at December 1, 2009 in Blabber. 3 Comments

Chris:  You kind of looked like an iguana.
Kt:  Add that to your list of things not to say to a girl.

Kt:  What!  There’s Monday night football now too?!  All day Sunday and then all day Saturday for college football and Monday night too?
Chris:  There’s always been Monday night football.
Kt:  I didn’t know that….
Chris:  I used to be allowed to stay up past bedtime to watch Monday night football when I was a kid.  Hank Williams even sings about getting rowdy on Monday night.
Kt:  Well, I didn’t know what they were getting rowdy about.
Chris:  I guess the song did come before Monday night football.

got the tree!

Published at November 30, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

In between the short rain splatters, we got our tree.  :)

 

 

 

I always knew that surf rack would be good for something.

 

Christmas decorations

Published at November 28, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

 Thanksgiving is over.  Time for Christmas, then.  Finally.
We have candles in the windows, but decided to put small wreaths in the windows and we’ll put a large, real wreath on the front door.  So, we picked up some wreaths and bows from Michael’s, which I put together.  Simple and so much less expensive to just attach the bow itself.  Tomorrow, perhaps the tree?

 

Thanksgiving 2009

Published at November 26, 2009 in Cooking, Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

I suppose Thanksgiving is nearly over and I haven’t updated in quite some time, so, might as well.

Last weekend, we had pre-Thanksgiving festivities with my family.  Unfortunately, we forgot our cameras (rawr!), so I don’t have any pictures to speak of.  Just a couple of shots taken on Christopher’s phone and a few videos, but nothing worth publishing.  It was great to be home visiting with the family and we brought our new kitten with us–for some crazy reason.  She cried for the first two hours in the car and then nestled on Mr. Rufus’s cage (our rabbit).  It all is rather silly traveling with a dog, rabbit, and cat just for a couple of days.  I felt like one of those circus wagons riding along the road and our’s happened to be part of the zoo.  I’m glad that we brought all of them, though, because my niece and nephew really love the rabbit and the dog and got to meet the kitty whom they also fell in love with.

Now on actual Thanksgiving, Chris and I were hosting for the first time and his family came to Lynchburg today.  We woke up to Neko and Abed-nego having a vicious dog-cat battle on our bed.  Chris managed to take a video with his phone (is this the hey-Chris-has-a-phone entry or what?) and I posted it here for all the world to see if it so chooses.  I think you have to have Quicktime. As you can see in the video, these fights are always started by the cat, she always goes for Abed-nego’s neck, and he always lets her win.  How sweet….

We got up and I did last minute cleaning while Chris prepped the turkey.  We brushed butter and herbs on the outside and stuffed the turkey with celery, onions, and herbs.  The turkey stood prepped and popped in the oven around 10:30 am and we waited for family to arrive.

His family came in around 11:30 am, hellos and talks and how-cute-is-that-kitty and yes-Bendy-we-still-love-you and then we smelled it….  A hint of burning.  The turkey–which we expected to be done around 2:30 pm–was completely done at 1:00 pm!  So, we quickly made the rest of the sides (corn, broccoli with cheese, cranberry sauce, hand-made mashed potatoes, stuffing, and rolls).  No, I’m not a casserole person.  Sorry.   Had there been requests, I certainly would have complied, but there were none.  Anyway, we threw it all together while Chris and his dad carved the turkey.

p.s.  How cute is my sister-in-law, Elizabeth?

Everyone seemed quite happy with the food, so I think it was quite the successful first Thanksgiving.  Then, as we were doing dishes, someone (I don’t remember who) pointed out that we completely forgot to put the rolls on the table.  Ahh!  They’re the best part!  After dinner and clean up and dessert with coffee, we rode around to look at the silly people camped out in front of stores and wandered through Wal Mart to look for silly people.  Picked up Funny People from a Redbox, but turned it off about 20 minutes it.  Too over the top.  Sorry.  Instead, we watched bits of Home Alone and Love Actually.  And now it is time for bed.

Tomorrow:  catching a movie and crazy shopping.

 More photos

whooo?

Published at November 19, 2009 in Blabber. 0 Comments

kt:  The Guess Who also has a song like that.
Chris:  Who?
kt:  The Guess Who…
Chris:  Ah, you got me.
kt:  But I wasn’t trying to!
Chris:  Oh

bike ride

Published at November 17, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Blackwater Creek bike ride with Stephanie and Bernard!
Ahh, I love that my house is so close to the park.  So awesome.

apple pieee

Published at November 12, 2009 in Cooking, Photography and Blabber. 3 Comments

 

 

new curtains

Published at November 8, 2009 in House renovations, Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

Chris and I hung some curtains in the living room.  It has been a mostly brown room, so I thought some curtains would help bring in more color.  I’m not much of a curtain person and don’t really plan to hang more in any other rooms.  I like simple, open, bright windows.

 

 

With the curtains, new lamps from Ikea, and pictures, I think the living room has come a long way from when I first posted pictures of our house renovations.

We also got these antique-style, crystal door knobs to pull them back.

 

pet photo time

Published at November 6, 2009 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 2 Comments

Mr. Rufus in the garden.
We planted the collards just for her, but she wasn’t interested.

kitty

Published at November 4, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 2 Comments

Kitty loves to play.  And killl.

door knobs

Published at November 3, 2009 in House renovations, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Wouldn’t it feel nice to always be clasping a piece of artwork when opening or closing a door?

I am on the lookout for old doorknobs.  I am happy to say that all of the doorknobs in our house are old, worn, and I believe original to our 1938 home.  However, the backdoor does not have a door knob at all–just a big hole where one once was and metal plate around it.  So, I’m trying to figure out how in the world we can find one to fit.

This past weekend, my dad and Chris were able to put a back light up along with a few other things.  It is quite cute.

Chris drilling the hole into our brick…

And…  Tada! 

We have some significant home improvement plans coming up.  We’re going to tackle the upstairs bathroom and it is going to go down hard and be a big pain and somehow we will tile the shower and then it will be awesome.

By the way, isn’t this kitchen from Design*Sponge amazing?

It kind of reminds me of my own, which makes me pretty happy.  I guess that is why I like it.

sling?

Published at October 28, 2009 in Blabber. 0 Comments

Chris:  What are those women wearing?!  Oh…  Babies….

case of the Tuesdays

Published at October 27, 2009 in Cooking and Blabber. 1 Comment

I was having an off day.  I suppose it was a “case of the Mondays” on a Tuesday since it is the first day of my work week.  Nothing seemed to be going my way, but nothing was that bad.  Just inconveniences.

I decided to try a new recipe to make up for it, so on the way home from work, Chris and I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a French baguette, artichoke hearts, and low fast cream cheese.  I made a spinach artichoke dip with toasted slices of the French baguette.  Yummmz.

Now the rain, which had me bummed earlier today, is actually quite soothing.

McAfee in October

Published at October 26, 2009 in Hiking, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Hiked McAfee Knob today!

 This weekend was supposed to be the peak of fall foliage for Lynchburg, so what better way to celebrate than to hike to one of the most photographed spot on the AT?  McAfee Knob it was.

We hadn’t hiked the knob since last November.  Late November.  In the middle of a mild snow storm.  It was a fun hike that day with an amazing view, but I knew it could be better.  I knew in a different season, it would be more amazing.  And today, it was.

We took a different route to get there this time, coming in from the back of 311, I suppose, and picked up a hitchhiker on the way (but don’t tell my mom).  He had been on the trail for five weeks and came down from Maryland.  He needed a ride to the parking lot to hike Dragon’s Tooth on his way south since he had gone into town for supplies.  Since it is such a popular section of the trail, the parking lot was quite crowded, but we surprisingly did not run into that many people on the trail and were able to enjoy the summit alone for quite a while.

Here are some summative shots:

Closer to dangling my legs off, but just not quite there.

Christopher!  The trees were awesomeee.

And a couple of HDR shots.

A local day hiker and a nice couple from New Jersey.

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pruning the salvia

Published at October 25, 2009 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Pruning my spriggsss.

 You know, it’s funny.  I planted three salvia plants about four weeks ago.  Salvia is supposed to like direct sunlight, though some can handle partial shade well.  I went against suggestions and planted one in direct sun and the other two in partial shade, worrying all the while.  Well, the one in direct sun is doing kind of all right whereas the two in partial shade are doing great in full bloom!   Whaaat?  I cut off the dying sprigs today, so that should help some.

Yesterday, we met Christopher’s family in Charlottesville for lunch.  Right in the middle of a crazy rain storm.  And as soon I stepped out of the car, I went right into a huge puddle.  My shoe was completely soaked along with my pant legs.  Grosss.  To make things worse, someone hit his parents’ van in the parking lot while we were sitting down for coffee and didn’t leave a note.  The bumper is so messed up that it didn’t look like they could open the trunk.  Man, Charlottesville, we’re going to have a serious discussion soon if this keeps up.  It was nice to see them, though.

An Autumn Stroll Through Our Neighborhood

Published at October 23, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

I love our neighborhood and our walks and our trees with their orange leaves.
I would have a lot of difficulty moving away from this side of Lynchburg.

Neko and Abed-nego are laying on their sides, taking turns walloping one another in the face.  They will do this for a little while and then take a nap together.

 

James River Foot Bridge in the fall

Published at October 20, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Yesterday we visited the foot bridge.

 

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end of term, midterm, beginning of term.

Published at October 19, 2009 in Blabber. 0 Comments

This is me at the end of the term for Educ 721.
This is me at midterm for Educ 623 and 701.
This is me at the beginning of the term for Educ 740.

Sub terms are confusing!

Abed-nego is at the vet right now getting his teeth cleaned.  They were something awful.  I can’t help but feel bad for the little guy because he was so excited to get in the car to go for a ride–and not so excited to be at the vet.  I feel like I tricked him.

khat

Published at October 17, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

I am layin on yo billz.

creamer

Published at October 16, 2009 in Blabber. 0 Comments

Sipping on coffee with pumpkin spice creamer.  Perfect for this weather:  cold, dark, and damp with leaves blowing around.

We caved and turned on our heat, which has been quite the experience.   I continually think that Chris is boiling water for tea or something because the radiators are such chatter boxes.  But they are boiling water, right?  So it makes sense?  We had radiators in my dorm at Longwood (North Cunningham), yet I don’t remember them being so loud.

Speaking of the Cunninghams, Longwood has turned them into a student center!  After 80 years, they are no longer dorms, which I find kind of sad, but glad that they weren’t simply torn down.

Today I spent most of my time cuddling under blankets with my puppy and kitty.  Bunny wasn’t too sure about joining our party.  Then Chris and I went by the record store to ask our record man about the J. Tillman album and continue the eternal search for Blonde on Blonde.  No such luck.  We had pizza at Waterstone and bought groceries.  Exciting much?  Yes, to me it is.

Last night.
Me:  Our adventures are like the dates of middle schoolers.
Chris:  Why?
Me:  We get slurpees and loiter in parking lots.

LTCI

Published at October 14, 2009 in Blabber. 2 Comments

I think that I am feeling a little closer to better now.  Our vet is very happy to work with us and I am relieved that she is in favor of looking into new treatments.  In a month, we are going to have the IFA test done, which will give her time to possibly fight the virus with her own immune system.  With the IFA test, they will look at her blood cells and there is a 1 to 2% chance that she could just be a carrier of FeLV and actually be immune to the virus itself.

Then, if she does still have it, we are going to administer LTCI.  The vet suggested that we conduct six month wellness check ups with lots of tests to monitor her and wait on the LTCI until she shows signs of declining.  I don’t know if we should wait all the way or not, but we have a month to think about it anyway.

I love the kitty.  I love how she takes breaks while eating to rub against me to say “thank you.”  And I love how she runs all around the house playing at night, but jumps in bed to cuddle many times.  I love waking up to her sharing my pillow.  I love how she totally takes down cave crickets in a matter of seconds and eats their legs.  Ha!  I love how she bops Abed-nego on the nose to get him to chase her whenever he hangs his snout over the couch.  I love how she follows me all around the house and of course Abed-nego follows her, so I continually have a parade at my heels.  I love how she purrs and begs for cuddles during the day.  She is the best cat, more than I ever could have asked for.  Even if it gets expensive, she deserves a chance.

Sorry to be so cat-minded lately.  It was a lot to take in on Monday:  from happy new kitty feelings to sudden “are-we-losing-kitty?” questions.

In other news, my ring finger feels very odd.  We took my wedding band and engagement ring in to get the gold re-roted (or whatever).  Most people get it done every six months or every year for white gold, but I had never gotten my band done (two years and four months!) and it had been since June 2008 for my engagement ring.  They needed it.  I won’t get them back for about another week and a half.  Erg.

“B term” is ending this week, so I’ll have finished my first doctoral class.  Things are looking good with that.  Pretty stoked.

It is rainy and gross today.  No good.  Although, I didn’t water the garden this morning so…

vettt

Published at October 12, 2009 in Blabber. 4 Comments

We just got back from the vet for Neko’s first check up.  Things did not go well.  Not at all.

As it turns out, Kitty has feline leukemia, which I suppose is much more of an immunity issue than cancer as the name suggests.  I guess they called it leukemia because it was often paired with cancer.  So, Kitty has a 15% chance of making it to four years of age:  most die around two or three years.

Major disappointment, but what can you do?   Take her back?  They’ll just put her to sleep.  We decided to try to give her the best life possible and know that her time will more than likely be quite short.  She could go tomorrow or she could live beyond four years somehow.  I worry so much because she has had a cold since we got her.   We have her on antibiotics, but you never know when it will be or if she can combat it.

So, we brought her home and played with some mice, then curled up on the couch together.  I really have never met such a sweet cat.  She is the nicest ever.  No exaggeration at all.  Why does she have to spend six months in a cage and then suffer through feline leukemia?  Just life, I suppose.  I wanted to do the right thing and rescue a kitty.  I guess some people wouldn’t have kept her, so I really am rescuing her in a bigger way.  I hope I can keep her happy.