sunny, clear skies ahead

Ready for the weekend!!!!! Off to the valley to see Andrew tonight and then we are waking up and hittin' the A.T. (Appalachian Trail.....I've learned the cool way to refer to is it the A.T.) Although if anyone has seen me hike, I am the definition of an un-cool hiker

This is how I ended up on our last hike:

I am making improvements though. NO staying up late tonight and ONLY healthy foods will be consumed before our hike.

happy happy weekend

cleaning up leftover seeds and stems from last night has confirmed my fear...

found my vice here

I am a cherry addict.

why can’t we let those smiles slip out? that is cool. the smile that shows all your gums & your bones.

I have been meaning to post this find for awhile.

Tonight will work.

YOU ARE REMARKABLE is a great blog that I stumbled upon. I loved this entry about hiding behind "their internet personality, their favourite scene. what’s so wrong with being messy & laughing until your lungs hurt? why is that not cool? "

and who hasn't been here before:

"why is that [referring to being messy and laughing until your lungs hurt] not something we photograph & if it does per chance get photographed we immediately de-tag ourselves or throw it into photoshop because god-forbid we don’t look perfect. "

So in honor of appreciating those messy, wonderful "lost" pictures I will post this beauty.

andrew is beside me with a very goofy face. I am so sweet for not exposing it for all the world* to see.

*Over the weekend:

A: So, who reads your blog?

Me: I think just me. And, um, like, two of my friends.

it's a beauty. i just can't thread it.

This is what I was so excited about.

A White Series 77 Sewing Machine

Short story on why I am so excited:

I have really odd dreams. All of the time. A few weeks ago I had a very vividly real dream that I was buying sewing machine (beautiful, old, well kept..) from a yard sale. A woman approached me about the machine and she told me that it had been her mothers who had just passed away.

and I bought it (in my dream).

Ever since then I have really really wanted to find this old sewing machine. After many unsuccessful trips to local thrift/consignment shops she finally appeared.

The woman who had owned the machine (who also happened to be the owners mother-in-law) had just passed away.

Okay. I know. This really isn't anything special BUT I felt like it was a little creepy and maybe I secretly think there will be a ghost or spirit in this sewing machine.

OH and,

many thanks to the poor neighbors who happened to walk by today and get suckered into helping me lug this solid wood table up a flight of stairs.

I've always depended on the kindness of strangers.

bursting at the seams

I bought a secret present today for myself and I can't wait to go on and on about it but I can't, shan't, won't until it is here.

I will tell this. I have been looking for this special, particular thing forever and today....there it was. And then it spoke to me and said, "buy me, now"

and I did as I was told.

"they will see us waving from such great heights, come down now, they'll say"

I found this pretty pic here

This morning I drove through a cloud over Afton Mountain.

(well..I guess it was fog but I like to believe I went through a big puffy cloud)

And I could only faintly see the cars in front of me and behind me.

It was just me

the cloud

and this song

It was wonderful.

love.

give me some sun!!!

I found this here!

We are off to Virginia Beach today!

Plans are to visit with the family and soak up the sun.
I'm also excited to show Andrew where I grew up and to do a little reminiscing myself.

Have a happy, happy weekend!

five days

I have a big smile on my face

because after a very long trip back home to Norton on Tuesday night

and getting some personal things on track

and driving back to Richmond on Wednesday

In total-- counting the 12 hour trip home and back--I will get to spend 5 days with Andrew.

and that doesn't happen to often.

AND the sun is shining awfully bright and wonderful today.

just put this on repeat.

I really liked my weekend. And I'm really exhausted.

:)

the weekend ahead

If you pass a brunette in a white van this weekend in Virginia

Honk, wave and give me all your money

(hey..it's for a good cause!)

Off for my GREAT STRIDES walks in Charlottesville and Winchester!

I just finished fueling up for the trip...

This should give me a complete sugar boost for the ride to Cville.

have a wonderful weekend :)

2 creatures who let me be me

one has no choice

(I am bigger than her and she can't speak to tell me otherwise)

and the other somehow finds it all endearing

thanks to both of my favorite creatures

on the road again

Image found here

After work today I will be hitting the road to meet a wonderful friend and fellow musician who is helping me in my journey to play and sing...AT THE SAME TIME.

It's harder than one would think. I can tinker around on the guitar and have picked it up for over a year now. I can find chords well enough to write songs but I can't seem to put the two together.

i'm making progress :)

sweetness

I spent the morning in Charlottesville, VA running some work errands and after I finished up my duties I started to hit the road back to Richmond- just needed a little pick me up before my travels.

I had noticed a little donut and coffee shop called, "Spudnuts" earlier in the day and decided a donut and coffee sounded perfectly delightful as my mid-morning snack.

I loved this little shop. $1.58 later I had a chocolate glazed donut and smedium (somewhere between the medium size and the teeny-tiny small size) coffee. I took a seat on the bar stool, admired all of the comic strips, pictures and old newspaper clippings on the wall and loved this poster staring me right in the face:

Time is

too slow for those who wait

too swift for those who grieve

too short for those who rejoice

but for those who love,

time is

eternity.

Isn't that lovely? Thought so too. My Andrew called as soon as I set open to steal a quick few pages of this wonderful book, "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society", recommended by my dear friend Amy.

I told him what I was doing, he laughed and said, "Val, the D in Diet does not stand for donut" (I have been trying to cut down on my sweets). Oopps.

*he doesn't know about the 2nd donut to-go*

Admission

I admit it.

I started this blog and then got scared. Scared of what? Maybe of what other people would think of me. But that is silly. I have pictures posted everywhere on Facebook, a Myspace page that has my music on it (which was a BIG step for me) but for some reason thinking that someone, anyone would want to know my thoughts and experiences seemed......well, a bit self indulgent.

But then I thought about all of the blogs I have been following and stumbling upon and how they have lifted my spirits and made me not feel all alone (which I admit I do feel sometimes in my apartment with most of my love ones residing in different cities). I love to get this window view into their lives. These people are not lifting themselves up, they lift others up. And that is what I want to do. I have a feeling, deep down inside, that that is what I am supposed to do. What we are supposed to do.

So. There it is. I will stop being afraid of what others might think of me, because as a wise woman--who I owe so much to and I'm afraid she will never truly know the impact that her words had on my life-- "what other people think of me is none of my business"

I like to change that mantra a bit in my mind though:

"what other people think of me is none of my business--unless it produces and distributes positivity and love that I may share"

So here we go. Not sure if anyone other than my dear friends and family will read, but so it goes.