serious herbs

in

I want an herb garden but as we don't have a yard, I'd have to settle for some pretty pots like these!

I'd really like a vegetable garden, but I guess that'll have to wait until we actually settle down! :(

My Life

(above) The Dream; (below) The Reality

So I've decided to add some words to this post as way of photo-explanation.

About a month (maybe two?) ago, my friend Evan told us that he and his girlfriend are hoping to head down to the Caribbean this summer to live and work for a while in the US Virgin Islands. Emily, his gf, is looking into grad school at the University of the Virgin Islands and hoping to find some intern marine-biology work for the summer. Evan is more open to any sort of work outdoors from manual labor to adventure leading. They are leaving in June after Emily graduates from UMD-CP and will be gettinig a studio and scoping things out.

Why this involves Jake and I: Evan asked whether we'd be interested in joining them, splitting the rent on a place and generally hanging out and living the island life. Can you guess our answer?

YES!

Since the summer money is just starting for Jake, we're planning to stick around until mid-August or so. Our lease is up mid-September, so we have to be able to afford all the travel expenses, etc. while paying one more month's rent as well. We'll probably end up sleeping on the floor at Evan and Em's while we all look for a place together when we first arrive, as well as following up any job-leads Evan may have found over the summer.

Yes, we're arriving at the start of Caribbean hurricane season, but maybe St. Thomas will be lucky?

We all plan to return at the end of November for my cousin Alex's wedding and Thanksgiving, and then I'm thinking of trying to tempt my family into making this Christmas an Island Christmas! I think it's what we call "outlaw" Christmas in my family: all those with spouses are spending X-mas with the other families. That said, I think I can convince a bunch of people down to the islands anyway!

We're very excited!!

For about the first 30 seconds I was like "oh cool that's really impressive" and then I watched the rest with my jaw dropped on the desk saying "oh my God" at random intervals....

I don't even know where you'd take a kid to get involved in something like this! I've never heard of a jump-rope squad!! And it's now my life-goal to be 1/10th as good at jump rope!!! What a workout, and how did they remember that whole routine?! And the synchronization!!!

Wow. WOW!

Extreme(!) Wood Carving

Recently stumbled upon this sculpture artist and found his work to be amazing. I mean, jaw-droppingly AMAZING. I need to see this in person. And it just so happens he is having a show a the Smithsonian April 23-26th!! So check out Randall Rosenthal, y'all!!

He begins with a block of wood, sketches out his idea and begins carving away everything that doesn't belong in his mental image of the finished product.

Skip ahead a bunch of steps and you start to see what he is revealing from the wood:

He even carves the corrugation for the "cardboard box!!"

And, voila:

AMAZING!!!

His amazing work will be shown at the
SMITHSONIAN CRAFT SHOW, NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM, WASHINGTON DC, APRIL 23 - APRIL 26
but for now, check out his site and incredible works here!

Inspiration

I love the butterfly painting in this photo - it goes so well with the room. If only I lived in a house that looked like this. Very French. Gorgeously relaxed. I love it all.

Slow Food

The "Organic" trend has long since caught on, and many people are trying to live greener lives, myself included. Whole Foods are everywhere, local supermarkets sport their own lines of organic fruits, vegetables and foods and farmers markets are becoming more popular (though still frustratingly difficult to locate/motivate yourself to actually go). I wish often I was back in France where I (wishfully) think it would be much easier and natural to live healthier.

Anyway, I saw this video about the Slow Food movement and it's leader, Alice Waters. How come all the cool stuff always starts out on the west coast?!


Go here for an interesting video on her and the movement from 60 Minutes!

Our New Couch

So Jake and I bought a new couch a week ago off craigslist and I'm so anxious to someday get to use it! There are two areas where the stitching around the buttons pulled apart, which is almost a good thing - if it were not damaged Jake and Hilary probably would have switched it our for her couch we're using now, and as I'd like it to stay in good condition, our livingroom would not be a good place for it. (I'm already worried about all the food I've dropped onto our rug while eating in front of the tv, but luckily it's reversible!)


The man we bought it from was moving and said he had purchased it a few years ago at Nouveau on Belvedere Square in Baltimore for over $2k. While Jake feels like he said this with hopes of impressing us (it failed as neither of us knew of the store), I hope he was telling the truth because all the couches there are very expensive and that means we got something of good quality? The damaged spots are not too bad and hopefully an easy fix.


And the bonus is I discovered that the seat of the couch is actually a cushion, so that will make taking it for repairs SOOO much easier! I was thinking of taking just the cushion to a couple of upholstry shops and getting quotes.

Now if September would just come a bit faster and we could find the perfect apartment in which to use this sweet sofa!