Of Mountains, Rags, Birthdays, and Easter

It's Final's Week here in Buena Vista and to celebrate, I had my students over for their final exam (which, for creative writing classes, means a class party!). My students gave wonderful readings of their essays and we stuffed ourselves silly. Here are the remnants--and what basically became my afternoon tea.

Which turned into an afternoon drive (Final's Week = No class = Mini vacation!) down our favorite stretch of road in these parts, the glorious Blue Ridge Parkway.

We pulled over and read (which Warren studiously did)...

Whereas I opted to nap...

Though I eventually got around to reading (Marguerite Duras' gorgeous The Lover and Virgina Woolf's To the Lighthouse)

This is what we're leaving, folks. Tragic.


In other news, we hopped up to DC this weekend. Trish and I embarked on an epic craft day that would rival any Super Saturday. We call it The Rag Rug OF DOOM. Friends, that braid at Trish's feet goes on FOREVER.

We celebrated the fabulous Chelsea's birthday. Complete with Costco chocolate cake. Does life get better?

And of course, what Easter weekend would be complete without some good ol' fashioned egg dying. Here's Warren coaching our nephew, Isaac, on the fine art of ombre.



How about you, friends? How are you celebrating spring and all its wonderfulness?

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Summer Reading?

There has been a depressing lack of reading in my life since I finished the ol' thesis (defended April 1 and final deposited yesterday...why oh why did it take me three weeks to rid myself of the beast???) and I am desperate for new reading material.

But I stumbled across the following quote and wondered if I should simply revisit old favorites.

An unliterary man may be defined as one who reads books once only.I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once. Clearly one must read every good book at least once every ten years. The sure mark of an unliterary man is that he considers “I’ve read it already” to be a conclusive argument against reading a work. . . . Those who read great works, on the other hand, will read the same work ten, twenty or thirty times during the course of their life.

-C.S. Lewis

So in honor of Mr. Lewis, I am looking forward to revisiting the following from my Favorite Books Library:







Any suggestions for new ones to add to the pile? Also, what are your summer reading plans??

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Spelunking 101

A word to the wise: When you see a billboard for the "World's Only Organ [as in music, not body parts] Cave", you pull over. Which is how Warren and I found ourselves at the Shenandoah Valley's pride and joy: The Luray Caverns. Friends, this is a cave system so fabulous that Mr. Rogers himself featured the wonder on his hit television show (at 1:43 you can see the man play the stalacpipe organ!)

Anyway, we knew we were in for a treat when we pulled into the parking lot and were greeted by Stone Age versions of ourselves (if we were cartoons):

We entered the gift shop and almost left with a headlamp. Also, inexplicably, unicorns. (Spelunkers beware, spoiler alert: THERE ARE NO UNICORNS LIVING IN LURAY CAVERNS. I hate to be the bearer of bad news...)


Even without the unicorns, the caves are pretty cool. My favorite part was the Lake of Eternity. The water is so calm that the reflections look like stalagmites reaching towards the dripping stalactites. Beautiful.

These guys were called bacon strips:

And here is the glorious organ. Sometime ago a man named Mr. Sprinkles (or something like that) hooked up little mallets to stalactites throughout the cave. Each stalactite plays a different tone so when linked together, it sounds like the cave is singing "Rock of Ages."

Of course, there's no better way to end a trip to the caves than with a gorge-fest at lobster-fest. Red Lobster, your heaving platters of food disgust and delight me. Thank you.

And, if any of you are looking for a wedding venue, your search is OVER. I present to you exhibit A:
If only we knew about this a year ago...

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It's Been Real, BV

So in case you haven't heard, Warren got a sweet professor gig up in Michigan! That's right, folks, he's academically employed...every PhD's dream. Anyway, we'll be moving from homey Southern Virginia to Detroit Rock City! (Well, Dearborn. But pretty close.)

Since we're about to leave, it's high time that I show you the goings on in these parts. For instance, where we've been living (rent-free...holla!) for the past school year:

Our charming abode. And yes, it's called the Lancelot House:


Across the street (fancy new student ward building and girl's dorms)


A corner of our little kitchen:


The following are some of our favorite small town activities (Yes, they all revolve around food. Please don't judge, there's only so many times you can go to the Family Dollar...)

1. Homemade Pizza Margherita and Cupcakes!


2. BBQ at Glen Maury Park (Perfect Baked Buffalo Wings)!


3. Icecream at Lexington's Sweet Things Shoppe


4. Napping in Hammocks!


We've grown attached to these lovely Blue Ridge Mountains and will miss the small town life (though it will be a relief not to live an hour away from civilization!)

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Spring Crush

How did I miss this little gem of a song???

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Surfing Llamas = Good

But first: Friends are awesome. Mostly because they'll visit me here in the middle of nowhere and hold ukulele jams and go to the largest national llama/alpaca show in the coldest horse center ever.

Do you know about mini llamas? Yeah. They exist. Just like mini donkeys (best invention ever!) There was literally a mini llama named "Ukulele" at the llama show. Dreams do come true.

Finally, what you've been waiting for (for probably your whole life): Surfing Llama (actually alpaca!). We live in a good and wonderful world, my friends.

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Small Town, Big Heart

If you've never lived in a small town before, you're definitely missing out. After 4.5 months of small town living, I've narrowed down my observations to the following list:

Top 5 Reasons to Live in a Small Town

5. The cashier at the dollar store knows your name (and you know hers--hi, Lori!)


4. The florist's marquee says things like: "Pam! Come in and pick up your roses!"

3. Because the nearest civilization (raise the roof for Staunton!) is an hour away, you spend a lot of time making bread or sewing--unironically.


2. Your commute is three minutes, walking.

1. You receive a hearty and quaint welcome every time you return.


Jealous?

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