7/14/11

A beautiful lace-border moth Mom and I spotted in the front yard. I was surprised at how close it let me get to get a photo!

7/15/11

Zack and I took Stanley to get a hair cut. This is the before picture...

And after! He's so handsome. :)

7/16/11

At a loss of what to take a picture of, so this is a close up of an interesting print on a dress I have. I got it last summer at a local thrift-art shop in Highland Square called Revival. It's so cool (the dress AND the store)! This particular dress is a free flowing cotton sundress that fades from this orange color at the bottom to yellow  then to pale yellow at the top, and this print is all over it. So cute - and comfy!

7/17/11

Again feeling less than inspired, so here is my go-to summer scent: Coconut Passion by Victoria's Secret. It just reminds me of summer. I recently found out they stopped carrying it in stores, though, so I had to order my latest bottle online. Boo!

7/18/11

Working on some craft projects with Mom to decorate my apartment for next school year. She brought out her huge seashell/sea trinket collection from her travels (mostly in Florida from 30-40 yrs ago) so that I could pick out things to make an ocean-inspired collage for my bathroom. She had a seahorse and big starfish, pictured above! Soooo cool. She also had a few other littler starfish, some coral, and lotttts of seashells!

My arrangement! It will be glued onto white recycled paper and put in a shadowbox frame. The empty spot between the two pink shells in the upper right is where a small starfish will go!

Another experimental project we did at the same time...leaf prints!

7/19/11

Weird picture, but I ate some apricots at work on break and I thought the pits looked cool. Somehow, whenever I eat apricots, the pits are always dry even though the fruit is (obviously) wet. How is that so?

7/20/11

Zack, his mom, and I spent the whole day with our favorite little girl, Alanna. Here she was trying on Zack's shades and posed for me. I love her!!

7/21/11

I believe this was the day that the weather was God-awful - we had an Excessive Heat Warning with heat index temps near 110. It was awful! I swam in Dad's lake after work, but it didn't really help. I tried to capture the heat with this picture, but it doesn't do it justice by any means.

7/22/11

Happy 3rd Anniversary to Zack and I! Isn't that crazy?! We started our day by spending a few hours in the early afternoon at Portage Lakes State Park swimming and cooling off (since it was really hot again that day). A storm came up around 3 and we had to leave, which was fine since we had to get ready for dinner at Olive Garden (our favorite restaurant) anyway! This picture was right as the storm was blowing in.

After dinner, we had some time to kill before we went and saw Friends with Benefits (great movie!), so we poked around World Market. When we came out, the wet parking lot was reflecting the sky. Cool!

7/23/11

Aww da brudders are snugglin'!

They hated me for making them do this haha.

Fred is so fuzzy!

7/24/11

One of the rare occasions I got to Dad's and he was already sailing, so I got some cool pics!

Satori sure is a beautiful boat.

Coming in to the dock to pick me up for a nice sail!

7/25/11

Laaannnniiieee! (Alanna) We hung out with her again. She is so adorable!

Cheesin'.

Hahah playin'!

I LOVE HER. Mmm, ice cream.

I found a dragonfly wing when we went back outside to draw with chalk!

Helping me draw a rainbow. :)

7/26/11

Morning Glories are starting to bloom! I planted them very late so I didn't expect them to at all. I am pleasantly surprised!

7/27/11

Found this gross creature in the sailboat while laying out at the lake. We thought it was a wood spider but since it was living close to the water, I did some research and think it may be a fishing spider. Either way, it was huge and gross! Dad scooped it out of the boat and dumped it into the water. Yick.

7/10/11

This was quite a surprise - went out to eat at one of my favorite places, Olive Garden, with Zack and his family. I ordered one of their new dishes, Shrimp Carbonara, I believe. It was cheese ravioli with shrimp, spinach and tomato in a butter sauce...or so the description said. I ordered it, got halfway through (loving every delicious bite) and realized that something was odd: there were small odd-shaped brownish pieces mixed in the sauce and a curious smokey taste lingering behind each bite. The general consensus at the table was that it was some sort of mystery seasoning - Zack even tried one and said it didn't taste like anything! I shrugged it off, finished the dish, and we left. Later I checked and lo and behold, the mysterious spices were bacon bits. Whoooops. I never felt sick or anything, and the dish was still good, so I figured there was no point in freaking out about it. Just a silly story! Even 19-year-long vegetarians make mistakes sometimes.

7/11/11

Poor Isabel was hot! I know this picture is blurry but it was too good not to upload. I set up the fan for whoever wanted it and noticed that not long after, she was taking advantage of its coolness. Too funny.

I finally got a cover for my phone! I LOVE it. My mom said it looks like it's straight out of the 60s.

7/12/11

Aww, da brudders are cuddling! Fred on the left, Ginger on the right. We really believe they love each other. They are so sweet.

7/13/11

Went for a nice evening sail with Dad. He is teaching me to really learn how to sail, rather than just be his handy assistant. :)

View upward at the gorgeous sails.

Sailing at sunset. :) So relaxing.

I am writing this from Zack's computer at his house (as he so graciously let me use it) because our DSL at home is being funky and not working. Blah. Attempting to get it fixed Monday. In the mean time...

6/21/11

I got some of this last year at a farmer's market, but I can't remember when it was or if I photographed it. It is  homemade blueberry jam from a farm with the whole blueberries still in there. Best. Jam. I've. Ever. Had. In fact, it's the only jam I like. I'm sure it doesn't matter what farm you get it from, but if it has the whole fruit and it's homemade, it will be just as fabulous. Go to your local farmer's market and get some!

Angry Isabel is angry. Haha - she was playing (voluntarily) in the kitty condo we have but Mom and I kept messing with her and she got mad.

Trying to escape!!

6/22/11

Took this on my new phone (see next picture) at Giant Eagle. It's a huge olive bar you can sample! Om nom nom sooo good. I love olives.

6/23/11

New phone!! Finally! It is a Samsung Epic 4G from Sprint with Android - translation: the coolest phone I've ever owned. I love it so much. It's the full touchscreen with a nice keyboard and a very big, vibrant display. Akron doesn't get 4G speeds, but Columbus does, so I'll get a nice, fast internet connection on my phone next school year. Thanks, Dad!

6/24/11

In my garden, the adult sunflower (background) pictured with the new seedling (foreground).

Beautiful raindrops in Zack's yard.

6/25/11

The Boat Show at the Harbor Inn on Portage Lakes! Every year Dad enters his Dad's almost 100-year-old Morris canoe, named Lena (previously Venus II) in the show. She always get lots of compliments. She's beautiful, isn't she? She'll be my canoe someday. :)

6/26/11

Freddy squinting at the bright flash. He's so cute!

6/27/11

Current summer reading: A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. An environmentalist's staple.

6/28/11

Beautiful summer day, view from my front yard.

6/29/11

A big patch of bamboo at the side of my Dad's yard. It's funny, after 6 years of my Dad living here, I never noticed this was here. I feel silly!

6/30/11

Henri looks like a Cheshire cat!

Driving through the valley for hours with Ian, catching up and getting ice cream (he surprised me!).  I believe I took this on Riverview Rd. I love driving through the valley.

7/1/11

Mentor Headlands State Park Beach on Lake Erie. Zack and I went up there for the day with Dad and the kids. Dad was having a ball sailing his little toy boat!

I love water photographs.

Some kids on the beach spent all day making a fort! Pretty cool.

Dad and William flying Dad's 30 year old kite. 

This little dude landed on me. Yuck.

View of the late afternoon beach.

7/2/11

Warm vegan brownies and fresh-picked black raspberries. HEAVEN.

7/3/11

Zack and I went to Dad's to watch the fireworks on Portage Lakes.

The beautiful fireworks and their reflections in the lake.

They really were great!

7/4/11

Happy 4th of July! My sad attempt at a patriotic dessert - the icing melted in the humidity and the fruit slid off, but they were still good.

Sparklers :)

My attempt at writing "OSU."

Zack trying to write "HI."

7/5/11

Ginger after a moth flying around my room. So cute. :)

7/6/11

Beautiful sunset on Exchange St.

7/7/11

Fred is miserable in the heat.

Swimming at Katie's house! It was great catching up and hanging out with her.

We went to the grand opening of Sephora at Summit Mall. SO MUCH MAKEUP.

7/8/11

Day lilies in the front yard.

7/9/11

Zack's Dad's new house - Zack's new home! It's huuuuge inside, and really nice. We all love it!