the cutest thing you will see all weekend

A cure for your Monday doldrums: 

true love at the fair

 

It's been a long (but great!) day. Goats fed, sheep herded, pigs raced, fried pie consumed, fiddle fiddled...county fair success. Time for some shut-eye! 

All smiles, 

 b

happy friday!

Things I am happy about today and excited for in the near future:

• I just made a yummy homemade pizza out of flatbread and Mexican-blend cheese and chipotle salsa from World Market (one of my favorite places in the universe!). Enjoyed it with a Sam Adams Summer Ale.
• I'm grateful for being at Belmont and being a part of the music community there. Being back in school is a little strange, but it feels good! I'm excited to be a graduate student. Here's to a fabulous Fall 2012!
• My puppy is keeping me good company on this lovely late summer evening. He's enjoying chewing on a rawhide so much - it makes me happy to see him so happy!

One of the reasons my Friday night (and every night!) is fabulous.

• One of my 2012 goals was to become a better cook. I love food, and I love making food, so I want to make learning new recipes a bigger part of my life! In case you missed it, I made delicious sweet potato-avocado veggie burgers last week. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt this spicy peanut portobello kale rice bowl. Stay tuned!
• I'm fiddling at the Wilson County Fair tomorrow! I'm really excited for this. I'll be double-fiddling with the phenomenal Greg Hallums. He's one of my favorite people and favorite musicians in the universe.

I leave you tonight with this adorably-beyond-adorable video of a sleepy kitten and puppy. Have a fabulous weekend! 

All smiles, 
b

monday night goodness

Two things I wanted to share! 

 One, a Miranda Lambert song that is absolutely beautiful and that I'd never heard before tonight even though it's a couple years old. 

And secondly, the cutest things that ever happened, from buzzfeed. 

All smiles, 
b

kleenex musings

 

I was at my grandmother's house in Kentucky last weekend. She passed away a year ago this October, so my dad and his siblings are in the midst of the tough and frustrating process that is dealing with her estate (my grandfather, her husband of 70+ years, is also deceased). At any rate, I inherited some baking dishes and other kitchen odds, and whilst packing I threw in a box of kleenex to help buffer the breakables. 

It was fortuitous timing, as I ran out of kleenex in my apartment yesterday. It turns out this box of kleenex is almost 30 years old. It's older than me, folks! How on earth does one manage to use so little kleenex that they only have to buy a new box every 30 years? And yet, this typifies my grandmother to a T. She grew up during the Depression and learned to make the most of everything. Having this kleenex box around reminds me of her, and that makes me happy. 

My grandma's Kleenex 20th anniversary box. 1964-1984!

It really is the little things. I always try and find a kleenex box that makes me happy, even if it costs an extra 50 cents. If my kleenex box makes me crack a smile every time I see it (which is multiple times a day), then that to me is totally worth the extra two quarters. For example, the boxes that just ran out. I kept the chick around even after it was empty, but I finally recycled them both yesterday.

How could you not smile at these!

They even had little tails :-)

   
All smiles,
b