#booksandbeverages

I've been doing a lot of reading this month. The other evening while I was sitting on our back porch, I snapped this photo of my book and my drink: To Kill a Mockingbird (finally reading it!) and San Pellegrino Blood Orange Soda (the only soda I'll drink). And then I realized it would make a really fun series - pictures of books and drinks throughout the summer. (Two of the best summer things, right? Ok, reading and drinking are pretty awesome year-round, but are made even better when they can be done together while sitting in a beach chair, in my opinion!)

So, what are you reading and drinking this summer? Let me know on Instagram and tag your photos #booksandbeverages.

P.S. I just changed my Instagram username to @funnelcloudrach to match my Twitter handle. (Also, I was getting tagged in way too many photos of tornados!)

durham in diptychs

We were on the road quite a bit after returning from Hawaii. There was Easter weekend in western Maryland. The following weekend in Durham to vend at Rock & Shop Market. Then Larry off to Wisconsin for a business trip and back in time for us to head to Richmond for Spring Bada-Bing.

I've been traveling light (ie: without my camera) and relying on my iPhone for photography lately. A few Instagram diptychs from our trip to Durham in April:

Taking the dogs to the sitter's:

In the hotel:

Rock & Shop:


A proper Southern breakfast - chicken & waffles (Things That Are Awesome!) and grits:

Exploring Durham:



Duke University:


On the road again:

Picking up the pups:

It was a busy weekend - I had thought we'd have plenty of time to relax, explore, and check out the restaurant scene (my number one priority as a tourist!) - but I was overly ambitious. That was for the best as the highlight of the weekend was getting to visit with my cousin and her sweet family in Raleigh - we spent two fantastic evenings with them and it was such a great reminder that taking it easy and catching up with family is so much more rewarding than checking things off a touristy To Do list.

back to your regularly scheduled programming

My blog has felt like an extended vacation this year. Two weeks in Hawaii turned into two months of blog posts. And while my blog became All Hawaii, All The Time, in real life we had a very busy spring here in Virginia.

Sneak peek | New art coming soon!

There have been good things: weekends out of town (Western Maryland, Durham, Richmond), cooking challenges, lots of books being read, the creation of new art, a book signing, lunches and happy hours with friends, dinners out with family, a concert, the start of a sewing project, and yes, believe it or not, a return trip to Hawaii...

And bad: jet lag, an injured pup, snow, a fender bender, tax and business stress, headaches, and the Boston Marathon bombing and ensuing manhunt.

My poor pup was prescribed two weeks of "bed rest." He was not happy about it. (He's all better now.)

And just general busy-ness: We've traveled every month of 2013 so far. We can't keep up with the yardwork. (Being out of town for a good chunk of the spring results in an overgrown yard - we're those weird neighbors who live behind the giant hedge...) We had another last minute trip to Hawaii to plan. (I'll spread out my blog posts and share the photos from Hawaii, The Sequel throughout the summer.) I have a truly sickening amount of unresponded to e-mails clogging my inbox. (Sorry!) My shop vended at two art markets in April and will be at two more this summer. (New art finally coming soon!) And my Etsy shop has been out of control while I've been traveling and on bed rest. (Thanks so much to my patient customers!)

Richmond Craft Mafia's Spring Bada-Bing

Welcome to the Jungle! (AKA, The Vine That Ate Banjo.)

Funnelcloud Studio's "Shipping Department." Ack.

And that doesn't even account for all the hours I've wasted playing Candy Crush!

I've kept a running list of a few of our favorite things to remember from this spring, since time seems to have disappeared into a black hole this year:

BOOKS
During these jet-lagged post-travel weeks, I've turned to books to get me through sleepless nights and sluggish days. I polished off five alone in the week after returning from our last trip. By far the best book I've read this year is The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. I can't recommend this book enough - by the end I had bookmarked 60 pages and added 30 new titles to my To Read list.

TELEVISION
Evidently political shows/thrillers set in DC are my thing right now:

Our cable provider gave us a free month of Showtime this spring and Larry and I immediately became hooked on Homeland. Yeah, we're late to the party, and still haven't finished watching the first season, but we love this show!

We're still huge fans of VEEP - the perfect Before-The-Work-Week-Starts way to laugh your ass off on Sunday night.

My friend Sarah recommended Scandal, and I recently finished the first season and am hooked. The plot is definitely far-fetched (as seems to be the norm for Shonda Rhimes shows), but it's definitely entertaining.

And since I still have a trial subscription to Netflix, I've just started watching House of Cards. I'm intrigued. Kevin Spacey creeps me out, and like most political shows, the plot is complicated and a little confusing, but I'm interested to see what happens next.

Josh Ritter at 930 Club. Our favorite - I think this is the 5th time we've seen him live.

MUSIC
Larry and I have a travel tradition of buying new music before going on a trip - we listen to a few albums on repeat as we travel and this becomes the soundtrack to our vacation. Even years later, I can't listen to Josh Ritter's The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter without thinking about driving around Olympic National Park in 2007 or Pinback without reminiscing about driving through Utah and Arizona in 2006. The soundtrack to our trip to Hawaii was Lord Huron's Lonesome Dreams which not only brings up visions of exploring Oahu's windward side, but has definitely earned a spot on my list of favorite albums of all time.

Other favorite albums this spring:
Tegan & Sara's Heartthrob
STRFKR's Miracle Mile
Stars' The North
Phoenix's Bankrupt!
Metric's Synthetica

FOOD
I'm addicted to the food at the new Cava Mezze Grill that recently opened up near our house. It's like the Greek version of Chipotle! Falafel and crazy feta on a pita? Yum!

I'm crazy for pistachios. I can't get enough of them on salads, in ice cream, or straight out of the shell. Have you tried pesto made from pistachios? It's the best! Throw it on some pasta with a couple of shrimps/scallops for a delicious, elegant, and easy meal. (We like a recipe from a Cooking Light cookbook, but the one from Food & Wine is also delicious.)

I bookmark and pin a lot of recipes, but I made Smitten Kitchen's recipe for Coconut Bread immediately after reading her blog post. It did not disappoint!

Did someone say coconut bread?!?!

Our time in the islands whet my already fruit-loving appetite for tropical treats: I've always loved pineapple, coconut, and mango, but now I'm obsessed with lilikoi (passion fruit) and especially guava. I LOVE guava and predict that many of our summer cooking experiments will contain guava in whatever form I can get here on the mainland.

Whew! We're pooped!

So that's Spring 2013. I have more to say on a few things we've done in the first half of the year, but am ready for a fun and busy summer. Onward!

wednesday morning in my yard

As usual, I'm attempting to get up earlier to be more productive and enjoy my mornings this summer. It's an ongoing battle, so I won't make any promises or set any goals (a surefire way to set myself up for failure!), but due to my headaches, I've put myself on a strict bedtime schedule and this has made it (a little) easier to get up at a reasonable time. (There are theories that circadian rhythms have something to do with causing headaches, so I'm making sure to sleep when it's dark and be awake when it's light.)

This morning was a good morning. I was pain-free and up early, fed the dogs, cooked breakfast, drove Larry to the metro, ran errands and was back home around 9ish. As I got out of the car, I noticed the morning sunlight shining on the plants in my front yard and snapped a few photos:

And then I wasted the rest of the morning blogging about it. Eh. You win some, you lose some.

in sickness & in health

Hers & His

At the beginning of the year, Larry and I discussed planning a summer trip to Iceland to celebrate our upcoming ten year anniversary. As we chatted in January about what 2013 would hold for us, I never in a million years would've guessed that I'd be planning a secret wedding the following month or that just two months into the new year, our status would change from "dating forever" to "husband and wife." Nor would I have guessed that two months after our elopement and dream trip, we'd return for a second still-unblogged trip to Hawaii. Oh life, you are full of surprises.

When Larry and I got married this March, we described ourselves as super-married since the term newlyweds didn't really seem to fit us. At ages 34 and 41, and after nearly a decade together, we felt we had a whole lot more life experience than twenty-something just-marrieds. (Some acquaintances even exclaimed "I thought you were already married!" when we shared the news upon our return.) We had already experienced for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, and in sickness and in health during our almost ten year relationship. We had done a lot of "married things" throughout the course of our courtship - moved in together, bought a house together, set up joint bank accounts, and cared for dependent creatures together. (Yes, they are dogs, not babies, but they still require care and responsibility.)

Yesterday, we celebrated our three month wedding anniversary. Today, June 5th, 2013, we celebrate ten years since we started dating. Our first date in 2003, was pizza and beers (embarrassingly, I ordered a Miller Lite - at least my taste in beer has matured since then!) at Matchbox in Chinatown - a hip new restaurant that was so popular it was difficult to get a table. Upon our return from Hawaii, The Sequel just a few days ago, I proposed we celebrate our tenth anniversary with a repeat of our first date at Matchbox. Turns out, it's still just as difficult to get a table as it was ten years ago. I did get a reservation, though for a dinner time more appropriate for residents of a nursing home.

This morning I woke up with a headache. One of the bad ones. Larry stayed home from work to be with me. It was a rough day. By evening the pain had lifted, and I was able to make it downstairs to the couch. We had cancelled our dinner reservations, but Larry ran out to our favorite local custard shop for pizza and zebra cups. I had thought a photo of us on our tenth anniversary would be a nice memento, but considering my current pajama-clad, unshowered, sick-day appearance, I'll have to settle for a picture of Hers & His frozen custard to remember this day.

Anyway, the ice cream was a nice treat and with the pain dissipated, I was filled with sweet relief...and also dread, knowing that this headache is the start of what will most likely be a miserable and painful month. But I also know that I am lucky to have Larry by my side, in sickness and in health. Oh life, you really are full of surprises.

P.S. I was looking forward to returning to regular blogging/e-mailing this month (a lot has happened since our Hawaii trip!), but if things are quiet around here in June, it's because of the cluster headaches. I'm hoping for lots of pain-free days to blog and get things done and I will definitely return once I go back into remission. 

hawaii | honeymoonin': hanauma bay

One of the highlights of our honeymoon was snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. The beach and views were GORGEOUS. Although this is a tourist area, it was very well done - after paying your admission, you have to watch a short movie to learn how to respect the park and the underwater ecosystem. (No feeding the fish or standing on the reef!)

Snorkeling here was a little different than the snorkeling I've done in the past. I've always snorkeled off of boats in deep water and here you snorkel directly off the beach. It's a little challenging in such shallow water (I was afraid I'd accidently kick the reef!), but once you get the hang of it, it's amazing. We saw so many different fish and because the water was shallow, you could practically reach out and touch them. (I didn't!)

I know we're hard to resist, but hands off! We're taken!

Convict Tang.

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a! (or Reef Triggerfish - the state fish of Hawaii)

Believe it or not, folks, that's the last Hawaii post! (I can't believe there were 14 chapters to this crazy business trip/vacation/wedding/honeymoon story!) Oahu was definitely the most beautiful place Larry and I have ever been. I'd love to check out the other islands someday...and next time I won't have to pack a wedding dress!

Mahalo Hawaii, for an unforgettable trip!

hawaii | honeymoonin': makapu'u point

The hike to Makapu'u Point was one of those experiences that reminded you that Hawaii is really waaaaay out in the middle of the ocean. As the trail wound up to the summit there was blue, blue ocean just as far as you could see. From the top you could see Oahu's windward coast, Koko Head Crater, cacti, a lighthouse, Rabbit Island, and humpback whales.