Mobile Uploads

Spring quarter always has a way of rushing up on me. One day it's Winter and life feels chilly and well paced and then suddenly, I wake up one morning to find a layer of pollen on my car and sandals on my pale feetsies. I'm a winter person (nothing suits me better than layered clothing and bowls of hot risotto), but there's something about Savannah in the Spring that makes you want to drive for hours with the windows down and the sticky breeze on your face. That, and the flowers. You guys. The flowers. They're unreal. 

Also, what better way to welcome in warmer weather with a set of cornrows? Oli had those bad boy braids for a solid week after her trip to the Bahamas for Spring Break. She knows how to rock a row. 

Me and Susie at the Library. No one loves the fashion reference section of Jen more than this gal. 

Me and the bros on our front porch on Easter. We're all looking so ladylike, aren't we? Nothing calls for dresses and manners quite like Easter brunch. 

Our delicious Easter bounty. Some cherished family recipes. Some new ventures. But all ridiculously good. (I made potatoes gratin with bearnaise sauce). Eating meals like this gets me excited for days in the future when hosting holiday dinners will be my responsibility to tackle. 

 Spencer's turned 21! We celebrated with dinner at Local and I made chocolate chocolate birthday cupcakes with sea salt. Remember: the best way to ring in a new year of life is with mountains and mountains of salty chocolate.

Baille Younkman can be blamed for this pic. She's trained me to see accidental art on the walls of my own city. There's so much around when I take a second to look. 

I love these people. Even just hanging out on the couch watching marathons of Nashville is an absurd amount of fun. Sometimes I can't believe that I've only known them for three years. Sometimes I can't believe that I've already known them for three years. Can time just please slow down a little bit? Especially on weekends? K. Cool. Thanks. 

Friends

IT'S OVER

Marathon finals.
It is finished.
Celebration.
With foods.
And drinks.
And dancing.
And probably some laughing.
And probably some more dancing.
8 quarters down.
4 quarters to go.
Terrifying.
Not thinking about that right now.
Right now is about celebration.
With foods.
And drinks.
And dancing.
And probably some laughing.
And probably some more dancing.

Largely Blessed

I'm wearing a pair of socks that belong to a friend while typing this. But I would argue that once one is allowed into the personal world of a friends sock drawer, they are more than friends and something closer to a sister. Largely responsible for the socks was last night. A night of homework. And round tables. And homemade rhubarb strawberry jam. And then homemade rhubarb strawberry jam in ramekins with brown sugar, oats and butter. Crisped in the oven until they were fully consumed with burned tongues. And some of the most important people in my life sitting and talking about everything. The stresses. And victories. Crushes on boys. Some we know and some we don't. The perfect summer shoe and our preferences when it comes to the size of mechanical pencil lead. It felt like home. And it felt like I was known-- a feeling only continued again this morning waking up to find a living room full of some of the most awesome, talented, smart, and realistic women I know all holding their routine mug of coffee and waking up this day together.

I'm excited for the future of these people. Both individually and as a team of support and understanding like nothing I've ever seen in my life before. 

Reset

Homework was not a top priority this weekend. As a matter of fact, the idea of homework was quite offensive. Spending such wonderfully chilly days holed up in my room focusing on anything other than the prospect of future food adventures and napping just seemed so wrong. 

On Thursday, we went on a failed Dairy Queen exploration. Ok, what happened to all of the DQ's everywhere? You spend years driving past Dairy Queen's every day and never utilizing them and then the day comes when all you ever want in the world is a Oreo shake and you realize you've missed your chance. For shame. 

Let's skip Friday. I was sick. 

Ok. Saturday. The farmer's market, which is closed in the winter, re-opened this week. I just really love the Forsyth Farmer's Market. If you ever are in Savannah, I would say that it's a must go. It's not the largest, as a matter of fact, it barely has 15 vendors, but if you go on the early side of the morning when the sun is warming up the tree branches and park is still quiet, there is nothing more wonderful than picking out the most beautiful butter lettuce or sampling fresh baked French bread to kick off a Saturday. 

For dinner, I got to spend the evening with a large majority of all of my favorite people in the world at Lindsay and Kara's way too cool for school apartment. Lindsay's mom is visiting Savannah and spoiled all of us with a delicious home-cooked meal. We all spent hours sitting on the floor, sipping on wine and eating delicious cheese, talking about life and school and affirming each other. It was such an uplifting evening that made me realize what cool, smart, talented, beautiful and kind friends I have. And Mrs. Giambattista made me realize how much I miss my own mom and her support and genuine excitement for my and my friend's dreams and lives. It's simple. Mom's are just the best. This night was such a blessing. 

Spencer and Oli in the elevator leaving Lindsay's apartment. They are just so cool. I think they are just so cool. 

Wait. Guys. This is really cool. After spending three years at an art school, you acquire a lot of art supplies. Specifically paper. Pads on pads on pads on pads of paper that is way overpriced and annoyingly hard to store and easily forgettable. And even though as a fashion student you never use said paper, it's heartbreaking to throw such (overpriced) pads of paper away (in spite of it's annoyingly hard to store qualities). And so it sits in the corner of your room. And you look at it every day and try and think of a creative way to keep that gross pile of paper, but hide that gross pile of paper so you don't have to stare at such a gross pile of paper. But you'll never be able to think of anything. And right when you have reached your whits end and you are about to throw it all away, something funny sort of strikes you and you decide that you want to do some sort of art project involving using the gross paper. 

Like yesterday. 

(Hold on. I'll get to the point soon. I swear.)

Inspired by Saturday night's dinner party, I wanted to play around with my ink and nubs. And when I opened this pad of paper that I swear I have not even looked at since freshman year, I saw this little note in the corner that I apparently wrote to myself sometime over 2 years ago. Like a time capsule! (I live for stuff like this. I hide a lot of stuff just to find it later. Sort of like a crazy hoarder. No. A lot like a crazy hoarder.) Anyway, I was so excited/sort of weirded out when I saw this because of how applicable it was. Like always, life is a little up in the air right now and there are some decisions that will have to be made in the next few months that are going to be hard. And I've already been working on the idea of trusting in God in regards to my future and letting go of expectations that I have put on myself or I think that people have put on me, but this note was just a little affirmation of that in perfect timing. He works in mysterious ways, doesn't He?

Anyway, I really did try to do homework a bunch of times. I really did. But I ended up having fun instead. 

What did you do this weekend?

5

Way way way excited to see these five lads. Can't wait for Thursday and then Saturday. 

Life is just a lot of fun with them. 

Friend In-Love

This is so amazing. I'm still laughing.  And oh my, how true it is. Right? ....Right? ...Or maybe it's just me... Oh no. 

(Click here if you want to see it a little bigger.)