happy birthday, dad!

I hope you have a great day! Looking forward to seeing you in Jackson in just a couple of weeks!

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Photo / At The Wedding / Sowell Archives

around here lately.

Ever since Spring has officially sprung here in Wilmington, we find ourselves getting out around town so much more. The warm weather sees us eating alongside the Cape Fear River frequently, & I have even made my way out to the beach once already, with high hopes of many return visits. The town is coming back to life after the coldest & longest Winter I can even remember. It is a joyful, joyful thing, Spring-time.

a smiling beach selfie | trying Bon Appetit for the first time | Justin's Easter picture

i finally got my hair cut again - here is a before & an after. all i have to say is, #wifehair

wisteria in bloom | the beautiful green fields of East Carolina

first culinary experience at The Scullery yielded my first latte art | justin indulged in simple coffee

after Church on Easter Sunday, we had brunch at Dixie Grill, a downtown favorite of ours

lunch on Carolina Beach with R at Tiki Bar | sunset dinner with Justin at Delphina Dos | new glasses!

As you can see, a lot of eating has been done, and a lot of photos have been taken! I've been trying to pull out both my phone and my DSLR more regularly, as I've slacked a bit in the documenting-the-moment category. I've been enjoying getting back into it, though, so expect to see some more Around Here Lately posts in the near future!

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Photos / Assorted Memories / Instagram

the sunday currently, volume 84.

i've basically been living at our local dunlin donuts this week. it's iced coffee season!

Good morning! How do you do? I'm so glad you're back here for another edition of The Sunday Currently. Last week, I held back a little so I could fully soak in all the Easter goodness. This week, though, it's back to regularly-scheduled programming. 

C U R R E N T L Y . . .

R E A D I N G  The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman. And since we last spoke? I've finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and read both Gone Girl and Divergent. I've been on a reading kick, to say the very, very least. And I love it. The Light Between Oceans is a book I've admired from afar on my reading list for a long time. It felt like a very dreamy book to me, and I hope it fulfills this lofty image I have in mind. Soon I'll be sharing a post about my past four reads, so I'll share my thoughts on the other two books then.

W R I T I N G  scholarship applications, scripts for interview videos... you know, those kinds of things. There will be a post coming soon about what school I got into and where my career is headed! Also, today I will be writing a to-do list for the week, along with daily tasks and things I want to accomplish before the end of the month. Also? I'll be writing a LOT of blog posts this week, so I can get back on a more natural posting rhythm. It's been chaos on this blog for far too long, and franky, I'm tired of it and ready for a positive change.

L I S T E N I N G  to a lot of uplifting songs lately. My Spring 2014 playlist is going to be called Let's Be Happy. That will be coming to the blog soon, so stay tuned if you love playlists [and the sharing of them] as much as I do.

T H I N K I N G  that my resolve to drink decaf coffee [which I talked about in the TSC post from two weeks ago] didn't last very long. Not long at all, in fact. I'm pretty sure that on Wednesday of that week, I had "real" coffee. My anxiety has been a LOT [read: one million tons] better, so I don't think coffee was the sole culprit. When I was feeling bad, though, coffee made it worse. I'm so glad I feel better, and if I get to the root of the problem soon, I may share a post on it.

S M E L L I N G  the delicious Red Velvet Cupcake candle that Kelsey gave me for Christmas. I burned it for a long time last night while we were watching The Firm [seriously one of my favorite movies!], and I can still smell traces of it in our living room. I'm almost finished burning this particular candle, and I'm anxiously awaiting October, so I can start burning the pumpkin selection, also from Kelsey, which smells like Heaven in the jar. My May candle of choice, though? Lindsey & Justin's wedding candle, of course! They got married in May of last year, and they gave out Zombee Candles of their custom wedding scent as favors! I burned it a lot last summer, and I can't wait to bring it back out.

W I S H I N G  for a clean house. Do you think that will do the trick? Let's see........... Nope. My house still isn't clean. That's on the agenda for today, though it's starting to feel like it's on the agenda every time I visit with you here in these TSC posts. Maybe today will be the day we get our act together. To be fair, a lot of progress has been made in cleaning the house, but it's just not yet back in tip-top shape, the way we like to keep it. Luckily, we have a visitor coming in just a few short weeks, now, so we HAVE to get things pristine around here. I've always found that company is the best motivator to get your house in its best working order. And that visitor I talked about? We are anxiously awaiting her arrival.

H O P I N G  that our downtown library is open today. I need to pick up The Reptile Room, by Daniel Handler, as it is the next on my reading list. I've had that book on hold for a few days now, and I need to get it before the hold expires. I love the library. Its system really does motivate me to get books read quickly, so I can devour even more. I'm starting to really pick up on my Goodreads Reading Challenge, and I'm hoping to even surpass my goal. Also hoping we can get in a little antiquing today after brunch. Wilmington has some GREAT antiquing.

W E A R I N G  ... well, would it be a Sunday if I wasn't wearing my Millsaps sweatshirt? No, it probably wouldn't be. 

L O V I N G  the way I feel right now. I've been guzzling my iced coffee, the fan is going, and I'm sitting on the floor of our living room, with the sunlight streaming in through the blinds and onto my hands and the keyboard. I feel energized and ready to make today a good one. I feel ready for brunch, ready for antiquing, ready to pick up my library book, ready to clean the house, ready to work out... the list goes on. I'm ready to be productive! There are few better every-day feelings, in my opinion.

W A N T I N G  to search, this week, for a dress to wear to Kara's graduation! I feel like the occasion warrants a new outfit. I guess we'll have to see what I can come up with. It's been a long time - other than shopping for our skiing apparel - that I shopped specifically for a certain event. I'm excited to start the mission!

N E E D I N G  ... is it weird that every time I sit down to answer this question, I always want to answer "to drink more water?" It's true, though. It's really, really true. We have a brand new water filter pitcher, sitting on my desk, that's begging to be put through the dishwasher so that it can start doing its job. Don't ask me why I'm procrastinating on something like that. I have no idea. But maybe now that I've blogged about it, it will actually happen. Here's hoping. Keep your fingers crossed, folks.

F E E L I N G  pretty great, as you may have gathered from "loving." I hope the feeling sticks around today, and, well, every day. 

C L I C K I N G  Tina's Documenting The Bump posts. I love them! 

Well, that's all she wrote, folks! And she definitely wrote a lot this week, didn't she? Ha - but seriously. It feels good to have written a nice-n-meaty post this week. Did I just call a post "meaty?" I think it's time to wrap this one up. Hope you all have a great week!

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this week's posts:

the sunday currently, easter edition | let's go to the beach | this is it

Photo / Our Neighborhood Dunkin / Instagram

What are you doing? Link up & share below.

this is it.

It's a tough thing, writers' block.

It's a tough thing, bloggers' block.

I always swear to myself, up and down, that no matter what, I'll just continue to write. No matter what, I'll just continue to blog. Because writing - because blogging - is allowed to be a fluid representation of you, in whatever form it may come out. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to make sense. It just has to come from a voice that is uniquely you - uniquely yours. 

I don't know what happens to stifle my voice. But, it's always a creeping thing. Slowly, less lines of paper taken up with my thoughts. Slowly, fewer lines of text in a blog post. But then, it feels sudden. Suddenly, no journal entries. Suddenly, no blog posts. 

It's all a delicate flow, really. It's a fragile push and pull, a give and take, writing. It whirs along at the speed of light, and then, the tiniest distraction or divergence can throw it off kilter, and then, well, it's completely out of sorts. 

But then, I remember. This is writing. This is living. This is it. And the pen flows.

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let's go to the beach.

THINGS AROUND the C Residence have been hustling and bustling lately. Hustling and bustling, and bustling and hustling, and everything in between. But still, I feel myself thinking those five words internally. I feel them echoing around in my head, ready to be spoken aloud.

Let's go to the beach.

Let's go to the beach, if only to feel the rhythmic swishing of the tide over our feet. Let's go to the beach, if only to stand there and marvel at it for a second. Let's go to the beach, and let's forget about all of our worries and stresses. I've grabbed our towels. Let's go.

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Photos / The Beach / Nikon

the sunday currently, volume 83 [Easter Edition!].

Join me here next week for regularly-scheduled TSC programming.
Please do feel free to link up your posts this week, though!

I hope you & all of your loved ones have a happy, happy Easter!

Celebrating Nanny: her love of flowers.

Nanny loved plants & flowers. She prided herself on the floral arrangements around her house & in her yards. I still remember, as a little girl, I'd be sitting at the kitchen table with a near-panoramic view of the back yard, & I would ask, "Nanny, what kind of flower is that?" And then, she would tell me the name of the flower, & then, all about it. And even though we never really discussed it [from what I can remember], I bet she loved springtime. Her birthday was in springtime, yes, but mainly, all of her plants & flowers sprung back into life in the springtime. All of her hard work, blossoming back up, talismans bearing hope and pride and joy.

I love this memory of Nanny, because I can see in myself, today, a growing interest in and love of flowers. I've been noticing it a lot recently. "I can't wait until the crepe myrtles in front of the walkway to our apartment come into bloom," I'll think to myself. And then, I remember Nanny. Because it's something I think that she would think to herself, too. And those glimpses of Nanny, those tiny remembrances, are something I am so happy to have. It's something that I think will make me feel closer to her throughout the years. I think it's a fun thing for the two of us to share, even now.

I have even more photos of Nanny's flowers, which I plan to share sporadically in this space in the time to come. They are joyful, and they are vibrant, just how I want to remember Nanny.

Want to see other Celebrating Nanny posts? 

celebrating nanny.

turnip greens & meat loaf.

[Photos: Nanny's Plants & Flowers | Fowler Archives]

I'm writing snippets of memories of my grandmother all during April, her birthday month.

the sunday currently, volume 82.

wanting to venture out here again this week

C  U  R  R  E  N  T  L  Y  .  .  . 

R E A D I N G Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, followed by Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. Then? I will finally start reading Divergent! I want to see the movie, but I won't until I've read at least the first book in the series. That's just how I roll.

W R I T I N G didn't really happen this week. When I'm honest, I know that this week was largely unproductive. 

L I S T E N I N G to my two favorite stations on Sirius XM latey - Alt Nation, which is 32, & Underground Garage, which is 21.

T H I N K I N G that this week I'm going to try out drinking decaf coffee. I know, I KNOW. My Dad & I have joked so much about decaf coffee in the past, calling it "fake coffee," etc. But lately, I am thinking that the caffeine associated with coffee is making me more anxious. Thus, my experiment with decaf begins today.

S M E L L I N G like delicious salon hair products today. I got my hair chopped off again on Friday, & the styling is still going strong. I'll have to share some before/after photos soon, since I haven't done that yet. I'm really loving short hair right now.

W I S H I N G I had worked out more this past week. This week, time to stop wishing & start doing. I'm getting a little frustrated with myself, but it's all in my hands to change it. So, I'm going to.

H O P I N G we actually get the C Residence into tip-top shape today. We've been "meaning to" clean it for a long time now, including me vowing to clean it last week, then it just not happening. I feel good about today, though, and I think I'll feel so much better when it's clean. [I always do.]

W E A R I N G an SAE tshirt & sleep shorts. Hair's a mess, looking awesome, as usual.

L O V I  N G that Kara is coming to visit after graduation! And that graduation is coming up soon! I can't wait to see my family. And, I can't wait for Kara to see Wilmington again. She hasn't been here since Christmas 2012, & we hadn't been living here that long then. Now, we have more places to show her & take her. We're gonna have so much fun!

W A N T I N G to be my best self this week. I think a "life makeover" may be in order.

N E E D I N G to get out of bed & get going with today!

F E E L I N G quite relieved after a heart-to-heart this weekend. Sometimes, you just have to let your feelings & fears out to someone you're close to. I am horrible at doing this, which means my feelings get bottled up. This is not a good thing to do, I know. I'm working on it.

this week's posts:
the sunday currently, volume 81.

a little snippet on sharing our view of others.

wilmington snapshot: wrightsville beach interlude.

breckenridge snapshot.

Celebrating Nanny: turnip greens & meatloaf.

[Photos: Wrightsville | iPhone 5C]

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Celebrating Nanny: turnip greens & meatloaf.

When I was little, my grandparents would often take care of me [and my sister, too, after she was born] when my parents were both at work. This meant a multitude of home-cooked lunches [which my country-raised grandparents would call "dinner"] that Nanny would - effortlessly, it seemed - whip up in the kitchen. 

I loved everything she made, but two items really do stand out the most. She cooked up one delicious meatloaf, folks. And I largely credit that meatloaf to my continuing love of a food to which some turn up their noses. And then, there were the turnip greens. Yes, as a young child, I asked for these delectable greens to be added to my plate, sometimes even going back for seconds.

So today, I celebrate Nanny's unmatched skill in the kitchen - between measuring everything in pinches & dashes, to making everything from scratch, to teaching me the joy of "cleaning my plate" - she instilled in me a love of food - even the so-called weird stuff - that I still hold dear & close to me, to this day.

Thank you, Nanny.

Want to see other Celebrating Nanny* Posts? They're all below.

Celebrating Nanny.

[Photo: Nanny in the Kitchen | Fowler Archives]

*I'm writing snippets of memories of my grandmother all during April, her birthday month.

breckenridge snapshot.

Back at the beginning of March, our friends Alex & Ashley were kind enough to invite us to come stay with them in Breckenridge, Colorado. Neither Justin nor I had ever been there before [or snow skiing!], so we were more than happy to make the trek west for a change of scenery. [And these photos are a huge change of scenery from yesterday's beachy post!] 

justin was already in colorado for our friend blaine's bachelor party, 

so my trip over to meet him was a solo one; i enjoyed reading the cuckoo's calling.

upon arrival in denver, i was famished. we stopped at a little restaurant called 

smokin' yard's BBQ, in idaho springs, on the way to breckenridge.

the view from our table at smokin' yard's. i loved being in the "real" mountains.

try as i did, i couldn't adequately capture the beautiful views we experienced on the drive 

from denver to breckenridge. the mountains were steamy & foggy & stately.

massive icicles clung to the roof of the pretty house where we stayed.

justin was much better at skiing than i was; here you see him holding both our sets of skis.

riding in the gondolas was one of my favorite experiences. yes, i was a total newbie.

at lunch with everyone.

at another favorite restaurant of the trip, the lost cajun. a little piece of louisiana in colorado. 

my beloved pinecone necklace that justin picked up for me from one of the shops.

Though I turned out to be a rather sub-par skier [and that's being kind], I am already looking forward to planning our next ski trip. Maybe next time, we'll venture over to Utah! Have you ever been there? What are some places we can't miss? A big thank-you to Alex & Ashley for inviting us to come experience Breckenridge with them! We had a wonderful time.

[Photos: March in Breckenridge, Colorado | iPhone 5C]

wilmington snapshot: wrightsville beach interlude.

an interlude is defined as a period of time between events or activities. 

the interlude you see pictured above lay between 

a trip to the library & an afternoon spent cleaning the house.

LAST WEEK, I packed up a bag with a blanket, a camera, & a book. I was headed to the coast - to Wrightsville Beach. When I got there, I spread my blanket out in the cushiony sand. It was chillier than I had expected: there was a cool breeze, but the sun was very warm on my face & legs. I read a few pages out of And The Mountains Echoed, snapped a few photos, & just laid back & relaxed. In the future, when I think about our time in Wilmington, I want to remember days just exactly like this one. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Justin had been out there with me instead of at work.

[Photos: Wrightsville Interlude | Nikon]