What I love right now . . .

These blogs: 

• This UNIQUE wedding site
• http://www.designsponge.com/
• http://whatkatewore.com/

This music(k) (shameless :) ) 

• Oh Land 
• The Talking Heads (old, I know)
• The Band Perry (revisiting my country roots) 

Home Improvement Projects

Our vacation in September has turned into a veritable summer-camp's worth of arts and crafts & do-it-yourself projects.  First on the agenda, project sexy bedroom.  It is not what it sounds like.  Our apartment is fabulous.  It is spacious, airy, and comfortable.  However, the carpet in our bedroom, the scuffed-up walls, and the mismatched furniture leave much to be desired.  My bedroom desires a paint job, new carpet, a new headboard, lamps, wall art, and some overall TLC.  The carpet has been bearing the temporary brunt of this desire to improve -- we impulse purchased a Dyson.  We're in love.  

We also plan to reclaim some barn wood for photo frames, a headboard for the bed, etc.  

In addition to painting, staining, sanding, and nailing (too weird) I am looking forward to sneaking up to my alma mater to wander around campus in the fall and perhaps to visit a few of my favorite shops.  I'm also looking forward to getting out my golf clubs, visiting my old boss, and maybe catching a fish or too.  Most of all, can't wait to see my family!  

It was wayy too early for me

Beautiful flowers from the market

These flowers are so fragrant!! Tuberoses, I think??

Farmers' market Saturday morning

My husband, our friend Beth, and I go to the Green City Market every weekend. We all stay busy with work during the week, so it is nice to have a guaranteed date with my favorites each week.

This morning we tried crepes with locally sourced cheese and fruit. Delicious!

Weekday brunch courtesy of my personal chef/husband

French toast with bananas, powdered sugar, and pecans from my family's farm. Yum!

My return to running

I used to run ALL of the time.  During college, I would run the "loop" around campus at least once per day, sometimes more, depending on who was around to play!  When I went off to law school, I joined a gym.  Not only did I work out almost every day, but my bff Linds was always around to motivate me to go in the winter.  Sometimes I would even drag my other bffs: 

You can get quite the workout on an elliptical with a property law textbook.  

After I started studying for the bar exam and moved to Chicago, I became less interested in running.   For awhile, my Nike+ kept me into running.  I ran hundreds of miles with that little gadget.  Somewhere along the way, though, I realized that I don't really care for Nike tennis shoes.  

This evening, I ran a 5K with some co-workers.  After having run only once in the past week or so, and goodness knows when before that, I was pretty impressed with my efforts.  It was great to feel the runner's high afterward.  I didn't realize that I missed it so much.  . . . let's make this a habit!