(T)BLT+A-M = OK

I had a hankerin' for a BLT for lunch yesterday. I don't think I've had one in over a year and I haven't made one at home in at least 3 years. It's funny how I would remember the last time I made a delicious BLT at home. The formula in the title means I used turkey bacon, lettuce, tomato, added some avocado slices, and no nasty mayo was on my sandwich. I've never put mayo on a BLT or any other sandwich for that matter. I've been told this is sacrilege and mayo is part of the sandwich but where is the M in BLT? Here's my sandwich.

It looked very appetizing and it was good but...turkey bacon is not bacon. The sandwich was a little disappointing. Especially since the last BLT I had was made with real bacon and the bread was a toasted, buttery croissant. It also had avocado and I just happened to have a perfectly ripe one in the house. I'll have to try this again soon with real bacon and some of my dad's home grown tomatoes. He has the best tomatoes in the world and I can't wait to grab some next week.

I Love the Summer

I know this may be surprising because I'm constantly whining about the heat and the humidity but I really do love summer time. The days are longer which makes me feel like I can accomplish more. Longer days mean the sun comes up early and I can get in a quick jog before work. The sunny, bright weather also improves my mood. I think I suffered from a little bit of SAD last year and sunshine seems to help perk me up. The plants are all so pretty this time of year too. Everything that caused me allergy issues has already bloomed and now I can enjoy the lovely landscapes. Summer time also means half-day Fridays at work and a wonderfully diminished teaching schedule. I find myself smiling and wanting to clap my hands for no reason. So, to celebrate the official first day of summer I hope you enjoy the musical stylings of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.

Eye Twitch Switch

My eyelid has started twitching again this week. This time it's my right eye instead of my left and it's constant. I'm in my last semester of the media specialist certification program and I am counting down the days. I'm enjoying my last class (applications of instructional technology) so far but we have something due each week. I didn't realize how much shorter the summer semester is compared to the spring. A shorter semester is fine with me. My final is on July 16th. I've never had a final in any graduate level class. I want to email my professor and ask for details. All I know is we have 12 hours to complete the final; 6pm to 6am. Jeff and I leave for Kauai 4 days later on July 20th and we are both looking forward to a break from our hectic schedules.

This is an aerial shot of the Na Pali Coast in Kauai. Mom says we need to take a boat ride to see this but I keep having flashbacks to my boat adventures in St. Lucia and my stomach starts to turn. Boat or plane are the only options to see the coast and I've been known to have motion sickness on both. We may just have to flip a coin or select the cheaper option. We'll be in Kauai for a week. I have to focus on my school stuff first but the trip is always in the back of my mind. Mom said she would help by making a list of tourist things. I'd like to do some hiking and beach lounging (low to no expense) but I'm sure there are activities that will cost money. We'll need to attend a luau at the very least. 

Pinspired

Whitney and I have started the slow Summer months off with a bang at the library. We collaborated on a Pinterest display. Whitney had this great idea to use one of our very large display cases and create a gigantic Pinterest search. We worked on this steadily for about a week deciding on the look, types of  pinned items, who was pinning, printing, cropping, and stapling everything up. Here's the final result.

The banner heading has a Wordle with book titles and authors in the background.

Since this is a library display we needed to focus on library related things so we went with books, databases, social networking, and Web 2.0 tools. And we had to throw in a little something extra.

This should be familiar to any frequent Pinterest browser. This project was incredibly fun and inventive and we can actually keep it up for a long time and just swap out several of the pins with new books, Web 2.0 stuff, etc.

We were able to incorporate a lot of humor and whimsy with our comments and pinner personas (personas usually apply to fictional characters but we're using real celebrities in a fictional setting--blah, blah, blah). I hope people get close enough and take time to read the comments. Traffic is really slow in Summer so I'm not expecting a big reaction but hopefully when Fall quarter begins word will get around and people will stop by to gawk and giggle.

It Will Be Mine, Oh Yes, It Will Be Mine

A few weeks ago I mentioned a pretty snake ring from Stella & Dot. I didn't purchase it while I was in Virginia because it was so expensive. My mother also forbade it. My aunt texted me last week to see if I'd received my earrings. I told her I had but that I couldn't get the snake ring out of my head. Well.....she said it's being discontinued and I could have it for half-off! Done. It's mine.

Oh, and here's a picture of our deer family.

Yes, you see five deer. This was around 8pm on Saturday and they couldn't have cared less about me and my giant car. I don't really see them in the morning, just mid-day and in the evening. I'll try not to bore you with more deer pictures.

D-e-e-r

Those of you with children and pets will understand why certain words need to be spelled out in our house rather than spoken. There are several "trigger" words for Sandi and Remy. Deer, squirrel, bath, gate, and Frisbee are the most noticeable. We live in a semi-wooded area and we have lots of deer meandering around. Lately we've had a trio family that hangs out in the meadow. They've gotten pretty bold lately. This is a picture I took on Friday afternoon and there's about 5 yards between us.

He looks farther away in this photo but he was super close. I slowly drove by and took a few pics with my phone and he went back to eating.

I saw the trio this morning on my jog. They were THIS close to the road and they just watched me jog and stayed put. We have to be extra careful closing the gate with our new woodland friends hanging around. Check out this sweet video and read the blog post here.

Oh! The Humidity!

It's muggy out. I'm miserable after standing outside for more than 3 minutes. Sweat sheen appears on my forehead in a matter of seconds and I want to change my clothes as soon as possible--after each moment spent outside. I'll try straightening my hair, leaving it curly, putting it up in a ponytail, but nothing seems to prevent the inevitable expansion and frizz of my hair.

The good news is I can take a leisurely walk in the afternoon and lose a pound from sweating out the water weight. I gain two pounds back that night after eating tons of cooling ice cream but that's besides the point.

Mini Toy

Remember when I got my iPad? You probably don't but I remember it like it was yesterday. I have used my iPad literally every day since I purchased it almost 2 years ago. Last Friday I purchased an iPad Mini. It's the size I wish the iPad was in the beginning but they didn't offer a mini version.

So, no, my head is not really that big. It's just the iPad Mini is really that small. It fits in all my purses easily and I can hold it in one hand. I was worried about adjusting to the smaller screen but it's still large enough to enjoy playing my games and watching movies and shows. I've given my iPad 2 to Jeff and he seems pretty happy with the arrangement.

And...Now I'm Blushing

Michanne and I went to the 5pm showing of Spank! at the Buckhead Theatre on Saturday.

We met for a mid-day meal at Buckhead Diner. I've never eaten there before but the food was very good. We split the hummus appetizer and I had shrimp and grits for my main dish. It came with a sunny-side egg on top and I promptly asked for this on the side. Wise decision. We then drove separately to the theater. We had some time to kill after finding our parking spaces (the parking was a constant worry for us--we parked at a local business that had no signage prohibiting parking but we worried we might return to find tickets on our car, or a boot, or that they were towed) so we walked around and then entered the theater early to enjoy the AC. The attendance was modest but everyone was drinking and wearing clothing that was too tight and too short. There were surprisingly a lot of men there with their wives/girlfriends. I don't think I could have paid Jeff to go with me to something like that. They had appropriate music pumping in the theater before the show; S&M by Rihanna was one of the many. Here's the stage.

Michanne and I moved back a few seats to see the stage better and there were only a handful of people sitting back there. Here we are waiting for the show to start.

Michanne calls this her Snooki hair. The cast consisted of three people; the writer, the girl, and the guy. I've only read half of 50 Shades of Grey (the first book) and the first act was very funny and I could follow the story fairly well. I was pretty lost for the second half and didn't find it as funny. It certainly had some moments that made me blush and there was even some audience interaction (Q&A stuff, nothing kinky). The singing was pretty good but all-in-all I don't think the show was worth the cost of the ticket. I told Michanne that it would have been way funnier if we'd had something to drink. Our cars were unharmed and we went our separate ways home. I hate driving in Atlanta and I hope I never, ever have to live there!

Stella and Dot

I'm sure everyone has heard of this company by now. My Aunt April has been selling their lovely things for many years now and I've received emails from time to time about items. 

My Aunt is very pretty (and "so stylish" as my cousin Jessie would say) and seeing the goods on such a pretty person makes you want to buy, buy, buy. She brought all of her merchandise/stock over for the ladies to ooh and aah over. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures--my camera was attached to my hip practically the entire weekend. It really was quite a display. I bought some things and I wanted to buy several more. 

My Aunt was wearing these on Saturday and I have been looking for some pretty navy earrings with gold accents for a few months (I randomly search Etsy about once a month).

How beautiful is this bag?!?!? The inside is another pretty pattern but in teal. And yes, my Aunt also had this on her person Saturday. A perfect match for her navy earrings. Well, this sucker is sold out until July. I ordered one anyway.

No, I didn't buy this ring. I can't really explain why I covet it so badly but I do. After I learned the price I just walked around the house wearing it for about 30 minutes knowing I couldn't buy it. I think I will keep this on the back-burner as something to save up for--or maybe request as a birthday present. Although, it may be discontinued by September. What's a girl to do?