Blog Swap Summer 2011 - summer memories...

You can find me posting over at  LOLASANGRIA  and today, you will be reading a post from LOLASANGRIA'S writer Dominique. Enjoy!

The truth is, i can't say i'm one for the unstructured wildness we associate with the heat. it always made me a little too crazy.

what i crave is the order. newness and freshness and starting all over and the chance to keep everything together this time.

(i haven't always been good at keeping everything together)

so in august, what excites me, what always excited me - that now, i miss something fierce - is the preparation.  the acquiring of new clothes that you won't wear for 3 months until the weather cools down, brand new notebooks that smell like perfect fresh paper, labeling your things and piling them away neatly.

i was never sad to see summer go.

and then a week or so before we hit the reset button yet again, my mom would tell me i should start setting my alarm so i could get used to waking up earlier - that never worked.  and the nerves before day one, the sheer enormous chances presented, they always kept me up late too.  it didn't matter - adrenaline always gets you through day one.

now i walk through drugstores and i see all the supplies laid out, and i know it would be silly to buy them for myself, i have no need.  i contemplate taking a class of some sort, but it's a lot of money for something you're not sure of.  so i think back and i miss this, this yearly chance to do it right.  and i think perhaps, now, (as with so many other things), we've just got to make it for ourselves

The Only Time I am Remiss

Everything about moving to Vermont has been a relief. No traffic. Less sucky drivers (who knew VTers LOVE to cut people off?) A yard. With TREES! and a POND! and 100+ acres where the only sound is that of the wind through the surrounding trees. It's like the first full day here we were purified of all dirty ol' Boston's putrescence with one sigh and inhale of fresh VT air. Well, everything is great except for one thing.

My beau is taking off for an unexpected trip tonight until next week. Getting the house to yourself is a treat! Yay!

There's just one tiny thing. If we were still living in Boston, I could call the random people I know to find someone to go out for a drink. I could call some ladies over and watch a movie. Here...it's just me. I do not usually feel lonely as most often, I relish the time I get alone since I'm so busy and surrounded by people all day. When alone time is comprised of more than 2 days, my alone time gets satisfied and then I want to stretch and fit in people. Just a few. Here and there. People with whom I like to spend time. People I shun and scorn all the rest of the time (ha! but y'all know I only shun and scorn the ones I love).

I know people here, but not anyone with whom I can just hang out or call up on short notice to come over and who... actually CAN! Most people I know here are married, pregnant, have children, are busy (that's not really new) or are set in their ways and feel less like making an effort for someone new. Oh, fortuna! Damn you your karma!  Sometimes in Boston I would rue the acquaintances I had, complain of how much time I spent with people I deemed only "semi-friends." And here I am, longing for just that - semi friends. Acquaintances. The random hodge podge of people you collect over time over a shared interest, through a friend of a friend, or randomly met at the local coffee shop.

I think the nearest coffee shop is 20 minutes away...I think my friends and semi-friends are even further ....

ma mere

My mom slowly eased one foot after the other down the front stairs. Often it was hard to remember she was in pain and needed knee surgery, but as she hobbled around her parked car, I remembered. My mom; short and plump, solid and loud and always so there in our lives, seemed vulnerable and small. She got to the driver's side door and looked up to smile at me. A gust of wind lifter her hair off her face and up off her shoulders. Hair blowing, a smile on her face, she gave a small wave. For a moment, there was her young self, looking careless and happy. She slipped into the driver's seat and started up the driveway. Her car disappeared up the drive then turned at the end to go up the street. I stood at the door looking up the driveway where she had left.

Blog Swap 2010 - Somethin' for everyone

Hello Extra Ordinary Readers!

My name is Ashley. I met Erikka through a blind blog swap hosted by 20 Something Bloggers. She’ll be posting on my blog: A Hasty Life. After you read my post, bop on over to my blog to read her post! We’ve been asked to write about what we plan to do in 2011 that we’ve been putting off for too long. So here goes:

Don’t we all have lists of things that we want to accomplish “sometime” in our lives? I couldn’t possibly write one blog post on all the things I’ve been putting off and hope to accomplish. But the one thing I really want to do in 2011 that I’ve been thinking about and planning for some time is starting an Etsy shop. Do any of you own Etsy shops?

I just love perusing through the stores on Etsy. There is something to special and heartfelt about giving and receiving handmade things. I’ve also recently really gotten into local art so I love to see what new Etsy shops arise in my area. I think buying local and handmade are two trends that are really worth perpetuating.
Anyway, I want to become a part of this network. I’ve often thought about what I can do, what I can make that would be “Etsy-worthy.” I really wanted to create something unique and reflective of who I am. I wanted to make sure that when I started my Etsy shop that I did it right, with a product I was proud of and that I thought would sell.
Well the “ah-ha” moment finally came! I’ve come up with an idea that I love and the ball is beginning to roll. I am in the midst of creating my first few pieces to see what the public’s reaction is. My goal for 2011 is to start an Etsy shop and concentrate on promoting and building it so that it actually makes money. What bricks and mortar store makes money in their first year? Not many! Another lovely thing about Etsy!
So wish me luck as I begin this endeavor. And check back in with my blog, A Hasty Life, to see how I’m doing!
It’s been a pleasure posting for you! I look forward to seeing you around the blog world again soon!



Sincerely,

Ashley



A Hasty Life

@AHastyLife

All In A Day's Work

These titles were in the same column, on the same page in a book order magazine.
How wonderful.

Haberdashery

Eating at school is an unpleasant experience. I do not say this lightly as I LOVE EATING.
At this point, I wish I could not get hungry so I wouldn't have to experience the haphazard eating, the
joyless stuffing of my face, the mad dash back to the library.
On the one hand, I would love to have a relaxed lunch for a full 45 minutes. Even 30 minutes, GREAT!
Then on the other hand, I love my job, so I don't feel bad going back.
I just intensely dislike this new eating habit.
15 minutes, 20 tops.
Heating up my food, wolfing it down, barely tasting it. Feeling gross when I am done.
Such a sad sad lunch.

This is the pace of my whole day, until I hit my pillow at 9 or 9:30pm. Because even when I get home, there are dogs to walk, dishes to wash, library planning, garden chores. Luckily, the garden chore part is slowing down. And my beau has taken over cooking duties, freeing me up for about 1 hr of unwind time. Much. needed. unwind time.

Vermont is more than a new place to live. It is a lifestyle.

Holy C.A.F.O!

Every day I pass by a C.A.F.O (pronounced KAY-phou).

What is a C.A.F.O? C.A.F.O stands for Contained Animal Feed Operation.

Here's my explanation - a C.A.F.O is a meat or dairy production site. However, the meat and dairy produced at C.A.F.Os is the opposite of meat or dairy any person in their right mind would want to eat if they knew where and from what conditions said meat or dairy came.

In a C.A.F.O animals are kept inside and are penned or tied or caged side by side. They stand in their poop until it is hosed out, and sometimes it's not. The animals do not walk. Sit. Lay down. Roll over. Sometimes they don't even see outside. In this particular C.A.F.O a few lucky cows get to look out at the road. And since they don't go outside, they have to do their bathroom business inside. Where they stand. Which then necessitates a Shit Sucker Upper truck to come suck out all the shit about once a week or once every other week. I know because I often get stuck behind the Shit Sucker truck leaving the farm. Being stuck behind a Shit Sucker Truck is not the ideal place to be, let me tell you.

I ride by on my bike sometimes. I watch the few cows at the open roadside area watch me as I pass. They look young, their legs splayed in that I'm-still-getting-used-to-these-four-things kind of way. Their heads turn to follow me as I glide past. I hope they take turns at the windows.