sunny days and grapefruits.

...and a dog.  life at its simplest.

thrifty.

up the street and around the corner there lies a quaint little, brightly colored, antique fair. Chartreuse & Co.  i fell in love with all of the treasures packed in there.  with coffee in our hands we navigated the rows and took in all of these treasures...

this weekend we might go back, and take grandma along with us!  yaaaaay. this little treasure only comes out to play once a month.  i can't wait to play there again! 

boyfriend's birthday.

this past weekend was a crazy one!  friday-sunday was spend celebrating boyfriend's birthday, and his best friend's birthday too.  there was lots of manliness, whipped-cream faces, cake, home-made  pasta, roof-top bars, rain, birthday kisses(only for boyfriend, not best friend) bloody mary's, brunching, driving, and lots of time spent with my absolute favorite people.  here's some of the (many) pictures!

the dads... i made them go back out side after they had taken all but one of the burgers off.

unfortunately the waitress was too busy to re-take this picture... the shutter shadows will have to stay.

$5 bloody mary's... say whaaa?!

the birthday boys' girlfriends.

my best ladies. seriously, love these women so so much! and our lemon drops. love those too! 

that birthday boy in the middle will always try to be taller than his not-so-little brothers. 

the lost pictures.

ah. at last... i remembered to get my camera out of boyfriend's glove box!

  a couple of weeks ago boyfriend knew that i needed some "us" time. time to talk, hold hands, and plain ol' enjoy each other's company.

so he showed up to my house un-announced, gave me instructions to "wear warm things that you can walk in, and maybe get dirty" and took me out.  

 (before he can take me anywhere i usually stand in front of my closet wondering what he possibly has in store, and how i should dress. what does "warm" mean anyway?! )

well i didn't spend too much time, because i was dying to go on an adventure with my man.

and adventure we did.

peaceful pathway to the patapsco river.

that blue sky!  it was deceptive though, because it happened to be freezing!!

...the only picture of me... ha. 

he's my favorite :)

this is what he does when i say "don't pose"

do you love surprises, or are you a planner and need every detail before hand??

me: BOTH!
 i always bug him for as many deets as possible without giving anything away. i like to be prepared, but i L.O.V.E. the thought he puts into surprising me. it is hands down the best. ever.

have a beautiful saturday!

XO 

sleepless.

 tomorrow is a clinical day, which means I have a wake up call at 4:45 am. 

yet here i sit at 12:15 still awake.

I went down stairs to get myself some hot milk and honey with cinnamon, and wonder why i can't sleep.

 maybe it was the tea I drank this afternoon... 

maybe I have too much on my mind, and need to write some things down.

I've been thinking a lot lately about friendships. what makes them, what breaks them, what makes them stronger, what makes them grow.

my friendship history(i guess you could call it that) has had it's ups, and it's downs.  somedays if feels as though the downs out weigh the ups.  thank goodness there's pictures, and memories to make you remember that the ups are worth the downs sometimes, and the friend that you love is worth the ride.

sometimes, however there is no up after a down.  at least is seems that way. i am in that particular spot with a friend now.

 its not arguing, no name calling, no disagreeing.  there is no specific event that was a turning point.  it is simply falling apart. or has fallen apart. 

i keep wondering what did i do wrong? how could i have been a better friend? why is this happening now? 

part of me is "over" this friendship, the part that gets impatient, and annoyed.  the other part of me is broken. totally crushed. the part that cares, and loves and needs those people close to me to share life with. 

 i am not sure how to go about this whole thing to be honest. i have fought tooth and nail to resuscitate the friendship, but i sometimes wonder if in fact this friendship has served it's purpose, and it's ok to move on.  even the thought of that makes me bawl. 

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. -C.S. Lewis

how true. life is possible without friendship, but life with friendship is something to truly treasure.  i truly am thankful for the friendships i have, and the ones i've had.  even this one, that is keeping me up tonight.  a am so blessed to be surrounded by friends who make me a better person, who make me laugh so hard i cry, who make me laugh when i cry, who have strengthened my weaknesses, friends who i cherish and have made my life full.

(and i'm so thankful for my mom who's friendship is always reliable, and who's advice i should have taken years ago. thankfully she doesn't mind repeating herself ;) )

if you could give one piece of advice on friendship to a child, that would stick with them for the rest of their lives, what would you tell them? 

leave a comment with your answer!

goodnight,

-C

Hallelujah!

"Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has RISEN!!!" Luke 24:6

Happy Easter to you and yours.  I hope you have a beautiful day celebrating the resurrection!!

xo

extra sparkle.

***this post was written on thursday afternoon... but! I still wanted to share it with you...  if you try this out i want to see pictures!!! 

my first task since spring break started, a whole 3 hours ago, was to pain my nails.  nursing school isn't polished-nails-friendly. unless of course it's clear, or a boring shade of nude.  you see.  i'm a girl that always used to go get her nails done (usually with my mom) so, i'm not particularly good at doing my own.  and really, i don't enjoy it. at all.  but today i was determined to paint my nails. and like it.  but didn't have a color that I really loved(because i always go get my nails done), so i mixed my own instead.   

The peach color is too translucent, so I added some white polish, and got a perfect light peach.(definitely different than boring nude)  

and I added some sparkle, just because ;) 

i mixed my polish in a plastic cup, then used the brush from the white polish to blend the two and paint my nails.  (i don't usually use the white anyway.) 

annnd... 4 days later, a picture of the final result. (plus a lady bug, and some drift wood...)

to say this weekend was busy is an understatement.  finally seeing friends that i love, watching boyfriend play soccer, thrifting with mom, time with boyfriend and his family, dad's birthday, a day trip to the eastern shore (complete with crabs and hush puppies!) and topped it all of with watching Pirates of the Caribbean 1&2 last night with my family. 

 love that family of mine.

 phew! 

  pictures soon to come of this crazy weekend!

happy monday!

XO