little joys

when all is said and done it's usually the little things that make my day. Like:
how easy it is to buy a cd on itunes. Talk about instant gratification. My most recent puchase is Toby Lightman's new release.
lunch dates with my husband
the satisfaction of a good workout after a full day of work
new magazines in the mail. i just got the new Radiant and can't wait to dig into it.
long phone calls with far away friends

what makes your day?

monarch butterflies, buckeyes, and candy corn

These are the signs of fall in iowa.
Monarch butterflies do some kind of migrating in at the end of the summer. I had a professor at Drake who was a little obsessed with monarchs. In one of his classes he would periodically let us go find a place outside to just sit and wait to see butterflies, i miss those days. So now every time i see a butterfly, especially in Sept I can't help but smile.

Buckeyes are those quirky little nutty things that seem to magically fall out of the trees right before the leaves start to turn. Adam and I were on a walk yesterday afternoon and I spotted one of the casings they come in. Before he could stop me I was filling the pouch of my sweatshirt with the notty little eyes. i think they will make a wonderful centerpiece.

And candy corn. I guess it's been out in stores for awhile, but I bought a bag yesterday. There's something about the sickeningly sweet kernels that only taste good for about a month. My roommates and i used to go through bags of them in Sept and Oct gorging ourselves on the sweet and salty combination of candy and peanuts.

happy fall

so true

There's no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard
And no song that I could sing but I can try for your heart
And our dreams and they are made out of real things
Like a shoebox of photographs with sepia-toned loving
Love is the answer at least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? And where do we go? And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together

It's always better when we're together
We'll look at the stars when we're together
It's always better when we're together
It's always better when we're together

Jack Johnson, Better Together

I've always loved Jack (yes, we're on a first name basis) but I usually don't think about the words even though I seem to know them all. But when I saw them typed out they were so real. I ask myself all those questions, as I'm sure most young adults do. Someone told me the other day that our parents must still be keeping secrets from us. There must be some trick to growing up that I just haven't mastered yet, right?

all dressed up in front of Laura's adorable apartment


you have to go shoe shopping when you're in LA :)


it's so sunny in LA they give you umbrellas to block the sun. aren't we cute?


lunch in malibu. how gorgeous

LA Delight

I spent a long weekend in LA visiting who else but Laura Jean. I was out there last September visiting for her first birthday away from Iowa, but this trip was longer and we just got to be girls. I have been telling people about the trip and a lot of people are surprised that Adam didn't go with me (he went to Indianapolis with his dad for some drag races). I tell them that I LOVE the fact that we are married but can still do our own thing when needed. And this weekend proved that I as much as I enjoy being a wife (yes, i am now OK with using the "w" word) I will always be a girlfriend at heart :)