a peacock flock!

Late one recent afternoon, several peahens and peacocks sauntered into our frontyard. I love the fact that we have our own neighborhood flock! How many people can say that peacocks roam their neighborhoods? There were about 10 of them hanging around that day, so I casually picked up my camera, walked up to where they were pecking, and started snapping away.

my cartoon alter-ego

Jen made an avatar of herself, which reminded me that I had one, too! Oh, the silliness.

read me

In my continuing adventures of learning how to be a prep school teacher, I've come to love ambiguity. In fact, "be comfortable with ambiguity" has been a lasting mantra among my fellow teachers. I was hired to teach 9th grade English literature and some journalism courses. But in the name of change (and ambiguity), my role has changed slightly. In addition to the 9th grade English and journalism/yearbook/newspaper duties, I have been assigned ONE 6th grade literature class due to the large number of 6th graders we have. You could not hide my delight when I discovered the first recommended book on the reading list this year: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

Carroll's writings are a love of mine, and the Alice books, well, they are quite frankly some of the best children's stories ever written. During my year living in London, I purposely took a train to Oxford just to visit Carroll's haunts, like the Eagle and Child pub (nicknamed the "Bird and Baby"), and Christ Church Meadow, where he imagined Alice's first glimpse of the White Rabbit and chasing him down the rabbit hole. Sigh. Literature is such a splendid thing, is it not?

shellin' peas

I spent a recent sunny Sunday afternoon shelling peas with The Husband, my father-in-law, and my grandmother-in-law, who, I'm told, is one of the best pea-shellin' fools in the state. I'd never taken part in this old-fashioned Texas pastime before, and I was surprised at how fun and relaxing it was. Some of the shells were effortlessly easy to open, like pulling apart a shiny, new zipper. Others needed to be forced open, and green bits of pea shell were protruding from my nails. I loved how minty green the peas were, and the smell... don't even get me started. I couldn't wait to eat some. Luckily, we were given a small sandwich bag full of the tiny morsels. I simmered them in hot water for an hour and a half and finished them off with a healthy dose of Worchestershire sauce, sea salt, and pepper. I'm a pea-lovin' maniac now.

eco-bag

Take a gander at my new bag. It's made of jute. I wasn't completely sure what jute was until I looked it up, but apparently it's an eco-friendly material. I now have two of these bags, but the demask design is my favorite. A Texas duo created the market bags after they heard about the number of plastic grocery bags we Americans use every year (the numbers are too depressing to post here) and couldn't find a stylish reusable bag anywhere. I now keep the totes in my trunk for grocery store trips, although it's easy to forget they're back there. As soon as I get in the check-out line without them, I give myself a little mental doh! Get your own market bag for a very reasonable $15 here.

modern and fabulous

EQ3 finally opened a store in Dallas. We made our way there this afternoon and (holy moly) it was fantastic. Several of their pieces are far too modern for me. But some are just right. The prices are similar to West Elm, which is a definite plus. (It's never okay to spend $10,000 on a coffee table, people. That's just madness.)