A quoi ça sert l’amour?

let's put another shrimp on the barbie!

I think I said that fifteen times last night.
Because last night for dinner, I made grilled shrimp.

and it was AWESOME. Such a good idea. I would encourage each of you to make the same.
I call this: Shrimp in three stages -raw, cooking, cooked.

Unfortunately my grandparents ate my food, but forbid me from posting pictures of them enjoying it.
I promise they did enjoy it, though.

Ah, the grill.
This is why I love summer.

this morning when i woke up

I was sad that my dream had ended.
Because we were together, playing a game, and talking.
And in reality, it'll be another month.

Cherries

You might know that even though I am an adult, I can't keep from imagining.
Maybe that's why I love the deck so much.
It's brown, weathered looking wood, ceiling and floor. Three sides look out on to tree tops.
The wall behind me is glass and often mirrors the trees.

I pretend that I am in the lost boys tree house.
Or that I am on a deserted island, and built my home in the trees.
I pretend that I am on the floating city of Laputa, overrun by trees and flowers.

Sometimes, I sit out there and paint, or write, or host pretend photo shoots.
As you might also know (see my header?) one of my favorite things to take pictures of is food.

So today, a glass bowl of cherries and I had a photo shoot.

perfume factices

Hi friends.
I made another blog.

Grandpa Patch and I are working on selling his factices online, and I still don't quite have the hang of ebay. (Honestly, how hard can it be? and yet, I can't sell things on it. Bah.)

But please check out all the bottles and factices that I have for sale, and email me if you are interested, but even more awesome would be if you would put a link on YOUR blog. No pressure.
(rebeccah.louise@gmail.com)
Here's the blog:
franticfactice.blogspot.com

a post about music

Bowerbirds

They have a new album called Upper Air.
It's full of whimsical, folksy music, that's chill enough for Travis and Lana to like, but isn't totally boring.
I think it's lovely.

Mp3 Northern Lights

Now.
Sufjan Stevens
Do you love Sufjan as much as I love him?
Unless you're Lauren Bingham, you have no excuse. She has no excuse either, I've just decided to forgive her for not loving Sufjan when she ought to.
I've loved Sufjan for many months now, and today I stumbled upon his blog.
Yes I did.
Please read this insanely darling post by dear Sufjan, who grew up in the midwest, and is a failed writer turned musician.
That might be me.
If only I could fail at writing and also somehow learn an instrument.
and how to sing.
and how to read music.
Sufjan and I, we have a lot in common. Including that we're engaged to be married to each other.
No big. it's not creepy that I said that.

Mp3 Sophia's Song

this is the face

of a lumberjack, planning her return to the homeland.


FAMILY, take note: I will be there for Mary's grad party. I am coming to Minnesota.

FRIENDS IN MINNESOTA, pay attention: I will be there from the 14th of June until the 21st (?).
I think, or the twentieth. Or another week, depending on when Trav can get work off.
We're coming, and our time had best be jam packed with fun.
Please figure out a time that you are free to come love me, and tell me.
Also, I probably lost your number, so if you haven't sent it to me, please do. Then I can call you, and make plans with you.

Miyazaki

I only just saw a picture of him, and I can't believe how cute he is!
Also, except for Kiki's Delivery Service, I think I've seen all of his movies.
Can I get a high-five?

becky's list of things that make her terribly happy

we've all seen these all over the internet.
i made the decision NOT to make one.

okay... I'm not entirely sure why. it was one of those things on principal. you know, the rockstar diaries encouraged everyone to write one, so i would not.
everyone else would.

shut it. i know it doesn't make any sense. and these are certainly all things you already know. and they're pretty cliche. i think they make most people happy.

so here is my list of ten things that make me terribly happy:

1. rain: the on and off all day kind, the it's still sunny somehow kind, the intensely strong, loud, and powerful thunder-filled kind. all kinds.

2. wind: wind, wind, wind, the same as rain. all kinds.

3. when babies laugh, and their toes curl up, and they can't stop giggling and no one knows exactly why.

4. the beginning of the seasons: the first snow fall of winter, the first robins of spring, the first staggering, too-hot to handle day of summer, the first time you eat squash for dinner in the fall.

5. my sisters: mary, lisa, kathryn. they are all so smart, so funny, so beautiful. i miss them.

6. my brother: jack and me, we are the same. except maybe he's smarter.

7. music: you know when an old song comes on and it wells up in your chest, bringing memories with it? or when you sing loud and off-key with your friends? or the way a hymn can suddenly make so much sense, even though you've heard it a thousand times before?

8. pictures: art, old photographs, little drawings by toddlers, homemade movies, and the way taking a picture of something immortalizes it. i can't get enough.

9. pulling something warm, fresh, and perfectly done from the oven: cookies, cakes, homemade pizza, potatoes, pork roast any one?

10. words: writing them, reading them, getting lost in them. finding them, understanding them, becoming part of them. if I could be a writer for the rest of my life, I would be happy. if I could somehow make money by writing this blog, I would be forever content. if I could devour a new book every week, it could never be enough.

oops. I have to have eleven.

11. my friends: my friends from home, from school, from my family. I love finding the perfect gift for them, especially for no reason, genuinely surprising them, being a good listener to them, seeing them happy (especially giddy in love happy), knowing I can always turn to them, getting a call or text from them. HAVING them. I love them.



also, (I can't stop myself! everything makes me happy) I decided that because those were all things that were big and obvious (sisters, friends, music?) I am making another tiny list down here of all the little things that make me happy. it's even in little font, with a little picture.
1. quoting things
2. silly kissing
3. reading aloud (especially poetry or children's books)
4. riding my bike to the store, and coming back with fruit in my basket
5. listening to summer sounds out the open window
6. going home
7. introducing my friends to something I love
8. freshly laundered sheets (cool and fresh, not warm and staticky)
9. falling asleep with someone else next to me
10. lemon tea with milk and sugar from an actual teacup, not a mug
11. dresses with pockets

I added eleven, because I had eleven on the other one.

speaking of sister-Lisa, and things that make us happy, you can read HER list here.

zen and the art of bicycle maintenance

I read in a magazine that if you go biking for forty minutes and you bike fast the whole time you lose more weight than if you biked slow the whole time.
Duh.
BUT then I read that if you bike slow(ish) for forty minutes with bursts of speed every few minutes then you will lose the most weight.
How interesting...
So I tried that.
And apparently biking in spurts of speed on a beach bike on a windy, bumpy, root-covered trail breaks your bike.

Oops. I guess that's my own fault entirely and I should have seen it coming.
The chain came off my bike and I was headed down a very narrow, wiggly path without brakes. I dragged my feet (drug my feet? drigged my feet? honestly...) until I stopped.
Then, while listening to Iron and Wine, and wearing a white skirt, and being in the middle of a state park (aka in the woods), I PUT THE CHAIN BACK ON MY BIKE.
It was really hard, and I had to say a little prayer after the first unsuccessful ten minutes.
But I am impressed with myself, and you should also be impressed.
I tried to wash my hands in a puddle.
Then I tried to wipe them off on leaves.

Then I biked home, and took pictures of my blackened fingers.


Too bad I washed these fingers in a puddle. Otherwise you could see how really dirty I was.

for the last 12 years...

I have lived in the Buffalo Ward since I was eight or nine.
Some boys were there when I got there, like Clark and Taylor.
Some boys moved in after I did, like Jon, Justin, and Jacob.
I wish I had pictures from these times, but I don't have any old pictures in Virginia.
I hated them all at some point, dated a few at some point, liked most of them at some point, and now I'm writing a blog post about them.... at this point.
Here's why: They are going on missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
For those of you who know them, but might not have heard, these are their mission calls:

Clark (already on a mission, and over half-way through. He's currently in Iowa, [I think]) His mission was Illinois

Taylor: Thailand

Jon: Russia, if I'm not mistaken

Jacob: Lima, Peru

Justin: San Jose, California

They will be gone for two years, paying their own way to work in that area, not at jobs, but preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the truth of the Book of Mormon.
I am so excited for them. Having pretty much seen them grow up over the last ten years, I know they'll all be great missionaries. I am so excited and proud of them.

weighing in even

I am not sure how, but yesterday I measured my waist for a dress I am making, and I have the EXACT same measurements that I had four years ago when I was a Junior in high school.
I know this for fact, because I remember being in that little hallway between the choir room and band room in high school, and measuring my waist, and then we measured Eli's waist, and Matt Patt's, and I remember being horrified that we all had a 28 inch waist.
Now that I think back, I bet they were more horrified than I was.
Also, I gave in and weighed myself.
EVERY time that I have weighed myself in the last two years, no matter what scale or what time of day, I have weighed 128.
exactly 128.

Can someone tell me how this is happening?
I feel myself getting chubbier, and skinnier and going back and forth and whatever on a regular basis.
Honestly. It freaks me out a little. Especially because I know that when I was a junior with the same size waist as I have now, I only weighed 125.
I gained three pounds my freshman year at college, and it never leaves me.

culinary endeavors

remember my goals?
like the goal where I said that I was going to learn to cook?

I have cooked three meals and dessert.
Please look at how AWESOME they look. They tasted good, too.
Next time I see you, I will cook for you.

I made this broccoli salad, and the dressing for it is below, and it was SO yummy.


Then for dinner I made Penne Pasta.

And for dessert I made buttermilk vanilla ice cream, which was DELICIOUS.

And I made coffee cake.
Tah-dah.

Almost all of the recipes were found here: Smitten Kitchen.
Her recipes are wonderful! Check it out.

"not only does your body bang,

but I miss the conversations, too."

-inspiring words by Jesse McCartney.
sometimes the 16 year old in me cannot be restrained.

my grandmother is a teenager

this is her at 16. with her boyfriend.


* we have the same sleeping patterns. unlike my grandpa, my grandmother and i stay up well past midnight, and get up after ten every day.

* she watches american idol. obsessively. and spends time roaming itunes and buying american idol music.

* she listens to jason mraz, matt costa, feist, ingrid michaelson, and all the same music as you.

*she knows the theme song to the O.C. and can sing or whistle it to you at your request.

*she spends all day on her blog, or reading her friends blogs, and has more hits than anyone else i know.

* she chats online, and emails back and forth people that she's met online. several times, she's even arranged meetings and gone out with these mysterious internet people.

* today we went into Trader Joe's grocery store. it's all organic, and super healthy. as we stood in line with avacados and shepards bread in hand, my grandma whispered, "you better go get some cookies quick. quick!" i came back with two types. "we'll just get them both," she said.

* i made a cake. together, we ate it.

* she enjoys watching arrested development, and we're making our way through the first season.

i fit right in here. we are the same.

a slew of dresses

I have so many dresses to show you.
I can't keep them all here to myself unless you see how cute they are.
Sorry the pictures are so bad, I was pushing the picture button on photobooth, and running back and forth while on speakerphone with Travis.

Admittedly, these first two dresses are not as neat. I bought them at the Gap (they were SO cheap! I think 15 bucks a piece.)




This grey one is from the Gap, too. I think grandma's going to have to take it in a little. I ended up buying an eight, even though it's way too big. They just didn't have anything else, and how could I say no?
This dress, however, is not from the Gap. It is home made.
My great-great grandma made this dress for my great grandma when she was a teenager.
I'll be honest, I almost died squeezing into that stinking dress. It is SO skinny. It does make me much better behaved, though. Good posture, no reaching, crouching, or running or the dress rips.


This was also my great grandmother's dress, though from a little later in life. It definately fit me better.
I felt like Jackie O. wearing it, and it fits perfectly. The only thing is that it is made of wool, and it's so blasted hot! I guess it's a winter dress.

Look at the detail around the neck line! I love it!! It was homemade, too.
The blue and green dresses were similar to the white except that they weren't as fitted, and they had gathered waists, but they were also home made wool dresses belonging to the great grandma.


Aren't they sweet!

Just a few weeks ago a friend said to me that she found some of her grandma's old dresses and was wearing them.
I complained, saying "My grandma has nothing of the sort lying around her house!"
Oh, how wrong I was.

The dresses all belonged to Babalou, or Grandma Louise (the woman after which I was named.)
Isn't she beautiful?
This is her at twenty-one, and below is a picture taken just a few months before she died of breast cancer.

Check out my grandpa's (her husband's) very sweet blog here.