meet basil!

Ben and I decided to expand our little family and have proudly adopted Basil. The, uh, basil plant.

He lives in the coveted south facing well window, which is the only tiny spot in my apartment that actually gets direct sunlight. That is, when the sun decides to shine here in central PA ;)

He supplies us with delicious fresh basil leaves for our homemade pizza nights and tomato salads.

And he has survived to be a few weeks old!!

(Fernando the cilantro *ahem* sadly didn't make it past his third birthday. If we're counting in days.)

I am super proud that Basil is doing so well, since Ben and I both have pretty bad track records at being indoor plant parents. RIP Fernando!!!
 This is particularly shameful for me, coming from a family of horticulturists and having a degree in biology, but I am more of an outdoorsy tree lover kind of plant person.

I am having a very unmotivated Sunday. Blaming it on the cloudy cool drizzly weather and my attempt to run 6 miles. Plus a very busy day yesterday, including a visit from Ben's sister plus two back to back potluck/parties; my introverted self is still crashing from all the excitement !  

I did manage to bake one of my favorite muffin recipes this afternoon, and they are delicious. I promise to get the recipe up asap. It's high time I got back into a recipe posting routine.
I hope you had a relaxing weekend (I call for more 3 day weekends! This two day thing just isn't cutting it for me.) and have a great start of another week :)


Something to listen to: Band of Horses radio on Pandora --super chill. I am a new fan.

[sierra wyethia aka mule's ear]

Woah, hello blog. I'm sorry I have been neglecting you as I try to keep my head up in the craziness of the Fall semester. 

Real life has been a lot more appealing to me than blog life.

I always feel like the real beginning of the new year comes in late August/September, not January.

Maybe it's because this is my 21st (I think?) straight year of school...

This "new year" has brought a lot of changes so far

-Year 2 of grad school (no classes yay!)

-TA-ing 60 undergrads

-living indefinitely with Ben in my tiny cave apartment

-starting thesis work

-thinking about big girl jobs

Plus I have been dealing with a dental saga

I had a really bad cavity. Yeah...I'll spare you the gory details.

I've met a nice dentist, endodontist, and periodontist here.

Learned that root canals aren't that bad. But crown extension surgery is a little more nasty.

Lesson: don't put off your x-rays. floss. get some ACT.

The weather is finally cooling off now and it feels like September should feel. I am so ready for scarf, jacket, boots, and pumpkin season. 

Well, I'm off to lunch and hopefully a fun hike in the mountains!

Happy Labor Day weekend :)

a little visit to Michigan

In the short space of time between coming home from California and heading back to Pennsylvania (which flew by wayyyy too fast) Ben and I made a roadtrip to Michigan to spend a few days at his mom's new home.  It was a perfect mini-vacation, filled with sunsets, ice cream, blueberry picking (and of course pie making), beach walks (so cliche but nice), and new kittens.  Michigan in the summer is pretty amazing, and the blueberries can't be beat (by PA's blueberries, at least).