roots and wings

In case you've missed the incessant twitter parade telling you to follow Cassidy Gibson's blog, I'm here to tell you again!

Cassidy is 14 and I've known her since she was a single digit (9). Now she lives in Jinja, Uganda, and in her own words, "Instead of sleeping, eating and school as a daily routine, I spend my days traveling to villages and/or loving on AIDS orphans." Look at her rocking a power braid and holding this sweet little girl. What were you doing when you were 14?


In my perfect world, I would have access to some really shocking pictures of myself doing whatever I was doing at the age of 14 so that we could all compare my 14-year-old self to Cassidy's 14-year-old self. Alas, I do not. On second thought, I'm probably wearing belly shirts in most of those pictures, and even if I had access to them, they would probably be inappropriate to post on the Internet.

Why did my parents let me buy clothes at The Body Shop?

Anyways, Cassidy helped us move into our dorm room our freshman year, then we shared a special night together in the hospital. Then one time we went skiing at Lake Tahoe together and we lost her on the slopes for an entire day. What I'm trying to say is how big of an adventure is this girl's life? 


If everything I just said isn't enough to convince you to add Cassidy to your google readers and rss feeds, the Meagan Gibson did her logo and it looks awesome. duh.

Meagan and Cassidy are kind of like Mary Kate and Ashley except not twins. So maybe like Jessica and Ashleigh Simpson. And in January they will be REUNITED and I'll be there too so we will be the March sisters from Little Women, except there will only be 3 of us. Basically, there are no celebrity sisters that are like us. We will be unlike anything the world has ever seen.

(Yep, I just invited myself into your sisterhood. Glad to be here).

countdown: 2 days...

...until the first day of my favorite month of the year!

me too! thank you ed nacional

also, i agree with this:

 i've been wanting to try this one for quite some time now.

cheerio!

noteworthy g-chat conversations

2:25 PM Meagan: hey sorry i didn't pick up

me: its ok!

Meagan: i was in the bath...watching friday night lights.

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3:59 PM Meagan: us and our husbands will die peacefully in a sailing accident when we're in our mid-80's

Meagan: while we're all sleeping the boat will just go down

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12:11 PM Meagan: i'm really interested in fetishes

me: "things you shouldn't admit"

Meagan: i'm just kind of fascinated by them. like. how weird.

me: yeah.

Meagan: Abasiophilia: attraction to people with leg braces. eg. Er, Jenny from Forrest Gump?

the husband list

When we were freshmen in college, we did some interesting things. When we say interesting, we mean special. When we say special, we mean special. Like make a husband list... ya know, a list of prospective husbands.

It started as a joke (kind of) and continued as a joke (kind of). The list was tucked away, rediscovered and edited time and time again between moves from our beloved dorm room to an ichy apartment to 524 Wrights Mill, and several times in between in the event that we were hunting for a recipe or a pair of scissors. Each time we pulled it out, we looked at the ridiculous people who are on it, commented on how ridiculous it was that we made it in the first place. But then we would cross named off and add more because once you start something so absurd, you can't just stop.

Most recently, Meagan pulled it out when she was de-cluttering her life, and we would like to share it with you. Of course, we can't show you the whole list but here is what it looks like.

You can see that on Holly's side, #2 Reid Freeman has been crossed off. That's because we can't even remember who this person is. Reid, if you're out there, you were once on the husband list, but clearly didn't make a lasting impression. 

On Meagan's side you can see that #5's name has "post-salvation" written next to it indicating that this boy would only be an acceptable prospect in the event of a conversion. You'll also notice that #7 reads "hot california surfer" and is from the summer of 2008. That's the summer she spent in San Francisco after her family moved there. Alas, she didn't meet any hot california surfers that summer. 

We wish we could show you more, but our pride is at stake here. Really though, who are we kidding? We just told you we made a HUSBAND LIST when we were freshmen in college.

cake party!

Have a ever mentioned that I have the best job ever? I have the kindest, most encouraging boss/friend who has given me the chance to work with her over at Once Wed. 

Last week, with the styling of the amazing Ashley Meaders, we put together a do-it-yourself cake series for the site. It was a really fun week of cake baking, crafting, and shooting. Thank you to Emily and Ashley for giving me the chance to shoot this fun series!

my worst nightmare

UC Irvine students recently broke the Guinness World Record for biggest game of dodgeball. 1,745 people. That means 872.5 people are trying to throw a ball at you, and that constitutes something I don't want to be a part of.



In elementary school I used to try and get out right in the beginning so that I wasn't cornered at the end with the awkwardly LARGE AND STRONG fifth grader. P.E. coaches everywhere, little girls don't want to play dodgeball. I clearly have baggage. 

baked

this morning, I was feeling particularly inspired and domestic. so I decided to make some banana bread. heaaaallltthhhyyy banana bread.

recently, i've realized that eating sugar gives me these weird dull headaches. i've been trying to pinpoint what they were coming from for a while and i think I finally got it down. now, obviously, it's more that eating excessive amount of sugar is what does it, but the thing is that most people do eat excessive amount of sugar! unfortunately, most of the food that we eat these days has more sugar than we would like to imagine. 

annyyywaaayyyss, in my efforts to cut back on sugar, I've been trying out some different recipes for baked goods that don't have sugar. here's one of them. no butter, oil, or sugar. its not as bad as it sounds. in fact, it's not even close to bad. its actually so good that its bad.

Healthy Banana Bread

adapted from this recipe

in a large bowl, combine: 

2 cups spelt flower

1/4 cup flax meal 

1 tablespoon baking power

1/2 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 tablespoon salt 

in a separate bowl, combine:

3 large very ripe bananas

1/2 cup milk (any kind will do. i used buttermilk because i had some left over)

1/2 cup100% grade A pure maple syrup (a great sugar substitute)

1 tablespoon vanilla 

if you want to, you can add nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit, etc. i didn't, but play around!

Pour into a generously greased loaf pan - any smallish pan will work. Bake at 350 for about 50 min. Eat & Enjoy!

• 

the facts

Have you noticed that Meagan always centers her blog text, and mine is always flush left? I don't know what this means about our subconsciouses, but it's a fact.

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Depending on who you are, you may know that we sat down a couple of days ago to spell out our budget for Uganda. If there was a venn diagram comparing things that are really fun and really scary, it would be in the middle section where the two overlap.

Oh wait. I just made a venn diagram of those things.

If you knew how many times I tried to draw circles that look like circles before getting a big can to trace, you would die. Sometimes I'm shocked at how bad I am at drawing things. Like, I can't even draw a circle.

Anyways, figuring out the details for a big change always makes it feel real, and typing in the words Hartsfield Jackson Airport to Entebbe International Airport was that detail that make it real. As always, I teeter between poles sheer thrill and extreme fear. No news, here.

And then I saw this design is mine: thought of the day from freya art & design and it said it all, per usual.

Who at design is mine is occlumenting into my brain and soul every day?

the fabulous...

...jessica rawlings!

today I wanted to give a little shout out to one of my new favorite people. a few months ago i timidly emailed Jessica asking if she would be interested in letting me pick her brain about photography and the next thing I know, we're laughing about wedding photography over soup and sandwiches. since then, jessica has become a great friend and amazing mentor. not only has she given me tons of photography advice, but she's also let me come second shoot for her so i can get some first hand experience.

heres some pictures from a little photography outing we made last week to get some pictures of ourselves for our sites (eh hem...fuuuttureee site, on my part). how gorgeous is she?? i am so thankful for this insanely talented and incredibly fun gem of a girl.

check out her website to see some of her work!

it's still official

Once again, I just have to tell you that I have the greatest friends on the planet. Really, I do.

Last night I was supposed to be going to get a glass of wine with two Greenville girls for my belated birthday so like a normal night, I drove to Lauren's to meet and walk downtown. "Ohhh, let's go this way," Lauren says walking totally out of the way. I don't even notice (because I never notice anything), we turn a corner and there is MEAGAN GIBSON IN GREENVILLE ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT with all my Greenville friends ready to picnic in the park.

There was pasta and pimento cheese and buttered french rounds and capri suns and jam cake and wine.

As per usual these days, there is no picture evidence so you'll just have to believe me that it was enchanting. I mean, there was capri suns at my 23rd birthday party.

things organized neatly

Sometimes, when my life feels out of control, I go to this blog and re-group.

Behold the power of things organized neatly.

And let me tell you, I might as well have created this blog with my most recent career. Have I told you about my new, awesome job?  Let's just say that today I organized a wrapping paper collection and googled the color wheel to make sure I put the colors in the right order.

happy birthday holly!!

i realized this morning that this is the first time that holly and i haven't been together on her birthday since we met. it is ripping my heart out a little...i mean, just look at the celebrations we've had over the years!

lane hall is for lovers. suite mates. cookie cake. awkward, homesick freshman. LOVING all the new, cute college boys. probably around the same time we started our husband list--oh, wouldn't you like to know!

strawberry cake. popsicles. the unicorn. party lights. ceeeelllleeebrrrattttiooon!!!

524!!! because she is holly hereth, and because she was turning 21, this is the year she had two birthday parties. clearly, every girl needs a girl's chocolate party and a smashing birthday bash. 

524--still...senior year. most magical birthday celebration i've been involved in. 

holly, if things were my way and if i were with you, we would be back at 524, eating pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. then we would spend all day outside. then the day would end with with shrimp and grits, something lemon flavored, and wine. oh wait, that was last year--take me back! 

holly is the best friend anyone could ever dream of. she lets me call her 17 times a day. she always knows exactly what to say when to say it. she puts words to things that i can't figure out how to say. she's intelligent, book-ish, and inspiring.  give some birthday love to the most passionate, most blonde, most creative wonder of a girl!!

 try to convince me that your best friend is better than mine. 

just try. 

blissville

sometimes you're busy living life a little too deeply to stop and take pictures

holly hereth


we don't have many pictures from this past weekend, but lots of stories. more to come!

hope your weekend is the bee's knees

AlphabetBags

happiness is:

-Eating thai food from the all-time favorite, Hereth-family-tradition thai restaurant at home (relatively speaking) in Huntsville in my favorite headscarf that I wear entirely too much.

Boom. Yes, those are my personal pink chopsticks. 

-Staying at the real life Kelley Kirker's house this weekend while she's at the beach. She swore off drinking for a year just to say she could do it and told us to help ourselves to the beer in her fridge. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'. Look for her forth-coming memoir of achieved goals. She told me that one time someone told her she wouldn't leave a t-shirt on for an entire weekend at the beach, EVEN IN THE SHOWER, and she did it. Don't you want a whole book of these? I do.

-Meeting the real life Annie Parsons in Nashville. We started reading her blog year(s) ago and have been dying to get some face time with this beautiful, mountain-climbing, wine-loving, wit-machine blogger ever since. If you don't already read her blog, you should start IMMEDIATELY as if this were a national crisis. With a knack for stringing words together,  she walks the line between poignancy and wit. How does one do this? Tell me your secrets, Annie. I was kidding when I said I was uncomfortable with meeting strangers from the Internet.

-Watching two of my favorite people marry each other on Saturday. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but Trent and I were the first ones to tell Jordan he should go for Katie-girl four score and seven years ago. I'm wearing a tiara to the wedding to honor myself.

Obviously, that was a joke. But I am wearing COWBOY BOOTS because they are tying the knot on a farm outside Nashville and what else am I supposed to wear on my feet?

How do my weekends just keep getting better?

Next weekend? The big 2-3. Yikes.