You can take the girl out of Arkansas...

...But you can't take the redneck out of the girl! When David snapped the photo of me and my gardening overalls with the pitchfork, it reminded me of my roots. Well we've finally been able to till up our plot. Sounds like an easy task but have you ever used a tiller?? Nearly impossible to control, especially in soil that is 90%sand! We put up the posts on our plot and then filled it with soil, tilled it up, and then are waiting to till up some peat moss into our plot. The peat moss helps retain any moisture in the soil. We're hoping to plant vegetables soon. Our first choice is beans, they make a beautiful presentation. The pictures are us tilling it up and filling it with soil. Gardening has become David and I's favorite activity together. Working together to grow something is truely an amazing task. God delighted in creating, and he definately put that quality in all of us.

Homage to my husband

Ok, this is cheesy I know. And maybe because I'm a newly wed but I just can't help expressing my love for David! I mean, he's so thoughtful (took care of me while I was sick this weekend) caring, dedicated (woke up at 8am on Saturday, his only day to sleep in, to help on a work project with our community garden), funny ( here's a secret- he has different voices for when he speaks to our cats- actually several different voices for both cats) so i'll up that to hilarious, and sweet (he rides the bus in the evenings from work so I can use our one car). I'm so grateful for my wonderful husband!!!!

"They do not love that do not show their love.
The course of true love never did run smooth.
Love is a familiar."
-William Shakespeare

Foxmill Farm

Foxmill Farm is a mission supported by our church. Foxmill is a working farm with an assortment of animals owned by Cindy and Eldon Miller. Some of the animals are previously abused that they have rescued. The Millers also have local teens come out, some with behavioral problems, to help rehab the animals. They've adopted several of the foster kids that have come to help there as well. They are members at Gulf Gate so David and I had the opportunity to come out and help them repair some fences, fix electrical work, and clean up the place. It was fun to, like being a cowboy for the day!

My dream home! (designed by David Schmidt Sr.)

Here I go again...

This weekend I started my new job at a local restaurant called Cantina Toscana as a server. Though I thought my days of waiting tables was over, alas, I cannot keep away. I think the restaurant is an especially unique experience. It is authentic, Tuscan inspired quisine. The staff is pretty small and it feels like a family. Plus, it gives me time to work with Gulf Gate during the week. So the best of both worlds. Copy and paste the link below to check it out! :)
http://www.cantinatoscana.biz/index.html

Recommendation

Here's a random recommendation to fill your home with Fall cheer! I recently bought a cinnamon broom from a local grocery store and it makes my home smell wonderful. It looks a bit cheesy, like it belongs in a cabin or something. But it might actually look cute next to a pumkin or something. My friend has one and she put it over her fireplace and it looks great. Unfortunately, I don't have one. I do recommend you buy it if you can, makes me feel so nostalgic when I come home to the smell of fresh cinnamon :)

Two Green Thumb's Up!

These are pictures of David and I's plot in Bayou Oaks Community Garden. Since we live in a townhouse and have been wanting to start gardening, we decided to buy a plot in Sarasota to garden on. And it helps improve our community! The garden is owned locally and is in its beginning stages of development. We're so excited to get the whole thing running! We have just tilled up our plot and are waiting to churn up some peat moss in it, to help retain moisture. We're thinking of planting broccoli, cabbage, carrots and celery. Anyways, here are some pictures of the beginning stages of us tilling up the soil, cleaning the garden, clearing the plot. Any advice, please share! Oh and the last picture is our feet after tilling the soil, they were nearly black!

Powerful art- John William Waterhouse

So I've been getting into viewing art lately and one particular favorite of mine has been John William Waterhouse. His paintings bring me back to a time when my sister and I were playing dolls when we were younger. We would create these fantastic senarious, complete with full costumes (supplied by my mother's rag collection) hero's and heroines, horses, villians, and even music! We would spend hours, even days setting up the drama of these plays. Taking them to different destinations in our imaginations, to foreign lands, to beneath the sea. Nothing could draw us away from this fantasy world we created. We reinacted scenes from history, both being lovers of history and literature. His painting evoke a sense this sense of adventure and mystery my sister and I had. I also seem to be drawn to art portraying women. I think, what are they feeling? what emotion is he trying to convey? Are they so alike to me? Beautiful.

Ray's game

A couple of weeks ago Kimley-Horn (David's work) decided to treat its employees and spouses to free tickets to the Tampa Bay Ray's baseball game. Next to world travel and my dad's pancakes- Baseball games are one of my favorite things! Especially the Ray's because I can finally support a local team and they are doing really well this season. Unfortunately, they were playing the Yankees (boo)who, I'm sorry, have the WORST fans- ie- very drunk and very rude. But, turned out to be a really fun time. My friend Emily came with her boyfriend CJ, who also works at KHA. She has also just moved here this year and has become a good friend of mine. Anyways, thought I'd share some pictures of the game.
Extra perk- petting live devil rays AT the Ray's stadium.
Side note- they are extremely slimey and somewhat gross...

What is landscape architecture you say??

So people seem to ask me and David a lot "what exactly do ya do here?" (homage to Office Space) David has created a web album through gmail that shows the type of work landscape architects do. Take a gander if you have time:

http://picasaweb.google.com/larcitect/WhatIsLandscapeArchitecture#

But basically, David works at an engineering firm. He is responsible for the sustainability part- ie- saving trees, conserving the environment, calculating rainfall, and just making it beautiful, (cause lets face it engineers have no idea what that is). Pretty interesting stuff I think!! :)

klimt paintings

My recent obsession

Gustav Klimt paintings have been on my mind (and on my wall). I recently added a feature to my blogger site thinking the pictures as beautiful, knowing little about Gustav, only his most recognizable peice "The Kiss" featuring a man bestowing a rather passionate (and as some critics note-rather forceful) kiss upon his beloved. I choose to think of the kiss as a moment of sheer exstascy. The woman overwhelmed, drops to her knees, to be met by an eager kiss.
If you know any of his history he was a rather dark, distant, and somewhat morbid individual. He has few commentaries on his work, why he paints the way he does, pointing his fans only to his works of art to understand his soul. A lot of his paintings reflect mythology and feature women and men reflecting Byzantine and Greek dress. I myself, have been a fan of mythological paintings and stories, so I feel his pictures capture the beauty and sadness of mythology.
The majority of his paintings are women, which I think some are thoughtful (and be careful when researching his work- some are rather graphic!). Not all are thoughtful. He seems to capture a woman's face in different emotions, gathering light in the right angle, juxtaposing the colors just right. Personally, I like his "Golden Period" (The Kiss is from this period). The use of gold is magnificent, giving it a heavenly appeal.
David and I purchased and hung "The Tree of Life". Both of us being obessed with trees. So I keep thinking of his work, and view it regularly online.
I think paintings can reflect so much beauty and agnst at the same time its really mind bending to think of such opposite features as a whole. Though his person is downright creepy I think Gustav's paintings are mesmerising.

Obama quotes from Acceptance Speech

"We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don’t tell me we can’t uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don’t know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America’s promise – the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.


I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that’s to be expected. Because if you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.


You make a big election about small things.


And you know what – it’s worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn’t work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it’s best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.

I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don’t fit the typical pedigree, and I haven’t spent my career in the halls of Washington.


But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don’t understand is that this election has never been about me. It’s been about you."

Quote taken from Obama's acceptance speach at DNC. For his campaign info visit:
https://donate.barackobama.com/page/content/splashsignupcky/

Mayhem

This week has been absolute mayhem and I'm just recovering on Saturday. Its kind of ironic that I wrote a blog earlier about trusting God and yada yada. Well God wanted to put that statement to the test this past week. Starting the week out was me trying to register for my LAST class I will EVER need to FINALLY graduate in 2008. So yeah, a little bit of pressure on getting into the class. To add onto the fact that I enrolled into school as a Non Degree seeking student which basically means that I am just taking one class at the university to then transfer back to U of A. So, needless to say, the University of South Florida does not prioritize someone who's only taking one class and then transferring it. As a Non Degree seeking student you are not allowed to register for classes until the day of classes. So I went to the class I was trying to get into (before that I tried desperately to meet with the professor- to no avail) clean & polished- front row and smiling. But then I notice that the class starts filling up...people are sitting on the floor even, its so full. During the break when I was going to see if the professor could add me to the class 5 OTHER people were trying to do the same thing. With Degree Seeking priority. Reminder- I HAVE to get into the class as the U of A pre-approved this class to transfer back as my LAST credit! So I absolutely had to get into the class. For those of you that remember the past two summers and the failures I encountered at studying abroad in China (delayed passports and earthquakes). So I really already had a defeatist attitude. So after talking to a very indescernable and confused professor (he was an adjunct faculty from China- English...not so good) who really didn't know what to do I just decided to try fate and try to register through updating the computer every 5 seconds or so. That's when David and I found out I had some random hold on my account from the Student Health Services who needed a shot record form. Wasn't told earlier by any document that they needed it but didn't seem like a problem, just had to call U of A to send the fax. After some drama with sending the fax, no printer ink and a sketchy scanner we got it there....only to find out they needed ANOTHER form (why didn't that @$#%&&* lady tell me before???) So I scramble to get this other form to David to then fax...oh yeah, no printer ink...go to Staples...fumble around with the confusing printer/scanner and finally get it to David. Call the lady...didn't get the fax. Call David, oh wrong fax number...great...resend. And then not a minute after the Health Services cleared my hold--BOOOM--I am enrolled in the class. First try. Amazing. This is all sandwiched in between a nasty cold sore that grows with every stressful phone call as well as a dissapointing job interview I had been waiting 3 weeks for. Lovely. So God's faithful....but man, it sure wasn't an easy day.

Divertido con los locos

Thoughts

So right now in my life I am processing things a bit more. With my job being part time, and with it being in the evening, I have plenty of time to myself. For the past 6 months or so I have had plenty of time to read, clean, dream, organize, journal and just...think. And though at times I complain about being lonely or bored during the day, I am realizing that this time has been almost necessary for my sanity. I realize that God hasn't been punishing me, but more or less forcing me to face my fear of being by myself. Granted, being lonely down here has been a frequent feeling of mine- leaving all friends and family for a new place isn't easy. Finding friends hasn't been a huge struggle but getting past that point of shallow friendship has. I'm a person who thrives on truely fellowshipping with another person. Getting to know someone deeply...and being known by another. At the same time I find that David and I are becoming greater friends. Yes, we've been friends for awhile now but not deeply friends. But in the absence of girlfriends David and I have grown that friendship. I've heard somewhere that love is "friendship on fire," and I can truely relate to this. He's funny...I mean really funny in the sense that its weird, quirky and original. He's a great listener and problem solver. These are roles I think I usually went to my mom or Heidi for, but now I turn to David. I relish our time together in the evenings, laughing at each other. And I think being away from friends and family has cemented this in our hearts. This time together is to be always cherished. But again, beyond David's friendship I don't have the true friends I once had. But God has shown me the beauty in stillness, in contentment with yourself- beyond what your doing or who your with. He has provided a friendship as well, through his Word, Christian literature, through the beauty here in Florida. At this time in life I am going through many trasitions- possibly a new job, starting a class in the Fall, starting a ministry at the church and I just want to chronicle God's faithfulness. His enduring frienship for those who ask for it!

I love my family

This past week David and I took a trip back to good ole Arkansas. We had so much fun. The whole time was like a party, from playing cards, smoking hookah, boating, BBQing, and canoeing- It was all a blast. Most of all it was great to spend quality time catching up with family. Both David and I's family lives in NWA so we got to see ALL of them! :) Delightful! I think my most cherished time was spent with my Summie Bear. His new faces, smiles, noises fascinated me! He's grown up so much...snif snif. He seemed determined to crawl while I was there. I was so impressed! My family showed us a warm welcome, with great memories. But now, I miss them. :( Hopefully they'll come visit us in Florida soon hmmmm....

Life in Paradise!