if i’ve learned anything this summer, it’s how special my friends are.

meet bubs the snubs (or snubs the bubs or snubby dubby bubby or bubsie or just plain old ben):

(sorry for the blurriness.  cell phone doesn’t always equal the best quality photos.)

basically everyone thinks the world of him.  he plays the violin like no other, can build or fix or do any handy work you might need, will act and sing and write his own rhyme in gangsta style when asked, and oh, he makes movies too.  pretty much it goes like this: anyone who meets him becomes his fan.

we friends are were his biggest fans.  and then he walked into a gathering tonight with these on his feet:

hmm.  we aren’t so sure about socks like that on hairy man feet.  yeah, about that…

sometimes i find things in these small towns i’m surrounded by that just amuse.  my discovery today was mr. robot:

huh.  not the usual graffiti one might find.

mr. robot wanted a picture taken with me.  don’t mind my not-so-joyous expression.  i was pondering the phrase and considering whether i might be more robotic than human.

a long day was worked by many.  a quiet dinner was had of cornbread and salad.  a kitchen was cleaned.  an evening walk beside fields of corn was taken.  and i kept thinking of this written bit that spoke to this quiet soul today:

“Love of my heart, my stream runs dry;
O Fountain of the heavenly hills,
Love, blessed Love, to Thee I cry,
Fill all my secret hidden rills.
Water of Love, O pour through me;
I must have Love; I must have Thee”
Amy Carmichael

i didn’t set my alarm correctly for my waking this morning.  you would think that after using the same exact alarm every single morning for a whole year i would have the system down.  guess not.

there is nothing that i hate more than sleeping later than i planned.  especially when i have things to do and places to be and people depending on me.

but my day was lovely.  i mean, it was lovely after the initial “OHMYGOODNESS!  WHAT TIME IS IT?!?!” that the mums received when she poked her head in my room to see why i was still in bed.

i also had a few revelations concerning my aging process.  contrary to popular opinion, i don’t think i’ll always be the Barbie character everyone thinks i am.  i chose a Bach cd when i could have listened to anything.  Barbie doesn’t listen to Bach.

anyway.  enough of this frivolous talk.  i sat at a lovely island in the middle of a lovely kitchen while a lovely lady chatted with me this afternoon.  well, i don’t think this rather quiet soul did much talking — i just wasn’t in a talking mood.  but i sat and listened and drew all over her island.  don’t get nervous.  you’re meant to draw on it.  see?

it’s a lovely afternoon activity, isn’t it?  and my day was full of such loveliness.  i just didn’t snap pictures of the rest.

i’m one of those annoying people who 99.9% of the time has music playing in their car.  perhaps it’s bad.  or not.  i haven’t decided.  at least i’m not one of those people who keeps my music at such a ridiculously low volume level that you don’t know whether to scream or cry from the frustration of just being able to hear the music.

anyway.

when i don’t have my itouch or if it dies, then i almost always have this station playing:

i like music that entertains and keeps me awake moving.  yup, i’m also one of those annoying people who sings and dances while driving.  as i went through town the other day i realized what a sight i must be when i realized that several other drivers took turns staring into my vehicle as i belted out a tune and danced as much as one can while strapped into a seat at a stoplight.  i’ve always been teased about a certain face i make when dancing:

okay.  i see why everyone teased me so.  “dance face” shall never be seen again.

it’s right now at 1:40am that i’m regretting this decision i made.  i knew it would happen eventually but didn’t think it would come this soon.  whatever.  today’s photos:

i tried a new recipe.  it was mostly peaches and blueberries.  can’t go wrong with that, right?

well, it called for a cornmeal sweet biscuit of sorts to be plopped on the wonderful fruit.

i was told it tasted like soggy graham crackers.  guess we’ll put that recipe away and never make it again.

i went for my first motorcycle ride tonight.  while relaxing by my sister’s new pool after a strange day at work i received a text from a friend asking if i’d like a ride.  did i want a ride?! of course!  i’m not sure i’ve ever been so excited about something.  so with a helmet and one of those tough looking jackets on, my friend took me for a spin on his very fast and powerful bike.  and i loved every single minute of it.

my happy face after the ride:

dear santa, i would like my very own motorcycle for christmas.  okay fine, i’ll settle for a vespa.  my daddy would be too worried if he had a little girl out riding around on a motorcycle all the time.  sincerely, louissa

best after work snack:

right now there’s nothing that i’d rather do more than curl up and fall asleep to angela lansbury’s voice in her old show, Murder, She Wrote, but it would be rather pathetic of me to quit on day 2 of a photo a day.  so here, here’s a little man who i spent my afternoon and evening with:

what better entertainment than playing with a ping pong paddle and wearing an oversized red sox cap?

i’ve been an uninspired blogger of late.  the desire comes and goes — and comes more in the cool months of dark settling in at 5:00pm, warm apple pie sustaining your very existence, and afghans wrapped around you being a must.  the hot long days of summer beckon me to gallivant in the great outdoors and not spend my evenings on my computer.   but i don’t really want to be one of those bloggers who takes up cyber space but does nothing with it.  so, i’m challenging myself.

a photo a day for 30 days.

i don’t even care if it’s off my poor quality cell phone or laptop.  my busy summer schedule doesn’t have to be so busy that i can’t stop to notice at least one (or two) special happenings.

today, after spending 8 too many hours in my very warm office, i came home, cleaned a bathroom, and wanted to do nothing else.  then i remembered my most recent find at a local flea market.  nothing makes me happy like vintage.  and nothing makes me more happy when vintage item comes into my possession.  i scrubbed and dried and made my new scale look just this good:

to the dismay of many, my tastes can sometimes run along the lines of being quite tacky. when i saw this in a free pile, i instantly fell in love and had to grab it.  it awaits the decision of where to be hung in my bedroom.

and that, my friends, is the first installment of my new 30 day challenge.