lake lure; memorial weekend

What a love hate relationship i've had with this water in the past few days.  When I took this picture it was with the intention of posting about how I was too afraid to jump off the roof and that this is the height I jump from now.  However, since I took this picture, I was somehow reminded of my old self and jumped off the roof without a care in the world.  I wish that I could just commit to a feeling about something. 

I know one feeling I can commit to and that's my love of every single view from every single place here.

Feel free to scroll past if these ever get old, but trust me, when you're staring at it face to face in real life it is really remarkable.  I can't help but take picture after picture, even if it is of the same view over and over again.  Somehow every time I see it I am overwhelmed by how incredible it all is. 

We were actually just talking earlier today about how after you've been here for a few days you start to forget about your incredible surroundings.  You get sucked in to your indoor activities and forget to look out the windows.  But can you blame me?  I have to keep my wits about me when i'm playing cutthroat with dan and adam

and even with my trick shots and smooth moves, I lost miserably as always. 

Other distractions on the lake include kayaking, featuring a cameo by the lake lure police, cooking, watercolors, and watersports

I definitely remember tubing as a child but I am hard pressed to remember what was appealing about it now.  I don't have any desire to get on there, but more power to adam for taking a tour around the lake being dragged behind a runaway pontoon boat.

But my favorite parts about lake lure are the secret hideaways and hang outs.  Almost every bedroom has its own private terrace, balcony, or view, if not all three.  Sometimes its nice to just find a quiet place to be where nobody knows how to find you. 

and no matter where you are you can't complain about the view.

It's hard to believe that I still get to enjoy this for almost a whole week more. 

lake lure; it begins

After an only slightly harrowing drive up to NC, we finally made it to Lake Lure, as seen here from the upstairs deck.  Our first order of business was unpacking and organizing our lodgings.  Thankfully Dan had made a flow chart for the week which made our task much easier.

After shelter was accounted for we headed to the grocery store for some:

Little did we know that the sweetest goods were waiting for us in the checkout lane, and their names were Brooke and Hannah.  And to think we almost went to self check out!  Thankfully Dan came to his senses and, after surveying the options, decided on lane 3, manned by ri-riHANNAH.  No sooner had we gotten to her lane than Brooke came over, sensing we needed a healthy dose of her comic stylings.

"hooray, I won a shit ton of kale" -Brooke.

Upon returning to the lake we found ourselves unsure of what to do.  Because of weather issues there were several flight delays and cancellations for the rest of our party who were to arrive last night.  We ended up staying close to the phone, keeping track of who was where and when they would need to be picked up.

Of course the most obvious thing to do when you don't know what else to do is blow bubbles.  At Dan's insistence, here is a photo series I have entitled, "bubbles at lake lure"

I did eventually convince everyone that we should at least jump off the top of the boat house.  A lake lure tradition:

The thing about this situation is that it is it looks so unassuming.  I mean, people go jumping off cliffs so it's not like it's really that big a deal to jump off the top of a one story boat house right?  And yet when you're actually standing at the edge looking down it seems like the water is a million miles away.

And when you do finally jump the fall is just long enough to make you wonder why you thought it would be a good idea to jump off the roof in the first place.  Then there's the lady of the lake, don't even get me started on the lady of the lake.  I will tell you all about it when the time is right.

I think the jump in the lake did motivate us a little though as we did end up taking the boat out for a sunset tour.  It was really nice, and quite satisfying.  I had no regrets about coming home and passing out.

can you blame me?


When I started writing this post I heard the pitter patter of tiny feet upstairs above me.  Now I hear the gentle sounds of andrew playing the recorder, I guess that means it's time for Lake Lure; day two...

oops I forgot

I also spent some more time with these nice guys before we left Charleston. 

I LOVE THEM!

as usual

Apparently the changes in latitude did not come accompanied by changes in attitude so I have still been waking up around 7am every morning, leaving me with at least 3 hours before I feel it's ok for me to go in to Andrew's room and start jumping up and down on his mattress. 

It's ok though as I've been enjoying my morning time regardless of not having anybody to share it with.  Yesterday I walked around Sullivan's Island, no particular direction in mind, and I kept stumbling on relics from my past. 

Not that I went to Sullivan's Island Elementary, don't get me wrong, I'm not part of that upper echelon of the Charleston elite.  But I do remember when this was the bus stop for our middle school bus.  It certainly didn't look like an old abandoned factory back then though.  It seriously took me several moments to realize what I was standing in front of. 

It did not take me long however to figure out what I was standing in front of when I turned the corner and saw this:

Apparently the owners of this don't exactly understand what it is though, as they have placed a birdhouse on top of it.  This seems kind of cruel and unusual punishment for the birds that would choose to nest here.  They'd get a joggling they won't soon forget.  I can't really see myself wanting to joggle next to a bird house anyways.  It just seems like it would be a mess. 

Other favorites from my walk  were the sullivan's island library seen here:

It only looks like a small library because that's the entrance.  It's an old military fort that goes back in the hill and down underground.  I also enjoy that there is an old volvo parked in front of it.  What is it about people from east cooper loving this style of volvo? 

Anyways, the most fabulous thing I found on my early morning walk was Rachel, riding her bike as usual.  And we met at one of my most favorite places:

Not so much because it's beautiful but because I've always been scared of this park.  When we first moved to Charleston my mom took us to this park to play one afternoon.  At some point afterword we found out that there were some kind of satanic rituals and kid snatchings that happened just over the hill beyond the gazebo.  I always felt like I had a brush with death that day.  And again yesterday with Rachel. 

I sit here now at the lake thinking how Charleston is already becoming a memory.  When I plugged my phone in this morning I had 63 pictures to download from yesterday.  I need to get them sorted before the others start waking up. 

almost just like I remember

From the kites lazily circling in the sky to the egg house bracing for the hurricane that still hasn't come, everything was just as I remembered it on Sullivan's Island. 

Well almost everything, it seems the poodles have multiplied.

THEY ARE NICE! 

I like them.  Half the time they are all up in your business snuffling and shoving their big heads against you, and the other half the time they walk right past you like you don't even exist.  It's like kitty, only bigger, and times two. 

The drive up here was uneventful, I made it in time to watch Oprah with Andrew's mom, all my goals were accomplished.  So now i've got nothing left to do but relax and look forward to the lake.

And enjoy these two for as long as possible.

!!!

<3

have we discussed this?

source

and how it is like every day of my life.

view from lunch

My world certainly felt like it came to an end this weekend, so Scott helped me celebrate the only way appropriate to celebrate; eating and drinking.

Saturday we spent the afternoon here at the Salty Dog Cafe of off St. Armands.  Not having Dan with us limited our choices (no nirvana this time), but we still ordered a plethora of food and drink, the likes of which I was unprepared for.

Followed by Sunday, in celebration of finding ourselves unraptured, we went to Libby's in downtown sarasota where it was happy hour at the bar.  I think my mistake here was ordering the second corn dog.  But it was oh so good!!!!

I'm not one to engage in online debate, especially in forums with strangers, but I did feel compelled to post on reddit the other day when a foreigner posed the question "do american's really eat corndogs?" to which I replied, "YES"

So here we find ourselves now on Monday.  Back to life, back to reality I suppose.  I know my week is looking different than I had imagined it before the world ended.

also this

thank you craig

: (((

Thank you for sending this to me jonathan!

clear water

Growing up I don't think I understood that our beaches were uniquely beautiful.  I figured the beach just looked the way beaches look on tv, white sands and crystal clear water.

Sure when we moved to Charleston I was excited about the big waves that come with the Atlantic Ocean, but every time I came back to the beaches here I would be reminded of how incredible they really are.  And now that i've been to beaches in other less fortunate places I really understand.

I will say that the clear water does make me scan frantically for sand sharks and sting rays, where in murkier waters I tend to just go in without thinking of what might be lurking under my little toes.  It's pretty shallow out here at Lido but that doesn't mean you're in the clear.  In fact, when I got to the beach yesterday I actually saw a herd (pod?  swarm?  murder?) of dolphins, and if they can swim in this shallow of water I'm sure there are plenty of sharks that can as well.

At least I'll be able to see them coming...

why am I so paranoid?

Every time I walk to starbucks in the morning I head down this particular section and become overwhelmed with the feeling that there is somebody looming right over my shoulder.  I finally figured out that I am seeing the shadow of the orb lights as some kind of terrifying thin necked man creeping up behind me.

In the picture above my shadow is in the center with my hands up to the camera, behind me is the shadow of the light which looks like some sort of tim burton character.

The worst part is that it doesn't matter that I've figured out this is what is freaking me out, it still freaks me out.  I will be walking along and I'll see my shadow with this other shadow right behind it and clutch my chest in terror.

I think I need a nice doggy to walk with me and make me feel like I'm being protected.

my new favorite thing

thanks reddit

big changes at the aquarium

My dad's salt water tank was like a whole new world when I saw it yesterday for the first time in a while.  He's trying to get more live coral, like the weird bubble thing in the back, so he got rid of some of his animals.

But not all of them, one of my favorites was front and center, although he was apparently trying to hide:

He is so cute!  He digs under rocks and things to make a little cave home for himself where he sits and you usually just see his little face poking out.  Apparently when my dad was adding sand the other day he covered the jawfish's home and he had to relocate to this corner over here.  He is obviously not pleased.

Most of the time he would sit perfectly still like this, but then all of a sudden his cheeks would start puffing out and he would frantically start digging while at the same time filling his mouth with sand and then spitting it out to the side.  I wish I could help him but this seems like a job for him and him alone.

he's like, "why oh why do you keep taking my picture when i'm just trying to live my life"

He's just like lindsay lohan!!!

i love her

Kitty invited me over this morning to try her inversion table (which was amazing), but the real treat was getting to meet this nice nice lady.  This picture was taken after she finally calmed down enough to sit for me to take it, before this it was just a lot of blurry shots of her big face and nose.

Well that's not entirely true, I also took pictures when I first arrived to try and capture how I was greeted.  Before anything else I heard her earth shaking bark, but then I just saw her face appearing over the very tall hedge running around the front porch.  When she jumped up on her hind legs she was a good foot taller than me and while I would have liked to have captured that I am pretty pleased with this halfway shot I got:

You get the idea.

But talk about a complete love bug omg, she spent the majority of the time I was there just shoving herself against me and almost knocking me over, or sticking her face right in my face while I was hanging upside down.  She was helping!!

The tear jerker for me was when Kitty and I were just chatting in the living room and she was off on her bed on her own.  At some point I looked over to see her with the corner of her bed in her mouth kneading her big paws back and forth on the cushion.

: (

It was one of the most precious things I've ever seen.

As if Kitty even had to ask wether or not I would be interested in dog sitting.

always with the creepin'

Just so we're clear, here is the view of this scene from the other angle:

As I mentioned earlier there's been some wacky weather around these parts lately including some high winds.  I put the raft back behind these chairs and propped against the window so it wouldn't blow away the other afternoon.  I certainly did not put it there so that cat could use it to hide behind while he stalked all of the nice morning birds and squirrels that run around the backyard.

I just don't like how much he enjoys watching from the shadows.  Nor do I enjoy how angry he gets when I discover his hiding places:

In this case it's really his fault for choosing a hiding place that has a glass wall.  Maybe that's more what bothers me about him, like the other day when he was sitting on the window ledge on the other side of the screen.  It's like, he watches from the shadows, but not really hidden in the shadows, just kind of in the shadows.  He wants to make sure you know that he's watching you.

I seriously looked over my shoulders for him just now.

sharing the road

I feel very conspicuous in my car and often get the impression that I'm being looked at.  Jon would be quick to say, ''GET OVER YOURSELF'' because he's rude, but regardless I feel like I get the stink eye from other people on the road a lot, especially at stop lights.

Anyways, I was sitting at a light the other day and got the feeling I was being watched.  I casually turned and looked next to me to see this nice guy looking at me.  He can stare at me any day!!

I wish I had a nice doggy to ride around in the car with me and look at other people and just say hi and be nice.  That reminds me, kitty did like riding around in the car with me, maybe I should try taking him for a little pleasure cruise...

clouds

The clouds have brought with them a cold spell that I have been completely unprepared for.  I barely brought any pants down here that are cut below the knee, and besides it's may, and this is florida.

But they are beautiful to look at.

the waiting game

Oh charleston, how I long for your sun kissed shores and your cobble stoned streets.  But alas, you remain on the horizon, just out of reach.  So close.  So far.

I guess for now I'm left to play the waiting game, and it does in fact suck.

everything about these

My grandfather asked me to help him plant some things in his front flowerbed that he can't kill so I've been hitting up the local greenhouses and nurseries trying to get some ideas/advice.  Of course what ends up happening instead is that I wander around the aisles of plants by myself for like 2 hours before wandering home contented, having completely forgotten that I was supposed to ask about what to plant at my grandfathers.

But at least I remembered to take some nice pictures!

I want to try and get a job at a place like this.  I think it would be so fun!  Except that when I was walking around these two nasty women rudely started asking me questions and then go, "do you work here" and I was oh so relieved to be able to say, "no" and turn and walk away from them.  I guess I could still do that and get a way with it for a while, but I figure they'd eventually catch on.

Maybe I can just apply for a job there and claim to be slow so they will just leave me in the back to tend to the flowers and when customers ask what my problem is they can just say, "oh he's special".

Is that wrong of me?

I just like plants a lot more than I like people sometimes.