Is it strange that this spoke to me?

Destiny is usually just around the corner. Like a thief, a hooker, or a lottery vendor: its three most common personifications. But what destiny does not do is home visits. You have to go for it.


Fermin to Daniel, in Shadow of the Wind

30 Days of Fun: Day Thirty!!!

I have been surprised at the difference it made in my already pretty incredible life to be committed to fun for 30 days. It's like the effect of carrying a camera; suddenly, you look at the world differently. You become aware of what is beautiful at this very moment, in this very place. You look for detail you might have passed by.

My promise to myself at the beginning of this exercise was to actually add fun to my life, rather than looking back over my day and pronouncing something fun. It was remarkably easy. Why not take the blue convertible to lunch, and ride with the top down? Why not stop and swing? Why not dance in the parking lot, just because you have on a skirt that twirls? Why not choose to wear that skirt?

I thank you for taking this journey with me and hope you will be inspired to add a little more fun to your life. If you do and decide to document it with photos or emails or status updates, please let me know! I would love to tag along, if only digitally.

And come on along with me on my next adventure. My daughter is going off to college, and I'm thinking it's a great time to fill my life with interesting.

Won't you join me?

30 Days of Fun is inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Mighty Girl.

30 Days of Fun: Day Twenty-Nine

It was a regular day at work. Then Kevin said: Let's go out for lunch. So I said: Let's take your car!

Kevin drove 'round to pick me up.

It's fun to ride in a blue convertible—

'specially when you want to take pictures.

See?

We crossed the Congaree River.

We drove past the SC State House,

And the graveyard at Trinity Episcopal.

Kevin stopped me by Kicks, where they are having a sale.

Then on to lunch at Virtu. It was yummy.

We eventually made it back to the WECO, and work.

Happy for a sunny Day 29

in a blue convertible.

30 Days of Fun is inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Mighty Girl.

30 Days of Fun: Day Twenty-Eight

I am a saver.

I don't say that with pride because I save ridiculous things. Like new clothes, that hang in my closet, tags on, waiting for an occasion worthy of a spectacular new outfit. They reside there so long the season comes and goes, and the joy of wearing the new thing loses all its sparkle before ever making its public debut.

(I have always admired my daughter, who from the age of three would proudly wear any new purchase right on up to the cash register and then out into the world. Snow boots in summer, party dress on a random Tuesday afternoon, Cinderella gown and tiara just for the ride home, if not the entire evening).

I save food. In my pantry, you'll find special spice combinations and chef-inspired appetizer makings and very special Christmas offerings that live there until I throw them out, two years past their eat by dates.

And so tonight, when I retrieved my brand spanking new Martha Stewart Living magazine/September issue from the pile of mail on the counter, I fixed myself a cool beverage (in a crystal highball glass rather than the plastic tumbler I would have used, just because it seemed more fun) and headed to the screen porch for a full, indulgent reading. On the very day it arrived.

Allow me to say this. Magazines are a particular burden, with the penchant for saving that I have. They arrive, all seven I subscribe to, only to get piled on the coffee table for a week or two, then moved under it as newer ones arrive. Weeks pass, and I dig through the pile to find the oldest one (wouldn't want to get out of order!) and start to read. Never mind that I'm learning about new pumpkin carving techniques in May; I will not throw out one I haven't read or go out of order. (They may one day write an obituary about me, "the crazy lady who was smothered under a pile of magazines she hadn't read but couldn't throw out.")

So reading the September issue of Living on August 9th was a bit wild for me. But this is what I learned:

1. I can pot cuttings from my coleus and geraniums to keep as houseplants throughout the winter. Who knew?
2. Now is a good time to edit my summer pictures, printing the ones that are scrapbook-worthy. Good idea, particularly for the very organized among us. (ahem)
3. I think I will actually cut some herbs from my garden and dry them. To accomplish, just wrap kitchen twine around the stems, then hang them upside down in a cool, dry place for four to 10 days.
4. I think this interlocking monogram is swell. 
5. As much as I love mango, and creme brulee, and lime, (albeit individually), this dish is right up my alley. (Dang, I can't share it since there is no digital link. Guess you'll have to read your own September issue.)

Following this reading of the current issue of Living, my September promises to be filled with interesting things to do. Maybe that will be my next 30 Days experiment?

Thanks, Martha!

getting ready for a delightful (and timely!) session with the September issue

lightening actually strikes, and the september issue and i move inside

30 Days of Fun is inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Mighty Girl.

30 Days of Fun: Day Twenty-Seven

Here's what I did NOT do on this 27th day:

still on the bathroom floor

Unpack from my weekend at the beach.

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

30 Days of Fun is inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Mighty Girl.

30 Days of Fun: Day Twenty-Six

I go shopping for back-to-school supplies every year.

For me.

There's something I love about the promise of an empty notebook. Is it the new beginning? The clean slate? Or simply the anticipation of all that will be discovered and recorded there?

Needless to say, I have notebooks and journals stacked on bookshelves throughout my house. They're lined up on shelves and hidden behind cabinet doors; they're piled under tables and stacked, in not-so-tidy rows, on the shelves beside my bed.

little birdies

Tonight I took my college freshman to Target to fill an endless shopping list. It took about 30 seconds for me to get sidetracked among this year's new notebook crop.

Which would come home with me?

journal trio

great things would surely come

black and white and beautiful

classic with a color twist

And just for fun: a pencil box! 

30 Days of Fun is inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Mighty Girl.

30 Days of Fun: Day Twenty-Five

Today I played in the sand and surf

with my niece, Angela.

We tried to build a sand castle.

But mostly,

we just ran around.

30 Days of Fun is inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Mighty Girl.