The lemons on our tree and just ridiculously huge. They really should have been all trimmed down many weeks ago, but they’re up SO high on the tree, we don’t have the tools we need to get them down. Every day a few get too heavy and fall to the ground. Today’s example is actually pretty typical.

Ainsley was fascinated by this guy. Eventually she ripped it open and then complained about the mess she made. About two minutes after I took this picture, I walked barefoot onto the grass and stepped on something huge and sharp and it ‘stung’ the side of my foot. I still have no idea if it was something alive, or maybe a partial branch off of the tree (lemon trees can have MEAN thorns). But I’m not kidding — that pain went all of the way up my spine. Ironically, I’m the one always bitching to the kids to wear shoes outside…

Except for moments like that, it’s fun to have so much fruit and foliage in our yard. We use some of what grows, but the birds usually end up eating much of the fruit. It’s kind of a lot to keep up with. Now, if we could just get around to planting some mint, I’d very willingly volunteer myself to be the Mojito mint-muddler.

Just took this a few minutes ago. The cat is still sitting in that little spot of sun as a type. I have my desk under our stairway because we have a huge unused space there, and it’s kind of centrally-located in the middle of of everything. He likes to lay on the stairs because of the sun, but also because he ends up sitting right next to me when I’m at my computer.

We’re spending our day today keeping busy with wedding plans. I keep thinking of things I haven’t done yet or haven’t even thought of yet, and then get a little panicky because it’s a little overwhelming making sure I don’t forget to do something!

Jared spent a couple of hours making a playlist of songs for during cocktails and dinner, and so many of them have special meaning to one or both of us. For very sentimental reasons we both wanted to add a particular song by Dean Martin; for Jared it’s to remember his dad, and for me it’s to remember my grandfather. Ironically, when I typed the date onto this photo of my cat, I realized today is the anniversary of my grandfather’s death. It makes me very emotional, as he’s really the only grandparent I ever felt I knew.

He lived with us in his later years, so I spent just about every day with him for over ten years, washing his laundry, making his meals, keeping him company. He was a huge part of my life in the most formative years, and I miss him often.

My kids will never know him, Jared will never know him. That makes me so so sad. My brother and sister and mom and I sit around and talk about him for hours sometimes. He was one of the greatest people I ever knew. He was born in Italy, came to the US in 1930. He bootlegged whiskey for the mob. You can imagine the stories. He spent his late teens, 20’s and 30’s in Youngstown, Ohio, which later helped to explain his intense addiction to gambling. He was quite a character. We used to sometimes tell him something like “Two men dressed in suits and sunglasses are at the front door for you,” and either to entertain us, or because he really felt worried, he’d say “Tell them I don’t live here anymore!”

So to my Nono, I present a picture of my cat, which I took during a break in making our playlist, about 10 minutes before realizing the coincidence in the date. According to him, all cats were girls, and all dogs were boys. And ChiPs was the greatest TV show EVER.

Last night we went to a birthday party for a teacher friend. It was a good time! I even made a fool of myself doing the good old electric slide, HAHAH :)

Just a quick snap in my backyard. The seed pods on the wisteria that covers the patio are HUGE. They’re the strangest things — very heavy, very hard, but velvety-soft.

On Thursday it was “Crazy for school” spirit day, so we all dressed crazy, had crazy hair, crazy socks, etc. It’s always a challenge to do normal things like take my kids to school and stop at the grocery store when I am purposely dressed like a moron to go to work, of all places :) The kids were pretty into it, though!

Since getting all of the hand-me-down Barbies and Barbie accessories from my friend, I’ve wanted to do something like this. I dug out all of the Barbie boots today and showed the girls how silly it looked to put them on your fingers. They were CRACKING up :) I love these little moments with them!

Today was the first day I was at home and both of my kids were at school all day. I still teach on a shared teaching contract, which is not my choice to still be doing, and I logged into the substitute teacher system about four times between 5:30 and 7:30 before I gave up. Friends tell me it’s a sign to take more shoots and delve deeper into photography, but it just doesn’t feel right to me. Even though photography is my love, I feel like teaching is my career.

I have a to-do list sitting here in front of me as a type, however, and it’s filled with lots of crossed-out items, which makes me happy. It looks a little something like:

Organize file cabinet
Renew credential
Burn CD of rehearsal photos
Get more addresses collected
Buy flower girl shoes
Book hotel for Catalina
Restock drinks in the garage fridge
Finish going through old work boxes
Send jury duty excusal
Send DMV stuff
Rent party equipment
Order books for Ainsley’s birthday
Make hair appointment
Finish Girl Scout paperwork
Make alterations appointment
Put necklace together
Call Jason about order
Buy book covers for Avery’s textbooks
Make note-taking pamphlets for math classes
Re-do reading log
Add to spotify playlist
Ask gardener about broken sprinkler box

You get the point I guess. I got a lot done! But it still felt like all of this was supposed to be happening with chaos all around me.

I haven’t had much time to be real creative lately. This time of year is always extra busy!