in memory of 5 august 2008

For Ben's Fall Break, we decided to make our first visit to Charlotte...
and at the last-minute decided to make it an overnighter.

awesome road trip mark on my knee: polka-dots from leaning on the car door...

Then, when everything about the trip was so awesome, we decided that would count as the 'anniversary trip we never had' seeing as I was in Utah at work and
he was in North Carolina taking finals on our actual anniversary.

Here is everything about the trip that was so awesome:

We went straight to IKEA and had a good, long Juárez-style browse. 

Not only that, but we made a decent purchase of things we'd been needing,
and we got a free meal out of it. Plus a yummy hotdog and cinnamon bun on the way out—perf.

 
Then our hotel was just, oh, 5 minutes from IKEA...

and the hotel room (that Ben got on Hotwire for about half price) just happened to be a corner room with a great King-size bed and an amazing view, as proven above.

 
After a dinner in a booth by a BEATLES shadow box tribute, and a good night of sleep,
we headed into "The Queen City..."

 
We got a good museum fix with the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art,
and the newly-opened Mint Museum Uptown with the Craft & Design collection.


The Bechtler didn't allow photography, but I got a good shot of the entry,


and a here's taste of the fun gift shop:




We had a good lunch break at an excellent-themed pizza place called Fuel.



We ate outside in a fun plaza that had bubble sounds coming out of stone speakers,

poems on brass "paper" everywhere,




and a reference to our Utah home!

___

Then the rest is for you art fans—
Ben and I each got a turn to snap away at the Mint:

hand-woven veneer strips

yarn placed side by side and glued to a form

pencil-decorated door

designed for United Airlines

We have a Westclox "Baby Ben" almost just like this! (one of our first purchases as a married couple at Moriarty's Antiques in SLC)

Eames; always a fave...

 

this is GLASS

Ben's family's juicer—in a museum...

made of hundreds of discs of wood...

 

We ended with a lovely dinner on the patio at Vivace.
I watched a spider make her whole entire, elaborate web during dinner.
But Ben was the best company of all, of course!

a word on pregnancy posts...

So I get shy about blogging pregnant/baby-stuff for a number of reasons,
but there might be one that sticks out more than the rest—
a relatively new sensitivity for the plague of infertility.
I don't know what about me blocked my view of what a trial this is, but until recent years, I've been rather oblivious. I don't know when it was that I actually put myself in the shoes of those that suffer this way, but I admit they were not comfortable shoes at all.

I found myself wanting conversations with these women; to know what they were feeling and what to do if this were to be my trial too. But at the same time I was learning that this subject was of the taboo sort; something that wasn't my business or was rather personal.

While in the midst of "trying on these shoes" (logging a health history and with a fertility appointment scheduled), one of these women in the family shared a bit about her pain. It was good for me to hear, probably mostly because hers was a happy ending, but I'm a sucker for openness anyway. She expressed gratitude for the trial and what it has taught her—and she taught me too. (Thanks, Gabe!)

Just days after she was willing to open up, I got a "+" on my first pregnancy test—the night before my fertility appointment. (Long story there; email me and I'd be happy to tell you more.) Ever since, I have counted it a tremendous blessing rather than simply the "next step" in life. I've tried to be sensitive as to not make an "unintentional hurtful comment," nor be a hurtful reminder to those suffering.



It is for this reason, that I decided to follow Tallia's example and put the baby stuff in its own place—a sort of "online baby book" so that my family may still get the pregnancy deets, but to my dear friends and family who are struggling, I hope this way I will not add some tears to your day if you happen to be reading... (Of course if you are feeling particularly strong, you're welcome to peek as you wish.)

May we all be more sensitive, eh? Click here (or new button on sidebar) for the pregnancy posts...

happy birthday maya

autumn!

It was just like a light switch—October came, and off went the humidity & heat.
We turned off the AC unit and opened the windows. Ben says it went from 90° to 70° overnight.
As much as I love summer, this crisp weather has really put a smile on my face.
Really.

view from the bathroom window—i watched those oriental lilies grow from seed to bloom.

Granted, the leaf colors are not as breathtaking (yet?) here as they were on Provo Center Street,
but the near-sweater weather is just plain fun.

view from the living room window—that's all bamboo on the left, who-knows-what in that shed, and the pond beyond the trees on the right.
Oh, and the roof of course. The best thing about that roof is it means no one can see inside our windows even though we get all the wonderful light. No blinds are the best.

So with my itch to play outside, I figured I'd "set the record straight" about where we live...
Not that we've lied about it or anything, but the term "on a farm," combined with Ben's amazing details may be a bit misleading.

So, our apartment is one of six in the whole house.
This mailbox shot is in honor of all of you lovelies who have sent goodies. Thanks a whole heap.This house has been in the same family since it was built, meaning there's a certain build-up of stuff.

But they've put good use to their land, using it (+ humidity) as a sort of greenhouse or nursery, which they call a farm. The Daylily farm itself sits sort of across the street and down the road from us.

We do have our share of quirks in this place. They told us to be prepared for 'a few more bugs than the average apartment,'
but we haven't been bugged at all. ;)

So even though I intended to get out and tell you, 'we really live at your average old house,'
I proved myself wrong.

It was too hard not to click away at all the amazing details myself!
I'm not gonna lie, we do actually live on some sort of paradise:

I even enjoyed the details of SOUND. There was a toad croaking over and over right here, but I never saw him.

But I did find this little jumper. Can you spy the camouflage frog?

When I did my animal report on the Koala in 5th grade, I was sure Eucalyptus only grew in Australia...

And... I thought cacti were a desert thing...

One last reality-check...

But really, if you want see it for yourself, come visit our little apartment up the cold, black steps!

The fighting squirrels will greet you, and we can fool you with the "spilled red candies" on the ground,
which actually somehow come out of the giant pods that fall from the Magnolias outside...

And I can show you this odd little reading room just outside our apartment door.
Or you can just come and stare at the pregnant lady.

Anyone?