Letters home

Very carefully.

In the past, I've had a porch or a yard or some area outside where I could tackle such dirty deeds as re-potting a plant.  You dive in, do what you need to do and then leave it to the rain (or a hose) to wash away the mess. 

But over the past three years, I've learned a lot about living in the much more limiting space of an apartment.  Must be more concious about the volume of music and TV (respecting neighbors on all sides).  Must not vacuum too late at night (respecting neighbors below).  Must not run garbage disposal too late at night (respecting neighbors below).  Etc., etc.

So when it came to re-potting the plant my mom gave me on the first day of my "real world" job (which still employees me today), I had to give it some thought to figure out how I could feasibly do this within the confines of my apartment -- without making a tremendous mess.  The first time I re-potted it, I took everything down to the building's loading dock.  Which was such a pain.  Decided to not do that again.  Surely, if I just prepared a little bit and was fairly careful, I could do this on my hardwood kitchen floor without making a huge mess:

Success!  It was fairly easy to clean up.  Dumped the old dirt into a garbage bag, folded up the paper back I'd laid out to catch the dirt and added it to the garbage bag -- down the trash chute it went. Rinsed out the old pot, vacuumed up the stray traces of dirt on the floor -- all done!  And my, my, the plant looks a lot better:

I hope that re-potting it will also help the plant be a little healthier.  May be wishful thinking to hope that it "thrives."  Don't know that I have that kind of magic in me. I'll settle for the poor thing just staying alive ... as I've miraculously managed thus far. 

Admittedly, I'm slowly but surely learning more about plant care.  So if this thing can live for long enough for me to learn more, we may just get to that lofty goal of "thriving."  So far, I've learned the importance of "feeding" the plant and of re-potting it periodically.  (Who knew it needed nutrients, and that you can't just plant it in a pot it once and forget about it?)  Still trying to nail down the whole watering thing.  (Seriously, after three years ... I still don't feel like I have that quite right.)

Maybe it would help if I gave it a name.  I think "Roger" would be appropriate.

I'm back in DC.  Just posted a few more pictures, and I'm about to falllll asleeeeep.  But here are a few quick stories from the trip.

First of all, I LOVED swimming and going to the beach with Ben.  He is absolutely fearless around the water.  I had already heard of his adventures in the pool: he loves to jump into the water from the side of the pool and even the diving board, loves to be thrown and dunked, and even puts his face in the water and holds his breath for several seconds.  But none of us knew what to expect in terms of how he would take to the ocean.  Uh.  He loved it.  Absolutely loved it.  When we first got there, I was left on the beach with him by myself while my sister went back to the car for a few things.  Naturally, that's when he decided to make a friend (a few years older than him, and --of course -- better able to steady himself in the waves) and Ben wanted to do exactly what that little boy did -- run straight out into the ocean and start jumping waves.  Ahhh ... Aunt Erin, in the meantime, is left scrambling to hold on to fearless Mister Ben ... praying that nothing happens to him while his momma has stepped away.  (Good LORD, that was a scary -- but fun -- couple of minutes until she returned.)  Anyway, the only downside to Ben's exuberance around the water was the fact that he hadn't quite figured out the whole shut-your-eyes-under-water thing.  So the saltwater was stinging his eyes, and we had to cut ocean time a little short.  Lesson learned, though:  next time, we'll bring Ben some goggles.

We headed to Demopolis on Sunday, and I really enjoyed my time there.  Went to Tuscaloosa for some shopping and lunch on Monday with my mom (got some fabulous shoes, among other great finds).  And then Janie -- my best friend from college -- came to Demopolis for a visit on Tuesday.  We had the best time!  We went on a mini tour of Demopolis (took all of 15 min ... hee hee), and headed out to Jesse's parents' house to spend some pool time with Andrea and Ben.  When we arrived, we stumbled upon a little bird, who we promptly named "Twitter."  (story below the pic)

while janie was visiting me in demopolis, we came across this little baby mocking bird. he seemed pretty abandoned (and it was really hot) so we scooped him up and "rescued" him. he was a pretty happy little fella. loved soggy dog food (easy to keep happy). once back in birmingham, janie dropped him off with a vet -- an avian specialist -- that her mom knows. i'm sure he'll be strong enough to fly off on his own in a week or so.

So Twitter added an exciting little twist to the trip!  We capped off the visit with a wonderful (BIG) dinner with all of our Demopolis family.  It was so nice to have everyone over and visit with folks.  I think Aunt Mary and Ben -- and everyone, really -- got a kick out of our little birdie friend.  And Ben and I played guitar for everyone at one point.  (I think Andrea has some pictures of that she'll be able to share later.)  Speaking of pictures, here is the entire album from my camera.  I didn't take a ton this trip.  But the memories more than make up for it.  :)

I'm currently on vacation; back in Alabama visiting with my family.  As I usually do these days, I spend half of my time down by the coast with my dad, and the other half with my mom and other family in Demopolis.  I am delighted that my sister and my nephew joined us at my dad's for some quality pool and beach time.

 

We're heading up to Demopolis tomorrow.  I can't wait to see all my family there!  And I hear I have some puppies and kittens waiting on me.  More pictures to come, I promise.

Just a quick note to confirm that I am, indeed, A-OK.  But please do keep those impacted by today's tragic Metro accident in your prayers. It's a sad day for DC.

He's got his own easy chair and everything. :)

It was a good weekend.  Went out with the girls on Friday night and had a great time -- despite overworking my back with my smokin' dance moves (I'm such an old fart).  Had pool time on Saturday and Sunday.  Worked out a little bit on Sunday (motivated by the realization that I will turn into an "old fart" with a capital "F" if I don't get off my tush  and exercise some).  Napped some.  Cleaned some.  And that was about it.

I think it was the pool time.  There's clearly just something about fresh air and sunshine that cleanses the soul.  Here's to a summer of not working on the weekends, and instead, pool time, pool time, pool time.

Well, first of all, I got my pool pass today.  (Yay! I can go swimming now!)

But more importantly ... I finally, finally (FINALLY!) made arrangements to link my cell phone to the call box in the lobby of my building.  So people can ring my cell phone from the lobby and I can buzz them in.  Ingenious!!  I have lived here for 3 years and just NOW got around to getting the "let me buzz you in" thing worked out.  All this time, I've trekked all the way downstairs to let in friends, family, the pizza guy ... anybody coming to see me.  (Talk about a pain in the arse.)  But.  No more.

*Ring, ring!*
"Hello?"
"Yeah! Let me buzz you in."
*Beep*  *BUZZZZzzzz*

I'm feeling very content. :)

 ... when I get bored.

Since I was in Houston for a client event on my birthday, I had the wonderful pleasure of a big, fun birthday dinner at a festive Italian place in Houston.  We had a group of 8 or so people, so we decided to go the route of a "family style" meal.  That means we all got 2 different appetizers, 2 salads, 2 pasta dishes, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts. (And each course had more than enough food to go around.)  It was WONDERFUL!  Anyone who knows me well knows that I love a big meal in which I get to taste and devour many, many different flavors and dishes.  So this was perfect!

They even brought out a little extra dessert with candles and everyone sang happy birthday.  :)

I was traveling for work during the week of my birthday -- and I was in Houston on the actual day -- so my lovely friend Jenna organized the folks on our team at work (all of whom are wonderful, wonderful people) to pull together a creative little birthday surprise. (Click here to view the Flickr album or go straight to the slideshow here.)  That is one of the most thoughtful, wonderful things friends have ever done for my birthday. 

More on my birthday later.  It was a good one this year.  Haha ... and I haven't even had my actual party yet!