some nights, i'm not sure

can a girl vent for a second?

i'm restless. 

i don't have a (real) job right now. i'm applying and waiting and repeating the process over and over. i long to be one of these awesome women whose blogs i read every single day. i want to do something super cool and important. but how do i do that when i'm broke?

heck if i know.

maybe i need to reevaluate myself. or my life. or both. 

i think i need to make more time to create things. i need more projects and less boredom. 

the only consistent thing is kyle, and i know that will be true forever. when i'm poor, when i'm sad, when i'm impossible — he's there.

here's to something new.

love.

krq.

hello again

well i've been sort of missing for the past few weeks, other than my obsessive harry potter posts. so to get back into the swings of things, here's a coupe of lists. ya'll know i love me some lists.

seven highlights of the past few weeks

1. two weekends ago, we went to bryson city and stayed in a super cool "treehouse" cabin for a couple days. and went to a teepee, which we had to sort of hike to. it took about 10 minutes and that was the end of my hiking. eff that.

breakfast at the cork & bean

spinach, avocado and brie crepe. yes.

rested and fresh-faced in bryson city. :)

legit teepee.

2. my siblings visited last week and we played a lot of mad gab and laughed and talked and it was a lot of fun. i miss them a lot. 

seester

brother bear + nerdy fake glasses 

kjd :)

my sibs

my sibs again. cute as ever. :)

3. my brother rescued two baby kittens from my attic because a freaking stray got up there and had a litter. another one fell in between a wall (true story) and sadly didn't make it. :( so my dad busted a hole in the wall to get it out. (also true story)

yeah that's a hole in my wall. nice. i'm sorry we didn't
get to you in time, little kitty. 

4. i accidentally tore down a bird's nest with eggs in it. i tried to replace it but i murdered a couple of the babies before they hatched. 

5. kyle whacked a snake in two with a hoe in our yard.

6. basically mother nature is gonna kick our asses because we're killing all springtime life here at 106 Rose Drive.

7. i've been doing a lot of work outside, trying to get a little garden prepared. i'm trying to learn patience, though, because apparently vegetables don't just grow overnight. who knew?

three things i'm into right now

1. The Hunger Games. once again, i'm way late getting into something. i tend to do this, so just roll with it. I finished the first book in less than two days, and saw the movie last friday — loved it — and i'm reading the second book now. loving it so far, but i see myself neglecting stuff i should be doing because i'll be too busy reading. whatev.

2. fun. the band. heard of them? you probably have already, because we've established i'm late to find cool stuff. well, they're awesome. look them up.

3. gardening. as mentioned before, i've been doing a lot of weed-pulling and such outside. planting a little garden was also one of my resolutions for this year, so hopefully it all works. out. it's actually very therapeutic to dig in the dirt, which coming from me is odd/hilarious, because i paint myself a fresh manicure every week. doesn't really go with dirt. but it's been fun and i've enjoyed it for the most part, except for the fact that i can't lift my arms over my head from hoeing. true story. 

five spring essentials i need

1. slouchy tees. i need more of these basics. i feel like i'll want to wear them a lot this year when just jeans and a cool necklace. i don't buy enough t-shirts or tanks, which are two things i feel like you can never have enough of. so why don't i have any?

2. colored jeans. this is a cool trend right now and i have a bright red pair that i love. next stop — neon yellow.

3. maxi dresses. i only have one maxi dress, and unless people want to see me in only one outfit all spring and summer, i should probably invest in a few more. they are fun, comfortable and perfect for many occasions. yes, please.

4. orange nail polish. i don't have an orange that's bright enough in my collection, and while i never really wear orange clothing, especially here in tennessee where the only appropriate shade is "hunter," i think a bright orange mani is perfect.

5. nude flats. i need a pair of these so freaking bad. and what makes it worse is i saw a pair a month ago, didn't get them, now they're gone. hate. myself. so now i'm on the hunt for a replacement pair that are affordable for a broke girl like me. 

enjoy your week, people. i'm crossing my fingers to hear from a job i interviewed with a few weeks ago. i'm supposed to hear this week. cross yours, too. 

love. 

krq.

always.

so originally, i had wanted to write this weeks ago, but things have been crazy so this very important post was delayed.

i finished the Harry Potter series on march 12th, and have been walking around like a zombie ever since (kinda). it's over. there's nothing else to read. and i don't know what to do with myself. so i subscribed to about 5 Harry Potter podcasts on itunes, painted a pencil cup at the pottery place with Harry Potter themes, made butterbeer for my brother, sister and kyle, and looked at the website for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter like, every day.

on the day i finished the last book, i couldn't stop reading. i read at the soccer field when i took the kids i babysit to their practice. i read while i ate. i read while i sat in the car waiting for kyle to come out of work. and after we ate dinner at moe's, our usual for dreary mondays, i knew it was almost over. i had about 20 pages left. so i told kyle, "when we get home, i'm going into the bedroom to finish this. don't bother me." and he didn't. except that one time he started singing really loud and i told him to be quiet. oops. but i finished it and then i felt empty. but happy. it was weird. so i just went to the living room and sat there, not knowing what to do with myself. 

that's sort of worn off, but i still think about these books all the time. like, allthetime. there was so much to them, so much more than magic.

friendship. honor. loyalty. good. evil. government. politics. religion. god. sacrifice. but most of all, love. love for one another and the world and others you don't even know. 

i've never cried so much reading any other series. i've never wished so badly for these characters to be real. i've never wanted so much to read books again and again.

please go read them if you haven't already. and if you have, i'm glad i've finally caught up with you.

love&magic.

krq.

lumos

 

i started reading the Harry Potter books back in November and have taken whatever book i'm on with me wherever i go. for some insane reason, i missed the boat when everyone else was reading them in middle and high school, and now that i've finished the sixth book and moving on to the last and final part of the series, i'm asking myself, "what the hell were you doing not reading these books?!"

maybe i had other things going on, maybe i lost my mind, maybe i thought i was too cool to read. i don't know. but now i know why they changed lives and inspired millions. now i know why my longtime friend rachel wore a Quidditch shirt in Gryffindor's colors. now i know why people stayed up all night reading when the new ones would come out and come to school sleep-deprived and buzzing about what happened in the last chapter they read before finally falling asleep. now i know, guys. i'm sorry for not joining in and missing those moments. i hate myself for missing that.

however, i am so inspired and amazed by how much more is in these books than in the movies. i mean, obviously i love the movies, but people, the books. they are incredible. i know you're all going "um. yeah. where have you been?" but honestly, i had no idea how these books would make me feel. i finished the sixth book this week and sat in the living room alone and wept. literally tears streaming down my face. honestly, i think that if i had read all of these when i was growing up, i would be one of those people at the midnight premieres of the films showing off their Harry Potter tattoos. i've actually already thought of what i would have mine be. and i don't even like tattoos. so yeah, i'm serious here. 

i found a Time Turner necklace i must have, as well as one with a Golden Snitch on it. there are recipes for homemade butterbeer and places you can buy Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. i want to host a theme party and if i was allowed to have pets in our rented house, i would want a white owl. i'm losing my mind, i know, but understand that i have almost completed the series within a few short months, whereas everyone else in the world with a brain and eyes read these over several years. years. i can't imagine waiting for the next one. perhaps that's why the universe worked against me reading them with everyone else. i would have lost it. 

basically, i'm saying i love everything about the Harry Potter books and everything they teach you. it is obvious as you read them that there are extremely important underlying lessons and information. it's talking about friendship and love and good and evil and government and religion and morals and standing up for what you believe in. it's about so much more than magic. it's about life.

i will read these again and again. i will tell my kids about them and share in their inspiration when they read them, and when they finish the series and tell me they love it so much they would like a tiny tattoo of a Snitch on their wrist, i might just let them. because i would rather it be that than an ugly butterfly or tribal symbol any day.

if you're like me and haven't read these, please, run to the nearest bookstore and buy them. read them all. take it all in. make notes. talk to people about it. i'm telling you, these books will change you. 

i'm sure i'll rant a little more about this once i finish the last one, i just couldn't wait. i'm too hyped up. if you need me i'll be planning my trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. 

love.

krq.