Getting Antsy

This time next week I will be pacing back and forth at my desk (literally, I just got a standing desk, whoop whoop!) waiting for 5 p.m. when My Hunka Hunka Burning Love and I get in the car and head to the beach!!

I CAN'T WAIT! I love the beach. I honestly don't think I'd mind too bad if one day My Hunka Hunka Burning Love wanted to buy his family a beach house, then me and the (hypothetical) kiddos would go down for the month of June (or maybe even June, July and August) and Dad would join us on the weekends. We've been watching Mad Men lately and in one of the episodes we saw recently the women were asking, "Where are you summering this year?" I think I could handle quite nicely this notion of "summering." I'm not sure why it disappeared. Let's bring it back... PLEASE!

Oh wait, people still do this! I just spoke to a woman and she is taking her two kids up to the Jersey Shore for the entire summer - sign me up! I will admit there are many perks to marriage, but one is definitely that you get to go on two summer beach trips.

For our summer's first family vacay, we'll get to see both families. We'll make a pit stop in the Outer Banks for a day to celebrate the Fourth of July, catch some rays and watch the fireworks with these goons.



Sassy!!

Then we'll continue on to Isle of Palms, SC for some R&R craziness with these cats. I didn't realize there were multiple ways to spend time on the beach, but after spending 26, ok, ok... 28 years on beach trips with my family and a few with My Hunka Hunka Burning Love's family, we definitely do it differently (but that's another story for another day).

OBX 2011 (Tootie and Squishy weren't even thoughts yet).
We had some good eatin' this year, tuna and mahi mahi (not pictured).

OBX 2012

Tootie's first birthday, April 2013 (now insert My Hunka Hunka Burning Love).

To prep for my R&R on the beach I reached out to many a folk to compile my summer reading list (which really consists of me finding 10 books I want to read and ultimately only finishing one, two if I'm lucky).

(I have to admit I basically stole this idea of compiling my summer reading list from a dear friend, but hopefully she won't mind that I'm borrowing her fantastic idea).

• What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty


• In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez


• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt


• Divergent by Veronica Roth (I was told this has a good love story)


• The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy


• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes


• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter


• The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman


• Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

You know the books on your list are good when you have two different library accounts and every book on your list is checked out. I have access to the U.Va. libraries and My Hunka Hunka Burning Love and I just went and got our accounts at the city library too - no books to be had at either. I put my name on a list for three, I'm 10th in line for one book, 13th for another and 64th for the last. UGH! Good thing I have about another 200 pages in my current Pat Conroy novel to keep me occupied until it's my turn for any of these. I sure do hope I get one before next Thursday though, so I can have a backup with me at the beach.

Oh the beach, CAN'T WAIT!




Grounded

I'm grounded...

Ok, so I'm not really grounded for doing something wrong, but rather I'm grounding myself as a way to establish some checks and balances in life. A great man always says once said, "Life is all about space and balance."

No looking at Zillow for the month of June.

My Hunka Hunka Burning Love and I are slowly talking about places we might want to end up after he finishes law school. We've backed away from the edge of some locations, while other dark horses pull into the lead. (Don't get any ideas, we're still completely undecided). Although I love Charlottesville and our current home I must admit that the idea of another adventure still in our future makes me pretty excited.

Some people hate change, and there are a few particular things that I cringe when I hear they are changing, but for me, a new location is not one of them. After college I moved nearly 1,000 miles away from home to New Orleans, with only a handful of acquaintances there to greet me when I arrived.


The people who showed up to help move me in at my apartment in NOLA, my friends!

I have always been interested in "home" things. Growing up some of my favorite TV shows were Home Again with Bob Vila and Trading Spaces with Ty Pennington (man did I think he was hot!). My dad and The Brothers were always using power tools and making things and my special job was being "The Best Helper Ever." During several of my college summer breaks I spent time down on the Gulf Coast literally re-building houses after hurricane Katrina. One job, I was hired as the Work Site Assistant, except they didn't tell me they didn't have a Work Site Manager, so... I got an instant promotion (one I was completely not qualified for). I learned a lot that summer about drywall, roofing, floors, plumbing and electrical. If you're ever remodeling, I might be able to help.



Ty Pennington

Bob Vila

















Whatever network Bob Vila used to be on was put on steroids and has morphed into HGTV, my newest favorite channel. Why did I not know about this sooner? For a long time I've wanted to be an interior designed or stager, but there aren't exactly degrees for that, you kinda just have to know the right people in the right place to make that happen.

So here's my current predicament, how do I know when my God given passions and interests become idols or hold too much value in life? What checks and balances do I have in place to make sure that my loves are ordered appropriately and that I'm not constantly living in the future of what great things are to come rather than what great things are here right now in the present. Hence, I'm grounded from Zillow. I'm putting on the brakes to the life that is to come in two years and I'm choosing instead to embrace the tiny little home we have and the fun life we're living right now on Monday, tomorrow, then Wednesday and so forth.

TBT

Throw Back Thursday!!!

I get the question all the time, "what does your license plate mean?"

Because my name is Tilly, people assume it has something to do with me. Well world, the fact is, it has absolutely nothing to do with me or my name.

I'm not sure how far back my story goes, but from my knowledge the first T TOG was about the time that I was 9 and we had this 1979 brown/black Chevy Silverado. A little like the pic below. However, please imagine that there is a spot light poking out of the roof, one like you see on a cop car. Only ours was jerry-rigged in there and not official at all.

My family is not of the mindset to give their kids new, fancy, souped-up cars when they turn 16. The 1979 Chevy was my oldest brother's first car truck. My middle brother probably drove that truck a little at some point, but his main mode of transportation in his high school days (was not T TOG) but this beast...

She's a beaut Clark!

My first car was the second T TOG, a 1986 Ford Bronco. My favorite car in the whole wide world! It was white with a perfect blue wave racing stripe. She was the best.

Here she is at the beach, in all her glory! How we got the jet ski is another story for another day

- but a big thank you to my biggest brother!

That's my uncle, me and my cousin. I'm pretty sure they were visiting
for my biggest brother's high school graduation.

By the time I was driving T Tog the black tire cover had been replaced with a white one with a V and sabers on it, which made me all the cooler!

It was probably the most recognized car in my hometown. Since everyone knew whose car it was, people would honk at me from every direction and I would just wave to them all, never really sure who was in the black Honda Civic or the silver Toyota Corolla. My sophomore year of high school at the back of the yearbook they did a spread on unique license plates and guess who made it in there... T TOG! (Unfortunately my mom was not able to find my sophomore year book so I could include a picture - Kase, where did you hide it?)

When my oldest brother went to college he bought a 1989 Ford Bronco. The license plate was supposed to be TOG II, but they misread his handwriting so instead he got TOG IT.  

I guess I still haven't said what T TOG means though, huh? Well, it stands for tautog.

Popular among fishermen, tautog have a reputation for being a particularly tricky fish to catch. Part of this is because of their tendency to live among rocks and other structures that can cause a fisherman’s line to get snagged. Tautog fishing may also be difficult due to the tendency of fishermen trying to set the hook as soon as they feel a hit, rather than wait for the tautog to swallow the bait.^{(Thank you Wikipedia)}

However, my family doesn't just fish off the side of a boat, we scuba dive with spear guns... so,

because they are often found in wrecks, they are often seen by scuba divers. They are also popular with spear fishermen, as they are remarkably calm in the presence of divers and are relatively easy to spear. ^{(Thank you Wikipedia)}

We cheat and go for the easy kill.

Unfortunately, T TOG was sold, unbeknownst to me, before I could get my grubby little paws on it. RIP T TOG, I will find you one day, or at least rebuild you.

When I actually bought my first car I decided to resurrect T TOG in spirit and will continue that license plate on every car I have from here on out. Here are some pictures of the newest T TOG. I may have been retaliating and therefore gone in the complete opposite direction.

*A special thank you to my dear sweet mom who tore up the house looking for my yearbook and the T TOG pictures. (Before my mom found the pictures I did a little work on the computer to try and make a T TOG for your enjoyment. Since it took my so long I've included for your pleasure. I think I did pretty well.)

That Which We Call a Rose

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title."

Who doesn't love a little Romeo and Juliet to begin this beautiful weekend we're about to embark upon here is sunny, warm (and little humidity) Virginia?

As I've begun to write my own blog I've had to do some scrutinizing over other people's. What do I like, whose would I like to emulate, whose do I hope to never see again, whose funny, entertaining and keeps me going through the backlog of posts, which one's do I not even make it past the first sentence? With these and so many more questions, I feel a little like Columbus. It's as though I'm discovering a new land, except in truth it's already been inhabited for hundreds of years.

The thing that I have most recently discovered is that, more often than not, family members have code names. People seem to have differing reasons on why and some don't tell you at all, but typically their real names are left out.

So the other night while I was working on a puzzle being really productive I asked He Who Shall Not Be Named, "So you're supposed to have a nickname on my blog, what would you like to be?" Silence... "I don't know. What do you think?" Silence... me - totally straight faced and serious, "I was thinking, how about Hunka Hunka Burning Love." From the kitchen I hear, "Bahahahahahhaha... Really?!"

After a tiny amount of brainstorming and debate it has been decided that He Who Shall Not Be Named will from henceforth be referred to as my Hunka Hunka Burning Love.

A year ago today that special man proposed, so here's to you my Hunka Hunka Burning Love.

Amen.

What's your favorite day?

My favorite days are those (often on weekends or holidays) where something gently forces you to wake up before 11 10 a.m., so you have the whole day before you but very little planned. The entire day/world seems to be saying, "Bienvenidos, mi amiga." I must acknowledge the golden ticket to these days and hence why they are so rare: you also must have no responsibilities challenging you to duel. No laundry, dishes, dirty house, homework, errands or thank you letters to write (or at least you must be willing to silence their quiet whispers for your attention, and let's be honest, I'm actually pretty good at not listening them... have you seen my house?)

A few weeks ago Tony and I went strawberry picking and it might have been one of my favorite days ever. We were coming back from Smith Mountain Lake and we had nothing to get back to on Sunday evening. So we headed north on 29 to Seaman’s Orchard. We got a little lost thanks to Siri but 45 minutes later we arrived. When it’s a beautiful, warm, sunny day and you’re riding in a convertible on back country roads with the landscape of the Blue Ridge on every side you don’t really care that Siri took you down a creepy, one lane, gravel road path that led to a dead end.

Once we were back on the actual route to the farm the darndest thing happened. We’re sitting at a red light and Tony says, “I think that’s Solomon Tat behind us.” We start to speculate on the odds, what he’s doing in the middle of nowhere on 29 at noon on a random Sunday and where he’s headed. He passes us and Tony looks over again, “I really think that’s him.” The car pulls in front of us and the liscence plate says something like “CAVS45” Tony exclaims, “That’s totally him, CAVS45, his number was 45.”

Since we’re in a convertible I raise my hands and start waving like a bafoon. Solomon waves back. So I proceed to do the UVA cheer, "U – V – A, Go Hoos Go" (arms above your head like YMCA). Solomon responds with the fist pump of “Wah-hoo-wah, wah-hoo-wah! Uni-v, Virginia! Hoo-rah-ray, hoo-rah-ray, ray, ray--UVA!" It was sooo freakin’ awesome!

After a whole lot of getting lost and a stop at an antique store (where we picked up a Christmas present for Tony's parents... sorry you still have to wait 7 more months) we finally made it to the strawberries! It was so worth getting lost and a friendly hello along the way from our newest friend Solomon.

The day continued with a late lunch at Blue Mountain Brewery, then to Flying Fox Vineyard for a little wine tasting, then back home to put those strawberries to good use and make some of this!

Neither Tony nor I like strawberry ice cream, but ohhh man. You make HOMEMADE strawberry ice cream and I will tear that up! If you're looking for a recipe, I definitely recommend this one.

So that is my favorite day.