our moonrise kingdom

Suggested soundtrack for this post: Francois Hardy's Le Temps De L'Amour

Have you seen Moonrise Kingdom yet? I hope so, because it's absolutely lovely, and because the title of this post will make a lot more sense if you have. 

The weekend before last Ross and I went on our first camping trip of the year, to Tuckahoe State Park on Maryland's eastern shore. This is Creature on the camping box; I'm pretty sure she didn't want us to leave (the fact that she pooped everywhere while we were gone makes me even more sure of that, but that's a different story). 

I've wanted to go to Tuckahoe for a long time because of its 60 acres of flooded forest. It did not disappoint.

Our canoe rental was only $15 for two hours, and the ranger made it pretty clear that we could stretch that as we wanted. This is a Great Blue Heron and a turtle in the same shot. We saw hundreds of turtles, some small enough to fit in my palm, some the size of dinner plates. 

This is a beaver, who could not have cared less that we were there. We got within three or four feet, and he still didn't swim away or even really acknowledge us. Beaver don't give a s***.

Ross' sharp eyes caught some of our beaver friend's handiwork.

We only saw one other boat the whole time we were on the water. It was a fishing boat helmed by two old guys. If I were writing a short story about this, they would maybe represent the spirit of the river (subtly, of course). That's why I don't write short stories anymore.

This is our Moonrise Kingdom. 

This is Ross. He's whittling a polar bear.

The next day we decided to go to the beach. This is our super delicious breakfast cooked on our super reliable and portable camp stove (thanks John and Diana!).

This is the beach! It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but beaches in Maryland are insanely crowded. I'm from Orange County and I've never seen crowds like this. It was also 90 degrees, which was amazing.

After a completely decadent day on the beach, we stopped in Lewes, Delaware, which now rivals Shepherdstown, WV for the coveted "My-Favorite-Town-on-the-East-Coast" award. Shepherdstown has more vegan restaurants and crunchy folks, but Lewes is smaller and quieter and has the single most elegant bookstore I've ever seen. 

After another night of sleeping out, campfires, whittling and reading, we came home. It was one of the best weekends ever, and it felt just. like. this:

haylie's recipe for happiness

A list of clearly defined, manageable tasks 

+ 

Momentum from a string of small successes 

+ 

Sunshine 

+ 

The Flight of the Conchords 

= 

Happiness

I hope you have a similarly happy day.

the eye of the tiger

Nobody likes to oversell their home movies. So I'll only say that this took several days of dashing for the camera before we finally got the following footage, and that I haven't laughed this hard in a really long time. But that could also be the post-finals hysteria... whatever. I love it. Enjoy.

give thanks

Photo from here. It was the best nature photo I could come up with on short notice.

Happy Thanksgiving, dear friends. Apologies for the short post... I wanted to write something longer, something poetical and grateful and profound, but I have a headache from baking for eight hours (!!!) yesterday (it was so worth it) and I'm going to bed. I hope you had a wonderful day... we did. Love.

super double bonus

Miss Jessica (and Mr. Chris)

Miss Amanda

Today I got not one, but TWO missives in the mail from two of my favorite people, Miss Amanda and Miss Jessica. Whoa. It was a loving friend mail palooza. Miss Amanda sent a postcard from the Chicago Zoo and Miss Jessica sent a Portland mug and some other goodies from my much-missed PDX. Each was sweet and wonderful on its own; the combined effect was AWESOME. Dear friends, I love you So. Much. (Also, thanks to Donilee for the card she sent me weeks ago that I kept meaning to mention here and never did). Anyway...I just got home after a long day and need to eat, but wanted to mentioned the best mail day ever. Thanks, ladies. I sure like you.

facts

This is me.

This is my family.

These are some of my friends.

This is where I used to live.

And this is where I live now (well, sort of).

It's a good life. From sea to shining sea.

ross, mr. collins, and me

Two recent moments of perfect happiness:

1. Today, as I stood barefoot on the warm pavement of our deck with Ross, eating the very first harvest of snap peas in our "garden" while Creature jumped around chasing bugs.

2. Last night, as the previously mentioned Ross and I cuddled on the couch watching the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice and geeking out over Jane Austen's boundless comic genius.

lovely lovely day

It was at least 80 degrees here today. All our windows are still open and it feels like we're in the midst of a giant party because of all the carrying-ons below. Portlanders really know how to enjoy nice weather. Ross got home early today and we went for a picnic at Jamison square followed by a v-e-r-y long walk and a short nap at home. It was perfect, or nearly so (of course I had to get all nervous about something, but no matter now). I hope your day was as lovely.

Tomorrow I'm modeling (!!!) for a friend in an ethnic Indian fashion show. Pictures to follow.

Love and sunshine,

Haylie

what i always wanted

I remember once visiting the Metreon in San Francisco with my Dad. The Metreon is an exceptionally intense, multi-story, movie theater right downtown. I don't think we actually saw a movie, but we walked around some of the shops in the theater and went up to the top floor. It was a beautiful day in the city and we could see a big park filled with sunbathers, and I remember thinking, right then, that this was the life I wanted to have. I wanted to live in a beautiful city and sit in a park with music and a good book and quietly let the city move around me.

Flash forward to today. I'm sitting in Jamison Square park on my flamingo beach towel. Creature is nervously peeking out from my Powell's bag (we're still working on outdoor time). I'm listening to Iron and Wine and reading a really nerdy book about the history of the Thames river and, all of a sudden, I realize that this is it. I have exactly the life that I've always wanted. Not only do I get to sunbathe in a beautiful city (with my sweet cat as a bonus), I'm married to my best friend, going to graduate school (knock on wood), and standing on the cusp of a lifetime of adventures. And as if all of that--all of that!--weren't enough, I just discovered that the snap peas that we planted on the deck are growing like fools. It's a good life, friends.

happy

Happiness, in 10

1. Pigeons

2. Farmer's markets

3. Fresh flowers on my kitchen table

4. NPR

5. Old-fashioned photo booths

6. Olympic opening ceremonies

7. The "thwunk" sound that oars make when everyone on a crew team is rowing together

8. When I'm on the computer and Creature hops up to take a nap on my lap

9. The smell of rain on a hot day

10. Kites

Saddened by this, and inspired by this and this, I decided to make a list of the things that make me most happy.

Some things (Like Ross, for instance) didn't make the list because they were too obvious.

Don't be surprised if you get an email from me asking you for your happy list.