Currently Reading: One Thousand White Women-The Journals of May Dodd

I've been taking my time reading my current classic, The Count of Monte Cristo. While I'm enjoying it, I just felt like I needed something easy and interesting to read as I've been more on-the-go recently. I found One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd at Target the other day and it sounded good.  It's a fictional novel set in the 1870s, narrated through the journal of a young woman who was committed to an insane asylum by her rich family. She left the asylum to participate in a secret government program in which one thousand "civilized" white women became the brides of Cheyenne warriors as a part of a peace treaty with the whites. I started reading it yesterday and only got through the first chapter, but I'm loving it. Side note: I've always been intrigued with Native Americans. I was an "Indian squaw" for Halloween three years in a row and I'd carry my baby dolls around in a papoose my mom made me.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Weekend in Springfield: Day 3

Dang. Day #3 in Springfield meant time to go home. :( Man I miss that place. Especially after having weekends like that. Luckily Jessica and I squeezed in just a little bit more fun before I had to say good bye.

We started the morning out right - with delicious food and fabulous hot tea. I demanded that Jessica show me how to make her breakfast egg souffles. I saw them on her blog a few months ago and couldn't stand to live any longer without eating one. Mine was filled with bacon and mozzarella cheese and washed down with Earl Grey Creme tea from Teavana. (Yup, I had to stop at the mall before heading out of Springfield to get about a 1/2 pound of that tea...)

After breakfast we headed out to...you guessed it...take more pictures. (Eventually I'm going to learn how to use my DSLR the way it's supposed to be used. For now, though, we'll just practice by taking it to parks and around town.)

First stop: Commercial Street. This street is one that you are notoriously supposed to avoid in Springfield. Well, you should probably just avoid all of north Springfield in general. But there are some pretty good shops and spots on Commercial. So we braved it.

There is a fabulous walking bridge over several railroad tracks on Commercial. Apparently it's where all the Springfield hipsters go to take pictures. :)

Also we ran around in the middle of the street.

We escaped Commercial unscathed and headed to one of my favorite parks in town, Sequiota. I used to work on the east side of town and this was one of my favorite spots. There are caves, rocks, ponds, and ducks. Lots of ducks.

 

 

Jessica likes to climb rocks.

I stick to the rocks closer to the ground.

Again, the heat got the best of us. After going to the mall, we needed one last lunch together. Because tons of stuff is closed on Sundays in Springfield, we headed to the Aviary Cafe and Creperie. This place is too cute. I absolutely love how they decorate and the food isn't bad either.

 

I went with the "Hen & Pine" crepe which tasted a little like chicken and dumplings inside a crepe and topped with pesto and pine nuts. Some of my favorite things!

In short, I had a very delicious, laughter-filled, and amazing weekend. The only thing I would have changed was to have stayed a smidge longer. Go check out Jessica's recap of the weekend over at (More or Less) Jess. She's a pretty cool chick. :)

Weekend in Springfield: Day 2

Day 2 of Springfield! Wow this was an action-packed day. Jessica and I got up early (again) to try to beat the Missouri heat and take some pictures outside. It was also pretty windy.  Here is a bit of a blooper to an upcoming outfit post...I don't do "windblown" very well. :)

Also - I love weeds. Nature is just beautiful!

We changed clothes and headed out to try to find some fun places downtown to explore.

Jessica suggested Founder's Park for photos. I was so tempted to take off my shoes and frolic in the water, but I wasn't that brave. Also there was a shady character lingering in the park behind us. This park is super cool though. When I went to school in Springfield, they showed movies here "under the stars." Unfortunately I never went. Oh, if I could turn back time.

Me trying to pull off one of Jessica's poses. :)

 Before it got too ungodly hot, we headed to The Brown Egg for brunch. We each had $10 coupons that we bought for $5 online the day before. And boy was it worth every penny! Not only was it an adorable atmosphere, the food was amazing.



 

I had the "Californian breakfast burrito." It had chicken, egg, spinach, mozzarella, and avocado. It was huge but so good I couldn't stop eating!

 

Eventually we had to head back so I could get ready for my friend Juli's wedding.  I grew up with Juli and we've remained friends since grade school. Fun story about her: she once asked me to babysit her 2 chinchillas for a week. Long story short, by the time she came back from her trip, there were 2 adult chinchillas and 3 tiny baby chinchillas.

 

Juli and Colt got married in the nearby town of Rogersville at a cute outdoor venue called Samuel Cedars.  I was afraid it was going to be absolutely sweltering hot but it was pretty well shaded.

 

 

 

 

I unfortunately didn't stay long into the reception because I knew next to no-one aside from the bride, her mother, and a bridesmaid. But it was beautiful and I'm so excited I got to see my gorgeous friend marry her man. :)

 

I got back to Springfield in just enough time to head out with Jessica to another Springfield Park - Nathanael Greene. Oh my, is that place pretty! Here are some of my favorites but don't be surprised to see more of this place in the future. :)

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were heading back to Jessica's, she decided to abruptly pull over on the side of a road so we could wade through a field to take pics with the sunset. So lovely!

 



 

Definitely more of those field pics to come!

 

We ended the night relaxing in the hot tub and pool...which felt amazing on our aching feet! What a perfect day. I am blessed!

Weekend in Springfield: Day 1

As I teased about on Saturday, I spent a very fun-filled weekend in my old college town with one of my besties Jess. I took advantage of the fact that I had a wedding to attend in Springfield on Saturday and just ended up taking over Jessica's couch and living room all weekend.

I got there around 10 pm on Thursday night so we stayed up well past midnight (have I mentioned how hard that is to do the older I get?) talking about the joys of apartment living, blogging, and music. And when I say talk about music, I really mean that Jessica tells me all the good new stuff she's found so that I can start listening to it too.

Saturday we got up early to browse a thrift store and then we climbed to the top of a parking garage downtown to take some outfit pics for our blogs (you'll just have to wait and see those!).

Then we met up with another grad school classmate, Shaye, for brunch at Tea Bar & Bites Bakery.



Herb quiche and Thai noodles....yum!

Umm...delicious! I've been to the Tea Bar with my friend Aly before and I've never been disappointed!  If you're in Springfield, check it out. I definitely recommend their quiches!


Three of "the clinicals"!

Tea Bar & Bites

After brunch, Jess and I walked around downtown Springfield and took more pictures. I had  to include this picture of one of my favorite places in Springfield...Finnegan's Wake! So many fun memories there.

 

 Then we ended up at one of Jessica's favorite places, Elle's Patisserie. They have ice cream, truffles, pastries, and other tasty looking treats. I went with the Triple Chocolate Truffle ice cream and Jessica had her go-to: lavender ice cream. She also treated me to a few bites of a chocolate macaroon and a maple-bacon macaroon. Yum!

How cute is this place?

We did a little more damage at various other stores (including an awesome bookstore and another antique store!) before calling it quits. Our last stop of the day was Jo-Ann's Fabric Store. I picked up some yards of blue fabric for my mom's first quilting project and I grabbed some cute swatches for a future Pinterest-inspired project.

 

 Here are a few other favorites from the day!

 

I wanted to bring these two hotties home from the antique store. The one-legged man really needed some TLC.

Isn't she adorable?!