Behold, the secret behind the ring in the toilet...

May marks the fifth month that I've lived in Shepherdstown. I didn't honestly know how long I was planning to stay when I moved here, but when Ashley and I stumbled upon the perfect, recently-remodeled-with-all-new-bathroom-and-kitchen-appliances, apartment above the bakery on the main street, I knew I'd be staying at least six months when I signed the lease.

Up until about two weeks ago, Ashley and I had gone the entire time living here without ever cleaning our toilet.

Before you get to thinking I'm just too disgusting a person to ever read my blog again, our reason was this...our toilet just never got dirty. We would clean the outside, but the actual bowl never did get that tell-tale ring indicating that it'd been a bit too long since you took a brush and toilet bowl cleaner to the pot.

Well, just before I went on my trip to Arkansas, I decided it was high time to clean it, regardless of the lack of ring inside and bought some cleaner and a brush.

A week and a half later, there was a ring in the toilet.

So, what I'm suggesting is this: toilet bowl cleaner is a complete and utter hoax that actually causes the ring in the toilet to appear on a regular basis, therefore creating a constant need for more toilet bowl cleaner.

I'm shocked and appalled at this new discovery. This is worse than the one where all the greeting card companies created Valentine's Day.

I want our old "uncleaned" toilet back.

Back in the saddle again

I was able to go horseback riding today. It was supposed to storm all afternoon, but instead we were graced with partly cloudy skies and beautiful weather. I've never taken my camera with me because I've always been worried about it getting jostled around too much (and there's always the possibility I'll become too distracted taking photos that I fall off the horse and land on my camera...damaging it beyond repair), but this time I took my chances and it was so worth it...

David's horse has a gorgeous blue eye...



Barn kitty!



The woods were lush and green...and with the speckled sunlight coming through it was just perfect!



I feel like this should be a still from some movie...

Go figure...

I got a phone call from a friend today back in Shepherdstown, telling me that Hillary and Chelsea Clinton would be making an appearance across the street from my apartment today.

Not that I would ever really want to see Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, but sheesh, of all the exciting things to happen in our tiny little town of 800 people while I'm away...it had to be something newsworthy and photoworthy.

Although, taking photos of Nate and Erin Copeland's precious daughter Kate was definitely worthwhile.



I need to get back into the groove of taking photos again...seriously.

Artsy fartsy

As per request of Brooke Condolora, I am posting two photos of my tree paintings hanging up in Stone Soup. I took my camera to work today to document a bit of my life here in Shepherdstown. Sometimes I feel as if I don't exist in Shepherdstown because I haven't been taking as many photos as I used to. It's disheartening. I vow to change that when I return from Searcy.





Well folks...that's all for today! (Two posts in two days...a record!)

It's about time I updated...

On Sunday morning, at a bright and early (and probably highly unpleasant) 5 am, I'll be hitting the road and making the trek back to Searcy. According to Google Maps, it's 962 miles, taking about 15 hours and 33 minutes...we'll see how accurate that time is when I get there.

Despite not actually having enough money for gas at the moment (hopefully serving tomorrow morning at Stone Soup will grant me some good tips), I'm really looking forward to the trip. It's been a long few months, with work seemingly taking up every free moment of my time. Granted, it could be a lot worse if I were sitting behind a desk in a cubicle working M-F at a 9-5 job, but sometimes it does get monotonous, even in the restaurant world.

There's not a whole lot new going on in my life. I did a brief stint as a line cook at Stone Soup, and although I was really enjoying it, cooking 55-85 meals to order by myself during a shift was a bit on the stressful/exhausting side, so I'm back to full-time as a server. I do feel as if I learned a lot of really valuable information while I was cooking, so now I'm pretty confident when it comes to maneuvering around a kitchen and whipping up a semi-gourmet meal with a scantly stocked pantry.

Tonight I learned the secrets of opening a bottle of champagne (I had a table purchase one and as we're a "fine dining" establishment, I had to do a proper wine presentation at the table); hold the cork and push down while turning the bottle slowly. Miraculously, my first time opening a bottle of champagne didn't leave me covered with the fizzy drink or a black eye (which I was fully expecting). It's amazing the things you can learn in the restaurant industry.

Stone Soup also serves as a regularly changing art gallery. When we have no artists to display work, we collaborate and choose a theme and all the workers and any of our artist friends produce work to hang on the wall. This past month's theme was trees and I painted four tiny wood blocks with simple white birch trees on a green/blue gradient background and detailed them with pen and ink. I had a lady comment to me how much she loved them and when I told her I'd painted them, she asked if she could buy them. I of course said yes, and we agreed on a price of $75. I'm still a bit flabbergasted that I sold four tiny pieces of wood for that much, but hey, it's art, right? A few weeks later I had another table comment on them and after they found out I'd painted and already sold them, they inquired about having me do a similar commissioned piece for the same price. Makes me wonder why I haven't quit work and become a full-time artist...haha....although, Shepherdstown is kind of a rich yuppie town full of older people who have nothing better to do with their money.

Alright folks...there's your update...someday I will be better at keeping up this poor excuse for a blog!

April Fools pranks never get old...

So this might have been one of the the funnest and effortless pranks I've ever pulled on anyone. For less than 24 hours I had my Facebook page saying I was married and displaying the photo that I posted on here as my profile picture. My blog also feeds to my Facebook notes, so people were able to read and comment on this post there as well.

I had quite a few frantic wall-posts exclaiming "What???" and "Wow, um, congratulations!!!" or other similar things. It was definitely entertaining to keep checking back to see how the reactions progressed. Somewhere in the middle of the night, the general public began to sniff out an April Fools joke and I was called on my bluff. But hey, it was fun while it lasted, right?

Anyway, no worries folks, I would NEVER up and get married to someone I've been dating less than two months! Yeesh! So yes, I've been dating someone, but no, I'm not anywhere close to getting hitched, nor will I be anytime soon...so rest easy everyone...no crazy eloping yet.

I think I need to renew my resolution to keep up with my blog from now on. Yes, I think that's a great idea.

Honeymoon in Greece...here I come!!!

I'm married...eeeee!