day 12: something you are ocd about

haaaaahahahahaha hooooooboy. that's hilarious. i am supposed to pick ONE thing that i am ocd about? it'd be easier to pick one thing i'm NOT ocd about. which would be this: nothing.

but i prefer to say "perfectionist" or "particular." even "extremely refined in taste and preference."

probably the things i am most overtly ocd about are:

1) cleanliness. not like from germs - i'm not cloroxing every surface - i just like things to feel and appear clean. i like my bed made. i like dirty clothes in the hamper. i like dog hair vacuumed (ok, dog hair is an ocd chapter unto itself...). i like kitchen counters wiped. i like myself and my husband showered before getting in the bed (much to captain fantastic's unending chagrin).

this is what i think of when sterling shakes and the hair flies...sigh

2) food. i've been a vegetarian for 16 years, mainly because i can't stand gristle and tendons and nasty stuff like that. i also will not eat pudding or yogurt, because gross. my doctor once told me that i have somewhat of an allergy to corn, and that could be to blame for my irritable bowels. and for like 2 years i was a label-reading machine. have you ever tried to cut corn from your diet? nigh impossible. at any rate, thank goodness for cheese sandwiches and luna bars. and don't worry; the foods i am not eating out of pickiness are more than compensated for in chocolate. and carbs.

i feel you, buddy

i'll stop there, but you can expand this list by imagining anything it is possible to be ocd about. and knowing that i am.

day 11: a photo of you recently (and a sneak peek)

i don't know about y'all, but i'm getting mighty tired of pictures of me. alas, another one. this is me with captain fantastic and my mama a few weeks ago when we had my parents over for mom's birthday dinner (hence the apron). then last week, i took her on a date to see wicked at the orpheum. it was faaaaabulous.


since y'all are so nicely putting up with this 30 days of blogging bidness, i'll share with you a sneak peek of my slowly-evolving dining room. here it was in days of yore, before we tore out the carpet and redid the hardwoods last november:

blogland loves c-fan and the puppies, blogland gets c-fan and the puppies

an awkward, small den with c-fan's futon, heinous aztec-print chairs, and enormous tv. the room has a door to the kitchen on one wall (at c-fan's feet in that picture), a door to the hall on the opposite wall, two windows on the third wall, and a closet smack-dab in the middle of the fourth wall (behind c-fan's head)...so awkward for furniture placement.

the estate sale aztec chairs....and can you believe, i married him still

here is the birthday girl, pretending to be surprised by the birthday cupcakes, in the dining room today:


refinished hardwoods + sisal area rug, fresh paint + drapes i sewed, plate rack + wedding china, table and chairs from in-laws + burlap runner and fall festivus. note plant that will surely succumb to my black thumb any day now. feel sorry for it.

we've currently got a little bar against the wall opposite my mom, which i'd love to replace with a skirted buffet, like this. i have a vision for the painting i will eventually paint to hang above it, flanked by my sconces. work in progress. drastically different from where it was this time last year though, that's for sure!

day 10: a photo of you taken at least 10 yrs ago

all of my older pictures are in storage at present. also you are not allowed to see pictures of me as a teenager. but i have these two baby pictures of me with my mama on this computer. these were taken 26-27 years ago. so really, it's like i went above and beyond.

day 9: a photo you took

captain fantastic (bottom left in the red drawers) climbing one of the great jumping cliffs on greer's ferry lake in heber springs, arkansas. the cliff is only like 30 feet, but this makes it look bigger. see what i did there? photography. genius. i like this picture because we have had countless good times at the lake.

i did not take this picture, however, as i am in it. team stone. taking the plunge off of the aforephotographed precipice. shortly before we took the other plunge. (of marriage)


and for funsies?

i took this on our honeymoon in belize. i'd like to go back, please and thank you.

day 8: a photo that makes you angry/sad

the first angry/sad image that came to mind was that commercial for the prevention of animal cruelty with the sarah mclaughlin song. it always brings me to tears. helpless animals abused and caged. heartbreaking.

via

day 7: a photo that makes you happy

i took this (with my phone) on sunday, and it's had me giggling for days. the most recent photo that's made me happy. for your viewing pleasure.

a boy and his dogs

he was pooped after a long weekend of camping, and the mutthounds were excited to have their daddy back. i love how they are all lying in the same position (albeit cstone is facing the opposite direction). please note that each dog has his/her own comfy dog bed in the room (inches away), yet princess sterling is on the people bed, and bad-a marley is roughin' it on the hardwoods. typical.

day 6: 20 of my favorite things

(i failed to mention that the 30 days of blogging will probably not be 30 consecutive days of blogging. i don't generally bust out the computer on the weekends.)

so. 20 of my favorite things, in no particular order:

1) captain fantastic - obviously.

hiking and camping in north carolina last weekend. thankfully, not blown off this cliff.

our first anniversary trip to the alluvian, which was faaaabulous

2) my family - best parents a gal could ever want, plus a super awesome baby bro (4 years younger), wonderful grandparents, fun aunts & uncle & cousins and an excellent sampling of in-laws - love spending time with all of them.

the andersons circa 2007

my cute 91-yr-old grama dancing at our wedding with my parents & cousin/moh

paul's graduation from hendrix in 2009

with my mom's family at the beach

with dad's mom and sisters

c-fan with his parents and sister

3) the big dogs - cstone found marley under the stairs at church when he was a teenager. m-dawg had two leather collars grown into his neck that had to be surgically removed. he is now roughly 12ish and, despite a quasimodo-esque fatty tumor (that the vet recommends we not remove) and a few creaks, is still enthusiastic about life. slash food. mainly food. i found sterling in oxford, mississippi, via petfinder.com in 2007. a woman found her by the side of the road in a taped-up box that said "puppy inside." she is the cutest, sweetest, smartest crazy nut ever. we are obsessed with our dogs. you already knew that.

playing at the lake with hannah

they love each other! snuggled up on the way home from the lake in cstone's old subaru.

cutest. puppy. ever. baby sterling

4) friends - some of my best friends are still the girls i went to high school with (some even date back to kindergarten). they, and the others i've picked up along the way, make for good times. ridiculosity oft ensues.

the crew known as the ec4eva (...and clifton)

see, ridiculous

5) chocolate

6) cheese


7) painting/drawing

paintings from college

8) being creative in general

cover of my art education final project from college

9) tiiiiiny baaaaabiiiiieees - i mean, seriously.

tick tock. tick tock...

10) anything tiny, really


11) the beach (in summer)

even on crutches. which don't work well on sand. fyi.

12) the mountains (in the fall)

hiking the sewanee perimeter trail with sterly girly

13) fall in general (if it would ever freaking get here and stay...)

more sewanee hiking - most beautiful fall in the world

14) thanksgiving & christmas holidayfuntimes



15) entertaining - cstone would have friends over every day of the week if i'd let him.

new year's eve 2010

16) lip balm - i mean who doesn't love it. am i right?

17) wearing blue jeans - this stems from 15 years at an all-girls prep school with a dress code. blue jeans were only for special days and weekends, and i still get really excited to wear them.

citizens are my fave

18) accessories

i'm having a bracelet moment

19) running - ok, not really. it's not that i super love running...more that i super love having run. makes me feel healthy and helps shed stress. sterling & i ran a people + dogs 5k this past saturday, and i haven't been so proud of myself in a long time (we usually just do about 2.5 miles around the neighborhood for exercise)

20) you. you are definitely one of my faves. 100%

day 5: favorite quote

well crap. already blew this one on the first post. but you can thank my inability to narrow down lists of favorites for the following excess. true to form.

"To live a creative life, we must lose
our fear of being wrong."
- Joseph Chilton Pierce

that last one is framed on my dresser. because i totally GET that. the rest of them, i aspire to truly follow.

s,o how obvious is it that i'm a scaredy-cat perfectionist? maybe don't answer that.