my late spring in instagram.

As y'all know, Instagram is my favorite form of social media. Lately, I've been striving for a balance of "styled" shots that help me practice my photography skills and real, un-posed memories of small town life that I know will serve as a diary for years to come. I'm really happy with the result! Here's what I've been up to since spring break.

Spring break photography practice with some blossoms from

the trees around our townhouse and a few of my favorite

antiques - this espresso cup is from my parents' time spent

living in Germany and I can't pass up a blue Ball Mason jar!

My jewelry organization situation was reaching crisis mode, 

so I ordered this cute arrow hook from Urban Outfitters and

I'm in love with it. It's the little things! Spring break = real 

lunch without having to supervise 150 kids or rush to eat!

One of my town's gems - the Grainery, which is home to an

art gallery/store and glass blowing school/studio. I love the

Van Gogh inspired mural outside. | Someone got my yoga

teacher this fantastic gnome as a gift at the end of term.

My mom is from the Kentucky and watches the Derby religiously

every year. This year we celebrated at my house with virgin

mint juleps - the colorful paper straws reminded me of the 

jockeys' racing silks. | This spring I taught three boys I referred

to as my Musketeers on their best days and my Stooges all the

others - all three were on the baseball team and I loved going

to their last middle school game, where they shone like stars.

         

My Bestie and her husband came in from Seattle to visit their 

families and their trip just happened to coincide with our 31st 

birthday (we were both born on May 29th!). We celebrated in 

true Roanoke fashion with a very indulgent brunch at Thelma's 

Chicken & Waffles, visiting a downtown event for a photo op with 

a mini horse, an adult big wheel ride on the Greenway with my tribe, 

homemade ice cream from Hits, and dinner at Beamer's 25 in honor 

of Bestie's love for Virginia Tech (as a Wahoo, this is true friendship).

Bestie and I both bought each other whale gifts for our birthday

in reference to an old inside joke from when we worked at

4-H camp together and our resulting catchphrase, "Whale please!"

Great minds think alike even when living on opposite coasts.

Finally, here's my chubby adorable cat, Scout, responding to being 

called "pretty boy." He is 100% awake in this picture.

Are you on Instagram? Let's be friends - you can follow me here.

{Linking Up with Weekend Snapshots at Her Heartland Soul}

#5FandomFriday/The Circle: Holiday Traditions

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. This week's #5FandomFriday topic is holiday traditions, which is also one of the topics for The Circle link-up this month. I wrote about some of our family's traditions back in 2012 for Sunday Social, and it's interesting to look back and see what's changed and what hasn't.

5. Attending a Play - This is a new tradition my BFF Breeze and I decided to start this year. She got a hankering to see a play this fall, and when I found out that one of my childhood dance studio friends who is bound for Broadway stardom had gotten a part in Mill Mountain Theatre's production of 42nd Street we set a date. When we saw that next year's season includes White Christmas we decided a theater must become an annual event! We are so lucky to have some amazing drama venues in Virginia, including the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, which is one of the oldest theatres in America and the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton.

4. Dodgeball! - A few years ago, the P.E. department at my school started the tradition of having a charity dodgeball tournament the last week of the fall semester. Eighth grade's is the last day (and the last hour!) of school before break, so we have the Red team versus the Green team, the kids wear Santa hats to play, and the last round is teachers versus students, with the teachers wearing the most ridiculous holiday/athletic outfits we can put together - one of our Civics teachers played in a Clark Griswold sweater and Captain America socks this year. The kids go crazy cheering for their teams, make posters, and paint their faces, and we don't have many discipline problems that day because they are so happy.

3. Fashions for Evergreens - This is another tradition Breeze and I have and we're trying to get as many friends involved as possible. The beautiful Hotel Roanoke hosts a charity event where local businesses and organizations decorate Christmas trees that are displayed throughout the lobbies and halls of the hotel. Here are my pictures from last year's event.

2. Small Town Christmas Celebrations - I was raised in a small town and love the little community where I live now. Give me a short parade with miniature horses, high school marching bands, baby baton twirlers, and fire trucks over huge floats any time! My town hosts an annual Christmas celebration where the streets are closed to traffic and fill with vendors selling food, crafts, and Christmas decorations. There are also carriage rides, local performers, pictures with Santa, and a group carol sing. It's a lot of fun and we always see lots of friends, students, and family members while we are there. This year we took Breeze's one-year-old niece for her first picture with Santa - which, of course, ended in tears.

1. Family Christmas Gatherings - I think Mr. Q and I are lucky that negotiating where we spend the holidays has been fairly easy so far. Growing up, my family spent Christmas Eve with my maternal grandmother at our house and Christmas Day at my maternal grandmother's house with my huge extended family, but both of my grandmothers passed away when I was a teenager. Since before Mr. Q and I were married, my mom and I have joined his extended family for Christmas Eve dinner and gingerbread, watching A Christmas Story, and exchanging gifts (always youngest to oldest). On Christmas Day, we head over to my uncle's house in the mountains for more yummy food, visiting my cousins, and hearing stories from my mom's childhood in rural Kentucky and Southwest Virginia - I think I learn something new about my family every year. 

my fall {according to instagram.}

Before the Christmas season completely takes over, I wanted

to share a few small moments from this busy fall.

Every year for our anniversary, Mr. Q and I invest in a joint

gift, like a piece of furniture. This year, we got a studded

headboard for our bed. It's from the Better Homes & Gardens

collection at Wal-Mart, of all places, and it's perfect!

I had a very proud teacher moment on our eighth grade field

trip to an amusement park. One of the boys in my group was

very much afraid of heights. When it was time to choose the

last ride for the day, instead of heading for the big roller

coaster they'd been talking about all day, my boys chose

the ferris wheel so that they could all ride something together.

I'm not sure what could be more beautiful than the Blue

Ridge Mountains in the fall - on these days, my heart sings.

Praying for Paris, and so thankful my cherished friends

are safe. Still, always the city of my dreams.

A simple Thanksgiving centerpiece and Small Business

Saturday spent exploring in my adopted hometown.

Pinecones heralding winter at Mr. Q's family home.

The perfect slogan (and much-needed coffee) for the end of the semester.

What moments have you cherished during this 

season of change? Follow me on Instagram here.

watching summer fade to fall with instagram...

The last Salem Red Sox game of the season, on Labor Day weekend.

Small town scenes - you know that scene in Lawless where Shia Le Beouf's 

character takes Mia Wasikowska's character to a grove filled with 

kudzu vines?  I think I found it.  Also, isn't our town's courthouse pretty?

Pretty shots from Douthat State Park during Breeze's wedding wekeend.

Attending the Wine Festival and diving into the best book I have read

in a while (although I pretty much had to sleep with the lights on).

Makeup for my 10 year high school reunion.

My first entry for the #busygirlnails fall challenge.  The theme

was Antique Gold.  This is Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in Spark in the Dark.

A few shots from High Point Market - the copper fire kettle is from a 

showroom that we pass on the way to Mr. Q's company each year.

The "Hotel du Palais" sign was my favorite new intro.  The letters

are embossed into the canvass, and of course I love anything French.

I loved the emerald green finish on this console in Mr. Q's company's

showroom at High Point Market.  There's so much inspiration there!

the mystery marriage book...

Aside from chatty "do you and your husband have big plans for your anniversary?" questions at the dentist, I expected our first wedding anniversary to pass relatively unnoticed by our community.  Then a mysterious package from something called Family Business Services with a Gastonia, NC address arrived on our doorstep (it wouldn't fit in the mail slot) and inside was a book entitled "To Have and To Hold: A Newlywed Keepsake."

Inside was a letter with several local businesses listed in the margin - an insurance agency, a funeral service, a flower shop, and the local Holiday Inn.  None of which we've ever had any dealings with.  The letter began "congratulations from your hometown friends," said some things about "the institution of marriage" and ended "we send our prayers and best wishes for a strong and ever renewed married life!"  Mr. Q and I were confused:  if this was a wedding gift, it was very late.  If it was an anniversary gift, that was kind of strange - how did these businesses know it was our anniversary.

The first few pages are things like a marriage announcement and family tree followed by various definitions of committed love.  We were still confused about what the point of it all was...

A-ha!  Hello there, Jesus!  The next pages of the book are a summary of the Gospels with pretty illustrations that remind me of the condensed New Testament my mother used to teach me about Jesus when I was a small child.  Apparently Family Business Services and those local businesses want us to know about Jesus.  Mr. Q put a photo of the book and a "what is this?" status on Facebook and some local friends said they also received one close to their first wedding anniversary.  According to the Family Business Services website, "in our sponsorship marketing method we offer to newlyweds and anniversary couples, whose names we have retrieved from the local newspaper, a beautiful hardbound book reflective of the Judeo Christian values upon which our nation was built."  The mystery of the marriage book is solved.  It's kind of strange, but I kind of like it.