preparation and procrastination.

that title made me think of a game my sister-in-law suggested we play on a somewhat-awkward road trip home from a right-before-christmas and right-before-my-brother-asked-her-to-marry-him visit to the biltmore estate... the three of us were crammed in the back of the rental car with my parents up front, it was getting somewhat late, and we were all a little car-punchy. so she suggests this game where you take turns thinking up words that end in -ation, going around one by one, until someone can't think of anymore and they're out. then the others go on until there are only two people left to battle it out. well, instead of taking turns, my family of course just starts blurting out any and all we can think of all at the same time... naturally proud of how clever we are at each chance to display our vast vocabularies (we are grammar nerds. all of us. i write this blog in all lowercase letters to try to break the obsessive cycle). well you can imagine that went well until two of us (no names here) shouted out "menstruation" and "masturbation" at the same time.

it's a good thing she married him, or else we'd have to kill her to keep her from telling the crazy stories.

yes, random. i did have grand illusions this week of making a huge update to the shop, but life has thrown us some unwelcome curve balls recently in the form of some serious family illnesses. plus, looking for jobs and preparing for our two trips... we leave for the wedding (yay!) then come home with two days to unpack and repack and then leave for our week long anniversary trip (yay!). we're celebrating three years in style... six days in paris with a hotel just a quarter of a mile from the eiffel tower. even though we've both been there before, the list keeps getting longer of the things we want to do and see (and the budget shorter and shorter!) but i'm looking forward to a baguette from the patisserie and a cheap bottle of wine for two as we walk the city. just a chance to breathe and hang out with my best friend again will be good too.

on that note, i also plan to eat my body weight in pain au chocolat and worry later whether or not all the walking from gorgeous sight to gorgeous sight burned it all off.

in the meantime the shop is still open! drop on by, and if you see something you can't live without, it will be mailed out the minute i'm back from the trip.