Fall in the south...lucky us

OK, minus the recent torrential seemingly never ending rain showers we've had since the great flood of September, this has been a lovely fall. Fall in the south is one of the most charming and exciting times to live down in heaven of the USA.

Three times a week I drag my dirty haired leftover smeared mascara self out of bed at about 6:00 am to head to Hollister Farms and feed the horses in the morning. You'd think, since I have been involved in equestrian activities since childhood, (read- 4am horse show departures and braiding manes with a flashlight in my mouth so we can get to the hunt on time and looking well turned-out) that I would be a morning person. Well... I'm not. I LONG to be a morning person but my body just runs itself off of this internal clock that prefers turning in at 2am and sleeping till 10. So, needless to say, I love getting to the barn in the mornings and watching the boys saunter over to the gate to greet me while the sky is still pink with fresh sunshine, but LORD, I just hope no one sees me when I'm out there because "hot mess" doesn't even describe it. I don't drink coffee so don't bother suggesting it and I have NO idea how my little VW drives itself to the barn because I an nowhere near conscious enough to get there by myself, but once I get there, the zen begins. Now back to fall in GA...

At 6:45 am, since our lovely time change, the sun shine is reaching it's little fingers through the pine trees and the morning dew on top of the metal barn roof is gathering for its morning slide down into the grass below. When I arrive, the boys greet me at the gate with expectant little nickers and the rhythmic dripping of the dew off the roof sets the rhythm for my hour there. There's still a nip in the air just chilly enough to make me look forward to warming my hands on the side of a blanketed horse and the smells of feed and hay and wet grass float across my face as I bring them in one by one to their stalls to eat breakfast. As the air warms and my breath quickens from scooping sweet smelling feed into buckets and walking the horses in, my favorite part of morning comes along to remind me why it is I am able to drag myself from between they warmth of my sleeping husband, a soft brown poodle, and a down comforter. As I listen to the boys swirl their lips in their buckets and contentedly munch their breakfast, I get to watch the sun come over the tree line. Often, just about this time, a pair of hawks become visible in the tree line next to the pasture and they sit there, feathers fluffed surveying their new day and possibly their next meal. Every once in a while, a few does or a big barn owl are still hanging out behind the barn and they see me and don't immediately make their way deeper into the woods, which makes me feel even happier to get a be a part of this morning. Between the wildlife and the horses and sun and the gusty little morning breezes, I appreciate this time of year and offer up a quick prayer thanking God for making a place like this.

Over the last few weeks, the grass has yellowed and the leaves have made the woods look bare and grey, save for an evergreen here and there, but there's something just as beautiful about this time of year as there is about the fresh greens of spring, which if you asked me in April, I would tell you is my favorite time of year. Now, as my muddy wellington boots crunch across the leaves and turn the boys out for a day in the pasture, I know that God gives us these seasons to renew our spirits with something new just as much as He does to prepare our earth for a season of dormancy. As I hop back in the car to rush off to Chem lab, I sigh as I prepare to fight the traffic between the barn and KSU and wish for a second that I could just enjoy the day with the horses and taking in the sights and sounds of what promises to be a lovely fall day, but somewhere in my thoughts, my other favorite parts of fall; football games, new jeans and boots and glasses of wine shared on cool porches make my 35 minute journey back to my more urban reality worth the trip. Getting to experience both sides of this season in one day makes me a lucky girl. I whisper another quick prayer to thank Him for the chance to do this three times a week, turn up my Sugarland cd and hope my hair gets to meet some shampoo before anyone makes eye contact with me.

archaelogical dig

So when did FOSSIL brand get so cute? I love so much stuff on their website right now from funky chunky jewelry to bags to my ultimate fav... the boots! I haven't paid attention to FOSSIL since shopping for watches for my BF in like... 9th grade? Silly me!

So here's the question, these boots are super cute but not super inexpensive. If I buy a pair, which ones am I going to still like next season? Do the flat ones with the ankle buckle (option A) make people question my sexual orientation with their masculine biker-ish look? Do the ones with the wider calf opening (option B) shorten the leg and make me look stumpy(er)? Help please. If you can't comment on this site- which lots of people seem to have trouble with will you send your vote to ellie4uga@gmail.com? Thanks!

Option A

Option B

See all the choices at www.fossil.com

Evidence...

So the crate training is working for Rylie Boo. Not so much for Doodle though- she's gets a little "Rain Man" on us when confined. Rylie took her duck into her house today and laid down all on her own- I was very proud! (Picture quality is terrible but I had to catch this with the wretched camera phone before she knew what I was doing and escaped.)

PS- the crate training is especially useful when trying to prevent drive-by "nickel lippings" - that ones for you J and D! :)

The City and High Battery Bluff

CAUTION- seriously cynical tirade and exploration of lifestyle ahead

So Ryan is out of town this weekend and I have been spending my Saturday night by watching a marathon of The City on OnDemand (the one GOOD thing about Comcast) and eating an unmentionable amount of brownie mix before I cooked it. Shut up- you've done it too.

Anyway, while watching perfect skinny girls galavant around with totally awesome/easy jobs and access to the best clothes and accessories on earth I was starting to feel really old, boring, and unfashionable. I was pretty sure I had the unfashionable part nailed since I was sitting on the couch wearing the riding pants I've had on all day with black and white polka dotted tall socks under my Uggs along with an absolutely ANCIENT brown North Face Denali and a bra that could contain a herd of wild elephants. But I was thinking to myself... "I totally have the same if not better taste in fashion than these chicks and they are practically dictating what's "in" for the seasons to come!" This made me feel a little better about myself. Also, I pretty much think I could do their jobs on any given day and I have no "training" in fashion. Maybe I am overestimating my taste, or maybe they are making something really trivial seem harder than it is. Now, I wouldnt for one minute trade my life out here in the burbs with those chicks but watching that show does make me miss going out, shopping- which only happens in my dreams now, and dressing in things other than riding clothes and "nanny wear" i.e. workout pants and jeans. I wonder though if sometimes those girls feel like their lives are just plain awesome or a little "emtpy". Even though they look so cute all the time and are pretty much surrounded by cute boys wooing them every day, I think I would tire of that lifestyle- but probably not the paycheck.

Do they know what its like to look foward to coming home at night and snuggling with their doggie? Do they know what they are missing on a beautiful Saturday afternoon spent outside on a horse with friends? Am I the only one who thinks thats fun? I think I am at a point in my life where my priorities are changing. I seem to bounce back and forth between two worlds where reading fashion magazine and blogs about fashion and thinking that I need to pay attention to all that and then the other world where some days I think it all seems really superficial and unimportant and I realize that I am the same person in jeans and a t-shirt as I am in TIBI.

I also tire of the constant need of my generation to feel cool by (Disclaimer: if you eat at chain restaurants- stop reading now) driving all the way to midtown/highlands to eat at some crappy place like Cheesecake Factory or Dantes Down the Hatch when I can get actual good and healthy food at a REAL restuaurant that is not delivered by a Sysco truck. I am, totally admittedly, a major food snob because my bro is a fantabulous chef and both sides of my family are pretty much foodies but REALLY- why would anyone actually want to gather at a place like, "gag noise", Olive Garden, Shout, or Panera. It just kills me when people that I enjoy being friends with want to meet at places like this. I really do want to hang out, I just can't go to places like this. I used to miss social gatherings all the time in Athens because people always wanted to go to Jason's Deli. OMG I can't imagine anywhere more frightnening- except for an unnamed place that serves chicken and waffles together. Enough about my restuarant phobias, back to The City... those girls do seem to have good taste in restaurants and date spots- which also makes me want to go back to NYC to visit or spend more time in ATL proper at our plethora of great boutique restaurants but then again sometimes I feel like I should grab some fresh produce from the market and cook something wholesome at home with Ryan and friends and not be such a "consumer" all the time.

Bottom line is, as I travel what seems like so very quickly through my twenties and inhabit this cute little house sitting on the edge of a big fabulous city and a some beautiful Georgia countryside, I cant decide whether I want to wear great clothes and jewelry and wait eagerly to see what Michael Kors has for us this season, or just throw on my jeans and wellington boots and enjoy the sunrise when I feed the horses and then go home and pick some fresh basil to put on my homegrown tomato slices and be excited to see a goldfinch sitting on my birdfeeder. Can I just do both? Honestly, I do want to do both. Do I have to decide who to be when I grow up yet? For now, I'm just a granola city girl I guess.