Last weekend.

Last weekend, I went to Sweetwater Park deep in Oviedo. I didn't even know it existed until I drove by it one day on my way home from the library. I decided to go last Saturday and took some pics. Thought I'd share (as always: click to enlarge). 

There's a boardwalk, which is pretty much the only thing (apart from a tennis court) the park has.

 

 Lots of creepy-crawlies! My Mom touched the snail and I almost puked. Spiders? No big deal. But LOOK AT THIS HORRIFYING ALIEN SNAIL! What is wrong with it's head?? And why was its shell translucent?? These things were crawling all over the railings of the boardwalk. Almost fainted.

Salamanders I don't mind, though (is it true they're fireproof?).

Squirrel defying the laws of gravity.

 

Some fungus growing on a log.

 

Artwork courtesy of the local Oviedo branch of Satanists. GOD LOVE 'EM.

Overall it was...hot. And swampy. And I'm not sure why it's called "Sweetwater" because there wasn't any water at all.

I think I love Oviedo a lot more in my head than in actuality. I imagine it being this little quaint town with neat little parks and nature spots and it's really just a little creepy. As my Mom astutely pointed out, "There are probably homeless people living under the boardwalk." 

Yeah, that and the morbid chickens who hang out at the Popeye's.

My Mom and I also made Sherman a new cage (and when I say that, I mean my Mom designed it and I was an assistant). He'd eaten through his old one pretty badly in some places, so we got some coroplast (the stuff they make signs out of) and the wire shelving you can get at office stores and designed him some new digs. 

 We even gave him a built-in hay trough!

He didn't want to come out of his igloo for a picture, but I think he likes it.

Anyway, that's what I did last weekend. And I finished a couple of books. I'm due for some book reviews on here. Not sure what I'm gonna do this weekend. I just know I'm SO GLAD it's almost here! 

If you haven't watched Downton Abbey: YOU SHOULD!

The inventor of the Weekend should be kissed and canonized.

Baby, you can drive my car.

Today, I experienced what could be called my first major vehicular breakdown. Which, considering the car's seven years old and I've had it for five, isn't too shabby, I don't think.

I was on my way to work today when all of a sudden the "Check Engine" light came on and with it, the car started decelerating. And it wouldn't pick back up. Which wouldn't have been half so terrifying if I hadn't been on the highway. So I put on my emergency flashers and pulled onto the median (which LUCKILY, there was one). I restarted the car and managed to get it to go, so I took it to a nearby mechanic, but they didn't want to fix it and sent me to a Chrysler dealership. NICE. 

So anyway, my Mom came and rescued me and very graciously allowed me to take her car to work (I was only two hours late, no big, right?) and she waited with my car. They told her what was wrong, and she told me, but I am the Village Idiot when it comes to cars (and mechanics/technology in general). My reaction is usually something like this:

Or, God forbid, if I try to partake in the conversation, it's more like:

 

Basically what I got out of it was this: there were major parts of my engine that were broken and needed replacing. My brake fluid was leaking something fierce, all my fluids were low, my valves were absolutely clogged, and something else that pretty terrible but I cannot recall what. The mechanics said it was a good thing the car started slowing down on its own or else the engine might've fallen out on the road. 

THAT CAN HAPPEN?!?

Anyway, it's gonna cost a pretty penny to fix, but here's the deal. In a panic this morning, I started looking at cars on Craigslist that were in my (very meager) budget, and almost all of them were from the 90's and over 100,000 miles. Mine has 65,000. So at this point, it's not logical for me to spend more money on a piece of crap when I have a decent car that I can still fix. 

However, I do know that the car will continue to have problems as it gets older and ultimately, I'll need a new one. I'm just glad that day wasn't today. 

"But where our hearts truly lie is in peace and quiet and good, tilled earth. For all hobbits share a love for things that grow."

I'm not sure why, but I'm being so inspired by greenhouses/conservatories lately. There's something so gothic/Victorian/tranquil about them. I'm dying for one. I'd love a place like that to come to at the end of the day and get my hands wrist deep in soil. I imagine it smelling heavenly--like potting soil, hose water, herbs, chlorophyll and whatever flowers might be blossoming. I'd love to just come home, kick off my shoes, pull some weeds and plant something, then kick back in my warm conservatory with a good book and just breathe in all that richly oxygenated air. 

I'd have to wash my hands between dirt and book though. You can't messy up books. YOU JUST CAN'T. 

My actual life is going well. I'm falling into a routine, which is good. I felt like a fish trying to swim in a current that was too strong for her for a while there. I'm getting more used to the pace and the way things are now. Which makes me content. 

I just wish I had the opportunity take a vacation. I haven't got any time that'd be convenient, though. I also don't exactly have the funds, either.

So I'm going to mentally vacay in my greenhouse. :)

I found out this past week that Chick-Fil-A uses DAIRY in their chicken.

(Quick recap: for those of you who don't know, I have a milk allergy. It's different from lactose-intolerance, but the gist is those milk pills--Lactaid, or whatever--don't work. Also, if you didn't know, I consider Chick-Fil-A to be a major food group.)

My reaction:

 

 

 

 

So in, short:

I'm in the process of trying to find a new place to get my chicken fix. Any suggestions?

In other news, I went with a co-worker to the Morse Museum in Winter Park. That's the one with all the Tiffany stuff. It's so amazing, I highly recommend it. But they added a new wing with items collected from Tiffany's Long Island home, and I just needed to share a picture of the beautiful living room.

 

Photo credit.

It's so lovely. I adore the indoor plants and the hanging lamps (which they have on display and are infinitely more breathtaking in person). This is such an inspiring room. It'd be a fantastic place to come and breathe, unwind, and create something.

"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden."

"One of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever. One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands alone and throws one's head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the East almost makes one cry out and one's heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun--which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. One knows it then for a moment or so. And one knows it sometimes when one stands by oneself in a wood at sunset and the mysterious deep gold stillness slanting through and under the branches seems to be saying slowly again and again something one cannot quite hear, however much one tries. Then sometimes the immense quiet of the dark blue at night with millions of stars waiting and watching makes one sure; and sometimes a sound of far-off music makes it true; and sometimes a look in some one's eyes."

-Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Just finished this book for the second time. It's such a beautiful story, and goes far deeper than just "a little girl discovers a secret garden." It's a story of health, redemption, new life, and the powers of positivity and nature. So good...I can't recommend it enough.

 

Sometimes, I entertain a really sordid fantasy in which I get stuck in the elevator at work (even though I almost always take the stairs). And, of course, this fantasy means I'm there alone. And I get to curl up and take a nap for like an hour and a half while waiting to be rescued, which means I get to sleep ON THE CLOCK.

(Clearly, my fantasy life could use some spicing up.)

Oh, life, it's bigger than you and you are not me.

Tonight's one of those nights where I fully intend to overdose. On R.E.M. To the point of having Michael Stipe poisoning in my system. 

So how is my life, you might ask?

   

Dull. Very dull, which is why I haven't blogged a lot lately. I keep meaning to do it more. And I've come really close to posting an "I'm taking an indefinite hiatus from blogging post" but I can't bring myself to do it. I always think of like 12 consecutive posts right after I contemplate stopping. So I'm going to keep going. At a very glacial pace. That's okay though. I'd rather make fewer posts with stuff people might actually care to read about as opposed to a lot of fluff.

Work is okay. It's very time-consuming, this "adulthood" business. And it leaves very little scope for the imagination. However, it's merely a stepping-stone on the way (to wherever it is I'm going), which is why I took the job in the first place. 

Everyone says (and by "everyone" I mean self-actualized 19 year olds and self-help gurus) that in order to be happy you have to do something fulfilling, something that you're passionate about every day. Here's my problem: I have no idea what fulfills me or what I'm passionate about.

Things I Might Be Passionate About:

-animals

-reading

-Sherlock Holmes

-Harry Potter

-Halloween

-intense, fictional romances with characters who never existed

-gif files

-cake

-Conan O'Brien

That's really about it. And I doubt I can make a career out of decorating for Halloween, eating cake, cuddling puppies and watching Conan while posting copious amounts of gif's. But it sure would be nice! Anyway, I have a huge list of things I know I don't want to do with my life. Just none on the other side of the column. I'll figure it out one day, I'm sure. Probably I'll just fall into doing it and wake up one day realizing that I love what I'm doing.

Despite all that, I do really, sincerely feel that I'm where I need to be at this point in my life. So I'm just trying not to whine too terribly much and go along for the ride. 

Sorry for the lack of consistent/interesting posts, and thank you so much to everyone who still reads!