1. I recently discovered a weblog I now really love, by Mimi Smartypants. I’ve gone through tons of her archives in one sitting already, the same way I did with Out of Character. If you are even here reading my weblog at all, do yourself a favor and follow those links for real entertainment.

2. Just now, I tried typing entertainment as “intertainment” but I caught myself before it was too late and the word was finished. (It’s a small joy.)

3. I haven’t done much illustration work for about a month now, but I had an awesome idea for a drawing yesterday that still sounds good today.

4. The weather here on the peninsula is hotter than it was in the mountains (you mean it’s possible?), but I’m not having too hard of a time adjusting. And by adjusting I do actually mean I’ve gone outside.

5. All of the boxes are unpacked that we’re going to unpack. (You should see our hall closet.)

I just bought the creepiest looking plant, called a Splitrock:

It’s a member of the Argyroderma species from South Africa. In winter it’s supposed to flower, producing a silky daisy-like bloom that’s usually either purple or yellow. Cool and totally strange, right? I picked the smallest one of the bunch because the other, larger ones with more leaf segments (like these) sorta scare me.

Another week has passed! Oh my.

1. Chicken burritos.

2. Fruit for breakfast (watermelon; grapefruit; berries) followed by a grain of some sort (waffle; cereal). Keeps you regular.

3. Chris and I have been settling into our new apartment, slowly but surely. He’s the kind of guy who’ll leave a place in better condition than he found it, and has been fixing every tiny problem he can get his hands on. I can’t wait to see what he’ll do with a house.

4. It began as an accident, but it seems that turquoise & yellow will be the new color scheme of our bedroom.

5. Every summer I go through a phase where I want to be tan. I’m very pale, but I do have skin that has the ability to tan. I just don’t usually let it, so it burns if it gets too much sun too quickly. We’ve gone to the beach a couple times already since moving here, but I can’t not be careful with the sunscreen after having received all sorts of sunburns in high school. So, I’ve been trying sunless tanners to speed up the process. Last year I used Aveeno’s brand, which I still have some of, and this year, I’m using Nature’s Gate. I discovered their line of self-tanners when I was looking for something else entirely… and it was on a huge sale… and that is the story of everything. So far, I like it. I’m darker after one application, and that’s actually all I need to be satisfied. Soon enough I’ll want to be pale again.

Wow, I can’t believe it’s already been a week since my last Small Things list. Usually I try to squeeze in at least one regular update between lists, but moving and being generally boring have made updating difficult! Soon I’m sure I’ll have new adventures to write about.

Anyway, here’s the list:

1. Living in Virginia. Chris and I like it so far!

2. Thinly sliced salami.

3. Choco Tacos.

4. Color-coordinated Goodwills.

5. This joke.

1. North Carolinian barbecue traditions. There are two main kinds; both I like.

2. Hungarian folk costumes.

3. Showdog haircuts.

4. Cheddar cheese cubes.

5. Mistakes in TV news broadcasts. I know the stories and graphics have been created in a hurry, so I don’t like the mistakes specifically. I just like thinking about how people are actually out there, piecing together the news so quickly.

One tick bite.

Four mosquito bites.

Nine flea(?) bites.

And one blister.

1. A bunch of people gathered at Watauga Lake last week to celebrate my best gal pal’s birthday, and it was so fun and beautiful that I didn’t even get mad when somebody’s dog tried to pee on the belongings I’d left (so carelessly) on the ground.

2. While we were there at the lake, some guy referred to John Mellencamp as John Menstrual-cramp, a phrase that ended up turning our conversation into a strange game of Telephone.

3. I’m excited to see fireworks this year, because this’ll be the last time we see them in our tiny town. It’s always an adventure to find out where to see fireworks where you live. We’ll be living at the beach next year for the Fourth, which already sounds super promising.

4. Chris and I have been watching episodes of Frasier for weeks now, and they are all more hilarious than I’d remembered. They’re all on YouTube, so they load super fast. Also on YouTube: Married With Children.

5. Now that I’ve packed up most of my belongings, I realize I’m not as much of a packrat as I used to be… and it feels great.