Walking The Beach at Sunset

Tonight is Mom's last night in Chuck, so we decided to take an evening beach walk with Jasper.  Here are a few of the better pictures I captured.  They have been slightly* edited--meaning, I brightened, saturated, and added some color.  Otherwise, the shot is all natural. Enjoy! Cool sunsets in Chuck are the best!

Pier against the sunset

Jasper and I walking the beach--Mom actually took this one.

Pier

Pier with an orange sunset glow

Take Time to Park

Today was another beautiful day in Chuck, and since I had to stay downtown today for my meeting at 7, I decided to go somewhere nice to get some work done.  God knows there is no time in the life of a grad student to have fun, so you have to squeeze it in with work in order to have it.  I usually go to the library on these days when I have to stay downtown; however, the library is such a dreary place to do work on such a beautiful day.

I am still somewhat unfamiliar with the downtown area, although I am getting much better! Since I had a small amount of time between my class and work fun, I decided to just drive around until I found the place I was looking for.  I drove straight down East Bay towards Rainbow Row and ended up in the nice park down by the waterway (name any one?!).  I have been to this little waterway park before while on vacation, but never to spend some much needed reading and relaxation time.  The experience was very liberating.  The weather was absolutely perfect today...a nice warm high of 77 and not a cloud in the sky. 

I parked myself under a billowing palmetto and sat down on natures plushy green carpet, enveloped myself in the warm, yellow, blanket of the sun, and took out my book and read for well over an hour. The park was so quiet and peaceful that I swear I could have just slept there. I took some pictures of the scenery with my cell phone to share.  Enjoy my little piece of today's heaven!

The waterway view

View from my comfy reading spot

Jasper's First Trip to the Beach

Today was such a beautiful day in Chuck with a mild, cool, sunny, temperature in the high 60s.  I had spent most of the day inside reading and catching up on work, when my friend Ashley asked me to join her on a walk.  Since it was so pretty I thought it would be nice to walk on the beach since I can count on one hand how many times I have been to the beach since I moved here.

I am so glad we did because we found so many beach treasures tonight! I even picked up a conch shell! This also happened to be little Jasper's first time seeing the beach, and he loved it! He didn't like the water so much, but he did like trying to chase the seagulls.  He wanted very much to be taken off the leash so he could run around.  I would have, but it made me a little nervous to do so.  At any rate, here are some of the pictures from our little adventure today.  Enjoy!

Jasper and I on the beach.

Starfish that had washed up on the shore.

One of several Horseshoe Crabs we saw lying on the beach.

 

 

Blue Crab that had washed up on shore.

Sauce Box

Surprise, surprise! It's 2am and here I am blogging again! I do believe that my most productive hour is after midnight.  That could prove scary later on.  I have been trying really hard to get my sleeping/waking schedule back to normality but it has proven really difficult.  Most nights I am up late due to the fact that I have several pages of a novel left...fun stuff!

Speaking of the glorious novel, the time for producing written work has arisen...da da da duhhhhmmm...I am going to say then that my reason for being awake at this hour is due to the fact that I am researching paper topics (take that how you may hehe).  At any rate, we have just finished reading a really fun (now some of my fellow grad peeps will disagree with me here, that's ok) novel called Pamela, by: Samuel Richardson.  What a "saucy" little text this has proven to be!

Before I go on, I really must go off on a bunny trail, as they say, for a moment.  So, The class that I read this book in is called, "The 18th Century British Novel." Now, you must admit that the mere title of this class sounds boring, dreary, lackluster, treacherous and any other exciting adjective you can come up with to describe a monotonous situation.  But, surprise! It's not! This class is flipping awesome! Given, the splendor of this class is largely credited to the wonderful professor, Dr. Strong. 

So, after having added and/or dropped this class at least three times, I found myself grudgingly deciding to stay in it and get it over with. Well, needless to say, this class has proven to be an intriguing class studying a period that I thought I would never enjoy and am now thinking of concentrating in if I go the PHD route.

Ok, so I am sure you are waiting for me to get back to this intriguing Pamela.  Alright so here it is in a nutshell (remember, this is 18th Century England).  Pamela is a beautiful 15 year old servant in a rich, soon to be Lord's, home.  This Lord, Mr. B, is by all accounts (and we only get a few thanks to Pamy's first person journal scribbles) a handsome 23ish year old man.  Ok, so here is where it gets fun.  Mr. B tries to rape Pamela at least twice, then tries to buy her with massive amounts of money and materialism and then at the last minuet decides he loves her.  All the while, Pamela is fighting off Mr. B's near rape attempts as she sits around witting massive amounts of texts from whence we get our story. 

But wait, it gets better! Mr. B turns out to be a creeper and on more than one occasion stalks out in Pamela's closet to spy on her.  At one point good ole' B even dresses up as a fellow servant to try and get into bed with Pammy. To top it off, Creeper B isn't satisfied in spying on Pamy, he has to read every single piece of text she has written. But, despite B's creepiness, Pamy soon falls in love with him and guess what? Yup, they get married...yay....Happy Ever After.......

What a weird, but exciting text! And you thought that weird plots like this only existed in modern novels...tisk tisk.  Leave it to the British to supply us with ample amounts of creepy, bizarre, stories.  So you are probably wondering what the point of this post is.  Well, I don't know haha.  I think it is just a rambling post! No, ok, really.  The point, if there has to be one should be this: To use a ridiculous cliche, "never pick a book by its cover."  I should not have discredited this amazing class on the mere title of it.  Otherwise, I never would have met Pamela.

Well, I do believe I have rambled on enough now.  I have given you an interesting, or boring post (depending on how you read this) and I even provided you with a morale...awwwww, how sweet of me.

Night Folks!

Glamour Pup

I absolutely love my sweet, sweet, puppy, Jasper, or like I call him many times, JJ (short for Jasper Jack--his first name was Jack.)  Jasper joined my chaotic, fun-filled life last January after I adopted him from a pet shelter in Asheville, North Carolina.  Since day one, Jasper has been spoiled and has become one of my favorite photography subjects.  He is such a sweet boy, and he absolutely eats up the camera attention! I spent a small amount of my time today taking some pictures of him and here are the results! 

Old English Must Die!

Ok, so it's 2am.  Really? Have I been working on Old English this long? Yes, yes I have.Welcome to life in Grad school.  Wait...life? No, no--hahaha, life is non-existent in grad school! I forgot! Possibly because I have not had time to think about the lack of time I have.  And see, now it has come to writing blogs at 2am because of the lack of time.

I never imagined that grad school would and could take so much of ones life.  I have had time to think of nothing other than my classes.  If a boyfriend were something I found interest in at this stage of the game, he would be an upset fellow because he would get none of my attention.  I have love affairs with my books. Yes, every night we cuddle up together, and get intimate as I delve into the delicate words and pages bound between leather.  

Literature is such an amazing thing.  Through stories, ranging from any and all periods of life, we, the reader can step inside and become a part of a story that we are already a part of, even if it is subconsciously.  Stories live throughout time, and no matter what story we step into, we can find our hearts and souls in that story. 
 Maybe this is why I get sad when I finish a book.  It is almost like a death--ok, so I don't really get that emotional, but sad, yes.

As a reader, I become so involved in the lives and stories I enter through the words on the white pages that are locked within a cover, that when those words cease, the life created in those words, pages, and depths of my inner being cease too.  A part of me, that I have given over to the book, ends with the last word of the book.  And this, I suppose friends, is why I love literature.  After all, I have committed myself to this lifeless life for the next two, maybe more, years in order to obtain an advanced degree in literature. Yikes!

On the cheery side, Chuck is amazing.  When I do have seconds of free time I enjoy getting to spend it in one of the greatest (in my humble opinion) cities in the United States.  So far, I have been to the beach a grand total of two times and it is only ten minuets from my house. Let's see--I have been to the pool approximately five to six times, and only because it is within walking distance to me.  And last, but not least, the downtown sector of Chuck gets my visitations (and dollars) weekly.

All in all, I wouldn't change a thing about life right now.  I have been blessed beyond measure and I hope to live up to, and beyond the expectations of this blessing. 

Until Next Time,

Peace/Love!

The Tides are High...and I Am Not a Duck.

I have arrived in Charleston, SC safely and have been spending the past two days cramming my brain with grad school information whilst trying to move into my new apartment.  Quite exciting stuff; however, overwhelming just the same!

I left Franklin, NC Thursday morning in oceans of tears, sad about leaving behind family, good friends, and even their pets.  Needless to say, the drive to Charleston was full of many mixed emotions.  Excited to be on a new adventure, yet sad to say goodbye to adventures and journeys that had finished.

By the time I made my final arrival into Charleston that evening I was exhausted.  I was spent, emotionally, physically, and otherwise sick from having torn myself away from all that I had ever known.  As I finally rested my head against my pillow in the La Quinta Inn, my mind raced around fears of becoming a failure in grad school, taking on too many huge school loans, and worst, making the biggest mistake of my life by leaving home. 

The next day brought some needed relief as I stepped into a salty, hot breeze; a hot cup of coffee in my hand and a sunken excitement about meeting new friends in my grad program.  I arrived on College of Charleston campus promptly one hour and half prior to the Graduate English Association orientation...just enough to kill some time in the sweltering, bug infested heat of Charleston, South Carolina. 

Orientation came and went without fail, and I found that all of the people in my program were extremely nice and that maybe, just maybe I could conquer this whole grad school thing--if I could just forget the fact that each class requires a novel per week and 25 page papers at the end of the semester.

Just as orientation was coming to a close, a steady rainfall commenced itself upon us.  Fantastic.  I had planned to carry my umbrella along in the event that a rain would come along.  After all, this is the beach and the rain comes all the time.  However, I had forgotten, as had my fellow classmates.

 So, since everyone had come unprepared, like good grad students do, we decided to sit and chat for a while.  It was then that someone mentioned the heavy flooding Charleston sometimes encounters during rainstorms.  It was pointed out that these "chance" floodings are particularly exciting during the high tide.  High tide? What is that? You mean I am going to have to chart tides now so that I can plan my commute to school? Fantastic.  Us mountain folk aren't familiar with "road closed due to flooding during high tide." Now, "No School because of Snow," we get. 

At any rate, the rain didn't seem bad, so we all left and went our own ways.  Only until I got out in my little car and started going down the equally small streets did I realize, "holy crap, these people weren't kidding!" The SUV in front of me plowed down a small side street with water up over his tires and I gracefully swerved in the opposite direction of that road, neglecting Tom's  feudal warnings for me to go right on George.

It was then that I thought, "ahhhh, to be a duck and just waddle through all this into safety would be grand about now."  But then it occured to me, ducks don't take the time to play and enjoy the flood.  They just waddle out into a safe haven as they try to get out of the way of everyone else.  Who knows? They might be missing out on some grand swimming time during high tide flooding.  So maybe I want to be a shark.  Yeah, a shark would be great.  Sharks enjoy the ride and embrace the high tide.  They hang on when unexpected flooding occurs and they swim right through it, and even love it. 

So, after all this, I think Charleston is going to be grand.  High tide flooding and all!

Junk in tha Trunk...

In less than 48 short hours I will be laying, hopefully sleeping, in my soft cozy bed in Charleston, South Carolina.  Ahhhh, bliss.  It is incredibly insane thinking that in such a short time my dream of living at the beach will finally become a reality. 

While the dream is becoming a reality, let me tell you, moving is probably located somewhere near the seventh or eighth circle of Hell according to Dante's "Inferno" descriptions.  Oh my goodness, who knew I had so much crap?! Further more, how am I going to make it all fit nicely into my new, one-bedroom apartment.  Story and details to come later on this one...

As I am a huge advocate of recycle, reuse, and bargain, I have been trying to turn trash into treasures and find any possible way to cut financial corners in this expensive move. As it would turn out I have come up with some very thrifty, yet amazingly gorgeous furniture! (again, pictures coming soon...) I feel like I could go on one of those thrifty, interior designer shows. 

Aside from the furniture and the hellacious duty of moving, I must say that I am crazy-excited about this move.  I have always been a fan of new adventures and I can't wait to find out where God leads me on this one.  I was lead to Charleston, SC when an unexpected acceptance to the College of Charleston 's English Graduate program landed its way into my mailbox.  I didn't think I would get in, let alone be able to finance it.  Fortunately, for me, what I think has no bearing on my life as God definitely had some amazing plans in store for my Fall 2010. 

So here we go; let the countdown begin! Jasper and I are off on a new life adventure!

Givin' In

So, after much contemplation and putting off, I have decided to create one of these infamous blogging sites.  You know, I swore that I would never do it! I love writing and telling stories, but the idea of keeping up with a blog always kind of bored me.  For one thing, I do not really have much time to keep up with this kind of thing.  I can tell you now that posts will be few and far between! Kudos to you for keeping up with me!

Ahh, Alas, the writer in me has won out and here I am writing my first blog....yay.  At any rate I hope this will not only provide a way for me to inform and entertain you, but for me to have an escape from the everyday world.  So sit back, relax, and enjoy the adventures of Danie and Jasper! Thanks for reading!