[The taste of summer: a spinach and berry salad, taken May 2012.]

My lovely friends Jenna, Melissa, and Whitney are just an hour away, and when they get here, we are going to have this amazing weekend that we have been planning for months! We'll be at the lake until Sunday, and then we're swinging by Para in Charlottesville for some of those pistachio milk lattes that I can't stop talking about on our way to Blogger Blitz DC!

Lots of cocktails, good food, pool and lake time are on the itinerary, as well as a tour around all my favorite Roanoke spots. I feel like they're all some college boyfriend coming to meet my family for the first time--I'm so excited to introduce them to everyone and show them around!

Talk to you later! Anyone else going to be at Blogger Blitz on Sunday?

The internet at the lake isn't exactly the most advanced. I've been feeling a bit disconnected, which used to stress me out, but I have to tell you, when you're where I am right now, it's really not too bad. Some days I only turn my computer on to chat with Rob or work on my paper, and that's fine with me.

Here's some of what I've been up to lately:

1. Iced coffee and reading at Mill Mountain.

2. Trying to make water more fun by adding fruit and herbs to it.

3. Self-portraits? Sure!

4. More reading. This book ended up being unhelpful but is so lovely.

5. Hanging out by the pool.

6. Afternoon espresso. Love those baby cups.

I've also been working my ass off at CrossFit this week, but you don't get a picture of that because it happens early in the morning and then I get really sweaty.

You can follow along on Instagram if you want! My username is @megan_flynn.

I came across five or six of these little old soup cans situated on a table on our back porch the other day and I've found myself mindlessly visiting, touching, and photographing them ever since. The plants are small and soft, the cans tall and slim, but rusted and much older. 

There's something about them that I like--maybe it's their size, but there's something resilient about them and the way they are sprouting up even though we sometimes over-water them and then leave them out all day in the blazing Virginia heat.

Rosemary, parsley, basil, oregano, some peppers, and thyme.

Plants simply growing where they are planted is not nearly a work of magic, I know, but it's little tiny things like this that make me stop and feel thankful to be part of this world. To feel the sun beat down on me, to walk barefoot in the grass. To appreciate the texture and color of an old can. To find hope in tiny roots and warm, wet soil--little pots of potential.