When a list is just the easiest thing to do

I am a list writer, and this week has been filled with lists of things to do, groceries to buy, finals to study for, professors to suck up too, and pretty much all lists I would rather tear up and put through a paper shredder than actually attempt to accomplish. 

and between all that list writing (which I know is going to get worse before it gets better, a week and half left!) I just wanted to write a list on my blog. This blog is kind of already in list form, lists of happy things, ya know? 

but this is different, this will be put in a different list genre. This is a list of me.

1. It may seem like I use the word love too much, but I would NEVER ever say it without meaning it.

2. I LOVE anything that's in baby size. 

i.e. baby Dairy Queen blizzards, baby animals, just anything that is smaller than its normal size

3. WILLIAM AND KATE ARE GETTING MARRIED! big. WHOOP.

4. I love adrenaline. I'm not a meat head or obsessed with lifting weights, I just love to exert my body and push the limits. Rowing was good at letting me do that.

5. I miss year round swimming, not only for the great workout, but because in a pool there are no distractions and you don't need music. 

6. My bike is my pride and joy. The. End.

7. I find a lot of solace in drawing and painting.

8. I laugh a lot, but it sometimes seems like I am laughing harder than I should. Its usually not because of what someone said but what I pictured in my head when they said it.

9. I am talking myself into attempting to deep clean my closet this summer. Never wearing something I HAD to have has GOT to stop. 

10. Breakfast food is better than any other type of food.

11. I don't miss meat.

12. I talk faster than I can produce words. 

13. I don't remember the last time I was genuinely angry.

14. I wish I could explain why I love scrabble so much, but I can't. It must be a complex.

15. I love knowing people, and by that I mean really knowing them. Life is all about the relationships you have with people, and I live for that.

16. I wish I could quote the literary classics like it was part of my vocabulary. 

17. There is nothing I want more in life than to run through a lavender field in southern France, or sit by an open bay window with tea and a book in Italy and listen to the people speaking Italian on the streets below.

18. I drink black coffee like its water. I am working on getting off of that.

19. I reference Harry Potter more than necessary. 

20. I use to never remember my dreams, until just recently. Now I dream 50 crazy things a night. Someone wanna tell me what's going on in this brain of mine?

21. I don't allow myself to stress or get nervous. It just makes whatever I am stressing or nervous about that much worse. 

22. I said "aminal" until I was about 7 years old. There are much more confusing words out there, so I don't get why that one was so hard for me to get a grasp on.

Make a list for yourself, of things that aren't screaming at you to get them done in a timely manner. Just one you can look over and happily reflect on. 

Cuteroulette WILL rule the world

I have an obsession with baby animals.

Mostly bunnies.

...but pretty much anything in baby size.

Two Christmas's ago one of my best friends, Julie, who knew how much I loved baby animals and how they make be squeal, gave me a 400 page coffee table book titled Baby Animals.

Needless to say, I look at it ALL. THE. TIME.

She really gives the best presents. 

Anywayssss...

a couple nights ago I received a text message from her that said "CUTEROULETTE.COM GO NOW!"

and I was on my way to sleepy town, so I just responded with gibberish and kind of forgot about it.

That is until I remembered today and decided to see why she HAD to text me in the middle of the night about something that probably resembled chatroulette (which definitely isn't worth ever getting on).

So I typed in www.cuteroulette.com and DEAR SWEET BABY JESUS. this website was meant for me.

I seriously squealed, awed, goshed, smiled til it hurt, and gawked at the cuteness of the wonderful baby animal videos that were at my finger tips. Instead of creepy rando's popping up on my screen like chatroulette, adorable baby animal videos popped up and when I was done watching one video I could click "Next Cuteness" and there would be another one! An endless supply of cutieness!

I will begin and end every day with at least two of these videos from now on.

Seriously, if you are a baby animal lover, or just have a heart at all, you HAVE to check it out.

okay, the end.

Here's some perfectness for your viewing pleasure : I am not sure who the original sources are...

Recharge Monday

Today was Recharge Monday.

Last week was crazy, many many hours were spent in la biblioteca and stress levels were high.

The Easter weekend was spent at home, but I was also on the go non stop seeing everyone, attending the lovely family functions, and even got to see a couple free shows.

Today was back to classes, some reading on front campus in the rocking chairs, a little coffee date with Stephanie, a run to the grocery store, a long walk with the Dyl-Meister, and some dollar tacos and beers with the boys (I just munched on some chips though).

There was a lot of much needed "me" time, which I was super thankful for.

Cause now I am ready to conquer my last two weeks in the Milly-vegas!

here are some of my weekend highlights:

{eating baby blizzards with Hannah in a no air conditioned car! Just what we needed!}

{picnic in the park and a free concert with these great people}

{Easter on Hilton Head with the Lovecasters}

{my sweet parents}

{spending time with these goobs}

{Muh boys from Kidsyc@brandywine tearin' it up at Savannah Urban Arts Festival Saturday night}


Make sure you allow yourself a recharge day soon too, it is totally worth it!
Hope your week is as pleasant as pie!

Kidsyc@brandywine is what's up.

Sorry for the crickets on here for the last couple of days, but its been a crazy weekend in Savannah and I have lots to talk about. Buuutttt until I have time to sit down and actually post something, here are these videos of my wonderful friends who headlined for the Savannah Urban Arts Festival tonight. Their name is Kidsyc@brandywine and they know how to get a crowd going, no doubt about it. If you are ever in Savannah, let me know and I can get their show schedule cause they are definitely worth seeing.

You can watch some videos of them right here!

and there is this one too!

more photos and junk on this later...

Happy Easter!!

The Lovecaster's

Since I was a freshman in high school, I have been given an abundance of nicknames. Mostly anything that could rhyme with Hannah was pretty popular in grade school, anyone who called me Hannah banana up until the 3rd grade was asking for a beat down at recess. When I got to Savannah Arts Academy though some new names were bestowed upon me. Such as, Hannahlan, Hanlan, Lanna, Lanny, etc. 

Hannahlan pretty much stuck and that's what a lot of people know me as now a days, until I revealed the most annoying nickname ever to my friends at college who I thought were mature enough to not find it as funny as my guy friends in high school...

Lancaster being my last name seems pretty normal, until someone is witty unclever enough to remove the Lan and replace it with any word you could ever imagine.

I have been called Broadcaster, Megaloudcaster, Bratcaster, Trickcaster, Gapcaster, Dumbcaster, Prettycaster...you name it, it's probably been tacked on to the front of the last 5 letters of my name, I promise you. All in good fun though.

Anyways...I received a text message from my dear friend, Leslie, tonight that said "Say hello to the Lovecaster's for me" and seriously I could not stop smiling.

Lovecasters.

That's exactly what we are!

Thanks for that Leslie, thanks for making me appreciate even the dumbest of nicknames. 

So tonight the fam and I went out to dinner and were, you know, just castin' some love!

(I promise I won't ever be that corny again...I don't know what came over me. We'll just let this one slide.)

Patrick and I stuck Sam and the parents in the backseat tonight, hehe

Me and the "men" like photo shoots in front of The Green Truck Pub.

We enjoy spending time together....promise....

Here's to spreading the love!

Rainy mood thoughts

By March 2012, the first year anniversary of this blog, I will have been blogging while living in three different places. That's pretty weird to think about...that's a lot of moving. 

A lot of decisions, some not as life changing as others. 

I don't think I could handle them all being life changing.

Milledgeville, Savannah, and Boone are all very different places though.

With different people, different landscapes, but all lovely none the less.

Good thing I like change.

and new people.

and new places.

and new thoughts and ideas.

and more than all those things I love learning.

and there will be lots of that going on.

So maybe all this moving won't be so bad after all, I am actually really looking forward to it!

and I desperately wish it was raining right now.

I really do have a lot of reasons to smile

New music for my ears to fall in love with

Catching up with good friends over brinner

Winning phone tag

Absolute silence. 

Remembering every day that my body carries me everywhere I need to go and then some

Knowing God provides.

Rainy day on the forecast for tomorrow

Maybe, possibly not hating studying

A moment of breathing in the middle of a hectic schedule

Hot apple cinnamon oatmeal with lavender 

A Nalgene full of water

Instead of practicing useless tasks that won't get me anywhere in life A.K.A. homework...

I skype my best boy, Wes...

and we create masterpieces, such as this...

school, shhmool.

My Saturday has consisted of...

eating this, in its entirety.

I had the help of Hannah and Leslie, of course.

Now we all have tummy aches and are going to watch Toy Story 3.

We college students sure do know how to spend our weekends. 

An excuse to bake? Yeah, maybe...

I like to make things, a lot. Food, cards, paintings, any DIY kind of thing is my kind of thing. So last night Leslie (Huckleberry Friend) and I decided to make some little all-natchuraalll dog biscuits for our favorite lil pup, Dylan.

Remember him?

and seriously, there is a website called all-natural-dog-treats.com 

(I wasn't kidding...they have so many dog biscuit options!)

umm....perfect, right? right.

Well since I am a herbivore, we made the Dyl-meister some oatmeal biscuits with parsley. and did you know parsley is a good breath freshener for dogs? I was unaware, but it just makes them so much better...for dogs that is. Trust me, Leslie and I weren't about to give away anything we hadn't tried ourselves...

hah.

but they turned out perfect and were incredibly easy! I already had everything we needed in my cabinet!

I also made Walker, Dylan's dad, a little gift too. His was more human friendly, some of my homemade Chai tea. 

I made some labels for the jars too!

Here's the finished product:

Ta-daaaa!

Pure Bicycle Bliss

Meet Gabriela.

Last summer I spent the majority of my summer savings I had earned working at Lady and Sons on my 2010 Specialized Dolce Comp Compact Road bike, Gabby. My best friend's dad helped me visit different bike shops, get fit for a bike, and end up making a decision. I bought my bike from Perry Rubber Bike Shop and the owner, David Udinsky, has been beyond helpful in getting me out on the road safely. Everyone in the shop is so personable and I just can't say enough good things about them.

Anywayyyy....

This summer I am riding in the Bike Ride Across Georgia with Ali's family. This five day long ride is approximately 400 miles across the Georgian terrain, starting in Atlanta and ending in Savannah. I have recently purchased some clip-less pedals, cleats, and riding shoes and let me tell you, I was extremely nervous to get out there and teach myself how to use them. All the horror stories I had heard about falling off your bike and it being kind of tough to get use to were really ingrained in my brain, but the possibility of riding faster and easier surpassed my angst. So today was the day that I mustered up all my courage and got out there to ride my bike while physically attached to it for the first time. 

It. Was. Magical.

Maybe it was the wonderful weather at 6 in the evening, the not so busy streets of Milledgeville, or the wind in my hair...I don't really care what it was. Spinning was easier, and my legs didn't have to work as hard to get me up the stinkin' hills. It was just great. I think I may even go to bed early tonight so morning will get her quicker and I can get back out there and do a real training ride (today was just to make sure I knew what I was doing...at least a little) on my new and improved pedals. 

Bliss.

Me-mornings

Ya know, nothing is better than "me-mornings." Those mornings where I spend time with myself are just so vital to my existence. My "me-mornings" usually consist of waking up an hour earlier than I would any other morning, doing about 20 minutes of a light yoga practice, taking a shower (making sure not to rush myself), eating a good breakfast, and then getting ready for my day. Sometimes you add in a little Louis Armstrong and scripture reading to the mix and it's seriously the perfect beginning to a day that can only get better from there. These mornings, that usually happen two to three times a week, assist me in having a healthy outlook on life and really center my thoughts and plans for the days ahead. Try it out sometime, do something for yourself, whether it be just giving yourself quiet time, learning about what makes you happy, teaching yourself new things, or all of the above. 

Reward yourself with happy living. 

A few happy things on a Saturday morning

the smell of mud, which reminds me of summer

cinnamon cream cheese desert bars

mornings to myself 

sleeping with just a sheet

my record player

Dean Martin Pandora station

veggie burgers

the adrenaline rush that comes with running stairs

a day full of learning and having fun

evening walks with good conversation

Hope your weekend is going as splendidly as mine!

The Second Weekly Scrabble Thursday

For the past two weeks Hannah, Nate, Will, and I have played scrabble on Thursday afternoons. We decided to make this a weekly occurrence and it is a lovely way to mark the beginning of the weekend.  

Today we decided to bring the party outside, to the Oconee Greenway. 

There was plenty of relaxing on the blanket.

Scrabble playing.

Nutella sandwich and fruit eating.

Attempting to catch some fishies.

Vitamin D.

and giggling, mostly at my lack of points. 

Will and Nate had a little trouble with their crickets getting away...

and Nate almost fell in the river!

happy happy weekend starting...

NOW.

I WILL conquer this cold....

no matter what it takes! 

Eating garlic, inhaling steam from a boiling pot of water, drinking antioxidants out the wazoo, getting 9 hours of sleep every night, downing a gallon of OJ, taking Theraflu, blowing my nose in the middle of class, maybe I'll even invest in a netipot...I don't care what I have to do....I just can't handle my nose right now. 

Wish me luck!

but looking at the glass half full or whatever, its a beautiful day outside and I may even suck it up and go for a run. 

Dumb pollen. 

It is 88 degrees outside....

Therefore, I should be at the beach, reading a trashy novel, eating boiled peanuts, drinking lemonade, and listening to summery music....

but, alas, daydreaming may have to do for now...

and Happy Birthday to my lovely Mother!! 

(who is pictured above on Amelia Island, FL July 2010)

You are the best mama bear I could ever imagine! I love you!

Millin' around in Milly-vegas

This weekend has been one of my favorite weekends of the year and this is why...

-First Friday's in Milledgeville, especially the Motown group that played outside the antique store!

-Ultimate fort building, complete with Christmas lights

-Potlucks with my favorite people

-Sun shiny days at Murder Creek while Hannah strums her banjo and I write in my happy book

-stopping on the side of the road to photograph the most beautiful cow pasture I have ever seen

-penny surfing out the car window (I hold the record with 4 pennies at one time...hehe)

I hope your weekend was as pleasant as pie, I know mine was!

New discovery...or maybe just oppressed characteristic

I am a hopeless romantic. There. I said it. As much as I have always said I hate mushy gushy romance, over exaggerated ridiculous love stories, and "meant to be" theories, I have come to realize that it all makes me giddy and I am just a straight up romantic. I don't necessarily wear my heart on my sleeve, or even remotely close to it, but I guess admitting that I do love romance is the first step in some kind of direction...maybe the right one? 

This realization all came about when I realized I can finish a love story in book form in less than a day and think about it for the next week straight, and watch Breakfast at Tiffanys, Pillow Talk, Casablanca, The Notebook, Pride & Prejudice, When Harry Met Sally, or any other classic love story over and over and over again.

I love LOVE.

Pretty Girls from Savannah

Leslie, Ellen, JOE KWON, Hannah, and I.

what a wonderful night.

happy things:

long drives that feel like 5 minutes

gallery espresso

sakura

laughing hard in public places

morning hands

live oaks

feeling like best friends with fellow Avett lovers

beautiful banjo picking

front row when you are meant to be the 7th row

sneaking cameras in to concerts

live acoustic songs

dancing my heart out

meeting Joe Kwon

bear hugs from people you feel like you've known forever, but only just met

loving.