Hello, I’m BACK! I’ve kicked off, premiered, moved, & MARRIED. My new last name is Amazing, we’re all settled into our fantastic new apartment (I’ll take pictures soon!), the Eclipse party at the library was fun & actually quite easy, & Teen SRP 2010 is in full swing. It’s been quite a ride, but it was all worth it. Now my life is finally settling down, which is fabulous, because I miss blogging!

Next week I should be back to regular posting (3-4x a week), but I thought I’d ease into it by doing another edition of Fantastic Friday. If you’re new to these parts, Fantastic Friday is a mix of the typical “link love” you see on a lot of blogs and just talking about the fantastic parts of the week. April & I try to see the love & wonder in the world around us, & we want to share that with you!

» TOMATOES ARE IN FULL SWING. I had my first real local tomatoes yesterday, & oh wow. I love tomatoes year ’round, but thank goodness you forget the taste of a real tomato in mid-December, because it just cannot compare with the flavor of a real tomato that was picked perfectly ripe off the vine. My little tomato plants are nowhere near ready, but lots of local tomatoes are beginning to show up on produce stands in the area. Can I get an om nom nom?

» This is crazy old in Internets years (2004!), but I chuckled anyways: the Hipster PDA.

» From Cute Overload: How’d you like to look out your backyard to this?

» You’ve probably already seen this, but I’m posting it anyways: most perfect little white house ever? I think so. My favorite part is that she did it all for $3000. I want one to just live in forever!

» Simplicity by Sunny is my favorite simplicity blog. She’s just so very authentic & open about everything, & I completely admire her love of the outdoors. I cannot wait to live someplace I truly love! Most recently, she posted about her vacation bad luck, but prior to that, she posted an excerpt from the book she was reading. Inspiring, no?

» I’m proud to say that during the move, Sam & I got rid of tons. Because we didn’t register for the wedding, we didn’t replace anything. & you know what? I don’t think we miss anything! I think we were most surprised at just how much we had that was lying about in closets, drawers, & etc. I mean, we still have a lot of books & dvds, but otherwise, I think we’ve pared down to the basics in most everything. We have this extra little room that we’re still unsure of what to do with – although we’ll probably just line it with more books. What can I say? English teacher/writer & librarian – some people love their gadgets, but we love our books.

» Christina Hendricks, currently GQ’s sexiest woman & star of Mad Men (a show I don’t watch), was on FIREFLY! Yes, the geek cred is coming out full force, but you have no idea how excited I was when I realized that she’s YoSaffBridge from Our Mrs. Reynolds. Yay for Joss Whedon alums! Ahem. Anyways, she wrote this fabulous letter to men in Esquire, (I’m not really sure why watermelon is so sexy, but whatever!), but I have to say that I agree with just about everything she said!

» I adore the whole Shabby Chic aesthetic, & I love Rachel Ashwell. Look at her garden! I can only imagine how great it must smell with all that lavender. I could just smell it for hours…

» I totally have to agree with them on this. What is the deal with this weather? Will it never break, or does this promise to be one of the grossest NEO summers ever?

I know I post this ALL THE TIME, but I think mid-summer heat & all my summer crazy being over & done with demands a Celebration of Silly™.