I hate to iron but I love Simone.

Guys? 

I am a day late and a dollar short because I was guest posting over at Simone's beautiful blog, The Bottom of the Ironing Basket yesterday.

Could you go over and take a peek?

Could you maybe tell her how wonderful she is?

Simone is a lady -- to the T!

She is generous, lovely, giving, magnificent. Um, I could go on and on.

Just google the word - fabulous and you will see her face smiling back at cha.

She reached out to me in a way that I am not sure I could ever find the way to properly thank her.

She loved my Daddy Butch.

She routed for him to survive.

I know she still thinks of him and speaks to him.

And I know he loves her too.

hello!

(via)

hi gang.

man, i am busy but it's because i am happy.

good, right?

so, i am no longer working in an office in corporate america.

i am now working as an extern/pastry cook for one of my favorite places of all time.

this is a place that i have loved for years and have always admired and looked up to the creators of it all!

remember when i wrote about Ms. Christina Tosi graduating from FCI?

she rocks. 

so does David Chang.

oh, you wanna know where i am working?

just the best place in the world . . .

in Brooklyn.

i am living my dream and loving every second of it.

as you can only imagine, my schedule is hectic between work, school and other life things going on and i know i sound so repetitive but i LOVE it. 

love it all.

i love the people, the place, the eats, everything.

everything.

(via)

a few things here and there.

I've been MIA because there are some things happening in my life that are exciting, scary, frustrating, but all in all great and wonderful!

I miss you all and will have a life update for you soon.

Fingers crossed.

Much love,

Me.

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happy friday - literally.

(via oh joy)

My day started off on a bad note.

I dreamed my Daddy was in NYC and I was geting ready to meet up with him and hug him so tightly, then my alarm went off and I was thrown into a world of grief.

Normally when I dream of Daddy, I feel warm and fuzzy that he came to visit me.

However, this time felt so real. I was expecting to see him when I opened my eyes. 

But I saw nothing. And reality set in.

I cried all the way to work. Sunglasses hiding the tears and red eyes.

Grief overcame me.

But then I got to work and remembered moments of the week . . .

♥ helping a lady after seeing her get hit by a van, getting a call from her that she is okay and planning a tea date to meet up. ♥

♥ a classmate telling me that he enjoys being around me because I light up a room. ♥

♥ being told by someone special that they like it that i twirl when i am excited ♥

♥ seeing my mommy and mother-in-law ♥

And because we are in control of our emotions and we can get ourselves to snap out of things, I decided today, that I would post the happy photos I was sent after I got a few emails back after I posted 'true happiness' and I was so excited and honored that you shared your happy moments with me, that I needed to share them with the world.

Eyes really are the windows to our soul.

You can see so much in them.

From Dee of Dee's Adventures

♥

From Berna:  

"I was on a mini-Vacation with my husband celebrating our 8 wedding Anniversary! - Everytime I see this picture it remind me of how Happy I was on that moment and it make forget for a moment all the stress that I might be going thru".

♥

 From Marcy of Marcy's Mazin' Moments:

"HAPPYFREAKNTASTICNESS"

♥

 From Jackie:

"Happiest Moments in My Life" 

♥

From Iris of i-zilla the terrible:

"Wizarding World of Harry Potter + Butter Beer + Ravenclaw scarf + best friend + no work for a week = 

best day of my life!"
love you!
xoxo Iris

♥

 From Becky of The Branches:

"This picture makes me happy every time I see it! I miss my sister so much!"

♥

From Spanky:

 "It's a pic of me and Melissa C. at the NC State/ECU game last fall.  ECU was the underdog (as usual) and we beat our in-state rival in OT.  It was one of the few really really good days I'd had in a long time.  Oh and here's the link to the final moments of the game when we won.  It may seem silly, but whenever I'm having a bad day I watch it.  Always makes me smile!"

-Spanky

http://youtu.be/mPBLdZb52Fc

♥

From Sydney of Sunshine in the City

♥

Chubby.

 My dear friend and soul sister, Suzanne said goodbye to her best friend today.

I hurt with her. 

Pets add so much to our lives and when they leave, we are left a bit empty.

I love you, SSSS. More than you will ever know.

Readers and friends, 
please leave Suzanne a few, sweet words to help her through this difficult time. 
Thank you.

*all photos taken from SS.

licking my lips.

♥

It's very hard to keep up in class sometimes, to really retain all we are learning.

Sometimes I am disappointed at how much we rush through and when I see my final product.

However, I need to realize, I have NEVER made these things before and I am doing a darn good job.

But sometimes, you do have mistakes. 

For example, my ladyfinger cake fell apart.

Instead of being sad about it, I throw it in saran wrap and made . . .

. . . CAKE IN A BAG!

(yes, we may have made a song up to the beat of D in a Box)


Love,
Summer Athena

*photos are from the iphone app - labelbox

thanks leidy!

true happiness

As of late, there have been certain things and people that have brought me down quite a bit. 

More than I will ever let on.

I can handle constructive criticism, but when you come out and insult me on a regular basis, it begins to break my soul a bit. 

I started to become anger and walk around with a cloud above my head, but I realized that 

instead of being sad and putting the walls back up, I needed to focus on what makes me feel truly happy. 

That "happy" that just makes you beam and you can be spotted from space shining brightly.

You see, I won't be around forever but while I am, I need to live each moment to its fullest.

I don't mean I won't have any more sad ones but I will embrace them and allow them to teach me things.

I cannot change everything and I have big decisions to make but until then, I just want to be me.  I want to be the me that people seem to love and adore and really appreciate.

And to those folks that don't, your loss.

Seriously.
Grrr.

♥

To end on a positive note, I have a challenge for you:

Find a photo of yourself when you felt true happiness and send it to me!


summerathena@gmail.com


And in the meantime, you can look at a few of mine . . .

~ laughing ~

~ carefree in Vienna ~

~ being in paradise ~

~ when saints won the Superbowl ~

~ sleeping with kitty boys ~




 ♥

...and music makes me happy...


My fave band at the moment!

LOVE,
Me.

weekend in review.

Friday:

( Marjolaine)

♥

Saturday:

♥ Brunch at Harry's ♥

 (Summer and Rachael)

 (Me)

 (Mom and I)

(Rach and Noelle)

(Sweetness)

♥

Sunday:

 (Longest wait ever to see the Alexander McQueen Exhibit)

(I sneaked a photograph)

The End, until next time.

Love,
Summer Athena

my daddio (in ink).

Daddy is here!

 ♥ i love it ♥

 ♥ yes, it hurt ♥

♥ it will stay gray and black with maybe a little more shading ♥

♥ the hat does say LSU but the S looks like a C in this photo ♥

♥ it is still healing and scabbed over a bit, so it will look sharper later on ♥
♥ it's on my inner arm and good i gained a little weight so he could fit, but as I lose it, he will shrink. ha! ♥
♥ he was drawn by Dowdy Studio ♥

(peeking out)


I know some of you are not fans of ink and I understand that. This is something that I needed to do to help me grieve the loss of my best friend. I needed him close to my heart (in a visual way). Ironically, he did not like tats on ladies and had none himself so he may be shaking his head up in Heaven but he most certainly feels the love b/c I felt the pain. :)


XO,
Summer Athena

a little taste of ...

...MerDad!

Since, my Momma has seen it (she does not completely approve and thinks tattoos look dirty but she understands I like them and they mean something to me but asked that I refrain from putting them anywhere near my face and neck), I can now show you all!

Or sorta show you.

I am such a tease, aren't I?

♥

Summer
(my circles are not THAT dark. dumb shadows)

chocolatte

Genoise Au Chocolat Glacee

(Chocolate Ganache Cake)

This cake looks much easier to make than it really is.

So many steps to make this little guy.

And you definitely need to like dark, rich chocolate to even try a bite.

I had fun making it but last night, we had so much going on.

Whipping the eggs over heat and then adding sugar and whipping those by hand -- oh boy.

That was a workout.

Like a "bring on the sweat" work-out.

Then we make dacquoise. More to come on that later.

I honestly have no clue what we are doing with it.

I ended up over-sleeping this am. Chef talked a lot last night, so we were running around frantically trying to finish everything and get out at a decent hour. Home at midnight? Not fun.  Trying the angel food cake we made = heaven.

Love,

Me

i used to write. here and there.

When I was at the acting conservatory, I kept a journal.

I would write anything and everything down.

I was a bit of a dreamer and a lover.

My smaller stories started turning into larger ones and 

eventually, I started to write a play.

Well, I was cleaning my closet out the other day and found that journal.

♥

Below is a real life incident I wrote about:

(via Missed Connections)

The other day, I "met" a boy.

He was on the wrong side of the subway platform.

We both caught each other looking at the other and our gaze never wandered. 

He smiled a smile I will never forget.

I returned one back.

My train came. Then his. 
We watched each other while the doors closed on us. 
He zoomed away and I was left smiling brightly.

It was a moment like no other. 
Strange and romantic.
Curious and fun.


A few days later, I saw him.

He sells scones at the Farmer's Market.

He was in the booth.
He smiled that smile.
My heart sank.


I walked up and asked for something that tasted of vanilla.
My hands were shaking and of course I was sweating.
You said I looked familiar.
I told you about the train we took, but in different directions.
Your eyes brightened.
You knew.

We spoke about nonsensical things and smiled a lot, but I decided to say goodbye without any exchange of a name or number. I said I would see you around. You said, you would like that. And ended it with a 'please'.

These are the moments that make me feel alive.
I walked away because I wanted it to end just like that.
I did not want the real world coming in and messing it all up with it's pain and anger.


I just wanted to be. And I did just that . . .

Meet Tripp

My heart goes out to this Louisiana family.
My prayers and love are being sent to their beautiful baby boy, Tripp.


If you don't know his story, please head over now.


Love,
Summer Athena