Thursday at 7:22 p.m.

Um, I couldn't think of a good title. Sorry.

Anyway, here are some things--okay, two things--that Tony and I found at an antiques store when we were at the beach. Disclaimer: My apartment only has two windows, therefore zero to nil to nada natural light. That's why all of my pictures have that icky flash finish to them. I'm not up to par on my photo-editing skills (nor do I have the time for that anyway, for quick blog pictures like these), so they stay as is. Ooooookay then!

I saw this as soon as I walked in the store and was like, "Ahh! Tony! Oooo! The Chi Ro! OOOO! The Chi Ro!" To which he responded "Huh?" In case you're doing the same thing, I'll explain. No, I don't have recesses upon recesses of memory in which I store the title and artist of every work of art ever produced, but I do know this one. It's the illuminated "title page," if you will, of the Gospel of John in the Book of Kells, and it's the symbols "Chi" and "Ro," hence the name. Chi and Ro are the first letters of Christ in Greek. It's also what I used for the cover of my most favorite project I've ever done for school. Ever. It was a book of poetry from my favorite authors that I had to make for a poetry writing class in college. I still love it to this day, so I wanted to show it to you:

[That's just the cover and the title page; didn't think you wanted 47 photos of every page of the book. So there's a taste.]

So obviously I wanted that antique framed copy of the Chi Ro page, for sentimental and, of course, aesthetic reasons. But there was no price tag. So we moved on. After walking through the whole extensive store, we were heading out when we decided to check on the Chi Ro. The lady at the counter had to call the dealer, who didn't answer. Ugh. So we fiddled for a little bit and then...the dealer called back! By the way, prior to this, Tony had said that we'd get it if it was $35 or less. And what did she say? That it was "really old," that she found it in England, and that it was...wait for it...did you guess? Of course you did. $35! Sold.

The other purchase of the day was a beautiful vintage string of pearls for...$15! See if you can find them in the mash of necklaces I have hanging. That's only partially a joke.



Other picture of the day: Elizabeth discovering the soul-warming delights of freshly baked cookies, which I made in honor of my sister and brother-in-law coming in town for the Fourth. Which I had to sample, multiple times, to make sure they were just right. And what's good for Mommy is good for baby! Yum, yum.

I'm glad it's July. Aren't you? For us, it means our lease is up and we're out of the 2-bedroom, 1-bath apartment at the end of this month! Hurray! Our next place of residence is...TBA. Actually, still more like TBD. I'll let you know.

Here's wishing you a happy holiday weekend.