Monthly Archives: January 2012

Newbie

Posted in Blog, Family, Food, Projects, Writing by

Yesterday I got a fabulous call from my sister Courtney telling me that she is so inspired by the golden-laced stream of brilliance that is the norm on this blog that she has decided to start bloggering as well. Knowing how much I enjoy writing on the regular I was in full support of this pursuit. With a little divine inspiration (that’s what I refer to everything I think) I helped Courtdazzle come up with a title, Cups, Pints, and Court. Ahhh! Genius.

It’s a food blog, you see. As she is in the midst of completing her zillion hours of supervised practice to become a Registered Dietitian she is constantly surrounded by food and it’s implications on our health and happiness. Also, she is human so she thinks about food all. the. times. Courtney has great skill in writing, a majah appetite (she is my sister, after all) and she referred to my blog as “famous” so I’m most definitely going to encourage you to read it. She’s in the infant stages right now, and I think it’s well on its way to turning into a tipp topp super read.

Author Showdown

Posted in Books, Frustration, Musings, Quotes, Reading, Writing by

For the most part, however, male authors are somewhat like male porn stars: getting work, but outearned and outnumbered by their female counterparts, who are in far greater demand from the audience (for very different reasons).  –Teddy Wayne, Salon.com

 

I stumbled upon an article from Salon.com titled, “The Agony of the Male Novelist.” I’m sure I’m not alone in my immediate feelings upon reading that title. Something in the vein of, Is that a *expletive* joke?! (expletive can also be replaced with “stinkin'”). The article opens up with a complaint made by mega-selling author Jennifer Weiner (In Her Shoes) about her lack of real estate in The New York Times this year, specifically in comparison to the numerous articles written about Jonathan Franzen (The Corrections, Freedom–both of which are excellent; read them immediately and then call me so we can talk about them). In a nutshell, Weiner believes that men get more face time in the review section and only 41% of reviews last year were about books written by female authors. Classic girl vs. boy.*

In an interesting twist, the article goes on to talk about the misunderstanding that men are these powerhouse-authors who are churning out books and racking up tremendous sales. Facts and figures: women buy about two-thirds of all books in print, and 80% of all fiction; a majority of book clubs are made up of women and are centered around books with female tropes and characters; Oprah’s Book Club; Target Book Club. Teddy Wayne begins to make the argument that being a male (especially midlist) author is pretty tough. I’m going to spare the details, not only because I don’t want to retype the article, but mostly because I want you to read it yourself and form your own ideas (if you even care to dwell on the subject).

A few of mine? Well, I looked through the measly amount of books for pleasure I have here (not counting books on my Kindle or the plenty I have at home in KC) and 8 of the books are by a male and 8 by a female. In this pretty much useless survey it appears that I may not have a bias. In truth, when I am looking for a book in the bookstore (one of my favorite pastimes; bookstores [the few that are left] are like crack dens for me) I’m not sure that I give much conscious thought to the gender of the author. I like to read good books. I like to read interesting and thoughtful and funny books. For the most part, I don’t care if it’s a guy or a gal who wrote it, just as long as I found pleasure in the story. Why does everything have to become about gender politics?

And, on that riotous note I am going to get out of here. What do you think? If the book is well written, should it matter whether the author is a man or a woman?

 

*I guess my question to Ms. Weiner is: what if women didn’t write that great of books this year? What if the male-dominated list is as such because men did really write better literature?**

**I know I let my naive colors fly sometimes, let’s just move on.

Handmaid

Posted in Books, Coffee, Reading by

I’m coming to you a little groggy this morning due to a late night and (not really) early morning. I stayed up well past my bedtime, finally turning off the light around 1:15 only to be woken up at 8:11 to sounds of what could only be a burglar/Hannibal Lecter, but which were actually the girls below me putting their dishes away. I was looking for at least thirty more minutes of slumber, but alas, here I am.

Ah, so yes, after that thrilling non sequitur you might perhaps be wondering what kept me up so late. Answer: a book I just couldn’t put down! The

photo courtesy of marshall.edu

Handmaid’s Tale. Slow to start, the plot in Margaret Atwood’s novel thickened like a roux (obscure cooking reference) and all at once I was hooked. I really don’t want to spoil this one for your, so here’s just a little amuse bouche:

Picture this: totalitarian theocracy (originally accidentally spelled this theocrazy–Freudian slip!) in which women are sorted and classified, some forced to become concubines serving an increasingly agéd male population. These women have no rights: they cannot read; they cannot speak in public; they cannot have money; or live alone. They live to serve as vessels to replenish a population destroyed under (homicidal) regime. Think genocide. The novel is about one Handmaid’s (concubine’s) tale. It is told part in the present with series’ of flashbacks to a time before the sudden shift, when life was normal, and to her time spent training as a Handmaid and the excruciating mind-cleansing that took place there.

The genius of Atwood is in her writing style. I knew from The Blind Assassin that the author places more importance on character development and word choice than a roller coaster plot. At various points The Handmaid’s Tale felt like an exercise in wordplay, and I just marveled at Atwood’s crafty ability to manipulate the language. She is able to make you feel nostalgic for things you don’t even miss. For example, the women aren’t allowed to read and at various points The Handmaid remembers with sweet relish what it was like to absorb the written word and you can’t help but feel as if you’ve lost this ability too. In turn, you begin to savor each word on the page, realizing how intentional they all are. When reading becomes a visceral experience like this, I’m hooked.

Last night I happened to be at a crucial moment in the book and simply couldn’t put it down. Two hours later the book was finished and I was one sleepy girl. But, with my head clear now with the elixir of life (coffee) I can confidently and lucidly claim that you should read The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s worth it!

I’m trying to keep things light on the reading list after a couple of intense books, so next up:

photo courtesy of harpercollins.com

Spots or Stripes?

Posted in Dress Up, Fashion, Friends, Musings, Research, Shopping by

My friend Jill likes to send out emails to a group of us that met and became insta-friends whilst living in Zurich (although, these have been in short supply as of late). They usually include a questionnaire of sorts, with probing questions that address our innermost truths—What type of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle do you most identify with? What was the best birthday gift you ever received? And, do you wash your hair or your body first in the shower? Real soul shakin’ stuff, I tell ya.

The questions are always great and encourage me to think about random aspects of my life. Many times they provide a thoughtful trip down memory lane, such as when I had to recall whether or not I ate the crusts of my sandwich as a child. Can you tell I want the invasive probing questions to recommence? In any event, one question that was asked forever ago was, do you own more stripes or polka-dots? I think I answered pretty nonchalantly like, oh, I think I probably maybe have more stripes… I guess. Ummmmm,

 

 

ya think!?! Dag yo, I didn’t realize I had amassed so many stripes. Horizontal stripes, which “everyone” says you should stay away from. I should have realized last week after my Thursday afternoon walk around downtown (aka shopping extravaganza) that all I had bought were stripes. Three new tops, all with stripes (ok, one technically was color blocking so I didn’t include it in this picture). Even the shoes I bought (50% off!) have a stripe motif. So maybe I have a type?

 

As for the polka dots…

 

I only own the bikini top. I didn't even buy the bottoms, that's how much I don't take heart to polka-dots.

 

I guess I just don’t love them. I think they look great on other people, but kinda make me feel like a little girl? Maybe that’s not even true. I don’t have a good reason.

 

But, I do have a combo platter…

 

 

So, what about you? Spots or stripes?

 

 

Sprucing

Posted in Cleaning, Decorating, Home, Organization, Projects, Weekends, Writing by

Pre-reading post script: this was the nice post I was working on before the “Incident of the Hurled Avocado.” I think it fits perfectly: a post about a clean, organized space, interrupted by a fruit splatter. Oh, irony, you trickster.

 

This weekend afforded me some time to do some much needed “feathering” around the apartment. With the roommate out of town and Adam working in the ol’ office (booooo, going back to work) I could work relatively free from distraction. Despite having a generous amount of alone time in my regular life it was nice to have the weekend to just sit and hang out all by my lonesome.

I spent some pretty significant time running around on Saturday and Sunday to Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Target (Heaven has a Target!), Walmart, and Michael’s picking up the various components to nearly complete my “Project: Spruce Up the Little Apartment.” Below are most of the results.

The mantle was my biggest concern. It had been filled with various junk over the months, and definitely looked its best over the holidays when my roommate jam-packed it with Christmas cheer. The orchids on the end were purchased many moons ago, and the bottles belong the the roommate. The rest was purchased over the weekend. I filled the glass cylinder ($7 at TJ Maxx) with two packages of various decorative orbs of different sizes and shapes. I like the neutral turnout. The birds are from Target and the brown vase in the middle is Michael’s. Yahoo!

 

Next came my room. I had a photo collage in mind when I moved here in August, but never got to completing it. I only had the 8x10s for the last four months and I finally bought the three 5×7 picture frames to complete the look. Shots include trees in the woods of Switzerland, Lake Zurich, street view of Lisbon, Portugal, and Paris skyline. Swoon.

 

 

 

I found the blue vase that sits next to the dresser at TJ Maxx for $9. Well, I’m not going to leave something that inexpensive just sitting on the shelf, so not having a place to even put it, I bought it. I even considered just tucking it away in my closet for future use. But, opportunity presented itself in the way of shifting vases, and I moved what used to live there into the “family room/dining room/reading room.”I bought the “plant life” from Michael’s and gave it a little height and dimension (words I feel comfortable using after intense time logged with HGTV).

 

 

I didn’t change much to the shelving unit in my room, other than add the small owl that sits on the top right-hand shelf. He used to perch inside Urban Outfitters until I rescued him last week. He’s a nice $5 addition to the space, along with two semesters worth of books.

 

 

This is the arrangement that used to sit where the blue vase now resides. I added the two green pictures to complete a “green moment” in that corner of the room. The prints are from Target ($17) and I’m really digging them. The store added a revamped “Home Décor” section and I’m pretty impressed with what they have going on. Made me wish I could just start over with this whole space…

 

They’re not the most major improvements in the world, but they definitely added a little cheer to our abode. What I really wanted for Christmas was a new house so I could use all my mad-decorating skillz, but alas, no one listened. Until then, a girl can dream. And “feather”.

Annnnnnd then

Posted in Anger, Charleston, Cleaning, Frustration, Gross Factor, Home by

an avocado was launched into the side of my house.

 

 

Um, speechless.

 

What happened next:

  • I’m not a math person, but applying principles of varying angles and vectors (??) I deduced this thing could have only come from one direction, and I think I located the source.
  • My roommate and I set out in the aforementioned direction and knocked around looking for the culprit. None was found, but I did find quite a few pairs of shifty eyes…
  • If we WOULD have found the criminal, I would have grabbed that little hooligan by the ear, dragged him over and made him clean the mess. My roommate added that she would have made him (only a “he” would have done this) clean it in his underwear while we filmed him, and then post the video online. She’s one tough cookie. And from Baltimore.
  • After cleaning the stinkin’ mess, we concluded that there was no possible way this fruit was thrown. It could only have been launched. I’m thinking potato launcher. On the lookout.
  • I have a small taste of paranoia and it is not a good color on me.

After-splatter

Everyone’s Talking About…

Posted in Humor, Lists, Musings, Quotes, Videos by

these videos of sh*t girls either say or don’t say. Sometimes I feel reluctant to get on the bandwagon of these memes (can we can them that?), but eventually I succumb. Often, too late because three months later when I finally watch the video everyone is over it and on to another hilarious viral video fest and I am left in the dark. Anyway, I feel a little more timely on this one so (even though you’ve probably already seen it) here is the latest video I have found about sh*t coming out of people’s mouth. Wait, what?…

 

 

A cheery Friday is wished to all!