The Typewriter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week I got an amazing “just because” gift. In my family we also call them “love gifts.” It’s a beautiful (working!) Smith Corona from my dear Mr. Adam. He has always been so thoughtful–in the truest sense of the word. Adam acts and speaks with intention, and I can tell he put a lot of thought into this handsome present. Folks, look forward to the next Great American Novel coming out of this beauty.

 

Have you gotten any wonderful love gifts? What is a just because gift you gave someone that you were super excited about?

 

Slow Jamz

Have you all seen this? Barack Obama and Jimmy Fallon gettin’ down on some slow jams.

They’re jamming about the need to decrease the interest rate on student loans. What the cool? Although I don’t watch his program (because I’m in slumber-land) I think Fallon is great. He doesn’t really need any help, because he’s already a pretty popular dude. But bringing the President of the United States on your Late Night Show is a pretty smart move. And these dudes really know how to get down.

 

p.s. Chaucer final is OVER! At my teacher’s invitation, we all went for a stiff margarita or pint of beer after the final to recover. It was a tough test.

Lift Every Voice

By the way, we are all listening to this song and doing ridiculously cool things like walking down the street with swagger, or finding our grove in a sun salutation flow during a little living room yoga sesh. Turn this song on and jam.

 

 

Aspects to Note:

• Do NOT watch this video if you are prone to becoming upset at irregularly flashing light. There is a subtle “strobe” effect and I don’t want anyone freaking out.
• The song pretty much nails it right around the 1:05 mark
• At approximately 1:11-1:13 a danging figure comes into frame. Someone must be secretly taping me because that’s basically what I look like dancing. Not just to this song. but to many songs. Or no song at all.
• Things get a little eunuch-y and strange after that, but the music is what’s really important here. This song has got it goin’ on!
• Maybe don’t watch the video, just listen.

 

See you on the flip side. Studying today. Final tomorrow.

 

Sunday Funday

My lair.

 

 

 

Ewwwww

 

 

 

Right now, outside, it is a 100% movie-marathon day. It’s cloudy and drizzly and gray and just begging for us all to be under the cool covers, with the remote in hand, and just watching movies. Movies all day.

(You know you’ve been studying too long when you type the word cloudy as “clowdy” and think there’s something wrong with auto-correct because you KNOW it’s spelled with a “w”)

The end is near though. Just a few more days of studying and all this baloney (not really baloney, actually, it’s more like some of the foundational literature of all that’s been produced in the last 600 years) will be put away for three and a half glorious months. Until then, I’m drownin’ in books.

Dear End of School, Please come here faster. OR ELSE.  : )

 

p.s. I totally realize taking pictures and commenting on studying, basically the “meta,” is mega-counter-productive and only encouraging my procrastination. This is just to say…

Myth

Oh, it is so rainy and gloomy here this morning. But that’s OK because I will be doing sexy things today, like studying for my Chaucer final and editing my Shakespeare paper that wrote itself the other night while I slumbered.

 

I also plan on listening to this little ditty of the yet-to-be-released new album from Beach House, Bloom. It’s scheduled to drop mid-May (yea, just dropped “drop”) and I can’t wait. But, I don’t even have to wait until then to get my Beach House fill because Mr. Adam scored some tickets for us to see them here in Chucktown (where, I tell ya, music never comes) May 6th. Saweet!

 

So here is “Myth” for your listening pleasure. I’ve always found Beach House to be the perfect music to just have on as you work about the house. It creates just the right amount of mysterious ambiance that I like to keep forever swirling about me. ::insert wavy dream sequence, screen dissolving into darkness emoticon::

 

Enjoy.

 

 

p.s. sorry the video is really stupid. it’s a new song, y’all.

Put Down the Woman

Each morning I wake up at what I deem to be a reasonable time–this morning was 7:30–make a cup of coffee and go surfing…with nary a wave in sight. Blog surfing is actually my specialty. I’ve been in this routine for months and it helps clear away the dream fog and get me in a better mind to work. I won’t tell you how long this process takes.

 

So this morning I was reading a relatively new blog in my arsenal and was delighted to come across this parable of sorts:

Two traveling monks reached a ford in a river where they met a young lady of the night.  Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across.  One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders.  Together the monks strode through the river until they reached the other side.  The monk set the prostitute down on the other bank. She thanked him and continued her journey.

As the monks continued on their way, one was brooding and preoccupied.  Unable to hold his silence, he spoke with anger.  “Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women – let alone that sort of woman – but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!”

“Brother,” the second monk replied, “I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her.”

 

Jess, the writer of this blog, commented that whenever she is still holding on to an issue way past its prime she tells herself to “put down the woman” and let it go.

I’m not sure on the origins of this story, but I thought it was fantastic, especially in light of yesterday’s post. I know ranting posts are not terrifically fun to read, but they are cathartic to write. In my case, yesterday I was able to go on a long, relaxing run/walk and truly let go of my frustrations of the morning. I came back to my work with a far more positive outlook and managed to get quite a bit of writing done. While it isn’t always easy, “putting down the woman,” or dropping our vexations is sometimes just the medicine we need.

 

 

And if that won’t, then this image surely will:

 

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Have a wonderful day!

Shakes-who?

Have you ever searched for an article with the key terms “Shakespeare” “Julius Caesar” and “motivation” and come up with the following sources:

• “Creating Intentional Communities to Support English Language Learners in the Classroom”
• “Forensic Aspects of Renaissance Mimesis”
• “An Allegory on the Banks of the Nile and Other Hazards of Intercultural Literary Comparison”
• or anything pertaining to Ovid, Wordsworth, Dante, Petrarch, but definitely not Shakespeare?

No? OK, well this is my life right now, and it’s making me want to hurl my computer out my second-story window and upset a table. I know it’s not earth-shattering stuff, but it’s encouraging a slow and painful nervous breakdown in my brain-head.

I’m in the middle of Paper Writing: Round 3 and let’s just say it’s not going swimmingly. I think I have a topic narrowed down, but as you can tell, the search for sources is not proving fruitful. This, combined with studying for a final (bless you, schedule, for only forcing one final on me), combing my other two papers for errors and revising them, and general SPRING FEVER, would be the cause for a conspicuous lack of recent posting. Entshuldigung for my absence, but I promise I will be back someday.

For now, I’m off for a run.

 

SURPRISE!!!

Gah! I love surprises. I love being surprised, I love surprising people, I love being in the know when someone else is throwing the surprise. Am I a rare bird?

 

Doesn’t matter. I just love ’em. So when my mom and I started chatting about Courtney’s first bridal shower, thrown by a friend from high school who is also a bridesmaid, I lamented about how unfortunate it was I could not come. Contrary to common belief, money does not grow on trees. And I cannot be going’ all Jolie-Pitt at the airport (seriously, that clan is forever flying around the world). Waaaahh! Sad! I was not going to be able to go.

 

Alas! We gals are notorious for throwing caution to the wind (Mom, I will let you collect yourself after that one) and we decided this shower was not to be missed. A flight was bought, an itinerary was set, a surprise was brewing among us.

 

Courtney and I chatted frequently throughout the past month, forcing me to choose my words careful lest I give away the goods.

 

Cut to Friday afternoon and my mom and I are driving home from the airport plotting how we will reveal myself to my baby sister. Why not hide in the trunk? OK! Next thing you know I’m lounging in the back of the Suburban, my mom runs inside to tell Courtney she needs help carrying in some groceries and BAM! I pop out of the trunk and scare the bewhosiwhatsits out of Courtney. She was shocked. She was thrown. She was mildly nauseous from something funky at lunch. But, dang, she was surprised.

 

We had a fabulous birthday dinner on Friday night in honor of my mom and sister, Katie. Saturday was the splendid brunch and a visit with my newest, tiniest friend, Cleo, 4 days old (no picture–sorry!) She is certainly the tiniest thing I have ever held in my arms–like a very dense loaf of bread, but much more beautiful and magnificent. My friend, Claire, timed her delivery perfectly to my homecoming (mmm, yeah right). Sunday involved a wonderful church service and a quick lunch on the patio before flights home.

 

It was a quick weekend, but it was magical as always. Just love those surprise visits home. Watch out, I’m coming for you next!!

 

Courtney, Katie, Mom, Meself, Dad, Jared (future groom!)

 

The girls

 

 

 

 

Mood Swings

Today is a gloomy, rainy gray day. When it’s chilly and cloudy, people in Charleston aren’t really sure what to do because so much of what goes on around here involves the outdoors. And while Fridays certainly aren’t my ideal rainy day (it’s the start of the freakin’ weekend, and I’mabout to have me some fun, fun–name that tune!) sometimes it’s nice to have a day indoors to help you appreciate all the other amazing days you get to rollick around in pure harmony. Also, I have some things to get finished for skewl and now I won’t be tempted to steal away to the beach.

 

So, if you’re like me, and wallowing in the monochromatic-ness of this slightly brooding day, then perhaps this tune is for you. It isn’t sad by any stretch, and in fact, it’s très chill and cool and will be a nice accompaniment as you sit and think about thoughts.

 

OR, if you are somewhere in the country where people are just running around, high-fiving the darnit out of everything, give this ditty a listen. It’s on a car commercial right now, so perchance you will recognize it. Envision yourself doing what those youngsters are doing: riding around in their crazy-cool SUV exploring uncharted territory. Where will your adventures take you this weekend?

 

Lust List

I am in the midst of Paper Writing: Round 1, which means I have to mind my wandering hand as it attempts to click on every blog in my bookmarked folder. What is it about a looming assignment that makes us want to tear up the Internet like it’s sure to abandon us at any day? While the student life affords me leisure time, it has also instilled in me a new vat of self-discipline. I operate mainly in a reward system: work for an hour straight and you get 10 minutes of free  Interneting. Now, doesn’t that sound glamorous?

 

With that in mind, I have cultivated a new lust list. These are beautiful things I have seen during my moments of technological self indulgence. Or perhaps, even seen in a physical shop window. Let the eye candy commence.

 

I've looked for ages, yet the perfect romper remains as elusive as ever. Le sigh.

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Love the dress. Love the lights. Love the cava. So chic.

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What a perfect mantra to read on your way out the door. Or while you're stuck in the couch cushions soaked in internet for too long. (Bonus: it's printed in KC!)

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Infusion of cool.

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Perfect for layering. I want purple! And blue! And pink!

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As someone who wears studs almost every. single. day. these would be a perfect addition.

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Oh my yum.

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Casual, yet elegant. Who doesn't want the fixings of a gin and tonic at their fingertips? Flowering branches earn you extra points.

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Couldn't resist : )