New Digs

I’m currently sitting on our new sofa, and dang, it is serious business. It’s big and amazing and I’m almost afraid it’s too big and then I look at how many pillows it can hold and I feel good about it again.

This is not a design blog so I feel OK with showing you some very, very premature pictures of the new place. I was reading a blog post yesterday on which the girl was apologizing for not telling her virtual readership about the break-up she went through with her boyfriend several months prior. She jadedly commented that “bloggers live real lives too” and it’s not all Instagrammed selfies with Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice lattes and lengthy diatribes on how excited we all are that it’s fall so now we can layer! It gave me some serious sads thinking about pressure bloggers put on themselves to look a certain way and exude a specific strength and composure. I suppose the fact that I have a category devoted to “sweat” and regularly talk about gross things like the time I found a cockroach in my sandwich kind of put me in a different league. And that is more than fine with me.

 

 

 

That mess was all to say that I’d like to share some early photos of the apartment and not feel bad about it. We’ve been here exactly one week and I’m happy with how things have turned out so far. We have definitely had our share of “were we on drugs when we bought this?” moments, most notably when we assembled the dining room. I talked Adam into getting a natural wood table and lucite chairs, though he did pick out the rug. I was going for a high-low feeling in there and it just ended up feeling more bipolar than eclectic. And the faux brick floors? I can’t. As we sat the table immediately after flipping it over we were already talking about how to sell it and get a new one. While I think we have come to like it a bit more, curtains and artwork will no doubt help it feel more complete and together. The plants were a start. (Let’s please not talk about how I put cacti on a table that receives no direct sunlight. I’m working through it).

I feel a sort of paralysis when I think about really decorating and finding special pieces to fill in the many gaps that surround the place. Looking at a vase yesterday I thought, This is a great vase, but this vase will determine the rest of the design scheme and what if I don’t like it?! ::puts it down and walks empty-handed from the store:: It’s a lot of pressure to put on one little artifact. I just can’t seem to make up my mind on what I really want. But, some decisions have been made and I’m sure taking it in baby steps will help. Less drama, more decorating.

We are going to a flea market this weekend and I am hoping to score big. We are really riding high on the Ikea Showroom concept here and I’d like to put an end to that soon. So, without more rambling and ridiculousness, a few pictures*:

 

 

^^ is everyone into the casual lighting fixture we have going on in here?? New one to go up someday…

 

 

^^I feel the best about this room. I love that we have a giganto bed and that my desk is not in there. That’s the first time that’s happened in my whole life.

*Places purposefully left of the tour include the kitchen, bathroom and guest room/office for varying reasons. The guest room mostly because it is a collection of suitcases that need to be unpacked and an astronomical amount of broken down cardboard that looks like this:

They will not collect your cardboard unless it is sensibly organized and tied up in twine. It makes it far easier for them to clean up but much more difficult for you to keep your sanity as you break it down and fold it up.

Braised Beef

Monday was project day. I saw two recipes that I really wanted to try and decided the day off would be a perfect time to test them out. In the February/March issue of The Local Palate you will find not only two pieces (book reviews) written by yours truly, but also a culinary brush-up featuring the perfect technique for braising beef. This was recipe numero uno. The second belongs to the Smitten Kitchen cookbook, of which I am not an owner. She graciously reprinted it on the blog for those of us who have yet to buy the beautiful book. Gnocchi happens to stand in the long line of foods that are my absolute favorite to eat (the Italian dumpling rubs elbows with its diiiistant cousin, pizza, as well as other fan faves like macaroni and cheese and Cooler Ranch Doritos–wait, what?). Ms Smitten Kitchen promised that this recipe was no-fail and actually super easy, producing scrumptious pillow-like gnocchi. I am telling you my turned out great–great like mashed potatoes. I kid you not, they tasted nothing like gnocchi and everything like awesome mashed potatoes. I mixed them with a snappy pesto-ricotta sauce, which was great, but alas, these dumplings had the consistency of a Thanksgiving side dish. Le sigh. Ah well, that’s the fun of cooking: try, try again. Good thing they’re so cheap to make…

 

So, That’s Neat

Illuminations #28, the little guy I’ve been working on for just about a year now is finally here. It’s so great to see it in print.

 

 

 

 

Powerful Idea

“Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come”

 

This video is nearly 30 minutes. Grab a coffee, take your lunch break, put your jammies on and watch it tonight. Whatever you do,I think you should watch it.

 

It is terrifically frightening.

 

I heard of the Invisible Children group in college, but my knowledge about them wasn’t extensive. This video helped clear things up in an accessible and understandable manner. Perhaps you are wary of their approach, which is reasonable, however, I think we can all come to terms with one or two ideas: killing children is wrong. Forcing children to kill others is wrong.

 

I would encourage you to watch the movie and see how it moves you. And, if possible, share the movie with others to inspire advocacy and awareness, as that is the video’s main mission.

 

Olé!

Yo soy una genius.

 

One part of the degree requirements for my graduate program is to prove competency in a foreign language. One might say, “Yo, girl, why do you need to know a foreign language for an English program? That is loco.” I know, it is. But it’s all a part of that whole liberal arts thing that is so hot right now. And for the record, it’s not only my program that has this stipulation. It’s pretty much standard across the board for English Master’s programs. Well maybe not for online programs, but let’s not even get into those…

 

You can fulfill this requirement in one of three ways: show that you took at least two years of a foreign language in undergraduate and earned a B or higher, take the Old English course, which is essentially a foreign language, and pass it with a B or higher, or take a translation test in a language of your choice and pass it with an understanding of the general idea.

 

Well, it has been about 9 years since I last took a foreign language I felt comfortable with (German doesn’t count because I never really learned to speak it that well–seriously, learning High German in Zurich is like trying to learn Portuguese in Spain) and I wasn’t sure that I could pass a Spanish translation test, so option 3 didn’t look that good. Obvi, the first option was out since nine years ago I was in high school and no one could shoo me near the foreign language department at undergrad. I was so over español.  So that left me with option number 2: Old English. To say I was not interested in taking this class would be a gross understatement. Gag! Postmodernism is my thing, baby. The last thing I want to do is cruise back a thousand years and start hacking out syllables that don’t make no sense. And in the summer! Yes, the course is slated to be during summer school.

 

So, early in this semester when I started my Chaucer class (which is in Middle English, a super snazzy transition between Old and Modern English) I started getting a little sweaty under the arms thinking about taking Old English this summer. A little muchacha with a sombrero started speaking in my head, “You should take the translation test, señorita.” And with those first Spanglish whispers I knew I needed to make this test a reality.

 

Cut to me hyperventilating looking at all the material I needed to try to reteach myself. Um, there’s a lot to learn in Spanish and it had been nearly a decade since I had studied it. For two weeks straight I woke up every morning, made a coffee date with my Spanish dictionary (sexy, right?), and hit the translating hard. I found a tutor through Craigslist and met with him over coffee for some extra practice. I was studying like cuh-razy.

 

And then I took the test.

 

And what do you know, I kicked that bad boy’s butt! I crushed it! I went all TOTAL-DOMINATION! Please excuse the slight exaggerating. But, for realsies, I passed it. On the first try. And I feel awesome. That means no summer school, no Old English, no more funny Spanglish as I run around my apartment saying things like, “Yum! This manzana es muy tasty!”

 

But, the best part is, I get to start a new book. I bought The Marriage Plot the same day I bought my Spanish dictionary and told myself that I couldn’t start reading it until I passed my test. Who has two thumbs and rewards herself with literature?  >this girl<

 

 

Newbie

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.

Sprucing

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”.

Starting Over

Somehow I abandoned my Book It page and forgot to mention four books that I finished in the last month: Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton and all three books in the Hunger Game series by Suzanne Collins. That would bring the total of books I read for pleasure this year up to 31. I think we can all agree I had some pretty extensive time on my hands from the beginning through the middle of the year, with a severe decline of free time beginning in August. In fact, between the start of August and the start of December I think I read three books for pleasure. Sad. But completely understandable.

That got me thinking about how many books I would like to read for pleasure this year. One aspect of being a student in an English literature graduate program is that one must read quite a bit. The brain rapidly fills up with important quotes, characters, tropes, allusions, past literary references, and plot development that will be imperative to remember for a possible exam. That doesn’t leave much space for New York Times bestsellers and chick-lit.

But, if I make incorporating books that I want to read in my spare time part of my resolution, then perhaps I will make more effort to actually read them. Maybe that means eliminating ginormous tomes like Infinite Jest, which took me two and a half months to read. That’s not really fair to myself, now is it? So I read 31 books in 2011, that’s a number I feel pretty good about. I don’t want to stray too far from that, but I am trying to be realistic about my course schedule for the year: 3 literature classes next semester, one summer school class, and three classes in the fall. So I think for 2012 I will half it and attempt to read 15 books. There it is, my resolution: I will read 15 books of my own choosing in 2012.

Maybe it seems silly to choose a resolution involving reading, but for me it’s great. As I’ve seen this past semester reading for pleasure is something I can let go all too easily. And resolutions are supposed to be about discipline, right? (Or did I make that up?) So if that is the case, then this resolution is perfect for me.

This might be tough come summer time when I am learning Old English and wanting desperately to go to the beach and ride the waves or just go limp in a beach chair. But, I will read on! Same as this past year, the progress will be recorded in the Book It section. Any recommendations??

Tuesday Music Mix

Today I will chain myself to my desk until I get a solid amount of my Southern Literature paper written. Here are some tunes I’ve had spinning the last couple of days. Hopefully these will help me with the big effort today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then this is for when I finish my work:

 

 

 

Do it Meself

I have this really great JCrew jacket that is going into its second year in my possession. It has seen a lot–literally, it’s been to a couple different countries with me–and I realized that before I break it out this season I needed to make a couple repairs. Most specifically involving the buttons. Two out of the four fell off, you see, and for the last couple months or so that I was wearing it I was walking around in my jacket like a scrub, with buttons missing, trying to wrap it around me like a straight-jacket. Adam and I are heading to New York City this weekend to meet up with his family and since it’s so stinkin’ cold everywhere else in the country (it’s 72 degrees here, by the way. Hee hee hee) I will definitely be bringing my jacket. Cue me not wanting to show up like a fool. Enter Project Runway–Home Edition.

 

Old button

New Button— I wanted something with a little more pizazz. Something that could really compete with my sparkling personality.

Somehow without the help of Tim Gunn I managed to complete my project. Oh yeah, I got skillz.