one hundred

i stole the idea from some other gal's blog.

(her blog, by the way, is very cool.)

also, my first "run" at this was, i noticed afterwards, on the more negative side (it's far too easy to point out your own flaws), so i've since gone back and attempted to be more forgiving and kind to myself, without losing the honesty aspect.


100 things about me:
1. i almost never feel like i know what i'm doing, but i try to not let that stop me.
2. i love cotton candy. and all sorts of candy you're not supposed to like after the age of 7. like pez. except the yellow ones, which are just gross.
3. i think i might like the idea of books more than the books themselves. bookstores are one of my favorite haunts.
4. sometimes i start to think about the idea of eternity, and i go a little nutty, like i might crawl out of my skin, because it's the one thing i can't comprehend on any level.
5. i have this intense crush on chefs (as a whole).
6. i've started and soon after discarded probably two dozen daily planners in my lifetime.
7. i have a mean temper, but i'm one of the most loving people you'll meet.
8. i believe in God completely, even though i sometimes get lost in the little questions and details.
9. i'm grateful for my family.
10. i somehow manage to be a perfectionist and a completely clutter-prone freak at the same time.
11. i often make wishes as 11:11 and 12:34
12. writing lists (like this one) gives me a oddly profound sense of peace.
13. i can't wear the color yellow. love wearing green.
14. i will always care waaaay too much about what others think of me.
15. i love how my voice sounds when i sing in the shower.
16. lying in bed is one of my most complete joys.
17. i'm intimidated by short girls - they're all cute and sweet and delicate and stuff like that.
18. one of my new year's resolutions to get better at domestic things like cooking, sewing, etc.
19. i think the cello is the most beautiful instrument on the planet.
20. i love living in big cities because it makes me feel like i'm part of my very own movie, like i should have my own soundtrack. everything feels more dramatic and intense.
21. i know the lines to the movie sense & sensibility by heart (complete with the accent).
22. my top five places to visit (if you asked me today) would be: 1) montana, 2) sweden, 3) peru, 4) sicily, 5) alaska
23. i was once valedictorian; now i'm a hostess. on one level i find this depressing; on the other i think it's awesome.
24. i wish all my friends lived in one place.
25. i tell my mom everything. it's probably very unhealthy, but it's a beautiful, close friendship.
26. song lyrics and quotes are among my most favorite things.
28. i love my chanel perfume.
29. sometimes it'll take me a week to put the sheets back on my bed after washing them.
30. the calendar hanging on my wall is still on october.
31. i love men with facial hair.
32. i have zero willpower. zilch.
33. i think having a guy roommate is the coolest.
34. i love beautiful, quirky, subtle, odd films. i also love chick flicks.
35. i give good hugs.
36. buying fresh flowers instantly makes me happy.
37. i'm very visual - i've been known to buy books or CD's because i like the cover; or i'll buy the "prettiest" pasta sauce at the grocery store. that sort of thing.
38. i love hazelnut in any coffee drink.
39. oldies music reminds me of when i was young and my dad would drive me to soccer tournaments at the crack of dawn and we'd listen to K-Earth 101
40. "these are the days" by van morrison has long been my first dance wedding song; but lately i think it might be more fun to go with something like "ain't that love" by ray charles. i'm torn.
41. the best present i've ever been given was the greatest hits cd of mel carter - i wish i could explain, but it just wouldn't do it justice.
42. i adore simplicity and subtlety and yet tend to make everything much more complicated than it needs to be.
43. i like having 4 part-time jobs. i hope never to have another 9-to-5 again.
44. winter clothing (i.e., coats + scarves + gloves) = my favorite garb
45. i collect mugs.
46. i don't care if i ever own a house. (but if i do ever own one, it'd better be old and quirky.)
47. i think summer movies in bryant park might be one of the most magical things on earth.
48. i'm terrified of flying.
49. i have very ticklish feet.
50. i love photographing inanimate objects.
51. when i get excited about something (which happens a lot), and then it doesn't work out the way i thought it would or match my idea of what it was supposed to be, it takes me forever to recover from that.
52. i don't like talking on the phone. i'm an in-person or over-email sort of person.
53. i'm slightly obsessive. perhaps more than slightly.
54. i want a dog. or, at the very least, to date a man who has a dog.
55. if i had a dog, i'd name him oliver.
56. i think math is cool.
57. i enjoy reading books aloud when no one is home.
58. one of my most treasured possessions is an illustrated copy of pride & prejudice published in the 1930's that i got at strand bookstore in new york - on the front page is written "miriam farall, 1120 park avenue"
59. i love cookbooks and kitchen ware and food photography even though (or perhaps because of the fact that) i, myself, can't cook worth a damn.
60. i've seen every single episode of i love lucy multiple times. every last one.
61. some part of me never left junior high.
62. i've never lost anyone close to me, and i think i'm still sort of in denial about the fact that it is inevitable.
63. i live in my head.
64. i once mistakenly said, in italian, "i'm sorry, but i have a sore rooster."
65. movie trailers are quite possibly my favorite thing about going to the movies.
66. even though winter is my favorite season, my idea of a perfect day is out in the sunshine during the summer with my closest friends - eating, drinking, playing cards, talking about whatever, quoting stupid movies
67. i want to be that person who lives without regrets, but there are a lot of things i look back on and question.
68. improper grammar in professional environments drives me up the wall.
69. i'm horribly ignorant when it comes to politics.
70. i love stationary. 'snow and graham' is the best.
71. i eat microwavable mac n' cheese from trader joe's at least twice a week.
72. i want to start up yoga again.
73. i love "window light" infinitely more than any elaborate lighting set-up concocted by the most accomplished photographer.
74. i can't go into target or anthropologie without struggling against purchasing everything i see.
75. in the next 6 months, i want to take a painting class and a creative writing class.
76. i love the last page of vanity fair magazine (the proust questionnaire)
77. i read magazines from back to front, and i always look at all the pictures before going back and reading anything at all.
78. i just got the most beautiful pedicure the other day, and now i keep staring at my pretty feet.
79. i adore, beyond words, my friends.
80. i want to fall in love and not feel foolish afterwards.
81. my most favorite song to sing is "come thou fount of every blessing"
82. i'm decidedly not punctual.
83. i love getting cards of any sort
84. i had a lumpectomy on christmas eve a few years back, (christmas day on vicodin is good fun), and the scar forms a division symbol with two of my freckles.
85. i think pinkberry is crazy delicious, but i don't like being in line surrounded by a bunch of 17-yr-olds with their jeans tucked into their ugg boots.
86. i use the word lovely a lot.
87. i deeply appreciate sarcasm.
88. as a child, i was convinced i was going to be an architect when i grew up. architect - accountant - photographer... it's a natural progression, i think.
89. if i have one strength, it's that i always genuinely want to be better than what i am and have the best of intentions for trying.
90. i like being a middle child.
91. i think humility is the most underrated virtue. humility + confidence = about as close to perfection as you can get.
92. i have about as much student loan debt as my lawyer friends.
93. i enjoy doing self portraits.
94. i'm generous.
95. i love listening to someone talk about something he/she really truly loves and seeing that person get so excited about it that words start to fail.
96. i want to find a good church up here in WA.
97. i get annoyed when people ask me how to spell my last name.
98. i love girly stuff; i would never want to be a guy.
99. oh, how i wish i was more fashionable
100. i believe sunday brunch to be one of life's most sublime pleasures, which is why i need to go to bed now, so i can get up on time to go to brunch with my friend kela in the morning.


goodnight.

observations

i love photographing my grandparents' house.







speaking of my grandparents, i pray that one day i will look at a man this way...

merle

haggard

kicks

ass.

winter Flora

my pretty sister

There's this chair at my grandma's house, where we were yesterday for Christmas, and it jumped out at me as a perfect setting for a portrait. Anyhow, I love this picture.

blessing upon blessing

alan rickman is in this month's issue of los angeles magazine, complete with lovely photos. that's joy enough on its own. but then in the interview he mentions that he has an upcoming movie about the 1976 paris wine tasting in which california wines trumped french wines, causing a huge hullabaloo and all that. there was recently a book about this tasting, called judgment of paris, which i read maybe 6 months back. really liked the book. really really like mr. rickman.

hence, my excitement.


p.s. if you haven't yet seen sweeney todd, get your rear to a theater. i'm not usually into the gory stuff, but the visuals + the music + the story + the depp/rickman/bonham-carter combo = a fun/depressing meditation on revenge.

christmas eve, eighties style

Tonight we decided to watch an old VHS of Yogi's First Christmas, recorded off TV back in good old 1985. Complete with all the brilliant '80's commercials.


Ridiculous amounts of fun.

water like fabric

carpinteria, ca.

"gloriously different"

I came across a C. S. Lewis quote a few days back:

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

I've only read a limited amount of Lewis, so I didn't know from which of his works it had been pulled. But I was curious to read the quote in context. The concept of originality - what makes one an "artist," unique and worthwhile - has been running about in my mind a lot lately. There seems to be such a prevalence of snobbery in the art world, whether it be music or film or photography or whathaveyou. I often find myself overpowered by it, such that I feel as though I couldn't possibly have something new to offer or that whatever I've created is in some way cliched or inferior. A feeling which doesn't exactly inspire one to create. So it's been a struggle, to say the least.

But yeah, so I looked it up tonight and found the larger passage, which (of course) opened up a whole new can of worms for me. Here it is, from Mere Christianity:


At the beginning I said there were Personalities in God. I will go further now. There are no real personalities anywhere else. Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most "natural" men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.

But there must be a real giving up of the self. You must throw it away "blindly" so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a real personality: but you must not go to Him for the sake of that. As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him.

Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorites wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.


I can't imagine a more amazing and challenging goal than to give up the concern for my idea of my own self. It seems to be such an inherent concern. But, regardless, I'm inspired. That, short story long, is my point, I suppose.

scout says hello

a new obsession

I'm madly in love with Beirut. And the accordion is now on my list of instruments to learn before I die. There's something about this video that gets to me. love love love.

beautifully confusing

These words were used together in an article I was just reading. I like the combination.

It was a simpler time...

Dean and Frank singing Marshmallow World. Classic.

by the seaside

Nicole, Troy, and I headed out to Discovery Park yesterday afternoon and played around with our respective cameras down by the water. It was the first fully sunny day in awhile (hence all of us squinting in the pictures below), but it was still crazy cold. Lattes from Caffe Fiore were required afterwards.









(Troy going old-school and shooting film.)


(Nicole and her pigtails.)


(We needed a roommate photo.)

Trouble the beagle

Troy and I were watching the Oklahoma City Classic dog show this morning. Dog shows are brilliant tv-watching fun. My favorite dog by far was a little beagle named Trouble. He was adorable. And completely disobedient. His handler couldn't get him to walk in a straight line for anything. Needless to say, he didn't win. But he was friggin' awesome.

let the countdown begin

In one week I get to go home for Christmas. As much as I truly love it up here, I've definitely been feeling the pangs of homesickness. Not for California - I can't think of a single thing I miss about the place itself, except for frozen yogurt perhaps - but for everybody there.

My plans for the ten days at home:

- making Christmas cookies while watching old Christmas movies with my mom and sister
- wearing pajamas a lot
- seeing all y'all
- lots of cuddling with gunner and scout
- shopping for presents
- tapas fiesta at casa de Bucks
- playing around with my new camera

Yup, I think that's it. Can't wait.

waltzing with the open sea

Joanna Newsom singing Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie. There are so many lines in this song that just kill me.

why cars are evil

a) they kill the environment (the obvious answer)
b) they're just a big bundle of mechanics waiting to break
c) I know nothing about how they work so I'm constantly looking like the dumb girl and never knowing if I'm being screwed over
d) they create this environment in which we're all in our own little worlds, not really having to interact with each other - versus on the subway or a bus, you can't avoid human interaction, however seemingly small or insignificant it is

(I just got off the phone with a mechanic; can you tell?)

my love runs deep (subtitled: the most expensive concert ticket ever)

It took Henry the Sentra, a tow truck, and a rental Ford to get me there, but I finally made it to the Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham tonight to catch Iron & Wine, round two. Obviously, I didn't know when I set out on my little impromptu drive that my car would break down on the side of the I-5 just 9 miles shy of my desired exit, but the main point is that for any other concert I would probably be bitter at this point. But I'm not. Concert #2 was wonderful. And now I'm very sleepy.

I've also decided that Sam Beam looks like a sexy version of the cowardly lion, all clad in a Banana Republic sweater and well-fitting jeans. Just an observation. Do with it what you will.

"There ain't a penthouse Christian wants the pain of the scab, but they all want the scar."

- from Innocent Bones by Iron & Wine

I hadn't really listened to this song much, but when he sang it last night I was struck by it. I'm still sort of digesting all the lyrics. As a Christian, it's definitely an uneasy listen. Personally, I don't think the song is exclusively about Christianity, but I could be wrong. Regardless, it does beg self-reflection.

Oh Sam, how I love thee

I get to see iron & wine in concert tomorrow night. I'm beyond giddy. =)

sweet hymns of joy

It snowed today. Lots.






Our little home is pretty all in white.

I loathe technology

I've just spent a ridiculous amount of time attempting to figure out how to open the raw files from my new camera. Reading forums by photo nerds talking inane, typo-ridden tech talk. And I still can't open my damn files.

Basically, in getting the newer version of my old camera (It was only $100 more and has all this extra stuff, I thought), I'm now stuck with the lovely dilemna of incompatible file types and downloading new programs that don't work for this reason or that - basically all that I hate about digital photography and computers in general. The absurdity of it all is mindboggling. It cannot possibly be this difficult.

Oh, the poor camera store clerk that has to deal with me tomorrow...

at last

I have a camera. About bloody time.

Such delight.

I don't understand the French language

I'm working on my transcription job tonight, and in our last meeting Blair kept using the term "chargé d’affaires" - a term for which I knew neither the spelling nor the meaning. Not wanting to appear like an idiot, I figured I'd look it up later. I now know that it's not all that easy to look up words for which you know neither the spelling nor the meaning. And attempting to look up French words phonetically is quite comical. But I guess that's one of the things I like about this job - I'm learning things, even if I do take the long way about it.

chargé d’affaires: a diplomat ranking immediately below an ambassador who deputizes in the ambassador's absence

nuri bilge ceylan

My roommate just sent me the link to this guy's work. Stunning. Here's his website.

current favorite lyrics

Squint skyward and listen
Loving him, we move within his borders
Just asterisms in the stars' set order.
We could stand for a century,
Staring,
With our heads cocked,
In the broad daylight at this thing
Joy,
Landlocked
In bodies that don't keep,
Dumbstuck with the sweetness of being
'Til we don't be.
Told: Take this,
And eat this.

- From Emily by Joanna Newsom

forts

I wish that, as adults, we still made forts - you know, where you take assorted blankets and the kitchen chairs, and suddenly you have this haven from the outside world. I think we should start that back up again.

speaking of it being cold out...

weather.com says it might snow on Wednesday. So freaking excited.

(insert big, stupid, child-like grin here)

Fred is dead

Fred was the spider that lived above the front door to our house. He was probably the only spider I've ever not been afraid of. He was big and spotted and would sun himself during the day and curl himself up into a ball and wedge into the boards of the porch at night. He freaked me out at first, and I would duck when entering the house even though he was nowhere near my head, but after awhile I got used to him, at which point I named him. For awhile there he had a companion spider, whom I named Ethel (of course), but she left relatively quickly (how fickle we ladies are). Anyway, I came home the other night, and Fred was nowhere to be found. Troy said it's too cold out now for spiders and that he probably died. I won't lie - I was a little bummed.

So yeah, I felt that Fred deserved a little obituary. So there you have it. He was a good spider.

from ages ago

Ok, only about 3 years ago, when I was living in NY. Found this while going through an old CD of pics just now. Had to post it because it made me smile.

I'm so domestic

I made cranberry sauce today. It's probably the easiest thing you could ever make from scratch, but I'm nevertheless pretty darn proud of myself.

On the flip side, I almost burned down my apartment attempting to make toast this morning.

my poor roommate

I keep subjecting him to chick flicks. He just watched the end of Much Ado About Nothing with me. Not that Shakespeare should really be considered a chick thing, but still. His response: "Wow. That certainly was merry."

Whatever. I love that movie. I mean, honestly, how can you not love stuff like this (put to rather catchy music, no less):

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more;
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant never;
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into Hey nonny, nonny.

Willy knew what he was talking about. I'm not exactly sure what "nonny, nonny" means, but it sounds like a plan.

to elaborate...

My sister sent me this article awhile back, and I think it explains better than I ever could what I was referring to earlier. If you're at all interested, go here.

But basically, I can't read Seattleites. I'm intriqued by them, but in a science experiment sort of way - a science experiment in which I already know what the outcome is going to be, but I keep watching and waiting for a different one. Maybe that only makes sense in my head. Ultimately, I've found they talk a lot of talk without ever exactly following through. I'm sure they mean what they're saying when they're saying it, but it never quite materializes. It's hard to get angry, because I know there's no lack of good intentions, but I find myself perpetually frustrated by the whole phenomenon. I keep being reminded of that Will Farrell quote from SNL: "It's fine. I just wish you weren't a liar."

Anyway, I'm sure this is just the necessary homesick phase. No new place is without its flaws to get used to.

seattle folk baffle me

just needed to express that sentiment out loud

I'm only in it for the free food

The fun thing about shooting restaurants, I've just discovered, is that they like to send you home with tons of food. I randomly shot two new restaurants out in Bellevue tonight, and each sent me home with a little gift. The owner at the first place actually seemed a little hurt that I'd already eaten dinner and made me promise over and over that I'd come in again soon. But he wouldn't let me leave without having a glass of wine and a chocolate souffle (not that I really tried to resist all that much). And the second place sent me home with three to-go containers of sushi, which hopefully my roommate will enjoy. I'm all about the perks of the job.

beth is never allowed to leave

She just brought me coffee in bed. And she's making us eggs. With peppers and onions and spinach and everything. And I didn't oversleep for work yesterday because there was another person next to me so I would have felt guilty hitting the snooze button 20 times, as usual. When she leaves, I'll have to go back to buying coffee and skipping breakfast and being late for work, and that's just no good.

tall as trees, we were

Beth and I did some photoshopping over wine and cheese last night. We got a little color happy. Regardless, I love this dorky photo of our shadows.

trees trees trees (i like them)

oooh, the original

So I discovered in my sleeplessness that "secret heart" is originally a Ron Sexsmith song. I remember going with Tori to see him play at Hotel Cafe and thinking he was lovely, so I looked up his version. Here's the link to the youtube music video, since youtube wouldn't let me post it for some silly reason or another:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fYrX3SOf6ds

A much more gut-wrenching, rather depressing (but gorgeous) version. I still like Feist's bounce, but I always love me my sad songs sung by men with pretty eyes. And Ron's got some crazy beautiful eyes. And fluffy hair. You can't go wrong there.

insomnia-induced impulse buying

Note to self: don't go on iTunes when you can't sleep. Much too dangerous.

I'm newly addicted to Feist (thanks to Veil's playlist) and Joanna Newsom (thanks to Monday's concert). Currently I can't stop listening to "Secret Heart". It's bouncy goodness at its finest. Making me smile, but not exactly helping me fall back asleep.

brrrrrrr!!!!

It was 35 degrees out when I left my house this morning.

Love it.

truly, madly, deeply

It's been one of my favorite films for awhile now, but I just watched it again this morning and felt the need to share my love. I think it's one of the most honest and beautiful and funny movies about loss and love and healing. It's one of the reasons I love Alan Rickman. And one of the reasons I love the piano and the cello played together. Best line in the movie: "Don't worry. He's Polish." Best scene in the movie: when they're looking out their window at the clouds and start singing "A Case of You". Or the hopping on one foot scene. Or the last scene, which is so painfully sweet. Anyway, just felt like sharing. =)

death by sugar cookie

Someone brought into work Halloween-shaped sugar cookies with orange frosting and sprinkles this morning. Whoever that person was, I love you. I also blame you for the food coma I've been in all day long. I think I ate like 4 or 5.

Other favorite parts of my day:
- the fact that it was sunny but still in the 50's. cold, crisp, perfect.
- more awesome and crazy stories from Blair (the guy I'm helping with his writing project)
- they gave us a new employee manual at the restaurant tonight, and it actually stated "a smile is part of everyone's uniform." I thought I might pee my pants.
- I was not once on the phone with anyone having anything to do with insurance
- pumpkin ale (thanks lena for the recommendation) + fashion magazines + my comfy bed right now. brilliant.

blueberries and blue fingers

From today's hike along the Denny Lake trail. Once again, I was very excited at the discovery of snow further up the mountain. Being from Southern California, I get all giddy at the sight of snow. I was also quite stoked to find blueberries growing, even if I thought I might freeze my fingers off trying to photograph them.


a few berries clinging on:




more blueberries:




lovely frozen leaf:




the early parts of the hike were warm and sunny. i heart sun flare:




the obligatory flowing creek shot:

"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm."

- Colette

pretty in pink

sunshine is like crack

At least it is up here. And that's pretending, of course, that I actually know anything about what crack is like. But anyway, my point is that you don't think you're going to be addicted, but then you get a little taste of a gorgeous crisp cool sunny fall day, and when the grey skies roll back in you go through this withdrawl. All weekend was stunningly beautiful - epic - and now we're back to the gloom, which normally I love, but not so much right now.

brilliant bitterness

So on Craigslist, at least in Seattle, there's apparently this war going on between artists (or creative types) and those that are basically trying to take advantage of their services for little or no reimbursement, claiming that it's good for "portfolio-building". Being a creative type at the beginning of her career, I can actually relate to both sides - I hate feeling as though I'm being taken advantage of, but I also do appreciate opportunities to build my portfolio and get my name out there and so have definitely taken a few gigs for little or no reimbursement. Anyway, it's a source of good (albeit cheap) daily entertainment to read the various backlash listings on Craigs. Generally it comes in the form of expletives and little attention to grammar, but there was one today that broke the mold. It made me smile. Here 'tis:

You know what would be great? If I could lay out your company's enewsletter, maybe even write some jazzy copy about how fantastic your quarter was. That would be a real feather in the cap of my portfolio, as I am looking to expand my portfolio to include some heavy-hitting corporate copy.

Oooh! OR, if you need someone to take some photographs of your company picnic, perhaps the one where you are celebrating your quarterly profits, I could totally do that too! This will really add some "wow" to my lifestyle component of my portfolio, as I hear that all of the big AIGA awards go to softball candids. If you have any Executive portraiture work on the horizon, I'd be all over it. Nothing vies for a portfolio centerpiece quite pictures of Sally in Accounting, the one that always wears white mock turtlenecks and talks to her lean cuisine at lunch.

The pinnacle would have to be though, OMG, if I could design your logo for you. That would rule! I am a little non-traditional in how I like to work though. What would be great is if you could round up say 20 other designers, give us as vague as possible a description and then instruct us to create a couple of concepts and from these concepts you will pick a designer. I LOVE the thrill of the hunt. I think it shows that I am hungry for your business, and that I love Comic Sans. Like, a lot!

The kicker is this. I couldn't possibly accept pay for my time, experience, effort, and use of equipment, all handily provided to help you to achieve your artistic vision. Compensation, pshaw! Actually, what I would really like is some food. Do you have any food? Anything in a can will suffice. Maybe a nice can of Dinty Moore? That'll warm the belly and soothe the soul, and help me sleep at night because who cares if I can't pay rent next month? CANNED STEW WAS PROVIDED FOR ME BY MY EXALTED EMPLOYER. Thanks employer!

If you know of anyone that could use my services, I would be ever grateful.

PS I am serious about the dinty moore

PPS I came here because someone mentioned milk and cookies? I sure am hungry.

Love, Imaginary Designer

a celebration of nerds

Due to some not-so-fun, flu-induced insomnia last night, I decided to purchase a movie on iTunes (all the movies I own are in a box somewhere, and I wasn't up for searching). I ended up getting the documentary "Wordplay" - about people who are really really into crossword puzzles. I had no idea there was such a huge subculture there. Seriously, these people are crazy smart and hilarious and endearing and a bit off their rockers. Loved it. Even if it did remind me of how comparatively unintelligent I am.

oh, how quickly they grow

My mom sent me a couple of pictures of the boys tonight. Scout is so big now. And Gunner's just his usual big lovable self.

i love otis

snow in october

Nicole and I went out to Snow Lake today for a little hike. We wanted to catch the fall colors while they're still around. It was so beautiful out there, even when the downpours began. The hike took us way too long, since we felt it necessary to stop every five seconds to take another picture, but we finally made it to the top, where there were little bits of snow and the most gorgeous view of the lake covered with fog. In case I haven't mentioned it, I love it up here.


(me being very excited about the patches of snow)



(Nicole pondering nature or something)



(fall colors and snowy mountains)

let this be a warning to you all

never ceases to crack me up, especially lately.

Henry has returned!

Henry is my car. My beloved crappy car. He's a little beaten up, and the majority of his contents are gone, presumably off at some pawn shop near the 99, but he's mine again. Gonna get him all cleaned up and pretty this weekend. And then go out and buy The Club. Or a Trunk Monkey.

Also kind of funny is the fact that they left my shoes, my favorite pink ones, which I had actually already gone off and replaced. So I now have double. Oh the riches...

Once

This movie broke my heart into a million itty bitty pieces. Granted, I'm slightly on the emotionally vulnerable side lately, but still. It's absolutely among the most starkly beautiful, hilarious, genuine, and (again) heartbreaking movies I've seen. I was crying 15 minutes into it and basically all the way until the credits were rolling, and I left the theater with goofy tear-stained cheeks. I also proceeded to buy the soundtrack (which they sell at the theatre - another reason they're awesome) and blast it as I was heading over the I-90 bridge (love that bridge). I'm a bit obsessive, I know. But ignore that fact and go see the movie anyway. If you don't, I might not be able to be your friend anymore. I'm just saying...

I'm also in love. Madly. With Glen Hansard. I think he might have ruined my chances of ever fancying anyone again. If I was thirteen, I'd have posters of him plastered on my walls. It's that bad.

(Sigh)

my new favorite place in all of Seattle

the Harvard Exit Theatre:
I love this place. I decided to head there today - the perfect rainy Tuesday afternoon - because they're playing the movie Once, which I've been dying to see for awhile now (I will write about the film itself in another post). The place is tucked away on this sweet little street on Capitol Hill. Outside there were the most beautiful trees with their fall colors, and the road was all shiny from the rain. Across the street there's this cute coffee shop, which I intend on visiting very soon. The theatre has pretty clearly been converted from some other purpose, looking nothing like your standard megaplex. You have to head up two flights of rickety stairs to get to one of the two small theaters. The people are crazy nice, while not obnoxiously so or phony in any way. And they sell Izze sodas - reason enough to love the place, if you ask me. Quite possibly one of my favorite Seattle experiences thus far.

a bitter sweetness

This seems to be an ongoing theme in my life these days - really wonderful things tinged with a sense of something lost or of wanting more. Either it's an issue of having to give up one thing in order to have something else, or it's the basic problem that any experience and/or relationship, good or bad, will eventually end.

There's this Dr. Suess quote (again with my love of cheesy quotes) that says "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." I try to keep reminding myself of this, but I'm not particularly good at it.

I don't know where I'm going with any of this. Just a random moment of venting, I suppose.

health nut

i'm on a roll today.

breakfast: americano + junior mints
lunch: pizza + root beer
dinner: who knows

photos from the restaurant

My boss asked me to shoot a couple of the restaurant's cocktails - I guess one of the drinks is going to be featured in a magazine soon, or something like that. Anyway, here are two of the shots I liked, as well as two of the decor and two of this random tree outside through the curtains (I couldn't decide whether I liked it better dark or light, so I played around with both).

I miss my pups.

Came across this picture today in going through my files. It's one of my favorites.




While I'm at it, this is another favorite. Have I mentioned I miss my dogs?

like a kid on christmas eve

my itunes preorder of iron & wine's new album just became available. going to go listen now and report back. ooh, so happy.

from the game

Such a fun day. We were sitting way up high, so we had this view of everything - from the field all the way out to the water. And the fans were so loud it vibrated in your ears. Add in nachos and some bud light, and you have a rockin' good time.