Sunday, December 31, 2006
A Bailey Happy New Year
Hello friends!
It's been awhile, I know. I sincerely hope that you've had the happiest holidays to date, and as Clare said it best: that the most you wished for be the least you received. Right now I'm sipping hot cocoa with Bailey's while waiting for a Bailey's cake to bake, so I should be down for the count soon. Tomorrow I'm going up to a cabin in the snow for New Years', so before the year is over, I want to wrap 2006 up with a list.
Top 50 of 2006
(in no particular order)
1) Graduating college
2) Moving to LA
3) Ryan
4) Adventures with Trinh
5) Stranger Than Fiction
6) First post-college job
7) Starting a yoga practice with Annie
8) Internship at 826LA
9) Writing dates with Dori
10) Staying in contact with favorite friends from college
11) Red velvet cake at Doughboys
12) Working as a photography teacher to 4th and 5th graders
13) San Francisco, and so many trips!
14) The Devil Wears Prada
15) The Time Traveler's Wife
16) Crafting blogs (especially: Alicia's, Stephanie's, and Lisa's)
17) Food blogs (Vegan Lunchbox)
18) Meeting so many famous people since moving to LA
19) DOMINO magazine
20) "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae
21) Gruyere
22) Tutoring 8A Fiction students
23) LTWR 100 with Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
24) Happy healthy relationships
25) Design blogs (i.e. FreePeople, DesignSponge)
26) My new sewing machine!
27) Audrey Kawasaki's painted girls
28) POETS&WRITERS magazine
29) McSweeney's
30) Meeting Fiona Apple
31) Digital Rebel XT
32) Vagina Monologues 2006
33) Susie
34) Becoming vegetarian
35) Flavor of India
36) Entourage
37) Owning my first vinyl records
38) Gilmore Girls
39) My exponentially compounding love for Trader Joe's
40) Stuart Dybek's writing
41) Ryan's tacos
42) Madeleine is Sleeping by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
43) Packages from Gina
44) Flea markets
45) Sew U
46) Opening my tubes of oil paint for the first time in three years
47) Finishing upper division French literature classes
48) short hair!
49) Netflix
50) TV on the RadioLabels: lists, top 50
Friday, December 22, 2006
Countdown to Christmas
Half an hour of work left before I get the whole next week off to enjoy with family, Christmas, many friends, and some time to take an inventory of my life and grasp all the thoughts swirling around my brain from all that's happened in the past year. I'm not (for once!) going to make a list of the amazing things that have happened to me in the last year, nor my New Year's Resolutions just yet. Taking things one holiday at a time.
After the holiday bbq at work (yes, I know, only in California!), I plan to go home and stuff my laundry, bags of presents, and bag for the weekend in my car and drive to my parents to RELAX. Last night's yoga class really kicked my ass, but talking with a good friend who really understands the stage of life I'm struggling through right now helped stretch and relax my state of mind. I'm so scared of making the wrong choices and needlessly dwell that I'm forgetting to enjoy the moment of it all, enjoy being 22 and the enormous wealth of love, creativity, and support in my life.
P.S. I am LOVING the new blogger labels. That was the one thing I was missing in my life and made me consider switching over to either typepad or moveable type. But Blogger, my one true love, you have come through for me once again.Labels: arts+crafts, photolog
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Winter is Here!
Happy Winter Solstice! I hope your winters will be full of warmth and genuine smiles.Labels: photolog
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
On the Brink of Winter Solstice in Los Angeles
 Labels: photolog
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Hello Darling, Are You Working?
Along with neglecting to write in the past few busy weeks, I've also neglected cleaning my apartment. I know, I know. Trust me, it is even more terrifying to me than to you. Helping kids learn to read and write good and learn to do other things good too is dirty work, folks. However! Yesterday afternoon, I came home after work to find my apartment spotlessly clean. My incredible boyfriend cleaned my apartment. A fully adult human with the Y chromosome, on his own volition, CLEANED. MY. APARTMENT. The kitchen floor was spotless! The dishes were in their homes! The bathtub was mold-free! The carpet! Who knew it was tan?!
I know, right? He's a dreamboat! I was so touched, I almost started to cry. I've already got him chained to the pipes so he can't get away. Feel free to print this entry out and tape it to your bathroom mirrors and kitchen trashcans as hints to your own boys.
Oh, I just wanted to LIVE in my shiny kitchen last night! So I made a delicious dinner of tomato rasam soup, curried butternut squash, red wine mushrooms and herb risotto. Mm mm! After dinner, I proceeded with baking 2 dozen sugar cookies, and 2 dozen pumpkin cupcakes from scratch. The pumpkin cupcakes came out a little oozy and underbaked, perhaps because I used applesauce and egg substitute instead of oil and eggs, but I was trying to make it healthier. Usually using unsweetened applesauce instead of oil in cake-in-a-box mixes make it even better, enhancing the flavor and keeping it moist without feeling greasy, but I think the lack of real egg made the cakes stay flat and dense.
I still need to make stockings and finish writing Christmas cards tonight, and hopefully Ryan and I can catch Casino Royale. I am so stoked about this week being over, because I have a full week off between Christmas and New Year's!Labels: domestic goddess
Monday, December 18, 2006
It's Like I Knew.
What I didn't expect from the "real world" was how on-the-edge-of-my-seat it all is. Instead of waiting for quarters to end, and vacations to come, I get to pick and choose when things end and begin. I suspect this is supposed to give the false illusion of freedom to "adults" in their "adult lives", but naturally, things that are normal to other people terrify me and give me great inner anxiety that I don't even tune into until it manifests itself as some sort of physical ailment. I'm sure that I'll die of a heart attack or ruptured brain aneurism, and all that I'll think as I'm floating away from my corporeal body is -- "Oops, how did that anxiety get there?"
To tie that into the rest of this entry so it doesn't seem meaningless is that I think I have TMJD, which is better than what I thought was the case: my wisdom teeth growing in, and much much better than the case of a friend of a friend whose jaw hurt and it turned out to be cancer. But I won't go there.
So the eye of this anxiety storm is not necessarily something I want to delve into at the moment, except to say that there are offers on the table that activate the part of my decision-making right brain that agonizes over every decision. The thing about your early twenties is that you think that every single little decision you make is going to greatly impact the rest of your life. And the truth is, well, I don't know this for fact, but I'm beginning to suspect -- that it isn't.
As soon as there is news, I will tell you all about it. But for now, I'd rather not be dooced.
Two weekends ago was chaos in the 826LA category, with a fundraising event (where I met the beautiful and delicate Fiona Apple) and a fantastic DIY Holiday workshop, where the students created their own holiday and sent the volunteers and interns scattering to make it happen in two hours. The most rewarding part of the weekend was during that workshop, while as the students were busy putting together a pageant for "Cheese-A-Lot" Holiday. A few students came behind the partition to get water, and they saw me and fellow intern Megan spreading plates of cheese in accordance with the holiday's traditions. They whispered to each other, "It's like they knew."
I'm going to enjoy the next few days with Ryan's company, as he's on winter break, and revel that while the weather outside is frightful (highs of 54! in Los Angeles! Absurd!), inside is full of fun things to do. Tonight I'm going to bake pumpkin cupcakes, have dinner with an out-of-town friend, FINISH my holiday cards, sew some stockings, and perhaps watch the new Bond film.
How are your holiday seasons going?Labels: 826LA, twentysomething
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
22 going on 60.
Dear Body,
Why is it that even though you drag me kicking and screaming to bed at 10:30pm, you still make me feel like I just spent the night on the best/worst bender of my life in the morning? What is it about the 8.5 hours of sleep renders your joints so cranky and your shoulders so cramped? And why is it that when I DO attempt to drink, you revolt and attempt to embarrass me as much as possible?
This is unacceptable! You are young and nubile, and supposedly in the prime of your life! You better start shaping up, and learning how to hold those yoga poses while inhaling and exhaling on beat. We'll reevaluate the status in a month.
Love,
AnnLabels: twentysomething
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Remind Me, Did I Store Up Seeds For The Winter?
These next few days are going to be crazycrazy (yet again!)!
First, two of my favorite people, Trinh and Lisa, are coming up to visit! My futon is already laid out and ready for their cozy presence in my little apartment. Lisa somehow scored free tickets to tonight's Faint show at the Palladium, so I will FINALLY (I lost count of how many months it's been since) put my dancing shoes on! But I must get home after work and furiously scrub my apartment so that it's fit for company. I've gotten slack in the last few weeks, with my paints, brushes and wet canvases sitting everywhere.
Then on Saturday, McSweeney's The World, Explained is happening, which means a whole day of manning little emergencies as they come along and overall bonding and goodwill with 826LA staff. Annie and I are popping by Felt Club earlier that day however, for the aforementioned (did I mention it before? Maybe not...) handmade goods I'd like to pick up. Holiday cards! Presents! Presents for myself that I really want and no one will buy me! Hurray!
Speaking of handmade presents...I am absolutely in love with the necklaces at Small Things Shop. I really want one of the flora vs. fauna round necklaces! All her pieces are incredibly elegant and pretty and slightly punk at the same time, and I love that she makes them all herself!
I found an old sheet of painted Madonna & child $0.32 stamps so I plan on grouping those with some cute $0.05 & $0.02 stamps for my holiday cards (except my international ones, obviously). Which reminds me, I need to go to the post office...
On Sunday there will be a workshop at the Hammer, where the little 826LA elves (aka interns) will have to frantically put together a holiday as the students in the workshop are designing the holiday and writing the consequent Holiday Pageant to follow.
In between all this, some of Ryan's family is visiting AND I need to buy and have installed more memory on my iBook so that I can install sweet sweet Adobe Creative Suite CS2. Oh, and I think I may have promised to bake some pumpkin cupcakes for some fellow interns for the whole weekend...maybe I'll do that before my friends get here tonight. All in all, a pretty busy but exciting weekend ahead :)
But before I leave you for the whole weekend, let me issue a short rant on the process of job hunting:
Why can't the employer just tell you at the end of the interview, "This just isn't going to work out" instead of prolonging the process by making false promises of "We'll call you" and then interviewee/potential employee finally giving up hope after days of waiting by the phone? It's not good etiquette in dating, and it's not good etiquette in business! If I ever become an interviewer, I would say at the end of interviews either: a) "We don't belong together.", b) "We love you! Join us now!" (Which actually is what my current employer said.), or c) "Quite honestly, we're holding out for something better but if that doesn't come along, we'll call you in the next day or two. And if we don't, then assume the worst."
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Talking Denim
Believe it or not, I only have one pair of jeans I wear allll the time because I love them oh-so-much. When I went back to Express to find a replacement pair, as the threadbare nature of my jeans were warning me of my numbered days, I unpleasantly discovered that they had RENAMED AND REDESIGNED all their denim lines. Disgruntled, I left. But last Friday, I discovered that my favorite pair had ripped (is it still trendy to have ripped jeans?) so now I have to get another pair. I want exactly what I had! Why did they have to change it on me! It hasn't been THAT long since I bought jeans has it?
It's moments like these, and the fact that I go to bed usually by 11pm (weekend or not), make me feel geriatric.
At any rate, do you have any jeans that you love and recommend? I'm looking for a darker blue denim, straight leg/bootcut, super low-rise pair with a little stretch.
Thanks, in advance.Labels: covet
Smashing Lentils
Last night I came home at a loss for what to make for dinner, and I didn't feel like going to the market. Unfortunately, I haven't felt like going to the market for the last two weeks apparently. Except for the few trips on weekends with Ryan when we had a meal in mind (most recently fondue, since I realized that's the purpose of the tiny slowcooker pot my mom gave me), I haven't stocked up on basic necessities...like soy milk, anything remotely green or naturally occurring of the earth...
But I DID have lentils (ha! I am storing up for the Big One) and eggs, and a steady supply of Indian spices thanks to my friend Monica (have I mentioned how grateful I am for this steady supply of Indian spices? I have made so many amazing recipes already!), so I whipped up this recipe of Smashed Lentils with Egg from ApartmentTherapy:Kitchen. It was delicious, despite my wrestling with my oven to figure out how hot it really is (it's a guesstimation process, at best) and at first severely underbaking the egg and then slightly overbaking...so it took probably an hour longer than necessary to make.
I did catch a glimpse of myself on TV while making dinner, so that distracted me as my ego was attracted like a moth to, well, the flickering television screen. Extra! covered the event last Friday, and there were shots of the small classroom audience -- and me, sitting pretty among the high school students. (Not so pretty after all afternoon of running around backstage and setting up dressing room sand such).
On a completely unrelated subject, I thought I was being all clever, shopping early online for the holidays this year. But one of the things I ordered online arrived not as expected. Where is the quality control, people! I guess I'll have to hoof it after all to get exactly what I want. This may come to a surprise to many of you, but I hate malls. I have grown to bear great distaste for malls and all congregate parking lots in relation to said malls. In fact, since moving to LA, I haven't been to a proper mall once. I don't even know how to get into the massive buildings here which look not unlike the spaceships in Independence Day (ironically, the library at my college WAS the spaceship in Independence Day). I need to do weeks' worth of yoga just to gear myself up for a trip.Labels: domestic goddess
Monday, December 04, 2006
"Trusting people is nice sometimes."
Apologies for being MIA recently. A lot has been happening in shaking up my little snowglobe corner of LA, and I'm happily stimulated to say the least.
First a little tidbit -- Anthropologie had an incredible sale on Black Friday; I bought several things (including the above skirt) on an assistant-in-LA's budget. I know. Mark your calendars for next year.
Last Wednesday, I taught a workshop at 826LA with my fellow intern Stacey, where we had a wonderful turnout (we scrambled to make more books as two unexpected students showed up!) It was so fun, albeit exhausting, to teach a group of excited kids how to crochet cozies for their books. And so fun to work more closely with other interns and volunteers!
At work on Monday, we had received a call at the office to facilitate an event on Friday for Corinne Bailey Rae, whose music as you know I'd been adoring since the summer. Yes, as in in four days Friday. Although a little chaotic and subject to some miscommunication, we pulled it off and it was incredible to meet and then sit in on a SoundCheck session with CBR - she is so sweet and talented. I loved her delicate yet powerful voice, with a hollow edge that sounds like crackling firewood in early winter.
Last night, Ryan and I went to MOCA's Skin+Bones exhibit. We had a minor incident where both of us had no cash for the cash/check only parking lot in the middle of downtown LA. But the parking attendant let me park and pay him after visiting the ATMs upstairs, based on the fact I'm trustworthy because "you're a lady". (Did he not notice the 6'5" male in the passenger seat?) When we went to pay him, he seemed surprised.
He said, in his wide-eyed accented English, "Oh, you're back so quickly?"
As I gave him my twenty and he found change, he remarked slowly, thoughtfully, "Trusting people is nice sometimes."
That was incredibly refreshing to hear in a place like LA, for a cynical girl like me.Labels: 826LA, losangeles, photolog
|
