Into Africa

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I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.

 

Playing 'ketchup'

I got to spend last week with my Bunnies in NYC followed by a Boston visit from one of my BGFs, Alex. It was kind of hectic only being home a little over 24 hours before heading straight to New York for a few days and then straight to Logan Airport to get Alex, but so worth it! Seeing Red Riding Hood and making muddy buddies, taking Bee all over NYC, lots of cupcakes, Serendipity frozen hot chocolate after a super short wait (finally!), dinner at Katz Deli (where Harry met Sally), and best friend time at La Caverna. Alex and I went all over Boston proper, the Freedom Trail, the Sam Adams Brewery tour, House of Blues, the most amazing restaurant called Grotto, and also to Castle Island, Salem (witches... I was right at home haha), and Crane Beach (aka my new favorite place in Massachusetts). Extensive Africa post coming soon, still recuperating and I have SO MUCH catching up to do for school, but in the mean time... see how cute my friends and I are!

Adjustment

From here....

...to NYC

Happy March 17th

(This post is automated as I am in Africa, but as I would normally be in one of the best cities for St. Patrick's Day...)

Boston, North End

NYC Day

We know I love New York, but I LOVE this list. I will most likely be utilizing it when Bee and I have a whole day together in NYC later this month. I might add Greenwich Village, but otherwise the New York Times, once again, is pretty darn awesome in its judgement.

http://travel.nytimes.com/frommers/travel/guides/north-america/united-states/new-york/new-york-city/frm_new-york-c_0021020766.html

Also. Going to Africa in 12 hours. :) x 100000

What's wrong (or right) with this picture?

Photo from here -- I didn't notice at first, and it kinda freaked me out haha and I'm not sure why, it looks more obvious on my blog than on A Cup of Jo.



Cro-chet

I've been sick - really sick. Actually I've been sick for about 85% of this semester, but the past 2 weeks have been the worst by far. I finally feel like I'm not dying, but definitely not out of the woods yet. Poor Julie came to visit me but I had to pawn her off on the nicest friends in the world who took her around Boston in my stead since going anywhere was not an option. I am still stressing about the cough I have, since I'm leaving for Africa Friday morning. Anyway. Being sick I had a lot of time to crochet. I plan on making lots of scarves on my 18 hour flight too! Although I am hoping for spring and not needing to bundle up.

 

Scarf with removable flower pin

Rilla

My family has admittedly replaced me with a cat, our family's second pet. Hard to deny, since they adopted her two days before I left, let her rule the house, and she is brown with blue-green eyes. Ahem. The name I chose was a winner, and Ratch and Rilla (short for Marilla, a la Anne of Green Gables) are getting along all right. I wish I had a furry pet of my own, especially on snowy days like today!

Marilla aka Rilla aka Miss Rills aka Frills

Conundrum

I've been thinking a lot lately about where I'll be in the next year, since I will be done with my masters in December and I may be getting ready to start a PhD - I love Boston, but I also really miss New York. And D.C. is another big possibility! I guess, to quote The All American Rejects, I'll leave when the wind blows.

Boston

New York

Washington, D.C.

Courtney&Boston

Boston Public Library with Courtney Dana

The Fairy Shop (sign in window: "Chillin with my Gnomies")

Harvard - this picture may help explain why I would not have been accepted there



Cologne (Not Germany)

After a great deal of cologne shopping the past two weekends (long story...) I created my personal list of approved (and very intoxicating) colognes. These are scents that I can instantly recognize on a man, that simultaneously make me attracted to the man wearing it. Here they are, in no particular order:

• Issey Miyake - L'Eau d'Issey Pour Homme
• Giorgio Armani - Aqua di Gio
• Prada - Infusion de Homme
• Chanel - Bleu de Chanel
• D&G - Light Blue, The One
• Givenchy - Play
• A&F - Fierce

Katy Perry Tribute

Even brighter than the moon moon moon

(taken after work last night)





Stolen (from Courtney Dana)

Weekend hair goal

I'll be around Lincoln Center this weekend for those of you know what that means.... loving this messy side ponytail inspired by J.Crew and how-to'd by JO

PhD = Please.help.Decide

Lately I've been thinking I may seriously want to get a PhD instead of going to law school. Everyone knows I love school - probably too much. My rough plan is that I will apply to PhD programs for fall 2012 (applications would be due this coming December), and then if no one wants me I will take a year to work and study for the dumb LSAT (aka my biggest reservation about law school) and then do law school instead. Thoughts?

Pros:
PhD students don't pay tuition! Law students do
Law school is super competitive - I am not
Once in a PhD program, you do your own thing
Teaching while in program, and usually can find some teaching job after
No LSAT!!
Not having classes with people annoyingly younger than me

Cons:
4 years minimum instead of 3, can take longer
PhD programs are competitive to get into
Law school is very focused and structured but PhD programs aren't
It helps to be published...which I'm not yet
GRE scores still apply for PhD applications- my scores are 'aight' but not the greatest ever
Only schools that have the programs I want are kinda intimidating - i.e. Columbia, Yale, NYU, Tulane, and George Washington

I have

pretty sisters!

TGIF.

This time for Africa

I officially got my ticket for Africa today! I have been getting increasingly excited, since I have another class with the professor and he tells me about what we'll be doing there. The first trip-prep class will be this weekend, so I'm looking forward to see who I will be schlepping around (common Boston phrase, meaning trekking) with. Although we're travelling a lot in the short time we are there, I am extremely excited about two places in particular:

Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

Oh yes.

Bluebury

Blueberries were on sale this week - besides parfaits (with vanilla yogurt and lowfat granola - yum!) I have been doing a little baking too. "You'll eat a muffin - you'll eat it and like it..."



Photographie

Photo by Catie

Q&A

This question came up on a job application: Please describe yourself as a reader and how you came to be one.
I have always loved reading. My parents, both teachers, read to me all the time until I learned to read on the kitchen floor, making words with the hundreds of letter squares my grandma made out of cut-up cereal boxes. During the blazing Utah summers my sisters and I would hurry to our local library, a historic building that had air-conditioning and the biggest, comfiest chairs ever where we would lose ourselves in stacks of books. I have never been able to pick a favorite book, and have trouble even narrowing it down to a favorite genre. I read everything from non-fiction to science fiction, from cookbooks to Russian literature. Books have the power to pull us into exotic or even mundane scenarios where we participate as silent witnesses to a panorama of humanity unfolding. Reading is magic and chaos neatly pressed between two covers. I love it.

Not sure why

...but I am loving this look. Since I am now a crochet fanatic, I think I'm going to try and make some

From here

Weird.

I have a lot of weird food habits. My friend encouraged me to compile a list, and I hadn't realized just how many there are.

• Sauce. Spaghetti sauce, bbq sauce, honey mustard, salsa, you name a sauce I will use 10 times as much of it as normal people. I love to drown food in sauce.
• Tofu. Specifically, tofu on pizza, jazzed up with fun spices like paprika and garlic and oregano and then smothered with sauce (see above), spinach, and cheese (farther below). Tofu-haters of the world can suck it.
• Top layers. I only like the top layer of movie theater popcorn (it has the most butter!). Also, the top layer of a newly-opened carton of ice cream tastes absolutely amazing.
• Seeds. Hate them. Will not touch seeded grapes or watermelon - despite my love of both fruits I can only handle seedless. Dislike strawberry seeds as well, but only in things like ice cream and jam.
• Plain. Plain hominy and plain beans, straight from the can. Plain toast. Plain deli turkey and bread.
• Pickles. I get the most intense random pickle cravings; my strongest recurring food craving by far. Stupid Snooki for making pickle-loving so cliche.  
• Salt. I almost never put salt on anything.
• Meat. EW to: veins/skin/fatty parts/stringy parts/slimy parts/weird colored parts/parts that look too much like muscle. So that basically leaves me with well-done chicken breast that has been carefully autopsied for all of the EW factors.
• Cheese. Except stinky cheese. Mmm.
• Bananas. I won't eat the bottom end, only the top.
• Crust. If it's good bread or pizza or pie, I always save the best for last.
• Gross. Living on my own I don't eat peanut butter or eggs, simply because I can't stand washing dishes that have involved either. As a matter of fact, I really hate all dishes in general (luckily every guy I've dated thus far happily does dishes - it's now a prerequisite).
• M&Ms. Red, blue, and orange only, eaten in groups of three (1 of each color).
• Lime. In a 50/50 mixture of Dr. Pepper and Diet Coke.
• Nuts. I despise nuts in brownies and ice cream. Peanuts are only good for peanut butter, almonds must be blanched, and pecans must be sugar coated aka pralines. Nope, I'm not picky at all.
• Foreign objects. Mostly hairs, but obscure things end up in my food so frequently that I'm no longer shocked. 12" strings, bugs, bandaids....

On that delicious note, dinner time! Ha.

Introducing!

Bee's blog! http://beesbeesknees.blogspot.com/ by Courtney and myself (Lu&Lolly Blog Designs). Check it.

What I've....

...been playing with: H&M styling fun

...been doing: lots of this (bed/movie aka 'lazy lizard' time)

....been scared of: have you seen this troll?



10 Things the East Coast Has Taught Me

1. Coat hoods are seriously underrated. I remember not wearing one in high school because it wasn't cool. What a dummy.
2. Cars are seriously overrated. Public transportation can be the shizzz.
3. Big city people don't always live up to their stereotypes - just as Utahns don't always.
4. Sometimes big city people totally do live up to their stereotypes. And sometimes I still say 'melk' instead of 'milk.'
5. From the awesome energy and endless activity of NYC to the quaintness of New England waterfront towns to the character and history of Boston - never a dull moment.
6. I took having a mountainous landscape for granted.
7. Humidity = worst invention ever. And the fact that it makes summer and winter more miserable.
8. Autumn is my new favorite season.
9. New Yorkers and Bostonians are not being snobbish - their pizza really is 10000x better.
10. Their pizza gives me heartburn but "the rewards for those who persevere far exceed the pain that must precede the victory."

Photog love

Check this out. Absolutely adore her work! And her name.

Some stuff

A tender moment with the gibbon, my favorite animal at Hogle Zoo

Alta

Also this past week: watching scary movies with Courtney and jumping at all the scary parts, lunch with Brittany, hanging out with my BGF Ryan, going out with Julie and Alex, loukomades at church, family dinners, crocheting (I made a scarf!), babysitting, and lots of reading. Only one week left in UT! ... and then school again. Mer.

NYE

Let's face it, New Year's Eve is the most overrated holiday by far. I have a killer dress though and there's no way I'm wasting it, but a fun NYE is hard to come by. 2010 was a 'meh' year; the first 66% of it was amazing and full of the kinds of changes and adventures I was looking for. The last part of 2010 has left me longining for 2011 to hurry up and get here because I can't take it anymore, I need a new year to toast to. To quote dear Anne Shirley/L.M. Montgomery, "Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it." I hope tomorrow marks the beginning of a new year with a bright new outlook. Cheers, auld lang syne, happy new year.

Lately

Lately I am loving:
-Snow (since I haven't had to drive in it and am looking forward to skiing after the holiday rush)
-Hot tubbing, despite 10 degree nighttime temperatures
-Playing 20 questions while hot tubbing
-Couch time with my BFF
-The mtv show 'My Life as Liz', as I watched the entire first season with BFF during couch time
-Cuddle buddies (boy ones!)

-Remembering about Zoobilee Zoo - and wondering how I was not majorly creeped out

Models.

Look! We are models. Keala is too legit to quit. I will post some more when we receive them :)

 



Guilty pleasure

Courtney and Bee and I went to see "Easy A" last night. First off, I love Connie who sold us our tickets. She thought we were pretty great too, like when Bee started complaining about the 'cold' and I snapped "Oh, SO sorry, California." Anyway. Stellar movie. By stellar I mean dumb funny. I want to be the parents in that movie when I grow up. I know that makes none sense (yes none sense - long story) but watch it and you will want to be them too. Also, we are planning on seeing "You Again" on Monday ($.75 movies!!! I love Utah for that!). Both very uncultured, cheesy, and in the case of "You Again" seemingly ridiculous movies, but hey. Every now and then won't hurt you.

Hummus

I read about this hummus place here and not only am I craving some chickpeas, but I am intrigued by the varieties they offer; it's called Mimi's, and it's in Brooklyn. I see a trip there in my very near future.

Mimi's Hummus
1209 Cortelyou Road, Brooklyn NY 11218

Movies

I have been feeling under the weather lately. Luckily, I have my go-to movies! I can watch these any time, but I especially like them when I'm sick/in bad mood/bored:
Jane Austen movies (especially Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth, Persuasion, Emma)
The Young Victoria
The Sound of Music/Brigadoon/Mama Mia/any musical on film
The Little Mermaid
Any of the HP movies
What a Girl Wants
Charade
Sweet Home Alabama
The Scarlet Pimpernel

The tiniest s'more

My apartment!

 

Don't even worry that I've lived here for almost 4 months and still hadn't really unpacked until...today. But at least it's clean since I am leaving next week and followed my mom's rule of pre-vacation cleaning.

Etsy

I love Etsy. It is a source of crafting inspriation (sometimes I find fun items to make on my own) but also a great gift center! I did most of my Christmas shopping here this year. Some of the best-loved gifts I have ever given have been of Etsy origin - such as a silkscreened print of a tapir on the page of a vintage Russian book I had specially made for WL, the original collage piece I found for Amanda, and the hair flowers for Courtney -

I really liked two of the recent Etsy sellers I worked with - Jim, a 73-year old jewelry maker and self-proclaimed hippie who is proud of his 100% positive feedback rating and wrote "Thanks Cathy!" in a little note included with my purchase, and Ms. Mary Maples of Ireland from whom I got the cutest vintage postcards. I'd tell you more about my Etsy purchases but.....that is going to have to wait until after Christmas!