"And tell me this: I must be absolutely sure...

...This place I've reached, is it truly Ithaca?!"

Why yes, yes it is! Reporting from Ithaca, NY. This is my first week at my first real post-grad job in my first move away from the homestead, and so far so... great. I'm not doing anything remotely connected to my English degree, but its enjoyable and challenging, I'm learning quickly and making some really wonderful friends. This is exactly what I needed ever since May, or maybe even before that. Life makes sense. I am excited 100% of the time. Even in traffic. Even parallel parking. Even filling out paperwork. Even with a runny nose. 24/7 smile. 

My awesome apartment isn't ready until mid-December, so I am couch (and guest room) hopping for 6 weeks and very stoked about it! I live essentially out of my trunk and at the mercy of gracious hosts. I think everyone should be homeless for a period of time, I'd definitely recommend it.  

Tonight is burrowing with a book and a friend, tomorrow is hiking in Watkins Glen (pictured, note cred) with the girls from work because of veteran's day. Home Friday night through Monday morning to switch out my trunk arsenal. I really love my life right now. 

Title Quote from Homer's The Odyssey (Book 24, ll. 286-286)   

Exciting!

Got a job! Being a real person! Moving! Soon!

I AM IN LOVE

With Marcel the Shell (with shoes on). 

Well, shoes on or off, I think I'd still be quite smitten. 

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

Haiku Monday (again)

Allergic skin rash,

Dinosaur egg of a girl-

But look at my boots!

If you comment, I will astound you with a haiku all your own.

Ship Shape

I think for the first time in a long while I can honestly say that everything is going to be alright. 

Haiku Monday!

Thunder moving in,

She clings to the coverlet

Waiting for the storm.

If you leave a little commentski I'll write one just for you! For now I think I'll get out and try to walk between the raindrops...

Lighten Up, Would Ya?

From Ginger's Choice

I've been drawn to chandeliers as of late though I have no clue why, so I thought I'd share some Etsy favorites! Not sure if I would go new, old, or upcycled for my home-of-the-future, what do you think?

Something Charming

Enlightened Thinking

...Even this guy from Urban Walls!

How the Heck are You?

The past week has been truck oil changes, dress-up, guitar-ing, emails, Inception on IMAX, Elliott Smith, a big burrito and  a (couple of) dark chocolate Klondike bars. I've been keeping scarce but don't worry there are some exciting things in store! Keep an eye on the horizon. 

Someone tell me how your week has been going!

LCD Soundsystem

New album "This is Happening" is out now. 

That's all well and good but whaaat is up with this video?!

Delightfully disturbing.

Up up up

Had photos done today with the lovely Jena Buckwell! Just what I needed, a little confidence boost- the world doesn't end after a break up, people! Maybe you would like to see another picture? Ah, okay okay I'll indulge you- but only because I know you won't leave me alone otherwise. 

All in all

2 years is better than none. 

Saying goodbye sucks. 

Haiku Monday

Blustery for summer

Second hand, lost but not found

Red chair on the porch. 

If you leave a comment, I'll write a haiku for you (just you!) based on anything I can ascertain about who you are. 

Good News!

                                                                       Thank you, Friends of Type!

Moving?

I guess now it's time to start getting all my ducks in a row...

Boston... check.
On to New York.

Metamorphose

Good Morning! I went to Ithaca NY for a night and day to visit my oldest friend. We had cocktails and ate lunch at Waffle Frolic (I know, right?!) and I jumped off of a 40 foot gorge. I wish I could live there, where dogs are everywhere and people smile and bike places and waffle bars exist.

That gorge was one of the most daring things I've ever done- what's a daring feat you've accomplished?

Now I'm Not Too Sure But...

I think this might be the future.

Morning/Afternoon

Morning:






Afternoon:

Other People's Lives

I bought a used book from a library fund raiser a few weeks ago and to my delight when I opened the cover I found this:

Now what's the story, huh? What happened to the shower? What day was this written- or, how long did the recipient have to go shower-less? Do I know them? Would I have been able to tell this person was unable to shower? So many questions left unanswered!

I love when you get an unexpected peek inside the home life of a person or a family- something as simple as this note is like finding buried treasure to me.

I won't talk about the book- it wasn't that good. The note was goooood.  

ZOO TODAY

                                                        What a wild thing. 

This must be mine before the summer is out.

3 Things

Three things about myself:

1) I love boats. I've never been on one for any extended period in time but I love them and the idea of them. The confines of a boat seem to be a relaxing kind of limbo- or as Tom Stoppard let Guildenstern put it:

"I like they way they're- contained. You don't have to worry about which way to go, or whether to go at all- the question doesn't arise, because you're on a boat, aren't you? Boats are safe areas in the game of tag... the players hold their positions until the music starts... I think I'll spend most of my life on boats." -Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

I think I might too. Let's just hope I'm not one for seasickness...


2) I used to sing in a blues band. In my first year of college I met the members of my band, but we didn't know we would be playing together at the time. We all lived in the same residence hall. Fast forward two years and we formed Blue Rooster, first starting out with a lot of Etta James covers then working into our own stuff. We played for campus events a lot, at bars, coffee shops and house parties. I think with the release of a cd right before we all graduated we rose to a cult status- if I miss anything about college, Blue Rooster is it.


3) When I was little my sister Jessica and I started dance lessons. We took tap and ballet. Even though she was two years older than me, I refused to leave her side and dance with the younger class. I was shy, easily distracted, and more in it for the costumes... these things may have resulted in the award I received at the end of my second year. I was the esteemed "Dancer who Tries Hardest." Every girl got a pink award with a couple of dance stickers. While most awards had pirouetting ballerinas, MY award had a bunny in a tutu tripping over her untied laces, looking shocked. Nobody ever ever ever believes that story. Lucky for YOU, I recently unearthed the pictorial evidence:



As if that smile face makes it all better- even the other sticker looks purposefully slanted to represent choreographic failure. Who needs dance anyway when you can be among the uncoordinated majority? Right?? WHO'S WITH ME?!

If anyone is reading this, comment with three things about you. But no one is probably reading this. Huh, I thought I ordered a cake for this pity party...

Whale

Cast out your lures but I will no more.

I am not your breaching terror or the glutton of Jonah-

The Pequod does not pursue me.

Those who come only to bear witness be warned;

I am not for you,

I will not raise my white face to the crests in exhibition.

Leave me below, leave me to record time's biography on my back-

Braille for the barnacles to decipher.



                                               Sam Francis, "The Whiteness of the Whale"

Lush

It rained all night, so now the world is one big supersaturated sponge. Instead of going to work, I would love to curl up on the porch with a book and watch the water soak in. That smell- rain quenched soil- is beyond description. So great!

Or I would want to be hanging out with these three:



meet the other animals.

Meet Angel

She is absolutely thrilled to make your acquaintance.

Anxiety

It sucks when at the worst times you get a friendly reminder of why you'll never be able to make it on your own.

It hit me a few years back

that I'm not very smart.

Okaaaay, I'm smart- where I've gotten myself thus far is a little tricky without some semblance of a head on your shoulders, but as far as the important stuff is concerned I lack (or lost) something.

By important stuff I suppose I mean the move-and-shake brains, the spark and ignition of creativity. Being able to express the crazy ideas that just get caught in the cobwebs for people like me. I feel as though I am able to detect genius and appreciate it, but its not the sort of thing I can relate to on a personal level. I'm a bit... minuscule in comparison, I guess. I'm a fog, a clutter, and I think its getting worse.

I'll probably never be able to string together my convictions to make anything astounding- if not because of my shortcomings then because I am crippled by intimidation. That's been really hard to come to terms with in a world clinging to individual promise- but it's now quite clear that fate and the individual are not always in sync with one another, despite the potential for greatness.

Should I feel satisfaction knowing my limitations? Or should I take all of that well-wishing and greeting card advice and refuse to settle? Settle for what? I imagine hundreds of scenarios for my future every day, they're on autopilot, but which is worth striving for?

Personal accounting- I have tried so hard to prioritize and categorize my skills, interests, capabilities, and goals but they all add up to a haze, a crapshoot of a life. Its who I know, being at the right place at the right time, luck and serendipity. I'm not too thrilled about that, to be honest. I want to work hard and be able to gain some kind of personal fulfillment from it. Is that really too much to ask?

Maybe this recognition is my best defense. Then again maybe not. All I know right now is that I have an early morning ahead of me.

In Process

I'm writing a children's book with my graphic designer friend this summer. It has so so so much potential, I really hope we can finish it- lately I haven't had the conviction to do a lot of things like writing, preparing for the future, finding a job, washing behind my ears, etc but hopefully I'll get back on track when the heat settles. I had goals at one point... I think they evaporated, or shriveled like little raisins. I am a human of IDEAS, I'm full of them, it's following through that becomes a bit tricky.

The book is an interesting introduction to consumerism, and while I won't reveal anything I'll give you a random one-line preview:

"It filled toy shelves taller than trees. It was on billboards and in subway stops and every magazine you've ever heard of."

Heh, someday maybe this book will line shelves taller than trees and the one stranger that stumbled upon my blog will be like, "What the?!?! Wow, I remember this!"

And that will be a great day, assuredly.

Busybusybusy

What's going on?

I try to keep my chin up, but

Hotter than Blazes!!!

What are you up to today? I'm heading out for a bike ride before the weather becomes comparable to the Amazon, going to work at the village quilt shop (you're jealous) and then seeing this little creature who will be arriving with her fam:


Photo cred:Jen Stevenson


All in all, a good day if I remember my sunblock.

Happy 234th Birthday, America!

While I'm not always happy with the way you behave, America, 234 years is quite an accomplishment- especially considering all the trouble you've stirred up over the last two centuries!

How are you celebrating the Fourth of July, random stranger? At this point I probably shouldn't assume anyone is reading this. Wishful thinking.

I woke up a couple hundred miles away from where I am now, so I kissed my lovely young beau goodbye and made a nice morning journey home. Now, I'm sipping iced tea and listening to First Aid Kit's latest and greatest before heading to a party.

Which brings me to business! First Aid Kit is a Swedish indie/folk duo comprised of sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg. You may have seen their amazing fleet foxes cover video on youtube a couple years back like I did, but their January release "The Big Black and the Blue" just makes my little heart melt! These girls are still in their teens (!), and not only can they stand being near each other they are able to make the sweetest harmonies together. It makes me miss my sisters quite a bit. The music I listen to at any given time has to meld with the mood- the weather, room, time of day, my emotional state, etc. "The Big Black and the Blue" has tracks that channel soft summers, back porches, miles of stars, setting out alone, storms that both delight and scare you, walks in woods that aren't yours... a whole lot of great things.

Watch this video from "The Big Black and the Blue" and check out their album!




In other news, I bought a used dress the other day and it sure is pretty! I can't wait to wear it- a great summery resort-y pattern:



You can't really tell, but that's navy blue, I swear!

Again, Happy birthday USA, everyone enjoy the rest of your holiday! If you're reading and not American: as you were.

Welcome Home

So this could get interesting...

Good morning-after! I'm an academically hungover twenty-two yr old who just moved back home. I'm not quite sure who I am as of right now. I know what I like, what I don't, where I've been and who I've met but those future tenses- where I'm headed, what I'll be doing, etc- those are TBA. You're welcome to ride shotgun as I find all of this stuff out, and hopefully everything will turn out for the best. 

Mainly this will be a little place for sharing interesting tidbits, learning and teaching, joking and some good-natured sass. The blogs I love to read chronicle some pretty amazing lives- my life isn't that amazing right now, but maybe the simple things will be enough to entice you to return again. 

If you like fresh salsas,

style on a (tiiight!) budget,

mellow music,

your parents, 

unusual books, 

friendship in strange places, 

embarrassing social moments, 

and 

just a little bit of literary magic,

Welcome Home.