Things I Love Thursday

Hey you. Yes, you reading this. You should feel really extraordinary because I am updating my blog even though my thesis is due one week from today. If you hear a faint cheering noise on April 1st, even if you are on the other side of the country (or the world, for my 2 international readers), it's probably me. I will most definitely be cheering. There will also probably be dancing in the streets. I might even hug strangers. And then I will calm down and go take East Asian History exam #2. Shame on you Hastings for scheduling an exam on April 1st. As if I'm going to have the brainpower or energy to study.

Anyway, my shift is almost over so on with it!

(1) Viral Videos I love wasting time on the YouTube, I really do. My favorite videos are the parodies of songs/people/political events, like a rap song about East Coast preps (thanks Hattie!). Yo, yo, where my WASPs at?  And also really random videos that have no point but to make you laugh, like The Internet is Made of Cats, or an infomercial about ham set to a mad techno beat.
One of my favorites:

(2) Mint Chocolate Brownies Actually, I am lie-telling. I have not tried this recipe with mint chips. I wanted to, but Harris Teeter (Harris Teeter! I love the south and their grocery stores with old man names!) did not have any. Regardless, this is an amazing recipe for dark chocolate brownies if I do say so myself.

 If I wasn't such a failure at food photography, you would be able to see the yum.

(3) my Minolta Maxxum 4 film camera I love love love working with film and not because it's old school and hipster to do so. I have used this camera since high school and it takes beautiful photos (see below!). I took it with me on my trip to NC and I can't wait to develop the film.  The only drawback is the extra time and money it takes for the camera shop to scan the film so I can edit the photos.  Someday, I will own one of these so I can do it myself.

                          One of my favorites from a wedding

 (4) Blip.fm  First I listened to Yahoo Radio.  Then I became a Pandora fiend. My Pandora stations were the stuff of legends. And then Pandora decided to operate on ad revenue. Not only are my stations constantly interrupted by irrelevant advertisments, there is a limit to how many songs I can listen to. Recently, Pandora has also taken it upon itself to add really terrible music to my stations. And then I discovered Blip.fm (well, Bryan did. And then I copied. Thanks Bryan.). I pick all the songs and can "reblip" other people's picks.  It's like Twitter for music. Incidentally, it automatically updates to Twitter when you blip a new song. Now my music-listening experience is free from interruptions and unwelcome additions.

  

(5) Big Daddy's Burger Bar in Charlotte, NC. To me, hamburgers are usually the same: big, beef-flavored, and good with fries. I was wrong. Christina and Karra took me to this restaurant in the hip Dilworth neighborhood and my eyes were opened. Best. Burger. I've. Ever. Eaten. Hands down. If you are ever in the area, stop by. Immediately.

Shortlist:

-Midnight Pomegranate body lotion from Bath & Body Works
-Spring Break. It was the perfect mix of productivity and relaxation.
-Finally getting someone's wedding present in the mail from Anthropologie. And laughing because the bill came in its own cotton satchel.
-The thrill of taking off in a plane
-Fitting all of my stuff into a tiny carry-on suitcase and not having to pay to check my bags. I win Delta airlines, I win.
-Making my connecting flight during the world's shortest layover in the one of the Midwest's biggest airports aka Detroit International.
-a thousand things. coolest birthday gift ever. It's a book of Polaroids. By Jason Mraz. Adam, you're awesome.
-Teavana
-The Pipgras family
-Pink vintage typewriters (thanks Karra, now I want one too.)

Hope your Thursday was worth loving!