Ten Things I Love Today

1) I fell asleep last night with soaking wet, tangled hair. Naturally I woke up with a balsam fir on my head. Instead of moaning about it, I put on a bright red dress and plaid tights. There is no blending in with the scenery today. IF I’M GONNA LOOK LIKE A TREE, BY GOLLY I’M GONNA LOOK LIKE A CHRISTMAS TREE. 

2) I forgot to set my alarm but I woke up sort of on time anyway. AW YISS.

3) Nena and Co. Everything.

4) It’s almost Thanksgiving and I’m less than a week away from being reunited with my favorite Bostonians. I’m also less than a week away from my favorite feast of the year. FYI, we’ll be serving from both ends of the health spectrum, from lentil loaf to deep fried turkey.

America, y’all.

5) You’ve probably seen it already, but this video of a little boy and his father being interviewed about the attacks in Paris. I’m still crying.

6) It’s that time of year where I play George Winston radio nonstop on Pandora.  If Norman Rockwell paintings were made into a movie, it would be scored by George Winston.

7) I have way too many material possessions and this explains why.

8) I still can’t get over this sky from Tuesday night.

9) For the first time in my life I have real and true business cards. I have never felt more like a kid pretending to be an adult.  I finally have something to give people other than these.

10) Adele’s new album. Basically crying for the rest of my life.

Have a good weekend my dears. xx

Friday Five

This week's questions brought to you by Eva, my darling sister, the apple to my pie, the steak to my hamburger, etc. Yep, inside joke. I love you, dear and wish Texas wasn't so far away.  


1. What is your favorite first line from a book?
I have a couple, but I'll just mention one:
"There was a white horse, on a quiet winter morning when snow covered the streets gently and was not deep, and the sky was swept with vibrant stars, except in the east, where dawn was beginning in a light blue flood."
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin


2. Imagine you had to live somewhere you could never leave. Would you rather live in a submarine or a tree house?
Ooh this is hard because a submarine is mobile but a tree house is, well, not underwater. 
But I can never leave?
Nope, still going to go with the tree house. Especially if it looked like this:

Or any of the ones found here.

3. If you could have an exotic animal for a pet, what would you choose?
an elephant, hands down. next question?


4. Who would you rather see as president: Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber?
I'm not sure I'd want to see what kind of world we'd live in if those were the choices, however, I'd have to say the Biebz. Even though he's Canadian-born and therefore not allowed by the Constitution to run for president, in this fantasy situation, it probably doesn't matter. He seems...less likely to become embroiled right away in a personal life scandal that would take his attention away from running the country. Not that it wouldn't happen to him too, but I feel like it would take longer. 


5. If the house was burning down, what 5 items would you grab, regardless of size?

• Bible
• Camera
• Recipe binder
• Favorite pair of TOMS
• my pet elephant, of course

Thanks for the questions, sis! And for the rest of you, feel free to submit questions in the comments below or answer these ones yourself!


Happy Friday!

Friday Five

This week's questions supplied to me by Alaina, my favorite Kiwi and fellow food lover. I only saw her about once a month while living in Switz, but the fact that she's back in NZ and I'm here in US makes it seem like we were next door neighbors! She's got excellent taste in music, the best laugh, and makes a mango tiramisu that is absolutely to die for. You would be the only one to give me questions, Langridge.  Tu dis si je pense fort à toi! :)


1. Are you a pc girl or a mac snob? 
Mac snob! I had a PC for about 5 years but it was problem city. And my Mac is just so pretty... 


2. If you could have one food supplied free to your doorstep every day for the rest of your life it would be.....?
Gruyere. I have a deep respect for this cheese and it is so very hard to find around here! Such a lovely melting cheese, so many ways to use it. 

3. What is the coolest/strangest/most random story you have to explain a scar you've got?
This is definitely a 'Laina question, I'm sure she's got loads! Oh dear, I'm afraid I don't lead an exciting enough life to have many scars to explain. I've got one on my ankle that came from stepping on the end of a piece of scrap metal. See, you're nodding off already! 

4. If you had to either take cold showers for the rest of your life or eat at a fast food restaurant once a day for the rest of your life, what would you chose?
I really pondered this one, because both are equally unpleasant, but settled on cold showers. A fast food habit like that would most certainly shorten my life span. 

5. When was the last time you played air guitar? 
Today. I have a terrible habit of not being able to keep still when I hear music.  I usually go for the air drums but ever since I lost my favorite air drum sticks, I've switched to the guitar. 


That's it! Thanks again for the questions, Alaina. 
As for the rest of you, I see you forgot to do your homework. Tsk tsk. Come on, make me proud! And feel free to answer these questions in the comments, or on your own blog!  

Friday Five

Since I don't feel like telling a story today, or doing too much thinking in general, I've decided that I'm going to do the Friday Five.  I notice that this blog is slowly becoming a predictable, daily-themed situation (Ten on Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, Things I Love Thursday, etc) but I do what I can to just keep writing.  Eventually the mood will strike and I'll have another real life tale to tell, of places visited and people seen.  For now, my keyboard is just the tiniest bit off balance unless I keep a sliver of cardboard under the upper left corner. As small as this is, it is maddening enough to frustrate all the creative juices out of me.

I know, I sound like SUCH a drama llama right now. Well, we do what we must to keep the tortured artist in us alive, eh?

Anyway, Friday Five is a tradition of answering five random questions on your blog on a Friday. Yes, I know what you're thinking, this is basically half of a Ten on Tuesday and it's on, well, Friday.  The difference here is I will do it using random questions that people ask me specifically, instead of just copying it from someone else's blog like usual.

However, since you all have had no forewarning and no time to prepare deliciously random questions to ask me, I have made up the following questions myself to get the ball rolling.

But this is the last time. The ball is in your court now, readers. Enough of me doing all the work here, slaving away at my slightly wonky keyboard for your amusement.  Post it in the comments, send me an email, or write it on the back of your grocery list and mail it to me.  But only after you've gone to the store and gotten your groceries.

Pick a book from the shelf and write down one of your favorite lines.

"Ce qui embellit le désert," dit le petit prince, "c'est qu'il cache un puits quelque part..." 
from Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Le Petit Prince


Translation: "What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well..."

What was the most interesting conversation you've had in the last 48 hours?
me "So the locking mechanism isn't connected, because when I hit 'lock' on the key fob, it clicks but doesn't catch so the door remains unlocked and then the car alarm goes off when I open the door."

Ranie, body shop owner "Yeah, I tell you, technology. Not like the old days. In my day, you had to crank a handle to roll down the window. Back in the '70s, I was a Navy man, a spotter in the ships. I'd have to stick my head out the porthole after the gunman fired to tell him if he was on the mark or not. '50 clicks to the right' or '25 clicks to the left' I'd say. And then I'd tell him how many rounds to fire: 'On mark, 3 rounds'. Nowadays they do it all by satellite. No need for us spotters anymore. Heck, technology's making us all obsolete."

He fixed the lock. The personal anecdote and aggrieved worldview were free of charge.

What does the 30th song in your iTunes library say about you?
Well, I have my library in alphabetical order by artist, so that makes song #30....
"Truth" by Alexander


Hmm. A rather good song; a folksy, jangly tune off of the solo album of the lead singer from Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes.  And yes, that last sentence sounded as hipster music snob to me as it sounded to you. So there you have it, I'm a hipster music snob.

What is the phrase you have (over)used the most recently?
"Step into my office." I love how pompous it makes me sound because a) it implies that I'm slightly superior to you in some way, no matter the context and b) I don't actually have an office. Teehee.

What is the best thing you've seen all day?
 I give you this photo of a dog's (and coincidentally, my own) perception of time:

Source: I'm sorry, I forget! but google "dog's perception of time" and you will see this image all over the place.


Whew. Coming up with those questions required more thinking than I intended. Your turn. Leave a question. Please. It will just be too embarrassing if I am forced to make up five more for next week. But don't let it get in the way of your having a good weekend.