St. Lucia - When the Night

Can't sleep! Can't wait for the fun ahead this weekend! Can't decide on my next nail color! Here we go, wheee! 

Today, Thursday

Feet up, the day's responsibilities are complete and so I treat myself to a little drink I like to call the I Love My Sister. It's one part seltzer water, two parts Christmas schnapps-- a vodka schnapps infused with spices and fruits that my sister and I made in December. 

A few share-worthy posts from around the web:

• A blog post on traveling light from the blog Queues in Haskell

• Motorbike Girl Gangs in Morocco

• My roommate just introduced me to the app "Flappy Bird" on his phone. I can't resist telling you about it. 

"Flappy Bird is a condition of the universe. A condition in the sense of a circumstance, but also in the sense of a blight, a sickness, a stain we cannot scrub out but may in time be willing to accept. A stain like our own miserable, tiny existences as players, which we nevertheless believe are more fundamental than the existence of bird flapping games or machine screws or the cold fog rising against the melting snow in the morning" - CNN

Hehe! 

The Knife - Like a Pen

If you make workout playlists, add this song to your next one. 

It's snowing again. Highlights of today: driving the girls and their friend home from school and listening to their conversation titled How I Like to Flirt. Reading this article. Hugging a buddy goodbye before her departure for a 4-month trip to Taipei. Feeling the day-after soreness from a solid workout (hopped on the  bike in preparation for RAGBRAI!). Remembering to laugh and keeping my calm while instructing multiple classes of 45 kindergarteners-3rd graders (we were down two coaches at the school today).

Saturday Night

Sitting up in my room back at mom and dad's while their Danish Christmas party goes on down below. I'm choosing to spend this time listening to Beyonce and Lorde, drinking beer, and reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith. I'll sneak down soon to gather a tray of curried herring, pork roast, red cabbage
shrimp sandwiches, risalamande, and whatever the hell else there is down there! Very thankful to be back on this good Iowa soil for Christmas. Fang is curled at my feet in her new favorite blanket. She shutters every now and then from what I imagine to be her bird-chasing and ballroom dancing dreams. 

Amen! 

The Past Five Months Or So • • Solid Gold- Who You Gonna Run To?

Good'ay, blog! It's been awhile. Since I've last documented my whereabouts months ago, I've been living in Chicago since June. After finding/being found by a lovely family, I am the nanny of two amazing girls in addition to being a fitness instructor to students, kindergarten through fifth grade. 

I share an apartment with two roommates and as of this week, a third roommate. Pictured above, Fang is one of three 6-month-old kittens of my cat, Milou. You may remember me mentioning Milou last January when she first came into my life on a cold winter day. Well, soon enough, she got pregnant and before I knew it, I was moving to Chicago, leaving my parents in Iowa with not only Milou, Fang, Boots, and Pico, but our family cat, Willie. Luckily, my parents have also fallen in love with these cats, so taking them to a farm was out of the question. So, here I am with one of them... it's the least I can do, taking one of my responsibilities off of their hands. {Shout out to the best parents ever!}

But no, Fang is no burden being here. In fact, she and I were having tons of fun last night listening to Lorde's album Pure Heroine, drinking beer (me), and sliding around on our wooden floors. She's a great partner. But this 2-creature celebration of life party wasn't just a TGIF party but a result of my car being hit by another just 2 hours earlier, sending my Honda and me spinning in traffic. Oh the feeling of kissing your cat when you get in the door after such an event... 

Anyway, maybe it was all the hyperventilating that I did yesterday or maybe it's a resurgence of focus since bringing my desk to Chicago or maybe it's a desire for more reflection in my life that's brought me back to my blog... whatever it may be, I'm back! 

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Now here's a song! Play it loudly! 

Saw Solid Gold play with Marijuana Deathsquads at the Subterranean here in Chicago in June. Really enjoyed the pairing of these bands. 

Living Smaller & Simpler

Kirsten Dirksen, co-founder of the Faircompanies site, documents simple-living by way of one's home, transportation, and overall practices through her Youtube series. I've mentioned the book "Tiny Homes, Simple Shelter" by Lloyd Khan (I'll return it to you ASAP, Mike!) here before, and some of the home builders from that book have been featured in Dirksen's videos. Whether you're into the Tiny Home/Small(er) Spaces movement or not, I believe that simple(r) living is something we can all apply to our own lives and this is what Dirksen's work spotlights.  

A 16 year-old takes you through the process of building his own place:

Mike Carr

"Congregation", mixed media on canvas, 2012 

"Flock", mixed media on canvas, 2013

"Monday",  acrylic, spray paint, and oil pastel on paper,  2011

"Walking and Talking", mixed media on canvas  

"The Guardian",  mixed media on canvas,  2012

Paintings above by the Bristol artist Mike Carr, a.k.a China Mike. Visit his website here and his blog here. Looking at his paintings sparks an energy in me that I haven't felt in a long time when viewing someone's work. It feels personal, because to me, in these five paintings above, very recent and very significant brain action of mine has been represented. I have a soothing yet confusing reaction to this, but still it feels good for a stranger to draw it out.   

Thought

No shame in a barking and howl contest with the neighbor dog, am i right? Where's the slingshot? 

Update: My incense set off the smoke alarm, so that shut 'im up. 

Anyway, here's my song for the night... 

...brought to my attention from this BBC documentary on Brian Eno that was shared with me by a creature named Visigoth. Check it: 

Mix and Roll

Damn, it felt good yesterday for the warmth to spread over the land, for the sun to shine bright, and for my legs to carry me around town! It is one of my favorite things ever- springtime jogging. The sidewalk puddles, freshness of air, increase of people out n aboot, music blaring through open windows... it is aaall. so. good.

So in connection with Spring awakening and good energy, I share a simple and healthy snack/dessert recipe to have on hand:

No Bake Energy Bites

1/2 C. peanut butter (creamy or chunky, you can have whatever you like)
1/3 C. honey
1 C. dry oatmeal
1/4 C. ground flax seed
1/4 C. sunflower seeds
1/4 C. dark chocolate chips or morsels 
1/4 C. dried cranberries
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1.) Using a medium sized bowl, mix peanut butter and honey.
2.) Add oatmeal, flax seed, and sunflower seeds. Keep mixing-
3.) I prefer breaking down the chocolate and cranberries a bit before adding them to the mix. To do so, throw both in a food processor with a bit of olive oil for 10 seconds and that'll do. 
4.) Lastly, add the vanilla extract and then chill the mix in the refrigerator for a 1/2 hour. Once chilled, shape them however you want and that's that! Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and they'll last for up to 2 weeks. 

Voilà!

Dave Grohl - SXSW Keynote Speech

Inside For Recess

Subbed in a 2nd grade classroom the other day, and since I didn't have recess duty, two students stayed in with me and practiced their addition. They added up to 1,316,209 and were psyched about it. "Will you leave this up please? Everyone's jaws will be on the floor after they see THIS." The photos above show their victory drawings.  

After they re-filled their desks with rosy cheeks, we talked about zebra butts, how farting is natural for all of us, and that it is not OK to spread Who Has a Crush on Who rumors.     

Stages

• The parish's convent being torn down. Now my curiosity about what color the walls were in there has been quenched!

• Willie being noble and sleepy. He is the cuddliest buddy around. 

• A snowy front yard where the dog's foot/belly tracks are a'plenty.

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Crazy ass snowstorm is here! Animals are being weird! Nursing cans of Budweiser! Wondering, "What the hell is living about"! Thinking, "I drink too much beer" and then, "No such thing as too much beer'"! Doing an exit interview for financial aid and not feeling ready to face student loan payments! Weee! 

Bat For Lashes - Lillies

Big fan of Bat for Lashes! Her first album, Fur and Gold, reminds me specifically of sitting in my car every weekday morning during my first semester of senior year in high school, 5:10 a.m., awaiting volleyball practice. I'd stay cuddled in a blanket I always had with me and would stare at the deep black and blue sky. "Lillies" is from her third album, The Haunted Man. 

Today is a GOOD day. Very sunny and productive for me, despite a disruptive start to the morning: a quietly beeping smoke alarm stayed constant for a good 3-4 hours (something I failed to awake up for, but instead acknowledged only in dreaming, where I was roaming a house and unable to find where the beep was coming from.) Woke up feeling very woozy, my body pillow over my head for sound protection, even though the pillow is normally scrunched between my bed and window to keep out the draft. Since my dad was already at work, I climbed into bed alongside my mom to cuddle. 

Shout-out to my girl, Bryn, on her birthday today!!!!! Check out her tumblr, Criminally Y.A., here.

Who Cares!

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A song that brings me back to driving through the Montana mountains last summer. 

This came on the radio as I drove home from work this afternoon, just as it did after last Sunday's shift! On that day though, it was snowing heavily, so I stopped at the Country club to do donuts in the parking lot. Beautifully, the first donut spun right as the song hits its 0:55 mark. Today it rained heavily and the gray/browns of the snow's underbelly have been revealed.

Lastly, reading this book has turned me upside down in very necessary ways:

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It's easy to convince yourself 
that you're feeling lonely
when you're the only human at home
for eight consecutive hours

But as I work at my desk,
separated, in my own mind-world,
a cat sneezes behind me
and I look back, saying "bless you",
to see his softball head swivel to the side 
as birds pass by the window, he watches,
And I realize I am not alone

Today

Reading

Hi visitors, would you please share book recommendations? I like everything. 

End of a Week

Currently holding down the front desk at the newspaper my mom works at while the whole office gang is out for a meeting. Bring on the telephone calls and visitors! 

Since I've graduated, I'll soon be subbing in the local district and hopefully doing some waitressing. In the meantime, I've been using my time wisely: watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, deer-watching/feeding, and buffing up via my parents' home-gym. This time has also spurred me to start painting again, so as you can see above, i'm finishing a piece I started last spring. I'm looking forward to sharing more paintings on here, and I see this as a motivation for me to keep getting my brushes out. 

Also posted above are some treats I brought back from my grandma's after spending yesterday afternoon with her. She told me she's in a "get-rid-of-it-all" mode, so I took it upon myself to help her out. The necklaces and bowls were owned by my great-grandmothers and by my grandparents when they lived in KY, and the stationery/stickers by my aunts when they were little. It is an honor to now own these pieces, and I especially look forward to displaying the celery bowl on my future living room table. 

Last thing: Now I know I have a weekly blog reader-ship of about 30 views, and who knows if one person is responsible for all these views (Katrina?!), but regardless, if you enjoy my bloggity blog or like viewing my content often, leave me a comment on this post whether I know you or not, and say hi. Share your blog address with me if you have one. And if you'd like to do a creative exchange of sorts (mail/email), let me know. I have a lot of time on my hands right now! 

In Search

How wonderful of a thing
to come across a pen
once chewed by Christian