WORLDS ARE FORMING

Mildly Extreme Home Makeover: Josh's Apartment

                                   BEFORE                                                               AFTER   
After living here since July, I finally did something with my "dining room" (also known as a corner of my living room.)  You'll notice that in the "before" picture, I didn't really show that corner.  That's right, I Ansel Adamsed it (only showed the pretty stuff, left out all the ugly nearby.)  Favorite part of it?  The olive branch print.  Also, did you know?  Mirrors really do make rooms look bigger.

I'm really happy with how it turned out...but need to decide on something to put on the table.  Any ideas for me?

Watching, Reading, Listening.

My last two weeks in pop culture...

WATCHING:
*Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story...A little profane, but a funny take on bio-pics.
*Juno:Hilarious, deep, great soundtrack.
*The Great Debaters: Sad, inspiring, well produced, great acting.

READING:
*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
*A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
*Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

LISTENING:
*Sufjan
*Rosie
*Jack

Both/and.

Things I like...
1. A quiet and clean residence hall.
2. New tires that are the right size for my Blazer.  (With a Whitworth employee discount!)
3. Free coffee certificate from Starbucks because they forgot to make my drink.
4. Christmas cards in the mail.
5. Starting a new book, and within 10 pages, knowing I already love it.
6. Packages coming in the mail.
7. Getting ready to go see the family.

Things I don't like.
1. Missing my staff and residents!
2. The chunk of change that new tires cost!
3. Waiting for coffee.
4. Feeling behind on my Christmas cards!
5. Having to put my new book down.
6. Paying for the things that come in the mail!
7. Getting my apartment in shape to leave.

All in all...a hard life.

Thanksgiving with the family.

This was my first Thanksgiving spent with my family in...I think 6 years.  Living in Austin and Princeton made it difficult (and potentially expensive) to get home for the holiday. 

I did miss my Princeton family...a few of us spent the last 3 Thanksgivings together!

We had a nice day this year - beautiful weather, plenty of food, and the whole family together.

HOLD ME BACK! Hold. Me. Back!

It happened today.

I plunged into the Christmas spirit.  I don't quite know how it happened, but there is only so much I can do at this point.  Thanksgiving has not yet come and gone, so I can not decorate or listen to Christmas music without my own self-imposed guilt.

That is not to say that I can not prepare for the Christmas season.  I love this time of year.

This is my first holiday season in my own place, so I finally get to purchase and decorate for myself.  Today, I hit Target, Michaels, and ShopKo to help me in this endeavor.  (On a budget, of course.)  I even started looking on iTunes for new Christmas music. 

Growing up, my mom loved to go ALL out with Christmas decorations, and I loved it, too.  The house was transformed with music boxes, angels, wall hangings, garlands, snow globes, and the nativity  My least favorite part of the season was what became my job: taking all 1,298 boxes of Christmas decorations downstairs to the storage room.  I'll be a little more simple, I think.

When I return to Spokane from being with my family for Thanksgiving next weekend, believe me...my apartment will be full of visible and audible Christmas cheer.

Baking Bread.

Potato bread.  I am kind of addicted to baking it right now, playing with the recipe.  So easy. 

Many people talk about the baking of bread as a spiritual experience.  I have to agree.  There is something powerful and peaceful in the kneading of the dough, the patience it takes to wait for the dough to rise, the fragrant aroma of the baking loaf, and the savoring of the warm bread with friends.   I will continue to do this, for sanity's sake.

There's a first time for everything.

 The color of...
1. My kitchen dish towels.
2. My embarrassed/slightly frustrated face.  (See #1, followed by #3.)
3. My whites when I forgot that I had two red dish towels in the washing machine.
4. Target...which is where I will go to purchase some new whites.
5. The cups at Starbucks, to help me through this difficult time.  (Hey.  Self-care.)

Oops.

Brandi Carlile and A Fine Frenzy in Spokane.

When something good and creative comes to Spokane, one has to jump at whatever that opportunity may be.  As a lover of music, I am trying to remember what it is like to see good live music.

Tonight, I saw two of my newest favorites at The Big Easy: Brandi Carlile and A Fine Frenzy.  My live music needs have been met.  Brandi even did a cover of Johnny Cash's Fulsom Prison Blues...so good.  Alison Sudol from A Fine Frenzy is beautiful.  Beautiful.   have a crush.

If you haven't listened to Brandi or A Fine Frenzy, do, do, do.

Autumn in Spokane.

"I love fall foods." Appetizer edition.

If fall foods and summer foods were to get in a fight, it would be a close contest.  However, I believe fall foods would win by a hair.  So much goodness to be had.  Tonight I made the easiest caramel dip in the history of humankind.

Caramel Dip
1 block low-fat Philly cream cheese
1 cup brown sugar
vanilla to taste.

Beat with mixer until smooth.  Refrigerate.  Cut apples.  Eat (and eat and eat).