Currently

Loving:  My new iPhone!  I'm trying to declutter my life, and focus less on "things" and more on life.  But this THING is something I've waited a long time for (upgrade!).  Merry Christmas to mee!!

Reading: I went to Barnes and Noble to get my mom a giftcard for her Nook, and left with Best American Non-Required Reading 2011.  It's one of my FAVORITE parts of the year, and I was very delayed this time around. (Borders' closing was a real blow to my not-used book-buying.)  Excited to spend part of my January holed up and reading.  (If you don't know about BANRR, it's a collection os all kinds of publications from the previous year, edited in part by Dave Eggers (of McSweeney's, etc.), and in part by a board of high school kids in LA who are all part of 826 Valencia, a non-profit tutoring and writing center for children in a number of cities across the country. It's a great organization, it's also a really great collection of every kind of publication you can imagine.  These kids read fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, chapbooks, blogs, etc., and pick out the most intriguing, interesting, ground-breaking, best.  READ IT.  Then order this year's edition, like I'm going to soon.)

Watching: I watched Giant this week, starring Liz Taylor, James Dean, and Rock Hudson.  I adore a good old movie with pretty dresses.  

Listening to: Lana Del Rey's Born To Die (The Paradise Edition).  I have a habit of being obsessed with one album at a time, and right now, this is it.  Over and over, until I know the words.  It's not as hard with this one, since she uses the same phrases a lot:  "party dress," "take [my/your] body downtown," and some version of "drive fast" appear in most of the songs.  Some of the words are too trendy for me to really like ("Be young, be dope, be proud..." Really?), and some of them are too clearly just to get a reaction (the flavor of your lady parts... not a necessary detail, Lana), and some don't actually make sense (I can not understand what the song National Anthem is trying to say.  Is she a song?  Is she money?  Is she success?  What?).  But you know what?  I'm still obsessed.  I still like this album way, way too much.  There's just something about it, the feel, the words (when she does it right), the stutter she incorporates into (at least) 3 songs, but adds to it somehow.  It crosses a line between singer/songwriter and pop singer, but still stays this side of interesting.  She mixes just enough glamour into the grit to make the album a little shiny, a little broken, a little desperate, and very catchy.  

Thinking about: Exhaustion.  I always feel guilty feeling completely run down when I haven't earned it.  I'm always thinking that I just don't know how to keep my eyes open and my head up, and then I think, wow, you didn't just go on a death march.  Quit whining.  And then I think, I'm sick!  I deserve to feel tired!  And then I just feel guilty again, because I'm not all that sick.  And you know what?  There will come a time, probably soon, when I can't sleep again, when I'm up all night.  So I need to remind myself to be thankful for being exhausted, to be grateful for what I have, no matter how small.

Looking forward to: The new additions to my (extended) family that will be here in the summer.  I got some more baby news this week, and there is very little else I love more than a baby.  I am so excited to have tiny people to shop for, and to see the TWO new mamas in action in just a few months.  I know both of them are going to be great, in their own little ways.  Please, one of you, have a girl?  Thanks.

Making me happy: This card from my friend Sarah.  I really, really, don't want to put it away with the rest of the decorations.  I think it's a Winter Decoration.  It's going to stay out for a few more months!

Inspired by Dani at Sometimes Sweet.  :)

Currently

Loving:  My sister finished her DIY calendar today.  It's super-cool.  She made it out of mounted paint color samples and glass.  She can write on it with dry erase markers, so next month it will be just as pretty and November-ready!  If I can convince her, there will be a little feature on this blog showcasing all the things she makes.  (There are a lot!  Wait until you see what she's doing with her bureau!!)

Reading: I read 2 Vogues, and 1 issue each of  Smithsonian, Philadelphia, and House Beautiful Magazines this weekend.  Also bought 4 books this weekend at the Haverford Public Library during Haverford Township Day.  You could get all the books that fit in a bag for $6.  My sister and I filled that bag, me with random stuff (Virginia Woolf, a photojournalism coffee table book, a Second City video from probably 1983), and Erin with ballet, ballet, and more ballet.  

Watching: I just finished season 4 of Dexter today, you know the season when Rita dies?  If you didn't know that happened... oops?  ALSO, I'm pretty obsessed with Call the Midwife, the new series on Masterpiece Theatre, via BBC One.  It's the true story of a young woman who was a bicycling midwife in London's East End in the 1950s.  If it's got pretty hairstyles and babies, I'm totally in.  I thoroughly enjoyed this week, and I can't wait for episode 3 next week!

Listening to: The Velvet Underground and Nico (separately and together) are all I've been listening to this week.  "Shiny, shiny..."

Thinking about: Greed, America, and politics.  This upcoming election has been getting me a little worked up about a lot of things.  I try not to get too political, mostly because I've known people who think about nothing else.  Politics can be very divisive, and that's the thing I dislike the most - the fact that people seem to not work together anymore, or even work against each other.  And then I start thinking, "Well, maybe this is how it was years and years ago, but we just didn't see it, or recognise it, or know it was happening, because we didn't have this magic instant-news/opinion machine called the internet?"  But whether it was happening years ago, or is a new(er) phenomenon, shouldn't it be better?  Why can't we all get along?  Why is everything motivated by money, and not what's right?  Capitalism and moralism can't be mutually exclusive, right?

Looking forward to: The enchilada stuffed peppers that are in my oven RIGHT NOW.  I can't wait to eat them.  They were ordered from my favorite, Harvest Local Foods, and have been in the freezer since they arrived.  I'm also looking forward to my food order this week, since I didn't order anything last week.  (Still getting used to having fresh food in the house - it goes bad so fast, and I eat it so slow!  I need to learn to order less in order to not waste.)

Making me happy: Snugglepuss here next to me.  She hasn't left my side all day, we played tag this morning, and then we snuggled down for TV and blogging.  Yes, "she" is the cat.

Inspired by Dani at Sometimes Sweet.  :)t

Currently!

Loving: The fact that my dad rode a mattress down the stairs yesterday. He's a grown up.  He just thought, hey, I have to get this mattress downstairs, why not do it in the funnest way possible?  And then he did.  He later told us riding a bike makes him feel free, but I have a feeling it's more than bikes that do that for him.

Reading: Let's Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson - my friend Becky sent this to me in the mail, because she loved it so much, and thought I would too.  And she was right.  It's witty and clever, and Jenny uses words and puns the way people should.  She tells stories about her upbringing, which is so different from mine, and also very similar, specifically her relationships with her sister (I have two, but still, the sibling interaction) and her parents.  

Watching: Undeclared.  I'm so sorry it didn't last, and there isn't more to watch!  When I started out, it had to grow on me.  At the beginning, all I could think was that Freaks and Geeks is funnier, but I think Undeclared was a little bit more of a late bloomer, and it deserved more time.  It finally started to get laugh out loud funny and then it was over.  (It is not easy to make me genuinely laugh out loud.  Very few shows do this.  I find a lot of things funny, but just like a smirk or a giggle kind of thing.)  I thoroughly enjoyed the episode where Ron wrote the script to make the girls want to play Truth or Dare.  Judd Apatow should do TV again.  

Thinking about: Making a switchplate cover.  These instructions seem so easy, but I don't know what shape to make!  

Anticipating: The mini-vac I'm taking this weekend to the beach!  I can't wait, not just because it's a vacation, and because it's the beach, but because it's a beach I've never been to, and I just want to play with my camera.

Wishing:  1. Antiques Roadshow was on.  2. I knew what to do for my birthday.  3. I knew how to make this headache go away.  4. That dumb kid didn't call me ma'am at the Acme.  5. I could marry this guy (I'm almost as obsessed as I used to be with Zach Braff).  6. I could see Old 97s in October!

Making me happy: My brother bought me a camera this weekend.  There's nothing like a Polaroid to make me a happy girl!


inspired by danielle at Sometimes Sweet :)