New Year's Eve

This is where I spent New Year's Eve last year: in bed. I was asleep when 2009 ended and 2010 began. While others were out toasting with champagne I was taking painkillers. I had a toothache; a bad toothache! After a day it disappeared and when I was finally able to get in to see my dentist I learned that it was temporary pain from clenching my teeth at night while stressed.

This year, I plan to be social on NYE. Sarah and I are getting together. We don't have a big night of partying planned, but we will go out to eat and watch TV after. It'll be a relaxing way to ring in 2011. I work on New Year's Day, so that will be perfect. What are all of you doing for NYE?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

I hope you all have a great time celebrating the holiday with family and friends. I will be back soon after the holiday's with some recipes (hopefully) if everything goes off without a hitch.

For now, I'll leave you with two videos. The first is an interview with my favorite photographer. Hey, I promised you I'd post it this week, right? ;)

His name is Chris Lowell and he's an actor. You may have seen him on Veronica Mars as Piz and on Private Practice as Dell. He's a fantastic actor, but he's also an amazing photographer and his photographs are beautifully rendered. This video is one of the special features on S2 of Private Practice, so it also features some of the other actors on the show, such as the great Taye Diggs. So, sit down and get ready to tune into some funny stories and a look at photography from someone who has to be one of the sweetest guys in the world. Seriously.



To view more of his photography, check out his website, Chris Lowell Photography.

Next up, is a song I am obsessed with at the moment. "Silent Night" by the great Mahalia Jackson. Lately, I have been listening to Harry Connick Jr. and Mahalia Jackson non-stop.

The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln

The semester has come to an end! Finals week was... interesting, to say the least! My poetry class had a reading at the end of the semester. It was my first reading, which was completely nerve-wracking but wonderful as well. The audience (and the poets) laughed, cried and journeyed to strange lands. The wonderful Sarah came along to cheer me on. Apparently, she almost literally cheered me on. Thank you again for not doing that! ;)

After finishing a paper that night I came down with the stomach flu and was in bed for two days. (Note to self: research immunity boosters for next semester. I think I was sick with one thing or another for a majority of Fall!) Next came work and then, my Jewish History final papers, one of which was on the book The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln. I read the book in one night so that I could write my paper and I have to say that reading the book in so short a period of time did not do justice to the book. It was extremely interesting to read a first-hand account of what life was like at this time and it was actually quite easy to read. But it was a bit much to read in one night! I would like to read it again, more slowly, reading a book at a time. This particular quote stood out to me because it represents Gluckel's outlook on life throughout the book and is one of those "putting things into perspective" quotes that really hit me:

“Even if our sages say « it is better not to be born, » meaning that men have so much to endure in this sinful world, still I thank and praise my Creator that He made me according to His will and beg Him to take me under His holy charge.”

So, coming up this week I promise I will write about one of my favorite photographer's and I'll start working on some book and movie reviews.

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

While finishing up my poetry manuscript today (yep, that's right, my senior project is done!) I decided to do some baking. I've had my eye on this biscotti ever since the recipe was posted. I do all my mixing by hand, instead of with an electric beater, but other than that I stayed true to the recipe. The biscotti is excellent! I definitely recommend trying it out. I'm sorry the pictures aren't that great today; this pair of contacts has been bothering me.

Snowy Days

Since my attempt to be unproductive for a day over Thanksgiving break proved to be unsuccessful, I decided that I might have been setting my sights too high. A whole day? That's not exactly realistic. So, I decided to try for a smaller period of time. Friday night it began to snow. A lot. I think we're at fourteen or fifteen inches now. Before the snow hit my parents went to a Christmas party so I decided to take advantage of having the house to myself and I hooked my iPod up to the speakers upstairs, put Harry Connick Jr. on play, poured a glass of wine and sat. And I was able to make myself last an entire song. That's wrong, an entire song of doing nothing else but sitting and drinking a glass of wine. I'm also serious when I said I was able to make myself. Before the first song was over I started to stand up thinking, I need to do this, this and this, before realizing that the first song hadn't even finished. As soon as it was over, I jumped off the chair and ran around getting some things done.

One of those things was cooking. I turned this:



into these:



and these:



into these:



I got the idea from Kitchenist to shred brussels sprouts and stir them into a cream-based sauce, to serve with pasta. I decided to add some peppers to the mix as well since I had only eaten one other vegetable that day. While it isn't the best pasta dish I ever made, it was tasty and it's a quick, easy recipe for those busy days.



We had snow all day and our snow storm was quickly labeled a blizzard. I woke up this morning and pulled a loaf of bread from the cupboard to find that there was a slice left. Since we weren't planning to leave the house today, my mom decided to take advantage of the opportunity and bake a few loaves. I love homemade bread! I usually don't eat jam (lots of sugar and healthier ways to get the nutrients) but I decided that a freshly baked loaf of bread on a snowy day called for a spoonful of jam.



Towards the end of the snowfall I began taking pictures. This is the window in my (basement-level) room:



The little black dots by the street are mailboxes. You can also see the reflection of lights on the Christmas tree.



There are steps buried beneath the snow.



I've been watching Anthony Bourdain while working on my flashcards for geography. So far we've traveled to Shanghai, Malaysia, Sicily, Argentina, Uruguay, Romania, New Zealand and Washington DC. I should get back to that. Up next, Chicago. Let's see if he visits Billy Goats!

TV Shows, Books, Music

Where has the time gone? My family did a lot more on Thanksgiving than I thought we would. I didn't work on any homework that day, which is really unusual for me! I just finished up the second to last module in my geography course (one to go, yippee!) and thought I'd pop in for a few quick updates.

♥ TV: My dad expressed an interest in Bones so I pulled out my S1 DVD's. We watched the entire season in a weekend. No, I'm not kidding! We watched a few episodes each day, until the last day of the weekend. My mom was out of town, so my dad made one of his delicious homemade pizzas and we watched the rest of the season. I don't need to do that again for awhile, but it was a lot of fun!

♥ Cold: I was struck down by a bad cold. It hit Tuesday, I lost my voice on Wednesday, and now I'm finally starting to get better, but still feel like crap. I will feel better next week though, whether this cold wants to leave or not!

♥ Books: Being sick does have some perks. I focused on the homework that was most pressing (meaning, due this week), but the rest of the time, if I wasn't at work, school or sleeping, I was reading. I picked up This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen. I borrowed it from a friend probably about a year ago (if not longer) and I wanted to read it since she'll be in town the next few weeks. Now I'm on a Sarah Dessen kick, so I reread This Listen. I love her stories! Even though she writes about teenagers in high school I feel like adults (especially adults in their 20's) can still relate because the situations that her characters face are situations that we can face.

♥ Holidays: The holiday season has arrived! I've already made my lists of books and movies to read and watch. And those who know me know that for me the holiday season doesn't start until I listen to Harry Connick Jr's Christmas music. So, the Friday after Thanksgiving I put in my first HCJ Christmas CD of the season. I thought I'd share some of his music with all of you today!

This is the first song that I listen to every year.


A great video of HCJ singing with this daughter.


And one last song.


♥ Remind me to share one of my favorite photographers with you one day this week. He's absolutely fantastic and I'm sure you'll love him!

Baking, Snow, DWTS

Today was my wasted day. I'm not sure how much I like the idea of spending days without being productive. I kept making lists of all that I need to do! So, what did I do? I started Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick and continued reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling. I found some new blogs that I'm excited to start reading and I introduced my dad to Bones. We watched the first two episodes and he said he'd keep watching the show with me! My dad isn't big on TV and movies but it's always fun to watch something with him. (Except for Year One. That was a bad choice and a really traumatic experience!) The last time my dad and I watched a TV show together was a long, long time ago! It was all the way back when Early Edition was still on TV.

Anyway, moving on. I also did some baking. I volunteered to make the pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving tomorrow and I also made a few loaves of Apple Walnut Bread to take to my sister's as well. My parents and I tried both (I made two pies) and they were pretty good! Here are some making-of pictures:



We also got some snow today. The second picture was my attempt to take pictures of the snowflakes but they were teeny tiny!



So, last night the DWTS results came in and Jennifer and Derek won. I think this is the first season that my favorite couple actually took home the mirror ball trophy so I was excited! Although, if Kyle and Lacey or Bristol and Mark had won I would have been happy too. Kyle was so much fun to watch all season long because he really brought personality to the dances and Bristol is what the show is all about. Anyway, after watching all three couples on Good Morning America and The View I had to go back and find my favorite dance of the season, which was Jennifer and Derek's instant dance.



I'm sure I'll be online tomorrow! My family has pretty laid back holiday's, which is nice because I actually get a lot of homework done on that day. But if I'm not, I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Wasting a Day

My mom suggested that I try wasting a day, because it's not something I can easily allow myself to do. I need to be productive. I guess it's some of the workaholic tendencies my dad passed down to me.

So, here I am, trying to waste a day.

We'll see how this goes.

Dancing with the Stars

I totally predicted the final three. Yes, even Bristol Palin. I thought she'd make it to the finals, but not because of a tea party/republican conspiracy. As I'm watching the final performance episode, I thought I'd lay out my thoughts as to why.

Jennifer/Derek. First off, if every girl out there is like me, they want to see Derek all the way till the end. But there's also Jennifer, who's gorgeous and perfect in her dancing when she does it well, and recently, she has been.

Kyle/Lacey. I love Kyle and I love seeing how he's improved throughout the season. His dancing has really become fantastic. Not only that, but I love the character he brings to the dance. He's a joy to watch!

Bristol/Mark. Bristol is what this show is about. She came in with no dance training--no performance training, even--and while she's not the best dancer on the show, she has really improved. A lot. She's doing so well for having danced only... what is it, nine weeks or something? She's doing really well! After last week's dances, I was excited to see her in the finals, because she did very well. Beyond her improvement, Mark keeps saying it, people can relate to her. She's the most "real" of the competitors and that's what makes people vote for her, I think.

I wasn't surprised when Brandy and Maks were voted off. I think the audience is tired of Maks's drama. He may be nice to look at but his looks don't make up for his mouth. I also think Brandy wanted to win too much. She was so focused on winning to make a statement on who she is and to rejuvenate her career. I think that was tiring for people too.

So, here we are with the final three. I have no guesses on who will take home the mirror ball trophy. May the person with the most votes win!

Electricity, How I Love Thee...

Winter has hit the Midwest! It arrived fast, with a huge snowstorm on Friday. The snow was waterlogged and heavy. On Saturday, it took out power for many people in the Cities, including me. I didn't get it back until Monday.



This was my first view of the snow outside when I walked upstairs Saturday morning.



I thought it would be fun to write with by candlelight with a glass of wine. It got old after a poem and a half.



By Monday we were tired of living without electricity. We were one of three houses on the block that didn't have electricity so our neighbors connected power cords and brought them to our house so that we could live like cavemen. We were able to set up a crock pot and a coffee pot to heat water so that we could make tea.



Our hibiscus survived the cold!

By the time I got home from swimming on Monday, the electricity was back on! I wondered why it was so much harder to live without electricity here than it was whenever the power went out in Senegal. I came to a few conclusions. 1) In Senegal, appliances (like the stove) use gas so you can still cook. 2) Power outages take place frequently so some places have generators. 3) It's not freezing cold. (Of course, it's really hot and without electricity you can't use a fan for relief.)

This experience has reminded me of how thankful I am for electricity!


It's been awhile since I've blogged but that was done on purpose, I just never explained it here. I decided to take a little hiatus from the blogging world so that I could focus attention on my own personal writing. I had to write a 20 page book of poetry for my senior seminar (my draft was critiqued last night and it went well!), I wrote a book in October and I'm participating in NaNoWriMo right now.

But next week I have off of work and school so you can expect to see me around at that time. I have a few things I'd like to share about books, movies, a talk that I attended by Nicole Krauss (author of The History of Love) and why I predicted the top three couples on Dancing With the Stars.

Charmed: Dead Man Dating

If there was a season that would be perfect for the tv show Charmed, it would be Fall. (Although Spring seems like a great season too, as it reminds me of house sitting for my sister, watching the show, and trying to get the perfect "red lips" look to match Rose McGowan.) A few weeks ago I was cleaning my room, when I found myself dusting off my Charmed DVDs (and thinking about how long it's been since I've watched them). I decided that it's about time to pull them out again. When I saw Holly Marie Combs mark the anniversary of the Charmed premiere, I finally grabbed the first season and watched the first episode.

As I made my way through the first season, I ran across an episode that I love, mostly because of the pairing that it plays with. Who is that pairing? Piper and Mark. I know that everyone and their dog loves Piper/Leo, and while I enjoyed watching their relationship grow they have never been my favorite. I've always had a special place in my heart for the possibilities that the Piper/Mark relationship presented. Of course, I never held out hope for the relationship, it was doomed from the start. Mark was a ghost when they met. But I liked the idea of what could have been.

Let's take a look at some of those special Piper/Mark moments:


Piper reads from the book Mark never got to finish.


Mark gives Piper recipes from his grandparents.


The touch.


The kiss.


Piper protects Mark from Yama.


The funeral.


The goodbye.


Mark leaves.

Another one of my favorite Piper pairings? Piper and Neighbor Dan, who also had a pretty doomed relationship from the start. What were your favorite pairings?

Charmed: Dead Man Dating screencaps are from Screencap Paradise

A Wonderful October Weekend

It's been an unusually hot October but maybe the nice, chilly Fall weather is coming. It was a little on the chilly side yesterday, though still beautiful. Today, I was wearing sweatshirts and socks, and made a mug of one of my favorite cold weather drinks, chai. {Of course, I had to drink it with a cookie straight out of the freezer, my favorite way to eat them! My mom always wondered how the cookies disappeared from the freezer when she'd make a batch and put some in there until recently when she saw me taking one out.}

How was your weekend?

Mine was actually quite fun! It wasn't productive school-wise but I did have a great weekend for writing. I had Friday off so after class on Thursday I came home, made a pot of coffee, and spent the night working on my novel. I made a lot of progress, which felt really good! I also created a full outline for the rest of the book this weekend, so it's nice to finally have a little template to follow.

On Friday I met with Sarah for lunch where we spent a few hours talking about our books and planning for the Sanctuary season premiere. For the premiere, we had a classy meal of pizza, Pirate's Booty and Twizzlers, accompanied by wine. The wine is what made it classy. ;)

After work on Saturday, my friend Mary and I stopped in at the wedding reception of an old friend from our high school days. Our high school days BEFORE graduation. In our before graduation high school days the three of us were like the Three Musketeers, so it was fun to catch up! We talked about the crazy times--running around outside wearing only socks in January, stumbling upon one of their brother's stacks of... well, erm, questionable videos... while looking for a cartoon. When the time for the Dollar Dance came we left and went to the mall for a bit of quick shopping, dinner {with a cute waiter!}, and a run through the bookstore to look at what's there.

Today brought church with Sarah, lunch with my mom at an Indian restaurant we've been interested in trying out and studying. Lots of studying. However, studying time was cut into by a headache that I slept through to get rid of. Sleeping for awhile this afternoon will probably present a problem when I try to go to bed tonight. At least I might be able to complete some of that homework that I missed working on!

I hope everyone out there has a great week ahead!

The Start of a New Class

It's October and I haven't posted once yet. So, what I have been doing? Not much! Basically studying, studying, studying, writing, writing, writing with TV, work and swimming with my niece and nephew thrown in.

A new class started tonight. It's with the community college I was at before moving to the university. Basically, in order to avoid taking another science class with a lab at the university I need to complete the transfer curriculum with the community college, so I'm taking one last general to get that out of the way. Since I really don't feel like making the drive all the way to the college itself once a week, I'm taking a course that meets off campus. In a location about fifteen minutes away from my house. The best part? It's less than five minutes away from my favorite Ethiopian coffee shop. My dad pointed out the building to me the last time we were in the area but I wanted to be sure it was the place I needed to go to. So, last night I mapquested the address, glanced at the directions to make sure a few streets were on it, and that was that. (On a side note, the teacher tonight discussed the days before mapquest. Can you imagine? I sure can't! Think about finding all those little pesky little roads on the map by yourself... it would take forever!)

Today, after my usual Thursday lunch at my favorite Colombian restaurant, my dad came to meet me. On our walk back to the school he and my mom volunteer at, we had this conversation:

Me: Last night I mapquested the address to make sure you pointed out the right building.
Him: You didn't believe me? When have I ever let you down?
Me: There was that one time you told me to take the bus in one direction and it turned out I needed to go in the other.
Him: Did I lead you astray this time?
Me: Well, no...

I'm sure with that little conversation you can see where this story is going. I drove to the building and, when I saw two cars in the parking lot, felt like something might be off. Luckily, the janitor was cleaning near the door and was able to point me in the right direction.

My teacher had to attend a conference this week so he sent his wife (who also teaches) to give us the introduction to the class. She was hilarious and I'm kind of sad she won't be our teacher for the semester. We also got out really early--we basically spent a half hour in class tonight. The best part about my new class? It's a ten week class and three of our class periods are canceled due to teacher conferences and holidays. I had to stop myself from doing a little dance when I heard the great news!

What else have I been doing while I have not been updating the blog? Playing Dark Nebula on my iTouch. Let me just say, it's as on the edge of your seat addictive as the article says it is!

And if you have a few more minutes after this loooong post, you should go check out Sarah's blog. (Yep, she's the same Sarah from Alex and Robin nights--which are, sadly, over now that we've finished Moonlight--and the oatmeal mask.) Her Strangers in the Library post is an exceptionally good one if you're in the mood for a fantastic crazy person story. Can you guess who her best friend in the story is? That's right! C'est moi! So go read and find a little story that I haven't told you!

Beauty Break

Yesterday I invited a few friends over for a Beauty Break. My sister came with the beauty products she sells so that my friends and I could try them out. I made strawberry cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes for the night and served them with coffee and strawberry blooming tea. No pictures of the drinks, but I do have pictures of the cupcakes and making of. And if you have a chance this fall to spend a night with your friends eating sweets and playing around with make-up, I highly recommend you take advantage of the opportunity!