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?
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.
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 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.
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.
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!
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!
