My sweet little room.

I love my room, now*.

Lower East Side isn't half bad, either.

Being a teacher sounds pretty good, too.

I guess I shouldn't have been worried...

-Papermoon


*Except for the HEAT...it must be a million degrees in here. Yikes!

A Bag for Anna.

Yesterday's project: a bag for my dear friend Anna, six months late.



She'd given me the color scheme in January, I'd apologized and promised it was coming by Valentine's day, and I had been making excuses and looking at the fabric ever since... until yesterday.

I got up, ate my breakfast*, put on a dress and some pearls (I am more productive that way), whipped up a little seltzer-with-vanilla, and got down to business.


I used the same oh fransson pattern I have before... it's easy and effective.


I like it. I may make myself a wallet in the same color scheme.



-Papermoon

*cream cheese on whatever I can find seems to be the summer favorite

Crown Thy Good With Brotherhood.

America...

The Free.

The Beautiful.

The Bountiful.

The Winner!

-Papermoon

popcorny perfection

i can't believe it's 11:30 at night and i am this awake (without caffeine). i have work tomorrow! i have Mass in the morning! what am i thinking?

i think i need to get back into the pattern of exercising to get my body back to getting tired.

in any case, anyone who knows me knows that i try not to eat after 11 pm, because i know that what the 'hunger' i feel as soon as the clock strikes 11 is actually probably just my stomach kicking into digestion mode, thinking that i am asleep.

today i gave in, and ate popcorn. and i discovered something great!

my parents called uncharacteristically late tonight, as they are on a weekend trip and wanted to let me know they reached their destination. by force of some coincidental fate, my mama was eating popcorn--just what i'd been craving. i started to complain about the effort of it (i don't eat microwave popcorn--overpriced and i hate the 'butter' smell) because i haven't had good luck lately in my 20 year old microwave with the brown paper bag method, and i hate shaking pot over the stove for 20 minutes. but then my mom laid the tip on me: heat the oil FIRST, sans kernels... and when it starts to get hot, just throw in kernels to test if its ready!

maybe that's the obvious way, and you all already did it... but it was news to me and it made the whole thing 100% easier!

hooray for the most delicious healthy snack in the world.

g'nite!
papermoon

ever feel like your brain is running too fast?

i think of my mind like a computer. in general, i think i have good hardware and even good software, but in general i contend that i am lazy with software updates. however, in the last two weeks i think i must have gone into the mac store for some repair, and then they must have done all my updates for me and now everything is lightning fast. they fixed my trackpad, too.

did i take that analogy too far?

in any case. i feel wired, and busy, and fast-paced lately. i am sure this is largely due to a busier life than i have had in six months, now that i am actually doing something. plus, i've been really social lately! i am not a seriously social girl but man i have been amping it up lately with the peopled activity thing. i think it's nice, actually.

anna's visit was so great... i wish i could have elongated it. we packed it in, though... we went for a REALLY late dinner at the hopleaf as valentines... and we got a perfect seat right away! love must have been in the air. :) i got mussels (of course) and saison dupont. anna had a cashew butter and fig jam sandwich and a chocolate stout. mmmmmm delectable, with the great frites to boot.

we then woke up early and rushed around to get to Mass in evanston (with becca!). sheil was packed! we had lunch with her relatives at the lucky platter (mmm) and then split ways so she could pursue some of her other chicago people. i had some coffee time with becca and some dinner with lucy. we ended up on my couch that night watching priceless--the movie that is inspiring the growing out of my hair at the moment-- in and out of sleep, totally full, and totally dehydrated and exhausted.

we woke up feeling sick! but we were in good moods. just sad to say goodbye! i miss her so much already.

i had work today and i felt a bit like i didn't get enough done... i need to use some of my day off tomorrow to get in a bit of reading/research. it sure is nice to have research to do on the kind of thing i e-mail my sister about... playing with miniatures and dollhouses! work with kids is AWESOME.

speaking of that, check out maggie's great picture of her little critters:

they are soo cute. i love calico critters.
i keep my little hamster family on my tea shelf. one sits in my pretty teacup.

ah, little anthropomorphic creatures!!!!

ooo... i have to get this recipe i cooked with my friend aamna and upload it. it was this very delicious fish recipe with a TON of paprika in it and i feel so delicious right now as a result of it. her company was also delicious. food and friends are very nice.

well, i wish i hadn't had coffee in a soy freezie tonight. i am tired but mentally buzzing!

goodnight!

-papermoon

grilled brie sandwich.

oh my... how is it that this delicious thought never occurred to me until now?

i love grilled cheese and most people do. i pretended not to for a long time because i thought it was uncouth to enjoy fattening food. i was a lame-o. in any case, it's delicious. weekend anna and i like the grilled cheese at twin anchors* best, if we're eating out--it's ridiculous, you should eat it. but today i was so inspired and i will tell you why.

duh! half the goodness of grilled cheese is how fried and buttery (or margarine-y) it is, right? let's not kid ourselves. i don't even profess to like fried food that much--i am not one of those people who thinks the one way to make something better is to fry it up--but when it comes to something like grilled cheese the whole point is the greasy goodness. usually, grilled cheese is made of some kind of pathetic cheese like american, since the point isn't delicious cheese, but a gooey, greasy mess.

but today all i wanted to do was poke a fork into the brie i had in the fridge, cut into the wrong way and do away with the rind, and spread it like butter on bread. and that's when it occured to me! i could make a lethal grilled cheese! i have made creamed cheese grilled cheese before (awesome) and i loved the way the spreadable cheese made for a hot, thin sandwich. brie had the same effect. and for the greased up outside of the sandwich, i mixed margarine and MORE brie.

this is the most delicious heart attack i have ever had. if i hadn't eaten the whole thing in under a minute, i would post a picture. please, go make one now.

-papermoon


* twin anchors is doubly awesome because it's where return to me is filmed. which is NOT cheesy, and is probably the second best chick flick with bonnie hunt in it ever. the first is obviously only you. seriously. cinematic achievement.

HEY ANNA: "bonnie hunt... lives... in... chicago. search!" haha.

recap: leigh comes to the windy (frigid, icy, snowy, face-numbing) city

warning: i don't think i have ever put so many links in one post in my whole life.

hi all!

yesterday didn't allow me to blog-- i had to work on printing out a lot of work, which always leaves me in a pickle--you have to watch and tweak and adjust print settings when you are printing graphics (on nice papers) so it doesn't leave much ability to multi-task. i settled for 7 episodes of little house. i ate a lot of food, too.

in any case, as promised, i am going to get myself caught up and briefly detail leigh's visit.

leigh arrived fresh on the tail of my san fran visit, so she had a real view of my apartment: no fancy clean up job. we started off the early day with a trip over to have some brunch at my favorite little place (maybe my only favorite place?) in streeterville: the cute little café that hugs the ridiculously lovely peninsula hotel. of course, we took a little jaunt through the main floor of that decadent hotel, first. and pretended that we already owned all the fur and diamonds in the little windowboxes in the lobby. the concierge smirked at us.

pierrot gourmet (as that cute little café is called) is so calm-- i really like it there. i have a lot of important memories there, in fact: my mother and i sharing a sandwich a while back when she made a visit, while i was still in college... lunch with my whole family the day before my graduation... a sad conversation i had over the phone this fall... and now i have a new memory! brunch with a dear friend of mine. :)

we followed this deliciousness up with a walk down michigan, so she could experience the magnificent mile for the first time. we hit up all the glamorous stores... H&M, Forever XXI...you know the kind. big spending. that night i made rice casserole, which is a highly delicious and very affordable food item... leigh has since made one for sister, i hear. (i will share that recipe in a post to follow.)

we topped it all off with cookies, tea, and watching our long time favorite special--'living dolls'--on youtube. it details the life of some child beauty pageant contestants, namely one Swan Brooner and her TERRIBLE mother, and nothing tops it. i recommend it highly, for the sake of this alone:



the time the two of us have wasted in pursuing this trashy documentary... it's appalling.

the next day was meant for evanston! we took the shuttle after a slow morning and got lunch with a friend of mine who happened to be free, enjoying the deliciousness of unicorn cafe, as a little peek for leigh into my college days. mmmm.... the windfall sandwich. we were so cold that we really elongated that meal--tacking on an amazing cookie. then we hopped across the street to look in at what asinimali and crossroads trading inc. had to offer. (in my case, they had an $8 banana republic sweater wrap and a $7 striped club monaco shirt to offer.) then we got a shuttle home, with plans to make some chicken stir fry.

funnily enough, we ended up being far too lazy to cook! maybe the sandwiches at unicorn are just very filling. we had a bloody mary (how crazy of us!) and some snack foods, and basically played scrabble all night instead of being normal, dinner eating people. very fun. :)

thursday was one of the museum of science and industry's free days, so we hopped into a cab and spent the day playing there. we even saw an IMAX movie about the marine life of south africa. so pretty! and we had a lot of fun with all the exhibits. i especially liked one exhibit about the internet... leigh caught me "swimming through the internet". it's a very special look for me, wouldn't you agree?


that night we had plans to meet up with leigh's uncle who lives in river north. funnily enough, i got us lost because i didn't pay attention to cardinal directions. no matter. we weren't late enough to make it problematic, and we had plenty of time to enjoy her uncle's company/beautiful apartment/delicious h'ors d'ouvres. mmmm spinach artichoke dip. he then treated us to a lovely little dinner at the exceedingly quaint la scarola. i had eggplant parmesan.

we hit the sack early because i was set to teach at galaxie the next morning. i deviated from my norm and taught a simple course this time-- 'secret stories'. i taught the basics of book folding, to enthusiastic reception. i had mostly repeat kids and a small group, so i basically got paid to chat up some nice, smart kids. they had great book ideas, too--my favorite was a girl's book--entitled 'where is the love'-- that had pictures of hearts, kissing couples, and head-over-heels-in-love faces, all of which were followed by the word "EW!!!!" hahahaha. kids are hilarious.




i came home to leigh, who having just woken up, sympathized with my comment that i was STARVING. we cooked up the neglected stir fry and enjoyed it while watching a special on scandalous pageant queens. (can i please remind everyone that is was record level freezing last week? and that i don't usually drain my brain watching people strut around in spangles?) is it bad that i can't remember what we did afterwards? what i do know is that we made tacos for dinner. and they were amazing. and this is coming from a woman who honestly could go without ground beef for the rest of her life. amazing.


saturday was lovely... we had brunch at ann sathers at my suggestion with some of leigh's friends from gwu who live around here now. (they were great fun and i hope to hang out with them again!) it was long and delicious and i had too much coffee. we followed that up with the art institute--happy hooray. i blew leigh's mind with my ranting on about contemporary art (haha) until it was nearly closing time and time for us to go home and nosh on leftovers.

which we did. a lovely combination of stir fry and italian food with some two buck chuck. (yay trader joe's.) then we headed out to hang out with the same girls we had brunch with, which was an EXCELLENT time, spent at their very homey apartment and then at fado irish pub. i sincerely enjoyed myself, partly due to the STRANGEST band ever. we could not stop laughing.


sunday was lazy! we took our time. leigh had moved her tuesday flight to monday due to weather warnings, so we just enjoyed eachother's company for most of the day, before heading off to Mass (sad! my last Mass at Holy Name for a while--there was a fire yesterday!!!) and then out to dinner. we decided to forfeit the superbowl purely so we could have more time for conversation. we had a nice dinner at bistro zinc. another place i have a lot of emotional attachment with. the food was great, the company even better.

we browsed children's books across the street at barnes & noble for a while, and then left, having bought bananagrams--my favorite game of the moment. we played into the night, and i dreaded leigh's departure the next morning!

now she's home in nj and i miss her-but what a week it was!

and as if i couldn't get any luckier with seeing friends... weekend anna is headed out here for valentine's day!!!! just when i thought i was going to have hide in a cave for the whole holiday. i love anna.

lovely.
-papermoon

what a nice surprise in the mail!

(this will be a lovely segue into my back-track through the last two weeks.)

i just got in from some errands and checked my mail, to find i had a package. i left my crocs (yes, i love crocs--i own more than one style, in fact) at my cousins', and my aunt had called for my address to mail them to me. little did i know i would get a whole package of goodies!



i love cards, and the photos were so nice, and my cousin catherine sent me a handmade potholder--and she must have ESP because it matches my stovetop perfectly! what a nice surprise, especially when a person was just about to make tea!


i can't believe it was only a little over a week ago that i flew back from san francisco. it really was, altogether, quite a vacation!

i posted just after my first day hanging out with cassie and ben, so i should fill everyone in from there. on my third day, and final day staying with the witten siblings, i had a real marathon of fun. ben and i met cassie for lunch at a potbelly's-esque sandwich shop, and then drove to napa!

i didn't realize napa was in such approachable distance, so it was quite a surprising jaunt. the driving scenery was awesome--the golden gate bridge (cassie made fun of me for calling it 'that big red bridge'), the miles of vines, the hills. very beautiful. it was rather grey out--which anyone who knows me knows i was glad about--and all the colors were really coming out. we stopped in so i could attempt sophistication with a wine tasting experience, and with the first glass, clearly not from any threat of intoxication, but only clumsiness, i toppled over some red wine. oh dear... can't take me anywhere, i guess. but it was delightful and very educational!

one of the vineyards had a lovely red barn...

that night, we all cooked dinner. and by that, i mean that cassie made (awesome) guacomole, i chopped up some sausage and some apples, and ben made risotto. so, you might say ben cooked dinner. :) it was delicious and cassie had a friend come by, and we spent the night discovering how terrible i am at blockus! i was already sad to leave--but my family had already been kind enough to extend cassie an invitation to the new baby's baptism, so that helped the goodbye feel less sad.

the next morning, bright and early, i was shuttled off to my cousin's school assembly for the chinese new year. they attend a chinese immersion school, and the assembly was very beautiful--with lovely dances and songs, and a very impressive lion dance! i wish i could have gotten a video of the large scale puppets. all three of my participating cousins did a lovely job.

i spent the rest of the weekend with the whole clan and my grandma, which was utterly lovely and relaxing. i was put in a good mood that will last a long time...it is always so nice to hang out with other big families, considering how much i love my own. and it's doubly nice when you're related, too! all of my cousins cracked me up and we had a great time playing the game i brought them--bananagrams (which i was tipped off about by the small object).

i got to eat my first dim sum (very delicious), went to my cousin patrick's indoor soccer game (cassie came, too! what a good fan!), and of course--got to see a baptism, which is always special. all in all, totally wonderful. and i got peet's coffee EVERY DAY! a big plus to being in california!

i could go on for ages, but i have a lot to do today if i want to check anything else off my list.

here's how i have done so far:

• clean bathtub done
  
• get throat blessed (feast of st. blaise) done
• buy rose water done
• mail comcast bill done
  
• buy binder with clear protectors done
• walk around outside for at least 20 minutes done
• buy a movie at blockbuster done (ok clearly this wasn't originally on the list... but see above)
• blog done
• put graphics work into said binder with short write ups
• start weekend anna's purse
• MoMA application essay
• vacuum bedroom
  
• cook delicious dinner

so there you have it... wish me luck.

tomorrow i will talk about last week--leigh's visit! and then maybe i will be up to date and normal again! just in time to start my internship...

-papermoon

this is what i do when i'm ill.

i like to make absurd photoshop projects.

today, sb and i had a nice hypothetical conversation about our future children and their summertime get togethers. how cute are my eight crafty kids? and her sweet little city kids coming out for a visit with their faux cousins?


and then there's this one, which i made a while ago for weekend anna... it's her and her prom date, circa 1954.


nice, right?

i'm so cool.

-papermoon