it is 50 degrees, sunny, breezy, warm, and beautiful. the lake is a pristine blue sheet. i woke up in a great mood--second day in a row--to a friendly breakfast of yogurt, honey, toast, and one organic egg. my coffee was strong and i felt absolutely in love with the world. the rhinitis i had yesterday is also gone! could it be the sunshine?
i did something crazy today--i went outside and jogged. yes, i know other people run and swim and actually do taxing things to exercise, but i fell out of the habit when i realised that my motivations for working out were entirely, 100% vanity-based. so it's been a few years of lethargy for me. in any case, i was ridiculously out of shape but it was fun! and it was great to see the lake and think about the nice fact that, as out of shape as a person can get, they always have the choice to reform. (we'll see... i can't say this will be habit!)
i let myself window shop after a bit of that, walking around and in and out of things over on rush st. and such. i got a free hand treatment at some soap shop, and enjoyed some vicarious shopping at anthropologie (it's great not to have any money), and just enjoyed the smiles on everyone's faces on the street.
i stopped in to l'artisan parfumerie (my favorite perfume house) and sprayed a very floral choice all over myself for a bit of added aromatherapy... anyone who's smelled me knows i really don't wear florals (bring on the amber! tea! musk! wood! bourbon!) but this was the day for La Chasse aux Papillons. that, mixed with the sweet almond oil all over my arms from my free hand treatment, was a sweet smell of a preview of spring.
i came home and did some yoga with the windows open, and the sun streaming through onto my face, and the breeze on my toes and neck, and the sound of the wind on my building like a gently lapping set of waves had me transported to the beach. when i finished my salutation i just laid on my mat, in and out of sleep and utterly blissing out!
i don't buy jewelery (unless it's from H&M) and i am not one of those people who keeps up with clothing or jewelery or anything... but when i saw this on design*sponge this morning i just about died. all of her other things are lovely as well...but this one ripped me right out of my seat and made my palms sweaty.
in middle school, i had this fascination with the idea of engagement rings. not really engagement, per se, or rings, but engagement rings. i still think they are one of the most romantic things around, and i love that they have been something humans have done for so long. in any case, i have this thing about simplicity... and i hate whopper-of-a-diamond rings, because they lack any kind of sweetness and they would never look quaint when you're old, or when your great great granddaughter is wearing them.
i was so sure i wanted a pearl engagement ring. of course, my mom told me that would be sad, because the whole point of a diamond is that it will hold up, and my imaginary engagement ring would be liable to crack and fall apart and that would not be symbolically prudent. :)
in any case... wouldn't this take your breath away, anyway? pearls are so romantic when they are portrayed naturally (as opposed to the preppy way they are sometimes set). this ring just looks like it was born.
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.
(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
i am an INFJ. i woke up to see lora off to class today and she had me take a myers brigg because she thought hers was very accurate. i laughed the whole time because every question pointed to how introverted and pig-headed i am!
and the result? it sounds pretty accurate.
INFJ
slightly expressed introvert
moderately expressed intuitive personality
moderately expressed feeling personality
very expressed judging personality
this part i excerpted is most interesting to me, because people have often described their confusion about this aspect of my personality to me:
INFJs are deeply concerned about their relations with individuals as well as the state of humanity at large. They are, in fact, sometimes mistaken for extroverts because they appear so outgoing and are so genuinely interested in people -- a product of the Feeling function they most readily show to the world. On the contrary, INFJs are true introverts, who can only be emotionally intimate and fulfilled with a chosen few from among their long-term friends, family, or obvious "soul mates." While instinctively courting the personal and organizational demands continually made upon them by others, at intervals INFJs will suddenly withdraw into themselves, sometimes shutting out even their intimates. This apparent paradox is a necessary escape valve for them, providing both time to rebuild their depleted resources and a filter to prevent the emotional overload to which they are so susceptible as inherent "givers." As a pattern of behavior, it is perhaps the most confusing aspect of the enigmatic INFJ character to outsiders, and hence the most often misunderstood -- particularly by those who have little experience with this rare type.
interesting! i was also glad to find out that michael landon was also an INFJ.
it was also nice to hear that my 'type' almost always has problems deciding what to pursue as a career because while we are very human empathy/'inspiration' oriented careers seem like a natural career, we are often such compulsive system builders so darn full of judgement that we wish we could pursue more logic-based jobs... but we almost always find hard logic highly confusing.
isn't that a nice name? becca should name her first daughter that. and her daughter can live on breakfast delights. i for one will send miss rebecca some pancakes instead of flowers when she gives birth to her little lulabecca.
i should explain.
my friend becca and i always go to brunch. it's just what we do. if we are hanging out, brunching is likely to be the thing. it's very fun, and we have very serious patterns. becca orders a savory sandwich, often with something like avocado or chipotle sauce involved, and i pretend to be debating what to order until i get a LOT of coffee and the most immature pancake-like sweet thing on the menu. i usually bring my own benefiber to dump into the drinking water. clever. classy.
today we did something new: LUNCH. it was highly spur of the moment and i think we were both amused that it even came together. we'd both gotten up early and had a good portion of coffee, and i think we both must have been struck by how sunny it was outside. becca texted me right when i was about to melt away and do nothing for hours and not shower at all. (secret: i still didn't shower.) so it was good timing. i threw on some clothes and cleaned up my room before i left for her location of choice: lula cafe in logan square.
it was very chi chi!
but not that expensive, relatively speaking. the decor was simple, done in sage green and burgundy, and we both liked the simple photography and prints on the walls. our table was on a slightly raised platform (think kafein in evanston) and it was made of slate grey marble. the waiters were very coiffed and the company of diners were older than us and a bit art history department looking. the whole bit is organic and quite local and sustainable, which is nice to have in a restaraunt.
i got a BLT (i love bacon oh i do) and becca had a nice grilled up sprouty turkey sandwich. we chatted in the sunlight and then wandered off to our days. i for one didn't accomplish much, but i felt more structured because i left the apartment.
good times.
tomorrow i will post with some backtracking, considering i left off on san francisco after day one. yipe!
sorry about that-- the culmination of the trip to san francisco, and then a visit to chicago from a dear friend this last week has meant non-stop action lately. i have lots to say, and i will be sure to compensate for my absence with tons of posts this week.
on another note, i just finished bawling over this beautiful song by Flipsyde's "The Piper". I am not usually a rap fan, but this is a very unique song, and a very honorable move on his part. I bought the single because he deserves that support.
