homemade bagels

Oh Aaron! You've done it again. A wonderful breakfast recipe. So much better than store bought. What a yummy Sunday brunch. The recipe can be found here. 

The Snowman

Have you ever seen The Snowman? It started as a children's book by English author Raymond Briggs published in 1978. In 1982 it was turned into a 26-minute animated movie by Dianne Jackson. The film was nominated for an Oscar for best animated short in 1983.

Of course I wasn't aware of all this when it was given to my sister and I by my Uncle Bill when we were very small. We didn't get to see him much when we were little kids; he was ill and living in Chicago. We were living in South Carolina. One year he sent us this video and not long after he passed away. I remember being so enthralled by it. The whole concept of a snowman was foreign considering we lived in the South, and the magic of the story still captures me today. I always think of my Uncle Bill when I see it. Aaron gave me the DVD and am looking forward to watching it very soon. 

Though not how it appears in the original movie, I love this rendition of "Walking in the Air" by George Winston. 

I was looking for videos of it on youtube and came across versions introduced by David Bowie. Very cool. Take a look.

thanks

These past few weeks I've been so happy and grateful for my life. I think this past year I've been living is such a way that brings me worry, stress and dissatisfaction. For some reason recently I've been able to let it all go and just started to learn to be happy and content. I still worry about being good enough for school and finding a good job, but when I'm at home making food or cuddling with Aaron, all those concerns wash away. I've just been realizing how secondary all that other stuff is. I hate to admit these things sometimes because its sounds so housewifey, but I know I'll always work and be independent. I think I'm just allowing myself to completely enjoy those things that are separate from my intellectual life. Here are some things that have brought me joy these past few days:

-yummy tiger shrimp at salpicon

-homemade clothes... I really want a sewing machine.

-hank and lainey getting along

- these earrings that I won!

-The Lord of the Rings. I watched the final movie last night and got inspired to read the trilogy over Christmas Break

-Christmas Break!

-Aaron, Katie, and Mom and how well they get along

-Feeling at home finally

-Working for hours and feeling like I've accomplished something

-hope for the future

-Grace Chicago and the new friends we've met there

- the Windy City Gay Chorus 

Ok so I don't usually get this personal in my blog, but I felt compelled to share. Tell me some things you're thankful for. I love Jessica's blog because knowing what makes her happy makes me happy too. You should do the same!

morning art musings on the blogosphere

Good morning. I have been having so much fun exploring the blogoshpere. There are so many great finds out there, and its exciting to follow a wormhole of links through other peoples blogs and come across a great find. This morning I've come across this great photo blog. Take a look. This kind of exploring makes me feel very creative and happy. 

I don't know how you feel about Andy Warhol, but I've always had this love hate relationship (sorry Jill- the cat's out of the bag). I really don't like his pop art. I understand what he's doing and I appreciate the movement, but I really don't like it. But I really love his commercial art.I love the loose pen drawing and color blocking with watercolor. During the 1950s Warhol worked as a commercial artist in New York illustrating fashion spreads and a number of children's stories. What do you think? 

thanks

Thanksgiving has been great. Not only did we have an awesome Birthgiving party, but I was able to spend time with family in Sycamore. Its starting to feel like winter and the gravity of that really hit me out in the country, with the barren fields and leafless trees silhouetted against the gray sky. So beautiful. Below are some highlights of my Thanksgiving: 

aaron asleep on the train

pie

aaron, nanny, and I

changing leaves

the prefect leftovers sandwich 

style inspirations: living on the cheap

One thing a poor student girl like me needs is to be able to reproduce things I like that are expensive into something I can afford. Somedays when I leave for school or work I relish in the fact that my whole outfit came from ebay, plato's closet, and crossroads trading post. This makes me happy. Here is an expensive outfit I'd like to reproduce from Miranda Bennett Designs for my boss from the store's wedding.

I've also been loving  Coton

good morning

Good morning. I'm happy that...

thanksgiving is almost here

I get to see my mom in 2 weeks

Jon Garda is here, a great visitor

I'm almost done with a great book

the sky is gray

we have a bowl of fragrant pine cones in the kitchen

I get to go to New York for New Years Eve. Steve is moving out to work for Esquire, but we get to help him move. I've never been to NYC and can't wait.

(Aaron and Steve reading Esquire on our bed)

chicago love

I have been falling in love with Chicago recently. Well I've always been in love with Chicago, but the feeling has been becoming more prominent as a walk through the streets. This is for a number of reasons. We have been looking for jobs in Washington D.C. The place where its all at. The destiny our educations have prepared us for. But after spending three months there last hot and lonely summer, it's hard to be excited about it. I love Chicago's jazz history. I love how cold it gets; we all hate it and we all love it.  But its not just me who has a romance with Chicago. I'm not the only one who's chest swells exploring the old book stores in Hyde Park, or walking through Grant Park under a gray sky and surrounded by orange leaves with the Art Institute lions in the distance. I'm not the only one gets giddy when the Christkindle Market pops up in Daley Plaza or when the hot summer brings out the hipster dancers at the six corners in Wicker Park or the cadre of music festivals in all corners of the city. Many others have recognized the unique rough elegance of a city of industry in the heart of the midwest, with a history of labor, slaughter, The World's Fair, Art Deco skyscrapers, and wind in all its definitions. 

A few weeks ago Pastor Bob at Grace Chicago read Sandburg's 'Chicago' to use the city as an illustration of God's love for his children. We are broken. We are sinful. And yet there is value there, and we are loved. Chicago is that rough sinful person in all its beauty.

"HOG Butcher for the World,
     Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
     Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
     Stormy, husky, brawling,
     City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
     have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
     luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
     is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
     kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
     faces of women and children I have seen the marks
     of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
     sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
     and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
     so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
     job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
     little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
     as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
          Bareheaded,
          Shoveling,
          Wrecking,
          Planning,
          Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
     white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
     man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
     never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
     and under his ribs the heart of the people,
               Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
     Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
     Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
     Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation."

- Carl Sandburg, 1916

No matter where I go, or how long I'm gone, Chicago will be with me. I will be a Chicagoan. I love listening to the Illinois album by Sufjan Stevens. The state is used as a means to communicate many things, again often our relationships with God, but I still feel kindred with lyrics that appreciate the beauty and significance of our often dreary midwest state. 

a few of my favorite things...

I came across this abandoned building in Hyde Park recently and now I try and walk by it every chance I get. Nestled among the houses right off of 57th street stands this immense domed structure that appears to have been abandoned quite some time ago. I wonder what it was used for. What did it look like in all its glory?I think I prefer it this way though, with graffiti littering the sides, chained up doors, broken window and leaves blowing about. It has mystery and romance this way. It reminds me of Miss Havisham's ruined mansion, Satis House, where Pip falls in love with Estella in Great Expectations or the abandoned villa where Jim, Judy, and Plato have a 'fantasy family' while hiding out in Rebel Without a Cause. I love this place whatever it is. 

update: I found some info on the building: it was a turn of the century Christian Science Church, St. Stephen's, purchased by a developer to tear down and build a condo building, but development has stalled due to neighborhood concerns. 

(the inside dome through the window)

a few of my favorite things...

Don't you want to see this move? Heartwarming.

saturdays

(cozy bed at the Writer's House in Kentucky from last Spring break- good Saturday bed)

I love Saturdays. This year I always have them off and spend them doing homework, cooking yummy meals, and watching movies. Typically I hardly leave the apartment- and its great. And the cold weather makes me want to snuggle in bed with a book and coffee. Today my plan is to 1) write my research proposal 2)cook butternut squash soup 3)apply for a job 4) watch an old movie drinking white russians and coffee. Can't think of a better day. 

Kanye "Champion" Video

This video is awesome. I guess I have a thing for puppets.

If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out!

 I love this song. By Cat Stevens, it was in the movie Harold and Maude, a movie that I love and would recommend to anyone. Aaron thinks of me when he hears this song because even though I have a horrible voice, I can't help but sing out. And I know he loves me because he loves it when I sing. So right now this song  is basically my mantra. 

fun

I finally transferred my photos from my old computer to my new one, and came across some great ones. 

Ozzie the dog. Poor guy. We took him for a week the intent to adopt. But despite his sweetness, he had a poop and deafness problem that we didn't the the tme to fix. Hope he's doing well

Not Katie's best day. 

Jill and at at the First Friday party at the Museum of Contemporary Art. We were being cats. Jill is much better than I clearly. 

Aaron being awesome as usual.

Grey Gardens

Grey Gardens is one of my favorite films. The documentary profiles Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale, the aunt of Jackie O, and her daughter, "Little Edie." Grey Gardens is their Hamptons estate situated among the most elite properties. Their story in incredible. In the 70s the health department raided the property citing multiple violations and threatening eviction. Jackie O contributed enough to get the property in good enough shape to allow the two women to stay, but the scandal prompted this documentary, and by the looks of it, the property quickly reverted to its former condition.  They have sold off their Tiffany pieces for money and cats and wild animals infest the house. "Big Edie" is almost always surrounded with garbage, piled around her in bed. They have almost no exposure to the outside world and even as the walls crumble around them they seem to have little awareness that anything is wrong. 

"Little Edie" is around 50 at the time of the movie and yet she seems to be a child. She laments proposals she turned down, at the insistence of her mother who wanted to keep her around, and talks of wanting to 'redecorate' despite the fact they are surrounded by garbage and filth.   "Big Edie" relishes the smell of the cat urine that soaks the house. 

The film as a grotesque yet timeless quality that intrigues you to investigate further. Their bizarre relationship, isolation from the rest of the world, and inability to see reality makes this character study one that will always catch my attention. 

The video below is 9 mins long, but shows some of the parts of the film. 

what the smell of a fig tree can do...

On my way home from the bus I walk by this fig tree. Today I stopped and smelled it (I do this sometimes) and a wave of memories hit me. In our neighbor's back yard in South Carolina had fig tree where a permanent cat trail ran beneath. The smell is so distinct, fresh and sweet. There are so many things I'm reminded of here, that I had no idea I remembered. DC is much more southern that I had expected. The gigantic plantation trees and the viney forests remind of a time I thought I had forgot about. I'm often very nostalgic, and nostalgia is always tinged with sadness. But this doesn't make me nostalgic. It makes me happy that the very early and very short period of my life in the south, when my parents were married, and when Katie and I were so young, is not lost. 

I didn't think moving here would would allow me to come so close to nature. DC has a lot of green spaces. There is a forest in the back of our buildings with long trails, and everyone in neighborhood gardens. And, if you need more space, there is a communal gardening area at the edge of the forest where people in the neighborhood can rent plots to grow veggies and flowers. It's so pretty to walk through. I've really missed this in Chicago. I've been coming to realize that I do prefer Chicago in so many ways, but at least DC has this.

Feist on Sesame Street

I love Feist, and here she is on Sesame Street. Best video I've seen in a long time!

It's a Classic

If I could have any car in the world it would not be fancy or new. I love older cars with a square shape, or old hatch back Saabs. I don't want a mustang or classic jag (well that would be ok too). I would love this 90s Jeep above. But I want my one day car to run and be dependable, after having so many beaters. So my new plan is to acquire my dream car, which should be a deal since nobody else would want it, and replace the whole engine. Kind of ridiculous. But wouldn't it be great if for the rest of my life I only drove this sweet Jeep, or an awesome orange Saab from the 80s? So great. This is my plan (will probably never happen).

James Brown - Good Foot

Another really awesome James Brown video. He totally has the groove. And I love how high his pants are.

Michael Sowa, whimsical and expectant

I really love the artist Michael Sowa (German, b. 1945). I first came in contact with his work in the film Amelie, one of my favorites. His work is all at the same time whimsical, melancholic, sweet, and expectant. It makes me feel like a child, but there is more there than in a typical children's illustration. His work makes you feel as if you were walking in on something secret and quiet. Take a look: 

"A Summer Night's Melancholy" 

"Girl with Bear" What are they saying I wonder?

"Bunny Dressing"

"Diving Pig" I wonder why that pig wants to get in the water so fast? Hm.

"Kanker Hund" You may remember this from Amelie. 

I think my next apartment will need some Sowa prints. And thanks to Caitlin for giving me Sowa's name many months ago. She loves him too (and probably first).