but i got you this flower.

So everyone is familiar with this site Feminist Ryan Gosling, right? So awesome and hilarious.

dress for the elements.

So... I have a private Twitter account. What I mean by private is that you have to request to read it and I only have accepted a few close friends (like... 3), some people who used to be friends before I wrote things in it, and my favorite coffeeshop. The reason is that for me, it's just a mind dump. Things that I've encountered and don't want to forget. Words that fall together in a certain way to delight me. And recently I started keeping a running list on there.

Anyway. Every once in awhile, I'll go back and scroll through all my past twitter entries and see what I wrote. Most of the things are little phrases that don't make sense or things people said to me that struck me (usually, humorously). And I mostly don't remember these things being said, but they bring up memories of things I had thought impossible to forget.

Things like:

"You have all been told to follow your dream, but what if it's a stupid dream?"
-Stephen Colbert's Northwestern Commencement Speech 2011

"You know how in elementary school, teachers always split up the two friends who are talking all the time? We are those friends."
-Saad, Oct 4

"Overheard on the bus: When I tell you I love you in my life, you say I love you in my life back."
Sept 21

"'Ask yourself, Can I run in these shoes? How fast? Faye Dunaway never looked so chic as while taking violent turns in her getaway car. Dress for moments like that. Dress for the elements.'"
Dec 26 10

kicking off christmas?

I spent Thanksgiving with with an old friend's family. We watched Tangled and the TV show Revenge (it's addicting). We spent a lot of time laughing, cooking, and eating together. Now it's time for some studying. Two more weeks of school left! I'm very excited.

This also means it's officially the Christmas season. I painted my nails Trophy Wife by Essie in celebration. If there are a few simple things I like, it's the Christmas season (the entire season, not just the day), colorful nails (I think it may help me stay awake), and cool nail polish names. It's not something I do a lot, because I end up having to do it a few times since I inevitably don't wait long enough for it to dry and it gets chipped and dented somehow. New strategy: paint and then go to sleep. So far the only way that has worked. Plan B: Get disposable income, go to nail salon. Although I feel like that's not something I would really do anyway. Make that Plan F.

i don't know what it's like to land and not race to your door

I took this picture with my computer at Bourgeois Pig in Lincoln Park today. I worked in a clinic with some patients this afternoon and then sat in a coffeeshop and studied. For a long time. I'm wondering if the rest of my life plays out like this, I think it'd be not bad. Room for improvement maybe. But maybe it'd be a happy little life I could be content with. I'm in the strangest mood, so most of that did not entirely make sense. I feel like I need to sleep, but also think about some things. Early train out of the city tomorrow!

I also realize that I turned a really cute, 18th century-looking cafe into what sort of looks like a dungeon with a really nice selection of tea. But taking pictures with a computer is awkward. I still plan on bringing my camera around. For Chicagoans: this coffeeshop is not my favorite, but extremely cute. I need to take real pictures soon!

she is packing in slow motion

[image from here]

I woke up around 8 o'clock today and got out of bed around 8:30. I have to say, I love waking up early. It's unfortunate that it happens so rarely. I thought about my goals this morning as I knit a scarf in sunny yellow, which made me happy despite the clouds outside.

Clean the bathroom
Do some laundry
Download lectures for today
Organize clothes
Listen to 5 Lectures
Review notes
Turn in exam
Get chili
Write a letter
Download lectures for tomorrow

I think that's it. My oven is on and I can smell that it is almost ready for the pizza that is about to be put in it.

i go places i never would have gone

My friend just introduced me to this website, 1x. These images are the kind of pictures I would love to take one day. The photographer's name is Robert. I also like what he has to say in his biography, "Just at one day I purchased a camera to start a hobby which took me a way from typical habits my job in foreign countries comes along with. So it starts and did grow. Analogue and digital now and still it is a lot of fun! Since that time I do not sleep long and stopped watching TV, I go places before I never would have gone."

it's the woman who pays

I found this letter the other day online. Apparently, Marianne Brown wrote the following to Kurt Vonnegut:

"In 1989 my husband passed on; I was 36-years-old and left with 3 small children. For some reason I wrote to Kurt Vonnegut and thanked him for his books and his compassion. I did not expect a reply. He must have been a kind man, as he sent this to me within a month of writing to him. I have always wanted to share his kind words. It meant, and still means, so much to me."


And here is what he wrote:

Nov. 30 '90

Dearest Marianne Brown --

It can't be said often enough, "It is the woman who pays." The miracle is that so many can and do somehow. I was in love (still am) with a widow with four kids (two not her own). She somehow raised them all on a teeny weeny salary. I told her one time, "I worry about women." She said, "Don't."

Cheers --

(Signed)

Kurt Vonnegut