"Now listen, you ten-cent glamour girl."

...So then I didn't post for nine months. Anyway, the next few weeks will likely be crazy - stupid school work getting in the way of real life - but I intend to resurrect this blog once I've graduated. In the meantime, I think it's particularly sad that my last post is about Michael Phelps. He's somewhat lost his appeal, what with the pot smoking and cavorting with slutty girls.

I think we need a new favorite thing to focus on. How about this blog? It's about vintage clothes and has the loveliest pictures. I have a secret ritual in the morning where, when I'm getting dressed, I like to pretend I'm a girl reporter from the 1940s. I always feel a sad deficiency of hats in my wardrobe, but otherwise it makes the daily grind more fun. The author of that blog would understand I think.

Phelpsian is fun to say.

Woo, Michael Phelps won! And won...and won...x8.

ANYway, that was awesome to watch. In honor of his Phelpsian swims, I bring this adorable print from Cakespy:

 

(In the interest of full disclosure, though I adore Phelps, I really just wanted an excuse to post that print.) 

Never gonna let you down...

Oh my goodness. There are no words. Prepare to be Barackrolled.



I can't imagine how long that took. Hilarious.

Strange holidays and neglected sports

Wow, it's been a looong time since I've posted. Summer weather/family visits/vacation/computer fatigue have all combined to make me really not want to devote the time to typing. But today is too big a day to miss. It's huge. An epic day. Global even.

The Olympics, you say? No. It's "Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day." Well, I don't care much for a few of our neighbors (Muffy) and those that we like we've already donated plums to. I say we keep our zucchini and make zucchini bread. Yum...epicurean selfishness.

If you're wondering, of course I'll be enjoying my bread with a little Michael Phelps on the side. LOVE the Olympics. Gymnastics, hot swimmers, sad stories about drought-ridden Ethiopians who could still kick my tail at swimming, despite the fact that they've seen a swimming pool once? I'm so there. Plus, when else can you watch table tennis on national television? Go Team USA!

I hate thieves.

Someone stole my money! Stupid, stupid person. Somehow someone in PA got a hold of my debit card info and charged up a storm. Luckily I checked it today and now have a new card on the way, but still...What a hassle. And I still physically have the card, so I'm not really sure how they charged hundreds of dollars worth of stuff at a 7-11. Bizarre. Anyway, hopefully my bank won't play around and not refund my money. The guy on the phone was super nice, but you never know. Today has been something of a messed up day.

Alas...apartment search tomorrow (which is even more not fun than restoring a bank account) and then on to AR. That should be fun at least.

The Food of Love

Since I finally organized my pictures from my Christmas baking exploits, I figured it's time to share.

This is sort of a tale of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Since I'm all about inverting expectations, I'll cover the ugly first.

First, a back story. When I was little, every year at Christmas my great-grandmother would make this fabulous coconut cake. We're talking amazing, bakery-quality stuff. She'd crack open a real coconut, spread the icing just so, and apparently would even use tons of toothpicks to make the layers stand right. After she died, my dad's mom attempted to re-create the masterpiece. It sadly never lived up to the memory, always tending to fall on the dry side.

Well, this year I decided to try my hand at the famous cake. I will preface the following pictures to say that this cake was absolutely delicious, if a bit too sweet. I subbed coconut milk for regular which was a bit much. I'll go half and half next time. Also, I didn't use real coconut, but I'm not sure that made too much of a difference. The real problem with this cake was the absolute disaster that came from trying to get it out of the pan and standing up. Mom tried to dump it out, with little success. Still. It was not dry. This was almost more of a coconut cake soup than anything. Here's the recipe and the pictures. Look for my second go next year. I will not be defeated!

“Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work”

Ooh, Abrams (of Abrams and Bettis) also just let me know that this week is Lightning Awareness Week. I posted that simply for the opportunity to put up this picture (via lightningphotography.com). So cool!


...but, you know, stay inside and all that jazz.

(Also, I don't want to hear the mocking of my watching the Weather Channel. It's informative! Back off.)

"Turkey is undoubtedly one of the best gifts that the New World has made to the Old."

Why is Turkey Lovers Month in June? Wouldn't November make a lot more sense? Nevertheless, I do love turkey, so I felt the need to celebrate.

I made a quite tasty sandwich for dinner tonight. A couple of slices of deli meat, whole wheat bread (granted not homemade - my bread-maker and I are at odds at the moment - but still tasty), lettuce and tomatoes, and half a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese (sooo creamy and low-cal!) = yummy. Unfortunately, it looked so good, I neglected to take a picture before I ate it.

A few other ways to mark the month:

Turkey, Cranberry, and Brie Panini
Turkey Taco Salad
Grilled Cheese, Pear, and Smoked Turkey Sandwich
Turkey Florentine
Turkey Wild Rice Casserole

Shockingly enough, most of those blog posts were written right after Thanksgiving when, naturally, one would have plenty of turkey on hand. But, hey, who am I to question those crazy folks over at eatturkey.com? I mean why not go full-on crazy and celebrate apples in June? Or snow in August? Or Christmas in July? Oh wait...that one's been done:


What is the world coming to?

This little piggy went to market...

Ack! So cute. The pig was afraid of mud, so his owner gave him boots! Adorable. And ironic - a pig afraid of mud. Sometimes life is just wonderful.

via A Cup of Jo and Now Voyager

"What kinda man are you?"

"Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what"

I do not care for my choices for president this year. In the category of "If only they were real..." (currently occupied by Josh Lyman and Frederick Wentworth), I have decided Atticus Finch is my write-in candidate. Particularly if he appears in the form of Gregory Peck. Who's with me?

A Love Letter to London

London is a hard city. By that, I don't mean it's difficult. It's...gritty. A little rough around the edges.

When you think of Paris, you think smoke and cafes. Proposals. Patisseries. Washington, DC has a much higher crime rate, but the impression it typically leaves is a bit impersonal, politicians with their heads in their Blackberrys. Cold marble buildings. Wide streets with plenty of room to avoid your neighbor.

London is a huge city, but in a way it's also quite small. The streets are narrow, the buildings are small. It's crowded. It's easy to get overwhelmed here. It's also, however, quite easy to love once you settle in. Everyone can be a Londoner. There are probably more nationalities here than anywhere in the world.

The parks are lovely, the bridges imposing, the buildings charming. There's never a lack of things to do or see. Samuel Johnson said, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." I'm definitely ready to go home, but part of me will always miss this city: wandering down streets with three names, popping around a corner and seeing another famous facade, catching a ride home in a famed double-decker bus. It's easy to get used to, but leaving a place always makes you realize the things you'll miss.

So, on that vaguely annoyingly sentimental note, here are a few photos from my last tromps around London. See you all across the pond!

God Save the Queen

I just had the perfect last day in London. I decided I wanted to see Buckingham Palace this morning, so took my double-decker bus down across the Waterloo Bridge.


Then I walked down the South Bank and across to Westminster.

As I approached St. James Park I kept seeing all these police officers. Then I started hearing drums. As I neared the Palace there were tons of people lined up along a parade route.


Turns out it's the Queen's birthday celebrations. 15 minutes waiting and a mini-bus with reject royals rode past.


Then Harry, William, and Camilla passed in a carriage. Unfortunately Camilla's hat blocked William from me. Looks like I'll have to enchant him with my beauty some other day. Cough, cough.
Then! Then the Queen rode by. She looked...old. But her blue outfit was quite fetching.


I was just thinking that I was bummed I hadn't gotten to see her while I was here. I went to her church back in October, but she wasn't at Windsor that day. Definitely an awesome "right place at the right time" moment this morning.

Tomorrow is Maryland! But now I must pack. Boo.

Presumably once you pop, you will stop...

Ha! Pringles Can Inventor Buried in Pringles Can. Now that's going out in style.

(via Serious Eats and The Cincinnati Enquirer)

The things we see...

This is the craziest thing I've seen in a long time. Try it.

The thing he was trying to prove? Worked completely on me.

So. Weird.

Exams, bread, and books...well that just about sums up my life lately...

3 exams down, 1 to go! Unfortunately it's the one with the most boring reading ever. Blah, political convergence theories.

In better news, I just bought a bread machine! Woohoo! It was cheap, had free shipping, and was well reviewed. If you're interested, find it here.

I believe my first attempt will be this whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread. I just finished the most fabulous book, Gilead, in which one of the characters eats an apple butter, peanut butter, and raisin bread sandwich which just sounded amazing. (By the way, just as warning, Gilead is going to turn me into that annoying book pusher. It's just wonderful. Check out a good description here.)

Well that was certainly all over the place. Forgive me. I spent three hours writing today on why socialism failed in the United States, the differences between Teddy Roosevelt and Wilson, and why Lincoln failed to compromise with the south in 1860-61. It's been a long day.

News of the Weird

Buh? PBS has a new show premiering this fall, Spain...On the Road Again, which stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, and Claudia Bassols, and appears to be about the group driving and eating through Spain.

Am I crazy, or is that A) a really weird group of people...Gwyneth, really?, B) a strange show to be on PBS, and C) a potentially awesome thing for me to watch next year when I won't have cable?

Here's a sneak peak: