aquisitions

Seeing as the decor in my bedroom hasn't really changed in...oh, 15 years...it was time for some changes.

First, I switched out the vanity I'd had since I was 4 with this baby blue art deco vanity from the 30s. The panels swing out and originally were draped with fabric and used as coverage for the ladies who wanted to be modest. :)

I also got the large painting below - I love how up-close and honest the portrait is. Hard to tell from my crappy cell phone picture, but the colors are very vibrant. The original frame was this out of place Baroque thing that stole too much attention from the painting, so I took it off and left the bare canvas. My mom hates the painting, but I love it. So he's staying. :)

dance

Just stumbled into this quote from Mark Twain about dance. Love the way he describes spinning around...

I was exceedingly delighted with the waltz, and also with the polka. These differ in name, but there the difference ceases — the dances are precisely the same. You have only to spin around with frightful velocity and steer clear of the furniture. This has a charming and bewildering effect. You catch glimpses of a confused and whirling multitude of people, and above them a row of distracted fiddlers extending entirely around the room. The waltz and the polka are very exhilarating — to use a mild term — amazingly exhilarating.

*image of Fred & Rita from Flixster 

99 cent camera

Some shots from Erin's 99 cent camera - she helped me replace the film inside with my own roll of good film. The camera kinda broke after I was done taking pics, but I guess that's part of the charm!

These shots are from seeing 42nd Street at Moonlight Ampitheatre (so good!), hanging out at Balboa Park, and clicking around in my neighborhood.

home sweet

I love taking walks around my neighborhood. I feel very lucky to live in a place full of history where all of the houses along the street are distinct. Poet Carrie Jacobs Bond was a lived here during her life, and cheesy as it is, I like the poem she wrote about her home:

"... And weary though my soul may be, My spirit there is blessed.

The wild birds chant their caroles,

The wild flowers bloom galore.

Out in God's lovely garden - How could I ask for more?"

*historical info from the Journal of San Diego History

4th of July

The chicken wings were artery-cloggingly delicious, the spa was a perfect 99 degrees, and the cadillac margaritas were strong and cold. God bless America.

new yawk

I'm back from NYC and it exceeded my expectations per usual!

Highlights:

- Dinner at Trestle on 10th

- Natural History Museum

- Finally locating Greenwich Press on Christopher Street. We were very, very confused for about half an hour.

- West Side Story

- Getting a taste of the Brooklyn Bridge

- Dinner with our dear friend Steve at Les Deux Amis in Turtle Bay

- Brunch at Sarabeth's (part of Hotel Wales in the Central Park East area). Such tasty jams and muffins!

- Dinner at Cookshop in Chelsea. The quail and anticuchos were the best things I ate the whole trip. And really liked the dandelion salad!

- Traveling with two awesome people

tea for two

I'm working on the song Tea for Two (from No, No, Nanette) in class, and it is becoming one of my favorite songs from musical theater. It paints a very traditional picture, but I love it all the same. It makes me want to have some "sugar cake" too...whatever that is.

~ ~
Picture me upon your knee
Just tea for two
And two for tea
Just me for you
And you for me alone

Nobody near us to see us or hear us
No friends or relations
On weekend vacations
We won't have it known, dear
That we own a telephone, dear

Day will break, and I'll awake
And start to bake a sugar cake
For you to take, for all the boys to see

We will raise a family
A boy for you
A girl for me
Can't you see how happy we would be
~ ~

There's more, but that's the bulk of it. An older recording is available here (it's track 12).