Dreaming Dreams

The news said that Mubarak had been taken out. 'Finally', I thought. Then in a conversation about the north African events, I confused Egypt's situation with Libya's....how embarassing to be an IPE major and mess those up. 'Too bad Gadaffi isn't gone yet', I thought.

Next I was living in an appartment inside of a mall. A "penthouse" we called it. It was me and one other friend. A guy knocked on our door and just walked straight inside our place. He kept just casually talking a walking further and further into our place. Neither of us really knew what to do. I guarded the steps to upstairs and asked him what the heck he was doing here. He wouldn't give a straight answer. He made his way upstairs and I found the phone (sitting on the kitchen floor) and called 911. I calmly explained the situation that we were in and they said they'd be right over. It was a nice cop guy and he seemed as suspicious about this guy as we were. The guy came downstairs with loads of clothes and stuff he claimed to be his. Neither me or my housemates had ever seen this stuff before. He said he used to live there but when we asked when he had lived there, he couldn't recall the exact year. The policeman patted down the intruder and found a large knife on him. He also found a bizzare wooden sculpture that was full of French Roast coffee grounds. The intruder had a friend that decided to show up at this point. His friend was a chauvinistic pig who kept implying that we slept together. I tried punching him but it didn't work out too well. He was very strong and I felt so enraged that I couldn't defend myself against him.

That was basically the end of the dream. Incomplete as usual.

I've realized that to describe my perfect guy is not a simple task. I've been getting more and more picky as I get older. And then I had a revelation:

I need a man who embodies the music of Bon Iver.

The depth, truth, intelligence, hint of sadness, and beauty that make up his music is what I'm looking for in a guy. The calmness and certainty it gives me would be my perfect companion. I am still capable of doing my homework while listening, and it even helps me think more clearly sometimes. It relaxes and inspires me and I thoroughly enjoy it's company.

Do not confuse this with the idea of me wanting Bon Iver (or the lead singer of the band, Im not sure what his real name is...) to be my boyfriend, I'm really not one for celebrity crushes. It's more about the art that he creates and the way it moves me to be a better person. This would be my perfect relationship.

OMG. PUMPKIN ALE.

The title of this blog post pretty much sums up everything I have to say. I just had my first ever sip of pumpkin ale and the explosion of refreshing crisp beer mixed with the festive taste of pumpkin and spices has left me with a profound nostalgia for Fall. Good thing it is coming up soon. Pumpkin ale is the new starbucks pumpkin spice latte in my life. The new fall drink to look forward to.



Drink it up.

I like making lists

Books Read this Summer:

Omnivore's Dilemma
Beloved
Complications
Push
Freakonomics


Books to Read:

Eat, Pray, Love
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
A Little History of the World
In Defense of Food
The World Without Us
Common Wealth
Where Men Win Glory
Three Cups of Tea

Keen on Eugene

Well folks, it's day 4 of my 9ish day stay in the lovely town/city of Eugene, OR. I drove Miya up to Portland yesterday where we made our parting, and am now left to hang in Euegene for another week tout seule. The loneliness hasn't yet made me go mad, fortunately. I've been keeping busy studying for the GRE's, reading Freakonomics, playing guitar, and running/walking. I went over to the U district today and café hopped. Espresso Roma was a bit dissappointig and not very lively but I found this interesting place called Java Rock on 13th and Oak (ish?) that played nonstop Bob Marley and had a very laid back barista that made a mean iced chai. Got some more GRE vocab flashcards made. I'm almost done with vocab flashcards now, only 4 or so more pages to go.

Two more weeks until classes start- I have mixed feelings of anxiety and excitement for the start of the year. I'm a bit nervous cause I feel like I've been on vacation so long (since December '09 if you dont count Paris as real school, which I'm not sure if I do...) So I will have to get back into the swing of UPS level learning once again. Also I'll be taking some harder classes and will have to start thinking about writing my thesis. Not to mention the pressure of not knowing what I'm going to be doing with myself after graduation. I'm thinking I would really just like to move up to Seattle and live and work for awhile. and maybe go to grad school after a year or so of doing that. Or maybe I'll just take a really long roadtrip and drive around the country for an indefinite amount of time.

I always feel like ending blog posts is a bit awkward- like I need to come up with an excuse to stop typing.

Summertime, the Living's Easy

So I've decided to turn my "travel blog" into my "life blog"...we'll see how this goes. Feels like forever since I was in Paris but in reality its only been a little more than a month...it's crazy how four plus months can go by and then you look back and it just feels like a dream you had one night.

Summer has been going interestingly enough so far. I did 3 weeks of kid sitting and now I'm just house sitting for the same family while they are in China. Basically I have an abundance of free time on my hands and have been trying to come up with fun ways to spend it. I've been teaching myself (re teaching myself..?) guitar and am pretty proud of the progress I've made. I have a fair amount of chords down and some noteworthy calusses on my finger tips. I've also been reading a fair amount and studying for the GRE's. All of this is helping me from sinking into the feeling that I am doing absolutely nothing with my life.

I might possibly job shadow a nurse at some point this summer, but the application still hasn't come in the mail yet...

Blah, blah, blahhhh.

Saturday was fun, aside from USA losing in the world cup that is. I watched the game and then, feeling inspired, went out with my friends and bought a soccer ball and then proceeded to play for awhile. Then played some Cranium. And at sunset we drove to Point Defiance to watch the sunset on the beach with wine. We mistakenly stayed past hours and got locked in the park for an hour until security came to unlock the gate. We saw approximately 10 deer and 2 raccoons.

Thats all the life I have in me to update right now.

Peace.

becoming an amateur fashionista

I must admit, that while living in Paris these past 3 months or so, I definitely have been bitten by the fashionista bug. Just walking around the city offers so much fashion insight and outfit ideas. It also doesn't help that my beloved house mate, Annie, is a fashion design and merchandising major and is always up on the newest trends and offers excellent fashion advice. I really feel like this is one thing I'm going to miss about Paris once I leave. In the US (and in Tacoma, WA in particular) the majority of the population goes for comfort and cheapness over fashionable, when it come to clothes. The past 19+ years of my life I have never found anything wrong with this simple fact, but now that I've spent a considerable time in Paris, something has changed, and now it seems like a big problem. Parisians even believe that it is utterly necessary to dress your babies well. I can't count how many 2 year olds I've seen in perfectly tailored pea coats. I don't even have a perfectly tailored pea coat. My first opinion of these well-dressed toddlers was that they were adorable, but that it was completely unnecessary, considering they will probably grow out of all their beautiful clothes in a month! Now, something in my mind has changed, and I see how important it is for those 2 year olds to have their wool pea coats, thick, colorful tights, matching hats, and mary jane shoes. It makes perfect sense.

All joking aside, I wanted to make sure to document some of the current trends that I have notice around Paris. Here they are:

First off, we have the tights and shorts combo. I love this one. I have acquired many pairs of tights over the last couple of months (hey don't judge, they're versatile and cheap!) and love to pair them with many things and even just wear them under jeans as sock replacements when I haven't done laundry in awhile. Next we have the black skinny jeans, black blazer, and French retro striped shirt. You can never go wrong wearing these stripes in Paris, they are everywhere and widely accepted as fashionable.
Another blazer photo. There is a kind of magic that happens once anyone puts a blazer on; a sense of maturity and professionalism arrives out of nowhere. You're suddenly in charge, and you can handle anything. Highly recommended to wear for job interviews, internships, and any other environment demanding professionalism to be pulled out of thin air. The blazer is also a very versatile item of clothing and can be a great light layer to add to any going-out outfit.
Last but not least, the Ben Simon. The Ben Simon is the trademark tennis show of Paris. To put it in an analogy: Ben Simon is to Paris as Converse is to the US of A. They are simple, low to the ground shoes that come in many fabulous colors and various styles. The lace up (shown on the right) is the most classic, but recently they have come out with more styles such as the slip on (as seen on the left) and the faux lace-up slip on (as seen in my closet). Ben Simons are worn amongst children, teens, and adults alike, although seem to be a bit more popular among the younger populations. Selling for 25 Euro a pop, it has been hard for me to resist buying all the colors and variations my little amateur fashionista heart desires.