Insert Dictator Joke Here

Ok, this is just weird.

Bohemian House

I just finished my first semester of nursing school. Like just now. Wow. Some things I did not think I was capable of:

1) Poop showers.

2) Changing a "brief" of a man twice my height and three times my weight.

3) Not getting depressed about being old, when I'm surrounded by smoldy oldies six hours a day.

4) Consistently waking up at 5 am and not losing my mind, stethoscope, or important paper work.

Guess who conquered all three of those? Uh huh, your old friend Last Unicorn. As I walked off the floor for the last time, I got a little sad, who's going to remind Little Sweden to not eat so fast? Who is going to laugh at No way Jose's terrible jokes? My clinical instructor told me that you'll always remember your first patients. I hate to get all sentimental, but she's totally right.

In six weeks I went from a sweaty stressful mess to a competent confident sweaty nurse in training. Ayy! I can't wait to conquer some more mountains, but I sure will enjoy this break! Maybe I'll even have time to post some more!

Occupy Movement Getting Spicy

Now we're talkin' kids. No one is going to listen till we cause some more ruckus! No one can really make a change but us!

OccupyChi.org

Why don't you get involved?

Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign

I have had so many posts swimming in my head for a while. I haven't been able to gather enough emotional energy to put anything substantial down. This isn't the time, but I would like to share a substantial link. I've been experiencing internal and external turmoil concerning the Occupy Movement. I don't have time or energy to really go into that either, but suffice it to say if they won't even let us occupy a park, why would they listen to any of our other demands? The system is broken we can't wait for others to fix it anymore. Either way, the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign was born out of the Occupy Movement and it's the kind of activism I can get behind.

+1, share, or tweet, this is a movement that's worth getting behind!

It could bring a tear to a glass eye ...

Somedays you just need to listen to a lot of Paul Simon to get through your day, and that's okay.

Yo

Hot damn, it's fall!

ARGH

In my opinion I bombed this week at the comedy bit. I was pretty discouraged for a second, but then I went to the library and got some inspiration. I'm also going to play less Tyrant. It's becoming a serious problem. I'm not even going to link to it because I don't want you to get hooked. It's a slippery slope of xeno warriors and bloodthirsty vampires. Trust me.

Today I'm going to write some fresh bits and practice practice, because Monday is another chance to prove to myself that nursing shouldn't take up ALL my time.

Obama's Farce

"The president at that point was expressing his distaste for what he felt dominated his first two years, which was, as he said, a kind of technocratic approach, that if you get the right people in the room and they have sufficiently high IQs or enough sterling degrees, you are going to get answers, solutions to problems that are wide, vast, and complex. And I think the two years that have passed convinced him that maybe that’s not the case, and he spent too much time thinking, chasing that chimerical beast of the perfect solution that is arrived at through the give and take of analysis and debate." - Ron Suskind from his new book "Confidence Men"

Sorry Obama, our "democratic system" isn't about solutions it's about sensationalism. It was a noble effort. Instead of gathering up IQ points you should have been asking, who is the best showman? Bush was great at that, look at all he got "done."


The Chilean people have some good ideas, but American people/policy makers are too high on patriotism and too bloated with Hubris to make any change that will affect the people that need it most.

YES!

I don't have Tuberculosis!

Pain in the Butt

Whiskey is risky.

SCORE!

PRO: Early morning lovin' (and I wasn't even late for work!)
CON: I have to get a shot today.
PRO: It's going to be warm and sunny.
PRO: I can think about my early morning lovin while I'm getting a shot.

Countdown to escuela starts today: 3 1/2 weeks and counting!

Get Down Girl, Go 'Head Get Down

I know I'm late, but goddamn this is a great song! Happy Friday ya'll! I really need to get on the Kanye train.

Hey! This is a great article about where I did my first comedy set covered by The Onion. Cole's is a great bar and they really do run a great open mic, congrats to Cameron Esposito and Adam Burke.

I'm itching to get on stage again soon. I want figure out if I'm a hack with beginner's luck or a hack that can make people chuckle. Thanks again to all my super supportive friends who came out and made me feel less like vomiting. I'm really excited about this new aspect of my life.

Design Sponge Book!

My favorite DIY and Design website just put out a book! The founder, Grace Bonney, seems like a truly awesome lady full of even better ideas. This is the only site I've consistently visited in my entire interwebz career. Design*Sponge online always has something interesting or beautiful to share. I can't wait until the book tour comes to Chicago. I will be the first person in line for an autographed copy! Here is the awesome (and adorable) trailer for the book!

Design Sponge at Home (Official Book Trailer) from The Panic Room Videos on Vimeo.

Top of the Pops

I had a wacky weekend; good wacky sexy wacky less than amused wacky drug wacky bad wacky beach wacky. A:: OF THESE THINGS ROLLED INTO ONE! How can this happen? And here we are in the midst of a very normal week. I just don't feel normal. Which, for once, ain't bad.

I overheard one of my friends say that [on Sunday] they woke up and felt more alive. I mean there was relevant context, but that's quite a statement. Quite a lovely statement indeed.

Tetris Talk Ya'll

+ I beat Tor at Tetris attack.

- There are flies and mosquitos in my room. Gyuck.

You win some and you lose some.

Haven't Posted in a Loooooooong Time

Samba Soft Spot

I hate how much I love this commercial.

Summah

GOSH! I love living in Chicago.

Agosto

Can't believe it's already August. I have so much to do this month, yeeeaahhhhh!

<3

Hot Traffic-Jammin

I have the kind of boyfriend who will quietly hold your hair in his fist while you hyperventilate over your car deciding to stop working in the middle of the highway. Also, the kind that leaves you his delicious leftovers.

He does a lot of other awesome stuff too, but my arms are too tired from changing tires to type them all out today.

Suffice it to say, I'm pretty lucky/happy/grateful/in lurve.

Making Lemons into Cauliflower Soup

Despite having to take emergency contraception twice in one cycle, I had a really great weekend. That is, until the super very end, when my couple roommates broke up. Long story short it has been really stressful on the home front. It's always hard to come off a good weekend into one big giant downer.

In my stress and unreal cramps I found a source of happiness, and that happiness came in the form of cauliflower. Feeling like a hungry bearwhale but not knowing what to eat, the usual dinner fare didn't appeal to my hormonally charged self. About two years ago I discovered one of my favorite foods of all time: Split pea soup. I know, all you can think of is Peggy Blare spewing it in the Exorcist, but trust me, it's the perfect winter food. I recently read a recipe for broccoli soup that sounded shockingly easy. I assumed it was along the lines of the split pea so I began jonesing for it.

Staring into the fridge around dinner time my eyes kept going back to an old head of cauliflower. Light bulb. I'm going to try making cauliflower soup. So I adapted the broccoli soup recipe to cauliflower (from memory no less) and VOILA, so delicious I nearly started crying.

Near tears because my insides are screwy yes, but every victory in the kitchen sends me soaring. I am not a cook. My college years consisted of microwave baked potatoes, whatever my roommates fed me, pudding, and Jimmy Johns sandwiches. Every time I complete a meal that is not only edible, but delicious I feel like throwing a victory party. So yeah, my mood is temporarily lifted, that is until I get the cauliflower farts! haha

Here is the simple, delicious recipe:

One head of cauliflower chopped up good

one clove of garlic sliced

two cups of low sodium chicken or veggie broth

one cup water

one cup milk

one table spoon butter

a dash of olive oil

handful of chives (from my garden yo)

Combine garlic, cauliflower, butter, water and one of the cups of broth.

Simmer till soft (sounds gross)

Add the milk and remaining cup of broth to a blender with the dash of oil and the chives

after the veggie mix is done simmering add to the blender and hit puree.

Dinner, delicious smelly dinner. Cooking is fun!

(here are some facts about cauliflower)

This food is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Protein, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Potassium and Manganese.

Read More http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2390/2#ixzz1TGDzHh3x

Next Choice

Next Choice, the cheaper alternative to Plan B. Someone really knows how to name a product. Let's play a game, it's called which emergency contraception will make Jesse feel less like shit? There are very few times in my life that I loathe being a girl. This is one of them. :(

Bladjhargh.

Requiem to Mixes

Yesterday, as I walked down the street, the sadness washed over me once more.

The emptiness of lost memories. Irretrievable images put to music marking milestones in a life still being lived. I'm not a lady who needs much or holds too much sacred, but mix CDs are my dubloons. A golden currency that I pull out when I'm feeling happy, sad, or stagnant. 1,2,8,9,10! Ah! I'm rich. Only, now I'm monetarily poor and mix CD poor.

Who could steal someone's history like that? I hate dwelling on negative things, but my heart's so sore I can't stop thinking about the hobo or punk kids that have various pieces of my life in their possession. Take my car, my stereo, my pneumatic jack, anything but my mixes! Have they already been discarded as valueless trash? I dreamt about going on an expedition through the neighborhood's dumpsters and alleys to retrieve my treasure.

Instead, today, I start a mental expedition retrieving the most sacred of the stolen from the sentimental stores of my self. It's all I can do to stop from fretting. The capacity to remember is what I love about my mixes. Now, I set out to rebuild my fortune, if only in written form, and stop feeling so damn sentimental. In addition, from here on out, I promise to back up anymore mixes I receive (which I hope is many).

The Black Hills

Wilderness is the great equalizer. Did someone say that? It keeps floating through my brain. I have minutes before I'm back in the hills and I lose reception again. South Dakota is beautiful, it was everything I wanted in a summer vacation. I'll miss a few things, but I'm excited to come home. <3

Filled with Love that Struggles to find a Home

I forgot how full Dylan and Guthrie make me feel. They pull a strength of dusty roads and abandoned fields, lofty dreams and open ended adventures from a place I forgot even resided in me. I've been feeling so weird about the passage of time lately, a little like every thing is whirling past me and I'm just jamming in the middle swaying to the pulse of it all.

I'm leaving next week for a few days and I think it's exactly what I need to keep my head from exploding. You know, cause I'm useless with an exploded head. <3

Grunting is Grand!

According to the chief executive and organizer of Wimbledon, Ian Ritchie, "women who grunt too loudly on the court are annoying their opponents - and the fans."

Ritchie points to "a lack of education" of the younger players.

I think it's awesome. Put a little (or a lot) of grunt into it girls. Also, no one cares if the guys grunt?

Vacation Vacation

Work hard, live simply.

Fear less.

98 degrees AND SWEATY!

Hey! I think it's summer!

The Land of the Rising Sun

Do You Know South Korea? from David Dutton on Vimeo.

It's videos like these that really make me miss South Korea. Maybe it's not even SK so much, but the adventure and awe of travel. I've also been reading a book about first year nursing (because I'm excited), and the traveling nurses always pique my interest the most. My best friend is in a foreign land very far away, and she misses home desperately. She tells me that she understands the privilege and pros of travel, but she just misses her people too much. "What's really the point," she says? I can't help but wonder if there's something wrong with me for always wanting to experience somewhere else. I love my people here and I love my new home, but the promise of new experiences is intoxicating. I wonder if my wanderlust will ever dissipate?

I remember the night we stayed out until the sun rose. I stood on a barrel in the bar, hands cupped like a megaphone yelling obscenities. We couldn't stop laughing because we told those boys from England to fuck off. I drank in everything that was around me (including about six of the best mojitos I've ever had). Everything just looked perfect. On the cab ride home I remember following the crest of the sun rise with my finger, thinking about how much I'd like to share this with S. The next day we found a mountain and climbed it. That night had to be one of the top-ten best sleeps of my life.

Workaholic

Sometimes Tuesday nights are just Tuesday nights and sometimes, they are awesome Tuesday nights that you smile about Wednesday during the day.

#Bearsuit

Traveling BFF

Hey! My best friend is doing really cool things and taking really cool pictures and is like, real funny, check it: Tory DeMaBUHAY!!!!

Darn

I missed the vintage bazaar in Pilsen this weekend. Wah wahhh.

(Not like I need anymore stuff)

Okay, I always need more stuff.

City Life

Last night I played limbo in my undies and won $200 at the casino. Just another Saturday night.

<3

Captions & SubTITLES

I'm so happy I could burst.

I wish I could expand more, but it would be all spacey and maudlin.

EDIT: Now I'm happy for another reason, I just got accepted to the nursing program for October! Wahooooooooo, finally!

It's all happening.

Weird House

This morning I got the dual pleasure of waking up to my smelly cute boyfriend and my 7 am happy-drunk roommate, I'm totally digging the city.

Sunday Smile, New Nostalgia

For the last four years I've been feeling like I've been living in at least two different places. It's been a little much, at times, on the brain. This weekend puts me in a home with kind people and closer to the ones I love and love to spend time with. Lately my brain has been filled with fear and nostalgia, a place I don't like to spend time brooding in. I'm excited to be excited about life. I'm excited to inhabit spaces instead of just filling them.

How did I let myself get so wrapped up in the unimportant?

The first youtube comment below this video:

"It's because it captures, and preserves the brevity of those mornings or afternoons that are like gifts - the unplanned ones where, miraculously, you aren't working for once and go to the pub and sit outside with friends. It's the atmosphere that flashes open years later in November up to your eyeballs with work and with nobody to hand and you remember the beautiful fragility of that sunlight."

No really, Carpe Diem.

Packin

Mooving is sort of exciting. I'm really glad I didn't throw out all those boxes I was inexplicably saving from everything ever a couple a months ago when I wondered why I had so many empty boxes lying around.

Also, am I the only one who feels weird about Osama Bin Laden being killed? Besides the decade long man-hunt being strategically irrelevant, I just can't shake this feeling of disgust associated with the whole debacle. I mean no one even parodied him anymore, which like it or not, speaks loudly. It's like that one time with that one kid where I was just conquering something because I needed to prove something to some intangible idea associated with social mores, only this time it took a lot longer and no one's too sure what all the sweat equity proved or to whom.

Somedays my head is totally a pacifist. Shoulder shrug.

2011 - So far so good.

Oh hey. I'm moving to Chicago in a week. I turned one year older (but feel younger). I bought myself a bike for my birthday, now I need a helmet. I've been good and busy.

Spring Fever

I DON'T WANT TO DO MY STATISTICS HOMEWORK. I WANT TO TAKE A WALK INSTEAD.

damn.

Oh Kongregate

I seriously spent the entire afternoon playing a flash zombie game. It's overcast, gosh.

The Poetics of Space

Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonality as those of home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams; we are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost.

- Gaston Bachelard

I've been imagining myself in various times and places lately. I can't quite imagine what my physical home is going to feel like next month, but my emotional homes are stable enough (for once) that I'm prepared for anything. Bring on the change!

Ooooh through the Roof

I want to go to Greece and study direct democracy (ie anarchism in action) and you know explore and eat dates and soak up the sun and have adventures.

Sometimes I can't take these systems that keep people not only down and out, but really complacent.





I'm feeling underwhelmed. I'd really like to be in awe of something for a hot minute.

Spring Cleaning Up My Pocketbook

Making grown up decisions is stressful.

And mostly boring.

Fruit Punches

This weekend I wore a skirt and kissed a cute boy in a closet. I also got to hang out with some of the most quality cats I know.


It was just what I needed.

Daylight Savings

I bought the raddest (cheapest) swimsuit the other day and I think the purchase totally threw off my [cold weather] patience. Oi. I thought I sidestepped the ubiquitous winter blues, but damn it if they haven't crept in something awful. I mean, let's get it over with already. I want to wear a dress and not be freezing. Okay, I'm always freezing, but I want to wear a dress and not actually freeze.

Pizza party tonight to lighten my mood. Don't forget to set back those clocks this weekend and sit under that broad spectrum lamp.

I think we're gonna make it.

<3

Note to Self

Go to this. March 25-26

Also, your big sister's birthday is this month. Get her something cool, she deserves it.

Ladies Night!

Was fun fun fun. I rescind my initial surly face that began the night. I like being proven wrong.



Now I'm going to eat a bagel with avocado spread all over it, while taking my stats test.

old skool

Yesterday I bought a chincy square from Blick for three dollars, two hours later I was referred to this sexy number:

Behold, the original Swanson Speed Square.



Invented in 1925 by mister Swanson himself, this tool is actually five tools in one! A tri-square, a miter square, a protractor, a line scriber, and a saw guide. I want this and I want to build things. Though, I need a little more Spring in the air so people will start putting out their old woodstuffs again!

Huzzah!

V-V-V-day

Sometimes love can make you act like an insecure jerk and sometimes it can make you be a better person who stands on chairs and yells out Holy Hell this is Great! It is a very complex thing. Very. I'm thankful to wrestle with it.

<3

Sometimes You Just Got to Dance!

(I'm supposed to be writing my admission essay right now) Booyah!

I love that this was a video on MTV2. Ha ha.

Weekend Wrap Up

I just woke up from a very long nap! What a lovely weekend.

High and Low

It's Friday. This has been a long and dubious week. Thunder snow, freezing temps, and two snow days in a row! If I was a kid this week would have been awesome. Today, I'm meeting with ResU's counselor, hopefully they will tell me that school will only take sixteen more months and that the D I got in my math class will transfer in and I won't have to retake it. Hopefully they'll tell me they are really excited to have me as a student and I can totally get a scholarship and night classes start at a reasonable hour. Reasonable enough to hold a day job, that is. I've got high hopes, and like I said, my optimism is gaining momentum.

Either way, I get to go to a brunch dance party tomorrow with friends and loved ones, and I'm totally stoked. I also get to hang out with S.'s Dad, which is always an adventure! Goodtimes.

In really unfortunate news: According to an article on nonpartisan news site Congress.org, "For the second year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan." That's not counting veterans and certain types of reservists. I feel like I could say a lot here but the stat. speaks for itself. I have a lot of veterans and active military in our family and those numbers really strike a chord with me. Wars aren't good for anyone.

Make your weekend count!

Congress.org quotation xposted from January 28, 2011 Social Design Notes Post

Ground hog says Spring is knocking on the door!

The snow doesn't give a soft white damn whom it touches.

-e.e. cummings

Spring, I will let you in.

This suit is from J.Crew and I want to purchase it and then wear it everyday under my clothes until it is warm enough to go swimming. I love it.

The wind shows us how close to the edge we are.

- Joan Didion

Snowmageddon!

I can't stop saying, SNOWMAGEDDON! I thought it was sort of silly and hyperbole, but when I woke up this morning ... I shoveled my words. We were snowed in! What a fun and exhausting snow day. Alas, I crave the sensation of grass between my toes. For tonight I'll dream of warm weather and exciting prospects.

I'm listening to Explosions in the Sky live in concert and being somewhat productive and more optimistic than I have been lately. Actually my optimism is sort of snow balling (better term? I think not), which is really nice, because for a while I really lost site of it there. I drafted out a pattern for my chair tonight and I intend on finishing up the image for the textile I'll be reupholstering it with. Yes, I'm avoiding my statistics homework, but oh well. I've got all night right? I also talked to not one but three old dear friends, for a good long while. Old friends are comforting.

Also, way to go Illinois and Gov. Quinn! On Monday the newly elected Governor Pat Quinn signed Senate Bill 1716, the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act into law, granting same sex and heterosexy couples nearly the same rights as a traditionally married couple. Marriage is so 1900's this is the 21st century, civil unions are totally in!

Stay warm and prosper!

Head Space

What does it mean to be modern? It is not strictly a style, but rather an attitude to style, one that is less purist and more creative than you might imagine. To create a modern space is to take in the full panoply of international references, to consider place and climate, form and function, and to invent inspired environments that adapt easily to modern living.

- Phyllis Richardson, from Living Modern, The Sourcebook of Contemporary Interiors

What is style? I mean really, what does it mean to you? I've been asking myself that question a lot this week. There are so many facets of that question to answer, because "style" can take on so many forms and manifestations. Personal style, writing style (struggling with that as well, ha ha), speaking style, living style (interior and otherwise). Do these things need to be defined? Or is it just a creature comfort; I feel better in this role because I can define it to others? Or does defining say a personal style empower us to make bolder and riskier decisions? In my head I want to separate a working sense of style, from my own pretension and self consciousness. Perhaps this question has been plaguing me because my own sense of style/self (is it one and the same?) has been stifled by, well myself. But that's a whole 'nother post!

Have a great weekend everyone, by Tuesday it will already be February! That much closer to sunshine and warmth!

Photo xposted from thesartorialist. (Tuesday January 25, 2011)

Skrilla

A new fave website: Skull-A-Day!

SORRY BEARS!

Swoon

Uh oh, I'm school girl crushin'. Last night I was working on this chair:

As I pulled out about a thousand upholstery staples, my wondering mind made a week old connection. For some reason I was thinking about the movie Everything is Illuminated I had watched last week, in the movie a Jewish American travels to rural Ukraine to explore his family's history. Of course you need a guide when you go to a country whose language you do not speak. Enter Alex, tall, hip, awkward, and very Eastern European, by the end of the movie I had a tiny euro crush on him and his goofy accent. The closing credits of the movie played gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello's hit track "Start Wearing Purple". I remember thinking, that really doesn't go with the movie besides being offbeat and eurocentric. One week later amidst the staples and dust it hit me, that guy must be the lead singer of Gogol Bordello. Why else would they use that song? My logic seemed a little flawed considering I had no idea what the singer from Gogol Bordello looked liked, but alas, a quick google search confirmed my suspicion. The next two hours of my life became a Eugene Hutz black hole. Behold:

He comes off as an infectious anarchic traveling spirit who's all about partying and good will. Eugene is like the Euro Andrew WK with facial hair and goofier clothes. He also seems really genuine and caring about world issues. But let's be honest, I'm a sucker for facial hair and chutzpah. Sorry S, you're my true love, but I found my Tina Fey! What is it about you tall skinny wild boys that make me swoon so good?

Anyway, I'll post after pictures of the chair when I finish it. I'm going to try to design and screen print the fabric myself. This is my first fabric AND upholstery job, so wish me luck ya'll.

Eff the M.I.C

Today is the anniversary of the famous Eisenhower farewell speech where he coined the term, Military Industrial Complex.

Sometimes it's really chilling to imagine where we may be going. I'm an optimist so I always try to look for the ways that we as a people can move in the light, but I've never been comfortable with people far removed from me deciding how the world is run. SPEAKING OF THE WORLD, Worldview ran a special on the speech this afternoon, check it ya'll.

For the record, I'm still totally diggin on 2011. Huzzah.

Why is DIY about Women's Lib?

Hands of My Drill Bits Woman! Stumbled upon after looking up how to make dowel joints ... I just vomited in my mouth a little. Google, are you trying to tell me something?

2011 Hurrah!

So far so good 2011, I'm impressed. My bones are telling me that good things are coming.

And my bones never fucking lie.

A blast from the past reminding me to do what I want on my own terms, because life is fleeting.