Kid things

Remember these? I used to love these. Why did we stop eating them when we weren't kids anymore? Why should jell-o be relegated to a facet of youth, of childhood? Adults enjoys jell-o. I enjoy jell-o. I'm sure you enjoy jell-o. It is simply unjust to think of jell-o as a kid thing. But, yet, jell-o reminds me of a time of my childhood. I think jell-o should be consumed throughout one's lifetime. There's always room for jell-o. I liked to save the little cups these came in and play with them in the bathtub. Wasn't I such a strange child? The first thing I had to do whenever we got a bag of these was pour them out and organize them by color. I had to make sure I had even numbers of each color, so I would eat them accordingly until they were all even. For the rest of the bag, the difference in colors was no more than one while I finished them off in the order of which flavors I liked best - my favorite one last.

Today I...

So today, I'm walking along rushing to class because once again, I'm just a hair away from being late. I shouldn't even have been late, My previous class is about 4 blocks away and ends 25 minutes before the next one starts. This translated in my head as 10 minutes to pop into one of the many stores between them for a quick look see. Anyway, ahead of me is a woman teetering on a pair of these.




So I'm thinking why is this woman wearing these when she can barely walk in them correctly? Her heels were doing that thing where her shoe would tilt inward with each step. I move to the side to pass her by and when I look up, it's Kate Lanphear! This would've been the highlight of my day if it hadn't been the first day of class. I slowed down to try get a better look but I was, as I previously mentioned, running late and not wearing giant heels. She, of course, looked amazing.
Image taken from Net-A-Porter

Oh and did you by any chance go get your free make-up today?

edit: this was what she was wearing

image taken from Stylesightnings

Speaking of Beards

Last semester after an especially long class a friend of mine raved to me for a full fifteen minutes about the deliciousness that is a Beard Papa's cream puff. Her diatribe on its milky cool interior surrounded by a crisp outer shell had me craving some even though I had never eaten it. She insisted oon taking me to try some and later that day, I too was able to experience the delectable creamy goodness of a cream puff.

It has a simple unimpressive exterior with its dusting of powdered sugar but don't be fooled.

Also, don't you think excalpations should be a word? And here's a picture of a fruit tray with chocolate and caramel.

BFF

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.

— Charles W. Eliot

Suddenly bearded

I thought these were funny because halfway into fall semester my GSI (TA for other people) for one of my classes decided he wanted to grow a beard. It was peach fuzz for a while. And by the end of the semester it was scruffy and he looked like he was living in a forest for a while where there are no places to wash up. And he emerged looking like a wild forest man of the wilderness. Some people could do without the beard. Some people are just a good laugh.

Because people always make a big deal out of really mundane things

I love this

I'm not making a habit of updating daily, It's just happening

I just wanted to post this incredible photo of Nastia Luikin for Max Azria spring '09ad campaign. I've never paid much attentionto the label before but now I'm looking forward to the rest of the campaign set to debut online later this month.

I'm putting quotes here now instead

"I am now spending my time being a better dad, shaving the right way, cooking manly food, and romancing the wife."
from a comment in an article about men's magazines on Art of Manliness

belated

1. to actually study
2. to remember to be nice to people even when I'm not in a happy mood
3. to stop dressing in jean and t-shirts everyday. I promise to dress either well or ridiculously at least once a week.
4. to get a paying job
5. to finish at least half the sewing projects I have lying around at some point
6. to be more awesome and have a lovely 21st year actually living my life instead of thinking about what it could be all the time
7. oh, and to stop being late... at least to class
8. and to post on this blog regularly. That's the last one, I swear. Happy 2009!

photo from Mishkin

You say tomato

I say always and forever!Above is a picture of the tomato tasting last summer at the farmer's market in Berkeley.
I love tomatoes. I really do. They are my favorite. Favorite what, you may wonder.
Is it a fruit? Is it a vegetable? Is it an ambiguous glorious concoction of nature?
I don't really care.
The tomato holds the throne for my favorite fruit and vegetable and everything in between.
The tomato is true love. Always and forever.

Pay attention

I encountered this little work of graffiti in Chinatown. It was on one of those doors that open up to the basement of the establishment. I would just like to mention the awesome that are LEGOS. They're bandits. Neat-O.

Lesson: keep an observant eye out for LEGO bandits.

Something like this is not overlooked as often. I know this is new. I frequent SF often enough to know that this installment showed up within the last three weeks. It's still got fencing around it and there isn't anything to read about its origin, which I would like to know about. It's a nice pop of color in an area that's rather drab and sleepy because it's mostly office buildings.

Lesson: LEGO bandits are better.

My house

If I ever grow up and decide I have to be an adult, I'll probably have a house of some sort. I hear that's what adults do. If such an unfortunate event should ever occur, I would like fish bowl bookends. Although I question my ability to keep live things alive, I think future adult me would be more capable. If not, she can consult the books being bookended.





I saw these book bookshelves at a bookstore in Berkeley. It's a really cute place connected

to some cafe that always has a big banner about tapas hanging from the doorway.
He does a bunch of furniture like this, and he's based in Berkeley.

It's tetris shelving! But the blocks don't dissappear! How neat! And you can rearrange whenever you want! I don't know if it's just me or what, but I like to rearrange my furniture every so often. I get bored of looking at the same arrangement for too long. I usually like to rearrange my room at home seasonally.

Talk about multi-tasking. It's a staircase bookshelf! I love multipurpose things. Innovative.

If everything was multi-purpose, we would have so much more room for books,
and other stuff, but mostly books.
And I need more room for books. Most definitely.

Omigoshk! Where was this spectacular piece of furniture when I was 5? AND it's totally multipurpose! The bow is a toy chest and there are drawers on port and starboard. Some models even have bookshelves on the stern.
Why would any child want to sleep
with their parents if they have this?
Boat captains aren't scared of monsters under the bed.

I'm pretty sure this clever little number
would not be just for the kids.

Philosophy

This weekend has been longer than most, and thusly has been more action packed. San Francisco was a grand total of two days. J and I stayed for the tree lighting in Union Square on Friday. There's an ice-skating rink there, which I question because it could easily have been 70 degrees. Someone from Wicked sang for SF. I believe it's something along the lines of their homecoming (that's what the flyer said). J and I went to see The Devil's Disciple on Saturday. But as much as I tried to be productive all weekend, it's been at a crawl. I seem to have stumbled upon a new legion of blogs, which is really not conducive to finishing papers or projects at all. But here's a good way to stumble through life.

No car, no problem

Since the weather doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon, I opted to walk back from the grocery store. North Berkeley, is what I believe is often referred to as the "gourmet ghetto" by the students as opposed to "Asian ghetto" on the south side of campus. In no way an I advocating the referral of these respective areas as "ghettos" and they really aren't. It's not PC and they should just say "food." North Berkeley has a lot of higher end sit down restaurants, but south Berkeley is mostly take-out and to-go (don't ask me what the difference between take-out and to-go is). North Berkeley has these sorts of establishments I'm guessing because it's not on campus or close to campus. North Berkeley is also rather permeated with yuppie.

I spotted these excellently crafted pieces of shrubbery on my way back. The reindeer is being sold. But then wouldn't it grow out again? And then you would just have a bush? Besides the point... Sometimes it's fun to walk it instead of driving or busing or even biking. You can take the time to slow down and check out all the details and cracks in the sidewalk you wouldn't normally notice.

Does anyone else think it's weird that Gap is selling a bike?



It's argyle.
It's blue.
It's 500 dollars.

Indications it's that time of year

So it seems to me Halloween has arrived. It really is a wonderful time of year. Everywhere you go, you can hear the howling of the season as werewolves and vampires bask in the joyfulness of All Hallow's Eve.
There is never at any other time of the year this feeling of camaraderie and unity. When else do you see ghouls and goblins mingling with slutty nurses and bloody corpses? Children and adults alike take to the streets visiting every household with a happy greeting and warm message in return.









Bags bursting with delicious and wonderful gifts become too heavy to carry. What a sight and load to behold.Did I mention the free candy? And the candy on clearance the day after?

It's time to be a man.

It seems like just yesterday when you got a copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys and finally learned how to be a proper boy, doesn't it. Now that you're all grown up and going to college, I think it's high time you learned how to be a proper man as well. While the manboys you may currently know might get secret subscriptions to Esquire which I might add no real man should ever take as a guide since it's the male equivalent of Cosmopolitan- seriously, does any self respecting woman even act like what a "Cosmo" reader seems like?- even if it has some excellent writers on staff. Anyway, I would like to direct your attention to The Art of Manliness, a grown-up version of your beloved book. There are practical articles such as Nice Guys Don’t Have to Finish Last or others that are more up your alley in the seemingly useless life skills category: How to Land a Plane in an Emergency or even The Gentleman's Guide to the Calling Card.

Here's an excerpt from the article Your Grandpas's Babes, an article celebrating the women of yesteryear-
Your grandma? That sweet little old lady that makes you cookies and sends you savings bonds for your birthday? You’re damn right. Your grandpa thought your grandma was a total babe. She was the babe of all babes. Think about it, Jack. If he didn’t think your grandma was a babe, you wouldn’t be reading this article right now. I’m sure the first time gramps saw your sweet little granny looking all cute and perky in her bobby socks and saddle shoes, he gave her the look over, thought “hubba hubba!” and immediately took her to the nearest soda fountain to sip Coca-Cola from one glass with two straws. And even as your grandma got wrinkly and saggy, she stayed beautiful and alluring in his eyes. So here’s to you grandma for being grandpa’s greatest babe.-

Now all you need is to grow some facial hair and you'll be all set.

Vampires are scary

I'm under the impression that I can handle a lot in terms of fear. Rational ones such as rats, bugs, heights, etc. I can deal with well to a certain degree but the one thing I am deathly afraid of is vampires. I would die from fright before I'd even get bitten. My sister and I used to have this joke where we would have a house made of garlic with a secret underground tunnel to a church. The walls would be lined with more garlic, crosses and wooden stakes, of course. I finally watched Interview with a Vampire last week and it showed me three things.

1) A garlic house is useless against a real vampire. We really should just live in a regular house with UV lamps on the outside like Will Smith in I Am Legend.
2) It has me convinced that Tom Cruise is a vampire and suspicions that Antonio Banderas is one as well.
3) A new understanding of the lyrics in Decemberunderground


Any way, You should always be prepared in case of a vampire attack with a Vampire Killing Kit Crosses, wooden stakes, Holy water, this kit has everything you would need if you were to encounter a vampire. Now all you need is a bigger purse to carry it all in.

Freedom to read

Banned Books Week was September 27- October 4. Did you read a banned book? Does anyone else think it's a little silly to ban books?
It strikes me as a method to limit diversity. A lot of times it's through literature that we learn about other worlds and other opinions. Its a way to spread information and cultivate the imagination. When you prevent certain pieces of literature from getting through to other people, their horizon does not expand. The right to choose is a Constitutional one and to choose what books I want to read or not read should be up to me and no one else.

part deux

5)
Remember Nina's pants? I recall her saying you were with her when she bought them. (Her's are white) Susie Bubble has a black pair.

6)
Korean Spice Girls! aka the Wonder Girls via Disgrasian