National Punctuation Day

Yesterday was National Punctuation Day, which might be my new favorite holiday. Unless someone comes up with National Snarkiness Day, this one is the winner.

Currently hurting my brain:

"Everything in the room, has special meaning to Lizzy."

"Most money in journalism, isn't spent on journalism."

"they were especially happy to wear there uniforms and they were so proud to where them."

I came across the first two in different publications, and read the second one not 10 minutes after the first. Because they demonstrate the same superfluous comma situation, I thought I was going crazy; but I confirmed with a fellow grammar snob that I am not. I won't tell you who wrote these, but let's just say that they were written by professionals. These were not things on someone's personal blog, all casual and colloquial. I don't care if it's "only" being published online - these errors are not a style choice. They are just mistakes. Aaah!

Sorry. I know this is annoying, but I can't help myself. I think it's in my blood. Apparently, my cousin used to correct her English teacher's writing up on the blackboard. At least I'm not alone.

I have been feeling extra nit-picky lately, and in honor of my new favorite holiday, I made this:

You're welcome. You can send it to your friends by clicking here.

Apparently Fall is Here

Now I have even more motivation to push through the laziness and get stuff put away around the apartment. It's fall (ok so I'm a few days late). I was all ready to cling to summer, but I do love fall. Mostly because this means it's time to start decorating the apartment for autumn! Gourds, pumpkins, dried ears of corn...and the best ever: pumpkin spice candles.

I love when the air gets cool and crisp and I can bust out the fall decor. Cinnamon and spice and oranges and browns and candlelight...

And when I went to Berkeley Bowl to pick up some meat for dinner, I saw this:

BALES OF HAY! AND PUMPKINS!
but seriously, bales of hay?

GOURDS! AND WHEAT! AND DRIED CORN!

Just for fun, look at those heirloom tomatoes.

I didn't buy any of this stuff, but oh boy I plan to. Just as soon as there are clear surfaces to put it on.

Holy Cow, Sara.

Two big pieces of Sara news for today...

First, I sign on to Twitter and see this:

That's right. Kristen Chenoweth says Sara is her favorite artist right now. Yeah. That's cool. No big deal. Not at all. Except YES. Kristen Chenoweth, people.

THEN, I get this tweet from Sara that says she's at the G20 Summit and is playing for Michelle Obama on Friday. ExcusemeWHATNOW?

And I quote (from the Associated Press):

The spouses will drop in to various classrooms as students rehearse for coming performances. They also will be treated to a show organized by Mrs. Obama featuring performances by students and such notable musical artists as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, country superstar Trisha Yearwood and singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles.

That is just ridiculously awesome, and totally mind blowing. I remember back last year some time when People magazine (I think) quoted Michelle Obama as saying she and her daughters loved "Love Song" but this is ridic! Yo-Yo Ma, Trisha Yearwood, and Sara Bareilles. WHATNOW?

Way to go, Sara!

Drive-By HouseLusting

There's this little house that I've driven by a few times recently while picking up lunch for my coworkers, and it recently had one of those for sale signs out front that just say "OH HI I AM A HOUSE AND I AM FOR SALE! CHECK ME OUT, WHY DONTCHA?"

So, I took a picture so I would remember the address, and promptly (2 days later) decided to look it up online. It's no dream cottage, but it is very cute.

Note the fireplace. This is one cute fireplace. And the little built-in? And the floors are made of reclaimed wood, so I can support that. This is the dining room, technically, but it could easily be a sitting room, I think, if you wanted to...not dine by the fire?

Nice kitchen. Apparently the countertops are made of radiant heat concrete (whatever it is, it sounds fancy!). And a dishwasher AND garbage disposal? And do you see that awesome faucet? And the window? And the little eat-in area?

This backyard looks like a secluded little jungle...and I love the deck. And I like the paint job. The grass could use some lovin, but I think the yard could be really nice. Note: the yard looks more secluded in this picture than it really is, as shown in this picture. But hey, nothin' some tall trees or a fence with vines couldn't fix!

Anyway, the house is listed at $449,000, and seems to be reasonably priced for the area. I'm not so sure how I feel about the area itself...it's not the WORST neighborhood, but there are a few residential burglaries (and um, a nearby rape? no thank you) posted on my new favorite website, SpotCrime. It's not crazybad, but it's enough to make me think twice a bit. In my own neighborhood (also not the worst, but certainly not the best), most of the crimes listed are things like "drunk in public" or "drug abuse possession."

Yeah. I am spending too much time looking at real estate listings. But cute! House! Cute!

Hypocritical Ranting is Fun!

photo from someecards, who has made it very difficult for me to include this picture. screenshot workaround!

I am very nit-picky when it comes to spelling and grammar. Mostly when it concerns other people...I mean, I am all about making things up on my blog and in gchat conversations (srrrrsly), but a misplaced apostrophe in a theatre program? Heinous! Atrocity! Sheild! Your! Eyes! This may make me a hypocrite (though I am currently trying to think of another word for it). I really liked what Lyz, of Rag and Bone (the newest blog in my Google Reader) said:

"While, I eat up delicious new words like “bootylicious,” I wanted to punch a kitten when my sister sends me text messages without vowels. But maybe I am not a Pharisee, trying to white wash my sepulcher until it shines, maybe this is just the way English is..."

Amen, sista. I mean, don't even get me started on "text speak" (or "txt spk") and the language of Facebook and Twitter. I am just getting used to the fact that people think it's ok to type emails without using capital letters (and I'll admit to doing it myself, out of sheer laziness...or the need to dash something off with extreme speed, but sometimes I go back and fix the email anyway). It drives me berserk (which I always thought should be spelled "bezerk," by the way) to see messages like "omg i wish i cud cu! want 2b der w u 2nite" all over the place. Ok, I made that one up. But it could happen, people, and you know it! I think things like "your so cute" are my least favorite. My so cute what?

More than this common butchering of English that is (sigh) just becoming commonplace online, I am irked by errors in publications. Apostrophes turning possessives into conjunctions (whose vs. who's, for example), or improper use of their/they're/there. In publications. That have (presumably) been edited. By someone who is getting paid. To check for grammar mistakes. WHY GOD WHY?!?

In several of the recent books I've read, I have found mistakes in spelling, grammar, or just silly things like the word "the" being typed twice in a row. Or missing letters here and there. Now, call me crazy, but if you are PUBLISHING A BOOK, don't you think your editor should catch more errors than even your most nit-picky reader? Maybe I have books on too high a pedestal, but seriously, folks. It's a published work. That you expect people to take in exchange for their hard-earned money. Don't you think maybe, just maybe, it shouldn't contain a bunch of errors? I'm not talking one book here. I've noticed it in at least 3 books I've read recently. WTF.

These are the things that keep me up at night. No, not really. But they do often toe the line between "ha ha let's get a little laugh out of that error" and "I want to pull my hair out; this is that frustrating to me." I feel like a big snob and a jerk and all, being so incredibly nit-picky about these things, but honestly, if your job is to edit something, you should notice these things! Rant over.

In closing, please check out these "stupid-awesome" protest signs. Thank you for Tweeting it, Nicole! My favorites are this one and this one, because of the mistakes, obvz.

PS - how many parenthesis can one blog post use?! I think I've reached my quota (but maybe not).

Wanted: Shoes with Comfort AND Style!

I come from Los Angeles, where lordy the weather is nice (except when it's 120 degrees out), but most people don't do much walking in their everyday lives. As a student, sure I walked around campus, but I usually just wore tennis shoes and flip flops. When I wasn't marching up and down the hills of the UCLA campus (aka: for special occasions), I didn't need comfortable shoes. Why? Well, the walk from the car to the restaurant, or the car to the movie theatre, or the car to the wherever just wasn't all that long.

Living, as I do now, in the lovely and more walkable Berkeley, I need some more comfortable shoes. Granted, I still drive a lot. Berkeley is certainly not a 100% walkable city, and it's no San Francisco or New York. But I am walking more than I used to, and maybe my feet have changed or something, but all the cute-but-cheap shoes I used to wear are suddenly not comfortable at all. Like I said, it's not like I'm walking everywhere (if I was, I would probably just wear tennis shoes every day); but I do walk around the studio a lot, and I take walks at lunch sometimes...and besides, if a pair of shoes is hurting my feet after the walk from the parking lot to my desk, maybe it's time for some new big girl shoes. Le Sigh. Gone are the days of Payless and Target as my primary shoe stores...

Today I am wearing shoes that look like this, but they are from American Eagle (these were just from a random Google Image search) - and they used to be comfortable, I swear. They were like $7, and a friend bought them for me, and it is now almost 2 years later and the top cuts into the top of my feet, and the back digs into my heel, and they even feel a little too short. Did my feet grow?

I know it's time to clean out the closet. I have a couple of pairs of shoes that I think are about to meet the Goodwill Bag. A few are maybe even going to meet the Trash Bag (they're that bad, but for some reason I still wear them). I have this problem where each shoe has a purpose (those are my blue suede ballet flats! those are my pink converse! I can't possibly get rid of them!), so I can't get rid of them. This sometimes helps me, since I won't buy a pair of brown mary janes if I already have something brown and mary janeish, but usually, it just means I have a lot of shoes. I need to go through the shoes and get rid of any that are not comfortable enough to walk around in, no matter how cute they are or what purpose I believe they serve (but theeese ones are special!).

The most comfortable ballet flats I ever had were from Banana Republic, and cost almost $50 on sale. And those got ruined in New York last year. I am still trying to replace those.

So now I am on the hunt. You city dwellers out there...what are your favorite comfortable but cute shoes? I like flats, bright colors, fun textures...and comfort. Comfort, please. I don't want to spend $100 on a pair of little ballet flats, but maybe that's what it takes these days. I like shoes like this, and the brand (Life Stride) makes me think they will be comfortable. But they are a little too similar to shoes I already own. Remember these shoes? They are no longer available. Sad. Should've just bought them when I had the chance.

I've heard that brands like Naturalizer are good...do you have any suggestions?

Cal Cupcakes

This morning, at 9:00am, Cal played Minnesota. Golden Bears vs. Golden Gophers. And my contribution to the game-watching party (TiVo'd at a friend's house, starting a little after 10am - the game was in Minnesota and we didn't all get up early enough to start watching at 9) was a tray of mini cupcakes. My theory was that if you're gonna eat cupcakes for breakfast, they might as well be tiny cute ones! With Cal-colored decorations! Cute!

Bria, Shanna, you're going to scold me again, but I used Betty Crocker butter yellow cake mix. :-) I had never bought butter yellow - I guess I usually just buy regular yellow...because I was totally caught off guard when the box said to add a stick of butter (in place of the usual oil). That's what I get for buying a box of cake mix just because it's on sale (for $0.99! I mean, come on!), I guess. Oh well, they tasted good. Even if the frosting slid off the tops of some of the cupcakes (theories? I have no idea why this happened. Yes, the cupcakes were cool when I frosted them). And even if half of them got knocked over in the car on the way to Erin's house.

Please enjoy the photos below. I thought the cupcakes were so cute, I had to take a billion pictures. PS - even though the 3rd quarter was a bit shockingawfulterriblehowtheheckaretheynotplayingwellanymore, the Bears won the game. Yay!

All lined up, like ducks in a row. Messy, smudged ducks. Ducks? I mean bears. Golden bears.

I was really excited to decorate with my new pastry tip. It is awesome.

Closeup of some other frosting designs (made with the same tip), and more smudged frosting. In the back (top right corner), you can see the frosting sliiiiding off the top of a cupcake. WHY, frosting, WHY?!?

Spun Sugar

I have recently discovered a wonderful little cake haven in Berkeley called Spun Sugar. It is a tiny, hole-in-the-wall-looking place, but although it is small, it is mighty! The short aisles are lined with baking supplies, from cupcake wrappers to cookie cutters to pastry tips to Styrofoam cake tiers to a wall of chocolate. Seriously, a wall of chocolate. Floor to ceiling. Chocolate. Oh and LOTS of sprinkles. On one side of the shop is a little coffee shop, where you can get coffee and pastries and such. And they teach decorating classes too. Awesome.

I heard of this place a while ago, and it's one of those places that I've been meaning to go to for a long time. Finally, with a plan to bake cupcakes that evening, and no cupcake tin liners, I decided I had to check this place out. Pronto. I was also looking for Cal-appropriate decorations, since the cupcakes were being made for a Cal-football-watching get together, and I had a feeling that this place would have what I was looking for (it's right down the street from the University).

Anyway, I'm glad I finally got to patronize this place. It is super cute, and they pretty much have everything you could ever need. And did I mention the wall of chocolate? Honestly though, I was in baking supplies heaven, and I wanted to buy it all. I walked away with mini cupcake liners (actually labeled "Cal Blue" and "Cal Gold"), three pastry tips, and two little bags of blue and yellow nonpareil sprinkles. Oh, and a salted caramel and piece of blood orange chocolate fudge (handmade by one of the employees).

A short slideshow so you can see the store:

Tropical Brightness

It's not totally my style, but there's just something about this that I like. Perhaps it's the complete and undisputable brightness. Yeah, that might be it. Love the colors, and it just feels so...warm. Especially when you look at the "before" pictures - holy cow, what a transformation! Wouldn't this be the perfect kitchen in a tropical getaway?

via Apartment Therapy

Let Me Eat Cake

Last week, every night, around 10pm, Will and I had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: I want cake.

Will: Ok...

Me: No seriously, why doesn't anyone deliver cake? To my house? At 10pm?

Will: Kim, you are crazy.

Me: But I just want cake! That's all! Is that so much to ask?

Will: Why don't you just make some cake?

Me: ...well...ummm...maybe I will! Ha!

I then proceeded to go to Safeway and purchase not one but THREE boxes of cake mix and THREE containers of frosting, because they were on sale, and altogether it cost me about $8. Muah ha ha, I shall have cake forever!!!

On Sunday night (after his hockey game, and while also preparing a dinner of linguini with canned clams in garlic marinara sauce - delicious and takes zero effort whatsoever), I made cake.

I was feeling bold, and experimenting with parchment paper - I had heard that if you line your baking pans with parchment, you don't have to worry about your cake sticking to the pan. Also, less mess. Which means less cleaning. Which means a happy Kim. Even though Will usually does the dishes. I think you're supposed to cut out a nice little circle with the parchment and just line the bottom...but um...I didn't do that. I was a little concerned, because, well, it looked like this:

Cakes, pre-bake - How will this fadge?

It worked...kind of...As you can see, the cakes turned out a little flat and the sides are a little crinkled. This made for interesting frosting techniques, but really it didn't matter too much. I wonder if the flat-ish cakes are a result of the parchment? Usually, my cakes are just a bit taller. The other thing I noticed was that the bottoms of the cakes weren't as spongy as they usually are. The slickness of the oily parchment seems to have made it retain too much moisture in the bottom or something. More on that later...I tell you what though, those cakes came right out of the pans, the parchment slid right off, and with a quick rinse, the pans were clean!

Cakes, post-bake - crinkle crinkle!

The photo on the left has wax paper strips under it to keep the plate clean while icing. Did your mom teach you that trick? Mine did - and I love it. Thanks, mom! I like these photos because they clearly show the awesome crinkly-ness that is the result of my lazy parchment papering. Hey, when you want cake, and it's 8pm, and you're also making dinner, you do not have time to be messin' with cutting perfect circles out of parchment paper! No siree, you want cake, and you want it now! (actually, I wanted it a week ago, so you can only imagine the impatience!)

I am Cake! Hear me roar! With sprinkles!

The frosting is chocolate chocolate chip - Betty Crocker, I believe. The cake itself (I think) was Duncan Hines Chocolate Devil's Food. I like the little chocolate chips in the frosting - I think they added a nice touch. I would call them a pleasant surprise, but I bought the frosting specifically because it said it had chocolate chips in it.

Cake best served with ice cream, methinks.

The only problem with this cake is that the layers don't really stick together...I'm not sure what that's all about (maybe something to do with the moist-bottomed parchment thing I mentioned earlier?), but when you serve a slice, and you start to eat it, the layers kinda come apart. Not really an issue, I mean, you can still totally eat the cake, but yeah. Not something I've ever experienced before.

This did not stop us from having cake for dinner last night. And it was delicious.

Hot. Clothes. Cake.

It's almost 10pm, and we haven't eaten dinner yet, but the bedroom is no longer covered with clothes. It's not completely finished and put together, but it's a million times better than it was before. It is extremely hot in the apartment tonight, and it's taking all my energy to finish the few loads of laundry I promised myself I would do. But I am happy, and you know what? In general, life is good.

I think we might eat cake for dinner.

Stick, Stack, Stuck

That title doesn't make much sense, but it sounds good in my slightly-stuffy head, so roll with me here. Because today, I am feeling a little stuck. I don't know how I can possibly feel like I'm in a rut, given the changes lately, but alas, I do. Perhaps it is because I am so happy with the new living situation, and things are going so well in that arena, that I am feeling stuck in other places in my life.

True, I've only been at the new job for two months. So technically, that's still new. But I woke up this morning tired of working. Not at my new job - things there are just fine - but in general. I had that thought that I think every 20-something has at some point, that thought of "Holy Cow. I am going to be working for the rest of my life. This routine will continue (seemingly) forever." Especially in today's financial times, retirement feels very far away. Wait a minute - um, hello - I am 25 years old. Why am I talking about retirement?

Truth is, I've always dreamed about the day when I say goodbye to working and hello to leisure. I mean, who doesn't? This is hardly news. I don't know many people who love working...even if they love their jobs, if given the choice and the opportunity, would they choose to go to work? Maybe. But I wouldn't. Those months of unemployment were a tease - making just enough money to get by (thank you, government), but having all the time in the world. It's a luxury to be sure. I wonder if those lucky few who don't have to work appreciate what they have? If money were not an issue, I wouldn't work, I know that. I would volunteer, garden, cook, read, write, take pottery classes, sit in on lectures...all the things you hear about grandparents doing.

Anyway, the point is that I know I have to work. Most of us do. You put in your lifetime of labor and you are eventually (hopefully) rewarded with a few "golden years" of relaxation. It's a part of life, and I think that if you can find a job that you don't hate, you are one of the lucky ones. Right now, I am one of the lucky ones. And I know it. But that doesn't stop me from sometimes feeling overwhelmed at the magnitude of it all...I am going to spend the next 40-50 years of my life working. And that's just the way it is. It sometimes feels like a heavy weight, bearing down on my shoulders, blocking my path to some unknown happiness that I could experience if I only had the time. I suppose that's a common feeling though - you work because you must, you try to enjoy what you do, and make the most of your life outside work. Try to keep it simple.

Suck it up, Kim. Stop being so dramatic. Ok. Maybe this is all just because I know summer is ending, and soon, the days will be so short that it will be dark when I get to work, and dark when I leave. Maybe it's the stuffy nose and the fact that I just finished reading The White Queen (talk about stuck - try being a woman in 15th Century England).

Maybe I'm just a dramatic, self-involved 20-something, and I need to suck it up already.

Maybe I just need a haircut.

Sunshine

The work day is almost over, and a dear blog friend tweeted about this artist, and I just wanted to share this image from her Etsy page because, well, this is just how I feel. It was a lovely weekend, with an almost-but-not-quite-rainy football game, giggling children, delicious meals, and an apartment full of boxes and love.

More on the weekend later (perhaps with pictures), but for now, the workday of Monday is almost over, and I am feeling very content.

The thumbs, not so green...

Ok, so I don't pride myself on being a super gardener or anything, but usually, I am pretty decent at keeping plants alive. I was fairly confident that my first tomato plant would be a bust, and it turns out that I was right. I'm not gonna lie, I did sort of give up on it. After that first little burst, it just stopped growing, and the leaves just kept getting browner and browner. And in semi-related news, my Trader Joe's basil plant was also looking pretty sad. The leaves were just not growing back at even a fraction of the speed at which I used them (ok, maybe a tiny, tiny fraction, like 1/10000000). I would use a few large leaves, and maybe a week or so later, a few teensy, yellowish leaves would grow back. Not so good.

Eventually, my window box garden looked like this:

Pretty Sad
(click to enlarge if you want a closer look at the devastation)

I realized last week that this would just not do, and that I would need to get some new life in this here window box. And today, at Trader Joe's, miracle of miracles, look what I found!

Ta-Da! Lush! Green! Edible!

(click to enlarge if you want to bask in the glory of my store-bought plants)

This little tomato plant was about $4.50, and had around 15 green tomatoes already on it (the basil was $2.99). The bagger at TJ's said that about half would probably ripen right away, and that I shouldn't re-pot it because it was so grown already that it would just shock the roots. No re-potting? Sounds good to me. Besides, the tag on the plant said that this is the full height of the plant (though supposedly more tomatoes will grow - I am skeptical). Now this is my kind of tomato plant! Dripping with fruit when you bring it home from the store...instructions not to re-plant it...what more could a girl want? And if none of them turn red, well, then it's fried green tomatoes for all (recipe 1, recipe 2)!

For now, at least it's a nicer view out the kitchen window! :)

What I wouldn't give to be here right now...

Does this exist in real life? If so, where is it, and how can I get there?

Someday, maybe I'll have a yard with a hammock, even if the yard doesn't have a gate directly leading to the beach. Honestly, I don't think this is real. Nice to dream about though...

Pottery Barn (I think) via Apartment Therapy

BungaloWOW it is cute.

Go right now to the page on Apartment Therapy and look at all the pictures of this cute little place. I love it so (though I could do without the mauve paint...if it were mine). There are too many cute things about this place to name them all. What's your favorite?

Bright and Cheerful

This kitchen/dining area just make me smile. I love the mismatched chairs, the butcher-block tabletop, the bright colors, and the chalkboard walls. It looks very homey, and very liveable, and it just radiates sunshiney goodness.

via Apartment Therapy

DEADLINE post-it stop motion

For your Friday enjoyment. I watched it without sound, and it was still awesome. Thanks, Lisa, for sharing!

A Cohabitation Update

So, the cohabitation has begun. On Sunday, we moved about half of Will's stuff into the apartment, and it still looks a little bit like a tornado hit the place. I'm trying very hard to remember that it will all get put away eventually, and I'm trying not to freak out about the current state of disorganization. It's not easy, but I'm trying. Baby steps.

So far, we have moved his dresser into the bedroom and hung his clothes in the closet. The closet is not at all finished, clothes are just sort of hung haphazardly, and there are far too many things hanging in there anyway (time to get rid of things!), but at least it's usable. There are two exploding duffel bags of clothes on the floor, and a big box of shoes and hats (yes, his) on top of the dresser. It's kind of a mess. But, like I said, I'm trying to stay calm about it. I know things will get put away eventually.

The living room is an explosion of camping gear, but at least it's a bit more contained than it was when we brought it in (in several grocery bags) on Sunday. Soon, it will all go downstairs to the garage for storage. And speaking of the garage...it currently contains: 5 plastic storage bins full of everything from winter coats to spare electronics, boxes of books and photo albums, luggage, backpacks, two storage/book shelves, sleeping bags, skis, spare full-size bedding (our bed is a queen), and a few miscellaneous things I can't recall at the moment. It's not very well organized - we just kind of piled it all in there - but it will be! Free storage!

This Sunday, we are tackling the rest of the stuff...his desk and many boxes of books and things are still in storage, as well as the kitchen table and bookshelves that are going to the garage. And more, I'm sure.

I think my new goal is to have everything put away and settled by the end of the month. That gives us 3 weeks (and Will is out of town for one weekend) - maybe that's not enough time? Eh, it's good to have goals, anyway.

I did have a few questions for those of you out there who are also cohabitatating...How do you divide your household chores and finances?

Some ideas I've heard so far:

• Make a chore chart/rotating chore wheel (which feels a little like college roommates to me)
• Each person picks a few chores and sticks with them (this sounds like the best option so far, right now - mostly - he does dishes and I do laundry...haven't talked about the other chores yet)
• Just do things when you notice they need to be done (which may end up with one person doing most of the work)

• Joint credit card for household expenses: food, cleaning supplies, etc (not quite ready for a joint credit card)
• Every month, tally up how much each person spent and whoever paid less pays the other person the difference (maybe the best option? What about groceries that are not shared? Split 'em anyway?)
• Split things as you go, go over receipts every time you go shopping (sounds annoying)

We are not married, and a joint bank account is really not really an option. Neither is hiring a maid. In the past, I did most of the housework, because it was my house. We sort of split the food costs (I bought my own groceries, he paid for most meals out), and I think it usually evened out. However, now that everything is communal, we want to figure out an easy and fair way to divide it all.

So...how do you divide things up with your live-in significant other? I'd love to hear your stories about how you make it work, and if/how things have changed over the months/years. Did things go as expected?

Nokia Mixed Reality - Nokia World

I don't remember who showed me this now, since the tab has been open all day and I have no memory, but wow.

I can't tell if it's amazing or if I hate it, or both.

I love those PS 22 Kids.

Why doesn't every school have this?

Auto-Tune the News #5: lettuce regulation. American blessings.

This might be the best Auto-Tune the news ever. Yes, I am aware that it is several months old.

More GemPhoto

My friend Emily takes beautiful photos. If you like looking at pretty pictures, please enjoy this slideshow!

Washington Reunion

This is a little out of order, but I just wrote a biggish post about the beginning of cohabitation, and I'm kind of tired of writing. But I do want to post some pictures from our little reunion in Washington. I don't have any pictures of us together, because his mom hasn't sent them to me yet, but here are a few pictures from the weekend. It was only cloudy and gray on Saturday - Sunday and Monday it was beautiful and sunny! My first time in Olympia when the weather is nice - I even wore shorts! :-)

We went to the Farmers Market and ate delicious food, had a barbecue with the neighbors, read on the porch swing, and hiked around Mt. Rainier, which I swear was what the Swiss Alps must be like. It was gorgeous, and you could just picture Heidi scampering around with the goats.

Most of all though, it was just nice to be together again.

Officially Cohabitating

Today was our first morning of waking up together in what is now officially our place. Where we live. Together. I like saying that. Things so far are not terribly different, as we very frequently stayed at my place, very often woke up in my bed (now our place, our bed). We haven't even moved any of his things in here (well, except the backpacking gear that he brought back from Washington), and the places is still a bit of a mess. But somehow, things just feel a bit more...settled.

I came home for lunch today, and we ate together on the couch. After work, we watched Seinfeld and loaded a few of my boxes into the garage for storage. At 7pm, the doorbell rang. Surprise! Will had ordered Thai food from our favorite place before I got home from work. I know it's not some huge deal, but it made me very happy. We're spending the rest of the night watching Law and Order: SVU and 18 Kids and Counting and talking about the rearranging of furniture and the purchasing of groceries. It's quite lovely.

Oh, and when we got home last night (around midnight), the dryer vent that my landlord had fixed was...um...not fixed. In what I can imagine is only a good sign, my (our) landlord showed up today while Will was home and fixed it. Again. But this time, it's really fixed (I hope!) - he actually nailed it to the wall. The dryer vent has been inadequate since the day it was installed (approx 7 months ago), and I will be very happy if the hot, moist air from the dryer no longer comes rushing back into the house! Now, it has taken 7 months for this to be properly fixed, and I'm not saying it's some sort of magical mystical good omen or anything, but I am taking it as a good sign that Will moved in and the vent was fixed within 24 hours.

I am excited for him to move stuff in from the storage unit, I am excited to grocery shop together, and even with 3 giant, painful pimples on my chin and a bug bite swollen to the size of an egg on my elbow, I am excited to cohabitate.

Before and After

Some other fun cohabitation links, because it seems like it's a popular topic these days (or maybe I am just highly attuned to it right now).

• Chelsea Talks Smack - I don't know how I found this blog, but she and her man just moved in together.
  
• The Onion - Nation's Girlfriends Unveil New Economic Plan - 'Let's Move In Together'. - pretty hilarious video...
  
• Primer Magazine - Moving in with Your Girlfriend: How to save Your Relationship...and your Manhood - totally stereotypical, but hilarious.