Girl of a Thousand Faces

I'm back, and there's change a-comin.

2012-02-08T00:07:00.000-07:00

Hello lovelies, it's been awhile.

This happened:

This is less than 24 hours after it was done. it's not like that anymore. If you can't tell, it's on my right chest.

This happened:

and a lot of this happened:

I can't really describe the past 3 months because they've really just been an absurd, emotionally strenuous (but also at times wonderful) blur. Linn- my boyfriend and best friend- passed away and that really shook the reality that our friends (his roommates) and I had come to know. There was a lot of crying, and a lot of talking, but even more silence and numbness which made things complicated and difficult in some ways.

Regardless, the experience brought us all closer together than we have ever been before. As best we could we put the horror in our minds aside and tried to connect with one another- sharing family dinners, having dance parties in the living room, drinking (probably too much) together, and on more than one occasion having snowball fights at 2AM in completely snow-inappropriate attire. I learned a lot about myself and about my friends, and although most of the time I felt (and knew) I was skidding along rock bottom, they kept my from hitting the ground.

As for school, I didn't go back. Not for the rest of the semester anyways. I attended one class on the last day to turn in all my assignments from the entire semester. Luckily, none of my professors hassled me at all. I turned in half a semester's worth of work in one week and pulled off a 3.0 average for the semester. Not too much worse than what I would've gotten anyways (I'd like to hope).

I'm back now though. It's a new semester, and new year, and I just can't justify continuing at the pace I've been going at any longer. When Linn passed, I let all my responsibilities and good judgements slip away and put myself first. I let myself take the much needed time to process and grieve, and I stopped thinking about things like doing homework, eating right, working out, and generally just taking care of any part of myself aside from my emotions. And now, while emotionally I feel much better and I feel I've learned how to cope with and manage my everlasting sadness at losing Linn, I feel like shit physically and mentally. So for the next few months at least, you all get to watch me pick up the pieces and put myself back together into the person I want to be, the person I used to be. This girl:

The girl who eats lunches like this:

and throws brunches where she makes shit like this:

and takes pretty pictures of flowers like this:

and takes silly webcam photos like this:

Not the girl whose DSLR has been sitting in the back seat of the car I haven't cleaned out since summer for god knows how long.

I'm going back to an all vegan diet, but here's the thing: I love being healthy and good to my body, but I also love to cook! And it's hard to develop your cooking skills if you limit yourself too much. Also, there are a gazillion recipes I want to try which contain meat, dairy, or eggs in the original and yeah, I could sub, but I'll always wonder what the dish was meant to taste like. So I'm allowing myself a max of one cheat day a week where I can cook something new (or an old non-veg favorite) and not feel bad about it.

I'll also be attempting to get back into working out, but I'm going to have to get more adjusted with school before I really set up a regimen. I'm just going to go back to my tried and true one that I love, but I have to figure out scheduling.

The most fun thing I'll be doing over the next few months, though, is whipping out those 20 things I want to do in my 20s. A couple I've done and just haven't posted about yet, but a lot of them are going to take some serious time and effort, and I'm running out of the former! My 21st birthday is on May 10th, and I'd really like to give this project my all. You might want to check back on the page in a couple days, because I'm making some minor tweaks to the list. For example, #10- invent a cocktail, name it the soss. Really an endeavor that makes more sense to do in my 21st year, don't you think? So instead I'm going to make a sauce. A really freaking good sauce that would bring magic to whatever you dump it on. And name it "M Soss" (my full nickname). A couple other things need tweaking too, but we'll cross those bridges as we come to them :)

Anyways, at least for a little while I'm not going to be doing my regular features such as movie mondays, tasty tuesdays, lovely little things, etc. Since I'm just stepping back into the blogging world after going on a verrry long hiatus, I don't want to make any promises I can't keep. As I get back into my blogging habit, I'll begin reincorporating them in with my regular posts.

But I think I'll have plenty to post about anyways.

So, welcome back to GO1000F! Thanks for still being here :)

<3
Em

goodbye for a while

2011-11-06T16:17:00.000-07:00

won't be posting for a bit. my boyfriend committed suicide on tuesday night. can't think, breath, eat, sleep, anything. not successfully anyways. didn't know it could be so hard to swallow or keep things down. everything is heavy. don't know what i'm going to do in the next few months, but i dont have it in me to blog. maybe in a little bit. thanks for reading, i know i'll come back eventually.

love
em

Stretched Too Thin

2011-10-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

is how I am feeling recently. Needless to say I've been quite absent in the blogging world, but not for lack of trying. I simply have absolutely no time. I'm at school monday-thursday, I work thursday nights and all day friday and saturday. Typically I have sundays off and I use that time to do all my homework, clean the house, etc.

But that's not all. I recently agreed to help out one of my coworkers with an independent film project. He's a dj and was asked to do the music and sound effects recording in order to get the film ready for upcoming festivals. Since I'm a media arts major and have a bit of experience with sound effects recording he asked if I would help him out. It's been fun work, but it's also been long, tedious, and complicated. I spent all of saturday night after work doing it, and then much of sunday and sunday night, and today I'm going to have to spend several more hours working on it. It's not for nothing, though, I will be getting IMDB credit as well as a small portion of sales if the movie is picked up.

And then there are the trips to prescott. These are frequent, though not as frequent as I'd like since they're my only chance to see my boyfriend, my parents, and many of my closest friends. They're always fun but they always mean cramming with homework as soon as I get back and spending a minimum of 6 hours out of my weekend driving.

Lastly theres the whole trying to be social and act like a college student thing. With my minimal free time, I pretty much try to fill every second with something enjoyable or relaxing, such as zoning out in my bed watching silly tv shows or hanging out with stewart or going to parties and activities and such. Unfortunately, when I do have time to do these things I get bogged down thinking of all the stuff I'm going to have to do later, so it's not nearly as enjoyable as it should be.

I hardly ever have time to do things like keep my blog current or keep my house completely clean or even go grocery shopping or cook my own food. It's nuts.

I really wish things could go back to simplicity- I miss not having anyone depend on me to do things. People asking me to cover their shifts, project partners needing to meet during my few precious free hours... it's all just too much. The days fly by because I'm constantly busy but I feel like I'm always slipping behind, I can never quite catch up with all my obligations and work. I haven't responded to any emails since like the beginning of the semester, I haven't even really had time to fully read them. I want to feel like my work is done, like I can just relax, but I seriously don't have time to. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

The end of the semester can't come soon enough, and honestly neither can graduation. I really hate having to go to work and go to school. It's just not a good way to live. In my finance class, we learned that a full time student who works more than 15 hours a week significantly raises their chances of getting bad grades and is much less likely to graduate. I work 21 hours a week and I can certainly see why that might be the case. It's freaking difficult.

Anyways, vent sesh over. Just had to get that off my chest, and now you understand why this blog has been so lame recently.

If I find any free time, I will try to devote it to posting more, because I miss it so.

<3
Em

Fall Fix-Up: Finance

2011-10-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

Ugh, money. it seems like there's never really enough of it. I know I hardly ever go a day without thinking about money in some way, and I know a lot of my friends have the same issues and difficulties.

I'm taking an online personal finance course this semester as one of my gen eds. Primarily we are learning about budgeting, real estate investment, buying and selling a home, and applying for mortgages. I just had my midterm yesterday and found to my surprise at 11am that I had to write 3 3-page essays by 11:59 that night. This wouldn't have been that big of an issue if I hadn't already agreed to work with one of my work-friends on a film project all day as well as do various other important assignments for today. I ended up spending the hours between 7pm and 11pm just sitting in my apartment and writing nonstop. It was not the most pleasant day off from work and school. On the bright side, however, I now feel quite well versed in the issue of personal finance management.

I'm just a kid in college so I won't act like I know what to with finance in the larger scheme of things. But there is one thing I have learned which my professor claims to be the most important rule in finance, and I will discuss that today for my fall fix-up.

The rule is that you should always keep your spending on must-haves to 50% or less.

Must-haves are all the necessary costs of living such as electricity/gas/water bills, rent, clothes, and food. In the 1970s, the typical family had one spouse working and spent on average about 54% of family income on must-haves. This left a wide margin of 46% for savings for the future and wants. Wants include things like family vacations, dinners out, the occasional morning cappuccino, etc. In 2005, the typical family had both spouses working, and yet 75% of total family income was being spent on must-haves. This left only 25% for wants and savings for things like retirement and college. This means two things: our economy has changed drastically since the 1970s, and the average American family is trying to live in a way they can't truly afford.

The main sources of must-have spending are homes and automobiles. Many people have taken out loans larger than they can realistically pay back (thanks to deregulation of banks/mortgages) in order to pay for things like new cars and large homes. They can't really afford these things, so they are constantly pinching pennies and tightening their belts just to pay the monthly bills. Whereas, if they had simply bought a home they could afford even if it is slightly smaller and perhaps a used car instead of a new one they would be much more financially free. The extra financial freedom means a better ability to save for the future- savings which can ultimately be used to buy the bigger home or nicer car when the timing is actually right.

I think it's important to create a budget and evaluate how much you are spending on must-haves and wants each month. My course teaches that ideally, you should spend 50% on must haves, 20% should go into savings, and the remaining 30% can go towards wants and any unforeseen expenditures.

Personally, I'm fine with living in a smaller apartment and driving a used car if it means more freedom to do things like take weekend road trips and go out to dinner with my friends. I had never heard of this way of budgeting money before, and I found it very interesting.

If you're interested in learning more about this idea, check out the book All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi. It goes into much more detail :)

Another fall-fix up coming at you later this week!

Fall Fix-Up: Nutrition

2011-10-14T00:05:00.000-07:00

This week is going to be a double fall fix up, because I didn't have time to post last week! To be honest I haven't really had time to post ever, and it makes me sad. Between school, work, homework, trips to prescott to visit linn/friends/parents, housekeeping, and maintaining a wee bit of a social life, I've found I really have no time at all. I look forward to the day when I don't have to work AND go to school. just one or the other is fine with me. Anyways, I hope that one of these days I will not have so much work to do and have enough free time to blog regularly like my heart desires :)

Today I'm going to be talking about nutrition, and tomorrow, since I have my personal finance and family planning midterm, I will be talking about money.

Nutrition is something I care about a lot. I've been a vegetarian since I was 13 years old, although I've flipflopped quite a bit- sometimes going to one end of the spectrum and eating a vegan/raw diet, and sometimes "cheating" frequently, as I did in Greece over the summer. There are a few rules I always try to stick to though, and I'd like to share them with you.

1. Eat Food. If you've read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, you've heard this one before. Actually, that book has a lot of good tips and you should check it out. It's a quick read- took me an hour while lounging on the beach in mexico last winter. anyways, this isn't as simple as it seems. It rules out a lot of the things you find at the supermarket. Read the ingredients on the things you eat, and if you can't picture in your mind one of the ingredients, it's not food. If your grandmother wouldn't know what it is, it probably isn't food. This can be expanded upon by saying "eat whole food". as in, things that are one ingredient. fresh fruits and vegetables are best. The fewer ingredients listed, the better usually.

2. Don't eat until you're full. Eat until you aren't hungry anymore. In french, one says "J'ai faim", which means "I have hunger". There is no way to say "I'm full", rather, you say "Je n'ai pas faim", meaning, 'I do not have hunger". Eat with this mentality. It takes 20 minutes for the brain to process a full stomach, so if you stop eating when you're full, you're already 20 minutes too late. Something that goes along with this tip is "drink your food and chew your drink", meaning take the time to chew your food thoroughly and enjoy it, and keep your drink in your mouth long enough to fully appreciate it. Not only does this make eating more enjoyable, it slows down your pace and keeps you from scarfing everything down before your brain can process it.

3. In my experience, counting calories is the best way to lose weight. I like to think of it as science. a pound is about 3500 calories, which means if you want to lose one pound you have to burn 3500 calories more than you consume. If you figure out approximately how many calories you burn in a day just from the processes of living, you can figure out how many calories you can eat (without exercise) to maintain your current weight. Then it's just a matter of reducing that number and/or adding exercise to your daily routine. Eat like you normally do, but count your calories for a day. You will probably be amazed at how much you actually consume. This website has been very helpful to me, and a lot of restaurant websites now carry nutritional information as well. I like to keep a food diary or use the My Fitness app on my droid in order to keep track of my daily calories- it really helps to be knowledgeable about just what you're consuming each day.

4. Ignore the food pyramid. 6-11 servings of bread/grains a day? Are they kidding? when was the last time you you ate 9 slices of bread or servings of rice or pasta in one day? It was evident to me early on that this model of nutrition was not going to work for me- find something that works for you. I prefer to eat mostly fruits and vegetables, maybe 2-3 servings of grains a day, and 1-2 servings of dairy/protein. It's different for every body though and as long as you are getting the vitamins you need and are minimizing fatty, sugary, starchy foods, you should be fine.

5. "easy" doesn't mean "healthy". I'm astounded every time I look on pinterest and I see a slew of pins of "Easy weeknight meals!". They usually are some combination of chicken, cream cheese, pasta, and a crockpot. and various other dairy products. these are the kinds of meals I see as comfort food that I would make for myself while wallowing in a boatload of self pity or spending a night in with sappy movies and a snowstorm. They are not things I would ever feed my hypothetical children on a regular weeknight as a regular nutritious supper. So don't fall for quick and easy recipes that also happen to be starchy and fattening. There are plenty of almost as quick and easy recipes out these that are actually nutritious and chock full of good stuff like veggies and whole grains :)

6. If any slight part of you has ever lightly considered eating vegetarian or vegan, look into it further. I recommend the book skinny bitch, especially for younger adult women. It's a lifestyle that is so rewarding both to you and to the animals you save, and there are so many wonderful substitutes out there that you will never miss meat, dairy, eggs, etc. Of course this is not to say that you have to be a vegetarian or a vegan to be healthy. It's just one way to do it :)

7. Eat whatever you want. This is the most important tip. Yes, I count calories and try to eat vegan and look for whole, healthy foods, but if I want to eat a giant bowl of fettucini alfredo or 7 chocolate chip cookies I let myself, and I don't feel guilty. Yes, I want to be healthy so that I can look good, feel good, and live a long, healthy life, but I also want to have a good time while I'm here. Food is fun, and a lot of food that isn't very good for us is freakin' delicious. As long as you don't eat it very often, it's ok to say to hell with nutrition and let yourself eat it every once in a while. That's what life is about. The little pleasures. In general, be healthy and do what's best for your body- but don't let that stop you from enjoying life and enjoying food :)

Those are my nutrition tips for today. I will try to be back a little later in the week with a few calorie controlled recipes, and I will do my best to be here tomorrow with my fall fix up- finance post.

have a happy, healthy thursday!

<3
Em

Summer 2011

2011-10-04T21:35:00.002-07:00

It's October, which means several things. 1, it's my favorite month! 2, I'm going to spend the whole month cursing the tucson heat and wishing I was having awesome Fall-filled October like the rest of the world, 3, it's definitely the end of summer and a summer post is way overdue.

Summer 2011 was insane. It was filled with so many amazing once-in-a-lifetime experiences, lots of changes, lots of really difficult times, and lots of really wonderful happiness and love filled times. I swear, every year my summers just get better and better. Now let me rummage through my photos file and facebook to find evidence of all this awesomeness :)

This is how I spent the beginnind of my summer. And a large of my time at home in general, at least before I got my new puppy that makes my older, sweet, perfect puppy feel like she shouldn't spend as much time with me. Internet, puppy cuddles, comfy bed in my nice familiar bedroom :)

My best friends in Prescott are the people I worked with last summer at Mama Edda's. And now 3 or them all live together, so I get to hang out with them all in one spot all the time :) every time i'm in prescott at least. This is from one of the first times this summer I went over to their place. I wasn't planning on staying the night, but then I did. It's kind of a long story with the blanket but basically while I was in Tucson all my prescott friends had a Lord of the Rings night where they all dressed up like LOTR characters. This blanket (and by blanket i mean awesome cape) was a part of one of the costumes. I was cold/jealous/probably a little bit tipsy so we decided I should get to wear it and take pictures and be part of the LOTR group. It was a fun night.

On that same night we played with this plastic dinosaur, sticking it ambiguously into as many pictures as possible. There are probably at least 20 pictures, but I chose this one cause it shows me and one of my besties Natalie :)

On this day, I woke up at like 11, and decided I was going to work hard all day on getting the youth retreat catering stuff done. at 11:15 I got a call from linn, the boy on the far right, asking me what I was doing. Still in my pjs and having just brushed my teeth, I lied and said I was working on my catering job. He asked if I could get away from that for a few hours and come to frog falls (a swimming hole about 20 minutes away from downtown prescott) I thought about it for a few seconds and ultimately decided that having fun and making memorable experiences would be more important in the long run than spending the whole day working. 2 hours later here I was, drinking blue moon and hanging out with lovely, wonderful friends at a super awesome swimming hole.

And then there was greece. These are not in order, and they are not my photos. This is at Mystras, an old monastery near Sparta.

I think this is at Pleuron, Greece. With my closest girlfriends of the trip (from the left) Laurent, Jessica, and Jill.

Jessica and I thought it would be such a fun idea to pick up the ridiculously copious amount of flower petals on the ground outside of the Benaki museum in Athens and throw them in the air. It's pretty obvious in this picture that the girls totally know what's going on and the guys are lost as to what the point of all this is.

We had to do both a site report and a reading as assignments on our trip. This is me giving my site report on the Charioteer at Delphi, Greece. I am so knowledgeable on this statue it's not even funny.

One day in Santorini, we climbed down the 587 steps to the dock (i also climbed up them because I was too broke to pay for a donkey or the airlift, but theres no reason you should see a photo of that. 587 steps in 100 degree heat? you try that shit.), loaded up on a boat, and went to the volcano island santorini is next to, and the to the hot springs that are heated by the warmth of the volcano. While treading water furiously and waiting to climb up the single ladder to get back on the boat, we decided to get a picture. the group of people in the back is us, and I'm the sixth from the right.

One of the most awesome things we did on my greece trip was perform a live reading of The Bacchae at a winery in Santorini. If you haven't read The Bacchae, well you should. Read all the greek plays that remain, in fact. They are all awesome. This is a picture of me reading one of my lines.

Going back in time. This is at Olympia, in front of one of the many olympic temples. Olympia is small, by the way. just a couple blocks and some ancient ruins. Isn't that weird?

Santorini again, right after having lunch at a super duper fancy restaurant with an awesome view.

Back in time even more. Right after arriving in Santorini. We rode a very rocky ferry which made many of the people immediately next to us vomit. It was, um, not incredibly enjoyable. I mostly spent the time with my eyes closed and my ipod on, trying to pretend the rest of the cabin wasn't seasick and disgusting.

Further back in time. This is in athens, in front of the legendary olive tree that Athena gave to the city of athens in the competition for who the city would be named after.

Back on the boat in santorini, immediately before jumping into the hot springs water.

on the almost last day of the trip, feeling very pensive and sad while waiting for the National Museum to open.

Just a few minutes before I got in the taxi to take me back to the athens airport. So many wonderful friends made, so many wonderful experiences had, so much deep sadness and flittering excitement at this moment.

I flew from Athens, Greece straight to San Francisco California, and then drove to Mendocino, California. The next day, I started work as the head chef for the Mendocino youth retreat which was so much fun, so much work, so exhausting, and one of the best experiences I've ever had. I loved cooking for 30 wonderful individuals and I loved letting my recipes become worthwhile and enjoyed by so many people.

Roadtrip back to Prescott with Stewie :)

I got my perfect, wonderful, adorable pup this summer! Clementine has started to show so much personality and spunk, especially with her wiley age of 7 months. Right now she LOVES chewing on anything she can (she's teething), goes nuts when stewie or i come home, and has gained so much confidence from her socialization- she will approach people, lick people's hands, and explore when i let her off her leash. I have to chase after her to get her to come back sometimes :) when I first got her she would only stay by my heels and hide behind my legs :)

So, I haven't fully disclosed this on this blog. But stewart and I broke up. No worries though! We are still the very best and closest of friends, we are still roommates, and we still have so, so much fun with each other. Not too long after we broke up though I started dating this boy, Linn. He's very sweet and fun and I met him when I started working at mama edda's last summer :)

One of the parties we had in the second half of summer was a fancy schmancy party for our friend amanda's birthday!

Then we had another formal wear party after my friend Natalie got back from Italy. I got there at 8pm and everyone was already wasted and passed out... so me and the 3 people that weren't done for already spent the rest of the night hanging out and taking pictures :) see below.

above two: me and my girly lauren at said party :)

We went on a picnic at goldwater lake! I made everyone sandwiches and I even wrote their names on all the bags. Cause yeah, i'm adorable. it was so much fun. We drank a few beers, played with puppy, and had fun on the playground :)

More picnic :)

This summer ended, as last year's did, with the VW festival. Stewie couldn't go this year due to his cousin's wedding, but I went with linn and there were lots of other people there that we knew. It was a really great time, and I'm already counting down the days 'til next year :)

It was a great summer, 2011. Thanks for all the craziness, all the good times, all the fun, all the sadness and hurt that let me learn so many lessons. I can only hope that the rest of the year will be as awesome as this summer was :)

hope your summer was just as awesome, and hope this coming fall is even better!

Love,
Em

Tasty Tuesdays: Mariscos Chihuahua

2011-10-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

Every so often, I convince Stewie to skip class so that we can go out to lunch and hang out instead. I'm a pretty awesome roommate but a pretty terrible influence ;)

On these occasions we usually decide to do a sit-down lunch at one of the gazillion restaurants we haven't tried before. Once we moved to our new apartment on the SW side of Tucson (before we were NW) I scoped out all the restaurants nearest to us and looked them up on yelp. One of them got really fantastic ratings so I had been wanting to try it out for several weeks. Thanks to Stew's alarm not going off and us both being really lazy and hungry a couple weeks ago, we finally got the chance.

Mariscos Chihuahua is very unassuming from the outside. It's a little rundown, just a white and blue building with a tiny parking lot and a sign that has a drawing of a shrimp, which I first thought was a lobster. In fact, when I first saw the restaurant (before I looked it up on yelp), I pointed at it and said to stewie, "look at that weird little restaurant. Why does it have 'chihuahua' in its name but a lobster in it's sign? And it's disturbing for a restaurant to be called a tiny mexican dog, right? I would be so afraid to eat there." Obviously I am extremely white. And also I didn't know what Mariscos meant until like 3 days ago. It means seafood, by the way.

Anyways, all these initial worries should be set aside, because this place rocks. Apparently it began as a little family run seafood stand in Nogales, Mexico, simply called "Mariscos". It was right next to a fruit stand called Fruteria Chihuahua. Eventually people started calling it the Mariscos next to the Chihuahua, and the name eventually just got stuck as Mariscos Chihuahua. The stand eventually got popular enough to become a restaurant, and when members of the family moved to Tucson and Phoenix they brought their recipes with them and the business spread. Now there are multiple locations in Phoenix, Tucson, Nogales, and Sierra Vista. The one I went to (on Grande and Speedway) though still maintained a total small-town family run feel which is something I love in a restaurant.

The inside of the restaurant totally makes up for the shabby exterior. There is a lovely beachy/oceany mural covering the walls, plants, nice tables and chairs, and cool molded ocean effects in some places.

I told stewie he should order the "dos equis and clamato thing, cause people on yelp said it's good". But I couldn't actually remember the name of the "thing" (it's a michelada), the menu didn't list the alcoholic drinks, and the waitress didn't speak much english, so stewie wound up with both a michelada and a dos equis. Which basically just meant I got to share with him. The michelada was delicious- dos equis, clamato, lime juice, salt and pepper.

Like most mexican restaurants this place also gave us chips and really awesome salsa right away. The salsa is spicy- a good sign of a good mexican restaurant. If the salsa is every wimpy, you know the place is mainly catering to tourists/americans and isn't trying to be all that authentic. Another thing that instantly told me this place was going to be awesome was that they brought out a bowl of halved key limes with the chips, which is typical at restaurants in mexico but not all that common at mexican restaurants in america. it should be though. Lime-drenched chips and salsa are the best. Lime drenched anything is the best really.

We ordered the Camarrones (shrimp) Culichi, which is apparently the dish that made them famous. It's also the dish that was raved about most on yelp, so yeah. It's (really, really good quality) shrimp drenched in some sort of magical green sauce served with rice and some fresh veggies. It was so, so, so good. We also ordered a plate of calamari, which was tender, lightly breaded, and served with a tangy tartar like dipping sauce. But we just dipped them in the leftover culichi sauce, cause it was that good.


I forgot my phone so I had to take pictures with stewart's crappy non-smart phone. Like, it flips and uses T9 and doesn't even have a touch screen. O.o lol. so not only are these pictures crappy but they downright refuse to be rotated. sorry!

Yeah. sorry about those pictures. just, um, turn your head, ok?

anyways, so so delicious and I think about 30 dollars, maybe 35 after tip. And we had leftovers. So really not a bad deal at all for two people.

If you're in the southern AZ area you should scope one of these places out and give it a try, it seriously is one of my new favorite restaurants.

Have a tasty tuesday lovelies :)

Movie Mondays: Natural Born Killers

2011-09-26T17:00:00.001-07:00

This is one of those movies where when my friends heard I hadn't seen it they were like "WTF? We're watching it." This happens a lot, usually around 4pm on a weekday when we're sitting around scrolling through netflix instant trying to get someone to make a decision about what the heck to watch.

Natural Born Killers is reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino film. This makes sense, because Quentin Tarantino wrote the story that the screenplay is adapted from. It's chock full of artistic, slightly disturbing lighting effects, tinted gels, canted angles, and lots and lots of bizarreness. The story revolves around Mickey and Mallory, a husband and wife duo who have taken to traveling across the US killing people for no reason other than the fame and glory it is earning them. Mallory was saved from her unloving and abusive family by Mickey, a butcher shop delivery man who delivered to their house one day. Together they kill Mallory's parents and then take off, continuing on their killing spree but always leaving at least one person at each crime scene alive to tell everyone that "Mickey and Mallory did this".

It's a bit of a Bonny and Clyde like story, and you find yourself trying to decide whether you're rooting for the couple to escape the police or if you're hoping they'll get caught and locked up forever. The couple is obviously completely crazy but at the same time their love seems so loyal and true that it's hard not to kind of want them to live happily ever after. In a really, really weird and unsettling way.

The film also stars Robert Downey Jr. as a slightly crazy TV reporter. This is back in his coke-snorting days so the craziness comes off quite well.

So, it's a totally crazy, at times disturbing, thrilling, confusing, and fast-paced movie. Totally one of those classic films that everyone has to see once in their lives, just because it's so unique. It's from 1994, too, so it has a fun grungey feel to it that you don't get from modern crime movies. By no means is this a "family film", but if you're in the mood for something a little crazy, check this out.

Here's a trailer. It's not a very good trailer, but it's hard sometimes with these older movies to find decent trailers.

Fall Fix-Up: School

2011-09-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

My friend Jessica has this as a doormat in her apartment :)

Fall means a lot of things, but for the majority of people under the age of 22 (and a lot of people over the age of 22 as well) it means school. back to hitting the (400 dollar) books, trading sleep for good grades and a social life, playing frizbee on the quad (this really happens at my school. such a cliche.), and counting down the days until the end of the semester.

It's taken me longer than usual to get into the groove of the fall semester this year, probably because graduation seems closer than it ever has before. I've let myself get distracted with trips to prescott, work, and other little things and I've let a few reading assignments or "unnecessary" classes here and there slide.

But no more! It's time to crack down. In this feature I'm going to share a few of my own tips and strategies for how to stay on top of school (without letting it rule your life).

The single most important tip I can offer you is get a planner. One that has ample space for each day of the year from august to may. after the first couple days of the semester, gather all your syllabi and write down the reading assignments/homework assignments/due dates/test dates/etc for the entire semester for all your classes. For really important things like essay due dates or test days, highlight or put a star next to the assignment/test. This way, you'll never be wondering just what you have to do on any given day. All you have to do is open up your planner and it will all be written down for you. Also, it's really satisfying to cross off each thing as you complete it and to know that you have finished all your work for the day. Hell, you could even finish tomorrow's if you felt like it. But we're starting to talk crazy.

Now that you know exactly what you're supposed to do every day, try to actually do it on that day. There are plenty of weeks when I get caught up with various things and then find that I have 200 pages of reading to do for 3 different classes, 2 assignments, and a test to study for. That's way more to tackle than if I'd just done a little bit of work each day. Sometimes it's tough to convince yourself to do homework every day but it really is helpful.

So make the time that you do homework something that you might not exactly look forward to but can at least see as bearable. Choose a spot in your house or dorm or on campus that is comfortable and conducive to studying. This could be a specific nook in the library, a nice, secluded place outdoors, a comfy chair in your living room, or just your desk or your bed. The space should be free from distractions like traffic noise, other students, etc. If you like music while you study, play it. My freshman year in Portland, my favorite way to study was at my desk, with my feet on the heater under my window and a blanket over my legs (I'm always cold) and with my cupper's travel mug full of hot tea and a napkin full of cookies stolen from the bon. Mint tea+Chocolate Chip cookies= best thing ever, especially on a chilly, rainy portland day. This way, the activity itseld (studying) might not be all that enjoyable, but you can please the rest of your senses (music to listen to, something yummy to sip on/eat, cozy surroundings) to make the experience as a whole decent enough.

Planning on a day to day scale is very important, but planning for the big picture is just as if not more important. The first thing I did when I got to Lewis and Clark in 2009 was put together a 4 year plan. I figured out exactly which classes for my major/minor/gened I would need to take to graduate and arranged them in a schedule that made sense and left room for adjustments. The first thing I did when I got accepted to the media arts program at UofA was put together a 3 year plan. With each change I make- wether it's adding a minor, contemplating another major, etc I make a new 3 year plan to figure out how the classes I need to take will fit into my graduating on time. So many students go into college without really knowing what they're supposed to take to graduate on time... which is why the average student take 5-6 years to earn a bachelors degree. Since I've been planning since day one of my college career, it seems absurd that I would ever have to take more than 4 years to graduate- but that's because I took the time to figure out exactly what I'm going to have to do for all my remaining semesters.

Looking at the results when I googled "academic tips", I got a lot of the same old thing that you probably don't need to be told. "go to class prepared", "take thorough notes", "do the reading", you know. The thing is, I don't think the same tips are applicable to every class, and I think if you try to do the same things for every class you will end up wasting a lot of unnecessary time. During the first couple weeks of class, pay attention to your professors' teaching styles. Some may really expect you to remember important details from the reading, while others may assign the reading but then go over everything you need to know in class. Some may take attendance every day and expect you to take detailed notes, while others may post their lecture notes online and simply expect you to show up on test day and know the material. Obviously in a perfect world where we all have unlimited time and brain power we would do the same amount of work for all these classes just in the name of learning. But it's college, and we all know that college is part academia, part having fun, meeting people, experiencing new things, and exploring life as an adult. We have jobs and social lives and we certainly don't want to spend these four years with our noses in books the whole time. So adjust your learning/studying style depending on the teaching style of the class and the professor. If doing the reading does nothing more than tell you exactly what the teacher is going to say verbatim in class the next day, maybe just skim it. If the lecture notes are given online, don't worry about writing down everything word for word- just supplement the given notes with additional things the professor might say in class. This will save you a lot of time and effort without really compromising your gpa.

Those are my favorite tips, but here are a few more short ones:

-establish and look towards goals. Even if it's just getting through the semester or getting to graduation, know the steps you need to take to get there and feel accomplished as you take them.
- taking forever on a project or revising a paper a million times doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be better, and doing something all in one sitting doesn't mean it's going to be bad. Some of the best grades I've gotten were for essays I wrote in three or four hours the night before they were due. I went through the next morning and just made minor wording/grammar corrections before turning it in. Find a way of writing/doing assignments that works for you and don't let all those people tell you that you have to have at least three drafts or have to spend at least two weeks working on a paper for it to be good.
- Don't take it too seriously. Yeah, it's college, and it's your future, and it's expensive... but a few missed classes or assignments here or there are not going to matter in the long run. One failed test will not be the end of you. Just do your best not to let it happen again but don't freak out if it does. In the end it's the time you spent outside of class that you're really going to remember, not that one time you got a D on an essay.

What are your tips for staying organized and clear-headed in school? Interestingly enough my only class of the day today was cancelled so I'm going to do all that homework I put off last week ;)

<3
Em

Fall Fix-Up Feature

2011-09-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

As of last friday, it's officially fall. which means officially time to start a new feature I thought up. It's like spring cleaning, but it's fall so it's fall fix-ups! My life has been feeling really jumbled and crazy lately, and one day while lying in bed feeling sick and crappy and overwhelmed I decided it was time to reevaluate things. To make a plan, to divide my life up into categories and focus on each one to get back to a calm, happy, clear-thinking state. And then I thought, this would be a great thing to blog about.

Fall might be kind of a weird time to do this kind of thing, but if you think about it it totally makes sense. Fall is when I'm thinking about the future- about registering for spring classes, about figuring out what I'm going to do after college, about finding the friends I really want to spend the next year with, about finding a job for the school year. It's a time of new responsibilities and settling down and getting back into the groove of things after the crazy whirlwind that is summer.

There are 13 weeks of fall. Each week will have a theme, and I'll be posting at least one post (probably on sundays but we'll see) that corresponds to that theme. The posts will be about ways to improve/declutter/understand/work on that part of your life in an effort to be happier, healthier, and less stressed. I think it's going to be a really, really good thing.

Here's what we've got to look forward to:
This week I'll be discussing school. This is a good topic for this week because I'm beginning to pick out classes for next semester and I'm deciding whether or not I want to change my major. but we'll get into that more later. The other topics, in no particular order (it will be a surprise each week which one I choose to discuss) are:
work
friends
relationships
family
money
housekeeping
cooking
style
entertaining
exercise
nutrition
creativity

are you excited yet? I know I am. I'll have the very first chapter of this series up later today so stay tuned :)

Happy autumn lovemuffins, Enjoy your cool weather if you've got it, I'll be sweatin' it out in the 90s down here in southern AZ.

<3
Em

Sickliness

2011-09-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

Guys, I have been a MESS lately. I came down with this nasty cold- stewart had it originally and I thought I had avoided it all together but as soon as her got better I got sniffly, coughy, scratchy, and snotty. Not fun. It sucked extra because I had the VW fest last weekend which I had been looking forward to all year, and it was made slightly less awesome by having to constantly blow my nose and chug cough syrup and pop pills and suck on lozenges. Only slightly though. It was still epically awesome.

I also have this weird itchy rash- don't worry, it's just on my arms, legs, and hands- that has been bugging me for like a month. I went to the doctor on monday- convenient cause I could also have her treat my cold- and she prescribed me some corticosteroid cream. hopefully it works. Yay for intimate medical details you probably aren't really interested in!

The point is that my slew of illnesses along with my long-awaited trip to Jerome/Prescott for the VW fest and the fact that I'm working two jobs and going to school full time are my stockpile of excuses for my absences as of late. Don't worry, I haven't been lazy- in fact I've got a mountain of posts thought up which I'm going to start working on as soon as I finish this up. some really awesome movie mondays, a fun little fall feature, an end of summer post, a vw post, all sorts of fun things. So get ready to have your blogger socks knocked off.

See you soon!

This

2011-09-14T12:07:00.001-07:00

is my weekend. i'm so, so, so excited. I'm leaving for prescott after I get off work at about 11:30 pm on thursday, so it's going to be crazy but so worth it to get up there and see all my lovemuffins! and then spend a wonderful weekend in jerome.

Tasty Tuesdays: Dip

2011-09-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year again, folks. With the start of school comes the start of college football, and i'm guessing normal football too but I've never really been very in tune with that. Anyways, all this fall-frenzy sports mania craziness means tailgate parties, game-watching sunday afternoons, and lots and lots of food. most likely greasy, cheesy, bready foods. and dip. more dip than anyone really needs, but we know we all love it.

in an effort to help us all branch out from veggies with ranch and potato chips with sour cream and lipton onion soup mix, I've decided to make this edition of tasty tuesdays totally centered around dip! Awesome, slightly more complicated but a million times more delicious dips that are certain to be the highlight of whatever sports-related event you're attending/hosting. hell, it doesn't even have to be sports related. it doesn't even have to be an event! If you want to eat an entire bowl of one of these by yourself at home, i totally won't judge you.

click on the pics for the recipes :)

Jalapeno Popper Dip
i love jalapeno popper anything. something about adding cheese and seasonings and breadcrumbs to a roasted jalapeno just wins me over every time. I don't see why dip form would be any different.

Italian Hoagie Dip
I don't eat meat, but for some reason this recipe really intrigues me. Classic sandwich in dip form? How could that not be totally awesome? This is from one of my favorite bloggers, and after this dip he also made a cheesesteak dip, a meatball sub dip, and a blt dip.

Zucchini Hummus
I love me some hummus, but I don't love the high calorie/fat content. Yeah yeah, i know it's the "good" fat, but a calorie is a calorie. This sounds like an awesome, healthier, lighter alternative to the real deal- and lord knows we're all up to our ears in zucchini right now.

Blueberry Cheesecake Dip
Sometimes you want all the ease and functionality of dip, but all the delicious goodness of dessert. This dip is here to save the day.

Cheddar Guinness Dip
This dip contains some of my favorite things. Multiple cheese, Guinness, mustard, and hot sauce. I might have to buy some Irish cheddar from T-Joes and whip this one out for irish day next year.

Hot Reuben Dip
Another sandwich-turned-dip, but from a different one of my fave blogs :) Strangely enough I love reubens although i don't eat meat (usually), and don't really like thousand island or sauerkraut. If you happen to live in the portland area, the vita cafe makes a freaking awesome vegan one. otherwise, just make this dip.

Clam Dip
hands down my favorite dip from my childhood. this was made for every get together, potluck, and camping trip. My family's was just cream cheese, clams, clam juice, and salt and pepper though. I'd be interested to see what it's like with these additions!

Buffalo Chicken Dip AKA Crack Dip
there are lots of recipes for this dip- titled "crack dip" for it's addictive qualities- floating around the internet. some of them include bleu cheese and bleu cheese dressing, but i'm more of a ranch girl so i'm more inclined to try this one. I imagine one would use celery sticks for serving :)

Cookie Dough Dip
my idea of a dough/batter replica dip is a bowl of raw brownie batter, served with spoons for dipping. while i'm home alone. but this sounds good too, i suppose ;)

Pizza Dip
Maybe you want all the fun of dip but your friends are more the delivery-pizza types. Compromise! This looks pretty awesome. I guess i'm just into things that are normal foods/meals turned into dip form.

Enjoy your fall/football festivities!

Movie Mondays: Horrible Bosses

2011-09-13T00:04:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I went out to the movies (for the first time in forever because it costs a million dollars) with a few close friends. I figured it would probably be a good idea to review the flick we saw for a movie monday :)

We saw horrible bosses, which is a Seth Gordon directed film starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Anniston, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, and Jamie Fox. It's geared towards the same crowd as The Hangover and Knocked Up- So, you know, my demographic. Young 20 somethings who are ok with a little raciness/vulgarity in the name of humor. All in all, it was a good film.

The plot is that there are three young men, all of whom hate their bosses. One has your typical asshole "eff with me and I'll make sure you never get hired anywhere again" alpha male narcissistic boss. Another has a crackhead, crazy, prostitute-loving, only-the-boss-because-his-dad-owned-the-business-and-then-died-without-warning boss. The last has a super sexy but super inappropriate boss who is constantly sexually harassing him and threatening to ruin his engagement if he doesn't sleep with her. Essentially, the three men agree to kill each others' bosses. Kind of like strangers on a train. which they acknowledge in the film.

The film is 100% meant to be a comedy, so obviously all kinds of things go wrong and there's plenty of silly jokes and slapstick humor. The cast is strong and all the actors do a phenomenal job with a less than stunning plotline (in my opinion). I lawled at least a couple times and definitely left the movie theatre feeling like it was worth it. But then again I didn't pay for my own ticket :) basically, I thought this was a better than decent movie that is definitely worth a watch, and if you happen to have a disposable income it's worth seeing in theatres. It's funny, interesting to watch, and well-paced. Definitely a step above a lot of films that come out these days.

Anyways, here's a trailer:

Productivity FTW

2011-09-08T13:59:00.001-07:00

Kind of, at least. I got another job today guys! Isn't that exciting? I now work at both Brooklyn Pizza Company on 4th ave

and Sapphire Lounge/Zen Rock on Congress.

I'm just the little downtown working girl! I'm going to be a cocktail server and from what the guys who hired me were telling me it sounds like I'll be making a lot of tips. like, 20$ is a bad night. At Brooklyn, since there are so many people working and we split the tips evenly, 10$ is a good night. I know 20$ in the club industry really is a bad night for tips but I have no problem with that! It sounds like I have the possibility of making over a hundred some nights which would be freaking sweet.

I'm not sure if I'll keep both jobs, but we'll see how it goes. I've met some cool people at Brooklyn that I'd like to start/keep hanging out with and also it's nice to have lots of income... but if I really really enjoy my cocktail serving position I might have to quit at brooklyn so i can put in more hours there. it works better with my school schedule after all, and it pays way more. We'll see!

I say i'm only kinda being productive because even though I've gotten two jobs over the course of 3 weeks, I've been ignoring school a bit. I still do everything it's just... I don't know. I'm not back into the school vibe yet. It all seems boring and tedious right now. I'm sure I'll get more serious about it after the vw fest, when I don't have lots of exciting things and prescott trips to look forward to :)

Anyways, just wanted to blab to you guys about how excited I am about this :) hope your thursday is treating you well!

Vices Challenge

2011-09-08T01:17:00.000-07:00

Around this time of the year, I always get to thinking about my vices. Mostly in terms of consumption. Last year I spent the month of November not drinking, and while it didn't make me feel that different it felt really great not having to worry about hangovers or finding safe ways home or having to afford alcohol. and i'm sure my body thanked me. This year I'm feeling kind of flabby and gross, despite the 14 pounds I lost this summer. I know I weigh less, but I think I've lost a lot of my muscle mass and I blame this mostly on the food I eat. Don't get me wrong, I eat and cook very healthfully but lately I've been letting myself "splurge" or "binge" more, letting myself give in to my tiredness/laziness/hunger and going out for food or grabbing a quick snack rather than actually cooking. This must end. So, I'm challenging myself to give up some of my vices for short times. Here's how it's going to play out:

Week one: Give up two things I eat regularly that I know aren't that good for me.
Week two: Eat only homemade meals- nothing that has preservatives.
Week three: Don't eat any added sugar (fruit is ok, cupcakes are not)
Week four: Go fat-free

I'm pretty sure I'll let these challenges build on themselves so that by week four I'll be eating fat and sugar free homemade meals. Also the things I'm going to give up are cheese and chocolate because seriously, I think if I didn't have some semblance of weight/health concern I would just live off of those two things forever. Example: I've probably had about 4 servings of cheese today and one chocolate bar, and no actual real meal. yeah, disgusting. anyways...

I'm hoping this will be a good way to cleanse my system and get rid of my addiction/cravings for fat, sugar, preservatives/chemicals (like msg) and most importantly cheese and chocolate. I used to be a vegan and I'd really love to kick cheese again since it's all full of opiates and fat and sodium. it's just so damn delicious :/

If anyone wants to join this challenge with me feel free. I'll be checking in among my regular posts every few days to let you know how things are going/how I'm feeling/etc. Also, I'm starting today (thursday- it works well because it's my last day of school and first day of work most weeks) and ending Wed, the 5th of October. Have a happy, healthy thurs/weekend lovemuffins!!

<3
Em

A poem/song for your wednesday

2011-09-07T23:10:00.001-07:00

hello lovelies, I'm too lazy to think up a good, interesting post right now so this is what you get!

These are the lyrics to a song i've been working on. I have the melody as well as the accompaniment pretty much worked out it's just been a matter of having the time/resources to put it all together.

I don't usually share my own work because i'm insanely self conscious and I'm never satisfied, AND lyrics sound so incredibly stupid when you just read them off paper. seriously. very, very stupid. But I had a few drinks the other night and ended up being convinced by one of my friends to write it down and let him read it so I figure now that it's already out I might as well show the rest of the world haha.

I like symbolism and double meanings and stuff like that, the problem is I'm usually the only one who gets it. So if something sounds weird/retarded to you, it probably means something else/more important to me. also, you probably won't really know what this is about at all besides getting the general concept because I haven't talked about it on here or to my real life friends :) anyways, disclaimers aside, i hope you enjoy this little peek into my creative musings and don't judge too harshly. hopefully in a few weeks I can upload a vid of me actually singing/playing it!

Where Can We Go

Today I picked through my memory
Trying to find what was left to squeeze.
All that I got were a few drops on my fingers,
But they fill my cuts, now everything hurts.
Everything hurts.

Isn't it funny how in just a few hours
Our noses fill with smoke and our tongues turn sour?
We rub sleep from our eyes and we scrub our hands clean,
We're humbled and hardened but we still have the dream.
We still have the dream.

And oh, where can we go?
Oh, where can we go?

We built a castle out of wishes and seafoam,
Cupped it in our hands and tried to blow it home..
But it was windy that day and bubbles landed on my face
You kissed 'em off and said "it wouldnt've worked anyways"
It wouldn'tve worked anyways.

And oh, where can we go?
Oh, where can we go?

Sweaty hands and salty feet,
Closed eyelids and cold concrete.
Faulty doorknobs and open windows,
Nobody knows, nobody knows.

And oh, where can we go?
Oh where can we go?
Oh, nobody knows,
Oh, please take me home.

Today I picked through my memory
And found candy wrappers and dusty olive trees.
You never wrote me but I guess it's alright,
Most people forget when they open their eyes.
We opened our eyes.

And oh, where can we go?
Oh, where can we go?
Oh, nobody knows.
Oh, where did you go?

There you go lovemuffins. I'm biting my lip as i post this- it's really hard for me to expose my private thoughts and musings and creativity to the whole world, land even harder to expose them to you 34 friends and readers! But I figure if I'm going to be a writer/filmmaker/whatever I end up being someday I'm going to have to learn to let the world see my creations.

Real post tomorrow! Love you all so much.

<3
Ems

obsessed with this right now...

2011-09-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

i love this song. and for reasons i can't/don't feel like getting into i feel like bits of it really relate to my life right now :/

i'd only heard bon iver's version which i really love, but i stumbled upon this and this girl, Birdy, is freaking awesome. she's like what i wish i could be. i love the piano accompaniment and her voice is the perfect mix between trained and slightly weepy/emotional/scratchy, which is the "cool" thing to be right now. so beautiful.

Lovely Little Things V.IV

2011-09-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Back to school, back to monthly volumes of lovely little things. This will be a special summer-themed edition since I missed all the summer months

1. Making/Drinking drinks with little skewers of fruit and adorable little umbrellas.

2. Summer Romances

3. Warm evenings and long, late sunsets

4. Going on picnics (ignore how retarded I look in this picture)

5. Taking day trips to swimming holes, rivers, etc.

6. Spending a whole day in your pjs, doing whatever the eff you want.

7. Eating nothing but a plate of fresh, cool, in season fruits and veggies for a meal

8. Having the time and freedom to discover new hobbies, reach into your creativity, and rediscover lost talents and interests.

9. Dining outside

10. Having a reason to run through sprinklers at any time of the day or night.

Happy September/end of summer my lovelies. I know I'm sad to see it go... but then again I'm going to have 100 degree weather for at least another month :/ Sure do miss the freedom though! See you next month with another volume of Lovely Little Things

Happy=Pretty

2011-08-31T09:00:00.001-07:00

One of my first assignments for my production class was to take a self portrait that conveyed our personality in some way. It was based on this awesome article/project.

I'm a pretty girly girl. It's ironic because throughout my life I've found it incredibly difficult to find girls I'm really compatible with and make girlfriends that last longer than a year or two. I've always found it incredibly easy to befriend guys though. It's weird. But yeah, I'm very feminine. I own three pairs of jeans, and about a million dresses and skirts. I wear heels at least two or three times a week. I enjoy doing my hair and makeup and shopping and making/buying beauty products and generally just playing around with my appearance and attempting to make myself look good on a daily basis. You could say I know a little bit about grooming/style/beauty.

The main, most important thing I've learned through all this is that my appearance is almost entirely determined or at least very much affected by my mood and outlook on life. It's insane, really, how much they're related. When I am happy, when I feel loved, excited about life, and thrilled about/grateful for my current situation I look in the mirror and feel radiant. My eyes look bluer, my skin feels clearer and smoother, my hair looks voluminous and beautiful without even having to do anything with it, and I feel thin and confident in anything I put on. I smile and feel like people notice, i walk down the street and feel like I'm worthy of being admired.

When I'm depressed, when I feel alone, sad, angry, hopeless, cheated, or generally unexcited about life I look in the mirror and no matter how hard I try I feel like I can't make myself look presentable. It doesn't matter how perfectly I curl my hair or how many little brushes and shades of eyeshadow i use or how cute my outfit is. I just feel and look blah and gross and mediocre, just like I feel inside. It's frustrating, but also very enlightening.

I've come to conclude that happiness really does equal beauty. That's the biggest beauty secret I have. The more happy and excited about life you are, the more beautiful you will feel and look to yourself and the rest of the world. You know how you see some people walking down the street or in a class with you or at the grocery store and they just radiate beauty and positive energy, even if when it comes down to it they aren't really what's considered "typically" attractive? It because they're happy and they're confident with themselves and it comes out in their appearance and body language. It's truly an amazing phenomenon.

So find reasons in your life to be grateful, to feel joy. It's good for the soul and it's good for your image! There's nothing better than feeling great about the world and then looking in the mirror and feeling even better about yourself. Happiness truly is the key to life-long beauty.

Have you ever experienced mood-appearance correlations? Do you feel more attractive when the world around you seems more attractive? Let me know, I'd love to know if you guys have had the same experiences as me :)

<3
Em

E-Readers

2011-08-30T21:32:00.000-07:00

E-readers, guys. Nooks, Kindles, whatever. What's your opinion on them? I personally agree with the sentiments of the cartoon above. And it's not like I never gave them a shot or anything, my mom let me use her brand new nook while I was in Greece, and man was it a pain in the ass. They say ereaders don't glare in the sunlight, but this one sure did. and it took FOREVER to charge, so I'd be in the middle of a reading a really good book out on the beach or next to the pool and suddenly it would die so I'd have to wait 5 million years before I could start reading again. And then I had nothing to do while sitting at said beach/pool. which sucked, a lot.

also, it's just not as fun to technologically turn pages. And you can't underline things or write notes in the margins or dog ear the corners, which i always do. I get the appeal, I do! but it really wasn't my thing. especially since i hope to have a large library someday, and it kind of loses it's spectacle and awesomeness if all your books are digital files on a tiny little device. also, what if you lose it, or the internet goes under, or some other crazy thing happens where you cant access your digital files? we'd all be effed for a lot of reasons but mostly it would really suck that you wouldnt have any of your books anymore. i believe some things- magazines, important photos, and favorite movies included- deserve to have a physical, hard copy. And I'm not giving up the feel of real paper, the sight of printed ink, and the weight of an actual book in my hands any time soon.

Also, those commercials for the e-readers really piss me off. You know, where they try to make books look lame and like a huge hassle and e-readers look awesome and wonderful. You know who's going to buy an e-reader? someone who loves books. So don't try to sell your product by dissing on what your market loves. Annoying.

That's my rant for the day. am I old guys? am i now venturing into the "back in my day" territory? because this is the second post in three days about how that new-fangled technology is grinding my gears and I wish things could be simple, like they used to be.

hm. something to think about.

anyways, see you lovemuffins tomorrow, have a happy humpday!

Tasty Tuesdays: Crazy Feta!

2011-08-30T08:00:00.002-07:00

Oh my gosh you guys, do I have a recipe for you. I first found it on that wonderful yet soul sucking website called pinterest, and it's one of the only things I've "pinned" that I've felt like I absolutely HAD to try as soon as possible. As soon as possible turned out being about a week later. And it only took that long because it was the last meal I scheduled for Stew and I. Cause I schedule a week or two of meals at a time, so we can go grocery shopping together and get exactly what we need. Cause I'm adorable.

I may not have expressed this very clearly on this blog but there are a few ingredients in cooking that I LOVE. Number one: cheese. Oh lordy, cheese. I have been and could still be a vegan, but damnit I can't let go of my cheese. Crappy, run-of-the-mill cheese fine, whatever. But chevre? gruyere? gouda? What is life without them. Last year, stew and I probably ate nothing but cheese, bread, and fruit for dinner at least once every two weeks. When I'm hungry, I usually crave a hunk of cheese, nothing else. Yep, I know it has opiates in it. I'm an addict, and I don't plan on quitting.
Number two: lemon. What can't be improved by squeezing half a lemon over it? very few things. I always add more lemon than called for in recipes, and if lemon is served as a garnish to any meal, I squeeze the heck out of it over everything on the plate. I love lemon.
Number three: SPICY. I used to hate spice. I'd throw a fit when we went out for indian food and my dad wanted to order anything past mild. I don't know when the switch flipped but somewhere in high school I started loving all things firey. Jalapenos on everything. Fire sauce at TB. Sriracha and chili powder on mac n cheese. Chalulah on hash browns. I just can't get enough, guys. I love the burn.
Number four: garlic. but everyone loves garlic, so who the eff cares. garlic is the spice of the gods and we all know it.

SO, theres no question why I'm deeply, madly in love with this spread/dip/meal if you eat it straight from the bowl with a spoon like I was tempted to. It's a combination of feta, roasted jalapenos, roasted garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, and olive oil. oh, my.

Apparently It's from a DC restaurant called Cava, but the recipe I used was one that had already been adapted from whatever recipe the restaurant uses. It's awesome, delicious, and if you can handle a wee bit of spice, you'll love it. And so will whatever guests you invite over to the party you're serving it at because seriously, you should not trust yourself alone around a bowl of this stuff.

I made this with some baked zucchini cakes which came out meh so I wont give you the recipe, stuffed into halves of whole wheat pita bread with tomato, lettuce, and onion. It was TO DIE FOR and really low in calories too. Surprisingly low. I'll tell you more about that after the recipe.

Crazy Feta- (btw, i halved this recipe from the original and it still made 24 1 tbsp servings. If you're putting it out for a larger party, just double the amounts I have given.)
Ingredients
1 8 oz block feta cheese- I used trader joe's
1.5 jalapenos
1/2 head garlic
1/4 cup plus 1/2 tsp olive oil
zest from 1/4 lemon (or half small lemon)
juice from 1/4 lemon (or half small lemon)
pita chips, pita bread, fresh veggies, or whatever your want for serving.

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. Take your 1/2 garlic head, cut off the top bit (not the part that keeps all the cloves together) and drizzle with the 1/2 tsp of olive oil. Wrap the garlic in foil and put on a baking sheet. You'll probably have some excess oil from the 1/2 tsp, so use it to coat the jalapenos. I roasted two and just saved the leftover roasted half. Place the oil coated jalapenos on the same baking sheet, and stick it in the oven. The jalapenos will take 10-20 minutes to get slightly charred (flipping them halfway is helpful) and the garlic will take about 40 minutes. go longer if you want. it just gets softer and more caramel-y.

when you remove the jalapenos (after about 20 min), let them cool and then remove the skin, cut in half and remove the seeds, and then chop into very small pieces.

while the garlic finishes roasting, crumble your 8 oz block of feta into a bowl. The smaller pieces the better- this is a dip after all. Then add your chopped jalapeno, and the zest and juice of the lemon. the 1/4 of a lemon is just a guideline. I like a LOT of lemon, so I was actually wishing I had more of it in my dip. If you're a lemon lover like me, go crazy. if not, stick to the recipe. Take your garlic out of the oven and using a hotpad or some other device squeeze the soft, caramelized cloves right into the bowl. You should have something like this:

Add the 1/4 cup of olive oil, grab a fork, and mash away. Mash until the jalapeno is evenly distributed and there are no more large chunks of garlic or feta. It should be between the consistency of a dip and a spread... nice and thick but not too thick :)

This recipe made a cup and a half of dip, or 24 tbsp. the calories equal out to 45 cals/tbsp. Not bad at all considering it's mostly cheese and oil. the average mayonnaise is about 90 cals/tbsp, and it's no where near as delicious as this stuff.The pita I used was 160 cals a full round so 80 for a sandwich pita, and the lettuce, tomato, and onion only come to about 10 calories. the zucchini patties were 18 cals each (one per pita) but they weren't that great so you don't have to worry about them :)

that makes a healthy, delicious, filling meal at just 180 cals if you use 2 tbsp of crazy feta, one half pita, and a decent amount of lettuce, tomato, and onion. I love good for you yummy meals :)

Oh, we also made Firefly Arnold Palmers (just in case you felt like you were being too healthy) made with Firefly Sweet Tea Liquor (have you tried it? it's amazing! like Arizona sweet tea with alcohol. Stew being 21 has opened me up to a whole new world of alcoholic beverages), Simply Lemonade, and a wedge of lemon. Soooo good. and the perfect complement to this fresh, tasty Mediterranean meal.

Be back later, have a wonderful tasty tuesday my lovemuffins!

love,
Em

Texting

2011-08-29T23:55:00.001-07:00

This made me giggle :)

But seriously, don't you just hate it when you text someone and then they take 200 million years to text back? it doesn't even have to be someone you're romantically involved with, although that can make it more annoying. It's especially sucky when they text you back quickly the first time and then take forever on a subsequent text.

I also get annoyed when it happens through email. Yes, me=a million years old. I still use email. For instance, I emailed my boss on Sunday (the day after the schedule was made) to tell him I couldn't work on Tuesday at 10 am, because I have school. which I have given him the schedule to. So I don't know why I was scheduled to work on Tuesday at 10 in the first place. Anyways, I emailed him telling him I couldn't be in, and offering to work that night... no response by tonight, monday night. So I emailed him again, asking if he had received my previous email, apologizing for the inconvenience, and giving my availability schedule again. Still no response. Soooooo..... here I am, left wondering if he's going to be totally surprised and upset that I'm not at work tomrrow at ten am, or if he got my first email and just hasnt felt it necessary to email me back. OH THE DRAMA AND TENSION.

lol.

It's also retarded when someone texts you something like "how are you", and you respond and ask them how they are, and they respond with a one word answer. It's like, hey. YOU texted ME, so what's with the not engaging in the conversation? Is that really your whole purpose for texting me? you just wanted to see how I was? Because then you feel like you're annoying them by texting them back, when you weren't even the one who wanted to text in the first place. But I'm sorry, "how are you" "good, how are you?" "good." is not a conversation worthy of wasting time and texts.

Anyways, this whole new digital age has made our lives soooo much easier, but also so much more complicated. For instance, there's no more suspense and romance left in courting, because you can just text the person you like all day long until you're tired of them. No more waiting for the phone to ring for a date or having to, you know, figure out what a person is like based on conversation. it's all on facebook now. it's weird, and i'm not sure I like it. I'm pretty sure I'd be ok going back to the days when boys had to make an effort to talk to girls and we got to dress up pretty and receive flowers and make good first impressions on real live dates. Maybe it's more awkward and embarrassing, but it sounds nicer and more real, and more fun.

this was a totally random post, spurred by that one funny photo i found on (you guessed it!) pinterest. so I'm going to go before I get way to deep about very shallow things like email and texting.

see you all tomorrow, have a wonderful night :)

<3
Em

Movie Mondays (Season 2!): The Machinist

2011-08-29T22:37:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you about the day that I saw this movie, because it was one of the best turn-around days ever. as in, it started out really crappy and then wound up being really great. It was summer, after I was back from greece, so... late july sometime. We had been planning a super duper awesome 4 person salt river trip (optimum salt river group is five, but four will do), but when we woke up balls early in the morning to go grocery shopping and start driving, one of our four (ahem, KRIS) pooned out and said he had to work. which is bs because his manager was one of the people going on the trip. and they live together. so it would have been fine. but anyways... i was very upset and made him feel very very bad about ruining our salt river trip. Since it's what we would have done on the river anyways, I told the 2 other people that now had a day off for no reason that we should just drink and watch movies and have a rainy day all day. SO, we bought a bottle of rumpleminze and a box of hot cocoa and got started. and this was the first movie we watched. and i loved it.

is that story relevant to the movie? no, not at all. but i decided to tell you anyways, because it's one of the days that sticks out in my mind from this summer.

I'm in love with psychological thrillers, guys. I just can't get enough of them. I loved shutter island- I saw it twice in theaters and wouldve seen it again if someone asked. I think I saw inception three times in theaters. I love Memento, and I show it to people who haven't seen it whenever I get the chance. And Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is always #1 or #2 on my favorite movies list. Maybe it's because my mom is a psychologist so I'm naturally interested in the human mind. Maybe I'm just crazy and love watching other people delve into their own crazy minds. I don't know, but I love it.

The Machinist is that kind of movie. The main character is totally dysfunctional. His world is austere, strange, and complicated. Did you ever hear about that movie where they made Christian Bale lose like a million pounds to look stick thin and totally unhealthy to play the part? This is that movie.

Trevor Reznik is your run of the mill blue collar worker- except for the fact that he hasn't been able to sleep in over a year. His intense insomnia has made him extremely, extremely thin, and his only company are a hooker named Stevie and an airport diner waitress named Marie. One day, he begins finding cryptic post-it notes around his apartment, most of which show an unfinished hang-man game. Not long after, he meets a fellow coworker he's never seen before- Ivan- that, according to his bosses and other coworkers, doesn't exist. Trevor spirals further and further into the depths of confusion and illusion as he tries to figure out who Ivan is, what the post-it notes mean, and why he hasn't been able to sleep in so long.

It's freaking awesome.

But I like crazy, melancholy, confusing, dark movies like that. If you do to, then great! You should so, so, so check it out. and even if you don't, it's worth a watch just for the way it tickles your brain and makes you think and question.

Here's a trailer:

so good. and by the way, it feels soooo good to get back to movie mondays! So refreshing :) Another one next week, and another post tomorrow!

Back to Normal...finally. well, kind of.

2011-08-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

It has been a summer to end all summers, guys. I'll get into it more later (like i said i would last time.. heh..) but for now I want to let you all know that things are getting back to NORMAL. well, kind of. there's a prescott/salt river trip this weekend and the vw festival in two weeks, but other than that, i'm getting back to my ol' school-year routine. Back to working out every day, because we know how well THAT went over summer.. although i will mention that i still managed to lose about 15 pounds through sweating my soul out and hiking every day in greece :) It also helped that I wasn't around Stewie, so I wasn't tempted to make midnight runs to the grocery store for things like turtle pie and french onion dip and bbq chips. Yeah. we did that a LOT last year.

Anyways, tangent... back to working out. back to school 4 days a week. AND, I got a job, so I'll be bringing in the dough- as well as rolling, knotting, stretching, and tossing it, because I work at a pizza joint again. Best of all though, back to BLOGGING. i know i've said that a million times, but i'm taking this monday, which happens to be the start of the week that also marks the first of september, to jump right back in with movie mondays, tasty tuesdays, lovely little things, etc. yay! I saw some cool movies this summer so I've got a nice little list of posts for the next few weeks... I think it will be very, very good. get ready for one coming at you this afternoon.

I've still got greece pictures to show you, and a whole summer to try and concentrate into a blog post.. it's been an intense one, my friends, a very intense and wonderful one.

got to do homework and like, be productive or whatever... ;) so I'll leave you guys for now and have a movie monday up in a few hours!

love love love
Em

if i was...

2011-08-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

this is something silly and random that has been floating around the blogosphere for a while. I used to LOVE filling out those facebook notes, and before that myspace survey bulletins, and even before that chain email surveys! god does that make me feel old. i even sent a real live paper and pen and stamps and envelopes chain letter once. oh, geez. anyways. it looks like fun, and due to all my previous survey loving experience, i couldn't resist.

If I was a month, I would be October
If I was a time of day, I would be twilight
If I was a direction, I would be East
If I was a planet, I would be Venus
If I was a piece of furniture, I would be a book shelf
If I was a poet, I would be Sappho, without the lesbianism ;)
If I was a gemstone, I would be an amethyst
If I was a tree, I would be a weeping willow
If I was a bird, I would be a dove
If I was a tool, I would be a screwdriver
If I was a flower, I would be a lilac
If I was a kind of season, I would be spring
If I was a musical instrument, I would be a flute
If I was a word, I would be 'ambiguous' (but not in a bad way, necessarily
If I was a feeling, I would be passionate. passionate love, passionate anger, passionate creativity, everything.
If I was a fruit, I would be a nectarine
If I was a sound, I would be a quiet wind
If I was a body part, I would be finger tips
If I was an automobile, I would be a baby blue convertible (like nancy drew!) but a hybrid one.
If I was a place, I would be Loutro, in Crete, Greece. The place i felt most connected to in years.
If i was a jewelry, I would be an anklet
If i was an age, I would be 26
If i was a weapon, I would be words
If i was an animal, I would be my darling clementine

distracted...

2011-08-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

oh, summer. you get me off doing things like lake picnics and fancy dress parties and '50's beer pong nights and late nights and lunches out and you get me forgetting about blogging! i missed it, and i missed you all, but i can't say i didn't have a lot of fun in my last few weeks of summer :)

I've got a few posts planned for the next couple weeks- i'm planning on doing that fast i listed in my 20 things before i'm 20 post within the next few days, cause i've got a salt river trip planned for labor day and I'd like to look nice and healthy and detoxed and thin :) I also need to do an end of summer post, because this summer was epic and crazy and amazing and the best summer of my life and also the most insane at at times sad summer of my life. so you guys need to see lots of pictures and hear lots of details :) aaaand i've got a few other things up my sleeve for the next few things that i think will be fun... not to mention the 200 remaining greece pics!

for now, let me tell you some things that have been going on these days:

i had my first day of my junior year of college today (upperclassmen, woo!). i only had one two hour class starting at 2pm and it was a breeze. i'm so in love with my schedule this semester.

i'm hoping (and kind of expecting, fingers crossed...) to get a job at brooklyn pizza on fourth ave this wednesday. i have an interview and my buddy caleb who worked with me at mama eddas up in prescott put in a good word for me. we'll see!

stewart and i broke up. don't freak, we're still best friends and we're actually still living together this year. things had been drifting for a while and it just feels better this way. we do everything we used to do, just without the relationship-y part, and it's been going great so far :)

i hung out with all my old friends from edda's this summer- like, i spent every night at their house- and it was the hardest thing in the world to say goodbye to them :(

i watched the entire series of battlestar galactica with stewart, and I LOVED IT. judge me accordingly.

I've been feeling really inspired lately, and i finished two poems/songs tonight. maybe i'll share them with you soon :)

I went to see horrible bosses. it's good. worth a look. only if you're under 40 and like the actors, though.

this is probably the most confusing, exciting, love and emotion-filled time of my life... it's been crazy, and i've come to realize i can never know what to expect and i can only know what i want in any given moment, not for the long-haul, at least not now. it's been crazy. i wish i could say more, but it's complicated.

a real summer post will be coming soon, probably after the salt river trip in a couple weeks. i missed you all, and i appreciate you all sticking around in my absence. love you!

<3
Em

20 in my 20th: #16 Learn to play a new song on the piano- a recent, alt-folk song which I will also sing to.

2011-08-06T09:00:00.006-07:00

The quality on this vid is kind of bad, and it's certainly not my best work- but I was pretty proud that I learned this song on the piano! The song is "40 Day Dream" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. I don't actually have sheet music or anything for it... I just looked up the guitar tabs online and then converted it to work for the piano. I think it counts for #16 of my 20 things to do in my 20s though :) hopefully I'll just keep improving as I practice it a bit more.

enjoy!

and don't mind the pups wandering around in the background :)

<3 Em

Orange Basil Shrimp Ceviche

2011-08-05T15:00:00.001-07:00

Ceviche is an example of some of the reasons I really love cooking. It's so simple, yet it usually blows everyone's minds with how freaking delicious it is. Also, the whole concept of it- cooking fish without heat, with the acid of citrus alone- is really cool. Food can do some pretty crazy things.

I hadn't had ceviche since... well, mexico last winter, but before that i hadn't had it since I was a youngun, and my grandpa would make it for our family every once in a while. Back then i didn't know what it was, and my parents just called it "marinaded shrimp". Probably because they knew if they told me it was raw shrimp that sat in lime juice for a few hours I wouldn't eat it.

I don't usually eat meat, but I ate it in greece (it's kind of necessary... though I ate less than I thought I was going to have to) and so I felt ok about making this for my parents and myself a few days after I got back. It's an adaptation of one of Dan at The Food in my Beard's recipes, and as is the case with most things that are inspired/from tfimb, it was awesome. really, really refreshing and surprisingly full of flavor. like, suspiciously full of flavor, for how few ingredients there are.

Make up a batch of this, it's freaking delicious and seriously one of the most perfect summery dishes out there!

Orange Basil Shrimp Ceviche
Ingredients
1 pound raw shrimp (get the best quality you can find)
5 oranges
4 limes
2 tbsp finely chopped basil
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 red onion
1 clove garlic, finely minced or grated
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Start by removing all the crap parts of the shrimp- the legs, shell, etc. Then cut the shrimp into small, 1 cm pieces.
2. Juice the oranges and limes through a strainer into a medium serving bowl. Make sure you get as much juice as you can!

3. Cut the onion into thin strips. you could also dice it if you wanted to have a more salsa-like ceviche, but my grandpa always used thin onion strips so that's what I like :)

4. Add the onions, garlic, basil, and cilantro to the bowl with the citrus juice. Stir to combine.

5. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste. you can always add more after the shrimp is done cooking, too.
6. Add the shrimp to the marinade and stir, making sure all the shrimp pieces are completely submerged. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for 1-6 hours, or until the shrimp is completely opaque and cooked all the way through. the cooking time varies depending on the size of your shrimp pieces and how fresh the shrimp is. The longer you leave it in there the more cooked and marinaded and flavorful it will get! I left mine overnight. Serve with chips or eat by itself.

20 in my 20th: #4 Get a Puppy

2011-08-05T09:00:00.002-07:00

I'm on a roll with these 20 things, guys. I signed up for home ec last week and got my sewing machine tuned up to make sure it's in perfect working order, and I'm just finalizing a couple songs I've been working on on the piano- one that i wrote and one that i didn't write but i love. thats 3 more things that'll be coming at you all in the next few weeks! it's been really fun working towards these different goals and writing up these posts :)

Onto the thing you all really want to hear about- this adorable little love muffin!

Name: Clementine, as in Kate Winslet's character in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- one of my top three favorite movies.

Age: 5 months

Breed: Terrier mutt, but she definitely has some border terrier and some wire-hair in there. She also must have some kind of small breed terrier in there because she's tiny and she probably won't get much bigger.

Color: white, with beige-ish wiry top coat in some places

Eyes: beautiful golden brown

Where I got her: Phoenix, AZ- some guy owned her mama and daddy and I guess had to get rid of all the little pups. She was the last one left.

How I found her: craigslist, baby!

Personality: so very sweet and shy- when i first met her she tried to high-tail it into the guy's kitchen- but she quickly warmed up to me and now thinks I'm her new mama. she follows me everywhere i go, and when I have to leave and then come home she sees me and wags her tail so hard her whole back half wiggles back and forth. She's very quiet, except for if she sees a dog and feels threatened by it- then she'll growl and potentially bark. usually this happens when she's sitting on me or on the couch and the dog comes into the room, so i put her on the floor so she and the dog are at the same level. I'm working on socializing her (which should have been done when she was younger, but i guess the dude didn't take care of that) so that when she's a bit older she can be nice and friendly with other dogs and people. she's very, very smart and seems pretty willing to be submissive- i haven't had to teach her how to heel at all, she just naturally walks next to or behind me on a slack leash when i take her out for walks. unlike the dog i grew up with (that my parents still own), clover, she doesn't have an endless appetite and bottomless stomach- she's generally uninterested in food, although i have gotten her to finish her meals the last two times. this means food will be cheap and I won't have to deal with her being all over me for it, but it's also made it hard to be successful with starting her training commands- like sit, stay, etc- since she doesn't really care about the treat reward in my hand that usually captures a training pup's attention.

She's such a little cutie, and I've been trying to take her lots of places so she can get more comfortable with the world. she's already doing so well! she doesn't flinch or tuck her tail between her legs when she sees people or other dogs, which she certainly did the first day or two i had her. We've gone down to the downtown square a lot, as well as to other friends' houses, the vet, around the neighborhood, and to the barkery. she's getting more sociable every day! she's such a little sweet heart, and I know she's going to grow up to be such a well-mannered, sweet little companion.

Greece, Day 8

2011-08-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

I promised you guys I'd start posting more photos weeks ago, i know. I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and edit them all... plus I'm still processing and adjusting to this "normal" life thing again... it hasn't been easy and I really haven't been in the mood to have to deal with it all. but here you go- most of the picture posts won't be this long, but i didn't want to split up one day's worth of photos (and this was a busy day!) In this set are pictures of Plataea, where the battle of plataea took place (shocker, right?), Gla- an ancient Mycenaean ruin that was covered by a lake for a very long time, Thermopylae, where the battle shown in the movie 300 took place, and Delphi, where all kinds of cool shit from the Pythian games to the Delphic oracle of Apollo occurred.

Greece is full of gorgeous flowers. This one was in Plataea. Modern Plataea is just a teeny tiny little town, and Ancient Plataea is even smaller- just a few old very worn down ruins, mostly the bases of houses and such.

Nick got our Professor to pretend to fight him to recreate the battle of plataea- as if the prof is a persian and nick is a greek.

This is Gla- it's actually quite huge, though it's hard to really see much in this photo. the whole thing was covered by a lake for a very long time- mostly you can just see the wall that lined the perimeter of this Mycenaean town.

The boys- and one, in particular- had a habit of flexing their muscles for every picture we took. This is us girls (well three of us anyways) making fun of them :)

see what i mean with the muscle flexing?

This is Thermopylae, where the battle that is featured (and hollywood-ized, though not as much as you might think) in the movie 300 took place. Imagine the greeks coming down through those rocky, steep mountains, and the Persians approaching from the sea, which would be opposite these mountains. There's no longer a sea there, it's just farmland, but it's cool to think about.

looks kind of familiar, doesn't it?

A tribute to the Spartans, who fought to their death.

Schmules doing his reading

Statue of Leonidas, the spartan commander (Gerard Butler's character in the film)

The spartans would of course not actually fight naked, but the Greeks were obsessed with the male form and perfection, so they always sculpted their warriors to be mostly nude.

The view from the bus as we drove up the mountains to Delphi

A tholos at the lower ancient site in delphi. Most tholos' we don't know the purpose of- in later pics you'll see some tholos tombs and at the agora there was a tholos where the important people in athens would meet, but this one and most others give no clues as to what they could be used for. Tholos just basically means round building, by the way.

This is the greek version of an exit sign! weird, huh?

If you look really closely at the center of this pic, you'll see a whitish dot. it's a goat! If you zoom in a bunch you can actually make out it's shape.

Swimming pool at the ancient training area in Delphi. The pythian games- one of the four panhellenic games- took place in Delphi, but at the upper site (next set of photos). The lower site was where a lot of training took place. this swimming pool was aobut 4 or 5 feet deep now, but was surely deeper in antiquity.

some of the boys pretending to swim in the pool.

backstroke!

awesome tree at the lower site

the lower site at delphi

there are a million stray dogs and cats in Greece! In delphi in particular, there were a bunch of cats that hung out across from our balconies at the hotel.

Nicholas, one of the two "greeks" on our trip. If you couldn't tell, he basically has a bottomless stomach. That night he pretty much finished everyone's food for them.

more pics in a few days!

<3
Em

It's... Fall?

2011-08-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

If you know me at all or have read more than like 3 posts on this blog, you'll know I'm a fall girl. I am all about autumn. I will talk your ear off about pumpkin patches and hay rides and knit skirts and leggings and scarves, and I will feed you pumpkin breads and stuffed squashes and hot toddies until you want to kill me and go live in bermuda or antarctica or somewhere where it is never fall, ever.

But even I have raised an eyebrow at all the fall-stuff that is trickling into the latest of the interwebs. Halloween cupcake decoration DIYs? Beef and beer stew topped with garlic bread? Cmon people- I can appreciate an icy beer here or there during these sizzling months, but beef? stew? garlic bread?! I've got at least another 2 good bikini months left so what the hell are you doing?

I love fall, but I'm not one to cut summer short either- unless it gets to be November in Tucson and it's still 85 degrees and green. Either way... fall will have it's time. the web loves fall. spice bread recipes, knitting patterns, thanksgiving cornucopia diys- bloggers eat that shit up. but for right now, it's still SUMMER, damnit. So I say we turn up our noses at all the autumn stuff flooding our blogs and tumblrs and pinterest boards and embrace all things summer!

Sangria is a total summer thing. It's perfect for garden parties, bbqs, or really anything at all because it's delicious. make some, stat.

I love using zucchini to make healthy "pasta" salads. you really can't tell the difference as far as taste and texture go, and you cut the calories by an absurd amount. This pesto pasta sounds delicious, refreshing, and oh so healthy :)

I'm kinda caprese-ed out, but if you need to get your summer fix of tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil drenched in olive oil, check out this recipe for cute little caprese appetizers I posted last summer.

Now is the time to be wearing flowers in your hair. I really want to go buy some cute fabric and plain headbands and make a million of these adorable rosette hair accessories!

I think this is the cutest idea for a tropical themed summer party. I'm one of those people that believes wreaths can be a year round ordeal ;)

go enjoy what's left of summer! take a roadtrip, go camping, take a beach/pool day, buy short shorts and bikinis and flirty yellow summer dresses. eat fro yo for dinner. lay on the grass and look at the stars. drink lemonade on porch swings. It's summertime, baby! and the livin's easy :)

<3
Em

gee, what is this pinterest th- oh, no.

2011-07-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

soo, it happened.

I apathetically avoided Pinterest for several months, mostly cause I didn't really understand what it was and was too lazy to try and figure it out. But all my friends were raving about it and all the cool kids were doing it so... I checked it out today. And then I didn't leave my room. For a day. Except to go to the kitchen to grab handfuls of Trader Joe's salt and cracked pepper chips. I may have gone to a crazy birthday party last night involving hot chocolate and rumpleminze which made me lazy beyond belief today.

I still don't really "get" it... like, what are you supposed to pin? how do you pin? what's the point of it all again? But I do really like scrolling through and looking at the pretty pictures and clicking on the links. It's like refined, feminine stumbling but with all the goods laid out in front of you so you're not clicking a button for hours hoping for the best. Or, it's like we heart it with links that go with the pictures. Either way, I like it. A little too much, perhaps.

Here are some cool things I found today:

mmmm, i love gin and tonics... except that one that had roofies in it (never trust an australian in mykonos). these look absolutely wonderful and sooo refreshing... something that would be wonderful in this atrocious heat!

This would be the cutest gift idea to give out to friends and family with little ones. you could buy everything in bulk and make a bunch of them to give away!

Bit 'sessed with this project. I've always thought having little candy bowls around the house is a cute idea, but these diy apothecary jars are even better than that.

so yeah... that was my day. oh, except for i found a little puppy to take home this weekend! I'm so freaking excited about it... i'll overwhelm you guys with pics and stuff once I get it :) hope you all had a nice, relaxing tuesday!

<3
ems

my new(ish) favorite way to start the day

2011-07-25T11:11:00.001-07:00

This summer, I have found the secret to bright-eyed mornings, refreshing and healthy yet delicious food, easy weight-loss, and general happiness and well-being. I've also found the meaning of life. Excited yet? Perhaps I exaggerate a bit... but seriously, I've found a breakfast to end all breakfasts. In my opinion. Of course... I kind of detest breakfast so I guess my opinion isn't much to go on.

I'm sure half of you are gasping in shock and clicking the unfollow button- for how could one not like breakfast? People are serious about their breakfast, man... some people even eat it for dinner. I don't know. I can't explain it. I've never really been into eating mountains of doughy or bready stuff sopping with sugary syrup that early in the morning... and eggs have always kind of been meh. As for sausage and bacon... I just never really fell in love with it the way the rest of the world seemed to. maybe it's the vegetarian thing. I can appreciate a good eggs benedict though, provided the meat is substituted with sauteed greens or grilled tomatoes or artichoke hearts or something and they use real hollandaise sauce. Because seriously, how can anyone dislike something that's smothered in hollandaise sauce?

I'm getting off topic. Not liking the typical breakfast food can be difficult in a grand-slam kind of world. I did oatmeal for a while, then chocolate protein shakes, then cereal, then fruit and granola and yogurt, and then just fruit. I like eating fruit for breakfast because it's refreshing, delicious, and low calorie, but it still wakes my body up and gets my metabolism going. This summer though, I decided to mix it up. Enter my parents' blender.

Yep. That's my super awesome secret to everything wonderful. Breakfast smoothies. You're free to go.

Seriously, though! Breakfast smoothies are freaking amazing. The ones I make range from 150-250 cals each and fill pint sized glasses with some usually left in the blender. They are soooo delicious, take a while to consume since you sip it slowly (usually while doing something else, like blogging for instance...), give you an awesome boost of energy, fill you up for hours, AND they're super duper healthy, being low fat, low cal, and chock full of fresh fruit and vegetables and all.

I've been drinking these every day this summer... except for when I went to Greece for 5 weeks. Breakfast in Greece, by the way, made me pine for a big ol' stack of that bready syrupy nastiness. It's bad. Like really, really, really bad. Most times it consisted of shitty coffee, one type of cereal which was the same at every place, room temperature milk, and about 9 types of breads and random pound cakes on which to spread unsalted butter and individually packaged jams. If you were lucky there might be some hard boiled eggs, greek yogurt, or sliced cheese and processed bologna like meat. But fresh fruit? Oh hell no. You're going to eat bread and bologna for breakfast and you're gonna like it.

I hated it.

But now I'm back, and the age of smoothies has begun again!

also, not to like, toot my own horn or anything, but I've lost about 12 pounds this summer. Not saying that it's all to do with drinking smoothies in the morning, but yeah, it totally is.

so whip one up and have it for breakfast tomorrow. It will give you super powers and you will feel like the most amazing person on earth!

Here's what I've been drinking lately:

1 cup frozen blueberries (get the giant bag of them at costco, they will last FOREVER)
1 cup spinach or kale (you can't even taste or see it in the final product, but it's so good for you!)
1/2 a banana
1/2 a fuji apple
1/2 cup water, or soymilk if you're feeling frisky.

dump it all in a blender, turn the blender on. done. total cals: 169, or 214 if you use soymilk.

here's what I'm drinking right now:

1 cup frozen blueberries
2 cups diced watermelon
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup soymilk

total cals: 217. It's so creamy and sweet and light and delicious. and a kajillion times healthier than jamba or robeks!

Tomorrow I'm going to start posting greece pictures. Prepare to be wowed! Or bored. we'll see :)

love you all! happy monday, by the way :)

<3
Ems

20 in my 20th: #3 Drink Ouzo in Greece

2011-07-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hooray for accomplishing the first of 20 things I wanted to do before next May 10th! Unfortunately I did not get a picture of this event- you see, I drank ouzo a couple times but I was waiting for the perfect moment to really "count" it- and when that moment came my phone was dead and I didn't have my DSLR! the unjustness of it all... anyways, I can describe what I considered the best ouzo drinking occasion in Greece to be.

For those of you who don't know, Ouzo is a clear Greek Liquor with a 40% alcohol content, like most other hard alcohols. It's made from anise seed and so it has a distinct black licorice-y flavor, similar to that of Jagermeister and Absinthe. I'm not a huge fan of black licorice-y alcohols... or candies... or anything, really, but I figured hell, I'm in Greece and I might as well do as the Greeks do ;)

You can shoot ouzo like you would any other hard alcohol, which is what we did before we went clubbing in Mykonos (THAT's a whole other story altogether...), but the more proper way to consume it is in a tumbler poured over ice cubes, which slowly melt and chill/dilute the ouzo.

Anyways, It was July 2nd, if I remember correctly- we were in Santorini, an absolutely gorgeous crescent shaped island with lots of beaches named for the colors of their sand. We spent the first half of the day at the archeological site of Ancient Thera, which was interesting, although by this, the 27th day of our trip, we were all kind of site-ed out.

Anyways, we then wandered our way down the mountain to the black beach, where we bought 2 euro gyros and half liters of amstel or mythos and strolled down the boardwalk in search of a good place to lay out and enjoy the beach.

I was with two of the boys I spent the most time with on this trip, Trevor and Kellner. We wound up finding a spot under the shade of a tree, where the black sand was warm but not scalding like it was in the sun. We laid out our towels and spent a while reading our various books for a while before Trevor eventually decided he wanted to get some ouzo. He and Kellner went off in search for a bottle, cups, and ice while I watched their stuff. It wasn't terribly classy, laying on the beach drinking ouzo from flimsy plastic cups which got sand all over them from the condensation, but it was wonderfully fun and relaxing sitting there with the boys, laughing and chatting and joking and people watching and getting just a little tipsy. It was great :)

I'm on the verge of completing a few other things from my 20 in my 20th list, like writing a song and getting a puppy- so look for a few more of these posts coming up in the next few weeks!

Woah.

2011-07-22T11:31:00.002-07:00

So much has happened! All the crazy things I've been planning for and working on all year have come and gone in a blissful whirlwind of activity and fun. The past 6 weeks have been insane. Insanely amazing!

I'll get back to regular blogging- movie mondays, tasty tuesdays, lovely little things, etc in a few weeks when I get back down to Tucson and start getting ready for the school year and everything, but in the meantime I'll be popping in here every few days with tales of my summer adventures! Instead of overloading you with a trillion Greece pictures (after we left athens, I didn't find another computer to upload my pics to for the next 4 weeks!) in one post, I'm going to post about 15 a week so that I can be detailed in my documentation and the memories can live on for a while :) I've also got to tell you guys about the youth retreat catering thing, which went spectacularly. But more on all that later! Now begins my summer "vacation"- the part where I get to do nothing but kick back, drink fruity cocktails, go on river and camping trips, and host picnics at dusk with tiki torches. You know, all that summer stuff.

Thanks so much for being patient with me as my life went into crazy mode and I abandoned you all here for 6 weeks- I missed blogging so dearly and unfortunately I wasn't organized enough to actually plan out scheduled posts before I left- but not to worry, there are wonderful things to come! I love you all, can't wait to get back to reading and blogging! And hello to the couple new followers I picked up in my absence- I'm so glad you're here! Be back in a bit, lovelies.

<3
Em

Greece Days 6-7

2011-06-12T13:47:00.000-07:00

Yet another deluge of photos :) I seem to be averaging 30-40 a day, which is going to add up to, well, a shit ton at the end. These pics include the temple to Afea on the island of Aigina, some day-trip fun in Aigina, the temple to Olympian Zeus in Athens, various pretty things in Athens, the only remaining Trireme in Athens (as far as I know) which was recreated to do various speed tests for historical purposes, some photos from the Pireas museum in Athens and finally a few pics of the beautiful (yet torrential) rain storm we had this afternoon.

I've got some time right now because I'm skipping dinner (noodle bar leftovers ftw) so I'm going to go through and actually weed out the good photos from the mediocre, and talk a little bit about each one. I didn't bring a good travel journal with me so this blog is going to be transformed into a greek travel blog for the next 4 weeks haha. hopefully you all will still find it interesting :)

Be sure to check out my last two greek photo posts as well, as I'm going to go through and do the same thing (deleting bad pictures, adding descriptions, etc) for them over the next couple hours.

The above set is from the Temple of Afea on the island of Aigina in Greece. It is a long bus ride from the port where the ferries run through fields of pistachio trees, orange trees, and lots of other beautiful foliage. The busses in greece are a bit insane, though, and on the ride back down to the town from this temple we nearly had a head on collision with a bus going the opposite way. In the last pic you can see a little dust devil that randomly picked up and got quite powerful and then dissipated. Where I was standing it wasn't windy at all... weird.

A to scale model of what the temple would have looked like in antiquity. I thought the little people/animal models were cute haha.

Pics from the museum at the temple. Not a ton to see. What's pictured is stuff they found around the temple that originally would have been part of the temple itself.

beautiful, beautiful island beach ^^

I'd say about 70% of the people in greece ride scooters. They look so wonderfully european leaning up against white washed walls among brightly colored flowers everywhere.

I really liked the vines growing along the power line in this pic. aps would flip.

some of the lovely ladies on this trip with me :)

crystal clear aqua marine water the temperature of a heated pool. It makes me swoon. how PERFECT does this beach look? oh, and there are some of the boys on this trip as well :)

*swoon*

the boys decided to do jumping pics. the water below is only 4-5 feet deep, but sandy. and the jump wasn't really that high.

triple chocolate gelato. to die for! and only a euro fifty.

we thought this guy was naked at first, but it was just the wood strategically blocking out his swim trunks haha.

One of the boys giving his site report on the temple of olympian zeus.

the above are all pictures of the temple of olympian zeus which is only a few block from our hotel in the heart of (ancient) athens.

i love these purple flowers.

One of the wonderful street dogs that decided to attach itself to our group. One of the boys named it Sprinkles. Athens has a TON of street dogs. there are a few cats too, but you literally see a dog on every corner. When we got to the temple of olympian zeus today there were so many of them in different colors and sizes hanging out in a little pack that it reminded me of the movie Oliver and Company. Apparently the humane society (or something) goes around putting collars on the street dogs so that they don't get captured and killed... it's sad that they don't have ownders but they honestly all seem happy and well fed. They also get to hang out in the temples while the humans have to stay behind the ropes haha.
Sprinkles found us across the street from the temple while we were talking, and decided to bark at people passing by us. When we went to cross the street, Sprinkles stood in the bike lane and barked at passing cars, as if trying to get them to stop and let us cross. When there was finally an opportunity, we crossed and sprinkles trotted along happily next to us, and followed us around the temple for the rest of the morning. <3

This adorable little pink and yellow bus was parked next to all the ugly tour busses.

The only remaining Trireme in Athens (as far as I know). It is part of the Greek Navy and was constructed to match those used in ancient greece.

A rendering of an amazonian woman, whom the greeks would sometimes fight.

The above (and below) statues are from the Pireas Museum. A lot of the statues were found in the ocean after the ship they were on sunk hundreds of years ago. You can tell where the statues were exposed to the water (versus burried in the sand) by where the marble is porous and eroded like sea rock. In some of them you could even see old sea shells that had gotten stuck in there over hundreds of years at the bottom of the ocean. So, so cool!

A funerary stele. These are EVERYWHERE in greek museums.

A bronze tragedy mask.

A bronze of Artemis

A bronze of Athena. There are not many bronzes left nowadays because much of the metal was melted down to make weapons/bullets etc during the war- so these full bronzes are very impressive!

Artemis once again

A herm- herms are generally just a block, like you see here, with a head at the top and usually some male genitalia where the hole is. Very strange statues, and the butt of many a joke these days :)

A wooden coffin. You can the reflection of me taking the picture!

When we got out of the Pireas, we saw that the sky had turned dark and stormy! It was so beautiful against the sailboats in the dock and the crowded white washed hill of Athens.

Love these little cars. After about 5 mins on the bus, the rain started pouring down.

They have gorgeous trees here- they're like japanese cherry blossoms but with purple flowers instead of pink! and about 2-3 times the height.

What else have I been doing? hmm...Well, I've been sitting in many a greek taverna splitting jugs of wine with all the wonderful people on this trip and eating my weight in pita bread and feta cheese. Feta is about 1-2 euro here at dinner and they give you a slab of it drenched in olive oil and sprinkled with herbs. I tried a souvlaki gyro but the beef made my usually vegetarian stomach cringe so the boys let me trade my souvlaki for some of their chicken, which was very good.

OH! so 2 nights ago a bunch of us wanted to go check out the Athenian night life. We went out to dinner where I got some white wine, pita (which is 20 cents per bread), and a spicy cheese dip which was just feta pureed with olive oil and hot peppers. it was really good but very filling, and as much as I hate to say it I'm getting a bit sick of feta cheese. (we ended up getting noodle bar last night- asian food in greece is surprisingly good!). anyways, after dinner we attempted to walk to a club we had written down directions for, but it didn't seem to exist. At this point a few of the people we were with (not me, luckily) were already drunk and acting kind of ridiculous. We wandered around for about an hour, looking up different streets and asking people for directions. We got some advice from a couple of greek girls to go to a dubstep club called ZAS, where they were planning on going later. We tried it and since it was so early (like midnight) it was basically dead. we left after 5 minutes. Eventually we stumbled upon a group of three american boys, who were doing the same thing. They got some advice from their hostel that there was a strip of clubs called the gaza, which is near the Kerameikos- about a 15 min walk from where we were. Us ladies were in heels, but we were determined so we decided to give it a shot. We eventually found a pretty cool bar with an open air second floor, but by that point we were all so exhausted (we have been getting up between 6-7:30 every morning and not going to sleep until at least midnight) that we just ordered one very overpriced drink (8euro for a gin and tonic? no thank you) and headed home. Of course, the cabs here will only take 4 and by this time we were a group of 5 so we had to walk the 20 mins back to our hotel. There were definitely some annoyed people that night haha... but I had fun and I'm glad we went out and tried.

That was a really long story. Anyways... yesterday was an island day which was amazing. I forgot a towel and bought one at a dusty little shop in the beach town- the store looked like no one had bought anything in years and they had random crap... like one of the guys bought a phoenix suns hat there haha. All the towels appeared to have loony tunes and disney characters on them which was interesting.. i thought mine was just pink flowers but when I unfolded it I found a large picture of minny and mickey mouse! ah well, it will be conversation piece of a towel i suppose haha.

tomorrow we hit the road and don't return to athens for three weeks. first we will drive around the mainland to places like delphi, olympia, etc.. and then we will island hop. I'm loving everything about this trip but I can't wait to get to the islands because it will become much less school-y and much more vacation-y at that point :)

Everything is beautiful and delicious and amazing, and I'm loving every second. The group of students is great and we've already become really close and comfortable with each other. I'm excited to see how the next four weeks play out :)

Love, love, love!

Kali spera,
Em

Athens Day 5

2011-06-10T12:09:00.003-07:00

EEK! something is awry with this post. The pictures are currently on facebook (thank goodness) but have vanished from my computer, my picasa album, and my blog. I'll work on getting them back up in the next few weeks!

edits in red
So, these are probably going to get annoying and spam up your google reader because I'm not filtering any of my photo uploads. If it's annoying, don't read my blog for a while haha.

anyways,
the first set of photos included photos from the city of athens, the acropolis, the agora, and poseidon's temple in a city i don't remember the name of.

this includes photos of Eleusis, where the story of demeter/persephone/the change of seasons originates. There are also pictures from the benaki museum and various things in downtown athens.

enjoy loves!

eating these delicious greek doughnut things. Can't remember their name but they are light and crispy, and almost custardy in texture in the center. you can get them smothered in chocolate or honey with powdered sugar. both were amazing! They were a treat from our professors on their anniversary :)

While on the bus on the way to Eleusis we passed a group of people walking with a torch for the special olympics! It's a tradition to walk to eleusis for these olympics apparently.

This is said to be the opening into the underworld at Eleusis, where Persephone could have been stollen into Hades.

Dionysus on the right and Demeter with Persephone on her lap on the left. The above are all from the museum at Eleusis.

On this trip we have two assignments- a site report which I will talk about later and a reading from a greek text like a play or a homeric work or something. I read an excerpt from the homeric hymn to demeter where demeter travels to eleusis where she eventually commands that a temple be built for her. My mom always used to tell me the myth of persephone and demeter and the pomegranite seeds so it was so cool to read from it at the site where it all "happened"!

The well where demeter sat in mourning when she first arrived in Eleusis.

The above three are remnants of an ancient roman bath, literally just in the middle of the city. There is stuff like this buried everywhere under athens.

I'm obsessed with these trees!

One of the guards outside the government building on Syntagma Square. They do this really awkward looking march haha

Protestors and police on syntagma

Gorgeous flowers outside the Benaki museum.

Me with jessica and jill, two of the girls on the trip with me :)

Athena and Poseidon. I don't know why but I just love this set of little statues!

The University of Athens, although it's not actually a university

Photo Dump! or, Athens Days 1-4

2011-06-10T08:54:00.002-07:00

Edit- I'm going to go through and add some commentary on the photos/tell you a bit more about what I did the first four days! Added stuff will be in red.

hello lovelies,
for the time being I have internet and as far as i can tell a reliable way of uploading photos, aside from the fact that the upload process somehow took all the photos off my camera and put them on this random hotel computer. In fear of not being able to upload them here later, I'm uploading them now!

I think I will try to do this once a week, or every few days. I wont say anything too permanent because I'm not sure when I will have internet once we leave athens next sunday. For now, though, here are a zillion photos from the first few days of this amazing trip. I haven't edited them at all yet and I'm not going to include any writing right now because I've got 30 mins to do this and get breakfast, and I really want to get a cappuccino from down the street :)

The first beach we went to. very nice, although our grumpy bus driver didn't let us stay more than an hour or 2 and was very anal about us showering off completely before we reboarded the bus. Apparently the Unions in this country are ridiculous, so people can basically just say fuck it and not work whenever they want. Strikes happen allll the time, as do protests (there are 2000 people on syntagma square right now apparently). We have to pretty much appease the bus driver the best we can so he doesn't ditch us in the countryside! Totally different from America where people are assholes to employees and the workers just have to take it cause of the whole "customer is always right" policy. not here! anyways, tangent. The boys were surprisingly good at skipping rocks on the ocean.

My room! I have 2 roommates for the time being, and they're both wonderful.

The teeny little bath/shower.

view from my balcony

the above two are from the parthenon! The first full day in athens we woke up bright and early and trekked up the parthenon. It was craaazy busy, but we all have extra special archeology student passes from the American school which let us get into every site without paying or waiting in line. It's pretty awesome.

Views from the acropolis.

such a majestic piece of architecture!

love those whitewashed buildings :)

The Erectheon

Have you heard the myth about how Athens got it's name? Apparently both Athena and Poseidon were in the running. Poseidon slammed his trident into a rock, leaving a few marks, and gave the athenians the power of the sea. Athena planted an olive branch, giving the olives/olive oil that is so detrimental to greek life. Apparently the athenians chose Athena based on her gift. This is supposedly the very same tree which sprung from the olive branch Athena planted all those hundreds of years ago.

The theater of Dionysus I think.

Lunching at a taverna! You can't tell because of the perspective of this photo, but Sam, the boy in the red, opted for the fixed price meal with included drink and they gave his a tiny (like 8 oz) beer. Nick, the other boy, ordered a normal half liter I'm pretty sure. The tiny beer looked pretty pathetic next to the normal one.

The next day we went to the Agora, which was like the marketplace of Ancient Athens where Socrates spent a lot of his time. A friend of our professor is an archaeologist here and she showed us one of the sites they're about to start digging at.

The Hephaisteion! So gorgeous... maybe one of my fave temples thus far.

View of the Agora and acropolis. gorgeous.

The Agora was full of stoas, which are like our modern day shopping malls only open air. Only one was restored for use as a museum- the one on the right which is the stoa of attalos.

Various things from the museum at the Agora.

The above are all from the Kerameikos, which is the site of a cemetary. lots of funerary steles here :)

The Pnyx

View from the Areopagus, a very slippery rock hill where murder trials were held. In the Oresteia, this is where Orestes went after he killed his mother and was pestered by the furies. Athena pretty much laid down the law, and the jury was split- Orestes was acquitted and Athena stated that from that point forward if there was ever a hung jury the defendant would be acquitted- something we still go by today.

The Athenian tomb in Marathon from the battle of marathon. Under the glass panes you can see actual skeletons, but I couldn't really manage a good picture.

The temple to Poseidon in Sounion

A bunch of the kiddos posing in front of the temple to Poseidon.

Greek coast=most beautiful thing ever.

It was an absolutely amazing first four days. I was soooo tired when we first touched down in Athen's because I had been travelling for nearly 20 hours, couldn't sleep on the plane, and it was 10 am- We were supposed to stay up until about midnight. I showered and got myself a little lost in Athens, and then at about 6 we took a short walking tour. We went to the hill of the muses and saw our first view of the athenian skyline which was stunning to say the least. we then went to a taverna for dinner where we tried all the greek classics- greek salad, moussaka, pasticcio (sp?), calamari, wine, ouzo, and lots of other stuff I can't remember.

The next few days were jam packed with activity, and we were all soooo exhausted by the end of each day. we get up early every morning, and eat breakfast in the hotel or go down the street to a little cafe where the guy recognizes us and makes the best sweet cappuccino ever. There's also an awesome bakery where you can get a big piece of spanikopita or a bunch of greek pastries for a bit over a euro. We eat at tavernas for lunch and dinner and get gelato way more often that we really should :)

I'm getting super tan and I know by the end of this trip it will be ridiculous! I'm excited though :) anyways, on to edit the next post! love you all

Ya-Sas!

<3
Em

quick post..

2011-06-07T08:30:00.001-07:00

Hey lovelies! I'm posting from my phone which is way awkward so excuse any typos/weird autocorrects haha. I am in Athens which is AMAZING! also very confusing and compact though. Today we are hiking up to the acropolis which is very exciting. Just thought id share a couple quick pics and say hello before I head out for the day.

Love,
Em

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So here's what happened:

2011-06-04T13:17:00.000-07:00

Remember that list of things I learned in my teens? This one and this one? Well, one of the things on that list is "Life is the most important thing". The past couple weeks I have been adhering to my personal philosophies, and enjoying the shit out of life. After I finished up (most of) my work for the youth retreat catering stuff, I got busy going on hikes, going to swimming holes, spending time with friends, and watching many, many movies. I didn't post, I didn't even try to think of a movie monday, and I totally dropped the ball on this month's lovely little things.

but...

I'm not the least bit sorry :) I've been having an AMAZING time these past few weeks, and tomorrow I'm going to hop on a plane and fly to greece. I'm way less prepared than I should be but whatever. It's life. I'm just living it, enjoying it, and taking it one moment at a time.

So, I do apologize for my very extended absence, but I'm also glad that I got caught up in the whirlwind of living life, rather than bogged down in the business of documenting it all the time.

I'm not sure what my computer/internet situation will be like over the next 6 weeks. If I can, I will stop by to upload some pictures and throw out a few posts here and there. All the feature posts will be put on hold until I return in late july.

I love you all, and I hope you have been enjoying your summers thus far. Talk to you again soon!

<3,
Em

Irrational Fears

2011-05-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

hello lovelies,
I'm afraid I've been terribly busy- in the past three days I've cooked around 40 recipes (many of which are self-created), calculated the calorie count for each recipe, and the written each recipe down. Right now I'm in the process of typing all the recipes up and simultaneously converting them to serve 30 people. This whole catering for a small camp thing is a lot more work than I expected! Especially with my greece trip fast approaching. I have a whole slew of things I have to do for that as well, but I've had to put it on the back burner for now.

Anyways, this has kept me from blogging regularly. Also, I have been doing the wardrobe challenge but have been way too busy (and bug bitten the first few days) to snap/upload photos. I will probably do a collective post at the end of this week to show you all seven of my hipster-ed out outfits.

I did want to stop by for just a few minutes today and talk about irrational fears, though. Do you have any? I have a few that I can think of and probably several more that I can't. They're so silly, and I usually don't let them bother me but they are often in the back of my head. I suppose as long as they aren't interfering with my life it's ok. Here are a few of my more ridiculous ones:

1. I have an irrational fear of walking in front of a grocery cart. If I go shopping with Stewart and he's pushing the cart, I can't walk in front of it without being terrified that he's accidentally going to push quicker than I'm walking and run over my ankles. Death by run over ankles. It's terrifying!
2. Whenever I am carrying a tea pot with one hand by the handle, I get worried that the handle will break off and the entire pot of tea will come crashing to the floor and ceramic and boiling water will go everywhere. I'm sure the manufacturers of tea pots are smart enough to make handles that are strong enough to avoid this issue, but it still scares me.
3. If I go to the bathroom- at my house or anyone else's house- and the shower curtain is closed, I have to check behind it before doing anything else. There could be a murderer or a drunk kid or a giant spider behind there! It's so much easier for people to just leave their shower curtains open. Less aesthetic, yes... but also way less stressful for me and all the other crazies out there.

Do you guys have any irrational fears? I'd love to hear about them. Cause, you know, there's nothing more amusing than finding out about someone's bizarre/OCD side :)

Love you all! Hopfully back to regular posting soon :)

<3
Em

a little off...

2011-05-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

is how i'm feeling today. While I've been bombarding you with wardrobe posts I've actually been on a fun little family camping trip with my parents, my sister, stewart, and my sister's boyfriend. It was really great and refreshing and enjoyable but also very tiring and strenuous in the way camping trips can be. I loooove getting outdoors and tenting it up, but after I'm finally home I always feel exhausted, dirty, and in need of some serious me-time. This trip was no different, although there was the added discomfort of having a million bug bites. literally, a million. We went on this crazy awesome hike that involved scaling the side of a mountain, but every time we stopped we would be attacked by a cloud of no-see-ums or gnats or something. At first we didn't think they were biting us, but oh were we wrong. My dad and my sister looked like they had come down with a serious case of chicken pox and I... well, for some reason the insects decided to only bite me on the face and neck. So I look like I came down with a serious case of puberty. ugh >.< I'm also mildly sunburnt and my upper body muscles are a little sore from the whole scaling the mountain thing... and even though I took a hour long bath followed by a shower, I still feel kind of dirty and blah.

What I really need to do is doll myself up and go out so I can feel refreshed and pretty again... but I think I'm going to confine myself to my house until these bites die down. I'm also going to skip today's wardrobe post although I will tell you what my theme of choice is going to be in a few.

I still have about a million things left on my to-do list between the youth retreat and my ever-approaching trip to greece, and I'm stressing hard. Tomorrow it's going to be all systems go and I'm going to just cook, cook, cook all day long. Maybe I can whip all this stuff out in like three days, and then finish my greece stuff in two days, and then have like 1 week left where I can just relax. That would be splendid.

I'll tell you more about the camping trip (complete with lots of pics) in a later post, but for now I'll just tell you what I've been doing since I got back. Stew and I went out with a couple friends last night to our old stomping grounds- the courthouse square. It was a nice, cool evening and we walked around and eventually ended up getting coffee and chatting. After that we went on a random adventure to the top of a hill called acker park where stewart and one of the other people we were with had burried a case 2 years ago for a game of godfather. Unsurprisingly we were not able to find the case in the dark... but it was fun to do a bit of a night hike. We then went to hang out at our friend's house where I sipped on a bottle of mead I had recieved for my birthday and we chatted until about 1am. Then stew and I came home and passed out to Big Fish.

Today I slept way longer than I wanted to because I didn't want to get up before stew, and then we went to lunch with my sis, her boyfriend, and my dad. We went to Kendalls, an old 50's style burger joint where everything is covered in grease... needless to say I felt awful about 5 minutes after finishing my meal. Stewart left to head back down to tucson, I drove my sister and her boyfriend to the airport, and then I decided to go home and teach myself the guitar until I was afraid that my fingers were going to start bleeding. Now I'm here, writing this blog and about to go for a run to work off that mid-day nastiness. For some reason I just felt like telling you guys everything that's going on. um, yeah.

Anyways, I'm really excited about what I'm going to do for this wardrobe challenge week 2 situation. As I've said before it's a wild card so I get to choose my theme for the week!

have you guys seen those funny things online that are like the evolution of the hipster or the various types of hipster? I find them to be hilarious and also remarkably accurate. I won't mince words... I definitely fit into the category of a hipster, even though I think most people scoff at that term and claim they are way better than hipsters. And everyone and their mother makes fun of hipsters. Honestly though, 'hipster' is such a broad term and it includes a ton of people. So many, in fact, that there are tons of subcategories of hipsters which are all totally different from each other. For the second week of the wardrobe challenge, I'm going to represent a few of these different types of hipsters. It's going to be hella awesome, yo. bahaha.

I didn't take pictures today because like I said before, puberty all over the face. Just not feeling very photo worthy. However, I still styled myself according to my theme.

Today I was a granola hipster. These are the hipsters that were likely raised by aged hippies- they wear tie dye, cutt-offs, and hiking boots and eat artichokes dipped in veganaise. They could very possibly have dreadlocks and enjoy being in the outdoors and making stuff out of hemp.

I wore:
a cut-up tie dye tank top that I made back in highschool
a thrifted flannel shirt
cut-off daisy dukes (ross)
suede knee-high boots (wet seal)
a necklace with a stone pendant I received as a gift
a pink bandana head band
a braided brown belt (wet seal)

I looked cute, but definitely very granola. Not something I would wear every day for sure, but I bet everyone thought I was a vegan democrat.
which is..um.. true.. lol

anyways, tomorrow will be another type of hipster and hopefully these bites die down enough for me to snap some pictures.

sorry for the absurdly long post about nothing in particular. I just roll like that.

<3
Em

Wardrobe Challenge: Week 1, Day 7

2011-05-22T16:37:00.000-07:00

Hello Lovelies! Today is the last day of the first week of the 4 week wardrobe challenge, so that means this is the last film inspired outfit.

I had trouble thinking of another fun movie to get inspired by, so I just went classic- The Notebook. I love love love everything about 40s style... the pearls, the curls, the floral prints, the pretty hemlines... so great. Also, Rachel McAdams is one of my favorite actresses. She's so beautiful, genuine, and incredibly talented and versatile!

Here's my 40's inspired outfit:

I'm really excited for next week's outfits... It's "wild card" week, which means I get to pick my own theme^^ don't worry though, I've got quite a few non-fashion related posts coming up too! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend :) love love love

Em

Wardrobe Challenge: Week 1, Day 6

2011-05-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today I pulled inspiration from Center Stage. No character in particular really, just the whole idea of ballet-casual.

I love this movie so much. It's like the perfect girly movie. Hot ballet boys? yes please.

I probably could have done better with my center stage inspired outfit today, but here's what I came up with in a pinch:

Skirt: Forever 21

Shirt: Target

Overshirt Tie-Thing: Charlotte Russe

Shoes: Goodwill Boutique

Necklace: Michael's Crafts

Wardrobe Challenge: Week 1, Day 5

2011-05-20T10:12:00.000-07:00

Another day of the wardrobe challenge!

Today I pulled my inspiration from Sandra in Big Fish. I love that movie. Largely because I love Ewan McGreggor... but also cause Sandra's girly old fashioned style is adorable.

so very pretty :)

my sandra inspired outfit:


ollllld shoes.... haha

Shirt: not sure.... :(

Skirt: Rue 21 I think?

Belt: Goodwill Boutique

Shoes: Goodwill Boutique

Can you guys tell I get half my stuff at goodwill? haha. I love thrift stores so much.

Wardrobe Challenge: Week 1, Day 4

2011-05-19T17:19:00.000-07:00

Yay for day two of this challenge! Getting dressed in the morning was way more fun today than it usually is haha.

My inspiration for today is Valentina from The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. I love love love the whole concept of a traveling circus like the one in the movie. Valentina is so gorgeous in her rags-but-also-riches garb. She has lots of patchwork fabric and drapey shawls but then she also has beautiful showy things like corsets and jewels and yeah basically her costume designer is just amazing.

Circusy showy riches...

adorable boho rags.

love this movie.

anyways, here is my valentina inspired wardrobe for the day:

Dress: from a friend- on my 12th birthday! can you believe it?

scarf: from a bazaar in california

belt: can't remember... oops!

shoes: goodwill boutique

hair pins: forever 21

Love,

Today

2011-05-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

is a very very busy day! I was supposed to get up early this morning (like, 6:30am) and walk downtown with my parents and have breakfast... but I had trouble getting to sleep last night so I was way too exhausted this morning and decided to stay in bed. next week hopefully :) anyways, now it's nearly 11 and I have a ton to do! I've got to shower and get all ready and then do my wardrobe challenge post of the day, then I have to go grocery shopping, and then I have to come home and cook 6 things for a family camping trip this weekend- hummus, tabhouli, babagahnoush, tuna salad, chickpea salad, and zucchini pasta salad. And since I'm going to be camping all weekend, I need to write up a handful of posts that I can schedule for the next few days so this blog doesn't get lost again. gah. At some point stewart, my sister, and her boyfriend will be arriving and I'd really like to put together a nice indian dinner for all of us- so throw that on top of the cooking I'm already doing- and then I'd like to go hang out with some friends because it's stew's only night in prescott for a while. whew. I'm exhausted just typing it.

so anyways, that's that. It's a very pleasant somewhat cloudy day today. Yesterday it drizzled all day and I made a pot of tea and a fire and just relaxed. I'd love to do the same today but it's time to get moving... I hope it keeps raining though cause I love this weather!

See you guys after I shower and get dressed haha
<3
Em

Wardrobe Challenge: Week 1, Day 3 (but 1 for me!)

2011-05-18T14:22:00.001-07:00

Guys, I'm really excited about this. I decided spur of the moment today after seeing aki!'s adorable outfit to partake in Peachy Keen's 4 Week Wardrobe Challenge. I love stuff like this. It perfectly connects everyday life and style with blogging which is what it's all about, am i right? I'm coming into this thing a bit late but luckily I've only missed a couple days... so I'm going to try really hard to actually pull this off. Although... I will be in greece for the entire last week so we'll see how that goes.

Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself. The challenge is divided into 4 weeks, and each week has an inspiration theme. This week is Television and Movie characters! I'm way excited to mirror some of my favorite onscreen styles for the next few days.

Let's get started, shall we?

500 Days of Summer wasn't exactly the best movie in the universe, but man does Zooey Deschanel look awesome. Her character's style in this movie is so adorable- like business-feminine-50s-tomboy. if that even makes sense.

I love the little bows she puts in her hair... so schoolgirl-ish and fun!

see what I mean with the whole tomboy-feminine-business thing?

gosh so adorable. I had to try to mimic her style.

excuse my silly fashionista pose haha

those are shirt rolls, not me rolls.. lol

Headband: random scrap of lace

Shirt: JC Penny's

Skirt: Goodwill Outlet Store

Tights: Forever 21

Shoes: Goodwill Boutique

Belt: Goodwill Boutique

Necklace: Blue Willow Restaurant and Gift Shop

I think I did a fairly nice job... Summer doesn't wear much pink but this was the best girly business shirt I had haha.

Yay for my first style post ever... be back tomorrow with another film-inspired getup!

Love,

20 things to do in my 20th year

2011-05-18T08:00:00.005-07:00

It's just a week and a day since my 20th birthday, and I've come up with the brilliant idea of writing down 20 things to do or experience before my 21st. ok, so... I didn't exactly "come up" with the idea, per se... i may have stolen it from the lovely lady over at Yes and Yes who came up with 32 things to do in her 32nd year. But I'm not going to steal any of hers! At least not intentionally. I'm not even going to look at what's on her list. I'm going to make mine first :)

1. Eat a habanero. This could be raw, whole, or cooked in some dish. No ditching the seeds though.
2. Do a one week fast- whole fruits and veggies on days 1, 2, 6, and 7; fresh fruit and veggie juice, water, and herbal tea on days 3 and 5, and water on day 4.
~~3. Drink ouzo in Greece~~
~~4. Get a puppy~~
5. Sell something handmade
6. Create the perfect chocolate chip cookie
7. Take a class at the gym
8. Make beer
9. Hike Pima Canyon, go camping there.
10. Create a cocktail, name it the Soss.
11. Write a song
12. Go to Summerhaven at the top of Mt. Lemon, ride the ski-lift (in fall, not when it's snowy.)
13. Take home-ec, make all the projects.
14. Run in a marathon
15. Make this mac n cheese
~~16. Learn to play a new song on the piano- a recent, alt-folk song which I will also sing to.~~
17. Go on a grocery trip and attempt to use coupons to save an absurd amount of money
18. Go on a roadtrip across statelines, but not just to california.
19. Beat Stewart at chinese checkers (this is his favorite game in the universe, and I have refused to play him at it since I met him in high school, because I want to get freaking awesome at it before I play him)
20.Attend a multiple-day music festival, such as Coachella

I may turn this post into a new page, so that I can cross things off as I go and keep track. I may also make a post for each thing I accomplish. This was really fun to write! If any of you feel so inclined as to write your own list of things to try/do, be sure to give me the link so I can check it out!!

love,
em

Tasty Tuesdays: Ratatouille

2011-05-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

I've got a file in my photos section on my computer titles 'blog photos'. within this file there are several other files, one of them being 'food'. Within that file there is a slew of recipe photos i snapped eons ago but never had the time or motivation to post. Every once in a while, like today, i decide to peek in that file and debate whether or not to post any of the recipes... and i always decide against it. This time, however, I noticed a recipe that I couldn't believe I hadn't already posted. In fact, I did a google search through my blog just to make sure I hadn't because I couldn't really understand why I wouldn't have posted it. Apparently I didn't, though, so now it gets to be this week's tasty tuesday feature.

Ratatouille is a wonderful dish. It's light, flavorful, and full of delicious summery vegetables like squash, zucchini, and eggplant. It's also incredibly beautiful while maintaining a simplicity and ease that makes it appropriate for a weeknight meal.

Also there's a cute little rat movie named after it so um, yeah... irresistible.

btw, excuse the flash-ified pics. I made this months and months ago at the old apartment down in tucson which had the worst lighting in history. the fact that i didn't get out of class till after night fall and did most of my blog cooking for dinner didn't help with that either.

Ratatouille
Ingredients
1/2 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small, thin eggplant
1 small, long zucchini
1 small, long yellow squash
1 long red pepper
fresh or dried thyme
salt and pepper
rice, couscous, or quinoa for serving
italian parsley and/or goats cheese for serving- opt

Ratatouille starts with a simple tomato sauce base that the rest of the veggies cook in. Who doesn't love things cooked in tomato sauce? so good.

Preheat the oven to 375. In a shallow baking dish, combine the tomato paste and water. A good way to make sure you get all the tomato paste out of a can is to open it at both ends and then use one end to push the tomato-ey goodness out. like a push pop!

mix well so that a thick-ish sauce is formed. add the onion, garlic, and 1 tbsp of the olive oil and stir well. season generously with salt and pepper.

Using a mandoline or a very, very sharp knife, thinly slice the eggplant, zucchini, squash, and pepper. exclude the ends, obviously. Try to get as thin of slices as possible.

Starting from an outside edge, begin layering slices of veggies over the tomato sauce in a pretty pattern. Go around in a spiral until you get to the center and there is no more room for veggies. You will probably have quite a bit left over, depending on the size of your baking dish.

Drizzle the remaining tbsp of olive oil over the veggies and then season them with salt, pepper, and a couple pinches of fresh or dried thyme. Grab a sheet of foil or parchment paper and cut it so that it fits over the veggies- this will trap in the steam and keep the veggies moist while they bake.

Bake for 45-55 minutes or until veggies are tender and cooked but not limp. They should retain their color and structure and the tomato sauce should be bubbling up around them.

Serve on top of couscous, rice, or quinoa and garnish with italian parsley or goats cheese.

p.s., this meal is vegan. don't you just love vegan-by-accident dishes? i know i do.

happy eating!

A Very Long Overdue Easter Post

2011-05-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

So... I have this thing where I think up awesome posts/events and take pictures on my swell nikon d40 to show you guys just how awesome everything was... and then 2 days later the idea of pulling out my camera-to-computer cord and like, plugging it in... let alone actually editing the 372480 million pictures seems like the most daunting and strenuous task ever. And so, when I finally do get all those pictures on my computer I find that half of them are random pictures of food or trips to the froyo shop from a month ago which are entirely irrelevant now. ah, well. I do have one collection of photos from my most recent upload extravaganza that can be lumped into a coherent post- easter pics!

So here ya go, a month late:

My parents came to visit me down in Tucson for easter weekend. It was so, so lovely to have them down there. On Friday evening we went to one of my favorite little italian places in tucson- vero amore. afterwards we got gelato at the most amazing gelato place in the universe which stewie and i were introduced to by our friend nicole and her boyfriend sam... I'm pretty sure we are forever in debt to them for it ;)

mmm... I got rose and saffron and marsala wine and stew got chocolate mint and almond biscotti. soooooo gooood.

the next day we went out to tanque verde falls to have a little picnic and go swimming. It was a fun hike down and up into the canyon, although at first we couldn't really find any deep pools. we had lunch around here:

while we were hiking back through the canyon we decided to go past where you hike up to the road. we came across a group of semi intoxicated college boys and a totally awesome super deep swimming hole! the boys were jumping off a cliff into the water, and their faces when my dad climbed up to the cliff and jumped off were hilarious. they totally wrote him off as an old geezer and he totally showed them up ;)

after a bit the boys left, so i decided to swim a bit. the water was freeeezing but it was a warm day and it felt really nice.

that evening we had dinner at my grandpa's house and then stew and I headed home and then to the grocery store to get some things for brunch the next day. I had convinced my parents to let me take care of the whole easter meal, aside from them bringing some bagels. it was so, so fun.. even though i got like no sleep because i was cooking all night haha.

First and most impressively I made and absolutley beautiful and delicious braided bread stuffed with sweet cheese and fresh lemon curd. holy crap it was so good. and surprisingly easy!

i also made some really good and simple mustard roasted potatoes made with both red and yellow skinned taters.

I put together a little melon ball salad for something fresh...

and i also made a realllly yummy mushroom and spinach baked egg dish but for some reason I don't have a picture of it. stew and I had about 7 eggs to spare after we used them in the different dishes so we bought a little egg coloring kit and colored them (at like 3 in the morning) to use for decorations/place markers. I think they came out really cute!

hmm, what else... I brewed a pot of coffee bean and tea leaf jasmine pearl tea... it's so amazing and also so expensive.... love and thanks to our wonderful friend marby for giving it to us for christmas!!! we've been trying to ration it, it's so good. The beautiful tea pot I got from my dad for christmas and I use it like, every day. me love tea.

For decorations I bought a simple, plastic purple table cloth, some tulips, and some cadbury's mini eggs. You can see the extra colored eggs hiding in the tulips :)

Everything was so beautiful and so delicious and i was exceptionally proud of myself for pulling off such a pretty and homemade easter brunch. I definitely hope to host a ton more brunches in the future :)

my helped me clean up and then left shortly after. stew and i spent the rest of the day doing a whole lot of nothing, although there was quite a bit of playing with the bubbles my parents had brought us in a cute little easter basket full of treats.

and that was our easter weekend! it was so great and relaxing and full of great company and great food. so, um... happy easter? lol.

<3
Em

Movie Mondays: Sydney White

2011-05-16T12:53:00.001-07:00

Today I am posting a very chick-flicky movie monday. However, it lacks nothing in awesomeness.

I first saw this film with my girlfriends at a little movie-dinner-gossip sleepover in highschool. I'm pretty sure we ALL fell in love with it. I guess that doesn't say much since high school girls are probably the target audience for this film, but still. It stood out among a sea of mediocre cliched girly flicks.

This is one of those movies that's a modernized version of a classic fairy-tale. In this case, as you might have guessed, the film is based on the story of Snow White. I must say, the writers came up with some really clever allusions- some of which are pretty hilarious.

So, the story is about a girl (Sydney White) who is going off to college in hopes of joining her deceased mother's old sorority. When she gets there she finds the the president or whatever of the sorority is a super mega bitch who hates Sidney. Ultimately, the mega-bitch (who is not-so-suavely named Rachel Witchburn) kicks Sidney out of the sorority and embarrasses her in front of everyone.

So, Sydney finds herself without a place to live- cause, you know, colleges don't take care of that kind of thing- until she stumbles upon "the vortex", an unkempt old cottage-made-student-housing which is named for the way it "sucks in losers". Here Sydney meets 7 of these "losers"... also known as the 7 dorks. Yes, it's very silly.

The story goes off in all kinds of places from here but basically Rachel continues to try to make Sydney's life miserable, Sydney helps the dorks to realize their full potential, and of course there's a love interest (once again not at all sly-ly named Tyler Prince). There's also a poisoned apple, a prolonged sleep, and a fairest-of-them-all competition.

So, this movie is obviously pretty girly and silly and I'm pretty sure it's rated like pg but hey, it's like movie comfort food. Simple, familiar, funny, and sweet. Also it stars amanda bynes... and I just love her in all her movies. she's so hilarious and yet a perfect heroine at the same time.

here's a trailer:

also, stewart liked this movie so... take from that what you will haha.

a more serious movie monday next week :)

<3
Em

Handwriting Tag!

2011-05-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

Have you guys seen the handwriting tag that has been going around? I hadn't until I got tagged by my lovely blog friend aki! from 7% Solution. It's a fun little exercise :)

the questions are:

1. What's your name/your blogger name?
2. What's your blog's name/URL?
3. Write "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
4. Favorite quote?
5. Your Favorite song?
6. Your favorite band/singers?
7. Anything else you want to say?
8. Tag three to five other people.

Here are my answers:

my handwriting is no where near as neat and pretty as some people's are... but i think it has character ;)

here are my tags once again, so you can click on them and check out their awesome blogs:
Dylan from VegaRAW
The ladies from Girlfriends
Addie from Adelaide's Place
Mandy from Smiles Awake You
Caroline from Caroline's Considerations

movie monday later today!

the past week

2011-05-15T21:12:00.001-07:00

has been a busy, stressful, but enjoyable one. My birthday with my parents was very nice. we went out to one of my favorite restaurants in Prescott- a little semi-hidden italian place called Papa's. very delicious. My cake was a good ol' baskin robbins ice cream cake with chocolate cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream. I got some wonderful cards from a few relatives and some super awesome gifts from my parents. First, a set of ten pound dumbells so that I can do my weights workouts at home! yay :) second, a lovely kitchenaid food processor- so that I no longer have to use the crappy 10 dollar one I got at goodwill that sprays everything in a ten foot radius every time you try to use it! and lastly, my very own, very beautiful, gleaming white kitchenaid stand mixer. If you guys read much P-Dub, you'll know that once every month or so she gives away two or three of these gorgeous things cause she loves 'em so much. I have been pining away for one ever since I first spotted them on her site, but of course she's got about 329486320497 million followers so it's just about impossible to be one of the lucky winners. I was SO excited when I got one for my birthday! It's like a god among electric mixers. Really.

so... enough nerding out on kitchen appliances. The day after my birthday was my dad's birthday (crazy, yes). My dad and I went out and checked out some art galleries during the day and I baked him his fave bday cake- devils food with nutmeg frosting. That evening my parents and I went to the only indian restaurant in town which also happens to be my favorite in the world. It was super yummy and I ate way too much but I told myself it was ok because it was a vegan buffet after all ;)

the next few days I spent seriously deep cleaning my room. I had a whole bunch of stuff piled up in my dressing room that I wanted to get rid of, as well as an apartment's-worth of stuff in my car that needed to be unpacked. I now have about 5 laundry baskets full of clothes, books, and little odds and ends that I'm hoping to cart to a garage sale but for now have been stuck in my sister's room. I finally got everything out of my car yesterday so now I'm officially settled in for summer... or at least the 3 weeks I have left of it here in prescott.

Those next few weeks will be full of cooking. lots and lots of cooking. I've got 11 very complex meals to finish testing- each of which has a vegan/vegetarian version and a meat version. It's a lot of work and I'm a little nervous but I'm sure everything will come together beautifully.

other than that, I've spent a bit of time with friends around town and have basically just been getting used to being back in prescott sans stewart, which of course is really weird. I'm going to try really hard to post more regularly in the next few weeks between episodes of grey's and cooking experiments. I haven't been a very up-to-date blogger recently... I haven't even posted my easter pictures yet >.< ah, well. I love you all, bear with me as I get everything up and running again!

love,
em

10 Things I've Learned in My Teens P.2

2011-05-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, all set for part two of this list? Before I get started let's recap the first five things:
1. don't change yourself for anyone
2. your body is a temple
3. people think of you far less than you think they do
4. life is the most important thing
5. everything is constantly changing.

aaaaand here are some random pics of my teen years:

me and a couple of other kids from the sufi camp crew. hanging out by the fire circle and waiting for the rave to start. age: 16

16th birthday, taking pics with my friend since prechool (!) lex.

First trip to go scope out colleges! I believe this is somewhere in new york... I was really set on going to the east coast for school at first but I changed my mind by senior year :) age: 16

taking silly pics at the homecoming game with some of my old biffles. age: 15

dressing up with some of my residence hall-mates at LC last year for a gangsta party. age:18

my 2nd of three proms- for some reason I cant find any pics from my senior year :( this was probably the most fun of the three though! age:16 (totally didn't realize how many of these are of me when I'm sixteen...)

theater and show choir were basically my life for the majority of my high school career. This is my with my bestie caroline in the first show I ever got a lead in- Gilmore in Godspell! funnest show we ever did, hands down. age: 15

hanging out at brian (stewart's brother)'s old apartment. I spent probably about 90% of my days throughout senior year at that infamous complex. age:17

last year, the night before our actual halloween party which was the night before actual halloween. This was our neighbor's halloween/bday party and stew and I just threw on some fake costumes for the occasion. age: 19

okey dokes now that that's done with lets get to part two of the list!

6. There are always gonna be haters. No matter what, you can't please everyone. Someone, somewhere is going to not like you or your friends or your style or your blog or whatever. Hopefully in most cases these people will just keep it to themselves and not bother to interact with you. Sometimes, though, haters gonna hate. I can't imagine why, but for some reason there are people in the world who feel like they need to bring you down or make snide remarks or talk about you behind your back. It's a very sad fact, but people can be so cruel to one another and it can cause major issues in people's lives. The trick is to not let these people get under your skin. It's really difficult to find out that someone has been saying rude things about you or to be on the receiving end of someone's anger and hatred, but you just have to remember that in actuality it has nothing to do with you. Every once in a while I get a rude comment on this blog or something of the sort and it takes a bit of effort not to get hurt by it. However, if I just take a few seconds and imagine the person on the other end- the person who has so little to do in their lives, so few things to love or care about, such poor self esteem- that they feel the need to go out into the internet and be rude to strangers anonymously. I stop feeling hurt about what they said to or about me and start feeling truly sorry for that person because I can only imagine how poorly they must feel to have to bring others down to make themselves feel better. Anyways, the point is that these sad people are out there and they're going to try to bring you down with all their might- but you just gotta remember that haters gonna hate and they ain't worth your time.

7. Mind over matter. Everything in life is mind over matter. Meaning, everything in life revolves around how you perceive it and what kind of attitude you are bringing to the table. If you wake up and feel like crap and think "ugh, today's going to be a bad day. I can tell", and then you mope around the rest of the day, it will in fact be a bad day and unfortunate things will continue to happen to you. If you wake up and feel like crap and think "I'm going to turn this around. Today is a beautiful, wonderful day and I'm so excited to live it!" and then think positively the rest of the day, you will have a great day. Even if all the same unfortunate things happen to you, you will hardly notice them because you won't be looking for them. Mind over matter applies to all sorts of other things too. Your mind is in control of your body- not the other way around- so you can use your thoughts to help you work out harder or stay on track of a diet. Lastly, the positive energy you put out into the universe will bring positive energy right back to you- kind of like what they say in that movie The Secret. Obviously that film exaggerates things quite a bit, but the basic concept is still true. If you concentrate on feeling prosperous, happy, loved, fulfilled- those things will come easily into your life. If you concentrate on how broke or lonely or sad you are, you will perpetuate those feelings and stay in that rut much longer than you need to. Our minds are very powerful things, and we are capable of creating whatever we want out of any situation with them.

8. It's YOUR life. Not your parents'. Not your spouse's. Not your friends' and not anyone else's, so there's no reason you should let anyone make your decisions for you (unless of course you're a minor and you want to do something really idiotic and your parents are trying to keep you safe). I really hate it when I see people who give up their freedoms or their personal identities for the sake of the people around them- for instance, people who feel like they have to take over their parents' business even though they want to go their own route or girls who feel like they have to marry within their church because it's what their parents want them to do. Also, people who define themselves with the person they are with and don't take the time to figure out who they are. It's your life, and you should do what you want! If everyone else around you gets to make these decisions, why can't you? No one has the right to tell you what to do, and if they try to convince you otherwise then they are simply being cruel in my opinion. Do what you want. go for the less lucrative but more interesting career. don't stay with someone you don't want to be with anymore. sell all your assets and move to another country. read what you want, listen to what you want, eat what you want. it's no one's business but your own. Of course, you should try not to do things that will literally harm you like pick up smoking, but you should feel like you are really in control of your life and you have the freedom to do whatever you want.

9. Don't be in a hurry. I know a lot of times I find my self thinking about what's to come- to next birthday, the next major turning point in my life, the next school year... and I forget to concentrate on what I'm doing right now. Life doesn't start after high school or after college or after you're married or after you retire. It's been going on the whole time and it's not going to slow down so it's completely pointless to constantly be looking toward the future. It's good to plan for stuff, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be crossing things off your bucket list right now. Everything will go much faster than you can imagine so there's no need to be in a hurry. Savor each and every moment. Try to do something special every day. Don't waste time when you could be doing something more exciting or memorable. The future isn't guaranteed- this is the only time you have for sure, so live it.

10. Love, love, love. This is the most important thing I've learned in my teens, although I think I've been learning it my whole life. Love. Love yourself, lover your family and friends, love the strangers on the street. Even though yes, you should do what makes you happy and yes, you shouldn't change yourself for anyone and yes, it's your life so don't let anyone else influence it, you should practice all-consuming love. I always assume the best of everyone and it confuses me so much when others don't. We are all human. We all want the same things- nourishment, comfort, compassion. Reflecting love upon everyone you see and know not only makes the people around you feel wonderful and appreciated, it makes you feel amazing. Not to mention, when you are loving to other, you are far more likely to have love returned to you. Believe in the good that's inside other people. Relish in the wonderful feeling of knowing that we are all one, and we are all beautiful. Be courteous and compassionate to everyone you see- open the door for others, smile when you pass someone on the sidewalk, give people genuine compliments, make an effort to make everyone feel comfortable. Love is a powerful drug and it will make you and everyone around you feel appreciated and at peace with the world.