Shoppin'.

I stopped by Value Village tonight, looking for little shelfy things for inside closets, and I left with something that looks like this instead (same shape and colors, different pattern). I just thought it was pretty but suspected it was a Thing and indeed Emaux de Longwy are a Thing, or Things, I guess. The one I bought (for $4) was made between 1955 and 1985, if the online mark identifier is to be believed, so not like a magical antique or anything, but still a pretty good find and nice little thingie to hold my JEWELS.

Then I ended up eating dinner at IKEA again. I think I've gotten the $2 pizza combo there about 4 times in the last month or so, which makes 4 more Diet Pepsis than I've had in the last few years. But there is something soothing/entertaining to me about wandering around with a fountain soda and a mediocre slice in IKEA. It's only about 7 minutes from home, and I know where to park and how to sidestep the prescriptive traffic flow thing they have in the showroom, so I don't find it a stressful place to be. Also, I did have to make a return there, so I wasn't just going there to hang out. And I needed a frame because I finally bought this print after having my eye on it for years:



Naturally, the frame is not the right size, and no stock frame will be, ultimately making this cheap poster not so cheap. For now it's uncurling on a trousers hanger and may just stay that way. I love it.

Anyway, I guess I'll have to take the frame back, but I'll wait until I have another cafeteria pizza jones. At this point I'm just feeding my gut whatever it wants. I had food poisoning or a grody virus earlier this week, and spent many of the wee hours of Tuesday doing what I have come to call "barfshitting." It's where you're sitting on the john with a bucket in your lap and you are fully utilizing both receptacles. It was horrible. I still don't feel like I've had a normal food day since then, so, you know, IKEA pizza ahoy!

The weather here continues to be weird and unbelievable. I had two good biking days last week, though there were wild flurries on one of those days. Monday it's supposed to be 40 bloomin' degrees! The lowest predicted high for the next ten days is 31. That plus the sky staying light well after 5--well, it's just the nicest winter ever, unless you like snow, or doing stuff in the snow.

I gotta go to bed because tomorrow is a long day of singing that starts at 8 AM. Just checking in, and trying to get back into the blogging habit.

Sweet sweet dreams.

My new memory foam mattress, which was delivered rolled up into a wee 65 pound cylinder, is unfurling on my bed frame even now. ***angel choir***

Tunes (UPDATED).

Do y'all know about the band First Aid Kit?



They're a pair of Swedish sisters who basically do straight-up Americana. Oh, good old Swedes. This is the song I heard on the radio recently, which led me to spotify to hear more:



It's good stuff. I should probably start a sibling band, right? I have enough of them. And one of them's in a band already.

Also, I have to admit that this song has been in my head constantly for a month:



Whoever arranged it was ace. I love the instrumentation, and how moody it all is. I don't even care that the song is depressing and that Lana Del Rey is probably bullshit and that her singing is totally unemotional and she has about one zillion hits on youtube. I still dig it.

I continue to be obsessed with Robyn's album, and just recently watched the "Call Your Girlfriend" video for the first time. Have you seen this? It's just her, dancing in a gym, in a single take. She is just the coolest person of all time, the end.



I'm also digging The Belle Brigade (recommended for fans of the New Pornographers and, like, Fleetwood Mac?).



In the last few months I've listened to a lot of Fitz and the Tantrums, Marshall Crenshaw (remember him??), Lykke Li, Best Coast, Syreeta, and Nouvelle Vague, among others. And, um, did I mention that I bought a ticket to see Bjork in NYC in February? I AM GOING TO SEE BJORK. AT LAST. I have only been a fan for 20 years. And seeing her in Iceland is on my ultimate to-do list, but I'm thinking New York will suffice, and I can just go to Iceland separately (also on that list). I'm thrilled to be visiting NYC, too; it's been about 6 years, and for many years of my life I was there several times a year. Plus! I will get to see friends. And BJOOOOORRRRRK.

Excuse me, I have to go start sewing my costume now.

ETA: Rumer is fabulous.

Mini update.

I got on Pinterest awhile back, finally, mostly because I needed a place to keep track of pictures of ladies with platinum hair. Going platinum is on my list and I keep putting it off because 1) expensive 2) high-maintenance) and 3) my head has been really itchy this winter and putting bleach on it seems like a bad idea. If any of you have miracle cures for an itchy head, let me know. Dandruff/dryness isn't my issue. It's just fucking itchy.

So anyway, I have a pinboard that's full of plausible and some implausible haircolors, if you're interested. I tried to focus on people with dark eyes/brows and more olive-y skin tones because those are harder to find and more like me.

Then I went crazy doing my nails for a stretch and started collecting manicures on pinterest too. Then my nails fell apart and because of all the packing and the cardboard and the moving they fell apart more, so nail polish and I are on a break. Do you have a solution for that too? I'm taking biotin supplements, wearing gloves when I wash dishes, and trying to keep them suckers moisturized generally, but they persist in flaking. So the nail art is temporarily on hold, which is too bad because I have a LOT of supplies.

Oh hell, just go ahead and follow all my boards, if you're over there. I don't think it's the best designed site in the entire universe (why can't I block certain results/people?), but for the way I want to use it, it works pretty well.

We have a three day weekend here and I am hoping to use part of it to catch up on sleep. I have been all night-owly this week, but still getting up for work, so I'm running a small deficit over here. Last night I went out to Hipshaker, a periodic (monthly maybe?) vintage soul/R & B dance party, with my sister Molly and a couple of friends. It was a great reason to stay up too late and get all sweated up on the dance floor, but I am paying for it a bit today. Fortunately, my happy hour co-conspirator and I both just came to the conclusion that we would rather skip it, so I can take a disco nap before I meet sister Emily to hear this fellow, Adam Svec. You can listen to his whole recent album at the bandcamp site, and it is good.

Happy weekending y'all.

2012.

Hi all (who are still expecting posts, that is, and checking in, or keeping me in the feed reader). I'm sorry for the long silence over here--not that I have been the most prolific of bloggers recently anyway--but over a month with nary a peep is a record for me, I think, since I started the blogging way back in 2004.

There were some shake ups in December. The biggest one is that the Brit and I have separated. I won't be talking about that here, for obvious reasons. But I will probably be talking about things like living in box chaos or decorating my apartment, and just life on my own, and the separation is the reason for that. It's a sad time but we are doing our best.

Next is that I finished my doctorate. I did my final defense on December 15, and officially graduated on the last business day of the month. Practically, nothing has really changed. But I am hoping that whatever space the unfinished business was taking up in my brain is now freed up for new endeavors. Also I hope I get a job in my field, but that was always true.

I'll try to get back to more regular updates in the near future, but for now I have this garment rack I have to assemble and a paint sample to slap on the wall. Happy New Year, everyone!