April's Links to Love

Artsy:

Stanley the Giraffe photos.

Gorgeous American/Indian wedding.

To/from Google Map envelopes! Wow! I want some!

Chalkboard piano. I wonder if the awesomeness of being able to write on your matted piano would overwhelm the dustiness.

50 Most Interesting Architectural Blogs (pretty sure I had to close this link so I didn't spend the rest of my life digging through the links).

It's so simple but so fabulous: the French Seam.

Ten craziest short films.

Every painting in the MoMa in 2 minutes.

Tiny, tiny apartment in Hong Kong.

Real life pop-ups!




















ONCE MORE, WALLPAPER TO DIE FOR!


Music:

Making a living off of YouTube song remakes.

Although the band name bugs me (I bet some of you can guess why), She & Him's music is enchanting.


Literary:

Nifty American libraries.

The Library of Congress will be archiving Twitter.

Words David Foster Wallace underlined in his dictionary.

Rejection letter reply.

J.K. Rowling's "The Single Mother's Manifesto."


Technology:

Another gender-predicting doohickey using URL history. (It said it was 100% sure I was female.)

Rating of churches online.

Join the earthquake-detecting team on your home computer! Of course it's from Stanford. Of course.

Nifty tool for deciding if you should rent or buy.

Social media addiction. Yes, I'm addicted, and I see no problem with that.

20 Essential Social Media Resources.


Mormon:

An inspiring talk on patience by the German President Uchtdorf.


Random:

People seen at Walmart.

I want one of these.

Animals inside the womb/egg photos. Fascinating.

Must make: cobbler in jars.

Online relationship/marriage classes. (Mormon perspective.)

The great white lily worm.

Interior Design Dreaminess

Since I've been longing for a place to make my own, I have been finding the most fabulous things online!

I like these simple black and white rooms:





(I think I found them on someone's tumblr account. Sorry I forgot where.)


Scrabble tile table:


(Yep, also forgot the source.)


Lovely thin shelves:


(From somewhere lovely, I'm sure.)


Online lighting resources.



Wow! These paper curtains are so cool!



(Found here.)


I also thought this Japanese Washi parchment paper would make cool curtains:




I like these dark wood pieces. Especially this Right Bank Semainier:




Love:


Found here.


I'm also converting to white furniture. Like this.


And apparently my taste in armoirs brings me either to collections for little girls and babies or super expensive Chelsea collections.


Found here.


More Chelsea Furniture.


Another nice white wardrobe.



Found here.



Found here.






Found here.



I wonder how hard it would be to make all this stuff on my own. I'd have to take a cabinetry class.

Late Night Prattlings (Or a More Personal Taste of Michelle Than Has Recently Been the Case)

Hi. My name is Michelle and I can't sleep and I'm thinking of eating some Nutella to deal with it. But then I'd have to brush my teeth again because I can't stand the idea of my teeth rotting away while I sleep and I don't feel like brushing my teeth again. Maybe I'll go write some (bad) poetry instead. The unknown of life in a week is making me crazy which in turn makes me too tired to do anything about it.

I wake up most mornings and think, "That was an interesting dream. I should turn it into a book. I do wish I could sleep another five hours, though." Then a few hours later after my head has messed around with thoughts of health, visas, work, money, and love, I realize that I'm bonkers to think of turning my dream into a book and that I'm bonkers to want to turn my dreams into a reality. Reality is not dreamy; it is work--and hard work that I can't deal with right now.

Back into my bunk bed. Out.

Spread the Word: For Sale

Ich habe ganz viel zu verkaufen (und ganz billig):

Englische und deutsche Bücher, Kleidung, Kerzen, Küchenzeug, Badenzeug, usw. Bitte sagt Freunde Bescheid! Ich brauche €Geld€ ganz dringend.

If anyone from America wants to buy something, they can, but I'd have to add shipping costs.

On the Contrary

How nice — to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive. — Kurt Vonnegut

I used to think feeling nothing was nice. It was a convenient defense mechanism against the trials of my life. But now, if I were French, or spoke French, or liked French, I would say, "Au contraire!" But since I'm not, I'll just say: "On the contrary!"

Happy Dogs Make Me Happy

Another happy picture.



















Found here.

Child at Heart

This makes me happy.























Found here.

Black Floral Chandelier

I've been imagining a beautiful floral black metal chandelier and decided to google it to see if I could find something close to what I was imagining. Wow! All the images that showed up inspired me, chandelier or not! I guess there's a surefire way to find something I like.



Found at directwallpaper.co.uk (WOW OH WOW THEY HAVE WALLPAPER!).



Found here.



Found here.



Found here.



Found on overstock.com here.







Genealogy chart and chandelier print both found here.



Found somewhere with the link here.

Eleanor Ross Taylor

Have you heard of Eleanor Ross Taylor? She is a really old lady (90) who's still writing poetry and winning awards for it.

from LATE LEISURE
Eleanor Ross Taylor

Diary Entry, March 24 Today walked home tho cold No coffee no Crackerjack no books $200 cash 3.50 taxi saved 5.69 coffee not spent Wind blowing hard Scarf tossing in my face breathing fast the cold A young man boy walking like that boy in Ellerbe hands deep in pockets shoulders twisting mouth bitter glittering eyes black-fringed into looking Kiss-me-quick-I’m-off-goodbye tied my scarf under my chin Hurry Just past the bridge wind threw a foam hot dog carton onto the walk ahead of me It landed flat waddled along open a little casket determined to get home first But the wind lifted it again took it off I, determined to get there before it Waddle as the wind blows, casket A fling of maple keys to street That’s the way the money goes Keys eyes bluegray Black-fringed Don’t shiver little star It’s not as cold as all that

Granny Sport

In an effort to become healthy, I've started an aquajogging class. Aquajogging? you ask? Yeah, apparently it's a water sport that the physical therapist thought would be good for my knee.

Yesterday was the first day. A whole squadron of girls showed up and giggled as we watched the last few minutes of synchronized swimming. But the giggles turned into I-feel-stupid-and-don't-know-what-to-do giggles as we strapped on these babies:




Finally a few were able to shame-facedly slip into the water and the others slowly followed, where we felt both amazed that we couldn't sink and frustrated that we couldn't seem to move very quickly. At first we were supposed to swim around and introduce ourselves to each other. I think I can only remember a few names now--Katharina with the Arena swim cap and Lisa with the nose ring and Nora who could be any one of them--because people in swim caps all look the same (at least I was the only one with a red cap). Right as we were getting more comfortable in our granny sport, a hairy man with a drooping belly and wearing a speedo walked in and the nervous giggles started up again. Yikes. Luckily, he seemed to already be a pro and didn't involve himself too much with us.

We ended up playing a game where the last person always has to overtake the first. And it took us so long that the teacher finally said the passer-uppers could swim to pass. As we were making our rounds, I thought, "If anyone were to see us right now and not know what we are doing, they would be really confused." From above the water, it just looks like we were all really slow swimmers. But below the water we were getting a good workout. We even did some balancing exercises, and pushups and other exercises with a swim noodle.

So, though aquajogging seems like a grandma sport to me, it was fun and it was good for me.




Now the adventure in the showers afterwards is a story for a different time . . . ;)

What weird things have you done that ended up being fun?

Schwarzwald Kuchen (Black Forest Cake)

I promised to bring cake to some friends for family night and since the cake I had was all gone, I made this (my first time and without alcohol, naturally):




















I baked a normal chocolate cake (actually, I used the non-egg recipe from Keepapitchinin' but used milk and cream instead of water and added an egg just for kicks). Then I poked some holes in it and cut it in half. After pouring cherry juice over both halves, I mixed Stracciatella pudding cream with whipping cream and spread it on the bottom layer of cake (I probably should have made the cream stiffer, but we don't have a handmixer and my hand sure got tired). Then I cut cherries in half and covered the cream, and repeated the whole process with the second layer, except this time I didn't put quite as many cherries on top and I tried to make them look artful.

I think my first Schwarzwald Kuchen was a success, and it sure looked pretty with the rich brown chocolate, white cream, and red cherries. I love trying to bake new things despite the "You're baking again?" questions I get (I end up baking a lot when I'm home sick--and yes, I promise I am careful not to spread my germs).

That Connecting Understanding

There's something in this that I understand without being able to explain it:

They went to the museum and wandered the rooms. He saw a painting and stood in front of it for too long. It was a few minutes before she realized he had gotten stuck. He was stuck looking at a painting. She stood next to him, looking at his face and then the face in the painting. “What do you see?” she asked. “I don’t know,” he said. He didn’t know. She was disappointed, then bored. He was looking at the face and she was looking at her watch. This is where everything changed. There was now a distance between them. He was looking at a face but it might as well have been a cabbage or a sugar beet. Perhaps it was something about yellow near pink. He was looking at a face but it could have been pears or a joint of meat. He didn’t know how to say it. Years later he still didn’t know how to say it, and she was gone.

- richard siken

Found here.

And . . . Spring is Here!

Cough. Cough. Sneeze. Sneeze. Sneeze. Sneeze. Eye rub. Glance at the clock and ensurance that eye drops, nose spray, and Spenglersan Kolloid K are in my pocket for their next use. Sniff. Sniff. Repeat.

That is all.

Good Question

Found here.

Happy Hippos

Found here.

Giveaway Winner and a Virginia Woolf Quotation

It was really hard to choose a winner from five entrants. Ha ha. I laughed as I entered the number 5 into random.org.

Natasha won! She wrote:

I've been reading your blog for a while, but never commented before- I hope you don't mind.

I really like Susan B. Anthony, she was such a strong woman.

Also, I'm sure you already know this but CJane mentioned you in her most recent blog post. (http://blog.cjanerun.com/2010/03/sucker-i-tell-you.html)

Natasha, let me know where to send the book (in a comment)! And don't forget to send it on!

And here is a Virginia Woolf quotation for your enjoyment:

I think the effort to live in two spheres--the novel, and life--is a strain.

-Virginia Woolf

Agreed. Found here.