My early Christmas present!

Alex came home tonight hands and arms full of christmas joy. All I asked for from him for Christmas was a tree and for our apartment to be decorated. Even though we won't be in town for the actual DAY of Christmas, I wanted to get excited for the season and anticipate the holiday.

With him was one small tree (which we're getting another of!), blue lights, white twinkling lights, snowflake garland, silver bell garland, small red bulbs, large red bulbs with gold decoration, gold garland, and red and green bell garland. It was incredibly unexpected because of course Thanksgiving hasn't yet come and gone, but we put up the tree with our blue ornaments (thanks to my mom for some beautiful blue bulbs!) and are treating it as our "winter tree," whereas we'll get the other tree as a "christmas tree" after thanksgiving.  I broke out my dad's mix of Christmas tunes that I listened to as a kid and we put on some George Winston, beautiful winter music. The beauty of growing up is getting to begin your own traditions...and break all the old rules.

As if it wasn't already so much more than enough, Alex apparently has something else for me for Christmas. While I didn't want him to do so much for me, I'm glad he appreciates decorating for Christmas as much as I do :)

A few pictures, though the quality is poor--

From Pier 1 at 7:20 am

 

Mmmm....a beautiful way to start the day.

Too weird...

There's been a lot of buzz recently about Robert Pattinson, most recently know as Edward Cullen in the upcoming movie Twilight and previously as Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter movies. Today The Superficial posted a number of pictures of him and Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan) at the Twilight premiere, and while I'm not particularly for or against his looks, I saw this picture and immediately thought of two other celebrities...

  

Anyone else find this creepy? Seriously, especially the one of Mary-Kate in the middle. I'm not sure which I should feel sorry for, the twins or Robert.

I cook, I sand stuff, I hammer things into the wall...what CAN'T I do!?

Since Alex and I moved out to San Francisco, I've been in charge of the unpacking, organizing, and "home making" while he went to work and brought home the bacon. So far, I've discovered I have a lot of talents. Consider:

I refinished a $5 yard sale table that has seen a few too many games of quarters and waaay too many years of abuse to be worth keeping. 

A little sanding, well, a lot of sanding, some primer, paint and a week (or two) later...

Voila! My new table, black and glossy and smooth as ever. Unfortunately it had to sit and dry in the kitchen for many days. But that didn't keep me from cookin'!

That's linguini with vodka sauce, caesar salad, corn on the cob, and tasty butternut squash. It's like I'm a real adult! It was fun, although it kind of felt more like playing dress up than real life.

I also did a whole lot of hammering and hanging of items, too. It was actually a fun experience, figuring out how to put anchors in the wall, drill holes by hand with a drill bit (no electric drill yet!) and adapt frames that are meant to sit on a surface to hang on the wall.

My real-life education has begun. Here's to growth!

Guest Playlist- Cold Day

Perhaps one of the biggest influencers of the music I've listened to since 7th grade, Jay shared with me his playlist for "Cold, Slow Days" and I have to say, pretty incredible.

Enjoy!

Sunny Side of the Street- Frank Sinatra

Technicolor Girls- Death Cab for Cutie

Old Cape Cod- Patti Page

Mad World- Gary Jules (Double points!)

Fever- Peggy Lee

The Dumbing Down of Love- Frou Frou

Heysatan- Sigur Ros

Sleeper 1972- Manchester Orchestra

Ease Into Me- Kalai

Set Down Your Glass- Snow Patrol

J'ai Deux Amours- Madeleine Payroux

Cathedrals (Life at Dock Street Theater)- Jump Little Children

My Foray into Bikram Yoga

So...I just finished a ninety-minute Bikram yoga class. I had a few white-outs, quickly followed by black-outs in the vision, but ultimately I made it through. While I wasn't sure at times if I was feelin' it, I'm 45 minutes past the end of class and I'm really pumped...enough so that I might return tomorrow. Apparently you get the most out of it in the beginning if you come often, and I got unlimited yoga for a month, so why not?

I know it's gonna be one of those things that I'm going to drag myself to, and hate myself for the first half of class, but I really do feel wonderful now. I love the fact that I'm focused completely inside myself and in my literal being. No formulated thoughts, just reflexively doing as I'm told. While its completely and utterly exhausting, it's also somehow relaxing, like there's some yoga button that gets pushed internally and you turn off completely, minus following directions.

I've got some experience with Vinyasa yoga from when I used to take class in Plymouth, MN. I'll know with time how they compare. Excited for this month-long (at least) adventure.

Fantastic for Motivation- Get Writing!

I found a really great site through a metafilter link that helps encourage you to write. I gave it a try twice, once on normal with strict guidelines (10 minutes, 500 words), and once on Kamikaze-Evil (same 10/500). I ended up writing a whole lot of stress out the first time, and a pretty crazy, actually stylized short story. Never knew that was in me. I suggest everyone try their hand at it.

http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html

Seriously. It's five minutes of your day (or more if you're up for it!) Definitely worth it.

Playlist- Moody

I've often separated my music into playlists based on what I want to feel when I listen to it, or into stuff like "Driving with the Windows Down at Night During the Summer" or "Music to Wake Up To." My great friend Jay and I were talking about this today, and as I'm listening to my "Moody and I Want to Stew in it" list, I figured I'd share. So without further ado, enjoy:

A Rush of Blood to the Head- Coldplay

Dancing Nancies- Dave Matthews Band

Tiny Vessels- Death Cab for Cutie

Mad World (Cover)- Gary Jules

Do You Realize??- The Flaming Lips

Sundrenched World- Joshua Radin

Pachuca Sunrise- Minus The Bear

Sometimes- Ours

Strange Condition- Pete Yorn

Street Spirit (Fade Out)- Radiohead

Echodyne Harmonic- Sparta

Last Train- Travis

The Beginning of Everything Else

I've realized there are bits and pieces of things I want to share that don't fit on my other blog, Conversation A. While I could re-invigorate my Livejournal, I figure any blog that includes my thoughts from 2003 probably should be hidden away from anyone who knows me now--no one wants to hear the whiny thoughts of a 17 year old. Instead, I've elected to create this blog with any ideas, thoughts, pictures, inspirations, music, etc. that make up my life outside of advertising. I'm sure there will still be some cross over but I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

I hope you enjoy my brain dump as much as I look forward to sharing it with you.