twenty-two.

this is the number of minutes i ran tonight. i think people jog/run a whole lot longer than twenty-two minutes on the regular, but this is a big deal for me. i've never ran for that long before in my whole entire life! {isn't that sad, but at the same time really exciting?} i suppose i've never been the most athletic gal on the block, so i'm sort of loving this brief stint of semi-athleticism that i'm experiencing. and let me tell you, it has been brief. nonetheless, it's been very rewarding pushing myself and my body. anyway. now i'm thinking, if i can run for twenty-two minutes, what else can i do? run for thirty minutes? eat three bowls of ice cream in one sitting?! the sky is the limit.


*don't these sneaks look extra serious? they're five years old and look like new because i never used them. they're also from the little boy's section.

simple dreamer.

i woke up to mumford & sons remixes {yes, remixes} blaring from the room next to mine at 9:15 a.m. is there a more terrible way to wake up? fine, yes there are. but just barely. this morning only substantiated my dream of living all by lonesome someday. it's a very small dream, but it's one that i can't seem to get out of my mind. i get giddy over the idea of having my own kitchen, even if it's itty-bitty. and my own tiny garden for a few flowers. and my own everything. i'm sure dreams are supposed to be of living out of a suitcase in a foreign country, or of ryan gosling making you spaghetti {err, right?} or of something bizarre and fantastical. but oh well. maybe those dreams will come later. for now, i can't fathom anything better than having the littlest space to call all my own. with a puppy. and a fireplace. and now i'm dreaming big.

happy thanksgiving!

 

{harvest moon by neil young}

i'm not sure why, but this is the most perfect song for today. there's nothing quite like a neil young/spending a whole day eating with your family combo.  

pie queen.

ok, maybe pie princess or...pie peasant? so i'm not that experienced in the pie making world, but i'm working towards a serious title. i decided to make a pecan brownie pie for tomorrow's festivities. i'm more of a fruit pie gal myself, but pecan pie is a little easier. {plus, i didn't have apples for an apple pie, and only adrenaline junkies go grocery shopping on thanksgiving eve.} the last pecan pie i made didn't have corn syrup and it tasted delicious. this recipe, however, called for ol' karo corn syrup. whoa, who knew that stuff looked so gross? i'm still kinda haunted by the texture of it. i suppose the brownie batter made up for it. anyway. i don't get to taste the pie until tomorrow, drats! it's pretty tortuous to stare at. oh well, a little pie yearning never hurt anyone.

friendsgiving.

{tex, the friendsgiving mascot. he was oblivious to the sneakers.}

well. this just so happens to be the only photo i took from the friendsgiving get-together i was at earlier tonight. is this my puppy? no. did i follow him around all night trying to take pictures of him regardless? definitely. i refuse to consider what this reveals about my social skills. anyway, besides the fact that i'm horrible at capturing actual people/good times on camera...tonight was kinda amazing. it was my first official friendsgiving. i made rolo cookies {because those take four ingredients} and discovered that i could live without ever eating another brussel sprout. yikes. it was nice to be surrounded by some of the best company around, though. i've only made a handful of good friends down here {note the aforementioned social skills} but i really like this handful. they are some of the most positive people i have ever met and continuously build me up, so i feel very lucky. i'm gonna throw in the fact that i'm thankful for them in the spirit of the upcoming holiday. but seriously. they are such sweet reminders that people can be good.

real quick: on a completely unrelated note, i attempted to purchase my cap and gown from the bookstore {so exciting!} this week but they were sold out. it was yet another anticlimactic moment in this whole graduating process. i feel like this is foreshadowing my future! somehow.

*the caps and gowns are being restocked next monday, but still. not as exciting.

collage coolness.

art is a thing that, well, i never really get. a pretty painting just doesn't do the same thing a good book does for me. but, i've been trying to break out of this mindset. i'm looking for artists that speak to me, browsing art books my roommate keeps lying around the house, and telling paintings, "hey, make me feel something!" these things are sorta helping. i've found that i'm really gripped by collages at the moment. they seem to transport me the most, which for me, is the point of any art form. i guess i'm cheating a little here because i've liked beth hoeckel for a couple of years now, but i just learned that many of her collages are not digitally done, which is pretty awesome. i love her use of texture and way of making the most ordinary images look fresh and neat. who knew a collage could be so impressive?

                                                                      {all of these by bethfromabove}

the virgin suicides.

i'm a little late on this one. every girl read the virgin suicides when she was 15, right? right. i checked it out from the library a week ago and have been dying to read it since. if i could sum this book up in one word it would be:  dreamy. seriously. reading it felt like this. i tried to explain the plot to someone today and ended up just sounding like someone who was fascinated with teenage suicide, so i'm gonna refrain from dishing out another synopsis right now. i will say that i'm completely spellbound by cecilia lisbon, though. and bonnie. and lux. and ok, every single character in the whole book. i was pretty surprised that i didn't feel completely depressed after reading it, but jeffrey eugenides has this sweet little way of making morbidity somewhat ethereal and lovely. anyway, i'm a little hesitant to watch the film version, but completely intrigued at the same time. i probably won't be able to resist it for too long. well, i'm off to re-read the bell jar now! {just kidding}

also. i got talked into joining good reads-basically a place that gives you endless book recommendations based on how you rate books you've already read. i can't believe i'm just discovering this! after countless hours of skimming library bookshelves for something that catches my eye. sheesh.

a small rant.

sometimes it's difficult to be an english major, partly because you don't really focus on anything that isn't fictional. you don't read books that don't end the way they weren't supposed to, or about characters whose flaws aren't charming. it's nice, but at the same time can be a little disenchanting. because then, when you're working on your minor in anthropology, you deal with the complete opposite. you are thrust back into reality and you learn about things that are awful and that can't be fixed with an extra paragraph. i just finished paul farmer's infections and inequalities for my medical anthropology class and couldn't feel more helpless, hence this post. the book was about tuberculosis in haiti {which is something that never crossed my mind} and how, although the disease is treatable, it's still a really big problem because of the lack of healthcare there. i can go to the hospital whenever i please, and these people can't. it makes no sense, and that's because it shouldn't make sense. what's even more frustrating is that there isn't a simple solution to this problem. well, i didn't plan on ranting so much, but sometimes it's OK to rant a little, right?

oh, and on the bright side...for a living, paul farmer offers healthcare {as he co-founded partners in health} to people living in poverty in haiti and rwanda. he's said that they've helped too many people to count, which were golden words to hear after reading that book of his.