starting on the left, going clockwise.
1. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.
2. Blueberry Cheese Crackers from flickr Toni Wahid.
3. Creamy Nutmeg candle from Bath & Body Works.
4. Loyalty to Loyalty by the Cold War Kids.
5. Halloween Cracker crafts by Martha Stewart.
This pumpkin cake from The Baking Bird a la Williams-Sonoma.
The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond.
This robin’s egg blue kitchen from Domino Magazine.
Volume One by She & Him (I love Zooey Deschanel).
The new arrivals at J. Crew.
My bookworm tendencies have gotten the best of me. I requested 43 books and guess what? All of them are currently waiting for me at the library on the hold-shelf.
Crap.
Do you know how many freaking books that it?! I mean, I am a warrior when it comes to reading but still. That’s insane even for me. Needless to say, I put myself to work, catching up on all my books. I finished The Late Bloomer’s Revolution (absolutely hysterical and totally relatable) in one day, staying up far later than I have in months (wow, did I just admit to my old granny tendencies) and am now totally engrossed in Astrid and Veronika.
In my old office, I am blessed/cursed to work with all boys. Seriously. I am the only girl student assistant among 5 boys in my unit. Some days it feels like a blessing, other days I feel like I am being punished for a crime in a past life. In some ways, it’s like I’ve become their surrogate mother. Yes, I’m guess I should be proud to say that I have a flock of boys under my wing, raising them from the wee youngins that they used to be to the strapping fine men that they have become now…
Sorry, I think I just gagged. Most days, I come home angry, tired and upset after dealing with the trials and tribulations of dealing with these boys. Don’t get me wrong, I love them to death. But everyone has their breaking point. If I have to listen to another sob story about how its so hard to be guy because being faithful in a relationship is tough, I might gag. And if I have to clean up after all their messes ( we share the same cube space) one more time, I might go postal on someone.
bust out the summer duds
I’d consider this a rather random post as I wanted to jot down some thoughts that have danced around in my mind. First of all, I’ve been reading up a storm this past month. I think I plowed through 4 books in the past 3 weeks, which explains why my bank account has dried up. Good bye bookstores, hello library! Some good ones that I share with you are:
Carolyn Parkhurt’s Dogs of Babel:
A husband looks back at the short-lived marriage with his artist wife whose sudden death plagues the husband. Desperate, he searches for answers from the most unlikely of witnesses- their dog.
Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants:
Hands down one of the best books I’ve read. It follows a young man’s adventures in to the dark and sometimes creepy Circus world where nothing is as it seems. Full of love, death, and hard times, this book will suck you in from the first line.
Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex:
I just started this one but so far it’s completely enthralling. Euginides tells the story of a hermaphrodite and the generations before who paved the troubled path before. A bit disturbing, it’s a nice departure from all the fluff on television nowadays.
Red lipstick, perfectly coiffed hair, heels that can reach the sky, and of course, the flawless beauties who aren’t afraid to show their skin. These all describe the very essence of burlesque which is much more about channeling a woman’s power over a man than just prancing around in lacey undergarments. I read this article about Dita Von Teese at the NY Times and couldn’t help but think that she is an all around responsible and elegant performer and businesswoman.
In the past two years, my love for all things burlesque and vintage pin-ups has grown. My friend Anna first introduced me to Ms. Dita Von Teese and after reading her book, Burlesque: The Art of the Teese, I grew to adore and love this woman. A real class act, Dita made burlesque an art form and launched it from it’s assumed seedy roots. I like her even more now for going against the grain that the stars of Hollywood seem to be following.
For the past few months, I’ve lusted over the glorious concoction called Bill’s Big Carrot Cake from Dorie’s book. With its impressive layers and pillowing cream cheese frosting, it practically demanded attention which made it a perfect choice for when it came time for me to pick the next recipe for Tuesday’s With Dorie. Till now, I’d never baked a carrot cake. GASP! I’ve baked everything else from Coconut cake to Cheesecake but not Carrot cake. Why? Because it seemed like a cake that everyone could make better than I ever could.
That might sound nuts, but think about it. Everyone has recipes that pass on from generation to generation, recipes that have stood the test of time. But sadly, I don’t have that envious pile of recipe cards stained with butter and/or coffee because my mom didn’t grow up in America but in Indonesia. And the natural food resources in Indonesia are quite different than here. So, for the first 15 years of my life, baked goods for me primarily came from Betty Crocker’s boxes.
I’m the first to admit- I am a big whiny baby. When the tough gets going, I will moan and bitch with the best of them. Most of the time, I can get by with shouting a couple of expletives here and here, but this past week, hell has rained down on me. During these times, I don’t even like to show my face to my mother. Poor woman, I bet she thinks she lives with the devil incarnate every now and then.
You see, school is quickly coming to a close. I mean, the weeks are just going by quicker than I can fathom. Normally, this is a a good thing, but that ain’t the case right now. From projects to tests to assignments to papers… My head gets dizzy and my heart starts to palpitate irregularly fast just thinking about it.
Look, this just isn’t working here. We both know that things are off. We work so well apart, but put us together and you’ve got a problem. I mean, why are we so great individually and yet as a couple, we are a mess. I know, I know, maybe next time things will work out, but right now I need some space.
No, I’m not breaking up with you- I’m taking a break from the ever-so fickle and feisty tart. These are not my forte, to say the least. When I saw that Mary from Starting from Scratch picked the French Lemon Cream Tart for this weeks Tuesday’s With Dorie pick, I could feel the apprehension rising. I made my first tart, an Apple Tart from the same book, last year and the results were less than stellar.
Sometimes I dream about packing up my crap, saying farewell to my dead-end cubicle job, hopping on a plane, and setting up shop somewhere in another country, like the English countryside or a quaint village in France, where I could play around in the kitchen all day. And in between baking cakes and treats, I’d roam the country meeting new people and taking pictures.
But whenever my mind starts to wander in to these whimsical dreams, my sensible side scolds me. “How would you support yourself? What would you do with your time? You can’t just leave your job and do nothing!” it says. But when in doubt, listen to Nigella.
Slow Like Honey 
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