Random Thought of the Day

I have a cousin who married someone named Conrad. Every time he comes up in conversation, which thankfully is not often, I get that terrible song from Bye Bye Birdie stuck in my head. For days and days and days and days and days.... And then I have bad feelings directed towards my dear cousin-in-law. Which is kind of sad because he really is a very nice person. It's not his fault his parents had a sadistic sense of humor. He once came on a road trip with my friends and I and I swear the whole 7 hours were spent singing: We love you Conrad, oh yes we do, We love you Conrad, and We'll be true, When you're not near us we're blue, oh Conrad, We love you!

Books Books Books

I'm pretty bored because EVERYONE is out of town and I have no homework because I suffered through a big rush of tests last week, so I really don't have a lot to write about at the moment. Virginia posted this meme a while ago and I've been meaning to do it because it's all about books so here goes:

1. Do you remember how you developed a love of reading?
My parents were pretty much always reading to me when I was little and the habit stuck.

2. What are some books you loved as a child?
I loved Madeleine L'Engle books, Where the Wild Things Are, and the Babysitter's club. Over time I amassed a HUGE amount of BSC books.

3. What is your favorite genre?
I don't really have a favorite genre. I do try to stay away from those books that are about 6" X 4" and an inch and half thick, ones that come in "special" romance, sci-fi, mystery, fantasy sections in Barnes & Noble. I'm a book snob, it's true.

4. Do you have a favorite novel?
I have a few favorite novels: To Kill a Mockingbird, Life of Pi, The Historian, The Time Traveler's Wife, and Emma.

5. Where do you usually read?
Anywhere with peace and quiet. Usually in bed or at a bookstore.

6. When do you usually read?
At night before I go to bed.

7. Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?
Always! This is one of my worst habits. I have book ADD. Right now I'm reading five or six books.

8. Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
Ummm... no?

9. Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?
I know I'm a horrible person for doing this, but lots of times I just sit in the bookstore reading books. If it's a really good book I'll buy it though!

10. Do you keep most of the books you buy?
Yes. Usually the ones I get rid of are books I bought on an impulse and didn't thoroughly love.

11. If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them?
Yeah, don't have kids.

12. What are you reading now?
A biography about Thurgood Marshall, The New Kings of Nonfiction, Guns Germs and Steel, Angela's Ashes, Twilight...

13. Do you keep a To Be Read list?
Sometimes. It's mostly a list in my head and pretty disorganized.

14. What's next?
A biography on Sandra Day O'Connor. And I've been meaning to read Middlesex for a while.

15. What books would you like to reread?
I don't reread many books, even if I really liked the book. I read the Harry Potter series and my favorite books every few years.

Manic Wednesday

Ahhh! It's been one crazy morning. Here's how it went:

7:00 - I'm still sleeping instead of getting up. Apparently I don't hear alarms when they're wedged under my pillow.

8:15 - I woke up from a delightful dream where the cast of How I Met Your Mother was throwing me a birthday party. And then I looked at the clock. CRAP! CLASS STARTS IN 45 MINUTES! ACROSS THE CITY!

8:20 - I am in my car driving a bit recklessly and hoping that traffic will not be too bad and maybe I can make it only a few minutes late.

9:05 - I made it! But then I looked into my bag and discovered no binder of notes that we were allowed to use on the test. Uh-oh..... So I took the test. And luckily it was pretty easy because I knew my stuff. The notes were only going to be a safety net really. But I still couldn't remember all the names of specific clauses and laws and people. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

10:00 - I hopped in my car to drive BACK home to get the forgotten binder which also has notes in it for my 1:00 test today. Good thing gas isn't expensive or anything...

Anyway, I'm surprisingly not too upset or frazzled over the whole thing. It's kind of nice being home in the middle of the day, hanging out with my little Baerli, and blogging.

Adventures of the Deranged Kitty

I had my suitcase out on my bed today and found out my cat has a serious attraction to it. He climbed onto it and started thrashing all over it. Weird deranged kitty. I photographed the love-fest.

Another deranged kitty scene happened yesterday. My brother was cleaning out Kitty's litter box and his back made a perfect horizontal for the kitty to jump onto and attack. Like so:

Kitty says, "Take THAT for cleaning out my box! Hsssss!"

Bits of Absurdity

There have been some weird happenings lately. One of Lizzie's friends was starring in a musical so I took her to see it. During the intermission, I found her a boyfriend. Isn't he handsome?

They also had some weird, seriously creepy puppet animal heads on display. I have no idea what the owners of the theatre were trying to convey, but it was in Wisconsin, so I don't know what we were expecting.

Then Lizzie decided to channel her inner Wall-E, but failed miserably because I was making her laugh so hard:

During my lunch break the other day, Minnesota Public Radio was hosting a veterinarian fielding caller's questions. She said that if you have allergies, it's a good idea to give you cat a bath because their saliva can often be what's triggering your allergic reaction. So I gave my deranged cat a bath, much to his dismay, and then photographed it, because really, there aren't very many things more hilarious and ridiculous looking than a wet cat.

Wishful Thinking

This weekend there's a big two night music festival going on downtown. I've been trying to decide whether or not to go. There are some good acts like Missy Higgins, Augustana, and Landon Pigg... but the price is a bit steep. I'll be honest, Missy Higgins is the driving force behind my desire to go. I've listened to her for a long time, but she's from Australia. Which means it's going to be quite a while till I'll even get the chance to see her again.

This whole internal debate made me stop and think about the many other artists I LOVE but for some reason or another never get to see live. And the top 5 are:

1) Jamie Cullum. There is no one, no one, no one that I'd rather see in concert period. He's a jazz musician who sings and plays the piano, but he infuses all of his songs and performances with tons of energy and newness. But he's also a non-American and seems content to stick to performances on the other side of the Atlantic. And when he does come on over, he only seems to play a couple of shows in California or New York. One of these days I'm going to plan a vacation around his tour schedule. My favorite Jamie songs: Twentysomething, All at Sea, These are the Days, and Oh God.

2) Ray Lamontagne. I can't even remember where I first heard his music, but it just swept me up. You can tell he's heavily influenced by Bob Dylan with his inspired lyrics and gravelly voice, but his songs are a bit understated and quiet like Damien Rice's music. It seems like whenever he comes to a place I live, I'm out of town or just moved. Without fail. My favorite Ray songs: Empty, Forever my Friend, and Shelter.

3) David Gray. Another artist from another country. Do you see a theme emerging? He did come to Salt Lake once, but his show was canceled because of some freak vocal cord thing. Favorite David songs: From Here you can Almost See the Sea, This Year's Love, and Sail Away.

4) Paolo Nutini. He kind of reminds me of Mika in some ways. Maybe not as much energy, but his music is inventive and it makes me happy when I put it on. He's (of course) a Scotlander who never tours in the US either. Favorite Paolo songs: Jenny Don't be Hasty, New Shoes, and Autumn.

5) Yoav. If you've never heard of him, look him up! He made his entire debut cd using only his voice, an acoustic guitar, and loop pedals, but you'd never guess it by listening to him. It sounds very synthesized hip hopish because he uses his guitar to make really unconventional percussive sounds. I didn't really get how it was possible until I watched this video of him. And yes, he's not from the US either, but he does call Montreal one of his homes, so maybe I'll have more of a chance to see him in the future. Favorite songs: Club Thing (You must listen to this one!), Beautiful Lie, and Adore Adore.

What musician(s) have you always wanted to go see live, but never got the chance?

Art Museum Bonanza

Like I said yesterday, my sister and I hit up the Minneapolis Institute of Arts last Saturday. We were all excited about some guy's black and white photography exhibit, but it turns out that you had to be a member to see the exhibit before Sunday. But we made the best of it and took in the museum's collection of Modern and European 1800-1900's art. We found lots of great work like this detailed work made entirely of different shades of ash. I wish the picture of the artwork could do the real piece justice, but nothing could capture the texture and detail like actually being there.

We also found several FABULOUS pieces by Salvador Dali, one of my favorite artists of all time.

The conversation my sister and I had as we stopped to look at this painting:

Lizzie: Dali was an artist?

Me: Yeah! He's great. You know that painting where the clock looks like it's melting? He painted that.

Lizzie: Oh! For some reason I was thinking he was a religious leader or something. Oh wait, that's the Dalai Lama.

And then we both dissolved into giggles despite the stares from other museum-goers.

We coveted this lobster phone, also by Dali:

The longer we were in the museum, the sillier we got. We found this retro scale:

But then we got a little confused by the mixed messages on the podium:

We found art boyfriends for each other. Lizzie's is the one with green hair and mine is the one in the yellow hat.

Three figures giving the stink-eye, what a photo op!

Lizzie imitating a statue's humble pose:

A squished statue man (he's being stepped on by some statue woman) puckering up for Lizzie:

And finally, posing with the colorful bunny:

Weekend Teaser

Whew! Isn't it funny how sometimes it seems like the weekend wears you out more than the actual week does? The weekend was full of fun things: A trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, hanging out with my brother, and going to see Wall-E. And a few not-as-fun things, namely, homework. Which is why I'm still working on my post from the Minn. Inst. of Arts (lots of photos to sort through).

Luckily I have a few non-museum pics that I wanted to share. I LOVE this one. My brother has the goofiest look on his face and my dog looks like he's ready to jump out of his skin, he's so happy.

This one is of some random guy we spotted on the sidewalk the other day. Unfortunately I couldn't get a full shot, but he's riding down the street in a reclining bicycle with nothing but Richard Simmons short shorts and Bono glasses on. My sister and I were seriously cracking up. If only he had had a Gorilla trailing him like this guy

The World's Best Cracker (and Cupcakes)

I was going through old files on my computer and I came across this photo and it made me laugh. That must have been one tasty cracker for all the effort he was putting into it.

In other news, I found a cupcake blog that made my mouth water uncontrollably. She's on a posting hiatus, but there are so many amazing creations in the archives. When I'm rich maybe I can hire a cupcake chef to come work for me...

The Ballad of Sven the Svede

Last week, I dragged my sister and my sister dragged her friend "Emily" to the Swedish festival in Minneapolis. I didn't really do a whole lot of research so we didn't know what to expect, but in my opinion that's half the fun of going to events like these. We did know that there would be ample people-watching opportunities available since Minnesota has a large Swedish-American population.

At the entrance we found a Swedish flag:

And inside there was an exhibit of dresses. Not just any dresses, but ones that a QUEEN named Silvia had worn to the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE ceremonies. We had no idea we were going to be treated to such a fantastic exhibit, but it was quite a pleasant surprise.

There were dresses clearly dating from the 70's like this paisley chiffon gown:

But other dresses were timeless and beautifully designed. The next two were my favorites and the photos don't come close to doing them justice. This green silk taffeta gown was stunning:

This white one was SPARKLY all over! If anything would make you feel royal it would be this dress. The bodice was pearl encrusted and the tulle skirt had little crystals sewn all over in between the layers. (I could probably get rid of the bow, but maybe I just don't like it because bows aren't really my thing). But seriously, I think we were all mesmerized by the sparkles. I've just decided that when I get married I want a wedding dress encrusted with pearls and crystals. I wonder how much that would cost...

When we stepped outside the Swedish museum, we were treated with the sight of honest to goodness Swedish people. His coat was so regal blowing in the wind that we decided to channel our paperazzi selves:

After we snapped a couple, he started to notice and stare at us a bit. I figured he wasn't used to American customs like stalking, so I made Lizzie and "Emily" go over and ask for a picture.

Apparently he was smitten by "Emily" because he came over and tried to chat with her.

I thought he said: "Do you want to hang out with some Swedish people?"

"Emily" thought he said: "Have you ever danced with a Swedish guy before?"

Apparently he really said: "Have you ever gone on a date with a Swedish guy?"

She shook her head no and in a heavily accented voice he asked for her number. Apparently this really freaked her out because she panicked and gave him a fake name (Emily) and her real number. Which made me laugh... a LOT. Who gives someone a fake name but a real number?

After he walked off to go fiddle or something, my sister and "Emily" commenced a long freak out session.

L- You just got hit on by a 30 year old!

Me- I'm pretty sure he was at most 22

E- Oh my gosh! What am I going to do if he calls? He's as old as my dad! Eww! Couldn't he tell I wasn't even 18? Why was he hitting on young girls?

L- Crap! When he calls and gets you voice message, he's going to know your name isn't Emily! You need to rerecord it so it says hi this is petticoat or something!

Me- (Laughing like crazy) Petticoat? Seriously?

E- Yeah! Or something like that! What am I going to do guys? Oh my gosh! He's probably following us right now! We need to go or he's going to stalk me! What if he finds out where I live?!

This continued for a while longer, with me laughing for most of it...

Presenting Sven the Svede

I was going to blog about what I would have liked to ask John McCain at his "town hall meeting" last night in St. Paul (if I had been willing to brave the people swarming everywhere for a candidate I don't even support), but IT'S FRIDAY and I don't have school and I don't feel like ranting. So instead, I will leave you with a picture of Sven the Svede (That's Sven's mother, Svenetta in the foreground). More about Sven on Monday:

Catch Up: Installment the Third

(If you didn't get a chance, you can read my first and second installations here and here.)

A couple of weeks ago, Lizzie and I went to the Minneapolis Mosaic Festival. It's a celebration of different cultures and their traditional forms of art and dance. And it's FREE! Which is always fabulous. We'd never been in previous years so we weren't sure to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the performances. It was held in Minneapolis's theater district and each theater held different kinds of artists.

One of our favorites was the Flamenco dancer and her band:


And the children loved it enough to shake it up in front of the stage:



Besides the actual performances, we love going to things like this to do some serious people-watching. We found this lady who was so tan that her skin looked like leather. Honestly, this picture is flattering compared to real life:

We also found this ADORABLE patriotic couple. I especially love the fringe on her boots (The person in the foreground on the left side is my little sister pretending to pose for a picture. We try to be so sneaky):

The most mockworthy performance of the night were these Japanese drummer/dancers. You may or may not notice that none of them are actually Japanese. Pay special attention to the man in the back. He had some interesting moves that led us to call him "praying mantis man."

And last but not least, we saw this guy on our way back to the parking garage. Sorry it's so blurry, but we were walking and it was dark. Gotta love a guy in a feather hat and stohl :)

Ick...

I got into rush hour traffic today and half-way home I started to feel incredibly nauseous. It went away briefly, but I am starting to feel like I'm on a downward spiral of sudden sickness. Let's hope I feel good enough to go to school tomorrow.

Cue Lee Greenwood singing...

Can I just share with you guys how much I've been geeking out over the Guantanamo Bay Supreme Court ruling last week? Justice Kennedy has never been my favorite Justice (or least favorite), but reading his opinion on the Boumediene v. Bush case brought serious tears to my eyes (Yep, I know I'm a dork). While a lot of it is written in legalese mumbo jumbo that's hard to understand completely, these two paragraphs are clear and beautiful as can be:

"Officials charged with daily operational responsibility for our security may consider a judicial discourse on the history of the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 and like matters to be far removed from the Nation’s present, urgent concerns. Established legal doctrine, however, must be consulted for its teaching. Remote in time it may be; irrelevant to the present it is not. Security depends upon a sophisticated intelligence apparatus and the ability of our Armed Forces to act and to interdict. There are further considerations, however. Security subsists, too, in fidelity to freedom’s first principles. Chief among these are freedom from arbitrary and unlawful restraint and the personal liberty that is secured by adherence to the separation of powers. It is from these principles that the judicial authority to consider petitions for habeas corpus relief derives.

Our opinion does not undermine the Executive’s powers as Commander in Chief. On the contrary, the exercise of those powers is vindicated, not eroded, when confirmed by the Judicial Branch. Within the Constitution’s separation-of-powers structure, few exercises of judicial power are as legitimate or as necessary as the responsibility to hear challenges to the authority of the Executive to imprison a person. . . The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times. Liberty and security can be reconciled; and in our system they are reconciled within the framework of the law. The Framers decided that habeas corpus, a right of first importance, must be a part of that framework, a part of that law."

Reading that statement makes me SO proud to be American. Yes, the world is crazy. Yes, there are "dangerous enemy combatants." But the framer's of our constitution were not dumb when they provided the privilege of habeas corpus. Even foreign criminals have a right to challenge the legality of their detention. It is truly one of the things that make our country different from many others.

Catch Up: Installment the Second

In continuation of my first installment, I've been writing about what I've been up to instead of blogging the last few months.


3) Spent a few days taking self portraits through a make-shift fish-eye lens. Fish-eye lenses let photographers take those photos that are distorted so it looks as if you're seeing the picture through a bubble or raindrop. Unfortunately those lens attachments are expensive and I was (am) somewhat poor so buying one was a no-go. Instead I bought one of those peep holes that go in doors and attached it to my point-n-shoot camera. The results were not as drastic as I had hoped, but still fun:

I look like I have a HUGE nose in this next one! I bet you'll all enjoy the lovely view :)

4) I applied to, interviewed for, and started attending school again. Woohoo! I'm doing an accelerated program that lets me accomplish a year's worth of work in 4 months. Afterwards I have high hopes I'll be able to start a career instead of just having a job. I've also been dreaming about where to move after I finish. I'll probably stay in the Twin Cities, but I've been considering other options as well (feel free to give me suggestions). I know I move more than the average person, but I feel liberated by my singleness and lack of ties. I could go anywhere and meet anyone. I love that feeling more than almost anything else. Some places I've been thinking about:

And if McCain wins the 2008 election:

Catch Up: Installment the First

The few readers I have left know that my blog has been missing something lately. What would that be? If you guessed consistent and frequent posts you would be correct. Call it writer's block or call it laziness, the result is the same. A boring blog.


I would, however, like to share with you what I've been doing the last few months before getting in the groove of blogging about things happening in the present.


1) I finally moved all my furniture and said goodbye to Colorado. Although I technically moved to Minnesota in January, it was such a sudden move that the best option was to move my essentials in my little Sentra and leave the rest of my crap in my apartment until my lease was up and I could take a few days off work. It wasn't easy to let go of a place I loved so much, but getting the rest of my stuff did help with closure. Kind of like giving all your ex's stuff back after a break up. Here's the apartment in its almost empty stage:

We packed all my stuff into a defunct U-Haul with a broken cigarette lighter and a broken radio that would only play AM stations. Rush Limbaugh and the Disney channel? Let me tell you my ears were in tremendous pain after an hour or two. Not exactly the road trip dreams are made of.

2) I attended a LOT of ski meets and concerts. My siblings and I are all spaced out by 4 years so I've never been able to attend their sporting activities or performances because I've been living in places like Hawaii, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. My conclusions: Ski meets in Minnesota are colder than I thought was possible, my little sis looks a LOT better in Spandex than most people, and piano concerts are mostly painful until the last few students get to play.

More to come...