who are these?

How do you even begin to think that this is a good idea? I watched this whole thing with my mouth gaping open.

Tim Burton

The MoMA has an exhibit on Tim Burton that just opened yesterday for a members preview (thanks parents for the great christmas gift last year!) and so I went on over there with my lovely friend Karly (visiting from san Diego) and Sindri (welcome to funemployment). I love his drawings and ideas-- he is pretty much a 13 year old boy who never grew up and managed to become successful drawing monsters. Just morbid enough to be fun but not really scary. Go see the exhibit if you are in town!

This is Vincent, a short film by Tim Burton.

Circus!

I wish I could've taken pictures of the Swedish circus I went to on friday night (shout out to Melissa! you are the best!), but alas, BAM doesn't allow that. Check out this brief video of Cirkus Cikor on the BAM website. Although there were no elephants (and we all know how much i adore elephants) it was still by far the best circus I have ever been. Granted, ic an't remember the last time I went to a circus, but my impression is that there are scary clowns, bad music, and abused animals. This one had no abused animals, amazing music, and the type of acrobatic feats that made me gasp and wish that I'd spent more time hanging upsidedown in trees or learned to juggle instead of reading books or watching tv. There was this guy who twirled around in a giant metal circle doing tricks and a lady... i can't describe it. Next time, just be ready to drop everything for a magical night.

I think i want to learn to juggle. 10 minutes a day should do it, right?

I believe in a thing called love

I Believe In A Thing Called Love by The Love Story Thief  
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I believe in a thing called love.mp3 (11289 KB)

Once upon a time, Sarah created an alter-ego super-hero called dating girl, because she felt that you almost had to be a superhero to be a successful dater and to believe in love. Dating girl soon became somewhat of a legend around our group of friends, and helped countless women, down on their dating luck, believe in themselves and in love. Sarah is departing the world of dating girl and shared her thoughts on love with us.

Posted via email from The Love Story Thief

new job, new life

the life of a hermit, that is.

I'm heating water on the stove because i realized that the hot water isn't working, and I can't take a shower in tepid water when i'm going on day three of not showering. This isn't a problem i usually run into (the not showering), but this week I've officially become a hermit and showering just seemed like such an enormous effort when i really needed to get some work done. Last week I had a hard time focusing while working from home, and this week, well, I'll give you an example of what has happened.

I no longer answer my phone, but let it go to message. i think I am afraid of it. I'm starting to talk to myself. Really. I also sing. left my apartment once yesterday, at 7:30, to go to book club for an hour and a half. And I was really debating whether or not to go. I've been waking up at 6:30, rolling over, and getting right to work. On the plus side, I'm exhausted from my day of sitting by 10:30 and so have been going to be at a reasonable hour. Last week I ate all local, this week cooking seems like too much trouble so i ate pistachios and string cheese for dinner. Neither of which is local. But at least I'm saving water by not showering. Last week I couldn't get anything done if anything was out of order. This week, my roommate left for the week and I am finally getting around to dishes. Dust bunnies are scurrying around my floors and the bathroom needs serious attention, but it can wait. sun is shining. I'm in workout clothes but feeling the pressure of getting this grant done so I'm debating whether or not to go out today. I feel like I am such a slow learner at this, and I am spending all my time trying to get it right. So much so that I might be going crazy. It doesn't help that the boy who was my distraction called it quits and ran off to Bali.

I'm blogging not because I have time (i'm subtracting these 10 minutes from my working hours today, unfortunately, i only count productive hours of work) but because I think i'm trying to intervene for my own sanity.

I think my time would be well spent riding my bike to the bookstore. Getting some fresh air, interacting with humans, and buying a manual on grant writing. What do you think?

don't get scared.

It's just Zombie Prom with Karly (from San Diego! On her way to Senegal! Thanks for coming!), Jeff, Laura, and Tyson.

Pistachios don't grow in New York

But other than that mindless munching that I did this afternoon, I've been pretty darn good with this eating local challenge today. I'm working from home these days, which means that afternoons get a little bit slow for me. So after a breakfast of smoothie (blueberries and peaches I picked in New Jersey, raspberries from connecticut, milk from ny), I headed outside (yay! beautiful sunny day!) and was about to head to my usual coffe shop haunts when I thought, uh oh, do they serve locally grown food? The tea I was craving today was a vanilla rooibas-- from south africa, and I'm just not sure what teas are locally made, so i opted to not have any (luckily, again, not a cold day, because chocolate also would be questionable for being local). I wandered in and out of a few different coffee shops and restaurants, finding organic and a fish sandwich shop, and an all local gourmet hot dog restaurant (!) called Bark, which looked yummy and local, but for $4 a dog was a little spendy, and they had no wifi, but I'll probably make my way out there later on this week as I try to keep this up.

I finally ended up at Blue Marble, a fantastic ice cream shop/cafe with the best ice cream in new york, locally made! I had a bergen bagel, glass of water (mason jar) and pumpkin ice cream cone. No waste and all local, and all sooo good. So far so good.

And then I ended up coming home and trying to work some more. but since i was up pretty late due to hanging out late with a nice boy, i was struggling to stay awake and started popping the pistachios-- not candy... and then realized that they were from San Joaqin, CA. Blast! Ah well, dinner reformed me, with roasted local potatoes from the farmers market (a yummy mix of blue, red, white, and sweet potatoes) and sauted mushrooms, onion, and celery. Not elaborate, but good. The question I guess is then, can I use salt? I'm pretty sure that's not local, but it is kosher.

So, eating local all the time? probably not feasible for me right now. But trying to? I am a believe in this-- eat local, eat seasonal, eat less processed-- it just seems healthy, it tastes delicious, and it is environmentally more sound. Cost-- well, a body that doesn't fall apart in my 50s, no heart disease or diabetes, well, that's worth it to me.

What about you? Where does your food come from?