![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
me: YES CAKE
me: shhh claire it is a lie
claire: craaaaap
claire: it looks delicious and moist
claire: I am worried.
Nerd Siblings FTW.
me: shhh claire it is a lie
claire: craaaaap
claire: it looks delicious and moist
claire: I am worried.
Nerd Siblings FTW.
- Music:aperture science!
I write today in order to pick the brains of those of you who may or may not cast an eye to these pages. I'm looking for a location for an 18th c. shin-dig in -- let's say -- the greater Washington DC area down South to the greater Richmond Area. Also accepted are Plantations on the James, and Historic Homes in general.
Needed: a big space for dancing
Wanted: Ability to eat and drink inside though I know this is not necessarily possible.
Any thoughts?
Edit: OH GOD YES MONEY IS AN ISSUE. Free = great. $ = Ok. +++$$$ = Ehhh....
- Location:my house
- Mood:
determined
Be assured, I do actually post, as opposed to even my double-posting here appears to be lax!
If you're quite keen to read my posts in a lovely, easy-to-read format, I recommend following me on my RSS (actually, Atom) feed, which you can see here.
Toodle-pip! I'm off to blog about my quest to find food during a power outage.
xoxo,
Em
- Location:fairfax, va
- Mood:
awake - Music:that's the recipe for making love :: harry connick jr
So as a welcome to Summer-time, a few of us headed off to a Washington Nationals game. I can't remember the last time I've been to a baseball game, but let's get serious, we weren't there for the game. Weather was great, seats were cheap with a great view, and the food (outsourced from local DC places) was delicious. We very quickly resolved to make it a monthly (if not bi-weekly) outing.
Here Josh attempts to find something -- I think the velocity of a pop fly -- through geometry and / or physics:
Tom is very excited about baseball. (Not really!) The light was so pretty, though...
The next day, I searched out where my Mom's cousins live, as I had a niggling feeling that it was close to where I'm currently temping. As it turns out, it is not only close, but officially .4 miles away. So I walked. Meandered actually, as I am a fast walker and was afraid I would arrive too soon for supper.
Supper was delicious, and while I have no photos of the boys this time (see: Easter) I managed to play football, soccer, and read Marco 3 bedtime stories, while promising 2 more the next time I came 'round. Susan said that she should have expected as much, as she sent a self-proclaimed lover of books to read stories... what she didn't count on is that I recognized the books from my childhood, and so was far too excited to read them again! The official count was: "The Little Island," "My Friend is Sad" (neither of which I had read before, but Island is beautifully illustrated) and "Put Me in the Zoo" (which I had), and I spotted "Each Peach Pear Plum," which I had no memory of until I spotted the cover.
What follows are some pictures of my walk to their house. So pretty.
- Location:nationals stadium?
- Mood:
bouncy
The weather has been beautiful recently, which means I am now entering my phase of missing working outdoors 40 hours a week. Yes, it can be miserable (see: Virginia Summer) but Springtime and Fall are bliss. Today was a beautiful day in DC, and as I walked to nearby family's house (right near work!) I realized how perfect for walking the weather was. A lovely 60°, crisp enough to offset the heat from walking, and sunny. So as a result, I started of thinking back to working at Williamsburg. Even though the lovely weather is what you look forward to, it's the dreadful weather that you remember.
I talked to Amy today about the day we worked during Tropical Storm Ernesto, and of course she remembers the whole day. We spent most of it together, huddled underneath cloaks, trying to avoid puddles (and failing), making our way down the Duke of Gloucester street towards the shops where we were assigned that day. Meanwhile, tree branches were falling around us.
We made it to the Wig Shop, where I was assigned, and I realized quite quickly I was soaked through, and so took of layer upon layer until I was barefoot, wearing my chemise, stays, and bed gown.
To those not intimately familiar with Early American Textiles, I was wearing a knee length cotton nightgown, a fully-boned corset ("stays"), and a woolen knee-length wrapper that vaguely resembles a bathrobe. Colonially naked.
All of my clothing at this point was strewn across the shop, along various ropes, as I lamented being chosen for the one shop that had a fireplace that didn't draw.
Needless to say, it was a rather uneventful day for guests (total: 13) but we interpreters had fun. The electricity went off, and we didn't realize it until a few hours later, and I trekked across the river that Duke of Gloucester had become to peek in the Millinery shop, and managed to find not only a fireplace, but soup and hot chocolate that they had heated up in the fireplace. I watched my shoes steam slightly as they became slowly less damp, and wiggled my toes in my wet stocking feet while I sipped my soup.
It sounds miserable, but I don't remember that. It's filed under other outdoors days, full of fresh rainstorms, cool breezes, and blissful sunny days.
- Location:alexandria, va
Well. Today is the first day that I've actually been coherent enough to blog. But what a day! We met up and headed to the Nature Lab at RISD, where I'd been (briefly) before, but this time, we met up with Kate & Andrew, who work there, and were able to give us a full tour.
We met Netop (above), an amelanistic (sherbet colored!) corn snake, who, for the first time in my life, made me want to own a snake. We bonded.
But first: the show last night. This was Claire's final show for Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design [ risd ] and I was absolutely thrilled I got to pop up to Rhode Island to see!
It consisted of 7 total artists, and while I knew a few and was familiar with their work, I was still blown away at their newest projects, or even looking at the art I'd seen a second time. It was just so perfect. The works all had these unintentional parallels, which were neat to follow, and it was great to be in that environment where everyone was so excited about the art.
(I haven't posted lots of pictures of the art, because their websites do a much better job! See bottom of the post!)
It makes me contemplative, and thinking back to my own senior year, when I had things pretty much nailed down in March. I knew what I was going to do, and in retrospect, I worry I picked that too quickly. But it's done nothing but benefit me, so I should be grateful for that path.
Dad and I were talking to Claire's professor, Shanth -- who, incidentally, is amazing & we've sat in on classes that I still think about -- and he was talking about what he tells graduating seniors about where they should go. The idea coincided with Dad's idea of "go where it's scary," with this thought of "go where you can grow." I really liked that. I like that idea of going to a place that you're still terrified of, but knowing that you'll find your feet, and the only way is up. It's a good thing to keep in mind, especially with that on my horizon again.
But back to RISD!
The Nature Lab was great. Kate fed chameleons, I hung out with a snake, we met turtles, saw doves, and ogled an albino Madagascar hissing cockroach. Also, there is metric tons of taxidermy there, and it's just a great space. Very Victorian Natural History Museum-y.
How beautiful is that?
Beetle Love Tank. My favorite part.
More of me and Netop.
And finally, we went to one of Claire's classes on Character Design. We love the professor -- see above: Shanth -- and just sat and watched. It made me miss college (and relish that I'm going back!) and my mind is boggled by the fact of just so much creativity there.
Claire made this orca for her protagonist, and her sketches later of it are quite possibly the most adorable thing ever.
For more pictures of the show, see my flickr album or Mom's post about it.
- Claire [ shoomlah.com ]
- Kate Walsh [ oliveselkie.com ]
- Beth Zaiken [ bethzaiken.com ]
- Location:providence, rhode island
- Mood:
busy
Two major things in my life have made me stop and take pictures of them, and so I think that warrants a blog post.
The first is that I found an Abraham Lincoln keychain in the parking lot. It's pretty fantastic. Lincoln (in the middle) spins around. Possibly the best part is that I am currently in the middle of a book called Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America that is all about the mythology of Lincoln. It's a sign!
In other news, I'm doing some temp work, at a place called KaBOOM! (they promote community-built playgrounds - awesome!) which is proving to be more involved than temp work, but that's ok - it's keeping me very, very busy. Also: money! This office is super colorful, and there are pots of plastic grass everywhere.
I love my plastic grass. I swear it looks real. It is right next to my monitor, and it's not as if there are not 5 other pots within easy reach, but this pot does not have a pinwheel in it, and I love it.
I could put some "new growth" spin on it, but I won't. I like it because it's springtime-y and green and fun. At this point, I'm enjoying simplicity (and, apparently, kitsch!) and it makes things fun.
Tomorrow is the Washington D.C. area Christian Science Summit. I'm excited, and I have one of my my friends that I met at the Chicago Summit in town, so I will have a buddy. Here's hoping for good lectures and regular sodas!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4
If I were to have a callsign (a la fighter/viper pilots) what should it be?
View Answers
Slingshot
0 (0.0%)
Spitfire 2 (50.0%)
Sparks 2 (50.0%)
Chatter 0 (0.0%)
other - see below 0 (0.0%)
If "other" - what? why?
Comment & let me know WHY you chose whichever one. I'm curious.
- Mood:
curious
Yes. Yes it was.
Wow. Apparently it was the National Trademark Expo at the US Patent Office, and there was a guy dressed as a giant registered trademark sign, which was odd, but so was the juxtaposition of the two corporations represented by characters: Pillsbury & Microsoft.
What?
All I know is I got a picture with the Master Chief from Halo. Eat your heart out, nerd-buddies.
- Mood:
accomplished
At any rate, they're the first dice I've ever bought, as I no longer have access to Eric's bag of dice, which contains the sparkly-pink ones I have previously used (and loved).
It's strange, because I don't think of myself as a gamer, yet I've been involved with it for 8 years, and I bought these specifically for a game (and by that, I mean role-playing game) of Tyler's, called the Circle.
This game in particular becomes an excuse to delve deep into character development & world-building, which provides an excuse to write and makes one think about fictional characters (for that is what they are) in new ways. They take on minds of their own, which is a familiar feeling for those who write, but it is always strange to have a character react to things in ways that you don't expect -- or to hang on to feelings that you thought they would have long-abandoned.
I like that. Even if it never explicitly comes out in the game, there are bottled up emotions that I associate with my character that determine her every move, and in that way, it makes the game more real. Not real in the sense that Infernal Gaslamp was, when my character was a thinly-veiled version of myself (crushes and all!), but real in the sense that those latent feelings makes the game a more life-like experience.
Of course, I will probably never be in disguise and a member of a ragtag band of mercenaries trying to convince a foreign government to give us an army to beat back mutated beasts, but if I were, I have a feeling it would be similar, because, in game, there are all the personalities, biases, hatreds, friendships, and reactions of real people.
In the meantime, I'm editing the wiki we've created so all the players can keep all the facts about the world straight. It's currently 573 pages. That's a lot of information, most of which will go un-mentioned, but the delicious detail is so fun to learn, especially for the historian in me.
A month left until the next session -- and I cannot wait. I will be connected through my computer, but at least I'll have fantastic dice.
- Music:bsg in the background
...I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Maybe I've been watching too much Battlestar Galactica (impossible!), but I just got to giggling, because it sounds exactly like how the Cylons (that would be the robot bad guys, for those of you not as fluent in BSG) speak about their religion - in particular, it sounds exactly like Number 3's quest to find the Final Five Cylon models.
Fantastic. Hee hee.
- Mood:
amused
ain't no need to go outside
It is actually raining tonight, so Jack Johnson seems apropos. It's a strange feeling, having rain last for a day -- or days. Maybe it's the Californian in me, that would always hope that the short bursts of rain we would get would last for the day.
Of course, they never did, but now that I'm in the East, I still marvel at the fact that a rainstorm could possibly last for so long. There's still this excited thrill that it still rains, after hours, and deep down, I hope it continues.
I've been relatively spiritual and introspective recently, and frankly, I see no reason to stop now. I need this catharsis (or something) of writing it all down and putting a spotlight on my life, because if I don't, I feel I won't see what I need to see to move forward.
Today I'm working with this idea of patience. I'm always working with patience. I'm a very impatient person. When the family decided to have "spiritual missions" for each trip, everyone picked lovely things like "seeing the Christ in others," but I had no such poetic flights. I am impatient, ergo I chose patience as my spiritual mission. This was back in 2005, and I'm still impatient, so it's still my mission. Theoretically.
Cue the present day, and my patience is being tried daily. It's not for bad things either: it's things that I need to be patient and trust that someone else (God) knows my way better than I do. But I'm still impatient. I would like to, for example, have a job right now. I would also like to know where I will live in a few months.
In the past few days, thanks to a well-timed phone call from Mom, I stood back and re-evaluated. I started -- actually, inadvertantly! -- to really see the happiness and joy that comes from waiting to see something unfold.
Perhaps most apparent to me, I followed the "calm, strong currents of true spirituality" (S&H 99:23) and let quite a bit of anxiety about relationships go. I'm looking situations in the eye, and instead of fretting over the next step, declaration, or move, I'm finding myself pleasantly surprised and genuinely pleased with the gradual advances.
Also, after being a bit petrified about where I would hang my hat come June 1st, I just had a lovely housing opportunity arise, which would mean living with wonderful, sweet friends, and cooking delicious meals together. What bliss!
I don't know where any of these will lead, but being accepting of the pace (for once!), and enjoying the journey certainly makes it more lovely.
- Music:banana pancakes :: jack johnson
Originally uploaded by hummeline
This photograph makes me so happy. I took it in Berkeley, when Mum & I went to visit a friend of mine, who works in an outdoor flower shop. It was so full of color, and bunched together in mildly haphazard ways that it made me smile.
I like to have a little bit of California spring as I'm waiting for spring to arrive here in Virginia. Fortunately, the past few days have been promising, and all the pear and cherry trees have begun to bloom, including the tiny ones on my little street.
Spring has always been a time of change for me, as it meant a sad goodbye to college friends, and a joyous reunion with family, but now it is even more.
I have had my time in the wilderness.
WILDERNESS. Loneliness, doubt; darkness. Spontaneity of thought & idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence. --S&H p. 597
I like the double definitions (they crop up occasionally) because it makes you re-think a situation. Yes, the first thought when you're thrown into the wilderness is those senses of loneliness, doubt and darkness. But, and this shows up someone is sent into the wilderness is in the Bible (Hagar, Exodus, Jacob, David, Jesus... to name a few), all their needs are provided for.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God -- Rev. 12:6
Once those needs are provided for (which removes the fear), this second half of the definition comes up. It provides this space -- vestibule! -- for that spontaneity of thought. A few months ago, this idea popped into my head that, during this time of wilderness, I should not be asking: What am I missing? but instead: What am I now being given the opportunity to do?
I'm not saying I'm completely without fear of the future. I almost broke down, very scared, in the shower yesterday. The wilderness is not meant to be easy. It is still meant to be a time of trials, but trials that lead to a greater understanding. I just have to remember to trust.
The proverbial seeds sown all along the road include the seeds that fall into good soil and bear fruit "an hundredfold," but it is only with patience that they bring forth fruit.
- Mood:
contemplative
Well, it is already Tuesday, and Claire & I have been quite busy. Saturday she arrived, and we immediately headed out to a Pirate-themed restaurant / bar (yep) where my friends were gathering for a release party of a new CD of a pirate band! Claire got along swimmingly with the rest, due to well-timed references to Mystery Science Theatre 3000, among other shrines of nerdliness.
Claire & I headed then south to Williamsburg to ogle pretty clothes (and handsome men in them) and meet with friends. It proved to be quite fun, as we met up with most of the old crew that wears funny old-fashioned clothes, as evidenced on the right.
We had some delicious vegetarian fare, as we stayed with my amazing old roommate Holly & her new roommates, and sat up late discussion fashion and hobbies and sewing.
Now, Claire & I have just finished disc 1 of Battlestar Galactica Season 3, the whole of which I must finish by April 4th at 10 pm, when season 4 begins. Have faith in me.
Also, we made enchiladas. Please enjoy the picture of our creation, along with some lovely Gaius Baltar (boo! hiss!). Mmm...delicious.
- Mood:
jubilant - Music:that sad fiddle music from bsg
I spent most of the time not enjoying the events, but recoiling in horror from whatever Laura Linney was put in, and I was miserable.
Let me say: I hate this. I love researching, and I love promoting an air of authenticity in what I wear to events & what I promote at the places I work, but at the same time, that authenticity comes at a cost: that I cannot enjoy the film.
That being said, the films that I have seen by reenactors that are purported as being 110% accurate have been the most boring films I have ever seen. Plot was sacrificed for accuracy (actually I'm not sure it was there to begin with) and my falling asleep was the result.
The photo above is a few friends from Williamsburg, dressed pitch-perfect accurately. [l to r: Amy, Holly, Brooke]
That being said, this high level of accuracy to me is more important for historic sites & museums than films. Of course, it's rarely, if ever, come to fruition, as even in Williamsburg, the supposed bastion of authenticity, there are people walking around in adulterated versions of garments. I tried, at Mount Vernon. I failed to convince anyone but the librarians, who I adored.
I put so much research into this slave clothing that I nearly went mad. I went through records of what slaves were issued on the outlying plantations (as opposed to the main house) and the scant images when people had deigned to represent field slaves in paintings. I found articles. It was long, laborious, and fruitless. Except for this photo, which I must say, is worth it:
But is it worth it? Do people even care -- or do they lump all "olde tyme" clothing together, creating a quixotic quest for those of us who do care?
It's the look, not the construction, that's important in films, and it's easy to achieve. Or so I think.
Yet it's the look I wish I didn't know about. I would rather I knew nothing, and be able to enjoy a film, than know everything and regret watching.
At least Battlestar Galactica is set in the future...
Day 3 we spent the morning wandering around Chinatown, buying tchotchkes and eating the most delicious potstickers at a restaurant called, understandably, The Pot Sticker.
This day being the wedding, our sightseeing was cut relatively short, as I dolled up, looking like some sort of 50s housewife, and headed out. I had seamed stockings! Made it down to Palo Alto, and to the church, almost running over half the groomsmen in the process (not really).
Perhaps the best part of the ceremony was, after the vows, Eric's old a cappella group from Stanford sang a hymn, and something with the way their voices just soared in the space -- I've talked about how this idea of harmony has been coming up, and that was the pitch-perfect example.
Writing about it now, I'm incredulous that this wedding actually happened. There was this feeling of the end of my childhood -- I simply adored Eric all throughout high school, so to now see him married (to a wonderful woman) is the first major sign that we all are, in fact, growing up. Well, some of us. I was seated at the reception with some old friends, a new friend, and an old boyfriend, all of whom I cherish, and haven't seen in ages. It was, again, like the last salute to our childhood & a sign of us growing-up, in a way that seems fitting.
So to end it, I submit our signatures - some faked, excuse us, but only 3 of us were in London - of our characters of Infernal Gaslamp, in the guest book at 221B Baker Street. These are the people I was so excited to see at the wedding, these are the ones that I will always hold close.
- Mood:
nostalgic
Day 1 is (kind-of) summarized here [at welcome to thomasville, the family blog] and I will add further explanations of strange stories.
For starters, after a lovely trip around Golden Gate Park, we were walking towards my cousin Amanda, who goes to school at the University of San Francisco. We started admiring this house, and a man standing outside, looking up at the house with arms crossed, asked us what we thought. Of course, it's a gorgeous Victorian...! He then proceeds to invite us inside to see the renovation he just completed! Want.
Also, here is proof we did not get lost (even though we trusted my sense of direction!) and managed to find the Japanese Tea Garden, which is absolutely breathtaking. I climbed a giant bridge -- and the picture is the view of Mom from the very tip-top.
Today we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf, and took a cable car to get there. We managed -- as is so typical with trips I take -- to get stuck twice, and had to be pushed by a truck with what appeared to be a trolley-plow attached to the front end.
However, we made it to the Wharf, and got denied to go to Alcatraz, so wandered instead, managing to find our way inside the Musée Mecanique, which is basically a warehouse full of olde-tyme coin-operated stereoscopic viewers and mechanical amusement goodness.
I present the mechanical Opium Den, which involved a dragon snaking its way into the scene, and an opium addict shuddering. Heh.
Also, here I am waching the UNKNOWN, which apparently, in the 1920s, just meant naked ladies with veils over parts of them. Fantastic.
Finally ended up at Ghiradelli's for ice cream sundaes.
On the way back, we attempted cable car again, and this time: success! Managed to snag Mom a seat in the front, and I hung on the outside, which was, of course, my intent from the beginning. Almost smacked into some car side mirrors, but managed the ride relatively unscathed.
For more pictures & things of that nature, I'll be posting to my flickr account. Link specifically to SF photos here
- Location:san francisco
- Mood: accomplished
At any rate, here's my most recent post.
"Would anyone else like to profess their undying love to me? Thank you. Get in line." -Sara W.
Ah, romance. Apparently not only not dead, but completely and utterly skewed. The esteemed Sara W. from Gettysburg has joined my blogroll, with her blog: next time wipe your mouth before you lie to my face - a long title, but behind it a fantastic story about a cannoli! Sara, like me, appreciates a good (& awkward) story, and as she's a server currently, she racks them up.
It has been a week of proposals of love. Sara has gotten a few -- one of which I watched via iChat! -- and Claire was proposed to via me, by an acquaintance who had gotten a look at her art. Claire mistook the proposal for a proposal for art, which scared her (as she's full up preparing for her own senior show) but fortunately it was merely undying love.
Let's add to this that I have been invited as a +1 to a yet another wedding where I do not know the couple. I was invited, and I quote, like this: "Well, the best man is an old boyfriend of mine, and I know how you like awkward moments, so..."
Swear. Of course I said yes! Apparently I am some sort of go-to person for this.
Of course, this weekend I have a wedding for which I have actually received an invitation for - that of my very good friend Eric (who blogs, too, and has for ages!) This means I've added more thoughts on marriage in my (kind-of-daily) study of the Lesson, in preparation for the wedding. Eric has always been one of the most spiritual men I know, and his insights are astounding. Because of that, I've been really focusing on this clear idea of love as my prayers for their upcoming wedding and life together.
Mary Baker Eddy devoted a whole chapter on marriage (fortunately) so I have quite a bit to work with, but I love her ideas of masculine and feminine qualities uniting to create completeness.
"These different [masculine & feminine] elements cojoin naturally with each other, and their true harmony is in spiritual oneness. Both sexes should be loving, pure, tender, and strong. " -S&H p. 57
I like the end. It's so simple, and I like that those four qualities are the overlap between the masculine & feminine, because they're not necessarily qualities we ascribe to both sides, and I think what MBE is saying here is that we should remember that. There's also this element of harmony, which has been coming up in my reading recently, and I love that idea that a couple is coming together harmoniously, like notes in a chord.
- Mood: contemplative
http://localbavarde.blogspot.com
...if you're so inclined. I am... perhaps a sporadic blogger.
I apologize.
:)
- Location:woodland hills, ca
- Mood: contemplative
- Music:hello, goodnight :: the aquabats
