Sunday, February 27, 2011

Books

I have yet to post about my love for books.  The problem lies not in my lack of words on the subject but rather in the overabundance of them.  I can't seem to find the time to write out a comprehensive description of why I love them.  For my papers this term I have been writing a lot about the destruction of books (a topic suggested by a fellow bibliophile).  The history of book burning and the systematic destruction of books is fascinating (so much so that I get carried away by reading as the hours pass by in a flash leaving me with less time to write my paper and more books added to my reading list).  Suffice to say I should be writing for school at this moment and not on here so I will leave you with a quote I just came across and enjoyed:

"Of all man's instruments, the most astonishing is, without any doubt, the book.  The others are extensions of his body.  The microscope, the telescope, are extensions of his eyes; the telephone an extension of his voice; then we have the plow and the sword, extensions of his arm.  But the book is something else; the book is an extension of memory and imagination"
~Jorge Luis Borges

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Flower Power

For my birthday Aby is giving me a plant.  She knows me well!  I love plants and flowers :)

My current plant collection

Gardens I like 

The gardens I walk through frequently

Today when I walked out of school, this was what I saw across the road...soooo beautiful and so refreshing to see life coming around again!


Wandering through the gardens and estates in England is so much fun.  Even more so when I go with people who know all about them so I can learn the names and the families and all that fun stuff.  Go plants!!!!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Spreadsheets!

I don't know how to expand on this love without a) boring you or b) going one giant leap beyond the current level of nerdery on here.  So let's just say, I really love spreadsheets.  I love learning new formulas, messing with macros, and spending hours on formatting.

If these don't get your (creative) juices flowing I don't know what possibly could!!!



 

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Catch Up

I feel bad for getting behind so much on my I Love theme for the month so I feel obligated to tell you what has been going on that has prevented me from keeping more up to date with you.  Normally I try not to make my posts be a more tame, internet-friendly version of a journal entry but it might sound a little like that.  Hopefully I can keep it brief :)

Monday, February 14, 2011

I Heart Nerds!


I really do.  Perhaps it ties to my love of books, literature and words.  Perhaps it is because nerds often don't realize how cool they are which makes them even cooler.  Perhaps it is because I was raised by two big nerds (one a book nerd and one a number nerd).  Whatever the reason, I find myself happiest when I spend time discussing books (from Gaiman to Flaubert), playing video games, debating the issues in the latest copy of the Economist, sharing new and exciting excel formulas, or participating in the world's most epic word game (involving disgusting amount of puns and inside jokes) with nerds.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Green Goblin For the Win

Apologies for the delay in posting.  Sure, it will look as if I posted this on Feb 9th but that is a lie.  I haven't given you any Love for four days.  The reason?  Another one of my loves.  Cider.  Ok, don't start calling AA to find local meetings.  I haven't been drinking for four days straight.  I've just somehow ended up with a cider in my hand the last few evenings.  I blame T entirely for one of those nights haha!  Or perhaps it was Collin's fault.  Either way, that was sincerely one of the more fun bike rides home.  Cycling home with a happy buzz and a little bit of mist cooling my face was quite enjoyable.  But that's not the story of this post.  Onto the Cider!!!!!!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Cuteness

A dangerous, deadly, and evil blog I frequent reminded me today of another thing I love: cute.

I love cute.  The posed pictures are generally lame (not this one though haha!) and some people think any photo of their cat is adorable.  But more often than I would like to admit I squeal a bit when I look at this website.  Tiny?  Fluffy?  Ridiculous?  Puppy?? Bring it.

But why should "cute" get all the attention.  Who says you can only be loveable if you have soft hair and floppy ears?  Ugly is cute too :)  

Ok, I know you have been waiting for it so I will also throw this blog in the mix.  Cute, yes?!  Ok, not so much cute as completely hot but still.  Good times.


Monday, February 7, 2011

One Man's Garbage

I don't really know how to categorize some of my loves except to say that others might think them odd.

Two that come to mind are:

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Strawberry Moraine

I love my parents' house.  I love that there is no way to get into it without crossing a stream, sneaking through trees, or wandering through the rose garden.  I love the pond, the fish, and the ducks.  I love the waterlilies and the the bog iris.  I love the ivy that has matured into a lush blanket across the entryway.  I love the flowers, the leaves, and the life.  I love the burning bushes, the columbines, the rosebuds, and the trees.  I love the scrub oak.  I love the aspens (especially the one that arches over the deck).  I love that we've built everything in the yard from scratch: the pond, the walkways, the decks, the gazebo, the stairs, the firepit, the stream. 

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Lynn Wilson - Green Label

Only one person I know shares my love for Lynn Wilson's Bean & Cheese Burrito with Green Chili.  It might be that we are actually the only two in the world because I couldn't even find a picture of that particular variety.   Here is a photo of an inferior burrito instead - picture it in green and you are pretty much there:

Friday, February 4, 2011

Ice + Water = Bliss


I've been told that even as a baby I loved chewing on ice (apparently I am not alone either).  Urban legend claims that this is an indication of sexual frustration (as does label-peeling and paper tearing which I do regularly).  More reliable sources suggest it is caused by low iron.  Whatever the reason I love it.  I don't seek it out with a crazed look in my eye like some of those in the link above but I do enjoy it when I get the chance.  At restaurants, servers will often try to take my glass away once the liquid is gone which always leads to an awkward, "oh, yeah, i'm not done with that actually," moment.  The art is to leave the ice in the water/juice/root beer long enough for it to get soft.  Then drink the drink quickly before the ice actually melts away.  Then, of course, eat the ice -if you can get that one last piece unstuck from the bottom of the glass that is.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Perfidious Albion, Angleterre, Home

Well folks, it's official.  I have lived in England for six months today.  Can you even freakin believe that!?  I certainly can't.  This time last year I was running around trying to get my visa sorted out.  Those were the days.  As promised, I won't post about my anniversary every single month for the time I live here.  Six months is a landmark though.  My visa is good for 18 months so essentially today marks 33.33% of the time I am guaranteed to live here.  After that who knows what will be happening.  That scares me a lot because I am not done doing the things I want to do and seeing the things I want to see.  And on top of that I still have so much with school I want to achieve.  Ahhhhhhh!!!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Simpler Times

In January I went to Geneva where I heard Sam Cooke's Wonderful World playing in one of the cafes we visited.  Makes perfect sense, right?: an iconic American oldie in one of the world's more international and modern cities.  Oddly, that simple tune had the power to transform the atmosphere of the scene.  What was at first a cool, hip, monochrome coffee bar suddenly transformed in my mind to a 50's diner.  The stools at the bar changed from brown suede to red leather, the servers' uniforms from black to white, and the world suddenly got simpler.  I wasn't thinking about the heavy topics we had been discussing two minutes earlier, I was thinking about penny candy stores, slingshots, and kids covered in dirt.  I am sure the 50's were not as I picture them.  They have been frozen that way by movies and literature which have created a consensus definition for the decade.  But there is something about the music of that time that I absolutely love.  Maybe it's the tentative optimism of a nation looking to heal from the pain of the war?  There's just something so sadly sweet about it.  



In that vein, here are some oldies that I love (also, if I had lived then I would have been in the background singing "wah wah wah waaahhhh," "doooo op," and "bop bop ooooooh")


Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Crusty Bits

While I brainstormed for this February project, I noticed a theme.  Food.  Food that is crunchy.  Food that is slightly burnt and crunchy.  It looks like this category fills a whole post on its own.