Big Stuff Is Happening Really Soon

So today I'm leaving for Manhattan for the rest of the summer. As I packed, my cat, Nicholai, demanded to be taken as a stowaway:



He's very persuasive, but I can't even begin to think how he'll fair with the heat of the luggage cabin. He'll be a cat-kabob by the time we land.

In celebration, my best friend Lauren (http://welcomehomesophie.blogspot.com/) took me to the Propylaeum for a last brunch. If you haven't been there, and are even CLOSE to the vicinity of Indianapolis, I beg of you: please go here. You will forever be enchanted by the intricate tea cups, elegant bathrooms and grand staircases.

Here are some pictures from the event:






And now I must go, because my plane is taking off without me and I must go catch it.
See you all in New York!

Oh yes, lots has happened lately. I've...

uh...

worked. And taken up running and eating loads and loads of flax seed and italian food. That's essentially it, really. I've also found several serious oddities my grandmother collected. Among the piles of ceramic rabbits and homemade witch dolls, I unearthed something truly bizzare. They are frogs:



...with human genitalia



I believe they are cuban from the 1940s. I have no idea what to make of them, except that I keep showing them to any guest that happens upon my house. For the most part, though, I have to keep them hush-hush. God knows I'll degenerate the youth of rich upper-east Indianapolis with my perverse sexfrogs and be run out of town with flaming pitchforks.

Oh well, I'm leaving soon anyway. That's right! Six days until my big NYC adventure. I'm thrilled. Aaah...the culture, the public transportation, the food...

Speaking of food, and as I've said earlier in this post, I have frequented several italian restaurants since being home for the summer. My favorites thus far have been Iaria's and Buca Di Beppo's. I think as far as food goes, Iaria's won. I cannot fathom how good their Chicken Drogato or Chicken Piccata was. I wish I could go bovine and have four stomachs just to consume their food. However, Buca's atmosphere, ceasar salad, and free cake helps to put it on a pedestal. That's right. Free cake. Justin took me about a week ago, and our waiter asked if we were celebrating anything. "Life," we answered. We asked if there was a "Celebrate Life" cake, and he said he could work something out.




I'm leaving you all with a few choice songs that really inspire a summer-y attitude in me. Enjoy them as I have.




Os Alquimistas Estao Chegando Os Alquimistas by Jorge Ben


Jessica by the Allman Brothers


Cet Air-La by France Gall


The World's Green Laughter by the B52s


He's a Bad Boy by Carole King

Summer:What?

So I've been not very diligent about keeping this blog regularly updated. But here we go-one big swoop!

Things have been slightly crazy around this part of the midwest lately. Yesterday, I was driving in a car with my mother and brother, and huge chunks of hail started falling from the sky. The car was driven under a gas station and we waited until it cleared up. As we drove back towards my neighborhood, we noticed that several houses had gaping holes in them, and there were trees knocked over and car windows shattered. It hit so much harder toward my parent's house! Our deck chairs had been knocked into their pool and all of the windows in the front of our house were shattered.Here's a little peak at the size of the hail:



All of those dots in the grass are hail balls as well.

Dumb summer storms.

Otherwise, I've been working begrudgingly at a cafe near my parents house and helping my mother put together a garage sale. It's sad to part with nostalgic things. I simply had to rescue the stuffed tiger my father gave me 1988, no one would love him the same way I did.

My grandfather offered to give us some stuff to sell at the garage sale, and yesterday I went to his house to collect the goods. I love going to their house, because my grandmother was a pack rat. It's like a museum in there! Each time I go, I find myself taking little oddities to remind me of her.

Remind me of her, because last year she died. I loved my grandmother dearly, and I miss her so very much. She grew up in Alabama during the great depression and lived in Indianapolis during WWII, where she danced with soldiers at USO parties. When you looked at her hands, and into her eyes you saw so much heartbreak, love, and warmth. I've been collecting things and made a mini shrine to her



That is a depression-era glass vase, a picture of her when she was in her twenties, and a 1950's wallet I found buried in a chest in her house.

And this is her turban, something I've been wearing more and more of:

Recyclable

My parents are going to put on a show-stopping garage sale in the next few weeks, but because there are bags of unwanted shirts laying around the house I got my grubby little hands on a couple.

I made the following tunic out of my brother's old dress shirt:






And, yes, that's all I've accomplished thus far on my summer break.

flodder

One thing I absolutely adore about spring are the flowers. Today, I moved from campus back to my hometown, but before I left campus I got the chance to take some pictures of the various forms of flora.

I would thoroughly enjoy living in small house in a garden, surrounded by big, beautiful blooms. My favorites are tulips, poppies and peonies. What are yours?








oh, and here I am...sitting by my window and pondering the streets thoughtfully (as I often do). I'm taking this moment to remark that I have been taking extra good care of my skin lately, and I think I'm starting to really see an improvement.

What I wore today

It was the first day where I could leave the house without the aid of a coat or at least a cardigan. 83 whole degrees!

Here is the celebration attire:



Although when I left the house, I noticed all the trees on my block had been cut down over night to put in new power lines.
It disheartened me until I rounded the street corner and saw a field of little purple flowers, and then it seemed like every tree was in full celebration mode. Flowers, glorious smells. And tonight, I'm going to a carnival! Very recently, as in the past ten minutes, I almost caught my boyfriend's kitchen on fire. Apparently putting a brownie in the microwave for a minute results in some disastrous things.

Sex and the Sushi

My darling boyfriend took me to a sushi steakhouse last sunday. We ate tempura and rice and drank sake. It was a lovely distraction from my constant monetary woes and tragic morning news reports.