Saturday

My thoughts on listening to this: Oh thank God.

Also: I really like (ahem) that he says the word like so often when he talks. I have gotten flak for this, and occasionally feel self-conscious about the fact that I still talk like a teenager. Then I notice that lots of people do it, and it is not actually any worse than saying um or uh.

So, like, I am going to be okay with it.

Clip found via dustincurtis.com.

Summering it up

What I've been up to: working and summering it up (which I define as doing nothing but enjoying the sunshine and drinking the occasional beer).

As such, my brain is on a bit of a sabbatical, but here are a few things I've been excited about lately.

(500) Days of Summer. Loved it. Adorable. Delightful. 9/10.

Pasta with garlic, anchovies, and red pepper flakes. I ate it two nights in a row last week. In order to feel more virtuous I also boiled myself an egg, and on the second night I added a bunch of broccoli florets to the pasta. This is among my favourite meals of all time.

Julie and Julia. Can't wait. I love Amy Adams. And the guy who plays her boyfriend/husband (?) whose name I didn't know until just now (it is Chris Messina), but who I adored in Ira and Abby.

Reading The Giant's House - not finished yet, so I can't put in a final judgement, but the book has already lodged itself in my heart with passages like the following.

People think librarians are unromatic, unimaginative. This is not true. We are people whose dreams run in particular ways. Ask a mountain climber what he feels when he sees a mountain; a lion tamer what goes through his mind when he meets a new lion; a doctor confronted with a beautiful malfunctioning body. The idea of a library full of books, the books full of knowledge, fills me with fear and love and courage and endless wonder (p. 8).

So You Think You Can Dance - the week before last week included my two favourite dances of the season so far, the addiction one (which made me cry) and this Argentine Tango.

Cherry pie.

Amazing cupcakes. And I don't even really like cupcakes. (Usually.)

photos by Lyndsay Sung (all of them. there are more. after the writing. a lot more.)

Cupcakes: usually meh. Not that I don't love sugar and butter, but I prefer it in a different ratio (and with more accoutrements) than you find in most of these little sugar highs. And yes, they're cute - but I am something of a minimalist. Why I think my wardrobe should be echoed by my diet, I'm not sure, but somehow a lack of frills on my dresses has also presented itself as a lack of frills on my desserts.

But then I saw pictures of coco cake cupcakes. And I read the flavours (lemon cake with lemon creamcheese frosting; dark chocolate cake with peppermint buttercream; raspberry jam filled coconut cake with vanilla creamcheese frosting and more coconut on top; delighted sigh from me). I might have been converted. I guess I should probably taste them, but even if they don't taste as good as they sound and look (and I'm pretty sure they do - I can just feel it), they are little pieces of art; I will adore them just the same.

Someone in Vancouver please have some kind of event that involves cupcakes, please order these ones, and please invite me.

(yes. these have matcha icing.)

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod

I have to have the ampersand necklace featured here. How am I going to get it? Oh no. Want. Want.

(found via oh joy!)