July 2009
1 tag
reunion!
(Source) Alexis’ outfit is a little busted (and Lorelai was wearing a romper, though she worked it.), but so cool to see them together again! Maybe they were chatting about a Gilmore Girls movie?
2 tags
July 31
My poor camera took two pretty nasty spills, but fortunately was still working, so he decided to take a self-portrait. We have a love-hate relationship; it’s a clunker and not particularly good, but I like that I can program the settings and I have a level of familiarity with the camera that I like. I am pretty desperate, however, to get my hands on a film camera or two.
5 tags
things i like lately, volume two
- devouring fresh cherries, usually standing over a bowl in the kitchen - daydreaming about yet more travel (though sadly knowing it’s not any kind of foreseeable reality) - popcorn! still. - french press coffee, courtesy of my brand new french press - ruffles (on clothing, not the chips. though i could see why you’d think i meant the chips, as most of this list is food-oriented....
2 tags
floridians on obama
spotted: little old lady, curlers still in, driving (slowly) down the interstate in a white minivan. bumper sticker reads: “I supported Barack Obama before it was cool to Support Barack Obama.” (Odd capitalization preserved.) spotted: presumable redneck in pickup truck, driving (very quickly) up the interstate in a red pickup truck. bumper sticker reads: “OBAMA SUCKS.”...
2 tags
July 30
Finally bought myself a french press, in preparation for the inordinate amount of work I expect to do during my first year of law school. I made a tasty cup of light roast Mexican. Yum.
2 tags
July 29
Probably my last time at Lido Beach for quite a while.
1 tag
sports talk: tim tebow on saving himself for...
“Yes, I am. I think y’all are stunned right now. Y’all can’t even ask a question. Look at this. The first time ever. Wow. I mean, I was ready for any question, but I don’t think y’all were though.” -Tim Tebow, when asked by a member of the media, “Tim, you [wear] your religion on your sleeve … I just wonder, and I think a lot of people do, are...
3 tags
sports talk: navi on his head injury
“I ain’t going to get any more crazy.” -Dioner Navarro, on why he didn’t have any concerns about after effects from being struck in the mask by a foul ball. (Source) That’s my boy.
3 tags
July 28
Headed downtown for an event too embarassing to mention explicitly. The one benefit of getting caught in bad traffic was that I was able to lean out the window and grab this one. Oh, I just love the minarets!
3 tags
July 27
I love the bottle races at the Trop. Mom roots for Aquafina (calorie-free), and Dad likes Pepsi, so I root for Sierra Mist by default, even though I’m not a big fan. Just like in baseball, you win some, you lose some.
1 tag
"Death and Life of Dash Snow, Artist, Addict and...
“When the artist Dash Snow died of an overdose on July 13, stoned and alone at the Lafayette House in the East Village, detectives found the following items in his room: an empty can of Amstel Light, an empty can of Heineken, an empty bottle of Bacardi rum, three used syringes and 13 glassine envelopes emptied of heroin. … It was a gruesome end — a pathetic end — for an artist and...
image source “I tend not to go for the very pretty ones. I prefer the quirkier types, the ones who are a little weird.” -Rupert Grint That’s about all I need to hear to fall in awkward, geeky, weird love with Ron Weasley.
2 tags
July 26
This movie probably would have caught my eye even without Joaquin’s antics on Letterman. Seriously great movie, highly recommended. I think I’m one of the only people that likes the ending, which makes me feel a little weird.
2 tags
July 25
The second best thing, maybe, about going to Chipotle is lemon water, and afterward getting to eat the lemons in the car. Unfortunately I think I’m giving up on lemons for the most part because my teeth and their enamel are in enough trouble as it is.
2 tags
July 24
Creepy things found in other people’s houses, volume two.
3 tags
July 23
I’m kind of into technology, but I don’t really text. (Nor do I txt.) I was sitting this weekend for two teenagers, though, who said that they really only communicate via text messaging. So I had to learn. It took me about seven minutes to type in this message, and then I somehow turned on some kind of “smart” text and signed my name as “Tutu.” Great.
3 tags
July 22
I’m back in love with Chipotle. (My burrito: usually a bowl, sometimes with one soft taco shell in the bottom; black beans, rice, corn salsa, hot salsa, guacamole, and lettuce.)
From tbt*. This post is dedicated to my pal Gloria, who posts, among other gems, lots of really cool balloon photos. Also, I really need to see Up.
NYC Prep
I’ve tried to keep my embarrassing love of really bad television from you, readers, but NYC Prep is so bad, it’s good, and I’ve got to set aside my pride to share a few gems with you. A few episodes ago, Sebastian, a 15-year-old wannabe hustler/surfer, visited Kelli, an aspiring singer, at the Hamptons during winter break. She likes him, he like Taylor (more on her in a second),...
2 tags
July 21
Onward and upward with my eighty-five cent frozen beverage obsession. This has the potential to fundamentally alter that which remains of my summer.
1 tag
Photo from, you guessed it, google.com I am totally in love with google, and its googlers. (Maybe I should pack up and move out to Mountain View and try to find me a man.) Today’s google illustration for the anniversary of the lunar landing is so adorable.
3 tags
July 20
I’ll go ahead and admit that I generally only drive through downtown after going to Anthropologie, which is a couple of miles away. I like driving through downtown, and I think it’s a little quicker. I got stopped at a light, and I was glad that I was able to take this one of Tampa’s “beer can” building. We keep it classy, y’all. I also came home with a few...
1 tag
on prayer
I went to synagogue Friday evening for the first time in a very long while. I was pretty religious in middle school and early in high school, and then became less so in my last few years of high school and during college. Being back at synagogue, or celebrating holidays at home or with family friends always feels really familiar and comfortable, and I know that I enjoy the ritualistic and cultural...
2 tags
July 19
Stopped to pick up tamales on my way home at El Taconazo, aka the taco bus, our favorite local Mexican place. I always want to try out my rusty Spanish skills, but get nervous at the last second.
3 tags
July 18
I headed to a new fro yo place with a coworker and his friends. I was really nervous about meeting a bunch of new people, but it went pretty well and I think I did well with the socializing stuff. Super impressed, even though I don’t eat yogurt, with GreenBerry. Genius name, too.
2 tags
July 17
I stopped at a Race Track gas station away from my usual route to fill up my tank. A sign advertised thirty-two ounce “frozen beverages” for eighty-five cents. Right up my alley, so I headed in, dollar in hand. As I checked out, I told the cashier how excited I was. Such a good deal! “I love slurpees… err, frozen beverages,” I told her. My Friday nights are super fun...
2 tags
July 16
I’ve got pretty bad bike lust. My mom just got a new bike and I can’t help coveting her old one, pictured above, which I’ve gotten to ride quite a bit. I’ve been doing a little hinting and posturing to try to get my mitts on it. We’ll see how that goes.
1 tag
spectacles
I’m having big time glasses drama. I finally broke down and got a new pair of glasses a year and a half ago, and promptly left them at a guesthouse in Costa Rica last summer. Despite the composition of some decent e-mails en espanol, my glasses never made their way back to me, so I’m stuck again with the old ones. I’m not really ready to deal with the hassle of finding a new...
2 tags
July 15
I was really excited to make my first batch of soup since being home. Above, an extra spicy bowl of curried carrot soup. Yum.
4 tags
July 14
Made a batch of cherry-almond scones, my first time making the treats. They’re super easy. We watched Stranger than Fiction a couple of days earlier, and I realized that I’m simultaneously terrified and delighted at the thought that I could very well end up like Ana Pascal.
2 tags
July 13
Happened upon a bottle of Cheerwine, a popular soda generally only available in North Carolina, at my local produce stand. It was tasty, but somehow knowing that it was no longer limited to only one state made it a little less special.
1 tag
finally
Finally started uploading my pictures.
2 tags
europe, the ugly
- Speedos - Mullets (Endearingly, though, they’re worn in earnest, and not for the sake of being ironic. This doesn’t, however, make up for the fact that they’re simply hideous.) - Older Czech women’s dyed hair in outrageous shades of magenta, tangerine, and crimson. - Tacky clothing - Communist-era architecture (with a few exceptions.) I’m keeping this list short...
europe, the bad
Because no one’s perfect… - Paying to pee - Dog shit on the sidewalks, everywhere - Slightly creepy men - The German language - Paying four Euro for a (teeny-tiny, but admittedly delicious—see Europe, the good) cup of coffee - Horse burgers, in Ljubljana - Saying “soya,” rather than “soy” - Rampant smoking (I forgot what it was like to have someone smoking...
2 tags
europe, the good
As a preface, this list will of course remain incomplete. There are probably too many good things about Europe to ever be able to name them all, especially as I haven’t visited many of its countries. - The architecture - Custard and cream cakes (The Krem Rezina in Lake Bled made me wish very briefly that I wasn’t vegan. Thankfully, Napfenyes Izek in Budapest has a killer custard cake...
1 tag
the slurpee that wasn't
Thank goodness the years seem shorter as I get older, because I have another three hundred and sixty-four days until July 11th comes around again. I know it’s terribly hip to like slurpees, but I’ve really been obsessed for the longest time. In high school, my best friend drove around talking about nothing, coke slurpees in hand. I didn’t realize until later that it was a Thing we did. I first...
2 tags
July 12
I didn’t get myself much on my trip, other than of course some great experiences, but this bag from perhaps the most perfect bookstore in Krakow was a steal at 5 zlotny (about $1.66) I took it out for the first time to get a coffee at Starbucks, and it turned out my barista was from Poland!
1 tag
July 11
Met my Mom for my beloved once-monthly Vietnamese vegan buffet, where diners wear name tags. This opens up the unfortunate opportunity for semi-creepy older men to wink and say, “hey there, Tamara.” Yuck.
3 tags
July 10
My first Rays game since my trip. The row in front of us won tickets for free Hebrew National hot dogs. The camera crew told them to hold the coupons up as the camera scanned over them. I wished I had more time, and the necessary materials, to scribble a hasty “go veg” sign. Alas.
2 tags
July 9
I’m generally pretty proud of my resistance to jet lag, but this time around, perhaps since I was away for so long, my sleep schedule is really messed up. Staying up until 10:45 was a major feat.
1 tag
July 8
It feels so strange to be back under my own patch of sky.
3 tags
July 7
Back home. Contrary to my usual habit, I started unpacking as soon as I got home.
4 tags
July 6 - Dublin, Ireland
It was strange to be back in Dublin, where I had spent the day at the beginning of my trip. We saw most of the same things that I had visited five weeks earlier. I was pretty sad about my trip coming to a close, but tried not to get too depressed. Here’s Oscar Wilde in Merrion Square Park, the very last picture from my trip.
4 tags
July 5 - Dingle, Ireland
We explored Dingle in the morning and then headed over Connor’s Pass, where we could see to the water on either side of the peninsula, on our way back to Dublin.
4 tags
July 4 - Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
We drove from Kinsale to An Daingean, arriving around three-thirty. We decided to drive the peninsula route that evening instead of contending with the tour buses the next morning. We had the roads and vistas all to ourselves.
5 tags
July 3 - Kinsale, Ireland
We rode bikes in the area around Kinsale, making our way out to Old Head and Garrettstown beach. We had to stop when we came across these super-cute, super-friendly cows. (Later, I actually got into a cow pasture, but the moo-moos there weren’t quite as friendly.)
4 tags
July 2 - Durrow, Ireland
After a rough night sleeping in the Dublin airport, I met my Mom and we set out for Kinsale, in county Cork. We stopped along the way in cute towns. We especially liked Durrow, where we saw nuns moseying into hair salons, met friendly dogs, and got to pet a pony.
5 tags
July 1 - Olomouc, Czech Republic
Olomouc’s two art museums are free on Wednesdays, so I visited both before departing the continent for Dublin, via a brief stopover back in Prague. I especially liked the museum of contemporary art, which had a special exhibit on Czech book cover design during the twentieth century, and an upstairs exhibit on the work of Eduard Ovcacek, a Moravian artist whose work incorporates...
