Of-The-Moment Roundup: 1st edition

For some reason I feel the need to explain this post. I consume a lot of things on a daily basis -- books, movies, TV, music, blogs, articles, food. To be honest, these things make up a lot of who I am even more than static things like my job, my location, even my relationships. So I just thought I'd do a roundup of what I'm looking at and listening to these days!

Books of the Moment:

Little Girl Blue: the life of Karen Carpenter

 I'm a closet Carpenters fan and couldn't resist picking this up when I saw it at the library.

Zombies vs. Unicorns

 This one's a Big Deal in YA Fiction right now. It's pretty hilarious, way better than Geektastic, the last anthology Holly Black edited

To Teach: the journey, in comics

I saw this on a "back to school" display at the library and it piqued my curiosity. So far: good, but I don't get why it's in the YA section.

Movies of the Moment:

Girl With a Pearl Earring

I first saw this movie as a freshman in college and I really didn't like it, but in retrospect I think I was just jeals of ScarJo. I saw it again the other day and I quite enjoyed the cinematography (read: Cillian Murphy.)

Kick-Ass

I enjoyed every minute of this movie. I finished the comic in one sitting and absolutely had to watch the movie that same day.

Songs of the Moment:

Belief by John Mayer

I never used to like this one but I finally started to connect to the lyrics recently.

i thank You God by The Western Wind

My sister did this song in All-State Choir and it continues to be one of my favorite songs of all time. This week in particular I just couldn't get it out of my head.

TV of the Moment:

Buffy Season 3
I am loving me some Buffy. I'm slowly making my way through the whole series.

Dr. Who -Ninth Dr.
My god, why didn't anyone strap me down to a chair and force me to watch Dr. Who before? I'm officially hooked, and luckily I have like 31 seasons to catch up on.

How I Met Your Mother
See above, please, except that I'm almost done season 4 and will soon have to wait for episodes on a weekly basis.

Webcomics of the Moment

Goblins
D&D in-jokes FTW!

Blogs of the Moment:

A Practical Wedding
 This is my new obsession. Legit. 

New German Girl
Heather's spending a year as an au pair in Germany and I'm basically living vicariously through her escapades.

Stephany Writes
She's honest, authentic and thought-provoking. I'm really glad I caught wind of her blog, cause it's one of my favorites.

And, what the hell, just for fun:

Snacks of the Moment:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
In honor of fall! Plus I just had one of these from Whole Foods the other day and it kind of changed my life.

Weekend Recap!

Friday:
Errands (BOO)
Dinner @ Bertucci's with Linds, Dru, and K.
Late-night chatting at my place

Saturday:
Work (BOO)
The Kibitz Room with Matt (I briefly broke my meat fast for a couple bites of their glorious overstuffed reuben!)
Short trip to the mall in search of Halloween costume components
Bowling and game night! (see pictures)

Sunday:
Whole Foods with Mumsie and Pop-sicle for lunch and groceries
D&D FEST at Scotty and Jewel's YES

I knew it was going to be a crazy weekend when K told me she was coming home for the weekend. As the only member of our posse who doesn't live in the area, a visit home from her always means people tend to come out of the woodwork to see her. Maybe also because she is an amazing photographer and always takes these great candids that make all of us look like models. Maybe not. Anyway, she hasn't posted her pics to Facebook yet, so you'll have to settle for mine.

Linds and Dru.

Me and K and a carafe of sangria in the foreground.

This is our favorite game. It's called "Watch K Do Charades."

That's April (not her real name, but she'd approve) on the left and Dru on the right. We were really playing Cranium, but the whole reason we even play that game is to -- wait for it -- Watch K Do Charades.

I managed to completely leave Scotty, Jewel, Matt, and my friend Mara out of the pictures, but that's cause I was too busy hysterically laughing. 

Also, we played our second favorite game, Eat Poop You Cat! It's like Whisper Down the Lane, but a billion times more amazing. If you feel like laughing I recommend you visit the website (NSFW in some cases).

How was your weekend?

stave it off, 1-2-3

It's been a sort of gross three days or so (we're neck-deep in hurricane season here so it's been rainy and windy since Sunday) and although I wouldn't say I have Seasonal Affective Disorder or anything, four straight days without sunshine can get a girl down. While I did my fair share of wallowing yesterday (with Matt over a couple of beers) and it does have its merits, I'm trying to refrain from excessive self-pitying as much as possible. So in order to stave off the cloudy-weather blues, I'm focusing on exciting things that are coming up. I think you know what that means.

IT'S BULLETED LIST TIME

• My co-worker Alice (not her real name, but she'd approve) and I just got the go-ahead to plan and run a Harry Potter Palooza Party in November and we are SO EXCITED. And we JUST CAN'T HIDE IT. Children of the library, prepare yourselves for butterbeer (non-alcoholic, of course), pretzel stick wands, Quidditch relay races, and a library-wide dragon egg hunt! (Like I said, SO EXCITED.)
• I'm in the process of re-arranging, re-organizing, and re-decorating my bedroom in my parent's house. I'm talking new bedspread and linens, new headboard, new desk, extra storage, the whole shebang. Because unless someone steps up as an anonymous benefactor and decides to deposit several thousand dollars in my bank account on a monthly basis, I'm gonna be living in that room until I finish graduate school. And while the World of Van Gogh theme that I chose 9 years ago worked for me when I was 15, I'm kind of over it now. Dammit. I hate it when my parents are right.
• AWESOME NEWS ALERT: Matt gets a whole week of paid vacation time starting in March, and to celebrate the first vacation he's had in two years, he and I are stealing away on a 7-night cruise to the Bahamas. Yeah. It's like. I don't even. I've never been to the Bahamas and I've never been on a cruise and I'm beyond myself with excitement. It's not until May, but that won't stop me from obsessively researching every aspect of cruising, or imagining myself lying out on some white sand beach, or fantasizing about eating steak and cheesecake at midnight before going bowling and nightswimming and then ordering BLTs via room service. 

Ahhhh. That's much better. Now if this stupid weather doesn't let up, I think I'll be able to handle it.

But seriously, Weather Fairies. Make it stop or I'll smush you.

gorram ruttin' reavers

Last Halloween I was working the library's Halloween Party and I dressed up as a friendly witch and painted ghost and Frankenstein faces onto 7-year-olds.

So. This year I'm off on Halloween and I want to be as horrifying as possible. Scotty and Jewel are throwing a Whedonverse party and my costume choice was obvious. I'm going as a Reaver, AKA the brutal and animalistic space barbarians from Firefly.

That's hot. 

That picture is the most prevalent image of a Reaver on the Internet. It's like pulling teeth trying to find a good solid shot of one, let alone a female Reaver. So I'm gonna base my costume off of these two gems I found:

[Totally had to remove this one 'cause it came from a site that's infected with Malware apparently. Ugh.]

I like this one because a) it's an actual costume worn by a female Reaver in Serenity (to which the movie production geek in me says: OMGMGMGMGMG) and b) it's a great reference point as to the color scheme and aesthetic that I should aim for.

OK, first of all, that is one badass chick. Second of all, it's really impressive without being too elaborate. I feel like I could put together a costume like this without having to go to a Ren Faire, is what I'm saying.

My search starts this week and I'm little-kid giddy about it. I'll keep you guys updated as I find stuff!

Too soon?

So two weeks ago one of my co-workers caught me lusting over engagement rings online.

This was her reaction: *crazy grin* UH OH!!!
This was my reaction: *quickly minimizes all windows* I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT! I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!

But I do want to talk about it. I just didn't want to, you know, talk about it with my co-workers. I allowed them to ask ONE question: How long have you been dating? (Answer: 3 years.) They nodded and seemed impressed, but I could have sworn it was the amused, affectionate kind of impressed that really just means they think I'm adorable, all fantasizing about big-girl things like COMMITMENT and DOMESTIC BLISS.

Then my mom stumbled upon what probably looked to her like a guest list because... well, it kind of looked like a guest list (it was really just a list of all of the people we know, though) and according to my sister, thought the whole concept was all sorts of hilarious. Fabulous.

So, Discretion FAIL on my behalf, because I keep on browsing wedding blogs at work and leaving wedding-related stuff all over my house and telling every damn person I know that IT'S ON THE HORIZON. Even though it's not really on the horizon because it'll most likely be another two years before we actually tie the proverbial knot. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut until it's a done deal.

Sundry Summer 2010

Pictures from my first summer out in the Real World:

John Mayer concert at the Camden Waterfront with my sister, BFF, and Matt (not pictured).

Lots of D&D with Scotty and Jewel and their kitty:

Kitty liked my Homestar Runner messenger bag:

First Phillies game since 5th grade: 

Fun and games in Hilton Head, SC:

And one last hurrah in Ocean City, NJ:

Ah, summer. I shall miss you. 

sometimes i write haiku.

I just got back from my annual family vacation in South Carolina and I can't believe how much energy I have. I unpacked all of my bags, a task I usually drag out for an entire month. Matt's coming over later on, but that's not for several hours and so I have plenty of time to kill.

So I thought I'd write a recap of the four weeks that I went MIA in the blog world.

In the form of several haiku.

So.

Week One - in which I entertain visiting relatives, and see the Phillies play for the first time ever.

Baseball games are fun
but there isn't much to eat
if you are vegan.

So many things to
do in Philly area.
Aunt just wants to shop.

Where are we going
today? Oh, what a shocker.
Shopping. Stab stab stab.

Hm, aunt just gave me
two hundred dollars to spend.
Shopping not so bad.

Week Two - in which I remedy a certain technological issue, and Jewel and I attempt a Buffy season 1 and 2 marathon.

WHOA A NEW LAPTOP.
WOW THE SCREEN IS SO SHINY.
OMG SO COOL.

Oh, Angel. You are
such a creeper. In some states,
this is harassment.

JAMES MARSTERS JAMES MAR
STERS JAMES MARSTERS JAMES MARSTERS
JAMES MARSTERS EEEE SQUEEEEE

[As you can see, that was a very exciting week for me.]

Week Three: in which I help my sister prep for college, and can't stop playing Sid Meier's Civilization 4.

Just one more turn. Then
I'll go to bed. Just one more
turn. SHIT IT'S SUNRISE.

(Why am I)
unexpectedly
nostalgic over shower
caddies and whiteboards?

[OK, had to cheat on that one a little bit.]

Week Four: in which I play D&D, help Linds house sit, and attempt to make my dad a cake for his birthday.

90 percent sure
we're playing this game wrong, but
damn, is this game fun.

Adorable house
makes me want to buy a house.
What magic is this?!

Well, dad, I made you
this nice cake, BUT NOW IT'S GOT
ANTS ALL OVER IT.

[True story. I left it on the counter and the next morning it was completely crawling with tiny, tiny ants. Nice.]

If you decide to leave a comment, feel totally free to haiku. That's right, haiku's a verb now. I just decided.