new goal: flight attendant.

I've been looking at this collection of flight attendant uniforms for...well, my eyes are starting to glaze over. But it's addicting because there are some real gems in here. So much fun. Most of my favorites are from the 70s, as the colors tend to get muted as time goes on. (Also, the skirts tend to get longer. Sorry, business travelers!) Here are a few that caught my eye:

[edit: the pictures apparently don't like to be linked. Boo. Will be fixed shortly.]
[re-edit: gosh, I don't know what is up with blogger but it makes me sad because this post is useless without pretty pictures. until I can fix it, links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.]





Some of my favorite airlines (for uniforms, anyway):
Eastern Airlines
Air West
Allegheny Airlines
United Airlines

things learned while packing:

- With the exception of my dresses, I am completely bored with about 90% of my wardrobe.
- On the plus side, such high levels of dissatisfaction make it that much easier to put the stupid clothes in a giveaway bag without looking back. (Well, until I actually take it somewhere to be given away...)



To blame:
- The stupid weather forecast for Madison this weekend (as it is not conducive to throwing my cutest dresses and shoes in a bag).
- All those damn fashion blogs I've been reading lately.

polenta!

My newest food obsession is polenta. I'll admit, I was not very familiar with the stuff but it seemed like something a wannabe foodie should at least be acquainted with. I started off with the tube stuff (just to get my feet wet), and discovered it's really good with my favorite white bean recipe. But since food in tube form seems a bit unnatural, not to mention that it's difficult to turn tubed polenta into mush, I figured I should dive in with the real deal.

But what to make it with??

Tonight was one of those we are going to figure out what we have in the house and make something spectacular, or at least have fun trying. I knew I had spinach and polenta so I googled a bit and came up with this:



I took some onions and garlic and sauteed them in olive oil. Then I added black beans, cumin, crushed red pepper, and a diced tomato. Eventually I added in the spinach and cooked until it was nicely wilted. While all this was happening, I whisked the polenta together. It's served on a bed of polenta, along with some shredded cheddar. And it was super delicious.


Related note #1: That picture is not my best. I would take another one, but it's in my belly. Which is the problem with food photography - you can't stress too long about getting the perfect shot when you're really hungry and just want to dig in.


Related note #2: Just last night I was thinking of how fortunate I was to not have come across any centipedes yet, and then of course I find one in the tupperware I intended to use for leftovers. It was just a baby one, so I thought I should offer it to the cat as a real live toy. But NO. Kitty just stupidly sat on the floor and meowed at me while the centipede scuttled under the oven. Kitty, you whine at me incessantly and follow me around with string pathetically wrapped around you, begging to play, and you can't even take a swipe at a centipede? You are so adorably worthless.

how to get your earrings off your dresser.

Jewelery is tricky to store sometimes. (And even trickier to pack - still haven't figured that out yet.) Necklaces can be hung on pretty or not so pretty hooks, chunky bracelets can go in mugs, but dangly earrings? They become a tangled mess. So I made a hanging solution.



I got the idea from some magazine that I don't remember the name of, but only remembered this page - in fact, imprinted it into my brain! Anyway, here's what you do.

Materials:
- Unfinished shadow box (or in this case, a desk tray from Michael's. Closest thing I could find.)
- Acrylic paint and brushes
- Some pretty paper (or maps!) to line the box
- Sawtooth frame hangers and screw-in hooks (found in the framing section, perhaps at hardware stores also?)
- Mod-podge (or Martha Stewart brand decoupage glue)

1. Paint the box in a complimentary color with two coats.
2. Cut your pretty paper to fit inside the box.
3. When the paint is all dry, use mod-podge to glue/seal the pretty paper. (And do a much better job than I did. Sheesh. I blame Martha's silly instruction-less decoupage glue.)
4. When all that is dry (or if you're impatient, uh, not completely), start screwing in the hooks where you want them.
5. Put a sawtooth frame hanger thingamajig on the back.
6. Hang on the wall and give your earrings a happy home!

jury duty, officially 71% awesome.

Last night I was a mildly enraged citizen. My civic duties were requiring me to go into jury duty again, apparently only to sit. (Transcript of frustration is here.) I showed up today again at 9 (more sleeping in! woo!), finished At Large and At Small, and was working on the New Yorker when they told us we were done for the week. At 10:30. At that point I decided that jury duty isn't THAT bad.

And now I shall go on a bike ride.



update: I got the job! BEST DAY EVER.

jury duty, day 2.

Today was another exciting day of sitting and reading. Let's see. I read, then I graded some papers, then I read some more, then I ate a free burrito, then I went to the library and, uh, read some more, then I photocopied a crossword from the Times and totally finished it with a fellow potential juror. Then we were sent home early. And since it was only 2 PM, I stopped by the Minnesota Museum of American Art across the street. That was fun.

I still maintain that jury duty is half awesome.



Tomorrow is Do Anything But Drive Your Car To Work Day (not the official name). This should be the perfect motivation to bike to work, but I have an interview in the morning. Bike + pencil skirt + heels + sweat + interview = Not a good idea, or perhaps a hot mess.

dear ben gibbard - you creep me out.

Dear Ben Gibbard,

I'll admit that I liked you back when I was not old enough to legally drink, in fact, I still think you have some good songs off your older albums. I haven't been a super huge fan of your newer stuff, though. Call it being older and wiser, or maybe we've just grown apart. These things happen.

But here's the real problem - you're starting to creep me out. That new song of yours, "I Will Possess Your Heart"...well, it's creepy. The bass line is not so creepy, but you, Mr. Gibbard, totally are.

Now as I listened to your stalkerish lyrics where you insist on calling me "love" and talk about standing outside my window and wishing we'll be lovers someday, I thought that maybe this was one of those "I'm going to channel a stalker and write lyrics like they would" songs. Because if that's not the case, then you're just one of those creepy guys who doesn't even know he's creepy. Don't be that guy!

Alright, I'll admit that I have one unconfirmed report that you were indeed playing the part of a creep in the song, though I cannot find that verified anywhere else. EVEN STILL, that doesn't change the fact that this song irks me to no end because the lyrics are not only creepy, but dumb. I'll probably never be able to listen to any of your music without picturing you staring through my window. I'm shuddering at the thought.

Standoffishly,
e


[Video here, mp3 available here.]

notes on jury duty.

Oh, civic duties! How proud I am to be an American and sit around in the basement of a courthouse for hours today!

Here's my report: jury duty is often boring, but you can get a lot of reading done, and you might just get a two hour lunch break. I was super excited about it last night, mostly because my sub plans were ready and instead of driving to work on Monday I could sleep in until SEVEN, and then take a lovely walk to the courthouse. But my excitement has worn off since I need to go to work before jury duty tomorrow and that's just a pain.

I can probably burn through another New Yorker, though. Expect more exciting updates of what ms. e read during jury duty to follow!

recipe haikus.

I like haikus and all but I've never been really good at them. But I was motivated to make one about root vegetables, and then I stumbled onto a new genre...recipe haikus!


here's a good salad
spinach beets goat cheese walnuts
with orange vinaigrette


take corn tortillas
add black beans avocados
sprinkle with feta


to make an omelette
you need some butter and eggs
the rest is tricky


you will need some bread
peanut butter and jelly
you know the rest, right?


I'm having trouble thinking of more simple recipes, but it's a start.

mirah at the cedar.

I saw Mirah with Spectratone International at the Cedar Cultural Center on Tuesday. Mirah is one of my all time favorite musicians, and even though her newest collaboration had gone under my radar I knew I had to check out the show. Mirah is adorable in this awkward and charming way, and her voice is strong yet not overbearing. Her last album, Share This Place, was a project to combine both music and stop motion video (see example here) based on a theme of insects. Though I haven't heard the album in full, I would say that the experience is better live. The videos certainly compliment the music, so it was a treat to see and hear it all together along with Mirah's between song banter. She did a few songs that weren't from the album, and to close the audience provided the ba-dumma-dum-dums for "Pollen." Overall, it was a charming night - I know, I already used that word, but it describes her so perfectly.


Also? She's playing again at the Triple Rock on May 30. Hooray!

spring and other things.

- I went to the farmer's market for the first time of the season today. I was worried it wasn't open when I walked up - it was, just pretty empty. I picked up some herbs and put them in a pot, and then realized that was maybe a bad idea since some might need more water or less water but whatever. I can always move them.

- I also took my bike for spin today...the gears aren't perfect, but it's still good. But man, I feel so out of shape. Never mind that my biking muscles are never really formed, but even with running I feel tired after a few miles.

- My stupid window air conditioning unit has been sitting on the floor since last fall. [Long story as to why it was never put away in the first place.] Now the stupid thing is taking up a third of my nice window, and I'll probably use it four this summer.

- I made myself a tumblr. Part of me is excited by it, but I'm also annoyed that instead of having one place where I can post everything I feel pressure to splinter things off. I shouldn't post links here now, they should go there! And then you (all four or so of you) readers will be pressured to check not one but TWO sites, and I understand why you might not. And to top it all off, I'm still interested in twitter! (Except that seems more like a thing you do because your friends do it and you're all connected, and I can't think of that many friends I know on there so I would feel silly and unpopular.) So a plea to all web 2.0 people - will you please stop making websites for every tiny little purpose that are so attractively designed?


Shit, I just thought of another idea: a site for only complaining about how hard it is to keep up with all the other sites. It could be called metameta.com. I'm stopping now.