click to enlarge, swoon.

Confession: I have a special tab open solely for this man, and I believe it will stay open for the rest of the day. I'm not usually one for tattooed guys, but I think it works out like this: hat + scarf + tats + argyle socks = rugged hotness. I suggest staring at his picture while eating cake, as both are delicious.

Annie - I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me

And now, for this month's installment of super poppy dancy videos with lots of color, I present..Annie!





I think Annie has had some better songs, but I still like all the colorful dresses.

[Previously: Alpha Beat - Fascination]

ReadyMade - digital vs. print.

I've long been torn by the divide between reading my media sources online or in print. Usually I prefer print editions, for sometimes silly reasons: I like getting ink on my hands, I like the portability, and I like being able to write and do crossword puzzles in the paper. In practice though, I get most of my news and other information online. It's nice because I'm not wading through piles of old papers and it's free, but there are still drawbacks.

When I used to pick up the local paper, I would thumb through nearly every section. I didn't read everything of course, but I did a quick scan of headlines and knew what was in there. Editorial decisions about which stories were above the fold were only made once a day. Meanwhile, at startribune.com, headlines switch multiple times a day and the most read and e-mailed articles are prominently located on the side. Some might argue that this is perhaps more democratic, but it's hard to email articles to people when they are buried.

I'm getting away from the point here - which is to discuss that ReadyMade Magazine is now available online, for free! (Okay, and it has been since April, which is when I started this entry.) I've been a fan of this magazine for a while, but I never got around to getting a subscription. Soooo without further ado, a review of the latest online issue of ReadyMade.

One of the ingenious things about ReadyMade online is that instead of putting the article text and pictures on an entirely different looking webpage that is cluttered with side bar ads and other junk, the online version looks like the magazine. Of course, this includes everything, including the full page ads, so it's a bit annoying when pop up ads show up on top of that. The two page spread displays nicely across my browser, and the zoom navigation is pretty intuitive. There are a few drawbacks to this, of course - I had to read the up and down pages on packing tips sideways.

The other thing that the online version does well is to make good use of the tools available in the medium. You no longer have to type in the address of that site you read about, you can just click it! Want to read that article they mention in the editor's page? Don't worry about paper cuts, just click on the number!

What is it missing? The fact that it's an actual magazine, of course. For many obvious reasons that I've already touched on and more (portability, cuttability, loanability), reading a magazine online is just not as exciting as holding it in one's hands.

But is that excitement worth the $5 cover price and the hassle of storing it later? Probably not. The truth is, I really enjoy having easy access to ReadyMade once again - even when I used to buy it from the newsstands, it wasn't exactly easy to find. And though it's not quite as exciting as getting a nice colorful magazine from the store or in the mail, I will happily read it online again.

someone cares about what somebody else had for lunch.

A wise woman once said, No One Cares What You Had For Lunch. Although the book looks a bit silly, that phrase has always haunted me whenever I want to write about the fabulous thing I ate for lunch, or breakfast, or dinner, or whatever. Sometimes I listened to the warning, sometimes I ignored it, but then worried that I was resorting to the style of my livejournal days. [Quote from 2001: so i took a nap this afternoon. i seem to be having so much trouble sleeping lately. i don't get it. I only keep these around so I can be thoroughly embarrassed by my younger self.]


But a bigger part of my response to this whole assertion is that it is a LIE. Why else would I read about what 100 New Yorkers had for breakfast with such rapt attention? Why would I start theorizing about the day of the week this survey was taken, as it seemed odd that so many people had such hearty breakfasts? Why would I become motivated once again to make my breakfasts more creative, more pretty, and perhaps even fashion cute napkins and place mats so the whole meal looks more like the ones at simply breakfast?

Maybe it's true that no one cares what I had for lunch (or breakfast). But I care about what you ate today. And if you took a picture of it, I'd be even more fascinated.


For the record, I had a rare breakfast provided by work: some fresh fruit, a honey wheat bagel with walnut cream cheese, and chai tea at home.

Long ago, back in the winter of my discontent, I foolishly made some resolutions. [Summary: Run a half marathon in under 2 hours, bike more.] It's easy to make warm weather exercise resolutions when it's too cold to do anything outside and you're horribly out of shape. Now, six months later, I'm wondering what the hell I was thinking. Today I could barely run 3 miles and I'm trying to run 13.1 at a 9 minute pace as early as August? I can try for the half, but the time goal is clearly not going to happen.

So my one quantifiable goal is out (for now), that leads to the next one: biking! Well, I did acquire a working bike - here it is!



Isn't it pretty? It's sitting in Minnehaha Park on a beautiful Sunday. It's about seven miles to get there from my place, though the route is pretty much perfect. [Although complicated today by Grand Old Day.] Even though seven miles on a bike really isn't that far, I felt so out of shape after the run that I really thought I would die. But it went quite well, even on the way home (which is more uphill). And it made that Heath Blizzard totally warranted.

Now I only need to figure out a few things: install these bike lights, get some panniers, and figure out how to arrive at my destination without being a pile of sweat.

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.