Carbon Copy

The Best Thing About Today Was...

the wind. No, standing on the corner, waiting for the bus, and feeling the wind as it swept my hair over my face. I listened to Belle and Sebastian and the Arcade Fire (courtesy of my shuffle) and felt the warm sun. Then after work, I walked to my car and saw buds on the trees. Actual buds. Spring might make it here to Logan. And there was this really cool tree with seeds hanging in balls, like ornaments. And then driving home with the windows down and almost being blown into the passenger seat by the wind. Yep, good day.

Interior Designing

A week ago I dressed in smart casual attire for my roommate's interior design exhibit. It was like an art gallery opening, but with material boards and little models of chairs. I liked walking around in a crowded room looking at different art boards and fabrics. I liked wearing black slacks and lipstick. And there was a piano player, a fountain of white chocolate, strawberries, an assortment of cheeses and breads. And a view of the mountains, still covered in snow. Those designers - they had set up the whole art gallery in spray-painted white and papier mache furniture, a chandelier made of clear hangers, and various greenery. It made it fun to take pictures. So here are some:

Objet d'Art

Yesterday, I was writing a paper that I've procrastinated for three months. Well, maybe only two. There's a certain setting that I need to write a paper. I need a Diet Pepsi (or Coke) to drink and the Cocteau Twins (or This Mortal Coil) playing softly in the background. Yesterday was a special occasion, though, because it was the first time I got to write a paper in the comfort of my own bedroom, so I added some candles burning. At first, I had some incense going. I've never been a big fan of incense, but then I got this littly guy in Austria where you stick incense in his belly and then he looks like he's smoking through a pipe. Anyway, so now I like to burn some incense, and then I had some tea lights burning, also from Austria. Then the incense died out, and I remembered that I had this old candle that I bought in Yellowstone last summer. It's supposed to smell like earth, but it really smells like blueberries. So I decided to light this candle. It's melted into a little cobalt votive candle holder. So it was flickering in the windowsill while I was writing, and I couldn't help but notice how beautiful it was. So I took a picture. That led to a nice little distraction of taking photos of other objects in my room. And here they are:

This is my window. I have a view of the Logan Temple and Old Main, although they are quite small.

Here's one of my tealight candles burning. I got the ceramic holder in Austria from a ceramic studio under the railroad tracks.

A Hopper painting as a postcard hanging on my cork board. I like the woman sitting alone at the cafe (a dream of mine) and the lights leading into darkness.

Something else hanging on the corkboard - me. Taken the day before I went to the MTC.

This is the incense smoking man. His backpack fell off once, so I had to reglue it, and I think I did it crooked.

When I was in Montana, I went a little crazy about things. I mean, I started kind of liking things that were kind of cowboyish. Anyway, this is a ball of pheasant feathers that I got for Christmas. I still think it's rather delightful.

I got this glass bottle in Venice. The store clerk wrapped it up in bubbles and it stayed that way for three months until I brought it home. But now I like the way it reflects light.

This is from Mongolia. Khishgee gave it to me.

In Austria, we would go to flea markets. Often, they would have a box or a basket full of old keys, and I always wanted to get one but never did. Then on the last flea market before we left, I decided that I really wanted to purchase a key. Unfortunately, the only one I could find was this one that isn't a real key at all. It's actually a corkscrew.

My parents brought this figurine back from Denmark for me. It's been on my dresser ever since. I think they look really sweet in their ceramic embrace.

I have a stack of CDs that I really need to put away sitting on my shelves.

A favorite drink in Austria was Almdudler. Mmm... so tasty! Once I stole a glass from a restaurant that had these same drawings on it and the name Almdudler, but it fell and broke. So then I stole this bottle (although it wasn't really stealing since I bought it) from the restaurant at our last lunch in Old Town.

And finally, lately I've really been enjoying pixie sticks.

Unpacked

I finally unpacked from being gone in Austria. You see, most of my belongings were packed up and placed in the loft above my friend's garage. The problem with this is that it involved a ladder. I hate ladders. I don't like to climb them. So I had to have two people involved in getting the stuff down, and one of them had to be okay with ladders. Then add to the delay the difficulty of finding a time when Mimi is around, and you will see why it took me over two months to finally unpack. The best thing was getting all my books back. I had considered not unpacking those because I'll just be boxing them back up again in a couple months (moving to either Indiana or Virginia, you know), but I just love to look at them lined up on my bookshelf. There's something satisfying about it. The different sizes and thicknesses and colors. And then the second best thing was having all my clothes put back in the closet. I was pleased to see the variety of colors. It seemed aesthetic, so I took a picture (see above). I now feel complete.