Chicago

view from my hotel window

In Chicago for a few days for the first time ever. I'm struck by how friendly people have been. I could see us here...

Over the Weekend...

Sweet treats + iced coffee

The last of the seemingly unending date harvest.

Quality time spent with my oven.

Came home Friday to a surprise plate of sweets. Perfect end to an extended work day.

Went bowling for the first time in ages, did a couple of little projects, watched some 30 Rock.

Harvested the last of our dates (Thankfully. I don't know what we'd do with more). Baked some date bread, made a date spread, and improvised a delicious date chutney.

Oh yes, and we cleaned. Lots. It feels fantastic to have a nice, tidy apartment.

songs to help me forget that it's technically the weekend

It's Friday and I'm ready to go home, but facing a couple more hours worth of work. Presently listening to this on my ipod and wiggling around in my seat to prevent myself from running out the door in search of happy hour. Very awesome video--they showed this on screens when they played Phoenix. Happy weekend!

Fujiya & Miyagi- Ankle Injuries from Insound on Vimeo.

4 Months

Yesterday was our four month wedding anniversary. The anniversary gift for four months of marriage is Vietnamese noodles. So we ate lots and lots.

P.S. Vegetarian pork noodles, I am obsessed with you.

P.P.S. The last 4 months (plus 5ish years unwed) have been awesome. Love you, husband o'mine.

Vintage Steals

After picking up our beast of a car from the mechanic, I needed a pick-me-up. And since that mechanic pretty well cleaned out my wallet, it needed to be cheap. Enter: Phoenix thrift stores.

Dazed and Confused jeans...I have to lie on the bed to zip them.

They are miraculously long enough to wear with platforms. Miraculous because I'm 6 feet tall.

Next step: convincing myself that I can pull off wearing them in public. $1.

Ooh. Ooh. New favorite skirt. $1.

Driving home, the sky turned a drippy gold for sunset. Money spent at mechanics = forgotten.

On My Wish List

image via weheartit

A record player.

One to listen to on Sunday mornings while we make fried eggs and drink coffee.

There's something that's so much richer about music on vinyl--the pops and hisses give it another dimension.

Can't wait to dust off some classics from Dad's record collection.

(presently living a sad life in their garage).

Paletería

Just a few blocks from our home, the streets begin to look more and more like Mexico. There's a ferretería, a llantería, a florería, a panadería...best of all, there's a paletería. Among many other reasons, I love this because it means that I can stop in for a paleta (popsicle) and pretend that I'm out traveling someplace that requires a passport.

On a trip through Mexico we spent a handful of days in San Blas. Just doors down from our hostel we found a new addiction. A paletería with cooler after cooler filled with homemade popsicles in exotic flavors, some of which we'd never heard of. A few times a day we'd go in and grab another flavor, trading back and forth to try and discover our favorites, and brag when ours turned out to be the better choice. Jackfruit? Guanabana? Rompope? The winner: mango. There is nothing in the world to top a fresh mango popsicle that breaks apart into little pieces of mouthwatering mango fruit on your tongue.

And so, when it's 106 outside and the A/C in our car has long since given up the ghost, sometimes the best thing I can do for my spirit is to stop, have a popsicle, and daydream. Even better if that popsicle is of the mango variety.