summer in the city

. . . . . in April. Whaaaaa? (It was 87 today. No joke.)

Cities always have a different feel in the summer, don't you think? Being at work today reminded me of the sound of dogs barking and kids yelling, cars whirring peacefully instead of honking angrily, airplanes flying overhead, clothing on women shrinking, bicycles flying past at every corner, basketball hoops set up on the curb, hazy buildings in the distance, the smell of warm garbage and charcoal grills.

However, it's only April, and this doesn't feel quite right.

dear universe

Dear Universe,

I would like to claim some happiness.

I am attracting it to myself, and you will kindly send it my way.

I am laying my stakes and not leaving until it's mine.

I am claiming it as my own.

Somewhere out there, you must find my portion.

Wherever that happiness is, you know my address.

I would also like to claim some money.

I am sure you have many demands for money, but I'm demanding some, too.

I am laying my claim to some good old financial aid.

Preferably not in the form of loans, please.

Scholarships and fellowships will do.

(You know graduate school is not an option without it, right?)

I am attracting it in.

And it will come to me.

I am also attracting

confidence,

beauty,

hope,

self-respect,

good temperament,

optimism,

kindness,

pleasantness,

not-feeling-sorry-for-myself-ness,

and a man.

I am claiming them from you, Universe.

And you will give them to me.

With zeal and determination,

a dapple of my weekend

I guess I haven't posted since Wednesday. Oops. First it's spring break and everything's great, and the next thing I know it's Monday morning, Easter is over, and I haven't posted since Wednesday (yet I still have these allergies...). How did that happen?

I'd go into details about my week/weekend, but I'm just so not feeling the blogging today. Actually, I'm not feeling much of anything. I went to bed (embarrassingly) early last night, I had to convince myself to get dressed this morning, and I've done maybe twenty collective minutes of work all day. I'm not sure what's gotten into me, but hopefully I'll snap out of it soon. Do you ever feel this way?

corner view: spring

Springtime, in my Northeastern United States corner of the world. It's been rather cold and rainy and gray as of late, but I guess that typifies springtime.

If only corner view was tomorrow--when it's supposed to be bright and sunny and seventy degrees :)

See Jane for more views!

a tidbit

Just when I was thinking I might be losing some of my English major-ness almost a year after graduation,

I drive past a poor, lonely book lying in the road,

wet and forgotten against the double yellow line

like a lump of roadkill.

I wanted to pull over and stop the traffic,

to scoop it up and smooth out its spine,

to bring it home and dry its sopping pages,

and say, "There, there, you're safe now."

super sewing spree cont.

This afternoon, I decided to get out all my mom's old Simplicity and McCall's patterns from the 80s and scope out any potential gems. Apparently, fashions from the 80s are kind of in. You know, besides the pleated pantsuits.

I tossed aside the jumbo maternity tents and children's jumpers and heart-shaped pillows and found a few high-waisted skirts and belted dresses.

Then I tried to comprehend the patterns.

Apparently, I'm incompetent when it comes to a bunch of black-and-white diagrams and technical sewing terms.

Plus, I didn't have any shoulder pads.

Instead, I said screw the patterns, and made my own creation: a yoga mat bag!

(Please excuse the butt shot, won't you? Self-timers are hard.)

Tune in tomorrow for more of my super sewing spree week!

what my monday sounds like

Found via For Me, For You, who hit the nail on the head when she said: I want to listen to it while laying in the dark with my eyes closed, volume all the way up…

Since this is my first day of vacation from work, I've been listening to it all morning, while crocheting up the wazoo and drinking hot mugs of green tea and watching the rain fall (and trying to fight off a sore throat...).

What does your Monday sound like?

a dapple of my weekend

I hope your weekend was as lovely as mine.

I did some babysitting (I needed to make up the boatload of money spent getting my car out of an impound lot earlier this week--ARGH!), went for a run in the woods with my camera (I forgot how boring treadmills can be), played some wiffle ball in an effort to force spring to come, watched my first Michael Moore film, and started my super sewing spree. So far, I've completed the skirt and the tea cup pillow pictured above, but I plan to keep going strong throughout the week.

I just might have the week off for spring vacation.

(I knew I loved something about elementary school.)

Happy Monday, friends!

PS

A new, rather different blog banner is up--click over if you're reading through a reader :)

sore glutes, anyone?

Last weekend's hiking excursion with my mom and my sister definitely kicked my butt. Going to Pilates class right before probably didn't help much, but man--climbing uphill for 45 minutes is definitely a workout.

Of course, that was seven days ago when summer came early and it was 70 degrees and sunny outside. Which definitely gave me incentive to get outside and stretch my glutes.

We did some rock climbing.

And decided this boulder most definitely came from the glaciers of the Ice Age.

Which then led us to pretending we were actually in the Ice Age (the movie, of course), and tried not to get crushed by the rocks rolling our way.

Why yes, that sweater is tied around my waist like I'm in 1994 again, thank you for asking.

We ended the afternoon with acorn-top-whistle-blowing: you know, the important skills little sisters depend on big sisters to teach them.