Linky Love

The mornings have been like this all week: overcast and chilly. By the noon, though, the sun comes out and it's lovely. 

A few sites that have been hanging around on my browser; time to put them here: 

I will be the first to admit to my obsession with Detroit and this tour of the River Rouge (the river, not the factory) is fascinating. 

I am constantly struggling with the putting together of colors. Kuler will pull colors form an image to create a set of colors that would work together. 

Kathryn Clark's quilts based on foreclosure patterns in cities are beautifully sad. 

There was so much about this NYT article that was fascinating: My Ex-Gay Friend. 

Back to packing. I dislike packing. 

Procrastination

I should be packing. I should be working on some of the writing deadlines coming up. I should be, I should be, I should be. 

And for the most part, I am. 

I've been waking up every morning and scooting off to the coffee shop to write before I can think any better of it, alternating between my writing for other people and writing for myself. I've been writing the stories I think will make up my dissertation and I think I might actually have something to write about. Something solid, something that might actually be useful. 

Insane. 

But. 

I've also found some time for fun. Not much, but just enough. Exhibit A: Bingo. Tuesday night bingo at the local American Legion - and I won! So did four other people, making our winnings equal to the cost of our pack of cards and an ice cream for the Manfriend and I afterward. 

Too much fun and pretty much like high school: who has what markers? The caller? Totally like the prom queen. It was totally nostalgic, too - my Gram was involved in the VFW for years and I remember sitting in the hall during bingo, too young to play, drawing in one of those notepads she always had on her. 

And tonight: celebrating the newly-minted Dr. Lee with fancy adult beverages! 

And after: more packing! 

Exciting life, no? 

Moving in

Tired of Hipstamatic yet?

Me neither.

I started the process of moving today. Keys have been obtained and some kitchen things have been dropped off. I, thankfully, have some time between now and when my lease ends here, so I can move in slowly.

But dang, that light. I love that light. I'm also trying to think of a color to paint a wall in the living room... perhaps a light, light yellow?

Work Horse

I bought a new computer. This seems to be my modus operandi: every two years, I end up buying a new system for one reason or another. I bought a new MBP to go to grad school with; it croaked and I bought the lovely laptop you see above. I collected massive amounts of dissertation data and my poor laptop started wheezing. Literally. There was no way my machine was going to handle my collection of video data and still allow me to work, so I decided to bite the bullet and buy the desktop. 

I've had the machine, which I've named John Holmes, since Wednesday and it's really changed my work patterns. Due to the size of the screen, I can have multiple documents open at one time and it's made all the difference in the world. I think I'm in love, although I keep stressing out that I now have to actually write a dissertation. It's a little terrifying, but it will be done. 

Now to finish a draft of an article... So much to do. 

Song of the Summer

I'm pretty sure I found my song of Summer 2011. I'm also sure that I'm over my head with the move and deadlines and teaching. 

I can make it to August. I can make it to August. 

(Isn't this the opposite of what I used to think as a child?) 

Thrifty Finds: Martz Lamp

I don't need another lamp - hence why I almost passed this beauty up a week ago. I had glanced it on the shelf at the Goodwill and immediately loved the shape of it and the gray stripe. I love gray more than one should. I left it on the shelf, thought better of myself later that night, and kept my fingers crossed that it would still be there the next day. 

Luckily - there it was, in all of its mid-century modern goodness. To boot, it was signed Martz near the electric cord - a name I had remembered seeing before but really had attached no meaning to. I snatched up the lamp, wandered home, and proceeded to Google where I found the page for Martz Lamps  on the Jet Set Shop. Apparently, they're rather sought after - insanity. I need to find a different shade - I found a similar lamp with an original shade on eBay, but will have to find an alternative that won't cost me $250. 

To make myself feel better, I bought this lamp and gave another away - thus, the number of lamps I own stays static. 

Revelation

Music, for my friend Kelly, is her life. She lives within songs, they encapsulate her experiences. It really is an amazing thing to watch when at a concert - her literal embodiment of the song. 

I, however, have more of a soundtrack - music I live beside. It's on in the background, perpendicular to me going about my life. 

On Friday, I was at the Iron and Wine concert in Indy and I completely enjoyed myself. I was slightly exhausted - my film festival (and the end of data collection) had happened that afternoon - but found myself thinking through the hours upon hours of video sitting on an external hard drive. To the sounds of Iron and Wine, I began constructing coding structures, thinking about applicable theory, and doing all kinds of insane general research think. 

Crap. I'm a researcher. 

For all of my talk of loving teaching (and I do!) and rethinking my decision to come to graduate school, I'm a researcher. I didn't see that one coming. 

Quote Possibly

This could, quite possibly, be my new living space. 

Things I love about it: 

• Convenient location to work. 
• It's super spacious! 
• Those windows! The light!
• It's in an old school building - uber-cool factor!
• I can paint. Not that I would. But I have the option. 
• Close to a park and nestled in a really cute neighborhood. 
• Relatively inexpensive. 

Things I'm not-so-in-love with: 

• The kitchen still retains its 1992 charm, complete with mauve countertops. 
• The carpet. While it's not bad, I was hoping for hardwood floors. 
• No laundry in unit. (These are such first-world problems.) 

I'll find out early next week whether it's mine or not. I'm honestly so in love with the light that comes into this space that I'm fortunate there are only three not-so-in-love withs. I would deal with a few more to get that sunlight. 

Thinning Out

I love the primary set of Pyrex bowls. After coveting them for years, I came across them at the Flat Rock Flea market several years ago and snatched them up. The unfortunate thing? I found them too shallow to use and found myself returning to the set of MSE green glass bowls and a set of melamine bowls from Williams-Sonoma for my mixing and other bowl-related needs. So they've sat in my cupboard, looking pretty and all Pyrexy. I've moved them from the Mitten to Margi's through three houses in Bloomington. That's about seven years. And I haven't used them once. 

I'm preparing to move again - let's hope tomorrow's apartment showing is a winner - and have come to the conclusion that I need to sell some of those things I've collected that I just don't use. The stack of Bauer saucers and luncheon plates? Oh, so lovely, but hardly ever used. (And heavy! I forget about heavy!) Random coffee mugs? Yes, you must go as well. It's unfortunate, but true. 

I have a ton of work to do for a project I'm working on today, but between transcriptions, I'll be listing things on eBay in hopes that these beautiful things will find homes where they will be used and loved. They are things to be enjoyed and I sometimes forget that having isn't necessarily enjoying them.