Californiaaaaaaa

Things that have happened since last posting:

1) Our apartment turned magically from a pit of chaos into something resembling a decorated and functional dwelling
2) I visited and returned from California, the golden state!
3) I got my hair cut
4) I became addicted to make up

In order.

1) Apartment.

Since moving in with T., we have had a spare room that was basically a scene straight out of Hoarders: Buried Alive. Somehow in this room, we managed to cram a futon, two full bookshelves, six dining room chairs, a microwave, a washer, a dryer, a vacuum, pillows, comforters, blankets, and approximately twenty medium sized boxes. Yes. In one relatively small room. I used to open the door and cry because I knew we would never be able to clean it all up, and also because I suspected that the people living downstairs would sue us once the weight of all that crap crashed through the floor. However, with a little bit of chipping away, a smidge of sweating and cursing, and a whole lot of "We have guests coming over so we better get this done," we have somehow turned it into a usable room. Now there's a desk in there and I can actually access my (full to bursting) closet. Pats on the back, all around!

In addition to the guest room, we also put up the bookshelves we got for our wedding (gorgeous, leaning bookshelves) and T. surprised me by assembling them and stacking all our books on them! They look awesome, by the way, even though he had no idea in what order to put my books (mostly fiction) and one shelf is thus arranged: Robinson Crusoe, Invisible Man, The Professor, On Writing, Lucky's Lady, The Book of Margery Kempe, The Brothers Karamazov, To the Lighthouse, and Twilight. Yep.

2) California

My parents now live in an awesome state. Don't get me wrong, Kansas has its charms, but GEEZ LOUISE. I had so much fun visiting them. They live in a suburb of San Francisco and it is just the cutest, charmingest little town full of nice shops and restaurants. If T. had been with me, I would have never wanted to leave. Here are the things I did when I was there:
-ate as much Vietnamese food as I could handle. San Jose was freaking awesome and I got to satisfy every craving, to the point where I had to beg off and ask to eat a cheeseburger.
-had Shanghai dumplings, bubble tea, and dim sum from a place called Koi Palace. This dim sum restaurant was crazy, with a very complicated waiting system, but the food was totally worth the wait.
-Went to Santa Cruz and ate at the Crow's Nest, then walked on the beach. This was really fun and the weather was gorgeous.
-Went to Carmel-by-the-sea. We walked on the beach and took lots of pictures and my dad bought me a hat from the Carmel Hat Company. Any place where I get a hat is by default awesome, but we liked Carmel so much (the downtown area is so fun to walk around) that my mom spent half an hour in a realty office asking about potential properties.
-Went to San Francisco. We drove into town and stopped at the Golden Gate and then we walked! On the Golden Gate Bridge, to the first tower! It was amazing. We had a view of Alcatraz, and the city, and I even saw dolphins in the Bay.
-Went to visit R. at Google. I'll just leave it at AH-mazing.

3) Hair Cut.

Pretty self explanatory.

4) Make up

So yeah. I think I'm making up (hah) for the last ten years of my life in which I wore barely any makeup, and in which a lot of makeup consisted of both eyeliner AND mascara. Ever since the wedding, in which I realized that make up really DOES make you look a lot better, and that all the people I've been envying my whole life for having such great skin/such big eyes/such bright smiles have actually been using this thing called makeup. OR they are extraterrestrials from Planet Perfect.

Anyway, I bought some makeup stuff and have started using it. This is great, because I'm now moisturizing my skin on a daily basis and learning how to use foundation and powder and blah blah blah, but also bad because I now want to buy EVERYTHING and because I go about my errands every day with a different face and sometimes they're really weird. Last week I was experimenting with a smoky eye and I think the lady at the library was a little shocked to see me sailing in at eleven a.m. looking like I'd just left an all night disco. But I am not deterred! Practice makes perfect, and if that means setting the locals to tittering about my funny face, I'll take it and gladly.

Look out, world! Here I come (tastefully made up, of course).

More soon, love B.

My daily bread

Becoming a lady of leisure has taken a mild interest in baking and elevated it to a full in frenzy. One of my new resolutions is to never buy another loaf of sandwich bread (someday, I might even be able to stop buying any bread, but baguettes are beyond me right now). Regardless, I have a good white and a good wheat loaf under my belt, and because every bread-baking effort results in two loaves, we've essentially been well supplied with bread for the last three and a half weeks...enough for sandwiches and a near-daily toast breakfast for me. Mmmm. Maybe the best thing is that making bread makes me feel connected to every person who has ever baked a loaf to feed a family. It's wonderful to measure flour and oil a bowl knowing that for hundreds of years people have been making bread the same way and it still works and still tastes good. Like magic! Finally, a way for me to relive those Little House on the Prairie fantasies.

When I'm not up to my elbows in flour kneading some delightful loaves, I am making granola (a habit I picked up law school). Do you know how expensive granola is when you buy it? Do you know how cheap it is when you make it? And how much more delicious it is? If you don't, I urge you to try for yourself.

I have caught a serious case of the homemades. Never heard of this disease? It is a terrible affliction that makes you want to cook everything from scratch. Like...chicken stock, chicken soup, breadcrumbs, marinated red peppers, pie crust, and pizza, in addition to the aforementioned bread and granola.

Phew! The oven may be working overtime, but at least we're eating well.