eat, drink & be mary

after a year-long hiatus, i am back to being a student. one thing is for sure, i am definitely out of practice. this whole wake up early, go to bed late, be productive in between, no time for naps thing has been a very hard routine to get back into. luckily for me, there are delicious, sugary cupcakes just a hop, skip and a jump away. i foresee many energizing study breaks taking place at molly’s.

living in a big city is weird. so much different than visiting a big city. in some ways the city is more intimidating than i imagined, but in lots of ways less intimidating. i’m definitely not used to walking out of a grocery store and seeing this view. catches me off guard every time.

after a long week of cleaning, packing, packing, packing, cleaning, packing, cleaning, cleaning, moving, cleaning, moving, unpacking, cleaning and unpacking, i can finally sit back and enjoy the view from my new apartment. hello chicago.

spending a saturday night laughing with friends. eating beef jerky & pickled eggs. drinking brandy old fashioneds. i can’t think of a merrier way to celebrate a birthday. happy birthday, rachel!

anne fadiman - the spirit catches you and you fall down

back to reality. seems like just yesterday i was parasailing in paradise, sipping bahama mamas by the pool and snorkeling in the crystal clear waters of the caribbean. now i sit surrounded by concrete, mosquitos and electronic devices reminding me of all the things on my to-do list. three things i really didn’t miss at all. gotta love vacation.

after googling the phrase “how to pronounce the letter ‘b’ so that an automated voice recognition system will not think you are saying the letter ‘e’” (with zero useful results) and another identity theft scare, my new apartment will finally have electricity.

in other news, a fellow school supply enthusiast and i recently did some late-night shopping, and i purchased something that had been missing in my life for 23 years. one of those really cool pens that can write in four different colors. it was love at first write.

backyards are the best. when i was younger, i never understood why my parents always wanted to spend their free time working in the yard. but, after many years of not having a yard of my own, and many more such years in my future, i aspire to one day have my own backyard. where i will spend my free time planting flowers, watching birds, sitting on swings and hanging butterfly-adorned twinkle lights.

i spent my afternoon enjoying the best of both worlds. productively crafting in the relaxing atmosphere of a coffee shop, and soaking up the sunlight from the comfort of air conditioning. 

i have literally spent all morning looking at these websites. i haven’t accomplished much else today, but yet i feel oddly productive. in fact, admiring the top 10 cutest ‘zooborn’ cats may be the most productive thing i do all day. but, i’m okay with that.