Scrabble Awesomeness

I totally forgot to post about this, but on Thanksgiving I had the best Scrabble letters ever.  I thought I'd share because I'm pretty positive it will never happen again.  I used all my letters and got a triple word score.  Yay!

...and the word is...PREDATOR (oddly appropriate?)

ahhhh....happy day.

Go outside folks!

Chelsea

If you love cooking

YOU WILL LOVE THIS WEBSITE.  It's just too awesome not to share.  It's called foodgawkers and its for all of us who hate it when a recipe doesn't come with a picture.  Mmmm...these pictures are gorgeous and the recipes are too.  Enjoy!  I can't wait to dig in!

Here are some tasty looking sneak peeks:

pumpkin and chestnut tortellini

eggnog cranberry muffins

tomato and goat cheese frittata

and my personal favorite...

SUSHI SHAPED CUPCAKES

...that's awesome

Mmmmm,

Chelsea

I promise

I know its not New Years yet, but these are a few resolutions I have for myself post-Thanksgiving break:

• I promise to be strong
• I promise to be honest with myself
• I promise to believe in love, even when its hard

Yes, I do realize I sound idealistic right now, but sometimes we need idealism to get us through until logic and reason can support us.  So, at 2 am with my insanely optimistic, Obama-esque idealism I also promise to cut back on TV watching as well as wasting time on facebook.  Ahh...we'll see how long these last, but right now I'm feeling good about it.  

pictures from: papertissue.tumblr.com

Go outside fellow dreamers,
Chelsea

All You Need is Love

My family does not invite family over for Thanksgiving.  We used to.  But then the pressure and stress of pleasing in-laws and grandmas and the like was ruining the holiday for us.  So we stopped.  Now we invite only who we truly want to spend time with and that has really made Thanksgiving great again.  Yesterday we had over friends: my mom's friend from college and her son, a young couple that are friends of the family, my boyfriend, and a few of my brother's friends.  No stress.  No unneeded obligations.  Just chilling, drinking down some brewskies, dinner's ready when its ready.  We play football in the yard, we all pitch in with the cooking, we play games, Scrabble in particular, but other stuff too (like Pit, which is hilarious and you should play if you haven't yet).  We were cranking Dispatch and then the Beatles...I mean, life is good.

Because I've been reading so much Virigina Woolf lately, I was reminded of the dinner scenes in both To the Lighthouse  and Mrs. Dalloway .  They're stuffy.  They're about isolation and inherent human loneliness.  Woolf focuses on aspects of human interaction that separate us from each other.  She writes about the numerous things that even our closest friends will never know or understand about us.  The thing is, these scenes are so poignant.  They resonate with me strongly because I understand exactly what she's talking about.  These scenes are incredibly beautiful and the words run together like tributaries to the ocean, eventually forming a complete and huge and wonderful idea.  Woolf is a GENIUS!

BUT, Thanksgivings at my house are beautiful too.  When we all sit down to dinner and no one shuts up long enough for anyone else to talk and we're all laughing at something we half way heard from down the table, I think, this is the dinner party that is real.  This is proving that human isolation is trumped sometimes by the sheer power of friendship.  When people are comfortable around each other, they are more open, more willing to connect.  For me that's the beauty of the holidays.  Well that and a perfect spiraling football against a blue autumn sky.  Great catch.

Thanks for reading y'all,
Chelsea

Writing a Paper

Okay, no, I'm not writing a paper...instead I'm dreaming about owning this Osprey backpack.  You know, because its gorgeous and spacious and good for nice, long expeditions into unknown terrain.  And don't worry, its got ice axe loops.  It will be mine.  (On that note...who would like to rob a bank with me?)

Let's Go Backpacking!!
Chelsea

Pancake Sunday

Sunday has become pancake day at my house.  We watch football games all day long and then around three we make pancakes...and more pancakes.  At least two flavors per week.  Last week we had blueberry/chocolate chip and banana/walnut.  Yum.  This week we went with a sweet and savory option.  We had cheese pancakes and (druuummmm roollllllllll) chocolate chip with shredded clementine peel (and juice).  Oh man.  Pancake Sunday can turn a crappy weekend magical with one bite.

I also have to say I forgot my own advice today.  I was in a terrible mood this morning, bogged down with end of the semester work...hadn't left my room for hours.  Then I remembered to go outside.  Ahhhh...sweet release.  It's about 52 degrees and rainy today, but it was beautiful.  I just sat on the porch and listened to the rain hit the leaves blanketing the ground.  It reminded me of Seattle.  I love Seattle.  Bad day saved.

So truly...don't forget to go ouside,
Chelsea

yearning

Today, sitting in the library, I became absolutely positive that I could smell the airport.  Now let me just say that when I'm having a bad day (and today wasn't really a good one) I like to imagine myself in the airport, so smelling it in the library did a bit to pick up my spirits.  Airports smell like adventure.  They smell like coffee, and Saran-wrapped sandwiches.  They smell like sterile bathrooms and bubblegum sold at magazine stands (and for that matter they smell like fresh paper and ink).  They even smell like people, a little stale from traveling.  I love the hugeness of airports.  I love the people emptying their pockets to go through security and the feel of your boarding pass, knowing that that small piece of paper will take you away.  I love that you can be incredibly lonely in an airport even though you are surrounded by people.  I love people watching in the airport: hassled parents herding children with pink rolly backpacks, business suit people looking bored, older couples going on vacation (fanny pack in firmly in place), teenagers with headphones in, groups of college students setting out to explore the world, and my favorite, field trips with a huge group of little kids running around in matching t-shirts, nametags, and ball caps.

And then there is me and while I'm watching all of those people, I'm wondering who is watching me.  What category will they put me in?  (And don't even get me started on the people that work at the airport...what is life like for them?)  Also, when I think of airports I think of the movie Love Actually and this quote:

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around.

Basically, I love the airport.  I love traveling.  I don't love today and I don't always love being where I am, but knowing that the airport is there for me makes me feel a lot better.  It will never get impossibly bad because I can jet off on an adventure at any moment.

(This photography is from Sergio Vaiani's flickr posts)

Don't forget to go outside (or at least claim the window seat so you can watch the clouds)  :)

Chelsea

Dear Gaudi,

Please come back to life and build me a house.  Thanks,

Chelsea

A Moment of Being

Virginia Woolf uses the phrase "moment of being" to describe completely transcendent moments of clarity.  Her characters usually experience these moments of ecstasy, sadly enough, just before some tragic event or realization.  BUT these "moments of being" intrigue me so much.  They are beautiful snippets of life when every single piece falls into place.  You are "in the now" as my Mom likes to say or "at one" or whatever it is you personally believe, but these moments are so real.  They make up for every other moment of every other day, no matter what the mundane world is like.  These moments of intense beauty show me that the world is, to its core, a wonderful place.  Whenever I read a scene in a Woolf novel where these "moments of being" are born I feel ecstatic to the core because I love knowing that someone else, even if it is a fictional character, even if I do have to channel dead Virginia Woolf...someone else understands that these moments happen.

My most intense "moment of being" was in the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington State.  I was laying on a dock at Ross Lake (pictured above) with two friends.  The conversation had died away and my entire world was wilderness.  We dangled our feet into the icy water and in that moment I saw all of the changes I would make to my life when I got back to the front-country.  I saw the sheer potential of life in general and I promised myself then and there to stop wasting this gorgeous life.  To go along with this mental revelation was a physical sensation of lightness.  I felt wonderfully powerful, healthy to the core, beautiful, transformed in every aspect.  

So I came back to Charleston and did exactly what I promised myself I would.  Ask anyone who knows me, I was not the same after that.  

So my wish for you today is that you find yourself in a frame of mind (unfortunately it can't be forced, it's a completely organic experience) where you can have a "moment of being".  Virginia Woolf wrote about them enough to coin a term for them, so I'm sure she had at least one.  I had one this summer.  Now its your turn.  

(or if you have had one, I would love to hear about it...leave a comment!!)

Go Outside y'all,

Chelsea

Flannery!

Yes, yes, yes...today my copy of Flannery O'Connor's Complete Stories came in!!  I can't wait to dig in to one of the best short fiction writers ever.  The only story I've read of hers is "A Good Man is Hard to Find", but that's enough to know I'm going to love her.  (If you haven't read it, it's definitely worth the time...I would call it shockingly delicious...emphasis on the shock).  I'm off to dive into the wonderful world of fiction.

Hope you logged your outside time today,

Chelsea

Please Excuse My Girlie Moment

I saw 500 Days of Summer today for the first time...and I loved it.  It was so fresh and unexpected compared to every other romantic comedy (or is it?) movie I've seen lately.  I loved the shift to the sketch-like world of Tom's architecture.  And of course, any movie with an impromptu dance number (Tom's version of a post-sex swagger) has my heart already.  I won't spoil the ending for you, but if you haven't seen it, it is well worth the hour and a half.  This movie has cute Zooey scenes galore and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is adorable.  (By the way am I the only one who thinks he looks a lot like Heath Ledger?  I'm just saying).

(This is a picture from their Sundance photoshoot...I love it)

I hope your Sunday has been as enjoyable as mine (the BENGALS BEAT PITTSBURGH!),

don't forget to go outside,

Chelsea

Stress Free

Today I got sucked into the absolutely stress free zone of the sculpture studio on campus.  I worked on my current project (carving plaster) for four hours straight with no break.  I was jerked out of my extreme concentration by a friend of mine coming in and mentioning that I had plaster all over my face.  I felt like I'd been in a time machine, couldn't believe how much time had passed.  It was nice to not be checking the clock every few minutes.  All I noticed in the world was the form of the lines and curves coming out from beneath my tools.  

I eventually left and went to Andolini's for pizza and beer.  Mmmm...life is good today.

Go outside!!!  (Did you see that gorgeous sunset this evening??  I hope so!!)

Chelsea

I Grew Up With Him

I think that when you say you grew up with someone it should not refer to Joey that you were friends with in elementary school, or Sara that you decided you were BFFs with in middle school.  It shouldn't even refer to someone you went to high school with and had your first drunken revelations with.  Today when I said, "I grew up with him" I literally meant growing up, which didn't really happen for me until college (not that I'm claiming to be a bona fide grown up...at all).  But the years between 18 and 22 are so crucial.  (That's me and Trey up there.  He's been with me for every one of these crazy, informative years).  You learn so much about yourself and you learn who the people are that truly care about you.  I've really enjoyed these four years.  I've been up and down, done my fair share of "experimenting" and learned more in classes than I ever thought I could cram into my brain.  But most importantly, I learned a lot about people, human nature.  The point is, percentage-wise, I've done the most growing up in college and the people I know right now and keep in touch with right now are the ones I'm growing up with.  

However, I will mention this: On Thursday a guy in my class said he liked my Peter Pan shoes and no lie, that's a great compliment.  No matter how old I get there's still going to be an absolutely goofy, adventure-seeking little kid in me who just wants to spend the day playing pretend.

Don't forget to go outside, it's supposed to be beautiful this weekend : )

Chelsea

Apple Pie Night : )

I was feeling ambitious in the kitchen tonight so I made Pear Glazed Ham, baked potatoes, green beans, and to top it all off a glorious Apple, Raisin, Walnut Pie with homemade icing drizzled across the top.  Yes.  Cooking makes me so happy!  Plus I created a Rusted Root radio station on Pandora and it. is. awesome.  Here's a Rusted Root song you might know.  

In other news, a friend tipped me off to this amazing thing called Ice wine.  I'm sure I'm just behind the wino curve, but this is really cool.  It's a dessert wine that is made out of grapes that have frozen on the vine!!  I can't wait to try it!  (Here's the Salt Spring Island Vineyard in Canada famous for their tasty ice wine...so beautiful!)

Well, have a lovely evening everybody!  and don't forget to GO OUTSIDE,

Chelsea

Things that make me happy on a rainy day...when I've had to bike to campus and back and have been totally soaked:

1) I paid for a tall coffee and got a venti instead...SCORE!!  and yes I downed that bad boy and did the "I have to pee" dance all through Spanish Baroque Painting (world's most sleep inducing art history class).

2) My favorite movie: GARDEN STATE  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u82n0e1mgmQ

3) This song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYtk1Z0UUuE&feature=fvst

4) Hemingway short stories:  I love, love, love Hemingway.  What a genius.  Today I read "A Clean, Well Lighted Place" because I'm really feeling "Our nada who art in nada..."

5) Looking at pictures from my backpacking trip through the Cascades I took this past summer...like the one above for example...these are my wilderness buddies and we are goofing off on top of a mountain...because that's how we roll.  

So, there we go.  Bad mood averted.  This glass of cheap red wine isn't hurting either.  Anyway, sorry for my still amateur blogging skills.  I hope you'll keep coming back...and I promise it won't be so long in between posts anymore.

Go Outisde,

Chelsea