STOLEN GOODS!

This is a picture from my friend Leigh's blog, which she took during a recent trip to Rome. However it is incredible and I had to share. I lived in Rome for a while, and at first the graffiti all over the city really bothered me, but by the end of my time there I grew to love it. Like everything else in that city, I think it is beautiful.

I need this coffee creamer

Sunday Brunch is definitely a top five on the list of things St. Louis does right. Today I sat outside of Scape in the Central West End and enjoyed a perfect Spinach and Feta omelet.

The ability to make a "perfect" omelet is one reason I love Scape, but another is their coffee; no matter how good the food is, one cannot be a good Brunch place without good coffee. Scape's Illy brand coffee is delicious, and perhaps what adds to its appeal is the fine white China it is served in. As my mother once told me, "coffee just tastes better out of china," and it does.

I also fell in love with / must find for myself Scape's creamer holders. If you come across one somewhere, let me know.
Prize: Brunch at my place.

Then & Now

My brother and I, Halloween 1992.






















My brother and I, Halloween 2008.
















My, we have grown (though I might be wearing the same lipstick)!

No I can't :: Yes you did

The body is a beautiful, miraculous thing.

The mind is stronger.

The Times They Are a-Changin'

Today I am two days shy of running a marathon with hip bursitis (http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00409), which basically means I can still run, but I will be in pain the whole time. Also, I find myself racing towards the end of the school year- not my own school year, but my first year of teaching. Every moment seems both eternal and short, and everything tastes bittersweet. Though I am not typically a religious person, I find myself turning to a prayer I learned in high school but never really appreciated the beauty of. Whether you decide to put the "God" in front of it or not, these words are very powerful:


[God], grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

- Reinhold Niebuhr

4th Time Around

When she said,
“Don’t waste your words, they’re just lies,”
I cried she was deaf.
And she worked on my face until breaking my eyes,
Then said, “What else you got left?”
It was then that I got up to leave
But she said, “Don’t forget,
Everybody must give something back
For something they get.”

It's kite flyin time

This man was trying (and failing) to fly a kite in the alley behind Cecil P. Whitaker's at 6pm last night. Though the image of a kite failing to take flight is often associated with gloom and doom, this time it was strangely uplifting [pun INTENDED] despite the Whitaker's fume blasts that were the only source of wind the poor thing had.

Good ways to not pick up women:

I am absolutely incapable of meeting guys at bars. I honestly have no idea how people do it. Sometimes I think it's my own fault, but then there are the times when I make an attempt and it turns out so awkward and terrible that I cannot help but get turned off to the concept.

Take last weekend for example; I'm waiting for a drink at Maryland House, and the guy next to me strikes up a conversation, I don't remember about what, but we managed to go back and forth successfully, the conversation expanded, found out we had some things in common, etc., etc. So 10 minutes later I'm still talking to this person, and he says "So where were you before coming here?"
I say, "I was at the Chuck Berry concert."
He says "Oh really? I just saw him play at Blueberry Hill last night."
I say "Oh cool, I heard that show was great."
He says "Oh...you don't get my sense of humor." (Chuck Berry really had played at Blueberry Hill the night before- where was the joke?)
I say "Um...sorry, I didn't know you were kidding."
He says "Yeah...you ever been to the Duck Room?" (the name of the place where people play at Blueberry Hill)
I say "No, I've never been."
He then turns to his friend and goes "Dude, this girl just does not think I'm funny." His friend laughs...
I say "Sorry...was that a joke?"
He says "You just don't get my sense of humor..."
I say "I guess not..." and walk away puzzled. Then I noticed he had a sweater tied around his waist.

Last night's experience was particularly lovely: I'm at the Dubliner on Washington Ave., and this guy comes up to me and says "I like your feather thing," (I was wearing a headband with peacock feathers on it- not as ridiculous as it sounds, I promise) "are those real feathers?"
I say "no, I don't think so."
He says "Oh. You're really pretty."
I laugh, of course, because who actually says that?
And say "thanks."
He says "I'm Chris, by the way." We shake hands, and he notices my hands are empty, and says "You need a drink. Can I buy you a beer?"
I say, "No thanks, my friend and I were just about to leave, actually." Which was the truth.
He says "Come on, just one beer. What's your favorite beer?"
I say, "Really, thank you, but we're leaving and I don't even want a beer, I've had more than enough tonight."
He says "Oh come on, don't be gay!"

Yes he did.

I say "Did you just call me gay?!"
He says "Well, I don't mean like into chicks or anything, I just meant gay like dumb."

Uh huh. It was probably pretty "dumb" of me to walk away, laughing, at that point. Chris could have been the one.