Used books and Seaweedwurst

on saturday i went to brunch in the markt with anja, micha, and ginny. and by brunch i mean fleischwurst and rindswurst and seaweedwurst (yep) and cheese samples and rosé champagne from plastic cups. we also stopped into a used bookstore-- one of my favorite things that exist on earth. this store has books from the 16 and 17 hundreds, people. uuuuuuuuuused books. it was so wonderful. can you spot all 3 of them looking at books in the first picture?

Seaweed takes a new form. Tasted like corn.

Interesting Guesses

“But that's the glory of foreign travel, as far as I am concerned. I don't want to know what people are talking about. I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” 

-Bill Bryson Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe

This pretty well sums up my every day over here, more or less. Also, if you're looking for a good, entertaining read, this is it! While reading this book, I'd literally chuckle out loud. Often while reading in a coffee shop, probably to the dismay of those around me. Check it out- I promise you won't regret the read!

March Madness for nerds

Can you read this bracket? It's pretty small. sorry.

http://www.outofprintclothing.com/bookmadness_a/302.htm

I am ashamed to say that I've only read 14 of these books. And that's being kind to myself for trying to read A Clockwork Orange numerous times and just being too idiotic to get through his made up language. Also, I didn't give myself points for trying to read Wuthering Heights and not enjoying it and quitting. Also, I own Jane Eyre and I haven't read it. D'oh!

I haven't read Frankenstein? Fahrenheit 451? Slaughterhouse V? Lord of the Flies? 1984? Anna Karenina???? GEEZ LOUISE, what have I been doing with my life? Living it, I suppose. 

Anyway, I have a long queue of books that I will read, but I just added a really large quantity to that list, since this bracket is a shameful reminder of how many of the classics I have not read and couldn't discuss for even 3 seconds. I can pick a winner though. At least I've read those.

And I know that most people won't agree with me here... but I pick the green light and the American Dream.

I have no TV; I am a Martian

Guess what?! Yesterday marked 1 year of living in my current, adorable, wonderful house in DC!

Our little, blue house during Snowpocalypse 2010 before the snow broke our front door foliage and flag.

I have loved loved loved living here. I have found a fantastic roommate in George (I realized the other day that I've lived with him longer than anyone else outside of family members), and I was lucky to live with Noor and then Courtney throughout the last year. Now Jenny has moved in, and I'm sure more fantastic times are ahead.

This past year we have not only not had cable, but we haven't even had a TV in the house. "WHAT?!", you might ask. "How are you alive right now?" Well, I'm probably from Mars (or, Venus?) because I've really enjoyed being disconnected from our increasingly reality-tv centric population. I am not totally disconnected from the glorious-ness of TV thanks to things like Hulu, TBS streaming Conan episodes, and Netflix (you're welcome for the free endorsements... send me things?!). Those allow me to watch the shows I enjoy, and I appreciate that. Not having a TV has kept me from vegging out in front of the TV doing nothing but demolishing bags of pretzels though.

This year I've read more books than in any other year of my life, and I love it! I like that instead of being bored and wishing I had TV, I find adventures for myself, try my hand at cooking a new recipe, take a walk, read read read...  I do wish I had a TV to watch movies on sometimes instead of a laptop screen (which is no longer functioning anyway). Maybe I should start something like Oprah's book club but make it "Elisabeth's Book Club for People Lacking Other Means of Entertainment". That title is entirely too long though. I mean, the acronym would be EBCPLOME. No bueno. A gold star for whoever comes up with a better name. Or a better idea.

Love always!

Mid-afternoon Break

Here are some of the accessories for my Halloween costume. Guessed it yet?

I took a walk around the Hill on my lunch hour so that I could snap some pictures of the beautiful Autumn foliage. It's too dark when I get home from work to get any good ones, and the sun shining through the trees on my walk home for lunch was just too good to pass up. 

Good friend Zach is coming to DC today to visit all of us! We miss him out here! It's been almost a year since he finished his internship on the Hill and went back West. He is such fun, and this weekend is going to be sooo fun!

My current read (OK, if you know me, you know that I am always in the middle of 2 or 3 books) is the latest Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol. It is set in DC, and it's amusing to read because unlike his other books with the Robert Langdon character which are set in Europe, I can tell by description where they are in the city before the author reveals the location! And I know the Capitol building so well that I can even see the few flaws in his descriptions of various rooms or corridors. The villain in this one kind of scares me though (alright, everything scares me) so I don't like to read it before I go to bed or when I'm home alone. There is an episode of Friends where Joey reveals that he puts The Shining in the freezer whenever he gets to a scary part. Sometimes I want to put this book in my freezer when the plot gets tense.

That is all of the randomness I have for right now.

Love always.

First day of August!

I love the month of August. I think I'm a bit biased since I'm an August baby, but nonetheless- it is here! Happy August! I spent a lovely, lazy Sunday today. I grabbed my latest read ("Neither Here Nor There, travels in Europe" by Bill Bryson) and walked to Starbucks. There is something so satisfying about having the time to read in a coffee shop. And, I like to read in such places because they offer the perfect mix of atmosphere, people watching, and caffeine. Not a good book? Just watch the look on the baristas face as a ridiculous order is placed or tap your toes to the jazzed-up elevator-type music. Anyway, the book I'm reading makes me laugh out loud from time to time, so after about an hour- a guess at time because, being on no schedule whatsoever, I left my phone and watch at home- of reading, sipping on my green tea lemonade, and disrupting the person diligently working on her laptop next to me with the occasional just-audible-enough chuckle, I walked around the hill (for those unfamiliar with DC, the neighborhood of Capitol Hill is referred to as "the hill") and ended up at Eastern Market. I have some dry cleaning that I have neglected to pick up for about 3 weeks now, and of course, they are closed on Sundays. Instead of lugging suit coats and dresses home, I got to wander around the Market as the vendors started packing up their goods to call it a weekend. My favorite produce vendors yelled out, "Everything is free!", and I spun around to see that their left-over produce from the weekend was being scooped up at an extraordinary rate by the few people still there enjoying the end of the weekend. I picked up a peach, a green bell pepper, and a little carton of delectable cherry tomatoes! What a treat! I ate the peach as I walked home. I ate every millimeter of that peach except for the few drops of peach juice that escaped and instead ran down my chin. I have sticks of butter thawing out now because I have chocolate chip cookies in my near future. I hope everyone had a fantastic start to August. Love always.