grinchy

history lessons

dilemonade

instead of thinking about the pulled a muscle in the back of my leg (must google this) from ballet class tonight, being on day 7 of a nasty cold, or about the paper bowls scattered around my apartment that are filled with coffee grounds to cover up the unbearable stench of a deceased neighbor that wasn't found for a few days (very sad/disgusting), i am going to think of happier thoughts. my leg will fix itself within a few days and so will my cold. i am lucky to have an apartment, especially in this weather. my senior year of college, i participated in BOX CITY to raise homelessness awareness. we slept in cardboard boxes on the campus green in chilly, chilly november. did i mention that i went to school in vermont? brr. throughout college, i was super-involved with the homeless community in burlington. i volunteered three times each week providing childcare at the local shelter. but it wasn't until i spent one night in the cold that i realized, even the littlest bit, what it feels like to not have the option of a warm home. so i am thankful for all that i have, even with my patch of bad luck the past few days, which as my mom said, isn't all that unlucky to begin with.

sparkle and shine

i get an insane amount of satisfaction polishing jewelry.

le sigh, it's the little things today.

eau please

right now, it is less about buying new than it is about replacing the old:

santa maria novella mughetto
penhaligon's artemisia
anna sui sui dreams
cacharel scarlett
curious britney spears (my not-so-secret favorite)

hint, hint/help!

a star

i took this quick vid while everyone was being seated at the betsey johnson s/s 2012 show in september. swarms of photographers surround nicki minaj. flash flash flash. imagine being that variety of famous.

odds are 6:1

i bought myself a lovely necklace (on this day) for my 24th birthday. i wore it only on special occasions, but lately i've been wearing it more often. six months ago, the clasp broke, but i'm pretty crafty and was able to fix it. easy. no trouble with it since. last sunday, i thought about the time it broke and i vaguely thought it was going to break that day. later on, it did. i fixed it and thought it was weird. but, whatever.

on monday night before going to sleep, i thought how lucky i am that i haven't seen a single cockroach in my new apartment. emily once saw one in our west village apartment (she took the morning off from work that day and had an exterminator come over) and we saw at least one massive roach every few weeks when we lived in the lower east side. they are absolutely disgusting. my heart drops to my knees. emily and i used to have a system for dealing with them though. i'd spray raid on it until it died, she'd sweep it up into the trash and then i would take the trash downstairs. it worked for us. now that i live by myself, my plan of action will be to spray the raid and then sweep it into the hallway and hope it disappears. i can't scoop it into the trash. that wasn't my role in the system for a reason. anyway, coming home from work the next day, there was a roach in the stairwell. nearly dead, legs were twitching.

on my way to cupcakes 101 on friday night, i thought about how i haven't found a lucky penny (or any penny on the ground, for that matter) in weeks and weeks. and then i did. heads up.

what are the odds? am i a child psychic?

now and then

last christmas, one of my gifts was an easy bake oven-esque cupcake maker. really! and inside: it had a groupon for cupcakes 101 at butter lane in my neighborhood. it took almost a year for me to actually use it, but i went to the class tonight and it was pretty glorious. in my group of cream-cheese-frosting-makers (there were also chocolate- and vanilla-frosting-makers), was a girl and her sister. one of them documented the entire experience. the other sister helped her out by taking pictures of her using the mixer, pouring in the sugar, etc. she perfectly arranged half-eaten cupcakes and then pushed all of the frosting bowls to the center of the table to capture the most appealing photo. she frosted her cupcakes just so that she even won the class award (and gift certificate!) for making the nicest-looking treats. but in the time she took the photographs and frosted one cupcake, i had finished frosting four and was putting them away in my to-go box.

so, as you might have noticed, i haven't blogged since october 10. i was going to post a laundry list of reasons why, but i didn't. in general: i am busy. more than ever, i've been immersed in my work. but luckily for me, i have a wildly incredible job. i don't want to write about my day-to-day (besides it being a conflict of interest) because i don't want to be another bragging blogger. if i was to write about my recent weeks, i would sound as if i have the most glamorous life. which i do and i don't. before glamour's women of the year awards (with so many celebz i can't even count) a few weeks ago at carnegie hall, i had a mcChicken for dinner and then took the city bus home. i had +/- 15 dollars in my bank account at the time. the week i interviewed oscar de la renta and met snooki, was also the week i stayed in and watched back-to-back-to-back episodes of bored to death with my BF. whatever. i think a lot about how people cultivate internet identities. picking, choosing, omitting.

furthermore, i seldom bring my digital camera anywhere. and if i take pictures, i almost exclusively use a disposable cam. i like waiting for my film to develop. i like having pictures to hold in my hands and to show my friends when they come to my apartment. but this also means that the pictures are no longer instantaneously available. and that makes it a bit tricky when thinking about a blog. but the quality of a picture on film is a thousand times more beautiful and i love that each camera only allows you to capture 27 photographs. think of how many times you take a picture with a digital camera to get it just right, i prefer not to have that "luxury." one chance is all i get and all i want. my friend told me that while on vacation, her friend was going through her camera while sitting on the beach. enjoying, scrutinizing, deleting. YOU'RE ON THE BEACH.

it's also tiresome/weird to preface stories which i tell in real life that are on my blog with "i posted this on my blog and i don't know if you've seen it yet, but.." maybe it's just me being a little too self aware and self conscious, but i hate re-telling stories. it's pretty obvious when people are recounting a tale for the 3rd of 4th time. it sounds like they're rehearsing lines for a play. the perfect emphasis, word usage for maximum effect, pausing at the right moments, etc. i don't want to regurgitate the same stories to everyone and so i feel the need to warn people that what i say to them is also on my blog. an act to seem more genuine, i guess. a courtesy?

and i am not the sunshiney-cute 22 year old that i was when i started charmly. i am not nearly as positive. and i'm totally fine with that. also, "this would be a great post for my blog!" is no longer an immediate thought when something wonderful happens.

but, i am ambivalent. i absolutely love having 2+ years documented on charmly. i have not forgotten the bouquets of flowers i bought myself and afternoons spent with friends. i am so happy to have entries like this, this and this. i am thankful for all of my entries.

so maybe i will try this month to be a better blogger. to really push myself to write and post pictures and get back into the swing of things.