Someday?

I find myself daydreaming up complex future plans a lot, sometimes out loud, sometimes just in my own head, and so much of the time i just think someday, someday. I hope all of those somedays come true, i really do whole heartedly. Recently i realized that i knew seemingly less about my own country than european ones that i've traveled to and it made me think that a road trip across the country is more than necessary. Everyone has to do it once, right? I've verbalized this plan already as something i want to do next year, and i'm thinking that perhaps if i write it down here and put it out into the internet world, it'll be another reason to be held to it. Maybe i'll just hop in a car with a gps, or maybe i'll pick something completely random to go to in a bunch of states across the country, or maybe i'll just take a cue from jack kerouac and follow the route he mapped. I want to make it happen.

So It Goes.

Today i moved out of the first apartment that was ever truly mine. A place full of only my things and one that only ever got messy if i made it that way. Where dish soap lasts a lot longer than when you share a place and where the fridge has just your food in it. It felt like a short but important chapter of my life. One that was necessary and tricky sometimes. An apartment where i had to wait around for the man to install internet, and where i had to pay con-ed bills, and make sure my rent was sent in on time. I guess this is the beginning of being a grown up. Now it's onto the next chapter: a chapter that's overseas and new. No part of me knows whether to be terrified or excited. Last year i decided keep calm and carry on was going to be my motto of senior year, then this summer someone close to me told me about how it was his life motto, i think it's a good one.

Summer Eats.

Life.

Never Enough.

Bookshops are one place i can never seem to walk out of empty handed. And not just with one book, but usually with two, or three, or five. I never get tired of browsing the shelves over and over, looking at every spine, debating which covers are beautiful, and which i think would be much more appealing if it was changed. I get drawn in by covers, sometimes buying books i already have because the cover rubs me just the right way. The books above are my two newest additions to the "books i want on my bookshelf because they're gorgeous editions" category. I don't think you can ever own too many books.

This summer aside from the books i had to purchase for the courtauld, i've probably bought somewhere between 10-15 other novels. Having Three Lives & Co. down the street has been the source of many of these. Some have been read, some sit at home next to my bed or on my shelves, some are in new york, and that's the thing i love about buying books. They can sit there for days, and months, and years, and they'll wait for you. They wait patiently and quietly until the right time comes and you choose to read them. 

Books above available here and here.

Pretty People.

Will my love for Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Marlon Brando ever die? Probably not so much. All of these guys are pretty crush worthy too.

My Dog Is the Greatest.

No really, she is. As far as i can tell she can read my mind better than anyone else. When i'm feeling particularly lonely she jumps up onto my bed, in the mornings she comes upstairs when she hears me get up and she waits by my door, and when it's a lazy kind of day she lies around like no other. Right now she's lying curled up next to me with her favorite tennis ball in her mouth, just chilling out, keeping me company when i need it.

Accidental Dinner Party.

Yesterday i unexpectedly stumbled upon a dinner party. Perhaps it was the surprise of going that made it seem so wonderful, but i think what really made it perfect was that it was a dinner party full of just the right mix of people. After drinks at an old boat house tucked down an alley on the canal we made our way up the steps and into a beautiful studio. A long wooden table surrounded by mismatched chairs and an assortment of silverware and people flitting all around. The food was beautiful and looked like it was straight out of the pages of a magazine, and as everyone passed the platters around it seemed liked we'd all known each other for ages.

An antiques dealer next to graphic designer next to me next to a food stylist next to a garden designer from Kentucky next to an interior decorator next to a New York developer next to a photographer. Everyone completely different yet all meshing together to make never ending conversation. A fifty year span in ages and a slew of professions. Getting to know each other slowly and becoming absorbed in what everyone had to say. Watching a husband and wife lovingly look at each and smile as they finished dinner satisfied. Hearing another couple tell a story in unison, one telling the other to shut up and the other saying she embellishes just a little bit, but in the end smiling and saying that after thirty years they know how this works. Listening to animated tales about Kentucky. Everyone working together to clear the table so that pie could be served as the sun was setting. This is how a dinner party should always feel.

Noteworthy.

Two things i believe are noteworthy have happened in the past 24 hours. These are the two things that standout amongst all of the other terribly exciting things that go on in my day to day (i kid), and the reason i'm sharing them is because i think they might make one or two of you laugh, or maybe just grin a tiny bit.

#1 - At a dinner party i recently went to (by accident, more on that later) i found myself sitting across from a seventy year old man who had A LOT to say about everything you can imagine. The kind of guy who keeps everyone laughing the whole time you're in his company, and wears perfect purple button-down shirts, and can keep a conversation going no matter what. He began talking about how when he bought his 5,000 sq. foot loft in downtown new york for $60,000 in the late 70s when he didn't have a dime and went in with all sorts of checks from anyone he could find who would give him money, and from this story came the best bit of advice i've been given in a long while, and it's plain and simple:

"If it doesn't scare you shitless, what's the point?"

It was his variation of go big or go home, and it was perfect, and it made me want to take risks and do things that might not make sense because i'm young and that's what being young is for.

#2 - My very close friend, who will remain anonymous but may or may not be in a pretty well known band, has been talking to me the whole time he's been in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and most of the conversations we've had about his stay there have revolved around the endless amounts of prostitutes he's encountered. The first day he was there he decided maybe he would get some of them off the streets by paying for them and then racing them down the hallways of his hotel. Another idea was to pay for all of them and then make a small army to go beat up their pimps. But when it all came down to it, today was the day the day he decided to do something about all of this and when the end of the night had arrived he paid one of these girls the whole night's fee plus some just to NOT have sex that night. Will she actually take the night off? Probably not. But it's the thought that counts, right?

We Love You So.

Yet another installment in the finding new blogs you can spend hours browsing. After doing some googling about the much anticipated Where the Wild Things Are release (trying to see when it'd be released in the UK and it's a day after i am back home anyway on december 11th) i stumbled upon this blog called We Love You So. It brings together all of the creative inspiration that helped the movie come to be with posts from Spike Jones along with a slew of others. A peek into their lives as they create a project that will likely become a favorite of young and old alike. A hodge podge of videos, photos and links it's easy to fall into.

The Little Things.

More and more i've realized that it's the tiny things that make days great. Driving down my favorite road today near my house i saw a turtle slowly walking across the street. This guy looked exactly like my first pet, a red eared slider named Henri, and i couldn't help but stop and put him in the grass beside the road. It took about two minutes total, but made me smile all day long.