Today was an excellent day! I took the day off work to run errands and fix up my apartment a little bit. Jenn just moved in, so I'm having to make my bedroom into a whole apartment, which is pretty fun, actually!
I went to the recycling center to drop off some old stuff and they have a place where people leave stuff that is still good for other people to take. Usually it's really terrible crap, but as I was leaving, I noticed a chair. It was clean and looked like it would match my stuff perfectly. So I brought it home and I think it really ties the room together.
And ya just can't beat FREE!
APPLE-space
'2/25/08 6pm -- meet so-and-so for drink
TAB
ic
And voila! A new meeting is put in my ical. With a quick isync down to my phone, once again my schedule is more-or-less mananageable.
Woot!
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/09/23/how-to-add-a-new-ical-event-from-quicksilver/
It's foggy today. Adena & I played a new game last night though -- BuyWord. It was recommended thru BoardGameGeek; it's a fun word game. I didn't like the paper money, I think BGG's suggestion of poker chips would be fun.
It's actually rainy/overcast, not foggy.
Nothing much else to say at the moment. Been reading the new George RR Martin book of short stories; it's good.
No pix, but I did make a pretty good butternut squash soup, inspired by my sister's recipe with Adena's modifications. (no celery, scallions instead of onions, add ginger)
1 Butternut Squash
a few scallions
a little garlic
a little ginger
a blop of olive oil
1 medium potato
1 carrot or a handful of baby-cut carrots
3 or so cups of veggie broth
I cut the squash in half and roasted it at 375 for 45 minutes, then let it sit in the turned off oven while I did everything else.
I sauteed the garlic & grated ginger in olive oil, then cooked the scallions, carrots & potatoes til they started to get soft. Then I put everything in a big pot, scooped out the perfectly soft squash, and mixed everything together with the broth til it looked like soup, then simmered it. But I should have simmered it a while longer, some of the carrots & potatoes were a little crunchy. It tasted great, though.
My friend's burger blog. He's from Finland, and judging from his recent reviews, America really is the promised land.
http://burgerjoints.blogspot.com
Now that the light is starting to come back, I feel a new urge to get productive! So I joined up at the Hat Factory , a local videoblog loft / workspace. So far, I've been very productive for about half an hour, but it might be time for lunch. :)
The people seem very nice though.
Not much else to report yet. There's a great velvet elvis behind me, though.
Just wishing everyone good holidays, whatever you're into. I've been into Hannukah, the solstice, and Christmas so far. :)
Best to you and yours!
xoxo
I don't know why I thought to search for this but of course it was on youtube. Enjoy a ride down memory lane.
It might be a stereotype, but I do feel manlier when I fix something at home. :) In this case, I spent a few hours this weekend fixing two little windows in one of the french doors in my apartment. It actually wasn't that bad; the worst part was learning the hard way where everything connected under the paint.
But now.. a fixed door (just needs some paint)!
I had to wake up at 0430 to shower and be ready for a two hour drive at 0530. I was so nervous that I would oversleep that I made myself undersleep, brilliantly. Katie brought to go cups and I had strong coffee ready. We left on-time and traveled for two dark and treacherous hours in the rain while listening to Chuck Klosterman IV on audiobook.
I felt completely drained when we boarded the plane, white knuckled it through a bumpy flight, and then arrived 2 hours later at an airport that looked a lot like one we'd just left from. We still had to take a bus over 60 miles to get into Stockholm.
When we finally arrived at the main station, my exhaustion turned to giddiness as I looked around. Everywhere I looked I saw cool things! A group of young blonde boys in tight jeans were playing pop songs on fake instrumnets for some kind of giant video game. Cafes looked modern and inviting. We asked a woman about buying subway tickets and she was very friendly and spoke perfect English! I had a feeling I was going to love it there...
This feeling did not change as we exited the subway at our stop. Despite the cold and rainy weather, I could clearly see that there was a large indoor mall directly across the steet! With a vagabond store (excellent shoes, hard to locate and purchase)! Our hostel was easy to find and I was amazed when we went inside. It was cleaner and nicer than most hotels. The staff was friendly and our room was SO nice! Plus it had a computer /TV with FREE internet inside of it.
Stoked, Katie and I headed out in search of food. This was slightly challenging since everything in Sweden costs approximately 1 million dollars once you do the conversion. We found an Italian place with lunch specials (pizza) and went inside. After attempting to seat ourselves, we learned that food is ordered and paid for at the bar and then you sit down. Hm! Then the waiter showed us where we could help ourselves to a cabbage salad and some water. Very interesting! We split a huge pizza and pasta, then just got up and left since we had already paid. Kinda nifty!
We started finding interesting stores immediately and that took up a good portion of our afternoon. I did not buy anything, but I sure wanted to! We napped back at the hotel, then set out in the evening for some adventure.
First we went to the old town "Gamla Stan" to wander around a bit. We found lots of restaurants, but most of them were insanely expensive and we weren't that hungry after our giant lunch, so we eventually ended up munching on burritos from a fast food Mexican restaurant. After that we went to a cafe and had some wonderful chocolate cake and coffee.
I knew about a club called "Debaser" from checking online and seeing that is where the bands I like always play. I knew there was nothing on that night, but thought it might be a cool place to check out nonetheless. As Katie and I stood trying to figure out which way was south in order to travel toward the club, I realized we were staring directly at it! There was a small cover charge, but the place was just perfect. It wasn't too crowded or expensive, and practically every person in there was wearing tight pants, converse, and a sweater. They were all thin with tousled hair and they looked fantastic in my opinion.
A Swedish band called "The LKs" started playing shorty after we arrived and they were great! The music was just the perfect volume, and their sound and style were dead on. After that another Swedish band called "Dreamboy" played and they were a lot of fun. There were six fashionable males in that band and they sounded not unlike the Get-Up Kids. Drinking beer (German, not Swedish :() and listening to poppy Swedish indie rock made me incredibly happy. I slept great that night and woke up ready for more Stockholm!
I found out that there was a Christmas market in Sodermalm, which was described as the "hip" part of town in my travel book, so we set off to find it. It was not what I would expect from a traditional Christmas market, but it was awesome! It was more like a place where local artists sell their creations and cool people come to hang out and buy them. There was lots of food and lots of interesting things to buy.
We left the market and decided to eat lunch. We popped into a Thai restaurant and were thrilled to find cushions on the floor instead of chairs! This may not seem special to most of you, but I've never actually sat on the ground while eating in a restaurant, so I was pschyed. Moreoever, the atmosphere was awesome and the food was tasty, plentiful and affordable. Well-played, random Thai restaurant!
We then headed back to the old city for the traditional Christmas market which was small, but adorable. In fact, every where we looked it was like a feast for the eyes. The moon was full and reflecting off the water (Stockholm is actually 14 islands), and all the lights made everything look magical. Just when I thought I might freeze to death while soaking in all the beauty, we discovered Glogg!!! I thought it would taste like Gluhwein (hot mulled wine popular in Germany at Christmas), but it was a LOT better! It tasted like apple cider with delicious spices. Plus, they served it with yummy heart-shaped gingerbread cookies.
Due to the cold, we ended up stopping in a lot of shops on the way back to our hotel. Yes, it was rough, but we managed! We decided to go to the movies that night since all movies are shown in their original language. We saw "The Heartbreak Kid" which was very funny. Overall, a perfect day!
The next morning I was a little sad since I knew my time in Sweden was coming to an end. We went for a long run around the city, then ate toasted sandwiches in an adorable cafe in the city center. Plus, they had wonderful American style coffee that was 'serve yourself'. For those of you accustomed to drink refills, you may not understand why this is such an exciting concept. In Germany, you get a tiny cup coffee for 3 Euros and are then forced to purchase each additional cup. Most places only serve espresso drinks and do not really have a black cup of coffee like Americans are used to. Did I tell you I love Sweden?
We shopped and walked around taking pictures until 3 when we boarded the bus back to the airport. Our trip home was uneventful other than the fact that I finished the book I was reading and the audiobook, making it an extremely successful trip!
