I can't believe it's New Year's Eve already. 2011 really flew by and what a year it has been. Last year at this time I was coming home from a short vacation on the Sinai, Egypt. I had no plans and I spent January 1, 2011 relaxing and took myself out to lunch. This year I'm going to stand on the Southbank in London and watch the fireworks go off at midnight, tomorrow I have to get back to studying for exams.
2011: Palestine, Ramallah, work canceled due to violence, floating in the Dead Sea, exploring Jerusalem with my mom, staying the night at Antonia's before MAT classes the next morning, watching Shaun the Sheep, falling asleep on the service on the way home from work, buying five movies a week at my DVD store, eating Pesto pasta at least once a week, falling in love with Pringles again, friends getting married, having children, or getting new jobs, going home after months in the Middle East, having one of the best summers ever with close friends, eating all my favorite foods, skydiving, going to the Garlic Festival, spending a day at Wild Waves and feeling like a kid, sleeping in a tent in my own backyard, starting all over again in a new place, beginning my MA program in London, enjoying the street markets, tasting Tiramisu Cheesecake for the first time, experiencing an English Christmas, marveling at how fast a semester can start and end, getting a volunteer position at Amnesty International all on my own.
All that and more in one year, I wonder what 2012 will bring...
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.
Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.
She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.
Buy her another cup of coffee.
Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.
It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.
She has to give it a shot somehow.
Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.
Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.
Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.
If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.
You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.
You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.
Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.
Or better yet, date a girl who writes.
— Rosemary Urquico (via http://fashionbookworm.tumblr.com/)
Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.
She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.
Buy her another cup of coffee.
Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.
It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.
She has to give it a shot somehow.
Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.
Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.
Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.
If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.
You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.
You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.
Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.
Or better yet, date a girl who writes.
— Rosemary Urquico (via http://fashionbookworm.tumblr.com/)
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
"There are certain people who come into your life, and leave a mark. Their place in your heart is tender; a bruise of longing, a pulse of unfinished business. Just hearing their name pushes and pulls at you in a hundred ways, and when you try to define those hundred ways, describe them even to yourself, words are useless." -Sara Zarr
Monday, December 19, 2011
Piece of sky fallen to earth
I have always thought turquoise jewelry is beautiful, there's just something classic about that color paired with simple silver or gold. Native Americans, especially, make gorgeous works of art with turquoise and various metals, I like the thought that this stone is a piece of sky fallen to earth. Within the past couple of years i've picked up a few turquoise rings, they are my go-to pieces when I want to add a little something to whatever I'm wearing, it's comfortable but also pretty. I've even thought about the idea that turquoise in an elegant gold setting might make a nice engagement ring. Recently, I noticed I had been wearing my rings a lot and I remembered that turquoise happens to be my birth stone, I don't know if that's something to necessarily believe in but I wonder if it has anything to do with my attraction to it.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Happy Holidays!
I have the best mom in the world and for the holidays (my birthday, Christmas and Hanukkah) she sent me a box of presents!!! Like I said, best mom EVER.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Places I want to visit
Some of these places have specific attributes that attract me, others just sound fun.
Antarctica
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
China
Ethiopia
Greece
Greenland
Iceland
Italy
Ireland
Scotland
Spain
Antarctica
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
China
Ethiopia
Greece
Greenland
Iceland
Italy
Ireland
Scotland
Spain
Friday, December 9, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Ice Skating at Somerset House
I went ice skating for the first time ever today! Tiffany's is sponsoring a rink at Somerset House right next to my campus. It was a lot of fun and I didn't faceplant, not even once.
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