Continual State of Becoming

I recently decided I would read all the Harry Potter books. I dont know what made me decide this. I've already seen the first three movies, and honestly, I didnt care for them much. The first one, I thought, was all effects and visual distractions but lacked any real substance or logic. The second one seemed to be built on the same concepts. The third one got a little more interesting... but then that could just be because of my husband's influence. Apparently he didnt dislike it as much as the first because he said the story made more sense, But I think Gary Oldman's appearance had a big influence on his change of heart. But I think what really got me interested was the fact that I heard something bad or at least suprising happens at the end of the sixth book. And I actually want to read it and find out about it that way before I find out any other way (please dont tell me what it is... I'm this close to finding out on my own). Of course I couldnt just start...

"Which Starbucks Drink Are You?" Starbucks Coffee That sounds about right.

This weekend my husband and I took a trip up to New England. We went to Connecticut with his parents for a family wedding on Saturday. And then since we were in the area, we decided to go to a Boston Red Sox game on Sunday. (anyone who knows my husband knows how much he loves Boston sports teams... and how much that has rubbed off on me) So first thing on Sunday we drove from CT to Boston. Since he used to live right outside of Boston we went there first. He showed me his "old stomping grounds" in Wakefield Mass, and then we drove around and made our way to Kelly's on Revere Beach . Kelly's Roast Beef on the beach Now I'm not from Boston (nor had I been there until last year), but even I've heard of Kelly's. Actually I'm pretty sure that I saw Rachel Ray eat at Kelly's on her $40 a Day show a couple years ago. But for anyone who doesnt know, it's a little food stand/restaurant right on the beach that makes some great fresh seafood. We both got...

I'm in the middle of inventing my own dessert. I got in a cooking kick this evening so I went to Giant and bought some random ingredients. Then I came home, put on some music (an awesome mix tape someone made me years ago called "Jessica Sucks Punk Rocks") and literally started throwing the ingredients together... in my food processor. Eventually I ended up with a gooey mix and had no clue what to do with it. Fortunately the gooey mix tasted good; I should know, I think I've already eaten half of it. But I had to keep tasting it so I could think of something to do with it. I mean while I'm happy eating it off a spoon, I'm not sure it would go over well with other people. So after I had a sufficient sense of the taste and consistency of the gooey mix I came up with a plan on how to use it. Unfortunately I don't have the proper ingredients for the next step though, so at this moment the random gooey mix is "chilling overnight" (I figure that sounds...

So I was on a real cooking kick this week. I made steak (for the first time) with a marinade I came up with completely on my own, and it was awesome. Well the steak was a little dry, I think I might have over cooked it a bit, but the marinade was so good I didnt even care. I also started making real oatmeal. Not the instant oatmeal you just add hot water to, but the real stuff. I got some steel cut oats (which shockingly enough, Giant does carry) and everything. It's SO much better than that instant stuff. Let's see... I made chicken parmisan one night. I dont want to brag too much, but I make really good chicken parmisan. So good in fact, that I dont feel the need to ever order it at a resturaunt because I can just make it at home whenever I want. Though I should say that I use my mom's recipe, so she should probably get all the credit. That's a lot of cooking for me. But it's fun, I really enjoy it. I wish I could do it more often, and I probably would. ...

I made some awesome Granola today. I got the recipe from a show on Food Network. Seriously, I dont think people need to buy cookbooks anymore... FoodNetwork.com has all kinds of recipes, it's great. Now you can even set up a person recipe box on their website (which means I dont have to print out the recipes and throw them into my "random recipes" drawer.) I love Food Network, I wish other people watched it as often as I do. Then when I see one of my friends I could be like "hey did you see Rachel Ray last night? Wasn't that an amazing feast she prepared in only 30 minutes? I didnt think she'd be able to pull it off." and they'd be like "Of course I watched it, I never miss Rachel Ray, you know that." Alas, I am alone in my excitement. But if anyone is interested, here are the good shows to watch: Iron Chef (NOT Iron Chef America... especially if Bobby Flay is cooking-- I dont like him after the stunt he pulled on the real Iron Chef several...

My husband corrected my post from yesterday... I got a couple facts wrong concerning the song Black Betty (but I still like it) 1. Mark Belhorn doesnt use it, Mike Timlin does. 2. Spiderbait isnt the original band, somone else is. Though I still like the Spiderbait version. What can I say? I'm not perfect. Bam ba-lam

I cleaned most of the house today. I didn't really plan on doing it, but I made a really good PlayList on my iPod and it kept me in a "cleaning mood" for a long time (I think I listened to it at least 3 times today, so far). Typically I like to listen to Elvis Costello when I clean (I cant explain why), but I think it was time for a change. Here's my new Cleaning the House Playlist: 1. Black Betty Spiderbait The real version, not the crappy remake for the Dukes of Hazard. I include this because Mark Belhorn is currently on the Red Sox injured list, but I still want to hear the song (I'd actually prefer to hear it on my iPod over hearing it announce that Mark Belhorn is about to bat... with the exception of the time he hit a home run in the game we went to). 2. Undo Me Jennifer Knapp Just fun to sing along to (I think the whole song is actually in my range) 3. Yeah! Usher Never did I think I'd enjoy a song that repeats one word so much. 4. It's All Over Now...

gregarious Definition- friendly Antonym- not friendly

More often than not, I read magazines from back to front. I find the articles in the back are usually more intersting and shorter. And if they are good, I might read the really long articles in the front. But if I start in the front, I always skip over the really long articles at the beginning because I dont expect them to be that interesting.

Some of my thoughts on things lately: Batman Begins . I saw this last weekend. On the way to the theater my husband and I chatted briefly about how bad movies were lately. And even though I had heard that the new Batman was good, I was still expecting it to suck by my standards. It just seems as though all the movie-makers seems interested in lately is making the movie look good. Who cares about content; people dont think much now adays anyway. And that's what I expected from this movie. Yet I went anyway. Turns out, I was wrong. I really enjoyed the movie (even though I dont care for any of the other Batman movies). It had a good story line, and the visual effects appeared more realistic than the current trend creates them. I actually found myself thinking about half way through "wow, this is good, I'm actually enjoying it." Not something I think very often, especially with action movies. One negative... all the close-ups during the action scenes, it just makes me ...

I wish I had heard more of this stuff earlier. Picasso~ Why should I try to imitate nature? I might just as well try to trace the perfect circle. Mondrian~ If objective vision were possible, it would give us a true image of reality. Leger~ The feat of superbly imitating a muscle, as Michelangelo did, or a face, as Raphael did, created neither progress nor heirarchy in art. Because these artists of the 16th century imitated human forms, they were not superior to the artists of the high periods of Egyptian, Chaldean, Indochinese, Roman, and Gothic art who interpreted and stylized form but did not imitate it.On the contrary, art consists of inventing and not copying.Art must be free in its inventiveness, it must raise us above too much reality. Duchamp~ I was aware at that time that, for the spectator more than for the artist, art is a habit forming drug Francis Bacon~ Any work that I like does the same to me-- it makes me see other things. It makes me aware of reality, although it may no...

I'm becoming obsessed with art books... and loving it.

"Braque has always said that the only thing that counts, in painting, is the intention , and it's true." -Pablo Picasso A teacher once told me the same thing about music and it completely changed the way I listen to, perform, and think about music. And I agree with Picasso... it is true.

Jejune : 1. not interesting 2. lacking maturity 3. lacking nutrition Used in a sentence: I never knew the word jejune existed before today.

... I'm going to stop letting boots walk all over me.

Pace Wildenstein Here is one of my favorite websites to look through lately. It's a site for an Art Gallery in New York City. I ordered a few catalogs (actually they are more like books... and they certainly are priced more like books) from them a couple months ago, and they are great! Anyway, they have some great artwork by some modern artists as well as biographies and other information. In addition, they have some of the later Agnes Martin paintings... one of which is currently set as my wallpaper . Another one of my favorites is Josef Albers . I pretty much like any artwork that uses squares. There arent many sites that I just browse through, but I always manage to find something interesting on this one.

Quixotic : idealistic without regard to practicality (after Don Quixote )

Today feels like Friday for some reason. But I'm actually glad that it's not.