bits & bobs (or: maybe i really belong in england)

i spent the weekend watching green wing on hulu and printing up a storm (photos to come). if you don't know about green wing, you should. it's a hilarious british comedy set in a hospital (think scrubs on speed), and is at the same time outrageously inappropriate (consider yourself warned) and laugh-out-loud funny. it doesn't hurt that it is a good dose of eye candy as well. it makes me want to start calling my underwear 'pants', my pants 'trousers', and using 'oy!' as my new exclamation of disgust, alarm, or surprise.
also, amy and i signed a lease on a really great new place. what a relief it is to have the house-hunting over with. i am excited about 1200 square feet (!) of victorian charm, with a backyard and garden to go with. so only two more weeks in this little tiny place that has been, come to think of it, my longest single home as an adult (just shy of two years). which is a strange thought, but okay at the same time. it is time for an upgrade, and a place where i can stay for several years, if i decide to stay in minneapolis. i'm sure i will share pictures at some point, but a few highlights include: a real oven (no more wedging the cookie sheets in), a dishwasher and full-sized fridge, a giant bedroom on the second floor with plenty of room for work tables, sewing machine, etc. tons of natural light, hardwood floors, a big bathroom with drawers and drawers and drawers for storage. . . . oh, and the backyard/garden. i am looking forward to a lot of socializing. oh! and it is literally only five blocks from my studio. really. it doesn't get any better than that. i think that will make a lot of difference in my getting there.
amy h. is coming for a visit this weekend, and i am excited about art-a-whirl (to be a visitor, not a host--yet), and general springiness.
oh, and i've really been enjoying my hair lately. it looks good and is easy to care for. too bad my stylist moved to texas.

P. just posted about this guy yesterday, and i am totally taken with his blog. he makes food and photographs it. his voice is so calm and real, it is a great escape from my dreary workday.
oh my gosh! i am going to stop talking about how dreary my workdays are. i think it is established that i don't like my job, and that i am dying to get out of it, to work for myself, to do something meaningful. so i can stop talking about it, stop obsessing about it, stop giving it any more attention than it deserves.
so i can stop whining!
i hate whining.
and the cure to whining is gratitude, so i am going to be grateful for the things i do enjoy, my friends at work, and friends on the interwebs, two legs that get me to work and home every day, and my eyes that let me take in all the beauty the world has to offer. blah, blah, blah.
i mean it, i really do.

still giggling, one week later.

charles minor: "what's a two-way petting zoo?"
jim halpert: "you pet the animals and they pet you back."

seriously, i think it's the best office line ever.

i still don't take pictures of people.

i made a batch of amy butler's red velvet cupcakes for the party on saturday. mini ones.and then, at the party, ended up taking about a million pictures of the lights through the window. i can't decide yet if they look like they are actually great or really not great at all. i got a big kick out of taking them, and my impulse says i like looking at them, so that's going to be enough for me.

more cube food.

this is starting to be a fun little game (i'm thinking of making this a regular blog feature. this is really only the beginning of the pictures, which is only the beginning of what i actually eat in my cube. which is perhaps why i need a diet?) i'm thinking i should become a spokeswoman for surdyk's, the home of many a delicious thing, particularly the yummy sandwich-baby. i'm pretty sure most of my workday meals [that i don't make myself] come from there. oh, and i do love girl scout cookie time. . . .


in other news, i think my press is fixed!! thanks to a fresh pair of eyes and a level. so we'll see if the tighter screws hold. all plans for tomorrow are scratched, i am spending every moment i can with that press-baby.
kim came to visit today and saw the press and the studio and we walked all over northeast and it felt great to be in the sunshine and smell like outside again for once. i cannot cannot wait for spring and summer.
today is amy's birthday, so we are going out for fancy-schmancy dinner, which we never do. but i've been sitting on a big fat gift card for awhile now, so why not? i need to scrounge up something appropriate to wear, and i discover once again that i have no fancy clothes, let alone fancy clothes that are seasonally appropriate.
regardless, i am looking forward to a little dinner, some wine. . . a movie to follow, perhaps?

this is how i entertain myself at work.

but only sometimes! turns out the direct florescent light in my cube is not horrible for styling my snacks. it gives me the chance to practice my photography skills, too. i'm starting to get the hang of the macro setting. the granola i actually made myself (i think most of the food i post about is totally store-bought and often way processed), the palmier and coffee are my new favorite cheap treat from surdyk's, and the donut. . . oh, the friday donut. officially on the 'no' list as amy and i have begun serious diet change as of today (an incentive-rich program designed to motivate and inspire us to healthy eating and plenty of exercise), but a visual marvel nonetheless.