do it today and you'll be ahead.

Here is a video that is at once dark, intriguing, and stimulating: it's called Epic 2015. Have you seen it yet? It looks at our use of the internet and the blurring boundaries between personalization and power. Go see it--it's only about ten minutes long.

What did you think?

Media does influence the way we work and think, and it is good practice to consider how the internet affects us now and how it might affect us in the future. For example, consider how the telegraph changed our discourse and the way we relate to information (see Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman for the original presentation of this concept). News was no longer limited to proximity, in a sense resulting in the “annihilation of space,” as Postman calls it. By and by, information became delocalized, more abundant, and, consequently, less relevant (frankly I’m not as affected by something that happened to someone I’d never heard of who lives somewhere I’ve never been as by reading about something that happened to the woman I see every week when I buy my groceries). This video addresses that problem we face of information inundation and trivialization with its focus on the fabricated “Googlezon,” a merge between Google and Amazon that allows for total customization of content that, in a sense, makes irrelevant information relevant again. Its intriguing presentation seems to address the need for balance between customization and privacy.

A little bit of peace in a hectic world

when all that remains is to watch and wait

and to turn over and do it again.

I'm slowly getting into the swing of things around here--seeing a little bit more of campus day by day, browsing more local shops, gaining familiarity with public transport. Life here is feeling smoother.

Nerves are starting to set in for classes, however. It's been over a year since I was in school, and I feel my thinking powers and time management skills have gotten rusty. That, and my computer rebelled against the new school year yesterday by contracting a virus; poor thing is now at the computer help center for a couple of days undergoing a manual cleaning. I'm just grateful it happened before things really pick up. Really grateful.

But here's to a fresh week, a fresh semester, and a fresh computer.

I think M and I have everything we need to make the apartment feel like home--to both of us. We hit up Charlotte today for a round of Ikea, Bed Bath and Beyond, TJ Maxx Home Goods, and Target and returned to Carrboro with the little car packed full of furniture and bedding and mirrors and kitchen accoutrement. I can hear her hammering away at her dresser now.

I'm terribly excited about my purchases as well: quart-size coffee press (now more than one can enjoy coffee at a time!), Misto oil sprayer (no disposable aerosol spray can for me), and a full length mirror (so that's what those shoes look like with that dress...). It feels good to have all the errands completed and the time to settle down to a cup of hot tea and a cookie.

Well, I'm back online and back in NC...and now I have roommates! One is a cat, both are delightful, and I think we'll all get along well.

So what's up for the next few days? Finishing up that ever-present upholstery job is hitting the top of the priority list as well as scheduling a nasty Td booster shot with campus health...oh and buying textbooks because someone says I have classes starting up soon? Seriously?

But I'm so excited to begin studying again. M and I walked around campus yesterday and it really is gorgeous--I'm especially excited about Manning Hall, where all of my INLS classes will be. As I didn't bring my camera I haven't got any photos to share, so you'll just have to take me at my word that it really is picturesque.

Oh and should you come to visit anytime soon, we'll have to get frozen yogurt at the Yogurt Pump off Franklin. That's really good stuff.

Welcome to

my little place

in Carrboro.

here's a close up of one my favorite spots in the whole apartment--complete with my ever-present clear glass canisters and mixing bowls and things I love to use.

I still have much to do before I'm finished dressing up these various niches, but I couldn't wait to share what I've done thus far. I think I was made to set up house.

Later on this month (when I have internet at the Little Place), I plan to give you a proper tour, replete with details and chatty household tips. Stop on by in about a month!

Just stopping in to let you know that the move went well, and now I'm in the midst of setting up my home! I love the area and cannot wait to share more about it; with that being said, my times with the internet are quite limited, so posts will be few and far between for awhile...

but they'll come...

...sometime

If I were overwhelmed with money to spend on the house, I would put in a bid for this lovely set of cane table and chairs--


--painted white (my answer to everything), wouldn't they look stunning in a nook in the living room or kitchen or even the bedroom? And no, I am not buying furniture off of ebay; scrolling through is simply how I appease my craigslist addiction.

collect for the day

GRANT, O Lord, we beseech thee,
that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance,
that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Book of Common Prayer 1928
Fifth Sunday after Trinity

• worked 44 hours
• continued reading Miriam's Kitchen (Elizabeth Ehrlich)
  
• finished reading Winesburg, Ohio (Sherwood Anderson)
• began reading The Vicar of Wakefield (Oliver Goldsmith)
• finally attended the monthly potluck at church (as well I should have since they were bidding me goodbye)
• painted my dining chairs bright white
• found another dining chair off Craigslist and now have four white chairs and one vanilla-toned chair...ah well
  
• walked with Kris and Brandon over a busy highway for an ice cream cone
• began packing my books up
• weeded out my alterations bins
• witnessed the culmination of a $300 fine at the library (check your interlibrary loans carefully, people!)
  
• settled on mints and aquas for my kitchen colors
• got in to two waitlisted classes and now am taking all basic core classes
  
• bought my pantry staples and cannot wait to use them!

• worked 35 hours
• continued reading Miriam's Kitchen (Elizabeth Ehrlich)
  
• continued reading Winesburg, Ohio (Sherwood Anderson)
  
• helped move Kristen and Brandon into their new apartment (closer to my family's house!)
• came face to face with a thief
  
• found the deal of the week at Salvo: $22 KitchenAid (sage green) with all three attachments
• found the deal of the week at Thrift Store USA: 5 yards of off-white upholstery fabric for $1.50
• dried my laundry on the sun-warmed deck
  
• ripped the hideous orange-flowered fabric off my arm chair in preparation for reupholstering it; it already looks better
• celebrated Independence Day at Kris and Brandon's new place with family and friends
  

Take a peek into this couple's charming renovation--as newlyweds, they have a very limited budget for housing and furnishing, but I think their mismatched pieces are skillfully placed and the colors tie it all together perfectly. See what you can do with thrift store finds and Craigslist?




images from nytimes.com here

found via Darling Dexter

"Seven Stanzas at Easter"

By John Updike Make no mistake: if He rose at all it was as His body; if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall. It was not as the flowers, each soft Spring recurrent; it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the eleven apostles; it was as His Flesh: ours. The same hinged thumbs and toes, the same valved heart that — pierced — died, withered, paused, and then regathered out of enduring Might new strength to enclose. Let us not mock God with metaphor, analogy, sidestepping transcendence; making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded credulity of earlier ages: let us walk through the door. The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache, not a stone in a story, but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of time will eclipse for each of us the wide light of day. And if we will have an angel at the tomb, make it a real angel, weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen spun on a definite loom. Let us not seek to make it less monstrous, for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty, lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed by the miracle, and crushed by remonstrance. Telephone Poles and Other Poems © 1961 by John Updike

O LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to hear us;
and grant that we, to whom thou hast given an hearty desire to pray, may,
by thy mighty aid,
be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Third Sunday after Trinity
Book of Common Prayer 1928

• worked 50 hours
• ticked off a lady at Hancock's who used the adjective "smart ass" to describe those of us who were helping her
• was called "really pretty" by a little girl at Hancock's
  
• finished reading Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) and fell in love with Gilbert all over again
  
• started reading Winesburg, Ohio (Sherwood Anderson)
• continued reading Tolkien: a Biography (Michael White)
• finished every bit of nasty paperwork associated with the upcoming school year--including my loan application and financial aid consent form
• finally finally finally sent in my thanks-but-no-thanks letters to University of Kentucky and University of Maryland
• painted my computer cart a disappointing green
  
• used the amazing new copier at the Crisis Pregnancy Center which duplexes, sorts, and staples the wad of papers one shoves in it
• found some fabulous deals at local thrift stores including a tea pot and a large glass canister ($3.19 for both) and a J. Crew sundress ($2.25)
• recovered my dining chairs
  
• am just beginning to understand the attitude of thankfulness
  

O GOD, the strength of all those who put their trust in thee;
Mercifully accept our prayers;
and because through the weakness of our mortal nature,
we can do no good thing without thee,
grant us the help of thy grace,
that in keeping thy commandments we may please thee,
both in will and in deed;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

1st Sunday after Trinity
Book of Common Prayer 1928

Modicum: a small amount or tiny bit

Her eyes searched his for one modicum of recognition but found none. He stamped his ticket, placed it neatly within the pockets of his billfold, and thrust himself calmly into the jostling crowd with nothing but 8:01 Bedford on his mind.

This Week I ...

• worked 44 hours
• continued to read Tolkien: A Biography (Michael White)
• started to read Anne of Green Gables (Lucy Maud Montgomery)
• finished reading Babbitt (Sinclair Lewis)
• met a lovely girl named Heather at the library
• found an affordable three-shelf rolling cart for my computer!
  
• worked on a little something for my kitchen
• implemented a new tidying system for my terribly cluttered bedroom: every time I enter, I put away three things (no more and no fewer)
• took advantage of Tropical Smoothie Cafe's National Flip-Flop Day giveaway
  
• signed up for the summer reading program at the Central Library
• discovered I was calling a regular patron by the wrong name for months
• ate buttery-smooth cookies-and-cream ice cream at Bergey's with Mom and Kathryn
• witnessed the completion of Mom's book cart (more on that!)
• made progress on my furniture makeovers: prepared my dining chairs for painting and bought upholstery fabric; speared Dad's tire with my scattered upholstery tacks
  

As you can tell, I spend nearly every thinking minute on household touches and decor. I am so excited about settling into my apartment in North Carolina in just a few weeks. Everything is coming together.

This here is a lovely example of using free walls for conversation or reading areas--Leslie Banker of Rhode Island set this space up in her dining room, making use of this space with her classically simple loveseat (it is gorgeous, isn't it?). The paneled walls set off her collection of prints beautifully and the bright red tones enliven the rich neutral scheme. You can find her house tour at Cookie Magazine.