happy halloween

  

My Halloween?  

• Catching up on Bored to Death (so lovely).
• Wearing all black and white with a giant orange and black spider on my cardigan
• PUMPKIN SPICE ICE COFFEE IN THE BON!  I love seasonal treats in the dining hall.  They better put out the pumpkin ice cream again tonight.
• Finishing an essay on On the Road.
• Listening to my Fall 2011 (I should think of something more original...) playlist on iTunes.
• Watching the rain from my dorm room.
• Eating obscene amounts of candy like a greedy six year old (My grandma sent me some top-notch treats, plus I still have leftovers from Friday night when small children from the Boys & Girls Club came trick-or-treating at my dorm.  There were two Hermiones and a Moaning Myrtle.  Also, one of the moms called Ted Hagrid.  It was a good night).
• Doing scary things like studying for a midterm on Greek tragedy and comedy that is tomorrow morning (pray for me) and trying to convince myself to read more of the creepiest novel of my life for English (I've been trying to embrace it because it's Halloweentime, but after today...It's just back to being really weird).
• Trying not to think about how I am not seeing Harry & the Potters tonight in Portland.  Why must I be such a Ravenclaw and stay home to study?  Oh well.  I saw them in Phoenix.

Overall, I'd say life is pretty sweet, literally and figuratively.  

Happy Halloween!  Hope your day is full of tricks, but mostly treats.

ms frizzle ftw

I cut out planets and stars and suns and moons to sew onto one of my dresses, added a lizard to my shoulder, accessorized, and voila!  Ms Frizzle.  And yes, Ted is Allen from The Hangover.  He makes the perfect Zach Galifianakis!

Also, this happened.  And it was wonderful, especially on a rainy day.  (But really, when is it not a rainy day here?)

Happy Halloween weekend!

guess who has a blog now

TED!  You should definitely read and drool over his delicious food blog, especially because he knows all the good places in Portland and also enjoys cooking and baking!  Hopefully soon there will be a post all about the pumpkin pancakes he's making for Halloween weekend, of which I plan to eat all of.  Be excited.

craftoween

It's almost Halloween!  I could not be more thrilled.  I have even been eating an obscene amount of Sour Patch Kids in celebration.  Okay--maybe that's just because I love Sour Patch Kids....  Anyway, a week or two ago, I decked out my room in orange and black.  You know me.  It's a holiday.  I gotta get my craft on.

Thanks to my awesome grandma, I had plenty of Halloween goodies to get my dorm room in the spooky spirit (especially notice the legos and giant spider barrette).  To add a little extra pizazz, I fashioned some pinwheels from the festive tissue paper that was in my epic Halloween package.  I was so happy when my roommate asked me to help her make one.  She even taught her friend how to make one a few days later!  I feel like I have made a positive difference in the world.  Hooray for holidays!

P.S. TWO MONTHS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!  My friend mentioned this at dinner and it made my day.

nerdfest northwest

Tuesday night, Ted and I went to see Lord of the Rings In Concert.  They played the first film on a giant screen and performed all the music live.  It was pretty sweet!

Before the concert started, I was showing Ted my favorite blogger and gushing over how awesome she is.  When I was on one of her outfit posts, Ted says, (and I quote), "You should put together your cute outfits and I will take pictures!  And you can put them on your blog!"  (He was anxiously awaiting his new supercool Nikon camera in the mail.)  I think I stopped breathing.  I said, "TED!!!! THAT IS ALL I HAVE EVER WANTED A BOY TO TELL ME!"  I don't know how this happened...  I'm not going to question it though.  So yeah, Ted took all of the following photos...

Friday night was pretty magical.  Ted and I watched the Rocky Horror Glee episode and then got our Gryffindor pride on (Sorry Ravenclaw; I don't have any Ravenclaw attire--this will change soon) to watch Deathly Hallows Part 2 in the Council Chamber with some friends.  I sobbed.

Saturday, Ted and I went downtown.  Ted needed to stop by the haberdasher (he loves this place; it's pretty adorable) and I needed to get the lovely Melanie a birthday present and myself some material for my Miss Frizzle costume. These were accomplished, and then some.  

Had the best cappuccino of my life (so far) at Stumptown.  I have very little background with cappuccinos, but this was pretty great.

After passing Portland Design Collective many times, I finally had the chance to go in.  It is wonderful, brimming with vintage dresses, accessories, and oddities.  Stopped in Josephine's Dry Goods and found some cheap, colorful felt perfect for my costume, went into Crafty Wonderland because you can't just not go into Crafty Wonderland, introduced Ted to Canoe, which he loved, browsed Buffalo Exchange, and probably went in other places that I can't remember...

  

This is me by a very old door of a very old church, I believe.

LEAVES, YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!

Tedderton.

Bow tie and wolf pin.  Can't get much better than that.

Claire and Ted howling at the moon outside of Nicholas'. Had some WONDERFUL food with some wonderful company--Claire, Claire's parents, and Ted.  We ate so much good food.  This place, you guys.  It's delicious.

Life is so good!  But now I have to read 3240923094 things.

weekend update

***You should listen to this as you read this/do homework/do anything, because it is a wonderful playlist.

Just for the record, I am falling in love with Portland more and more each time I explore it.  This weekend was no exception.  It's just ridiculous.  This place is so good!  The food, the shops, the people.  Just.  Lovely. 

One of the best parts is how absurdly weird things are sometimes.  The craziest thing happened.  Siri, Regina, Ted, and I were at Tea Chai Te to get some work done, when we met A BABY SLOTH.  With a PINK BOW in its hair and BABY CLOTHES on its hairy brown body.  I can't even...  What.  Only in Portland, man.  We were dying at this bizarre scene.  Apparently they have a sloth colony.  A sloth colony!!!!  Who even knows.

After Regina and Siri headed back to campus, Ted and I decided to go see if we could find a cooking pan for him to make me delicious food.  On our way to Kitchen Kaboodle, I insisted we stop in Paper Source, which was heavenly crafty.  I wanted everything.  Everything.  Especially the Halloween stuff.

While Ted talked to someone about pans at Kitchen Kaboodle, I reveled in the displays of holiday cookie cutters, cake pans, and decorations.  The holidays are approaching!  I could not be more excited.

Before heading to dinner with our friends Nate and Emily, we went into Moonstruck and bought some chocolates.  They were delightful!  I can't wait to try their hot chocolate, which Ted claims is awesome.

SUSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was unbelievably happy to have some sushi.  So thrilled.  It has been too long.  See below the crazycool Dynamite Roll.  It was pretty great.  Yummmm!

After sushi, Ted and I headed over to the movie theatre.  Ted hadn't seen Midnight in Paris, so we saw that, and it was just as snazzy as I remembered it.  SPOILER--I was especially excited for Ted to see it because when I asked him the other day what era he'd most like to live in, he said the twenties.  I kept looking over at him and he was grinning so big.  He's a keeper.

Sunday was spent sewing in the costume shop, and that night I was sorted into Ravenclaw at Harry Potter club.  Life is good.

On a side note, waking up with fog everywhere is the craziest thing ever.  Although I do enjoy having the creative liberty to write stuff on my window.

Happy Monday!

it's october and getting a little crazy

Disclaimer:  This post may last two years.  A lot has happened!  This is a semi-stressful post, because I have so much to say.  I will try to be concise (but that isn't really my strong point, is it?)...

First off, I would just like to point out that I love our school colors here.  Orange and black=excuse to think about Halloween all year round.  Fortunately, it is actually October now, so I can think about Halloween all I want aaaaand smile really big when I walk past this window display for our bookstore.

Last Wednesday night was the beginning of FALL BREAK!  I am having trouble thinking back that far because it seems like 50 years ago, so I will have to break it down.  

Wednesday-Friday night my friends and I had themed Disney marathon nights.  Wednesday was Pixar, in honor of the late Steve Jobs (Wall-E, Ratatouille), Thursday was Miyazaki (Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky), and Friday was good ol' Disney (Tangled, Sword in the Stone).  Suffice to say, it was lovely!  

On Thursday, I spent the day helping the costume shop manager with a project.  Upholstered a cushion and some pillows.  Made some $$$.  Awesome.

On Friday, Tara and I explored the magical street Hawthorne.  We were freaking out!  It is so cool.  We passed 23214 cute stores and cafes and whatnot.  Here are a few...

Happy Knits

Really Good Stuff

Lounge Lizard (So in love with this place.)

A real life kitty in the windowsill, just hangin' with a typewriter and plants.  No biggie.

1960

I was so excited when we found this outdoor market.  Pumpkins are necessary for life.  I got two--one for me, and one for my roommate.

Vintage Pink (I got an adorable shift dress and Tara got an adorable dress and rockin' shirt.)

Pumpkins!  I had to take a picture next to the owls.  Funnily enough, I am realizing I have 39423098 owl things.  Apparently that's just another weird collection of mine that I didn't even plan.  This makes me incredibly happy.

After a lovely late afternoon browsing the numerous vintage shops, we got food in this area with delicious food carts surrounding wooden tables (which I later found out is called Cartopia) that is near this coffee shop (which I had to take a picture of because my friend Clair calls me Tiny).  I got an XS fries with Rosemary Truffle Ketchup from Potato Champion and a Spinach Mushroom pizza from Pyro Pizza.  I can not begin to describe the immense happiness these two things brought me.  It was rainy, we each had warm 12 inch pizzas to devour, and it was only the second night of break.  Tara and I were in food cart bliss.  So.  Freaking.  Delicious.  Seriously, man.  My stomach is smiling just thinking about it.

Saturday was magical for many reasons.  First off, I woke up and made brownies with Ted (which was pretty cool of him, considering he was fasting for Yom Kippur) for the movies.  After brunch, group of us went downtown and saw 50/50 (which was top-notch) and then headed to NW 23rd, which is just the most adorable street ever.

While Ted got some life-changing PB&J sandwiches (we're talking a thai PB&J and a jalapeno & bacon PB&J...SO GOOD) at a food cart next door, we ventured into this vintage shop brimming with goodies and oddities.

Yep, that's me.  Notice the awesome beaded orange necklace--my grandma sent me THE GREATEST Halloween package OF MY LIFE.  It literally made me so happy to open it after brunch on Saturday.  I love my grandparents!

Claire looking extremely happy at Tea Chai Te, a heavenly tea place.  Literally, when I walked in, the smell was just so LOVELY.  For dinner Ted and I went to Pastini, where I had my favorite thing ever, a tomato and mozzarella panini.  Yum!  I could seriously eat tomato and mozzarella sandwiches every day.  And I have.

Speaking of Ted, his birthday was Sunday!  To celebrate, a few of us watched Submarine and drank tea in one of the small auditoriums (that has theatre-like seats and a projector) which was just so wonderful.  Afterwards I introduced Ted to The IT Crowd (which has the director of Submarine in it) and got some homework done.  Suffice to say, it was a great afternoon.  For dinner, a group of us went to Nicholas', which is this fantastic Lebanese restaurant.  SO MUCH GOOD FOOD.  What a great way to end a break.

As you can probably reason, Fall break was a complete and utter success.  I ate copious amounts of terrific food, watched eight movies, and explored new parts of Portland.  Oh yeah, and Ted is my boyfriend now!  You better believe it was a magical break.  

Reasons why you should like Ted as much as I do:

He spookily adheres exactly to this list I made months ago. (Seriously.  Wow.)

He whistles better than anyone I've ever met.

He understands my many Harry Potter references and encourages them.  Also, he has the same golden snitch replica in his dorm room that I have in mine.  And he's on Pottermore.  And he goes on Mugglenet.  And yeah, we are the same person.

He buys stuff on Etsy.

He is obsessed with Emma Watson.

He loves hats as much as I do.

He watches Glee.

He loves music and musicals.

He is going to make me delicious food and I am going to bake him yummy treats!

Like, you guyz.  I don't even know how this is real life.

WE ARE SO NERDY/AWESOME TOGETHER.  I LOVE IT.  THE END.

this is the look of "I was up until 3 AM writing a six page essay"

Except, it wasn't that bad.  I planned on spending my entire weekend being lame and only leaving my study coma for the One Acts, but like most plans, they were completely changed.  I found out that the One Acts were all performed together each night, so I bought tickets for Saturday night.  Well, so much for that.

On Friday night, I went to the DRAG SHOW, which was SO GREAT.  I know I shouldn't be surprised at the turn out and participation, but coming from a conservative community, I couldn't help but be awed by how awesome people are here.  Gotta love LC!  

After the show, we ended up going to the One Acts at 10, which WERE SO GOOD.  I loved seeing all the random things I helped out with and saw around the shop in action.  I laughed, I cried, I got warm fuzzies.  Suffice to say, I was impressed.  After spending the rest of the night talking and Pottermore-ing (SO HAPPY I HAVE HARRY POTTER FRIENDS, YOU GUYZ), I finally went to sleep around 2:30.  

Saturday was spent at "the bins" which is where the rejected rejects of Goodwill go to be put haphazardly into huge bins.  So basically, the most awesome disgusting place you will ever go.  I got a wonderful vintage wool sweater and a red skirt.  In fact, I am currently wearing the red pleated knit skirt I got there/already washed twice with my Harry & the Potters t-shirt.  Success!  After dinner, I went into full paper-writing mode.  Can I point out a few things?

• I finished the paper before I went to bed, just like the angry note I wrote myself in all caps, underlining, and explanation points told me to.
• I didn't go on Facebook AT ALL.  
• I didn't get distracted by all that the magical internet has to offer AT ALL
• At one point, I managed to work while Tropic Thunder was on, excessive cursing and explosions included
• I FINISHED IT I FINISHED IT I FINISHED IT

Now, I am about to head somewhere to start my OTHER paper--the paper due either this Tuesday or the Tuesday after break.  Since I plan on sleeping and baking my Fall break away, I find this paper necessary to ANNIHILATE, DESTROY, FINISHHHHH.  Plus, I have this to motivate me to finish it tonight:

THE CLUB THAT MUST NOT BE NAMED!  You better believe it.