Office by Alex Penny

freckles make me strong.

I live in Seattle. These are things that catch my attention, pique my interest and/or make me want to pass notes in class like a 7th grader

March 30, 2012 3:06 pm
One major advantage to keeping the heat low in the house: when your new winter jacket arrives in the mail you can wear it inside. Genius.

One major advantage to keeping the heat low in the house: when your new winter jacket arrives in the mail you can wear it inside. Genius.

January 20, 2012 11:01 am
You guys, I LOVE snow. I would rather be sledding. [Snopocolypse 2012]

You guys, I LOVE snow. I would rather be sledding.

[Snopocolypse 2012]

January 6, 2012 10:01 am
Done!  I have set reading goals for myself every year since 2009 and I always fall short, until this year. Being disciplined about reading more, be it short or long books, fiction or non-fiction, has definately been worth the effort. I met some wonderful characters. I learned a bit about the workings of the world and the human heart and I am the better for it. Below is the full list. Titles in bold are some of my favorites. The Call of the Wild by Jack London Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl In Cold Blood by Truman Capote My Life in France by Julia Child Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green The Bro Code by Barney Stinson Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average by Joseph T. Hallinan Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama The Maytrees by Annie Dillard Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald I Wanna Be Your Shoebox by Cristina Garcia The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner Up in the Air by Walter Kirn Barrel Fever by David Sedaris

Done! 

I have set reading goals for myself every year since 2009 and I always fall short, until this year. Being disciplined about reading more, be it short or long books, fiction or non-fiction, has definately been worth the effort. I met some wonderful characters. I learned a bit about the workings of the world and the human heart and I am the better for it.

Below is the full list. Titles in bold are some of my favorites.

  • The Call of the Wild by Jack London
  • Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell
  • The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket
  • Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
  • The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
  • In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  • My Life in France by Julia Child
  • Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
  • Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green
  • The Bro Code by Barney Stinson
  • Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
  • Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
  • Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
  • Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh
  • Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average by Joseph T. Hallinan
  • Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
  • Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks
  • The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama
  • The Maytrees by Annie Dillard
  • Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus
  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • I Wanna Be Your Shoebox by Cristina Garcia
  • The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
  • Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
  • The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
  • Up in the Air by Walter Kirn
  • Barrel Fever by David Sedaris
January 4, 2012 4:30 pm
"I like to see people reunited, I like to see people run to each other, I like the kissing and the crying, I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can’t tell fast enough, the ears that aren’t big enough, the eyes that can’t take in all of the change, I like the hugging, the bringing together, the end of missing someone."

—

Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I love this passage so much. Anyone who travels or moves with frequency knows all too well,  our center is constantly shifting. Of course, so is everyone else’s. But at some point you pause, and in that pause you realize that you no longer have a singular home. There is no one place the come back to because the people and things you care about stretch across the map like a web. Your happiness is fractured. To varying degrees, everywhere you go something or someone is always missing.

Here is hoping in 2012 the missing is outweighed by the end of missing and the lions share of that particular impatience can be laid to rest.

January 3, 2012 1:56 pm

the only Spanish you will never need to know

Eva and I returned from Ecuador, where I spent a week explaining to everyone who tried to talk to her that she only spoke taco (ie, pollo, carne asada, dos, etc). On the day before we were leaving she decided to ponerse las pilas (literally put her batteries in) and learn some spanish. My goddaughter and I taught her to say the following, which will almost certainly never be relevent.

Permiso. Permiso. Emergencia. Es una fiesta de corbata negra? Tengo que traer me caballo negro? Si lo es, tengo que hacer una llamada. [pausa] Es una fiesta de caballo negro? Tengo que traer mi corbata negra? Tengo que hacer dos llamadas.

Excuse me. Excuse me. Emergency. Is a black tie party? Should I bring my black horse? If so, I have tomake a call. [pause] Is this party a black horse party?Should I bring myblack tie? I have to make two calls.

Eva can make it all the way through this after extensive practice. Though she pauses in all the wrong places, it is still a charming effort. Bien hecho, friend, well done!

December 14, 2011 9:41 am

things that happen when no one is home

My roommate is BELTING Adele’s Chasing Pavements upstairs. I am 95% certain she thinks no one is home. This is going to be awkward when I have to walk through the kitchen.

Total fly on the wall situation.

December 12, 2011 1:06 pm
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in Smell-o-Vision SIFF does this once a year and I finally made it! I wish more of my Sunday afternoons were spent like this. photo by Jessica Agi

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in Smell-o-Vision

SIFF does this once a year and I finally made it! I wish more of my Sunday afternoons were spent like this.

photo by Jessica Agi

12:56 pm
"Uh, no. I haven’t gone as far as I want to go in my career yet."

—

Me, in response to some confusion over whether or not I have a  pretty large tatoo on the side of my neck.

What is most awesome is that I said this to someone in the office who I momentarily forgot does have a neck tatoo. He got over in about a second, but I still feel bad. Why must my foot rest so comfortably in my mouth?

November 30, 2011 10:17 am
Do we really want to travel in hermetically sealed popemobiles through the rural provinces of France, Mexico and the Far East, eating only in Hard Rock Cafes and McDonalds? Or do we want to eat without fear, tearing into the local stew, the humble taqueria’s mystery meat, the sincerely offered gift of a lightly grilled fish head? I know what I want. I want it all. I want to try everything once. Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly   Eva, this is what I am going to tell you before I make you eat this! Cuy (roasted guinea pig) is in your ecua-future.

Do we really want to travel in hermetically sealed popemobiles through the rural provinces of France, Mexico and the Far East, eating only in Hard Rock Cafes and McDonalds? Or do we want to eat without fear, tearing into the local stew, the humble taqueria’s mystery meat, the sincerely offered gift of a lightly grilled fish head? I know what I want. I want it all. I want to try everything once.
Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
 
Eva, this is what I am going to tell you before I make you eat this! Cuy (roasted guinea pig) is in your ecua-future.

November 17, 2011 9:48 am
[via] I request the highest of fives. In 30 days, Eva and I will be off to see la familia! I absoultely cannot wait to introduce my favorite ecuadorians to one of my dearest friends. We are going to sleep in and drink fresh juice everyday and have dance parties and probably make some taco jokes. It is going to be incredible.

[via]

I request the highest of fives.

In 30 days, Eva and I will be off to see la familia! I absoultely cannot wait to introduce my favorite ecuadorians to one of my dearest friends. We are going to sleep in and drink fresh juice everyday and have dance parties and probably make some taco jokes. It is going to be incredible.