f. scott fitzgerald

Although my favorite author is J.D. Salinger, I must say that I have a thing for F. Scott Fitzgerald. I of course appreciate the themes and topics about which he wrote--the jazz age, the superficiality of life, disillusionment, the lost generation of youth after World War I, etc.--but I also simply love him for his beautifully written prose. His words are so intricately combined--flowery (in a good way), evocative and mysterious. He is also responsible for my love of semicolons.

I'm currently re-reading Tender is the Night and recently re-read The Great Gatsby, and just look at these snippets of his writing:

For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes. (Gatsby)

She smiled at him, making sure that the smile gathered up everything inside her, and directed it toward him, making him a profound promise of herself for so little, for the beat of a response, the assurance of a complementary vibration in him. (Tender)


Fifty yards away the Mediterranean yielded up its pigments, moment by moment, to the brutal sunshine; below the balustrade a faded Buick cooked on the hotel drive (Tender)




Who uses the word redolent anymore? I wish we did. I remember I learned the word in 10th grade English class. Yielded up its pigments...Buicks cooking...Semicolons!

U2 concert

We went to the U2 concert at M & T Bank Stadium the other night and it was spectacular. The attendance that night was 80,000+. It was a very exciting atmosphere and the music was ethereal. I'm not in the business of reviewing music or concerts, so I will not attempt to do so, but here are a few photos:

This last picture was at a point in the concert where Bono had everyone wave around their cell phones. It looks like a starry night.

lightning bugs and tranquility

The other night after an event at church, we went to Sherwood Gardens--a lovely green space in the middle of  Baltimore City.

It was about 8:30, dusk, quiet and no one was around. It was so serene. We sat in the grass and watched lightning bugs for a long while. There seemed to be hundreds of the little creatures, charming us with a light show. We did not hear any cars driving by, nor any sirens, car alarms, shouting--the usual clamor of this bustling city--only the breeze through the trees and the fluttering of firefly wings.

It felt as if we were back at our respective childhood homes, both in the rural Northeast, where we both spent many nights chasing lightning bugs in our middle-of-nowhere towns.

Thank you, God, for giving us this little respite of peacefulness in nature in the middle of our city.

trying on babies

The other day, I got to try on my favorite baby. My friend generously gave me an in-depth tutorial about baby-wearing techniques and equipment, and we used her sweet daughter as a model, as it were.

She was so patient with me as I tried her on with different wraps and such. I tried on a ring sling, moby wrap and mei tei and they were so comfortable; she almost felt weightless.

Anyway, it got me excited about having a baby, to which we are looking forward one day.

It was a lovely day to spend a morning!

new exercise routine

I don't like exercising formally; I'd rather play some sort of sport like tennis or basketball or something. In the winter, Tim and I bought a 3 month membership to a gym because they were only $30 a piece. In the spring, we were playing tennis and walking a lot. In the summers, though, it's sort of too hot and I don't have the energy to expend.

So, I've been feeling sort of lazy lately...until last week. I made up an exercise routine. ahaha. It was inspired by this song that you may recognize from various commercials (or the radio, if you listen to Indie stations maybe?):

It's such an energizing song. Basically, all I do is listen to it 4 or 5 times and jump around my room (with the curtains closed because I sort of look crazy) and twist and do high-knees and squats and simply just flail around and wave my arms and do kicks and jumps and whatever else is fun. The tempo and beat are just perfect for a good workout.

So, for a non-traditional 20 minute work out, I suggest you try it. It's really fun and freeing and you can't help but laugh at the sight of yourself.

visits from parents

Tim and I both hosted our families over the past couple of months. My parents and younger sister came down in March and then Tim's family came down in June. It's nice to have a queen pull out bed in our couch and a bigger apartment so that it's more comfortable for everyone.

Here are some photos:

My parents and Tim on Federal Hill

We found a dog that looked like our dog, Cadbury.

Dad and Tim putting our new propane grill together

Tim's brother and sister hanging out with the charming Sealion

We stopped by the Little Italy festival and ate lunch at Cafe Gia, my favorite restaurant in Baltimore.

Tim's brother, Nathaniel, is coming to MICA this year, so we walked around Bolton Hill.

It was nice to have them here. We wished they lived a bit closer...

visit from Jenny

My best friend from college, Jenny, visited last weekend. We ended up in the same freshman year dorm room after we had both (independent of each other because we didn't know each other at that point) made our mothers call Cornell (we were both too phone-shy to call ourselves) to switch out of the all-girls dorm (ick) to which we had originally been assigned.

She was in town for a training for an internship she's doing this summer. We hadn't seen each other since my wedding because we live on opposite ends of the country, but when I saw her, it was like we'd seen each other yesterday.

We did the typical Baltimore things, and I took her to Annapolis on Monday to walk around and look at all the old houses.

It was a lovely time, but now she's in Berkeley, CA. Shucks.

film crews at work

Today was an eventful day at work. Once a month at my workplace, we allow a group of neighborhood merchants to use our space for a meeting. At this morning's meeting, I was surprised to see multiple news stations show up. The reason for their presence was the controversy over the annual HONfest, which takes place this weekend in Hampden. I don't think I should express my opinion on this matter (or other Cafe Hon controversies) in a public space such as this since I work in the neighborhood and do not want to speak on behalf of my organization, but you can watch the video (that was filmed in my office) here and read about how the owner of Cafe Hon recently trademarked the word "hon" here.

dinner

Tim is very busy these days. He's finishing up his master's degree, so he has 2 classes from 430-730pm twice a week and an online class, in addition to working 40 hours a week.

Despite his busyness, he managed to make dinner before I even got home from work today--breaded tilapia and a pasta salad he made from peas freshly-picked from our terrace, parsley, cilantro, lemon juice and olive oil.

I'll keep him around for the time being.