Correspondence, the Old Fashioned Way

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Anne

I love writing letters to my friends, so of course I have a lot of writing-related goods to help make letter-writing fun. Here are some of my favorites.

  • My typewriters. I have two. My personal favorite is my Underwood typewriter, (c.1935) which my husband bought me for a birthday a couple of years ago. I also have a lovely Smith-Corona (c.1955) that’s a lot of fun, and has a very different style of type.

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  • Any stationary from Paper Source. Their paper products are so cute, and they’re often very environmentally friendly. They are also reasonably priced, and boy do they ever have some cute kits! I’ve made their Mini Magnolias, their Summer Magnolias, and their Poppies…to name a few of my favorites. They have great seasonal goods, and a wonderful array of plain papers (for creative types…I made my wedding invitations with their papers), kits, and seasonal products.

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These are just a few of my favorite things for keeping in touch with the people I care about. I have many more wonderful stationary products, but these are some of the best ones I’ve come across. While I know not everyone’s going to run out and buy a typewriter from their local antique storeor fountain pen shop (yup, that’s where I got mine!), I think they’re a great way to help make correspondence fun and easy.

 

 

 

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Oh, Deer Me!

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Anne

I’m sitting in one of my favorite coffee shops in Columbus — a great little place called Impero Coffee, located in the Short North — and I managed to snag my favorite table. Impero changes their art a few times a year, and it wasn’t until I’d gotten myself situated, put the cream cheese on my bagel and the sugar in my tea, and unpacked my dissertation writing gear that I looked up. And do you know what I saw? A deer. Wearing a tie. Right above me. Here’s my view:

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Unexpected, but hilarious. After last night’s big disappointment (more on that later, but suffice it to say I saw Spike Lee give a talk and it wasn’t good), I needed a lift, and this ridiculous thing above my table accomplished that. Well, the deer and the great staff and clients at Impero who have already lifted my spirits. :)

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This is my life…

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Anne

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I’m sitting in the downtown Cup O Joe (a local coffee shop chain) in a swath of sunlight working on my diss. Yes, I’ve taken to calling my dissertation my diss because, well, it seems somehow appropriate. So here I am, and I look up from my table and realize how beautiful this particular coffee shop is. You wanna know what that first picture is? It’s the ceiling. More specifically, it’s the beautiful white cloth spirals draped from the high ceiling. The second picture? That’s what I see every time I look up from my page. Which, incidentally, is what the last picture in this post shows: my diss in progress. About a year ago I started writing it by hand, so that mess o’ lined paper is my current chapter. Anyway, here it is, midwinter, and I’m sitting in a gorgeous, sunny cafe writing my brains out. It’s quite lovely, really. I have to hand it to Columbus — it’s a good hole-up-and-write city.

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Homesick

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Anne

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There’s nothing quite like a California Christmas. This picture was taken on Christmas Eve morning on the drive down to Santa Barbara. The colorful sunrise, the mist in front of the Channel Islands, the glassy water…that’s the kind of winter I’m accustomed to. So now that I’m back in Ohio, I find myself feeling homesick for the sunshine and the land itself. Not to mention family and friends. Good thing I’ve got some springtime travels to look forward to: Chicago and DC. Nothing like a little travel to take my mind off the everyday!

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Christmas Shout Out to Calvin & Hobbes

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Anne

My brother-in-law shared this with me, and I thought it was just too cute to pass up. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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Ballet Met’s Nutcracker

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Anne

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For the first time in a long time, I went to see a live performance of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, The Nutcracker. I attended the opening night of Ballet Met Columbus‘ show at The Ohio Theater. As if the theater wasn’t enchanting and luxurious enough with its ornate golden ceilings, tapestried walls, and red velvet seats, the ballet was incredible.

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Some highlights:

The dancing! Herr Drosselmeyer (played by Jackson Sarver) was delightfully light on his feet, and played the part of the mischievous clockmaker with remarkable aplomb. The Sugar Plum fairy (danced by Emily Gotschall) and her Cavalier (David Ward) were beautiful dancers (their pas de deus was absolutely lovely), and the Arabian dancers (especially the leads: Courtney Muscroft and Jorge Villarini) were acrobatic and more fluid than I could have imagined. The man who performed the Chinese Dance (Dustin James) was phenomenal (so many leaps!), and the Nutcracker himself (Austin Finley) executed innumerable flawless fuetes, split leaps, and lifts (his pas de deus with Clara, danced by Jessica Brown, was impressively smooth — he made it look like she weighed about 5 pounds).

The costumes! I’m thinking especially of the Waltz of the Flower costumes, which were the best renditions of fantasy flower dresses I’ve seen yet.

The creative effects! Yeah, we’ve all seen it snow on stage, but have we seen the Arabian Dance performed on a giant silk sheet that give the illusion of dancing on a cloud?

The music! The Columbus Symphony performed live in the orchestra pit, and they did a beautiful job.

Kudos to Ballet Met Columbus for a phenomenal performance! It was a great opening night, and I’m sure their 2011 run of The Nutcracker is going to be a strong and celebrated one!

For a fun (albeit poor quality) video promo of this year’s show, check this short clip out:

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Yoga + Breakdancing = Awesome

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Anne

This is a perfect example of how people inevitably find new and interesting ways to combine their varied interests. Enjoy!

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tHe EnD

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Anne

I just finished the grades for this quarter, and I’m feeling that wonderful and odd feeling of being free of (almost) all obligation. There’s a poem called “I Slip the Catch” in Shirley Geok-lin Lim’s 2010 collection, Walking Backwards, that puts a nice comical spin on the end of the quarter:

Soon as the students
Walk out of the last lecture,
I slip the catch.
 
Goodbye, year. Goodbye,
Tall students steering skateboards!
You, with orange hair,
 
Asthmatic breathing,
Goodbye! Quick Ears! Steel mesh grin!
Sweet anorexic!
 
By, baby beer guts,
Nose ring and stud, dirty mind
And worser writing!
 
Chemists, accountants,
Traders, and salsa dancers!
Gladly we vanish.

Yes, gladly indeed. But I do love one thing about the day of the final exam: the cute (and sometimes strange) little comments students whisper to me as they hand in their blue books. Yesterday I got a few thank-yous, several “Have a good break”s, some compliments and warm sentiments about the class, and even a “See you later — it’s been real.” Gotta love that anxiety-ridden brand of sweet nothings whispered my way before the students flee, gladly vanishing into the winter break.

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Once in a blue moon…

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Anne

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…I create a painting. This is the latest one, and also the first in a few years. I haven’t titled it yet, or even signed it (I’m 99% sure it’s finished, but am waiting until I feel absolutely certain), but here it is. Inspired by…homesickness? Mike? Dreams? Anyway, it was a lot of fun to make, and not something I really planned to do. In fact, I was supposed to be doing some work on Saturday night when I decided to paint this. So now I have a new addition to my wall. And it might be the start of something dangerously time-consuming: a possible series. For now, here it is.

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Rain, Rain, (Don’t) Go Away…

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Anne

It’s raining right now. I love the rain — always have, and I guess I always will. There’s nothing quite like the diffuse light darkening a room, the tap-tap-tap of raindrops on the roof, and the sight of a world all dripping and wet to make me feel happy. I know the rain is supposed to depress people, but for me it makes me want to do some of my favorite things:

  1. Curl up under a thick blanket with a hot cup of tea and a good book, light some candles, put on some rainy day music, and while away the hours in the glowing warmth of my living room.
  2. Do yoga. Lots of yoga. (Today: twice.)
  3. Crack open my journal, grab my favorite pen, and write about life.
  4. Drag out the stationary box, dig through it for some inspiration, and catch up on my correspondence. (I’m serious.)
  5. Take a bath (something I haven’t been able to do for some years now, as I have been too tall for every tub we’ve had since I moved out of my apartment in Moorpark. Not that that tub was all that great for baths — the air conditioner’s condensation line opened up right over the bathtub, so if you took a bath with the A/C on, you’d get a nice cold dollop of water on your face every few minutes.) with some candles and a book. Nowadays, probably a book on tape.
  6. Sit in the hammock on the back porch with the twinkle lights turned on…reading a book. (Sensing a trend yet?)
  7. Bake cookies. Or sometimes brownies. Or both.

So happy rainy Tuesday!

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