"Instead of Mandela's New World, our politicians and their media flunkies busily and viciously strive to resurrect an Old Wold in which there will be no safety, no asylum, for anybody but themselves. These men, direct descendants of other men who came to America never asking anybody's permission to arrive or to invade or to conquer or to exterminate or to enslave or to betray or to exploit and discriminate against those who preceded them and those who, willingly or not, came after them- these men now contrive a so-called immigration crisis and thy invent and then promulgate pathological idiot terms like "illegal aliens." -June Jordan, "We Are All Refugees," 1994

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends

Just got home from LCD Soundsystem/Hot Chip/ Sleigh Bells. It was my first time going to a dance show in such a big auditorium, but I really didn't have many complaints. I'll leave you with a song I've been playing on repeat for the last hour or so...

Buenos Aires, here we come!

Well, it looks like instead of my boyfriend moving to LA with me, we are moving to Argentina together. God, life is so exciting when you're being funded to do what you love (i.e. research).

compartmentalization

photo taken from http://risingpowers.foreignpolicyblogs.com/

I've been dividing my personality into two separate blogs. One is intellect based, with quotes, thoughts, and books. The other is this, which is cooking and craft related.

Today, we merge them with a quote about U.S. and Mexican transnational groups.

"Border groups have also been willing to take on the difficult challenge of recognizing and overcoming social differences. This commitment is crucial because- as the history of the border shows- proximity does not necessarily lead to mutual understanding."

Fox, Lessons from Civil Society Coalitions

om nashi me

Here's how I've been keeping my goals:

It's a letter to my adorable boyfriend in China. I get so bored with packaged and bought stationary after the first use, so I typically send post cards or make my own. The letter is written on the backside of my tickets flying home from China, which makes it a bit more sentimental and plus convenient because I wrote it on the plane. And it's incredibly green in a way too. The envelope was made from a airsickness bag (unused of course!) taped flat and then closed.

I have so many more projects in mind to help keep me busy while waiting for him to come home and to also make sure he still feels as loved as possible so far away. December couldn't come fast enough.

Inspiration

Sewing has been a hobby of mine for the past few years, although I really hadn't gotten down to business until the past few months. Since I didn't have a sewing machine in China, I did everything by hand.

Something new inspired by this gorgeous Phillip Lim bralette will be the next thing coming out of my sewing machine. I'm drafting a pattern asap! That and a bow tie for by boyfriend, some bloomers for my sister, and a couple skirts that I've been working on and never finished.... Oh, and then there's grad school

Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie

Just a little bit of beautiful to brighten your (and my) day!

Time Zones

picture takes from webecoist.com

In the past 2 weeks, I have moved from Beijing to east coast Florida, from Florida to Los Angeles, and now I'm back in Florida again. And Saturday, I'll be back in LA to start school on Monday.

Jeez Louis. I need a planner and to start organizing my life just a bit more. It's already getting so full!

Limbo

So it's day two and I'm still a little down in the dumps about moving out of Beijing and, eventually, to LA. To give you an example, I cried when a Taylor Swift song came on the radio in my mom's car. I keep thinking about all the sweet things I'd love to be doing with my dear and friends that I left behind that I can't seem to fully enjoy the beauty of Florida around me.

The simple cure is a list of what I'd like to do to waste time until I get to LA:

1. Finish the gifts and letters that I wanted to give before I left China

2. Clean up myself and my luggage. I know I can't bring everything to LA, and so I need to figure out what I can't live without until November when I'll be bringing the next batch over

3. Go to the beach. Calm down. Hug my sister.

4. Lunch dates. Lots of them. So what if my mom is the only person in town...

5. Make "best of" lists for Beijing, Thailand, Siem Reap, and Florida

6. Watch Mad Men and get inspired

7. Make exciting plans for the coming weekend with the family

home coming

I have puffy eyes from crying all day and night. Reporting to you now from the Seattle airport, half way through coming home. Seattle is freezing but luckily I'm wrapped up in the love of my going away present. And the locals here are so kind!

I'm starving to snuggle in with this one and fall asleep...

couldn't agree more.

"I love couples that dresses in the same spirit. It seems to show a bond or a personal secret they have together."

Couldn't agree more! Taken from The Sartorialist (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/)

Cambodia & Thailand

So.much.fun.

Snack Fest 2010

When I'm worried about something, I cook.

Yesterday, I made chocolate chip cookies and failed making pretzels.

Today, I made lemonade, salsa, and tortilla chips. And here's my recipe for super fresh, tasty salsa and torilla chips.

Salsa:

3 big tomatoes chopped

1 small onion chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 small bunch of cilantro leaves and stems, chopped

some kind of citrus juice. lime's the best

s&p to taste

fresh or canned jalapenos, to taste

Chop everything up and place in a non metal bowl. Toss with citrus juice. Add salt and pepper and then toss again. Add the jalapenos and ta-da!

Tortilla chips:

pre made soft tortilla wraps

sea salt

olive oil

Take very little olive oil, about a teaspoon, and pour it on a plate. With your fingers, spread the oil all over the plate to make as thin of a coating as possible. Cut the tortillas into wedges and dredge in the oil. Put them on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake them at about 190 c (375 f) for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. You may have to flip them half way if your pan is metal rather than glass, so check your first batch just to be sure.

Hope you enjoy!

Brilliant

I'm hoping on for this one. The plan is you make 4 simple goals, things that are not goal specific but will benefit you overall, to focus on and hopefully complete by 2011. Since I'm starting all over again in a new city where I really don't know anyone, I think this is a perfect time to work on myself. So here it is:

1. Make daily efforts to stay someone I would consider interesting. This means find ways to make my research interesting and stay creative, and try my best not to become overwhelmed with school and stress.

2. Be the healthiest I can be. After a whole year of smog, greasy Chinese food, cigarettes, and too much booze, I pledge to bike more, eat fresher foods, and try to alter my diet away from ice cream. Unless it's homemade, because then I'd deserve it.

3. Take time to keep my relationship fresh. My boyfriend will be in China, and I will be in LA. I love his mind, and I love sharing things with him, so I'm thinking that number 1 and 3 will frequently overlap.

4. Try to write everyday. I've been having the best times lately (although, admittedly, I cry quite a bit because I'm so afraid for the future), but I rarely have had time to write about how amazing living abroad has been. I'd like to change that.

So here we go! Here's to the next few months of taking care of myself in the best ways.

If you want to join in, visit Elsie at http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/ and let her know. She has a lovely blog which really gets my creative juices going.

The laziest week ever...

I'm done with work, done with school stuff, and basically checked out of everything Beijing. I've spent the last week, holed up in my boyfriend's room (our room for the next 5 weeks) and have been doing nothing but sleeping, playing on the internet, and cooking for us.

This is the dream.

(photo credit: Me in 2006 when my mom and I made our adventure)

Also, we have tickets to go to Thailand, and plans to cross the border into Cambodia. This is the dream 2.0.

Trust your Better Sense of Judgement

Top 10 reasons why I missed you:

Me: "America Day is technically the 4th of July, our independence day from British oppression. So basically we'll be eating and drinking and talking shit about Brits in the park. Want to come?"

You: "Celebrating the establishment of a petulant feral state, consumed by greed, lacking moral values, integrity or true identity? I'm there...

Top 10 reasons why I'm glad you're not near me:

Me: "Can you teach me how to be as annoying as you are?"

You: "A lot of coke. A whooole lot of coke"

Summer Love

More days should be spent like this.

Love Week

Some of the best times in Beijing are times where you feel like you're not in Beijing. I know that sounds horrible, that I should love and appreciate Chinese culture in all it's forms, even when it's abrasive. And I do, it's just sometimes you just want to go home but you can't. This week has been so refreshingly not Chinese.

the girls watching the show

Becca, Andrew, and me.

My adorable friends dancing up a storm

Like the Redbucks' show at 2 Kolegas. They're a local bluegrass band who are honestly AMAZING. The whole night was great, the company was super, and southern style BBQ was included in the cover fee to boot. Everyone danced and sang so late into the night- I couldn't ask for more on a Tuesday night!

The blury gang at FUBAR

The entertainment for the night

Or hanging out at my favourite speakeasy hidden in a hotdog stand, FUBAR? Who would have thought that there would be a 20's style cabaret for just that night only? How fun!

back at FUBAR for 1 kuai mojitos

Grabbing dinner at my favourite beer garden

Or my birthday! Thank you so much to my lovely, lovely friends.

It's my Birfday!

It's the day after my rainy birthday and it couldn't be more perfect. 95 degree dry heat, clean, cloudy skies- the perfect florida day in beijing.

I think the day I don't cry on my birthday will be the day I'm done growing up. Does anyone else have this problem? It's usually my one time a year I cry, but these past two weeks have been so stressful. Between being taken to the police station and questioned twice, getting "fired," starting a new school, working my ass off, having so little time for myself, and realizing that I don't have much more time to spend with my boy or friends, I'm going nuts. Only 3 more weeks and I'm done with it all. And then the friends will start dropping like flies, one by one, until everyone's gone home except me and my dear and then I'll have to leave... Ah don't think about it!

What I Want to be When I Grow Up...

Photo Credit: I don't know who this is... I think I found it on Tulane's LAS website?

1. Bad ass glasses

2. Bad ass personal style

3. Tons of wrinkles

4. Cigar that looks too big for her mouth

5. What is in her hair? I don't know but I love it!

This is absolutely what I want to be when I grow up. This lady has tons of stories, and, by just looking at her, you know it. My friend Danielle has a love for precious looking elderly, but I think the sassy ones are my favourites.

spring is in bloom

Reading: "The Shining and Other Paths"

Listening to: Phantogram "Mouth Full of Diamonds"

Working on: Researching the Shining Path for a new paper

Thinking about: Home

Today I finished my Colette Bloomers, minus the ribbon. They're so bloody cute that I don't want to finish them with shoddy ribbon, or anything the wrong colour. This is the first project I've done using a patter, but I really like how they turned out (minus the China dust smudge on the inside)This is what they look like so far:

PICTURE

Download the patter here: http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/colette-patterns-news/free-pattern-to-download-the-madeleine-mini-bloomers

I really want some mint green details to make them look a little more interesting.... Just to let you know, I don't have a sewing machine here. All of my projects, no matter how small, take forever to do. But luckily sewing is a great way to occupy my hands while practicing my Chinese with friends. If I'm busy like that, I'm less likely to over think what I'm trying to say and how to say it.

I can't believe how much has changed in just a few months. Here I am, speaking Chinese. How nuts is that?

Roles and Regulations

My mentor in college once told me that I "play to gender roles too much for someone so smart."

This slighted compliment got me thinking for a couple of months, and, after a mild freak out where I thought he was seeing something I wasn't, I decided that he was looking at it all wrong. Yes, I'm nerdy, but I want to be capable of all things. And what's more, I enjoy cooking and sewing. Wouldn't subscribing to modern day feminist notions of what a woman should be just as limiting as playing to traditional gender roles?

The point is, I am myself. I love to read, and learn languages, and debate. But I also love to cook, and sew, and take care of the people I love in old fashioned ways. All in all, I aim to surprise.