sogni d'oro: apartment

Showing posts with label apartment. Show all posts

One of my favorite events of late is the discovery of the two tiny owls who live in the maple tree in our front yard. Our next-door neighbor first noticed them and now we pay Pigwidgeon and Archimedes daily visits. These photos are deceiving; the owls are so small—my guess is probably about six inches or so in height!

Look at those green eyes!! I love how perfectly these little owls blend into their surroundings of lichen-strewn maple. They sit so quietly and their eyes are so big and captivating. Most times, we stare at each other, and they bob their heads, or follow my motions peering out between leaves (an explanation on head bobbing and a video of head bobbing). We love them so much.

The Bath House Book Club was founded in January 2014 and has been going steady(ish) ever since. Originally the book club was made up of several of my roommates in the Bath House: Age, Jess, Hil, me, and our friend Vanessa. With the ever shifting composition of the book club, we keep things up these days on a Facebook group and meet up with everyone who lives locally. The format, however, remains unchanged—we rotate choosing the book and hosting the accompanying discussion, so over the two years we've read a wide breadth of things!

Below is a chronological list of the selections of the BHBC, with a couple quotes thrown in for good measure:

Cheryl Strayed | Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

"It struck me that distant cities are designed precisely so you can know where you came from. We bring home with us when we leave." Colum McCann | Let the Great World Spin also quoted here

Brian Doyle | The Wet Engine quoted here

Jeannette Walls | The Glass Castle

Kim Edwards | The Memory Keeper's Daughter (full disclosure: I read about the first 30 pages and wasn't a huge fan so I didn't actually finish this book)

Katie Heaney | Never Have I Ever

"There are so many people. It is easy to forget how full the world is of people, full to bursting, and each of them imaginable and consistently misimagined. I feel like this is an important idea, one of those ideas that your brain must wrap itself around slowly, the way pythons eat." John Green | Paper Towns

Sue Monk Kidd | The Secret Life of Bees

C.S. Lewis | Till We Have Faces quoted here

David James Brown | The Boys in the Boat

"In the end, people don't view their life as merely the average of all its moments—which, after all, is mostly nothing much plus some sleep. For human beings, life is meaningful because it has a story. A story has a sense of a whole, and its arc is determined by the significant moments, the ones where something happens. . . . Unlike your experiencing self—which is absorbed in the moment—your remembering self is attempting to recognize not only the peaks of joy and valley of misery but also how the story works out as a whole." Atul Gawande | Being Mortal

Susannah Cahalan | Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

currently reading: Malcolm Gladwell | David and Goliath

. . . .

Have you ever been in a book club or are you in one? What have been your favorite things to read with a group? I think there is definitely an art to choosing a good book club book, and I always love to hear more ideas!

Of late I am always worried that I am boring people (my roommates, my coworkers...you know, captive audiences ;) by raving about the page-turner I just finished, sharing exclamations of sentences or beautiful lines from books, or just sharing recently read favorites. This will probably always be the case, but a couple weeks ago I started an Instagram account for all things literary: liz.reads.

A lot of my friends with whom I'd discuss books are spread out all over the country, and I feel like in examining my own social media consumption, this fits a niche that probably exists for other people besides me—I love intellectually stimulating conversation, talking about and discussing ideas, and the written word, but I inevitably spend time on social media which could be better spent in other pursuits. While this is something I need to work on, I saw this as an opportunity for sharing thoughts and discussions on those topics in a space where we could all use more substance.

It's already been a joy for me—I have a list (which keeps growing) of ideas, quotes, and other things I want to post about—and it's opened more dialogue between me and my friends about literacy, reading, and design, all of which provide ample food for thought. I love my network of readers and friends—these are the people who share in my delight over a new book and enchanting characters, and send tips my way about amazing projects, books, and lists related to more of the same. I've been on the fence and considering grad school for some time, intending to study Library Science. It will be some time before I even apply, but I love that this little side project has come about organically and will only help my thoughts percolate in that vein for the time being.

Some recent favorites above: Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott; 84, Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff; When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi.

(I feel a little like I'm cheating on our Writing Club... I've been slacking over there, but such is life/winter. Life is a weird balancing/juggling act, which I am realizing more, and more intensely.)

This bibliophile dreams of a someday home library. I'm one step closer and have spent many hours sitting here curled up with a book in the week that I've owned this chair. Delightful.

PS – I just finished reading the book "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand. Layne recommended it to me a couple of years ago and it has been on my to-read list, but with the movie coming out soon I realized I needed to get my act together and prioritize it among my upcoming choices. Basically I have been raving about it to anyone who will listen—it is easily one of the best books I have read this year. If you are interested I wrote a longer review here. (Are we friends on Goodreads?)

Back when I visited M in DC, we went to the Library of Congress (a fitting outing for two book-loving, library-affiliated girls such as ourselves) and while there, saw an exhibit of Thomas Jefferson's library—it was amazing. I am reminded of his famous quotation as I rearrange my own library in a new living space: "I cannot live without books" (the next line he writes is also wonderful: "but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object.").

A recent venture to Ikea saw me home with a new dresser but no bookcase, as the desired sort was out of stock. I allowed that the bookcase had been a want, not a need (my mother has wisely taught me to know the difference); our new house is outfitted with two spacious, tall bookcases in the living room. Adrienne and I unpacked our books onto these more remote shelves and decided this will work. But even now, a few days later, and I wish my books were in my bedroom. Is this ridiculous? I think T.J. would say, 'Not so.'

I remain undecided on whether or not to buy a bookshelf for my bedroom, in limbo between wants and needs, and wants that border on needs. I cannot live without books. (but realistically I can probably live with them in the other room. I keep including qualifiers; A.K.A. I am torn.)

. . . .

I read some really beautiful words about books tonight (and specifically about books that I love) (this is all thanks to Mackenzie, who liked one of these posts which was how I discovered said words) and I am reminded of the staying power of books. I am reminded of my books across the country in New Jersey (a small, select stack of which my family is bringing to me in a week and a half!). I am reminded of specific words and from which books I first learned them (a baby swan is a cygnet, as I told my second grade teacher shortly after reading "The Trumpet of the Swan"). I am reminded of the heft of the card catalog drawers in my elementary school library, the well-oiled tracks and glossy tags marking each one. I am reminded of the particular smell and feel of all of the libraries that I have frequented and intimately known. I am reminded of the many lessons books have taught me, both insignificant and great, and the worlds opened to me in their pages. And I am reminded that these lessons and words and ideas, these stories and places and people remain with me, whether the books are with me or not.

Our garden makes me so happy. Today I planted radishes, edamame, cherry tomatoes, mint, and rosemary and I am waiting for some fennel seeds to come in the mail (we've run out of ground so expanding into containers has increased our available space). Our strawberries are looking ripe, our peas are shooting up, and the lettuce has exploded seemingly overnight. We need to thin out our beets, which is timely as I have these beet greens recipes bookmarked. My balcony gardens of summers past were wonderful, but nothing compares to this full-fledged garden.

PS - I wrote this post on the Heirloom blog about gardening and the like!

(I think the beets are the prettiest of our baby plants with their red stems).

Jess, Adrienne, and I invested in some seed packets of Heirloom varieties, trowels, gardening gloves, and potting soil and spent a Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago tilling and removing rocks from our backyard garden plots. We had a frost scare this week and lost a few tomato plants, but I am happy to say most of them made it through, along with our strawberries thanks to makeshift grocery bag tarps. And our vegetable seeds are sprouting! (so far: lettuce, kale, peas, carrots, beets, basil, and cilantro; we are waiting on several other things)

I can't begin to convey my excitement for a summer of gardening and eating.

this.

Earlier in September we threw a housewarming party so our friends could warm our house with their presence and so we could give tours of our bomb shelter. Yes, we have a bomb shelter. It's more of a root cellar, but "bomb shelter" is much more exciting and it's the name that stuck. Pre-party, Lar and I ventured down a few steps but a fear of what was perhaps living in it prevented us from getting farther. At the party I was made to go all in by some of our more adventurous guests. We have big plans for Halloween, but until then I will leave you guessing as to what specifically we have in store.

I love Elizabeth appearing from behind the fence just as I took this photo. I love her.

Because the pineapple is a colonial symbol of hospitality (interior design student anyone?), Dole whips were again a party necessity. Adrienne made Greek seven-layer dip (!) and we had a delicious watermelon drink courtesy of Emily's de-seeding skills.

PS Emily has posted a lot of photos from her European art history study abroad which was at the beginning of the summer. While it will not do anything to help any wanderlust you're currently experiencing, if you feel so inclined, take a look! I love the way she has captured these beautiful cities through photos and the sharing of her experiences.

Yesterday I set up the beginnings/most of my balcony garden. There is something so viscerally and deeply satisfying to me about plants and working with plants, and I've been trying to pinpoint why that is.

I think it is partly due to my upbringing in the garden state, in a rural area that is heavily wooded in some areas and rolling farmland in others. And it is in part due to my family heritage of farming. My grandparents own a pumpkin farm where I spent many a summer hoeing pumpkins. My dad worked in agriculture for much of my life, so when we were little, my sisters and I would accompany him when he inspected fields. When I worked on a research farm, it was at times miserable working hard in the heat and humidity. And yet, when I worked at the farm and in a department store concurrently, I found the research farm so much more fulfilling. Agriculture is absolutely essential to our lives, so while it was hard work, I was invested in the greater purpose that I saw.

Growing a balcony garden, while quaint and satisfying in a domestic sense, ties back to these threads of my identity. And I think that is part of what has generated my excitement for this goal: a love for plants founded in my experiences and my heritage.

And while walking around Lowe's gardening section tracking down various herbs (and succulents, just because I love them), I remembered how much I love greenhouses. There was a certain familiarity, the slight humidity and smell of plants and earth. I love these images of greenhouses; they evoke a certain timelessness that I love. And so architecture, too, has a tie to this love of plants.

Love those ruffling pink petals and the trees outside that are covered with them.

Fresh flowers outside are beyond wonderful, but something about bringing them inside seems to underline the fact that it is spring!

Months and months later, I've finally gotten my artwork from Italy framed! The block print at the top is from Venice. I love this iteration of Venetian Gothic architecture and the gold leaf accentuates the details even more. (also I love blockprinting, so it's just all-around perfect)

I bought the watercolor of Siena's skyline from a woman whose art shop was just down the street from the Duomo and Pinacoteca (and Kopakabana...). I walked past her studio everyday and although I liked her style of watercolor painting, her most of her colors were a little too garish for me. But this watercolor with deep blue and gold—perfection!

This week we had a much-needed reunion of the group of us who were in Siena during the spring. In many ways it paralleled our evening in Corniglia during our weekend trip to the Cinque Terre; we made dinner and ate Magnum bars and talked for hours. We decided our Italian nights need to happen more often in Utah and will probably change things up with a passeggiata in the near future.

[grazie Alessia per aver mandato a me la prima foto che abbiamo fatto con il self-timer di Margaret! allora rigrazio tutte e due di voi.]

The house I live in has beautiful floors. I may or may not have gasped audibly when I walked into my bedroom for the first time.

The floor-to-ceiling closets with French doors remind me so much of Audrey Hepburn's Paris apartment in the movie Charade.

Elsewhere in the house are stone floors of this red color that is so distinctive of Siena. They're cold to walk on now (since it's rainy and cold out most days), but in the summer the stone floor will be perfect.

The bathrooms are completely tiled, and hence, very echoey. What you see directly above this caption is, in fact, one of the two showers. No curtain, no fixed shower head. You just have to hold the shower head, without getting water all over the floor. The other shower is enclosed, but closet-sized aka not much elbow room. (Take your pick!)

Fun fact: right as we were putting the finishing touches on this blanket fort, a bunch of girls came by to see our apartment ...and, uh, well.... you'll just have to look in our roommates' bedroom to get an idea of what it looks like. (that's what we told them)

My advice to you is that if you don't remember the last time you built a blanket fort, chances are it's time again.

Amy's birthday almost always falls on the first day of winter semester classes, which makes for a less exciting birthday since it is inundated with syllabi and $300 worth of textbooks. So we (friends and family of Amy) tried to deaden that blow with a surprise-ish birthday party, and I also made a Snape birthday cake!

Our shoebox apartment was packed; never has it been so full of birthday-celebrating people. We even had to take some of the pictures off of the walls, so they wouldn't get knocked down by people standing right in front of them...

(the above photo is my favorite, mostly because of the less than enthused faces everyone is making)

Happy birthday, Amy!

(and to everyone else, happy first and second first days of class!)

my family was here this week, so i got to show them the best places to go around provo [those are only two of said places, though]. i'm glad we got to spend some time together before school starts!

well, i don't think i ever posted pictures of the basement i lived in last year...

i really loved the basement... the space was really great in that it transitioned so well from just accommodating 4 girls to a large group when we had a pi(e) day party, or various birthday parties, etc. that space was allllso really great in that it was very spacious.

and this was the view standing outside of the walk-out basement back door. so so pretty, especially with the string of lightbulbs!

this year i am living in a smaller apartment with not as much flair as the basement, but i'm completely fine with that. especially since i have an oak tree right outside my window! as well as lots of other trees right around the apartment. trees are one of the things i miss most about home.