to all the dreamers I have known.

I'll discuss my recent obsession with period costuming (in particular the Regency era -- think Jane Austen) under a cut, because I don't know if this will interest anyone at all!

( some thoughts on period costuming... )

I'm going back to England for a two-week visit in just less than two weeks.

LOVE:
1. There are some awesome people here.
2. I live about an hour outside of a major city with lots of museums and arts and culture and all that.
3. The next town over is pretty cute.
4. There are some really nice shops not too far away.
5. When it snows here (and is not just bitterly cold), it snows just enough to enjoy, and not so much that I hate it.

HATE:
1. Cornfields.
2. The fact that where I live is in the Midwestern United States.
3. The flatness of it.
4. The small-town narrow-minded outlooks.
5. The lack of diversity.

COMPARE:
1. Compared to England, this town is nearly meaningless to me. I'd even pick England over Pennsylvania.
2. I much prefer my birthplace in Pennsylvania, and I always clarify that, while I may live here now, I am from Pennsylvania.
3. This town is less attractive than my old town, the town in #3 of Love.
4. Although this house is nicer than my previous house, the semi-detached in which I lived in England is still home, in all the best senses of the word.
5. My home in a few short months will be my country's capitol city, and I'm pretty excited for that.

I have been feeling some serious nostalgia for England (I think I'm too young for that). Anyways, I decided to reread some of my journal entries from my time over there -- in my written journal -- and found this little beauty that I don't think I ever posted to LJ.

Things Which Are Quintessentially British (A List):
1. Wellies
2. Tea, even if it doesn't grow here
3. Walking poles
4. Flasks of tea (what we Americans call thermoses)
5. The left-hand side of the road

Miles Davis' Kind of Blue is bloody brilliant. Every time I listen to it, I am astounded by the man's utter musical genius.

If I could go anywhere, right now and instantly and for a stay long as I liked, where would I go? Somewhere I love -- Washington D.C., Edinburgh, Venice, Snowdonia National Park? To visit someone -- someone I haven't seen in a long time, someone I've lost touch with, someone who I love to spend time with? Somewhere I've never been -- Paris, Istanbul, Athens, Tibet?

But it's storming here and teleportation has not yet been invented.

I've decided, amidst all my cookie-baking and other baking of late, that eating raw cookie dough is a little bit like living. It's sometimes messy, and it might cause you to die (from that nasty salmonella), but it's mostly worth it because it's just so sweet and delicious.

Candles burning away on my bookshelf, a doorstop of a book which I am nearly 200 pages into already (it's The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Vol. I, if anyone is curious), a mug of chamomile tea close at hand, some good music, and the night is only just beginning. The only thing that would be better would be to add a thunderstorm to the mix.

It must be summer.

[Oh yeah, I graduated yesterday.]

First, a brief bit of happy news: I finally got my lovely Andy Warhol print framed (it says "the world fascinates me.") and my $4 vintage-look map of England is getting a $90 frame (that's what I get for buying a non-standard sized print). Once the map gets back from the framer's, I'll be hanging up all my art. Finally, my poster from Chicago (the musical) won't be the only thing on my walls.

But anyways, it's been a while since I've done a post about books -- yes, I mentioned Kathy Reichs a few weeks ago, but that wasn't a post about books (although I am going to the beach this summer, really I am). Right now, my nightstand is covered in them; there are three separate stacks.

The only thing I'm currently actively reading is This Side of Paradise by F Scott Fitzgerald (of The Great Gatsby fame -- and if you have not read that beautiful novel, please do) for a US History project. It isn't disappointing -- it's not as polished as Gatsby, which is fair enough, since it was Fitzgerald's first novel, but it is so far very good. Plus, it perfectly epitomises the 1920s, which is what I need for my project. The Kathy Reichs novel I most recently started, Deadly Decisions, has unfortunately had to be laid aside until next Tuesday, when I think I will be done with all my schoolwork.

So. What is on my nightstand, waiting to be read?

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark
The Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry (I'm actually about halfway through this one; it was given to me by my mother to read.)
Scaramouche, Rafael Sabatini
The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon (seeing that The Shadow of the Wind is one of my favourite novels, I am incredibly excited to read this one)
The Handmaid's Tale, Maragaret Atwood (again, I've started it... but school has foiled all attempts at reading for fun lately)
Medicine Road, Charles de Lint
The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Elizabeth I, Anne Somerset (non-fiction does not frequently feature in my casual reading, but this was a gift and Elizabeth I has been one of my role models for as long as I can remember, so I'm pretty excited to read it)
The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Jacob Burckhardt (also a gift, but I'm actually even more excited to read this one, since Burckhardt is a legendary historian, pretty much, and the Renaissance is one of my favourite eras of history)
Cupcakes (uhhh, have I told you about my baking obsessions?)
The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (had This Side of Paradise not been approved for my history project, this was my second choice... but now that I own it, I'll read it anyways)
The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larsson (I was super impressed by his first novel, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and it is such a shame that he died so suddenly, having only written three of a planned ten books)
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (let's not talk about how long this book has been on my 'to-read' list)
A Year in the World, Frances Mayes (I'd originally planned this as Italy-reading, but it was eclipsed by the fabulous The Agony and the Ecstasy)
Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco

So, when it's finally summer, that's the start of my reading. I also have a bunch more Kathy Reichs novels to read. I think I might go crazy without books.

It's after 1am and I can't get food off my mind. Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I'm in charge of cooking (asparagus & spinach quiche and lime yogurt cake because I will take any excuse to bake). But I thought that instead of talking about things I'd made lately, I'd talk about my favourite restaurants. Unfortunately for North American types (myself included, because I can't eat at them whenever I want to!), three of the five on my list are in Europe.
( onward to awesome food. )