FTF #11

 Hello everyone! My name is Elaine and I am Blythe's favorite Chicagoan (it's true...just ask her). I love what she has going on with the whole Five Things Friday movement, and I thought I would contribute! The following are my 

Top 5 Jobs That Would Be Fun to Have

 ... please enjoy!

1. SNL cast member

This is a dream I've had for.... well, I guess since the first time I was allowed to watch Saturday Night Live. From the classic 90's cast of Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, Chris Kattan, Cheri Oteri, etc to the recent greats like Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and my personal idol, Kristin Wiig. That woman is a comic genius! I wonder how I would hold up playing some of the characters on SNL... I mean, how do they not laugh?! It is truly an art form... not one that can easily be mastered or that you can get into by just being "funny". I guess I will just stick to watching and entertaining my friends with impersonations when SNL is brought up.

2. Food critic

How awesome would it be to be a food critic? Getting to try amazing food all day and having such a diverse knowledge of how things taste... where do I sign up? The only downside I can see here is that I'm a vegetarian, but there are so many great vegetarian and vegan chefs out there, I'm sure I would be okay.

3. Dog hotel owner

Okay, so there is a little back story to this one... when my husband and I went on our honeymoon this past month, we put up our sweet little dog Archie at a pet hotel. I know it sounds CRAZY but let me explain. The place has 4 huge play areas for all the dogs, and each dog gets their own 4' x 7' room to sleep in at night. There is staff taking care of them 24x7 and the place is kept up beautifully. I love my pet and I would never board him in the traditional sense of boarding, so this was the perfect option for us.

So back to wanting to be a dog hotel owner... first of all, from a business standpoint, this is a great idea! So many people in the modern world are getting pets in place in place of or before they have children, and they treat them as family members. This dog hotel Archie stayed at had every room FILLED so I bet they make bank. Brilliant.

Also, think about it. Your job is to hang out and play with dogs all day... for a dog lover, that is a little piece of heaven! Dogs are so dynamic to me... they are so playful, loving, and loyal.. (Can you tell I love dogs?) It reminds me of that one video from Funny or Die with Natalie Portman and Rashida Jones where they say they have figured out how to solve the financial crisis, and then they announce that the solution is "PUPPIES!!!" See here: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/f88f8d6385/natalie-portman-rashida-jones-speak-out-from-natalie-portman-and-rashida-jones.

4. Coffee shop owner

For almost 6 years of my life, I worked at 3 different coffee shops. One was Starbucks, one was a crappy place called The House Cafe, and my favorite was a cool little independent place in near my home town called La Spiaza. Some of my best memories come from my time there. We made up our own recipes, had live music, comfy couches, delicious gelato, beautiful local artwork... bliss. At one point it was owned by this great woman named Berna and she cared for it as much as we all did. It was the best spot in town, and all my friends and I would hang out there on weekends (even if I wasn't working). I know coffee shops don't make a lot of money (especially when you are competing with giants like Starbucks) but I learned a lot about running a small business, and I loved the art of making coffee (from steaming and pouring the milk to pulling shots). If I had my own shop, I think it would be very comparable to La Spiaza and my memories of that place...

5. Personal shopper

So mostly I just thought this would be fun because I love fashion, and I think it would be so fun to pick out things for people (especially if your clients are celebrities with deeeeeeeeeep pockets). You would always be in the know with what's new and what's to come in fashion, and that makes the artistic side of me tingle. :)

Thanks Bly for letting me contribute to your Five Things Fridays! You are glorious. And readers, I'm sure we'd all love to know, what professions (despite money, talent, etc) would you want to explore if you could? Much love! :)

-Elaine

Some past FTF include:

Five Fictional Characters I'd Like To Hang Out With & The Things We Would Do On Said Hang Out

Five of My Current Favorite Bands/Musicians

My Five Favorite Words in My Five Favorite Fonts

Five Chick Flicks I'd Like To Be In
Five Classic Rock Bands/Musicians I wish I got to be a groupie for (Guest post)
Five Thriller-ish Films I Wish I Coulda Monster-Stomped In (Guest post) 
Five Hairstyles I've Had 
Five Great DIY Ideas 
Five Cities I Wish I Could Visit Tomorrow and What I Would Wear (Guest post) 
Five Things I Love About Freaks and Geeks 

Michelle Williams

I love these images from the recent interview and spread with Michelle Williams in Interview Magazine. I especially love that very first photo of her looking through the screen, and her quote about stories. If you're a long time reader, you might remember when I included Michelle in my Fashinspiration series.

[most images via don juan's reckless daughter]

The Counter

I wanted to let you guys in on a new favorite eatery of mine: The Counter. While most of the dining joints I spotlight are local OC places, The Counter has many sisters in many other U.S. cities (and even a couple in Ireland)!

So, it's a burger joint. But what sets this place apart are the choices. If you're one of those people who gets overwhelmed by decision-making in even its most minute form, this might give you a panic attack. For everyone else, it's super fun. First, what kind of meat? Beef? Turkey? Veggie? Chicken? Secondly: what kind of cheese? Danish blue cheese, swiss, Tillamook cheddar, gruyere, herb goat cheese spread, Greek feta? Then, toppings: lettuce, sprouts, tomatoes, corn salsa, sauteed mushrooms, avocado, caramelized onions, dried cranberries, pineapple, green chiles, etc etc etc. You get to choose four. For more money, you can get more than four. Then you choose a sauce- I'm partial to the garlic aioli, but this most recent time I chose chipotle aioli, just to spice things up (literally and figuratively). There are about 12 sauce choices that I won't list because I can't remember them. Then you choose your bun (white, wheat, english muffin, protein style, etc).

After you make all those choices, you gleefully await the arrival of your creation. Jordan and I like to spend this waiting time munching on sweet potato frites. [They're really just 'fries,' but frites sounds fancy schmancy, does it not?]

Then, after not that long at all, you're met with what you've created. I created this little turkey burger with swiss cheese, caramelized onions, spring lettuce, corn salsa, and chipotle aioli.

I. Made. You.

And then I killed it. Cycle of life, folks.

Here's Jordan's, a beef burger with tomato and swiss and corn salsa and I think that's the "Russian dressing" (which he tells me is like thousand island), all on a wheat bun.

For a hearty and scrumptious dinner, try The Counter. I almost forgot to mention- they have an assortment of beers available (bottled and on tap), including Wyder's Pear Cider (a new love of mine). They even have milkshakes! YUMZ. Two thumbs up.

better with age

 

 

How great are these photos from a recent 55th anniversary shoot by Jesse Holland? I'm seriously fascinated. They makes me chuckle and chortle and feel warm all over. 

I shoot a fair amount of weddings, and so what I'm most exposed to are couples on the beginning of their life journey together. Unless I already know the bride and/or groom, I usually never see them again after their wedding day. It seems like the internet is FILLED with galleries upon galleries of young couples on their wedding day, which is fine, but I wish there were more galleries of 'more seasoned' couples. Like the ones about.

style me pretty via playing grown up

p.s. currently listening to: NPR's first listen of Fleet Foxes' "Helplessness Blues"

back in the game

Well, hello there.

I'm back to work today, after two delicious (read: chloraseptic and tomato soup-filled) days at home sick. And my lenses are back from their little sick spells as well! So, it's good news all around. 

Too bad it's supposed to be 85 degrees today, meaning that all I want to do is go to the beach. 

Jordan and I have happy hour plans tonight, so that's my pacification for the day.

White tights are a sticky subject, it seems. I bought this pair after seeing Jenny Lewis sport white thigh highs in a magazine spread about three years ago. They do sort of inherently scream little-girl-in-sunday-school, but there are ways around that, and I'm hoping I found one here.

Also, I got some new sunglasses! $9. Can't flippin beat that. 

And a huge new ring that I can stop playing with.

[vest- h&m | shirt- thrifted | shorts- Lulus | gold shoes- golden ponies | clutch- villains vintage

sunglasses- h&m | raw mineral ring- h&m | foil ring- forever 21| heart pin- ban.do]

(another) sick day

2011 is turning out to be full of sick days. I think I've been sick four times in the past five months alone. I blame school, for many reasons: 1) I'm around a ton of people, many of whom are around a ton of students, and all this makes for the Great Germ Migration of 2011, 2) The stress of massive amounts of reading, multiple 20 page papers, presentations, and the like, and 3) I'm allergic to school? It's certainly possible.

The photo above represents my mood. I have three 20 page papers and a presentation to attend to, and all I want to do is lay in bed and watch an America's Next Top Model marathon. Boo hiss. Back to work.....thank the Lord for chloraseptic.

[image via ffffound]

FTF #10

Look! Today's Five Things Friday gets its own special header! How do you like that, sport fans? (Sorry, that's something my dad and high school math teacher would say....but, quite appropriate parlance for this post, no?) This week's FTF is near and dear to my heart:

5 Things I Love About Freaks and Geeks

The show ran for one year in 2000 before being canceled. In spite of its cancellation, it has gathered and retained a cult following. The cast (sans James Franco) even had a packed-out reunion recently at PaleyFest. I didn't go, but my friend Sarah did and said it was ah-mazing. You can watch clips on you tube. I have to start out by saying that it was extremely difficult to narrow this list to just five things! There's so much to love about this show, but I did my best to capture as much of it as possible in these five things....

1) Mr. Rosso.

"A lot of times you might see— maybe you're taking a shower or something and you go, 'what are these?' 'What's that?' But you feel alone and confused. And you don't think anyone understands. Well. I do. Lots of people do. Even Mr. Alice Cooper."

Enough said. 

2) Jason Segel as Nick Andopolis.

"Wow, that dinner smells good. Let me guess, meat?"
I'm a huge fan of How I Met Your Mother, and Jason Segel is a big reason behind my fan-dom. To see him in Freaks and Geeks makes me feel like I'm getting an extended look at "high school Marshall." Even if you don't follow HIMYM, Jason is awesome and entertaining as Nick Andopolis. From the very first episode with his 23-piece drum set.

3) Mr. Weir.

Dogmatic dad to the extreme- yet somehow quite lovable. Harold Weir's character unfolds over the season; he begins as a vigorously strict dad, opposing any level of deviance with nonsensical reasoning:

"You know, there was a girl in our school, she had premarital sex. You know what she did on graduation day? Died! Of an overdose. Heroin."

"She's hanging with the wrong crowd. They're lying and cheating and next thing you know she's Patty Hearst and she's got a gun to our heads!"

As the season progresses, Mr. Weir becomes much more likeable- he's a vampire for halloween, for starters, and bit by bit, reveals a softer side. You can't help but like him. He's the Michael Scott of Freaks and Geeks.

4) Cameos by Jason Schartzman and young Shia LaBeouf. 
Sprinkled into already golden episodes- like finding chocolate chips in a sundae you thought was "just" vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and nuts- are cameos from two of my faves: Jason and Shia. I've loved Shia since Even Stevens (which is, arguably, his career highlight), so it was fun to see him at an even younger age. He appears in Episode 9: "We've Got Spirit" as the injured Norseman mascot. He gives Sam some tips as he auditions to be the replacement. Jason appears in Episode 7: "Carded and Discarded." He works at some sort of 80s clubwear store at the mall, and helps Lindsay and her friends get fake ids. He's the same dry, lovable Jason as he is today- it's actually funny that it was filmed 11 years ago and so little about him has changed.

5) Biff as Coach Fredericks.

Ok, I know his name is Thomas Wilson, but because of Back to the Future, he'll always just be Biff to me. It's such a delight to see him as the high school coach/gym & health teacher. Episode 10: "The Diary" involves a pretty funny storyline that involves Bill, Neal, and Sam prank calling Coach Fredericks. Coach F. is also the one to fill in Sam on all his questions about sex in Episode 5: "Tests and Breasts." All this to say: anytime Tom Wilson comes on screen, get ready to laugh.

Finally, I'll leave you with a clip of one of my favorite moments from the season- another employee at the store where Jason Schwartzman works talks Sam into buying a "Parisian Night Suit." This is the next day at school:

Some past FTF include:

Five Fictional Characters I'd Like To Hang Out With & The Things We Would Do On Said Hang Out

Five of My Current Favorite Bands/Musicians

My Five Favorite Words in My Five Favorite Fonts

Five Chick Flicks I'd Like To Be In
Five Classic Rock Bands/Musicians I wish I got to be a groupie for (Guest post)
Five Thriller-ish Films I Wish I Coulda Monster-Stomped In (Guest post) 
Five Hairstyles I've Had 
Five Great DIY Ideas 
Five Cities I Wish I Could Visit Tomorrow and What I Would Wear (Guest post)

Swedish Hasbeens for H&M

I don't know about you, but I've been drooling over the new Swedish Hasbeens for H&M for weeks now. Unfortunately, my pocketbook disagrees with me. The shoes are $59 and $69, which is a little too steep for my current financial sitch (what with tuition fees rising yet again, my budding traveling schemes for this summer, and lens reparations not being too cheap), so it looks like I'm stuck dreaming. Giveaways like the ones on Color Me Nana and Natalie Off Duty (who happen to be sisters, btw) do get my hopes up a little (both bloggers are giving away 3 pairs!), but the odds are against me this time.

I channeled my daydreaming into Polyvore outfit making- 6 outfits for each of the 6 pairs of Hasbeens. Enjoy!

Swedish Hasbeens for H&M set 1 by helloblythe featuring crew socks

Hansel from Basel crew socks, $24
TopShop straw hat, $50
Belt, $30
H&M Conscious Collection: Die GLAMOUR-Favoriten aus der H&M Conscious...
Swedish Hasbeens for H&M Spring 2011 Collection | nitrolicious.com

Swedish Hasbeens for H&M set 2 by helloblythe featuring crop tops

Crop top, $235
Barse crystal bangle, $125
H M summer short
Swedish Hasbeens for H&M Spring 2011 Collection | nitrolicious.com

Swedish Hasbeens for H&M set 3 by helloblythe featuring floral tops

Madewell floral top, $110
TopShop sheer skirt, $80
Printed handbag, 12 GBP
Linea Pelle bracelet, $65
Swedish Hasbeens for H&M Spring 2011 Collection | nitrolicious.com

Swedish Hasbeens for H&M set 4 by helloblythe featuring pleated pants

Golden Goose cable sweater, $869
DAY Birger et Mikkelsen ribbed tank, 499 DKK
Bruce II pleated pants, $448
Nine West crochet tote bag, $99
H&M Swedish Hasbeen Collaboration- Discount Swedish Hasbeens

Swedish Hasbeens for H&M set 5 by helloblythe featuring crop tops

Doo Ri crop top, $645
Lucca Couture high waisted short short, $48
Gold hat, $30
Illesteva tortoise sunglass, $160
Nails in Hunting, $10
SE HELA KOLLEKTIONEN: H&M + Swedish Hasbeens | Damernas Värld

Swedish Hasbeens for H&M set 6 by helloblythe featuring a chambray dress

Mason by Michelle Mason chambray dress, $400
TopShop scalloped short, $75
Heart shoes, $25
Charles Hubert engraved jewelry, $85
Oasis, 16 GBP
Swedish Hasbeens for H&M Spring 2011 Collection | nitrolicious.com

Also, today is my sister's b-day! Happy birthday Lia! :)

Enthusiasm

You might not know this about me, but I'm not one of those naturally super positive, glass-half-full people. I get discouraged easily. I'm sensitive to the rises and falls of life, and deeply feel the hurts of others around me. Further, I don't handle failure well. My mind/body/psyche remembers the hurt of failure, files it away in some internal filing cabinet drawer, and suppresses it until a new opportunity (read: a new chance to fail) presents itself. I am someone who has to force myself to keep trying, in spite of myself, in spite of the internal monologue telling me "This isn't going to work. Don't try."

This might seem really foreign to some (or most) of you, but to a few of you, I'm guessing this all sounds vaguely familiar. It's to you I write today. Quotes like Winston's (above) can seem a little idealistic, a little naive even when you've been badly burned in the past, but there is complex truth in those simple words. To maintain enthusiasm despite memories of failure (and maybe many of them), is nothing short of heroic. "Enthusiasm" here doesn't mean you put a naive, glossy Pollyanna-sheen on everything (even though I mentioned trying to be more like Pollyanna in my last post...); enthusiasm is, to me, the bounce-back gumption of someone who won't let any number of NO's put an end to their attempts. Enthusiasm means you keep trying, in spite of failure, just as hard as ever. It means you keep believing there's a YES waiting for you.

Like I said, this sort of mindset doesn't come naturally to me; I have to work at it. I set goals (and lots of them) to keep me trying, to keep me hoping for the YES that might exist for even one of those goals.

All this to say, keep on keepin on! We're in this together!