Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

So for the first time in the ~3 months that I've lived in this apartment, I cleaned. I mean sure the place has been dusted off and picked up but I spent my night bleaching, scrubbing and dusting the place into submission like never before. I feel like every place you live in needs a good floor to ceiling scrubbing relatively soon after moving in. That way you can be sure that the build up of dirt and grime accumulating during the rest of your residency is your own, not someone else's. It's less disgusting when it's your own dirt.

Well now that the process is over, I felt it deserved photo documentation. And since no one but my parents and the few poor souls who helped me move in have even step foot inside it I feel like I should share it with someone! Who better than the anonymous masses of the interwebs! Thus I bring you, Casa de Jessington.

Living Room:

Dining Room: (complete with missing bowl currently residing in the dishwasher!)

Kitchen:

Bedroom:

Bathroom:

My bathroom also contains some of my niftier things, which I've chosen to share with you as well.

These include my super-awesome plastic grass toothbrush holder, the World's Best Nightlite, and some frightening man on a postcard courtesy of my cousin's trip to Korea.

And there you have it, the briefest of tours through my tiny but superb apartment. Maybe now that I've cleaned I'll get around to painting and Blik-ing... the less clutter on the floor the more obnoxious the bare walls become. And since only a select few (IE: family members) have seen what you've just seen that makes us almost like family now! So uh, can I borrow 50 bucks?

Motorbikes: Revisited

Remember this post a mere two posts ago? Upon reading it my good friend 'M' (that zany paranoid-innocent) found a way to crystallize exactly why I found the video and subsequent rider of the NighShadow so strangely unfitting. You see, it's a design flaw that makes this poor fellow (and the bike itself) so unfortunate in action. Simply put, the seat is too far back. This ultimately causes the rider to stretch ridiculously in order to reach the handle bars and places him/her in a very.. disadventageous.. position behind the beast, if you catch my drift. Had the seat been put say, closer to the back of the panther, or maybe even if the rider was wearing black pants or something to help blend him more into the design of the bike, perhaps things would look a little more correct. As it is though, the NightShadow is certainly a wonderful example of beautiful design with an unfortunate, and fatal (imo), flaw.

Graphic Fashion

So I'm no super trendy fashionista (though I've been accused of being a "hipster" on occasion) but I like all things from the design world and there's a strangely intriguing trend bubbling up in fashion that caught my attention. Hate them or love them there's no denying that the leggings and funky colored tights of the 80's have made a comeback. But now there's a new guy on the block, the tattoo tight. The trendy screen printed t-shirts of yesterday have inexplicably migrated downward and are now plastered on the legs of a growing number of fashion forward "hipsters".

I first caught wind of this trend a few months ago when these Twitter-ific tights made a splash in the fashion world. Made by Etsy vendor 'post' (who specialize in "tattoo socks") they're perfect for any rabid 'Tweeters' who feel the need to be e-stalked by everyone they walk by. Post also has some other interesting ones including an octopus and peacock feather.

Taking the trend to a whole new level (yay, color! [?]) is Les Queues de Sardines *broken link, sorry! who have made much more trendy (see: bold graphic prints) and vaguely creepier versions of the tattoo tights.



I must admit that possibly in another life where I actually wore something other than jeans and might actually be fashionable I could possibly see myself attempting to pull something like this off, if only for the amazingly weird factor. Alas, jeans and sneakers have been my trusty fall back to this point and will likely not change any time soon. But take note you more fashion-forward hipsters, tattoo tights are making a stand so get your gams in gear.

woof

by jezikalyn.

Motorbikes

As a teenager I must confess to a keen longing for a motorcycle. Why exactly I wanted to straddle an engine and rocket down the street with minimal external protection I can't really explain, but I wanted a Ninja 250 like nobody's business.

Luckily I only got a taste of bikes on my uncle's Buell, and that was only that one time. Who knows the catastrophic flaming death I would've had had I ventured farther into the world of two-wheeled vehicles. Maturing aside, I love a good example of quirky imaginative design and had to pass this on.

This is the NightShadow (and unnamed bull-version) by Massow Concept Cycles.




Nifty concept vehicles that actually drive are always fun, especially when so design-y and slick (super-high gloss paint ftw). The Jaguar also has the interesting detail of its headlamp in the mouth of the beast, though it looks a bit ridiculous in motion. Whether thats because I feel like such a slick machine should be driven by someone more... je ne sais quoi.. or because of the design itself is hard to tell.

Junk of the Day

So I went to my parents this evening to help rid them of some of my childhood clutter. If you've ever done this, or subsequently had children who are currently doing this, you'd understand just how much junk kids/teens can accumulate. For the past 8 years of my life I've collected garbage and thrown it into boxes in my parents basement. Unwilling to throw it away, but there was only so much room for clutter upstairs! I literally spent a solid hour wading through diaries, sketchbooks, pictures, and shoeboxes filled with even more memories of my childhood and can honestly say I've never wanted to torch my past as much as I did for that hour. Perhaps I'm not the nostalgic type but there's something about teen angst and tween camera-frenzy that makes me feel like sanitizing myself with bleach for the next eternity.

I did, however, rise out of the ashes with one of the single most amazing things I've ever had the privilege of owning. And here it is:

Now if you aren't familiar with the Sailor Moon series you may be wondering wtf this is, but I can assure you it is the single most fantastic (and ridiculously Japanese) thing I've ever acquired in my lifetime. I was a HUGE [see: frenetic] fan of Sailor Moon when I was younger and this lovely little alarm clock was gifted to me (by my grandmother I believe) back in the day. It has the loudest and most obnoxious alarm that consists of blaring the Sailor Moon theme song with a high pitched child's voice chiming "Good Morning!" intermittently throughout. I'm in love. I fully expect to throw it against my wall within the week and break it into pieces, but at least I have it for now.

I also found these lockets amidst the clutter and chose to keep them. Not because they hold pictures dear to my heart, in fact they have nothing inside, but because.. well.. how often do you see lockets anymore? I figure I might never have anything to put inside them, or even the desire to wear them, but the miniscule part of me that somehow holds on to things wouldn't let me throw them out. Go figure.

In other news I have some of the most fantastic frozen yogurt I've ever had courtesy of my cousin and Jeni's Ice Creams. I'm not even entire sure what a black currant is but it's extremely tasty and will make a great closer to the night.

This clock ticks ridiculously loudly. Consider its expected lifespan severely shortened.

Sidenote: If you appreciate good alternative music on your computer I highly recommend EQX's live stream. They're an epic independent radio station up around here and have some seriously rad music.

Belated: Holidays, Jobs, Things not yet done

These past few weeks have been a ridiculous flurry of happenings and commitments, but lateness aside I am actually updating again (lucky you, all two of you who might read this!). Before I jump into it I have to confess it's extremely difficult to blog with music rambling on in the background and since I have no control over it at this time please forgive me if this turns into an incoherent jumble of thoughts.

I'll start with my knitting since I have to assume one of the only people that might actually read this will be 'M' (named changed to protect the paranoid innocent <3). Unfortunately there's not much to report on this topic. I had intentions of finishing the scarf I was working on before the holidays came and went (perhaps gift it to my unsuspecting mother instead of something she actually wanted) but alas, other things have kept me from being too ensconced in yarn. I'm hoping once the new year is finally rung in I'll get back into it more. There just aren't enough hours in the day lately and to be honest I've yet to find yarn nearly enticing as the prospect of sleeping an extra hour. Good intentions foiled by lethargy? Check.

More excitingly though I've managed to finish my christmas shopping before Christmas Eve! While shopping I even managed to pick up a few goodies for myself (I'm doing it wrong, aren't I?).

Said goodies include my shiny new camera, a Pentax K-x DSLR. What's more, it's white! Suck it pretentious "professional" cameras and your monotonous, snoody black cases. My 'prosumer' camera looks like a stormtrooper and there's nothing you can do to stop it. So far it's been a dream to play with, though its action has been limited. I'm hoping to get at least some indiscriminatingly bad candid shots of my poor family during the holidays (here's looking at you Lauren).
I also stumbled upon the fantastic website/publication house McSweeney's (via Coolhunting - aka the best blog in town) during my online shopping adventures and ordered myself a plethora of their quarterly publications. Thus far I've only delved into my first one (13, the comic edition) but I'm already tempted to purchase a subscription for myself. Perhaps after the holidays once my bank account has been replenished a bit.
Other things I purchased that I can freely mention here without fear of giving away surprises include a plethora of tidbits from Liddabit and two tickets to go see Brian Regan live for my parents (their favorite comedian, am I the best daughter or what?)

Speaking of sugary goodness there's nothing like the holidays to make you want to bake, and that's precisely what I'll be doing tomorrow. Being the aforementioned good-daughter I'm planning on helping my mother in her pursuit of all things pastry, though what we'll be making is still a mystery to me. Maybe if I ever update my blog again I'll include pictures of the process, but don't hold your breath.
In addition to said cookies, I ventured out on my own this year and attempted to make truffles all by my lonesome. The process was actually easier than I expected it to be and they turned out fairly decent, though after reading the comments and rolling them into little balls myself it was plain to see they would need some sort of outer coating to prevent them from melting at room temperature (instead of the wussy light dusting of cocoa powder as suggested in the recipe). This is where my downfall began; the chocolate I chose to coat them with (a baking chocolate different from the semi-sweet dark chocolate I used for the ganache) melted well at first but then somehow cooked itself into a strangely dense mass before I could coat too many of them. Obviously I did something wrong, or just chose the wrong type of chocolate to do it with, and was left with 20 or so incomplete truffles centers in my fridge. I've decided possibly just melting down some chocolate chips or something would do the trick (they solidify pretty well and don't turn into some strange abomination of chocolate if heated improperly) but I've yet to complete this process. With the right ingredients I could see them being very good.

I still haven't painted my wall or put up my Blik's and I'm beginning to feel guilty about that. Maybe I'll clean my apartment one of these days, paint, and sticker away. And now that I have a camera who knows, maybe I'll even take pictures of the whole thing once I'm done.
Work is going well despite a bout of stress-induced insomnia courtesy of a certain production director who shall remain nameless and, despite the festering loneliness of living alone in a town seemingly impossible to meet people in, the home-front is peachy as well. The holidays are here after all, what's there to complain about?