take me home

welp, i’ve created a monster. a list-making monster, that is. a lot of times, it’s easier to distill everything i’m thinking about into one short, sweet summary. so here goes:

top 10 reasons i can’t wait to get back to wv

1) mcclintic library has the new bill bryson book, at home: a short history of private life--and, unlike in burlington, it’s yet to be checked out. plus, they have a book (the lost continent) that the libraries here don’t have and i haven’t felt like buying. three cheers for being a cheapskate in poco!

2) now that the specter of grad school apps is no longer looming overhead, i can read to my heart’s content! besides the above two selections, i’m hoping to have a jane austen fest and finally get through some history books.

3) same goes with netflix, and basketball…santa brought one monster of a tv for christmas. once cable gets set up, i’m going to be one basketball-happy clam. wahoo for conference play!

(side note: you should be able to choose the cable channels you want and just pay for that. not sure how it would work in actuality, but cable is stupid expensive for a lot of stuff that you don’t actually want/need. frankly, you could give me three espns and i’d be set.)

4) this sweet duck print fabric: dunno what to do with it yet, but something will reveal itself.

5) diy projects: the place could use some sprucing up, and design*sponge has a bevy of ideas. of particular interest: cutlery hooks, and a faux-shell chandelier for my room & hallway. wahoo!

6) duck boots and sweatpants: two items the 2009 iteration of emily would be horrified to wear, much less own. 2010 emily is beyond stoked. sad? more like warm.

7) onion keeper: ok, so this really isn’t that exciting. but it is kind of cute. christmas morning, what was in my stocking but an onion keeper. random?! nope. my momma knows of my red onion obsession. so, while it’s not something i really needed, it’s just another reminder of how awesome my mom is.

8) same goes with the new electric blanket!

9) kegger?! hope so. i managed to get through college as a fairly big drinker who never touched keg beer. it’s about time that changed.

10) snow!!!! anything that makes that miserable cold at least a little more magical. plus, the duck boots are way better than rainboots with three layers of socks.

lew-burg

as it turns out, the city nearest to little marlinton is in a nationwide competition. budget travel is holding an 'america's coolest small towns' contest, and lewisburg is currently in the lead. still, a few more votes couldn't hurt the cause. so, vote here!

if you're not convinced, check these reasons to love lewisburg:

lewisburg's annual chocolate festival: surprisingly bougie logo, and chocolate mousse eating contest? sign me up.

the greenbrier, duh. the bunker tour might be mad expensive, but undoubtedly cool. (for more on the bunker's history, read this.)

wolf creek always has an excellent selection of clothes and such. so does hazel. plus, everything they do is vegan/organic/eco-friendly...and way cute.

stardust cafe--though i've only had their coffee, the atmosphere is amazing--much like arty places in carrboro or larger cities. you'd never guess you were in the middle of rural west virginia!

smooth ambler distillery--betcha didn't know there was such a thing as white whiskey.

one of four carnegie halls...in the world!

all that, with less than 10,000 people. pretty cool, no?

if you couldn't tell

back in wv!

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD.

in a more realistic vein...

winter 2010 soundtrack

1)   the microphones
2)   beck (sad-ass beck circa sea change is preferable)
3)   johnny cash
4)   gravenhurst (multi-part depression is always better)
5)   the love language
6)   joanna newsom (always and forever!)
7)   the xx
8)   dylan
9)   sigur ros
10) radiohead (duh)


essentially, anything sad and white will do.

on the subject of summer...

summer scenic highway soundtrack (top ten edition)

1)   big star!
2)   the kinks
3)   gram parsons
4)   the beach boys
5)   legends of benin comp (or anything else from analog africa)
6)   patsy cline
7)   wilco (covering gram parsons! perfection.)
8)   television
9)   t. rex
10) bob seger (duh)

wow, that list was really white. let's be real, i'll also be listening to copious amounts of lil wayne, clipse and kanye...espeically if the new album is as great as everyone says (which it just HAS to be, judging by  the outrageousness that is 'monster'). can't wait!



in other news, my best friend's mom donated to the upcoming 2011 summer wardrobe with this sweet crop top vest! she made this in the late 70s/early 80s, shortly after getting married. this blurry picture does it NO justice--especially the scraps of dior fabric, culled from who-knows-where!

though i'm still unconvinced of the merits of crop tops, i'm so excited to add this puppy into rotation...once the mercury hits eighty, at least. and with that, the search for a 2011 festival to attend has begun!

halftime

good ol' macbeth, in the midst of his blundering misadventures, says: "i am in blood/stepp'd in so far that, should i wade no more,/returning were as tedious as go o'er." bizarrely enough, i find myself paraphrasing that surprisingly often, mostly when a task seems to become herculean. that's kind of how i considered my time in west virginia prior to moving here--my god, i'll be living there for an entire year. the boredom! the missed social opportunities! the flannel!


but my six month mark has come and gone, and it's flown by. i literally can't believe i'm on the downswing of my VISTA year. granted, these next six months being the coldest of the year, could seem like an eternity--but the people here are so wonderful and lovely that it shouldn't be too bad. (says the girl who's already layering leggings under jeans.)

anyway, point is: time's a funny thing. and a little bit scary. hours of the day seem to drag, yet months can go by in what seems like an instant. my parents always make a fuss about how fast john & i grew up, and it's starting to become apparent why they're always reminiscing.

a second year of VISTA is looking more and more likely (fingers crossed!), and i've determined to make the most of another wv summer--cliche, yeah, but totally necessary. more days at the swimming hole, camping, lazy drives on the scenic highway--all the things i should have been doing this summer instead of going to the gym or making dinner. life's too short to be wasting it on a treadmill, amirite?!

so while winter's sure to offer a plethora of fun activities, this girl can't wait for summer. only 212 days!

come back, summer! and kater clark.

ps. if you're into shakespeare adaptations, this one is great, if only for novelty's sake!

been a while

three months. THREE MONTHS. what in the world have i been doing for three months? well...

i went to pittsburgh!

my board member & i made grape jelly, while listening to russian internet beatles radio. fun!

boy scout beach trip

read october sky and visited coalwood, wv for the october sky festival!

super inspiring, even if the coolest thing about the festival was the burned-out high school.

created records for our collections, and started photographing them. 20-something down, 1400+ to go! 

item 1000: gout rocker.

turned a year older, grew facial hair.

well, that's about the extent of it. entirely one-sided wrestling matches, too much cheap whiskey, and marathon youtube sessions have been excluded for aesthetics' sake. hopefully there'll be more exciting, and regular, posts in the future!