12 of 12: February

Heyyyy, it's 12 of 12, back in action after a month where I took the pictures and then was too busy to upload them. Soooo, yay for not having a life? All credit to Chad Darnell, creator and keeper of the 12 of 12 flame; for more, check out his site.

7:45 - Up.

11:27 - Proctoring a practice SAT, and let me tell you: there's nothing more exciting than watching high school students take a test for four hours on a Saturday morning. (Good book, though.)

1:34 - High school students, naked plaster ladies frolicking...must be Saturday?

1:55 - Gas is SO EXPENSIVE right now. Why is nobody else freaking out about this?

2:02 - My beloved salsa bar at my beloved Sea Casa, neighborhood health-conscious taqueria extraordinaire. Because sometimes a girl just needs some grilled fish with her pureed roasted tomatoes.

4:05 - Malibu Canyon, which is so cool that I'm always a little surprised it's a valid way to get where I want to go.

5:34 - Awesome.

5:58 - Did you know that there are grown-up monkey bars/rings/climbing ropes on the beach at Santa Monica? This is my friend, showing off an upper-body-strength-to-body-weight ratio that I cannot even hope to emulate.

6:05 - ....Winter? Okay.

6:10 - Cool! I feel like there's a geometry word problem waiting to happen here, but maybe that's just me.

8:03 - My feet. Not my fire.

8:10 - Any evening spent around a fire at the beach with friends, blankets, wine, and burgers can't be all bad. Or ANY bad, actually.

Happy Valentine's Day, all!

People, sometimes I look at this poor sad lonely blog, and I get weighed down by how much I haven't said here. Like how I moved and what I'm doing and where I'm living, and how I actually did last month's 12 of 12 but was too busy to upload it until it sort of seemed too late. It's so hard being me!

I can't do those things, but I can tell you about some things I'm pretty into these days, because if there's anything I enjoy, it's making others love the things I love. Here are some of those things:

- The Hemlock Ring
When you're a new knitter, there are certain projects that you think, if this is what knitters do, knitters must be crazy people. Things like, I don't know, lace blankets based on doily patterns from 1942? That said, a good stern blocking and extra-pointy bind-off edge make me feel like a fiber arts badass.

- Espinacas con garbanzos!:
Aha! You wouldn't click if I said "spinach with chickpeas," but this is not just spinach with chickpeas. This is tangy, and spicy, and Spanish, and totally deserving of a gratuitous exclamation point. I make it without the bread, but with a link or two of the orangest, most Spanish-like sausage I can find, and it shocks me every time with the depth of its deliciousness.

- The Civil Wars:
I went to a couple of their shows around LA in December and January—my roommate and I are tangentially acquainted with Joy Williams, having worked with her family and occasionally with Joy herself at summer camp—and fell instantly in love. Now their new album is number one on iTunes (just ahead of Mumford and Sons' Sigh No More, which is also pretty great), allowing me to be both thrilled for them and insufferably smug for knowing allllll about them, like, a month ahead of time.

- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
I KNOW. I'M SUCH A REVOLUTIONARY.  But no, really, the entire reading world is not lying to you about this series. I may not sleep until it's finished. (I also just finished Life of Pi, which I loved for completely different reasons; perhaps someday I will read something not from the Book Club Favorites! shelf, or whatever.)

See? Was that so hard? Let's do this more often, shall we?