Eff you, granny-named scum stores

Let's pop into this Betty's Bistro for a coffee.

There it is. At the end of this ugly strip mall. The one with Honey Fluff Donuts and whoever Enny is.

Gambling. Motherfucker.

Dotty's looks quaint. I wonder what's inside.

Oh.

Of course. They even own the wall.

I was too cowardly to go inside these establishments and suss them out for myself. Maybe they are quaint and perfectly lovely.

But I do know something I believe to be true.

Video gaming is bad for your health. 

At least I'd bet.

Outside of Belgium

It's time to finish scrapblogging my European vacation.

Without haste, some experiences outside of Belgium...

First stop, a bag drop at our hotel, Hotel Alexandra. This is my kinda stylin to a T. OK, not a T. Maybe an S. Very close to a T. After the bag drop, a wet walk around Copenhagen.

Orienting in Copenhagen and straight to Amsterdam! On the first morning there, the botanical garden, by way of a street fair and bike rides.

Oh hello little one.

Amsterdam in October

Scene from a coffee shop

And here lies Belgium... which ended with a Eurostar to London!

I had such a whirlwind couple of days in London. I loved the convenience of their trains. My feet were disappointingly not too happy by this point in the trip, so every block on a train was useful. I will one day have a post devoted to European vacation footwear.

Liberty London, come to mama. I could have spent a while meandering through this store's inspirational treasure trove. I could also use that time drinking draft ales in dark bars. Yum.

And we're back in Copenhagen! One more night and one more morning before departure home. This last 24 hours in Denmark was remarkable - perhaps the best single day of travel. It took a while, but I finally felt really in the groove. Was it just just knowing it was the final day? Next time I vacate I want to hit the groove much, much sooner.

Bikes, and another reason to come back. Soon after this, inspired by a public park, I was dead set on traveling Europe with a dedicated focus on art and nature... and culture too of course, of course.

Late night fridge finds, not too dissimilar to the US convenient store down the corner.

Morning flowers at the Torvehallerne.

Inside I'm dying for the ability to postpone departure and dive into this city mouth first.

Heading to the airport. Feels like home already. 

Off to a good start

January DIY challenge, check. Behold my new necklace:

Taking advantage of my small investment in antique brass findings and needle nose pliers, my first DIY of the year was this beaded "statement" necklace. The activity introduced me to jewelry wire and crimping beads. Jump rings and me go way back to last month. Overall I'd rate this at a difficulty level of 1 out of 5. Maybe 1.2 due to the "tiny things" factor.

Kinda like my pickled jalapenos, I'm not sure why I did this. I never wear anything like this, but I love the way bold necklaces look under button-up collared shirts, a la:

Inspiration piece

I love my finished result, but there is one small problem. These necklaces are heavy. The one I made weighs 79 grams. 79 grams! For reference, the simple dainty necklaces I actually wear weigh 1-2 grams. That's a big difference. When I wear heavy necklaces I feel drawn down. Oppressed. I have to wear a lanyard with a badge for work and even that drives me nuts. How do women do it?

The beautiful beads are variegated jasper, which I picked up at my local, walkable bead shop. I read up on jasper and learned it's associated with protection and grounding. It helps align the chakras and is useful when one is going through change. This speaks to me, but I didn't know it when I bought them. I picked jasper for 2 reasons. First, I thought it would look great with my brass and on any human being. The colors, oh the colors. They match everything and every one. And secondly, the jasper was relatively affordable. I spent $20 on the beads for my necklace alone. That's not cheap! I'm sure there are cheaper bead stores out there, but I didn't mind supporting a local small business for this one-off. 

The small blue-green beads were added to bring out the blues and greens in the stones, which read very "earthy". They also enabled me to get 3 strands instead of just 2 without adding much cost or weight (they are plastic). I also like that they have a chalky texture, which sets off the shiny and polished elements (nay, compounds and alloys, badump bump - chemistry humor at its worst right there).

My sister tells me that the under-the-collar look above reads "old lady" or "southern". I think it's awesome! Like female formal wear. A working gal's necktie. I love it. Never done it, but that can change. What do you think? Too grandma?

Feel-good failings

We all have our ways of coping with the blues. Eating, drinking, shopping, sleeping, smoking,.. to each her own. I have a small set of movies/TV shows that I put on when I'm feeling sub par. I'm not alone in this, for sure. Even my guy friends, when under pressure, might admit that their 48th viewing of Return of the Jedi might coincide with feeling down and out.

My shows of choice are not static. For a while I relied on When Harry Met Sally and Sex and the City episodes. I've worn them out. I'm done with them for now, therapeutically speaking. (OK, that's kind of a lie because I did enlist seasons 4 and 5 of SATC quite recently.) The same happened with Singles, Wonderboys, The Wedding Singer, American Beauty, and others. Tragically overplayed. No longer uplifting. Temporarily.... tainted.

My current therapist of choice is Julie and Julia. Maybe because it's about a struggling blogger. Maybe it's all the food and cooking, the A-list cast, or the perfect sets. For whatever reasons, I reach for it when my head needs the calm. I don't sit down and watch every scene, listen to every word. Instead it's just there. Like a friend.

Julie's NYC apartment - not too unlike my own in style.

Julia's kitchen in France.

But you know what? 

It's not working anymore. Now, instead of regrouping while it's on, I just fret. Every scene goes too quickly. The Cobb salad scene, the sister's wedding scene, the canceling of dinner due to rain scene, they just keep coming! And they all point to the inevitable. The END! And with the end, you know what? Your problems. Your life. It's all right there in the credits. 

And nothing has replaced it. Julie and Julia seems last in the line of this medicine. I tried Game of Thrones reruns, but the anxiety doesn't abate. 

So I guess it's time there is no feel-good movie or TV show. Will something different help? Maybe it's a homemade, freezer-freeing soup experiment. Maybe it's a nod to clean the tub. Perhaps every reach for a well-worn DVD should be met with a 3 mile walk. Or a phone call to a friend. Or two hours in a novel.

I feel like a kid, holding her blankie, expecting the swift arrival of comfort and then... nothing. So I put the blankie in the closet, look around, and think, now what? Now how?

Modern Family reruns in the interim.

A new challenge

2014 was the year of my cookbook challenge, which I KNOW I KNOW didn't end with much steam (I'll get to Oct-Dec, I will!) but was deeply enriching nonetheless. I mean, any year that you casually and comfortably add granola and crème fraîche to your culinary tool belt is gonna be a good year.

I now proclaim 2015 the year of my DIY challenge.

I'm gonna be more like Laura, here:

Laura, from A Beautiful Mess, from the stamped necklace post.

She DIYs the hell outta stuff over at A Beautiful Mess. This year she inspired my holiday craft activity of stamping my own charms and making necklaces (hello gifting!):

the brass meow (creation of this creature)

Thanks, Laura!

Every month in 2015 I'm going to get my hands dirty on a new project, and will try to complete said project that month. Most projects will come from blogs, so if you know of any DIY-heavy blogs I might like, let me know! I expect a move and a "fixer upper" living situation for most of 2015, so the possibilities are truly endless.

Who's with me?!