Fan girl

Three down, one more traveling weekend to go. Gah! My plants (and my pocketbook) have suffered tremendously, but otherwise I am doing A-OK, and having loads of fun.

Case in point.



What is going on with my hair there?? But really, Philly was a blast. It helped that a cool front came through the day I arrived, so Lauren and I had splendid weather to work with. By the time I got up to NYC, it was drippy hot again (as in, you just drip sweat). Bleh. But I made the most of it and had a great time.

Harry Potter was brilliant, and I continue to be a total 15-year-old fan girl over Matthew Lewis. That's Neville for those not in the know. He went from this...



To this...



Is that amazing, or is that amazing? I mean, I think it's simply amazing. What a handsome bloke. He's 22, so a bit young for me. But really, omg you guys, it's NEVILLE! I gotta say, it took a while for the shock to wear off. Yet another reason for me to move to the UK. Also, I really need to go see that movie again.

And re Amy Winehouse. With all her issues, I'm not sure we would have ever gotten another album out of her. But obviously, now we know for certain we won't. I've been listening to Back to Black a lot since I heard of her death. But this original demo of "Love is a Losing Game" is the one song of hers that gets played the most on my iPod. Such a beautiful voice.

On the road again

June is almost gone. How does that happen? When school wraps up, and you look out at the expanse of June and July, it seems as though it'll go on forever. And then, in some strange way, time speeds up and suddenly it's July and ohlook! suddenly it's August and gah! it's over! The only comfort being that the weather is intolerable, so the sooner we get through summer, the sooner our electric bills will come back down.

A nice thing about summer in Dallas is the crape myrtles blooming. One thing this town ain't lacking is crape myrtles. I was trying to give my dad directions to my place by pointing out that you turn left where there's a big pink crape myrtle on the corner but really, they're on every corner. Not helpful.



It does make my front walk look like this, though. Isn't that nice? Like someone just got married on my sidewalk. We had one in our front yard when I was growing up too. They spit on you, you know. Like the faintest drizzle when you're standing underneath. It's nice.

So back in May, my mom helped me rearrange my living room. It was previously organized to accommodate a huge TV cabinet that I'd had for 5 years that was so large it would only fit in one place. It was wonky. So we finally ditched it, I got a new TV stand (and a new TV!), and now, this.



That's right, I can watch TV and bake at the same time. It's the best ever. I love being able to see the TV from the kitchen. My place in Austin was like that too. That's oatmeal cookie dough by the way. Yup.

But back to the summer and how it flies by. For me, July really is going to be a whopper. I'm traveling for four consecutive weekends. Can you believe it? What an idiot. First to Houston for what will no doubt be an epic house-warming party, and to finally, finally tour the Blue Bell Creamery. All my life I've wanted to do this, but since the tours are on weekdays only, and the Creamery is in Brenham, it was just hard.



Follow that truck!

Then the following Wednesday I'm off to the East Coast to visit friends in Philly and in NYC. And on Thursday night, at one minute past the stroke of midnight, my friend Lauren, myself, and a theater full of totally hopped-up, spazzed out of their minds Harry Potter fans will witness history.



Oh the agony of seeing it all end. How will we survive?? Rereading the books helps. I'm doing that now in my run-up to the movie coming out. I still turn each page like I can't imagine what's coming next. Genius. I'm looking at you, Rowling.

Then the next two weekends will be spent wearing my Auntie Manda hat and traveling to see these kiddos. And a few other people too.



Rock star Will...



Beautiful Mary...



And this deceptively adorable little girl. Just watch her, though. The second you look the other way, Suzy will rub Vaseline jelly into your mattress. It's true. Ask her mom.

Then I'm home! Phew! Can you imagine anything crazier? I can't wait, but I'm also exhausted just thinking about it. Does anyone else have superfun summer plans?

Stamp of Approval: Spring

Oh my gosh, just realized I am coming dangerously close to ending March without a blog post! That would just not do. So what the hell have I been up to this whole, long month??

My plans to get all up on the internet during Spring Break, with photo editing and catching up on blogs, etc., were a bit derailed with a freelance project. But that = money so hey, I'm not complaining. And gosh, the weather was just so nice that week too. Mom came up the latter part of the week and we went to the 'retum to see the Dallas Blooms festival in all its glory. And, apparently, so did all of Dallas. It was so pretty though. Somehow last year I missed the cherry blossoms, but not this year.



So fluffy and white! Don't let those crowds keep you away, folks. Go down and park at Gaston and Garland and ride the bus like the cool kids do.

What else... the Kenya photo editing continues at its lovely snail's pace.



This is my new computer wallpaper. I know I know, it sucks that I'm so slow posting them, and it kinda makes the reveal super anticlimactic. But I rather enjoy the editing process, I find. And I'm getting to relive every inch of the trip, bit by bit. It's like my version of making a scrapbook.

Also in March, I became obsessed with this show.



Okay, that's a publicity photo, all in character and official and stuff.



Oooh, that's better. I love these three! As a dear friend wrote, "The 3 leads are great, esp. Russell Tovey's ears." And yeah, there's a US version of Being Human, but of course I've sworn loyalty to the UK version (and the Brit jonesing continues). Get on over to BBC America and set those DVRs. Or better yet, start from the beginning on DVD. It has the Amanda Stamp of Approval (TM).

Speaking of my Stamp of Approval, March also saw me start listening to the new Lykke Li album, which includes this awesome song.



What's going on in that video? It's not very spring-like with all that snow. And of course she can't catch him in those shoes, what was she thinking? Good grief. But on a warm day, with the sunroof open and blasting from the speakers... trust me, it works.

Okay, I think that's just about all the fun the month of March can handle. Mmmmokay, maybe a little more.



There you go. Happy spring, y'all!

The fashion report: Kenya

Hi everyone! The fall 2011 collections have been showing in New York this past week, and I know, like me, you've been pouring over the photos to see what hot clothes and trends are hitting the runways. Or.. not...? Yeah, that's probably just me. I love fashion week. Being far away from it and just pouring over the photos on the NYTimes Fashion pages and imagining what I'd buy if I had a lot of money and fabulous places to wear said clothes.

I owe my love for fashion week to watching eight seasons of Project Runway. And everything I know about couture, I learned from Rachel Zoe and her reality show, my greatest guilty pleasure. So when I stumbled upon this dress from the Thakoon collection last week, it was like (as Rachel would say), "I die."



Gee, besides being cute, that fabric looks super familiar. According to the New York Times, Thakoon Panichgul called this plaid “Masai plaid.” As in the Masai of Kenya. Oh yeah.



Here is my Masai blanket (one of two) that I brought back from my trip to Kenya.



And here is the Thakoon show. Yep.



The Masai really do wear and use these blankets. They come in lots of different colors, but predominately plaids or stripes, and in shades of red, orange, blue and black. In the photo are our guides from the safari, Ratik and James, in theirs. You also find them in stacks at the tourist market for sale relatively inexpensively, so they're a popular souvenir. Or, you know, you can buy the Thakoon version for a touch more money. Anyone want to craft me a dress?

Dear readers,

Ahhh! Hay you guys, what's happening? It's amazing how summer flies by you, isn't it? Despite the heat and everlasting long days, it still seems to go much too fast for my taste.



Since we last chatted, I packed up and moved into a new apartment. Also packed up my office, moved for a two week spell, then moved back, but into a different office. So. That sucked. Like, that's a lot of packing, no? Naturally I haven't finished unpacking my house or my office cos it's like, who wants to deal with that, after all that packing?

Also have been traveling here and there. To Houston a couple times to see friends and family, and all the way to Los Angeles to see my friend Susan. W00t.



Next will be the other LA, Louisiana, to see family. Then hopefully I'll settle down for a bit. And maybe blog with a tad more regularity. Send me gifts and I will consider.

XO,
AT