Sweet Victory

My roommate has a friend staying with us a few days.

She said to me, "You have such a beautiful apartment! The decorations are so happy!"

My first attempt at beautifying a space has been a success.

It feels good.

Blast from the Past

My saintly sister Heather has taken the project of scanning all the Bluemlein family photos. Bless her! I wanted to share with you some of the highlights:

Me and some cousins playing in the mud


These two are legendary within the family. The first for absolute adorableness, the second for some random reason I couldn't tell you.

Me as a baby

My first Halloween (or possibly just another day with the dress up clothes)

Grandma visiting shortly after my birth

There were others that I wanted to share, but for some reason, my computer is not recognizing their existence. Maybe later.

Thank you Heather for your diligent work! And also, a shout-out to my seester Ann for starting the project.

Going ons

How is it that even in nature, everything cool happens in the Village first? The daffodils are up everywhere, but I have only seen blooming trees in the West Village. They are gorgeous.

I've been going to the West Village a lot lately (3 of the last 3 weekdays) because my new favorite thing is there: Yogurt-land I love it so much.

Another thing I am loving these days is Ticket to Ride. It turns out it's not just a Carpentar's song, but also a very fun, highly addictive board game. I've played 4 of the last 8 days. Here's a picture of my first ever victory. (I'm yellow which you can't see very clearly, but trust me. I won.)

In other news, Sunday I was at a friend's house for an Easter morning breakfast/singing party and on our way out, I saw this note from her super posted in the hallway.

Today I paid my taxes. Unlike last year, I only owe $7. Yipee! And I'm actually getting a tad back from the state! I sent my $7 check in a pretty card with a bright blue envelope. I hope that gives them some cheer at the IRS office. I bet it's not a fun time to work there. Everyone hates taxes, but really it's just the price we pay for living in a civilized world.

I went to Paris

I bet you thought I forgot. But no, two months later I will now blog report about my vacation to Paris. (I'll report on London later.)

I went to Paris.

I did all the things you would expect one to do in Paris.

Saw the Eiffel Tower

And Notre Dame (this is the back view, which I think is prettier) (the inside of Notre Dame was my favorite thing in the city)

And the Paris Opera House


And the Arc d'Triomphe

And all sorts of wonderful bridges over the Seine

And I ate lots of cheese and baguettes

I even got to go see Vinceness--the very very old fort/castle/suburb that the little city in Indiana where I grew up was named after




It was also a time of very "classy" eating. While we mostly ate frozen dinners, we did enjoy a spurge eating on the famous Champ-Elysee (at a McDonalds), another day I had a Parisian hot dog. (I KNOW it's a dumb thing they made up for the tourists, but it was yummy! I LOVE hot dogs!!!)

It was a very lovely trip, made all the better by being with a good friend, who doubled as possibly the world's best tour guide. I don't think I could have asked for a better trip.

"We're neither pure nor wise nor good ...

"...We'll do the best we know. We'll build our house and chop our wood and make our garden grow."

This profound truth from high school lit, re-manifested by Bernstein's take on Voltaire's brilliant truth has been on my mind today.



Now, compare that with the profound truth of Thoreau: "Go confidentially in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imaged."

Seemingly contradictory ideas, but I think that they actually fit together in a very very rich and meaningful way. Combine those two and I think you've pretty much got it figured out.

I've included the song around which these thoughts are based for your listening enjoyment. Bernstein sure knows how to throw down a tune.