This is what New York looks like

A Canteen? Really?

I was checking out the BBC World News front page and saw this advertisement:



My initial thought was you've got to be kidding me. But then I thought about it, and I could totally see some Williamsburg hipster rocking this shit. Ugg.

Well hello there, Sufjan

I've been a fan of Sufjan Stevens for quite some time, but I think I like him a little bit more now that I know what he looks like. =)

Photo Inspiration

Sometimes the best way to inspire yourself to write is to keep a hoard of images that are unique and intriguing. One of my favorite places to go is Apartment Therapy. Check this stuff out.

I would love to have high ceilings like this. And I would fill them with books just like this person. I love the wallpaper underneath the shelves.

Large windows that let in lots of light. A green background and lots of wood. An ideal place to write or get lost in a book.

Updates and Song of the Day: All We Ask, Grizzly Bear

It's been quite a while, and a lot of things have happened.

Nataliya, my sister-in-law, has been living with us since mid-June. We're a happy trio living in our small West L.A. apartment.

We visited my parents in Newport.









We visited my parents in Covina.

We went to the Getty.

We celebrated the Fourth of July.

We went to Vegas.

Lots more fun experiences to come.

It's been hard, cramped up in our small apartment to get anything productive done. But I have managed to read Outlander and Nation, and re-read Jane Eyre, the Thirteenth Tale, Catcher in the Rye and the Hunger Games. I even got 17 pages of writing done last night. It's been a great summer so far, I'm hoping to make it to San Diego, San Francisco and Yosemite before Nataliya leaves.

Until my next update I will leave you with a nice little live version one of my favorite songs of the moment. All We Ask by Grizzly Bear.

Robert Pattinson's Six Pack Abs

Okay, so I totally titled this post with SEO in mind (naughty laugh). Say what you will but I get traffic from twilight searches so there you go.

Anyways, I was perusing some twilight blogs and stumbled across this photo of RPatz filming in Italy.

My friend Liana thinks his abs are painted on, but I'm not sure.



I don't know why, but I've developed a bit of a love/hate relationship with all things Twilight. Maybe it's because the writing isn't that great, or maybe it's because KStew is a total stoner brat--but either way a little piece of me dies every time I see something in the blogs about Twilight. I think it's because I was so invested in the books for such a long time--the absolute fantastical world of it all. Whatever it may be, It's fun to watch the images of the movie coming out during filming, and I can't wait to see what an amazingly cheestastic catastrophe New Moon is going to be when it's finished.

By the way, I would go CRAZY if I had people yelling at me like this:



Poor Rpatz. If I were him I would wear ear plugs, or blast music or something. Jeebus.

I am too much with the world

Every wednesday some people from my office try to get away from the big city and explore the mountains that surround Los Angeles. Yesterday we went to Santa Ynez Canyon in the Topanga Canyon State Park.

The trail was extremely overgrown and looked as if it had been pretty much abandoned in recent years. The only markings of other humans on the trail was the occasional footprint and unfortunately some graffiti.

Overall it was gorgeous--like something out of a movie. The canyons were lush and green, it was like we were in a remote jungle. The silence was beautiful. Here are a few pictures.

The mountain held the town as in a shadow.
I saw so much before I slept there once:
I noticed that I missed stars in the west,
Where its black body cut into the sky.
Near me it seemed: I felt it like a wall
Behind which I was sheltered from a wind.
And yet between the town and it I found,
When I walked forth at dawn to see new things,
Were fields, a river, and beyond, more fields.
The river at the time was fallen away,
And made a widespread brawl on cobble-stones;
But the signs showed what it had done in spring;
Good grass-land gullied out, and in the grass
Ridges of sand, and driftwood stripped of bark.
I crossed the river and swung round the mountain.

--The Mountain, Robert Frost

We have returned to claim our share of the civilized world

We had our housewarming party on Saturday and it was a blast. Here are a few photos from the event.


Joanish, Me and Britts


Joan and her men: Tommy, Juergen and Boyan


The girls camped out on the couch: Britta, Alissa, Carol and Tash


Ailissa giving good face


Jon crashed early. Me and Janea


Boyan doing a Bulgarian jig.


Lovely ladies: Joan, Janea and Ivelina


Duca, me and Tommy on the Balcony


This is how I found Joan the next morning, as Boyan says, "Inverted Joan, always trying to find another perspective."