Moshi Moshi

I just got back from my less than 12 hour stay in Chapel Hill with my lady friends Jean and Elisabeth (from camp).  It was such a blast!  I couldn't have asked for better company.  Here was how our time was spent:

1) When they first came to pick me up from Elon, they called my phone as I was in the middle of cleaning the fish tank.  I left the apartment immediately because I was so excited and forgot to turn off the sink (the sink sprayer was filling up a giant bowl with which I was using to refill the fish tank).  When we got back inside, the entire kitchen floor was flooded with water.  :(  After I cleaned it up, we frantically left Elon to get to Moshi Moshi for Jean's hair cut.  We were only a few minutes late.

2) After the cut, Elisabeth and I spent some time having to convince Jean that it was, indeed, a SUPER cute upgrade before entering into Med Deli for dinner.

3) Then we went to a vintage/thrift shop.  Elisabeth and I got matching sweatband sets while Jean settled for suspenders.

4) The rest of the evening was spent at Elisabeth's stylish, high-ceilinged dorm room watching the movie Boys Don't Cry as we made each other beautiful friendship bracelets.  Just as you can't buy true friendship, you can't find these one-of-a-kind hand-made friendship bracelets in the store.  They're staying on our wrists until they fall off or we die (which ever one comes first).

5) Saturday morning, after having a sleepless sleepover in the common parlor area, we brought our hot and tasty breakfasts from Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen to the upstairs lounge of Chill Bubble Tea.  Jean: Mocha, Elisabeth: Avocado, Monica: Taro

6) Oh, and did I forget to mention that we got cool, retro skip-its?  Well...

Vintage BLUE

That's the color of my new, 48 key accordion. It was the cheapest accordion that I could find on ebay, and I bought it the whimmiest of whims, of course. It's just got a couple of uneven keys, but I think you'll agree that it looks pretty pretty.  Now all I have to do is learn to how to play the darned thing of beauty.  

I snagged it from the other bidder just as Amanda, Nichole and her little brother, Bobby, came into the apartment to visit.  I told them that it'd probably be kind of like playing the piano (which I got down).  But, they didn't agree and thought that it'd probably be more like playing a plunger or a folding drying rack.  I think that an accordion has a little place for all three of those "instruments" in its heart.

The rest of the night was full of bliss as we played multiple rounds of Bananagrams and electronic Catchphrase for hours!

And, even after being woken up by the fire alarm for no apparent reason and having to sit outside in my luckily modest pajamas at 5:40 in the morning, I am very, very excited for today to see Elisabeth and Jean (my best friends from camp).  They are coming from Chapel Hill to hang out at Elon for a couple of hours until Jean has to get her hair cut at a Japanese place called Moshi Moshi.  We are also planning on watching movies (sleep over!) and reeking havoc on unsuspecting university monuments and parks as usual.

Love,

Monica

*Actually, I just checked my email and there was a reason for the 5:40 fire alarm.  Look at the note below that was sent to me by my HA:

For those of you around who experienced the 5:30am fire alarm I'm really sorry about that.  It took me by surprise the same it did you.  According to higher authorities there was no sign of a fire in the room where the alarm was sounded.  The only aspect which seemed to be abnormal was excessive perfume.  Apparently the sensors are very sensitive and can react to even perfume (who knew).  Anyway, I just wanted to let y'all know what went on.  Just be careful and aware for the future.

Excessive perfume?  That just made my day.

Biodegradable question mark

Before I begin, I'd like you all to reconsider letting me handle your children.   Because, as you can see in the photo above, I take more of a hands-off approach in my so-called handling.  In this particular case, I decided to let little Carson fall straight into a face-plant while I quietly watched.  I'm just glad there is photographic evidence of this event.

And, yes, to answer your question, those are Thomas the Tank Engine light-up sneakers available for kids, but not for adults.  I checked.

Anyway, to get at what I meant to blog about here:  I bought biodegradable sandals a few days ago and they arrived at my home in MD, just in time for when I got in late last night.  I always worry about buying things online because I never know if it's going to be as good in person as it looks online (but this worry has yet to stop me from buying inordinate loads of unnecessary things).  I am pleased to say, though, that the sandals are very pleasing.  I think they look better against my tanned feet and painted toenails than they did on the pasty mannequin's feet that were online.  Too, they are super light weight and I feel like I'm walking around barefoot (minus the obvious set-backs of actually walking around barefoot)!  And as an added bonus they make me feel hip with an urge to rip pretty flowers out of the ground and put them in my hair.

Today I took them out of their green shoebox and into the real world for a test run.  I went to the movies (I saw District 9* and want to go back immediately).  When it ended, I left the theater in a mad hurry because I was going to be late for a doctor's appointment (follow-up for the wisdom teefers).  So, on my jog through the parking lot to my car, I stepped in some gum.  At the time, it didn't really matter.  It was nothing but annoying because of how my left foot stuck slightly to the sidewalk and picked up things like newly cut grass and toilet paper.  

When I got home, though, I tried to clean it off.  Again, it was not for aesthetics but more for practicality because I didn't want this piece of gum picking up anything else along my journeys (sadly, though, this doesn't prevent me from picking up even more gum).  Whilst I was scrubbing it off with some kind of wet-wipe my mom gave me, I began to wonder exactly how biodegradable my sandal was.  Was the moisture in my wet-wipe going to be enough to assist some kind of microorganism breakdown?  When I consulted the wisdom of the inter-webs I found no definite answer to my definitely silly question.  And, while there is much debate about things termed biodegradable and their degree of biodegradability, the European Union (you may have heard of them) qualifies something as biodegradable if it can break down into carbon dioxide, water and other organic matter...within six months.  Yikes.  I can only hope that the EU doesn't technically call my sandals biodegradable.

To going green,

Monica

*You should go see the movie.  Need some encouragement?  Check out Alexa's praise for District 9 here.

Procrastination - drapery

I got this Drawing II assignment last Tuesday and have been avoiding it ever since.  This includes today, the day before its due date.  During these past seven days I simply have not been inspired to draw clothing (who ever has been?).  I'm okay with, and maybe even enjoy, drawing clothing folds and ruffles when they are being worn by people.  I don't, however, get a kick out of drawing heaps of blankets or curtains or dresses pinned up on walls.  Because of all this, even though I had set aside a good four or five hour chunk for the project this afternoon/evening, when Stephanie called asking if I wanted to get Japanese I quickly said "hai!" and offered to drive. 

Little known fact: I don't actually like Japanese food.

After about an hour or two picking at Miso soup and a plate of rolls (seaweed wrapping tampura, apples and salmon) we decided to get tissues, makeup, toothpaste and floss from Target.  At checkout, DVDs were being advertised for $4.75 and I picked up Milo and Otis. When we got home we watched Milo and Otis and wondered how difficult it must have been for the makers to make the movie.  Did they film these animals endlessly until their movements coincided with the narrative?

Anyway, this went on until about 11:00 pm, at which point I panicked and began my homework.  This is the result, which I am happy about given the amount of time I did it in (I just hope my professor won't be able to tell that it was a last minute thing.  I mean, it's not great, but it's not terrible either):

This is a dress, that I ordered from the delias catalogue online, pinned to our living room wall.

That's it for now.  I think I'm starting to feel the effects of that raw salmon...