The Nothing

It's about one moment
That moment you think you know where you stand
And in that one moment
The things that you're sure of slip from your hand
And you've got one second
To try to be clear, to try to stand tall
But nothing's the same
And the wind starts to blow
And oh you're suddenly a stranger
In some completely different land
And you thought you knew
But you didn't have a clue
That the surface sometimes cracks
To reveal the tracks
To a new world

-{Jason Robert Brown, Songs for A New World}

It takes one phone call, one facebook post, to break you. To rock you to the core. One minute you are smiling, annoyed because probably that's a telemarketer calling, the next your mom is on a plane to salt lake city.

You are upset. But you make a pizza you are proud of and drink some red wine even if maybe you got a little cork in the bottle and things are stable right now so it's all going to be ok.

Then the next morning, a note on facebook, and bam. Something completely different, and awful, all over again. Information is disseminated so quickly, and sometimes so impersonally these days. You can't control the way people learn things. Pages on the internet remain as shrines to the lost, immortalizing them after they are gone.

Did you ever watch The NeverEnding Story when you were little? It was one of my favorites. And I was always terrified of the Nothing.

But Bastian and Atreyu had wonderful and fuzzy friends.

And so do I.

And a brilliant new camera to capture them with. And some great not quite so fuzzy friends and family offering their support too.

And when the fear of The Nothing becomes paralyzingly close... like it is in danger of swallowing me up any second now, I try to remember what happeat the end of the story.

Bastian: Why is it so dark?
The Childlike Empress: In the beginning it is always dark.
Bastian: What is that?
The Childlike Empress: One grain of sand. It is all that remains of my vast empire.
Bastian: Fantasia has totally disappeared?
The Childlike Empress: Yes.
Bastian: Then everything has been in vain.
The Childlike Empress: No, it hasn't. Fantasia can arise in you. In your dreams and wishes Bastian.
Bastian: How?
The Childlike Empress: Open your hand. What will you wish for?
Bastian: I don't know.
The Childlike Empress: Then there will be no Fantasia anymore.
Bastian: How many wishes do I get?
The Childlike Empress: As many as you want. And the more wishes you make, the more magnificent Fantasia will become.
Bastian: Really?
The Childlike Empress: Try it.

-{The NeverEnding Story}

I try to remember that the Nothing doesn't have to mean the end. It can also mean the beginning.

Regards,
Freddie

{Pizza and Kitten picture taken by me on my new Digital SLR}

This break I mostly photographed baked goods

So, this break, one of the things I did when I wasn't being busy or lazy was bake! (No no... not that kind of bake ;P) I made lots and lots of cookies. You already saw my snickerdoodles (a very successful effort if I do say so myself) and to bring to my friends house for Christmas Eve, and to give to others as gifts, I decided to make cookies as well.

I saw this recipe for peppermint cookie bark floating around quite a few blogs and I thought it looked really pretty, yummy, and festive (the verdict: freakin' delicious!). To continue with the festive feel, I decide to make gingerbread cookies as well. Now, I knew the recipe I was following for the gingerbread made a lot of cookies, but I didn't realize quite how many. It was quite an endeavor, especially since they were supposed to be baked one sheet at a time in the top 3rd of the oven. Let's just say it's a good thing no one else was home because the kitchen was a cookie baking mess and there were cookies cooling all over the dining room, haha. Then the next day, there was the decorating ;) Anyway, it was a lot of work, but a lot of fun and they were a huge hit with all their recipients. The dreidels were especially popular at the Christmas party, haha.

The "bark" didn't photograph all that well but it tasted amazing!


Gingerbread everywhere:


And some of my favorite iced masterpieces:


I delivered cookies to some neighbors after seeing God of Carnage.

{h&m top and red tights, american apparel skirt, rodarte for target bow belt,
mom's lace tights and tuxedo jacket she made a long long time ago, ? shoes}

And brought the rest to the Christmas Eve party, where I debuted more of my Rodarte for Target purchases. (My sparkly new years dress which I failed to capture on camera--boo--was also from Tar-jay.)

{Rodarte for Target dress and cardigan, mom's little black booties}

Oh, and notice the haircut? This was the night of so it was still nice and blow-dried from the salon. Not a super drastic change but definitely needed, and I believe it has increased the number of people who tell me I look like Zooey Deschanel, haha.

And my most recent baked endeavor? Little coffee cake cupcakes. I made them two days ago and there is only one left. A good sign? I think so.

These are also a "lightened" version- a little reprieve from all that heavy holiday food. I don't actually think the topping came out that great but I'm a fan of the cake base :)

Anyway, I'm not sure when or what I'll be blogging next. The next few days are going to be spent laboriously going through my closet and trying to fit as much closing as possible into a mere two suitcases and a carry-on. Then I'm off to London on Thursday but I hope to be able to post once I've settled in. I may also be doing some blogging about my overseas theater experiences for my school's theater department over at Schwartz Scene, but I hope that even with my limited time and internet (the bandwith in our apartments is limited-boo-hoo!) I'll have a chance to keep up with posting here (at least as much as I do during the normal school semester) as well. I don't know how much blog reading I'll be able to do, but knowing me I'll be doing some because I'm always looking for some reason to procrastinate :P

Until Soon.

Regards,
Freddie

Happy Blog Birthday to Me

So, it's my one year blog-a-versary... now, how on earth did that happen? Of course, I have no outfit pictures because I've been thoroughly lazy for a lot of this vacation so far and have been lounging in PJs, gym clothes and perhaps a pair of jeans or two. And days where I do really get dressed it's too cold or too dark for nice photo taking. Ah well.

This is also my 80th post. Not a terribly large or celebratory number, but still a nice round one and I figure that means I've averaged 6 2/3 posts a month, and considering I've often aspired to at least one post a week, I say - not bad!

Anyway, for lack of something else to post, how about a little outfit recap of the past year?


{December 2008, January 2009}


{February, March}


{April, May}


{June}


{July}


{August, September}


{October}


{November}

And December 2009... coming soon! ;)

Also... how about some of my favorite purchases from the past year?
(In no particular order)


{Hunter Boots, Steve Madden Flats, Floral Docs}


{Blue skirt, little grey bag, brown boots}


{trench coat, straw boater, feather headband, 50s dress, dooney & burke bag}


{floral romper, bandanna print dress}

And of course a bunch more. It was a big year of shopping for me but I've been on a break (well, to the best of my ability--I did a little shopping in October over fall break but not too much!) since August. I think I may spend some time clearing old stuff from my closet today... to make room for the purchases of the coming year ;) While I'm still trying to save money, the holidays have brought in a couple of cash-gifts and we all know I'm going to be doing some shopping in London, it simply cannot be avoided. haha.

Anyway, in closing- here's some of the delicious food my friends and I have made this year ;)


{chocolate covered strawberries (and cherries), southwestern turkey burgers and sweet potato fries}


{vanilla-strawberry-zucchini cake with vanilla pudding frosting, caramelized onion and artichoke heart pizza}


{4th of July brunch, acorn squash stuffed with quinoa with sautéed apples and almonds}


{slow cooked provençale chicken, snickerdoodles}

Here's to another fabulous year of fashion, food, theatre and travel!

Regards,
Freddie

Don't Call Your Wife "Baby"

So, yesterday (ok, two days ago if you want to get technical since it's after midnight) I went to dinner and the theater with my parents, the perfect excuse to wear my new 1950s dress from the vintage show ;) We saw David Mamet's Oleanna. It was good, though more of a credit to the writing than the actors I think. Mamet's language is incredibly tough (so many short phrases and interruptions) and I could feel Stiles and Pullman struggling with it in the first scene. However, as the play progressed, they picked up the pace and I was fairly impressed with both of their performances, especially by Stiles because I think I expected her not to be very good and she did a nice job. What makes the play so interesting (the whole thing takes place in the Professor's office and only between these two characters) is the intricate power relationship depicted and how it is so carefully manipulated by Stiles' character Carol. It's amazing how a mere accusation can destroy a career. We actually had a talk back with Benjamin Brafman, a big shot lawyer, after the show (run by the very funny Lionel) which was really interesting. Stephanie March was slated to be at the talk back too and wasn't which was kind of a bummer.

Anyway, you don't really care about all that, do you? ;)

You care about this:



{vintage dress, mom's belt, vintage dooney and burke bag, mom's tights (which didn't stay up very well... haha), shoes purchased by mom at housing works for $6}

And my new glasses from Fabulous Fanny's circa the 1960s, and made in France!

Also should have taken a heel close up for you. I rarely wear heels and in theory I would love to wear them more, but in practice, well, probably not so much. These are a little big (my mom's feet are a tad bigger than mine) but were just so perfect with this outfit ;)

Anyway, these pictures were taken an hour or two before it suddenly became winter in NYC. Then today, boy was the weather nasty! I thought I left Ithaca for the week. haha. Though apparently, we had the first snowfall in Ithaca today and I missed it! ... Which I kind of don't mind considering it's October. I'll catch the next one ;P

However, the weather didn't prevent me from getting the pinkberry I planned on indulging in today. So good. And they have a new policy- instead of separate prices per number of toppings (and the max is 3) you pay one price for the size and flavor of yogurt and can get as many as will fit in the cup! I got four toppings :D

I also had a mini reunion with a bunch of the Public Theater crew from the summer up at Barnard this evening to see Tartuffe (yep I not only brought the weather back from college for my break, I also saw college theater, haha). One of the twinterns was stage managing and the other had designed the set. It was great to see everyone and the production was a fun spin on the classic, but the set was definitely the highlight of the show-- it was awesome!

Regards,
Freddie

p.s. If you ever needed more food porn in your life (and I mean, who doesn't) go to this site. It's amazing. It even generally links to recipes (which are generally on foodie blogs, aka love) so if you're really ambitious you can make the food yourself! ;)


{tastespotting.com}

p.p.s. What on earth is going on with facebook?? Did somebody just hack it?? :o