Watching playoff basketball. Enjoying Anderson Varejao. Guess I'll root for the Cavs?

Another reason why I love Austin, Texas: the Hotel San Jose showcased by More Ways to Waste Time. I realized that along with Atlanta as my other favorite city and living in Asheville, I like cities that start with an A.

It doesn't start with an A, but I love retro and beachy. Case in point: I want to get some old bottle and repurpose them.

(via Design Crush)

I'm giving Design Crush a spot in "dailies" on the sidebar. ->
It it just that amazing.

I also bought a new dress today that I will wear Monday to the banquet. My life has been so much emptier without school and tutoring... :(

I want some strawberries right now and seedless green grapes. Fresh fruit must mean it's summertime... and I love sweet potato fries all year round.

Brazil is on my mind in the form of Anderson Varejao, the Brazilian power forward on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yes, I'm watching playoff basketball, the only really worthwhile time of the year to watch except for All-Star weekend, which by the way is the first I've missed in years! :(

• Anderson built a home for St. Jude's.
• Weird picture, but it's cute anyways
  
  
• Seriously though, I knew Ray Allen tried to fight someone, but was it really Varejao? Funny... and I totally agree with Dime Magazine's comment - I love Ray Allen too.
  
• Anderson Varejao night in Cleveland
  
• Lastly, I stumbled upon a video of another foreigner, Boris Diaw of France. What a hottie.
  
  

Ready for the sun

Candle Lanterns $12.95

I absolutely love these candles, the show "Dexter," Long Beach/Austin/Atlanta, and clearly some beachy clothing. Can you tell I'm ready for a sunny summer? :)

Oh and here is a nice Austin house if you can afford $350,000

Sold homes from the Marye Company

Mountainclimb

Fairfield


Yorkshire

MA in Arch History

Satisfying the architectural historian in me... Here's my fave. Very ideal, very East Coast.

More here.

Speaking of architectural history, I'm cataloging the limited number of programs available. Everyone else is going to grad school. I want to go too. I was hoping to go after I teach for awhile. With our economy, shouldn't I just go to school for the time being? I'll take the GREs this fall (and study all summer) and apply, maybe defer admission for a year or something. I don't want to submit myself into any PhD programs quite yet though. I like to keep my options open.

• Georgia Tech - M.S. History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture
• U Oregon - M.S. Historic Preservation
• UT Austin - M.A. Architectural History
• UVA - M.A. Architectural History
• Berkeley - M.S. History of Architecture and Urbanism
  

Lock the door.

After last night, I'm pretty sure I need out of here soon. It's not that I don't like it here but there are many places I still need to visit and to enjoy including Atlanta and Austin. Of course I need to visit Austin first, but it seems like a nice place to live. I can't wait for the summer. I'm going to visit Andizzle this summer in NYC and so I'm going to go everywhere I can with the train: Boston, Philly, etc. As I told Andrew, "Everything is so convenient with the train!" Haha.

Friday I went to do some shopping with Liz. We saw Joe and then Jennie so we went with her to her place for beers on her porch. :) Then Stephen and Jess joined us. The ladies walked downtown for dinner at Doc Chey's. Mmmm. It was a lot of food and I have trouble eating leftovers with any veggies because they get soggy. :( Anyways, we went down to Dirty Jack's/Greenman to meet up with my drinking buddy. It was getting late, but thankfull they took us back so we wouldn't have to walk. Jess, Liz, and I went home, speed cleaned (amazingly), and had them come over after. We just watched "Dead Like Me," the movie, which was a litle disappointing and "Role Models." However, we all definitely fell asleep. In the morning, we sat on the porch eating our leftovers... Basically, the weather is gorgeous as of late.

Saturday runs into today at this point. Liz, Yance, and I sat in my room for awhile even though it's the dirtiest room in the house to decide where to go. We might have gone to Spartanburg/Greenville or Haywood Rd/West Asheville, but we picked up Bonnie and Sarah and ate at Jack in the Box. It was the first time for Bonnie! I had these taco nachos that were just okay. Very much like the tacos.

After dropping Bonnie off, we went back to the house and were planning on baking cookies and watching Dexter. The latter happened but we didn't have butter. People came over slowly: CeCe, Kris, Conor and Adam, and Stephen and his friend Joel (who looks like Ryan Lochte and I totally kept playing off that). Liz left though. :( Lame right? She didn't get to help me and Sarah bake cookies once Conor brought us strawberry daquiri mix and butter. :)

Black and white cookies (recipe via Joy the Baker)

When Conor and Adam came back at 3am, we all got a bit trashed until I fell asleep around 5:30-6am. :/ Yikes. I woke up for lunch with Stephen and Joel at Five Guys. Not shabby but not better than In N Out. Maybe because I was hungover and still am. I'm feeling a little better though. Then I followed them to the shooting range. I know very little but I really had a good time learning. :) I shot him in the face and crouch and Kris shot him in the stomach.

Well, all in all, yesterday and today especially made me realize I made the right choice last night and I'm ready to learn and do new things and go to new places.

I love this picture that Kyle developed for me. He's a photography minor and I think he did a fantastic job. :)

I'm going to finish watching "Dexter" and maybe cook some food. It's tough for me to get started on work though despite the fact I have so much! :/

Bananas!

The Granger House from Modern Austin

Maybe I'll got to UT Austin for architectural history. :)

Snow day tomorrow! No observations, no tutoring, no work! Instead, I'll be STUDYING all day... I mean, only if I wake up early. Instead of studying tonight though, Sarah had Bananagrams and thus, I was engrossed in the game. I totally kicked butt with awesome words. I want a set and some other old school games.

Apparently it really is snowing terribly and I wanted tacos! :( Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I'm going to wake up, study, and read for Brit history. Then I will be pretty much done for the week. My soc test seems very rough. :/ Also, going out to 12 Bones and Wedge Brewing apparently with my drinking buddy. Yay! I've never been to the River Arts District.

Also, got some bad news just now. Oh well. Not like it was going. I'll keep on truckin' with my life plans (see below) and see what happens.

This looks delish - bacon-stuffed waffles!

Live, eat, be pretty

Austin, Texas, you have some good prices on amazing homes! Check this one out.

I added This Young House to my dailies because wow, is it great! I love the adorable couple who transformed their home and also show pictures from their wedding. Let's just say I want to be like them one day. :)

Amazing living room

Great bedspread

I fell asleep again and I'm definitely hungry. My aunt bought fried noodles, but I don't want anything fried. I went to Trader Joe's for a spa salad for lunch, spicy spinach pizza, and lobster ravioli. Yummy meal tonight! Oh, I also can't wait to get home to start baking! Pumpkin baked goods are my specialty so I'm up for healthy pumpkin muffins. I said no candy this month, but I need some baked goods!

Other things to dos: go to the bank, deposit $, and ask for a check register; buy Bare Escentuals that Van swears by. I need a makeup regime right? Or am I too lazy? The natural look has been okay so far, but I think a boost of confidence is nice.

K, straighten hair, Bare Escentuals, eyeliner, eyeshadow, and mascara. I think that's enough. I just need to buy that Getting Started kit.

Tomorrow I'll visit Van for dinner if all plays out well with everyone else. For now, I'm relaxing and recovering with TV (new "Suite Life of Zach and Cody" and some HGTV maybe) and food.