on formatting

so I was just compiling a bibliography...

so noisy at the whofo

I made the mistake of going to Whole Foods on this, the day before the day before Thanksgiving. Courtesy is no longer even a half hearted pretense. So many women (it does seem that women still disproportionately do the grocery shopping, doesn't it?) with baby carriages, carts, purses -- blocking the bulk foods section, comparing prices (altho. not as much of that here in Palo Alto), quieting children... and someone had the brilliant idea of putting out HOT apple cider with flimsy little cups. Brilliant way to burn your fingers.

Anyway, I escaped with my shampoo and mandarin oranges and easy lunch foods. And a vanilla bean (five dollars my friends: for some reason, they carry ONLY organic vanilla beans, and you get ONE per superfluous packaging). And star anise. So that I can make *this* for Thanksgiving at Jodie and Dan's:



In case that doesn't work out, I did buy some green beans...

so much cuter in french

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

if I have a baby and show her cartoons in french, what are the chances she'll become fluent? and entertain me with crazy animal fables?

today in google books

My random subject category is "Alcoholics Fiction," featuring, Death Will Get You Sober.

the problem with google book recommendations when you're using it to read obscure 19th century self-help texts

Horse-shoeing as it is and as it Should be. By William Douglas. 1873.

upgrading

Why did I ever waste my time on the Palo Alto Baking Company's chocolate croissants, when Boulangerie Bay Bread exists, and when they sell their delicate, buttery croissants at the same farmers' market?

rainy season

Today was the first honest to God full day of rain. In the past couple of weeks, there was a morning or two when it was hard to tell whether the pavements were wet from sprinklers or from rain that conveniently fell overnight. But today was earnest rain. At first I tried to embrace it, got lunch on CA Ave. with umbrella in tow and flip flops (because I figured, skin dries faster than shoes), listened to Garbage on the way home. But it was less fun walking to the dept. in the rain. Although sitting in the terrace room, watching the rain, was a nice distraction from reading about self-improvement in the 19th century.

I'm ready for tomorrow's "mostly cloudy" with only a 20% chance of rain.

Also, last night I dressed up for the first time in years. Baby from Dirty Dancing. For MHC's sake. But my favorite costumes were definitely Emilie and Randy's violent-death zombies. After, we tried to visit the Stanford mausoleum, risking the ankle-threatening holes scattered throughout the brush, remembering that this is ALWAYS how horror movies start out (hey, let's go to the GRAVEYARD on HALLOWEEN), but turned back upon seeing campus security staked out at 1 am.