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Huh? What a weird movie about nothing… I guess that was the point.

The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie - Criterion Collection

76 to go.

This week I reread Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss (notice the proper usage of italics for the book title). I read it several years ago, and thought it was hilarious. Last month I found it on a sale table at Borders for a couple of dollars. Anyway, I decided to read it again. This copy even included a Punctuation Repair Kit, (to fix punctuation errors that you happen upon). If you ever want to know the proper usage for apostrophes, commas, colons, semicolons, or any other punctuation mark, you should definitely read this book.

The List: 52 Book | 52 Weeks

At the farmer’s market, I learned that dahlias appreciate a good glass of lemonade. If you put sugar and lemon juice in their water, they last way longer. So after 3 -4 days, you just have to cut the stems again and replace the “lemonade.” It’s excellent! I love tips like that.

Who first discovered all of these flower tips? Like the penny/tulip one… Did someone accidentally drop a penny in the bottom of a vase and then realize that it made the tulip stems stand up straight? Or did a scientist/botanist know that copper reacted with the flower? I guess I could Google it. Nah… I really just wanted to take pictures of all the flowers I bought for $5 at the farmer’s market. 16 flowers for $5… awesome!

I did pretty good at Week 2 the first time around, so since this week is more of an introduction to the “Outbox” and finding your style, I’ll be focusing on refining my style that I wrote down previously and cleaning/outboxing the kitchen.

Week 2 - Clearing the path
Clean kitchen from top to bottom
Outbox
Buy fresh flowers
Determine your style
Find a new recipe & cook at home
Choose the date of your housewarming

*Update*
I think I really identified my style last time. At first, I thought the “list your favorites” exercise was a little silly. Really, what do my favorite actors and music, where I was raised, and who my role model is, have to do with my decorating style? However, once you have them all listed out, it’s kind of neat to see the underlying theme. So, to re-cap, I shall call my style “eclectic organic modern,” because just organic modern doesn’t quite fit me. :)

This is my second attempt at Apartment Therapy. This time I’m not skipping around (or going on vacation), so since I’ve already read the book, it will be more of an Apartment Therapy “refresher.” I’ll just be going through the weekly chapter and listing what I need to do for each week.

Week 1 - Creating your own vision
Repairs: living room blinds
Vacuum
Move bike to balcony
Sit on the balcony and observe the space
Buy fresh flowers (a habit now!)
Earth-friendly cleaning products (Method qualifies)

I finally went over to Ken’s Artisan Pizza. It did not disappoint! It was already packed when we arrived, and I was surprised at how small the space was. The roll-up side window and huge open air windows make the space really neat, well, that and the gigantic oven! :) The wait ended up not being that long because you can sit at 2 tables in the back, order drinks and look at the menu, while you wait for a real table. I ended up getting the Pizza Margherita, but after watching all the salads around me I wished I’d ordered a salad too. Really great pizza, I loved the super thin crust. Yum! I’ll definitely be back.

Ken’s Artisan Pizza 304 SE 28th Ave, Portland, OR 97209 503-517-9951

The List: Willamette Week Cheap Eats List 2007

This week I finished Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan (the book, not the actual therapy). I started this book towards the beginning of the year, (and did Week 1 - 4), but I fell off the bandwagon. So I just re-read the book (I know, I know, it’s a no-no to read all at once), but I’m starting from Week 1 again. It won’t require much work this time, as I’ve done most of the “Outbox” work already! :) So I guess this is a dual post of #56 52 Books in 52 Weeks and #72 Finish Apartment Therapy.

The List: 52 Book | 52 Weeks

Apartment Therapy website (I love their tagline: changing the world, one apartment at a time)

The Cheap Eats 2007 (Willamette Week) guide doesn’t have a map, and I really wanted to see them all on the same map. So I decided to try out the Google Maps API, but first I needed to convert all the addresses into latitude and longitude coordinates. I ended up finding this website, BatchGeoCode.com, that you can paste in addresses and it will export the lat/long data. And it even has an optional map that is pretty cool!

I read another short book this week, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin. Only 80+ pages, so it’s a very quick read. I liked that it’s a reminder of sorts to consciously focus on decisions and your “route” in life, but it stressed too much on being #1 or nothing. Through all my MBA classes I’ve become very conscious of learning to focus on what you’re good at, improving your strengths, and ignoring your weak areas since you’re not going to become great. So this book was just kind of a repetition of the “grow or divest” business strategy for your personal life, career etc. I wouldn’t buy it (as in purchase), but it was an OK reminder to quit monotony and not start things with zero future (that you’ll end up quitting).

The List: 52 Book | 52 Weeks

The Sting was really fun. No wonder it was one of the Top 100! A young Robert Redford makes a great con man. What made me laugh during this movie was how easy it was to con people before technology, Internet, cell phones etc. The availability of open/free information just evens the playing field of knowledge. (Reminds me of the real estate agent chapter of Freakonomics). Anyway, this movie was definitely fun to watch. Oh, side note that I’m very curious about: What year did the “N word” move from general description to taboo? They used it at least twice in this film, it was very odd. It’s amazing how films essentially take a snap-shot of culture/attitudes of how it was at a specific time - without even specifically trying to.