fire mountains

the last day of the year! hurrah for making it through the entire year, and hurrah to a new year ahead!

the furry coat

the knight

i never dreamt of being a bride or a princess when i was a little kid. i dreamt of becoming a knight and going on big adventures and rescuing brides and princesses.

soldier

postcard

why use english when some out dated greek will make us all sound smarter?

i have no idea why this strikes me as so amusing. it just does.

i don't care one bit about the birth of jeebus, but i sure do like sparkly lights, prezzies, and good food. happy holidays!

the trials of being witty

possessing a name that is also an adjective leads to all sorts of interesting (see: slightly awful) encounters with other people. there are variations, but they usually fall into one of two groups:

both of these scenarios actually happened to me. there are so so so many more. and all of them are pretty cringe-worthy.

krumkake

norwegian deliciousness.

is there a diaspora for that?

...because the long version is much too long: i grew up in st. peter but i've lived in minneapolis for the past 10 years. only now i go to school in madison, at the university of wisconsin (i do not, however, consider madison a home)and that's usually all anyone cares about at conferences. unless they really mean to ask what your theoretical groundwork is.



*translation: i study architecture and believe that its function is more complicated than most people believe it to be. i also believe that there's more to the story than whether it is good or bad (functionally, politically, or aesthetically) and that the way we talk about buildings and landscapes is as important as their physical manifestations.

the christmas miracle mitten

my friend krista picked me up the other night and the two of us went shopping and then to another friend's house. at some point, krista realized she had lost her mitten but we couldn't find it. the next day i got a text message from her that said, "i think the mitten fell out of the car when i picked you up!" at that point i looked out the window, down onto the street where she had pulled over... and there was the mitten! just lying there in the snow!

so the mitten has been rescued from the street and will be reunited with its mitteny mate.

heartwarming, eh?

beware the liberal elite

from the window

it's much warmer in here than it is out there.

the importance of squiggle

shaman

just don't get a phd in tight-rope walking...

jungle-esque

the world is falling apart

stress = dreams where the world disintegrates.

meeting established scholars

the underground river

dreams about underground rivers are much better than dreams about lopping off toes or having a burnt arm. even if i did plummet from a great height to get to this river...