since we last met

i took these photographs…

find the rest on my flickr

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…and did these things

// signed a lease for a tiny studio apartment in the heart of shadyside, an awesome pittsburgh neighborhood

// listened to + bought a bunch of my favorite artists on vinyl, such as the swell season, coldplay, sarah vaughn, and joni mitchell

// bought ballet flats i won’t be able to wear for weeks

// wondered how i survived this long without watching penguins hockey in HD on a plasma TV

// became giddy with excitement when it was announced that billy collins will have a new book of poetry out in april, and sondre lerche will have a new album coming out in june

// watched this video over and over and over:

// survived some of the most unpredictable/insane/annoying winter weather we’ve had in ohio in quite a while

// lived on breakfast blend coffee, string cheese, + handfuls of almonds

// wrote three papers, took five quizzes + two exams, and made, like, a thousand and one notecards to study

// missed all of your blogs terribly :)

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what’s been going in with you, my dears?

xo Alison

p.s. thank you all so so much for the outpouring of support over what happened to gabby. it made the healing process manageable, and means the world to me to know i have such a strong supportive group of lovely blogging friends. hugs!

this weekend i

took these photos

check out the rest on my flickr

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finished this poem

Bridesmaids

Stuck in the hallways of our unplayed pianos
while you read Yeats in the bathroom
like some slow, backwards foreplay
we fast forward through until
it’s just cold linoleum in natural light
instead of brunch with phantom bridesmaids,
thinking of the undiscovered country
in the marrow of your expatriate bones,
the rug burn I mistook for a birth mark,
the scars you mistook for laugh lines,
until we are hypnotized
by our own dying diamonds,
coughing up our own dust.

— by me

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listened to this song (a lot)

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loved these things

// watching the pens beat the canes despite being without sid + geno

// the fact that ALL of my classes transferred from my current university to the university pittsburgh (yippie!)

// adding several lovely images to my tumblr

// spending my friday night in cleveland watching my brother play in the pit for a show at playhouse square

// snacking on baked chips + strong coffee + baby carrots

// lusting after this gorgeous onyx gold leaf necklace

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what were you up to this weekend?

xo Alison

p.s. there’s a new-ish post up on my personal blog!

bury the beat no. 17

today i love…

// the fact that i’m pretty smitten with all my new classes this semester

// this amazingly gorgeous ring by fuss jewelry

// making it home safely despite the horrific snow storm we’re having

// the little things in life, like a rug i’ve been wanting forever going on sale

// that the penguins get a chance at redemption in montreal tonight

// reading charles wright poetry and drinking hazelnut flavored coffee

// looking through gorgeous artwork by julianna swaney

// this canadian indie rock band i just can’t turn up loud enough…

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE

here’s where you can find broken social scene

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how are you doing today? is it dreadfully snowy where you are?

xo Alison

right now i love

THESE random THINGS

// listening to slow club’s especially awesome album yeah so

// watching toni collette kick all sorts of ass on united states of tara

// these lovely prints over at mont petit by petit royal

// including thunder, pancakes, and seattle in the same poem

// making a list of reasonable + worthy goals for the first bit of 2011

// four of my favorite hockey boys being voted to the NHL all-star game

// devouring homemade herb roasted potatoes with parmesan cheese

// taking down our minimal christmas decorations…but leaving up every strand of twinkle lights

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THIS incredible SONG

{which happens to be one of my all time favorites}

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THIS inspiring POEM

15

You still love the ones you loved
back when you loved them—books.
Records, and people.
Nothing much changes in the glittering rooms of the heart,
Only the dark spaces half-reclaimed.
And then not much,
An image, a line. sometimes a song.

Car doors slam, and slam again, next door.
Snow nibbles away at the edges of the dark ground.
The sudden memory of fur coats,
erotic and pungent,
On college girls in the backseats of cars, at Christmas,
Bourgeois Americana, the middle 1950s,
Appalachia downtown.

And where were we going? Nowhere.
Someone’s house, the club, a movie?
See the pyramids along the Nile,
WKPT, I’m itching like a man on a fizzy tree.
It didn’t matter.
Martin Karant was spinning them out,
and the fur was so soft.

by Charles Wright

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THESE gorgeous GOODIES

tassel garland: neutrals by confetti system

honey journal by loop

silo votive by up in the air somewhere

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what are you loving about right now?

xo Alison

winter break so far

PART V

find the rest on my flickr

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it’s less than a week from the start of the spring ’11 semester at my university. my to-do list is cluttered with those standard end-of-break things: laundry, more laundry, re-organizing my desk, notebook + text-book buying, cleaning, and even more laundry. i’m a little startled with how quickly this break has flown by. it’s been such a relaxing + lovely + rejuvenating last few weeks that even though i’m very excited about my classes, i’m really not ready to see it end. so here’s what i plan in doing to make the most out of my last six days of constant pajamas + waking up without an alarm clock…

// paint my toe nails bright red

// slap on some long johns + take a long walk in the park near my house

// grab coffee with some writer friends

// kick my friend heather’s ass at mario kart for wii (hi heeether!)

// make chocolate chip pancakes for dinner

// go on a photo adventure downtown

// soak up as much family + hockey time as possible

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i hope you have a wonderful day!

xo Alison

p.s. for those who have asked, that is my brother’s new j.r.r. tolkien tattoo. apparently some people think i have man arms. ;) also, all photos are always by me unless otherwise noted. thanks!