attempting to do a self-photoshoot by the Aegean sea

while walking from Fira to Oia.

to the sea!

"Looting is wrong" say citizens living

on stolen land, built by stolen labour,

powered by stolen resources from poor countries."

sometimes, we watch demon baby videos,

discuss race + racism,

wrap oblong presents until midnight,
cook amazing food, admire hauntingly misty tall
dark mountains on the toll road,

and make DIY ugly christmas sweaters.

bumped into a fellow husky

stranger at the mall today :)

go dawgs~

"DO NOT TELL THE OPPRESSED HOW TO
REACT TO THEIR OPPRESSION."

we always have a good time.

happy birthday marynaaaaa.
thank you for being
a wonderful roommate, friend, and person :)

my uncle visited from China so we took him

roadtripping through the southwest!

O hey utah, we're baaaaack!
(i was almost born in germany,
but in pursuit of the american dream,
my dad decided on salt lake city instead)

zion national park!

river hiked The Narrows, which was carved by 250

million years of river currents :O

 o0o0 the colors were magical.

 good thing we rented gear

i drove in a national park for the first time!

the mountains were like cartoons

"mops could totally go viral."

"nooo, i don't want pet-ophiles coming after him."

::oyster shots::

"none of us go here, by the way."
we played apples to apples with foreign exchange
postdocs at a pub on campus.

for the first time ever,

I WON :D

i realized i never make (east) asian food,

so i decided to try today with some udon!

it turned out okay..
my mom liked it, so she ate most of it.

slugs, staaaahp!!!

i caught 18, but they are still chomping away

:'(

my plants are growing! but the slugs have been
taking chomps out of the bean leaves :(

so i did some research on non-toxic ways to

rid slugs in your garden,

and people of the internet said sprinkling a barrier

of crushed eggshells keeps them away.

athens, greece 
sunset from areopagus hill:

the parthenon has such an amazing history

spanning over 2,500 years where it withstood being

invaded, pillaged, sacked, burned, converted into

several churches and a mosque, and yet, it still stands today.

most of the temple's triangular frieze has been
destroyed but this is the reconstruction 
of what it used to look like.

the caryatids!

i fell off the marble foundation of the

acropolis and bloodied my legs:

stuffed peppers, stuffed phyllo pastry,

stuffed grape leaves, stuffed eggplant!!!

i love stuffed things.

southwest roadtrip!

zion nat'l park &
the grand canyon, here we come!!

my sister doesn't believe we have been to bryce,

so here is the proof^

seared scallops with

pesto pasta tossed in garlic!

MY SALAD HAS RISEN.

^ ^ ^
thank you salad spirits.

THE FALL

found my notes from college.

i started wondering what the moon looked like the
day i was born, and then i found a website that

tells you what the moon looked like the day you were born.

SOWING + GROWING
2 days ago, i put bean seeds in a ziploc bag

 & today, they germinated! so i planted those with salad. 

 i also got some kale and celery starts and couldn't resist not getting violas too.           

i checked up on them just now, and found 5 SLUGS

and a lizard that may or may not be alive.
i love slugs and all...

but these nocturnal nuisances had to go.

"have you heard of the romans?"

it was crazy to stroll down these cobbled streets

and imagine all the people who have walked here.

 how can you not have a heart attack

with a bear in there, eager to maul your face off?

i liked the trees in rome

carbs carbs and more carbs.

eating in italy resulted in a daily food coma.

delirious at the louvre with van eyck.

* *DIY HALLOWEEN* *

i had so much fun making my

galactic head gear :D

also, i can't believe maryna was saturn!!!

no wonder the universe guided

us to become roommates :)))

o0o0o0o0o

starting last year, i festively decided to carve a

pumpkin every year from now on.

i didn't have fancy carving tools,

so i just used a butcher knife.

slightly dangerous, but it was worth it.

something about this fall weather makes me

want to cook a lot. i found a new farmer's

market and got 2 stalks of beets for $1!
and some apples, onions & spinach.

* * *

shirred eggs 
(i added onions, garlic and scallions)

pumpkin cookies

(i skipped the glaze)

kabocha squash macaroni and cheese

~this was a joint effort, with maggie m
and her wonderful red dansk dutch oven.

bought a bunch of fun beer with vannie today.

we picked and chose to our heart's content

 of fall flavors~*~*~

^_________^

judith developed these photos from our
pacific coast roadtrip and now they are decorating
her apartment in granada :)

it's kind of a nice feeling knowing there

is a picture of you hanging up on a wall

on the Spanish Moroccan border.

love this guy and proud of the amazing advocacy
work he is doing!

this was right before our 6 person slumber party where

we all consumed abnormal amounts of chocolate.

#"studying"abroad

ate some pancakes, hid from coyotes.

"Snow White was in medical school and so she

taught the dwarves the value of proper hygiene.”

“Sleeping Beauty enjoyed fashion but her true love was politics.”

“Tiana knew she had a bond with the prince but

she still didn’t want it to mess up her MBA.”

i've named this one

"mkondo"

after Anthony Doerr's short story Mkondo.

“We are morphed, changed and influenced by our physical environments, so for all you people out there ignoring it,

well.........sad for you."

-mcm