Currently Reading: Northanger Abbey

This book is the first ever by Jane Austen, though it was published posthumously. I have been reading it for the last little while and it's great. It is Jane Austen's spoof on Gothic novels. The second part of the book is just making me giggle as Henry sets Catherine up for an adventure that is all in her imagination while she is staying with his family at Northanger Abbey. And let me just say for the record that I am a fan of Henry Tilney in this book.

Currently Reading: My Life in France

I picked up a copy of My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme yesterday so that I wouldn't be bored on the train. Let me just say that this book is a delight. It's a fun read and very insightful. I'm enjoying reading about her years in Paris with her husband, Paul, and their jobs, and their views of the city shortly after WWII. A great read and a book I plan to finish.

National Gallery of Art

I went to the National Gallery of Art this morning with some friends from Church. We started out at the West building and saw a special exhibit, "Jaromir Funke and the Amateur Avant-Garde." Jaromir Funke was a leading photographer in Prague in the 1920's, 30's, and early 40's until he died in 1945. It's a very small exhibit, but great photos.

On our way from the West building to the East building, we stopped for gelato. I tried the mint and the white chocolate flavors. Excellent.

We went to an exhibit called "Heaven on Earth" in the East building. This exhibit was Renaissance art from books. I really liked a picture of Saint Christopher and the Christ Child. The legends say that Saint Christopher was the tallest person and helped people cross a river. He helped the Christ Child cross the river and was surprised at his weight. Christ identified himself and Saint Christopher realized that he had carried the weight of the world on his shoulder.

We walked back through the West building and we went through the late 19th century and early 20th century art rooms. I really liked some of the John Singer Sargent pictures and I really liked those pictures. I had always kind of walked on by them.

It was a great adventure to the Art Gallery and I plan to follow it up with more visits.

Transition: Front Bathroom

This is the front bathroom before painting and after a really major deep cleaning, so basically when it was finally ready to paint.



And this is the front bathroom after it was all finished. I really like the shower curtain, and everything about that room was decided by how it went with the shower curtain.

Transition: Dining Room Chairs

This is a before shot of the dining room chairs that needed to be reupholstered.


These are the things that my mom and I used to take the staples out of the chairs so that we could remove all the fabric.


And this is how the chairs look today thanks to Mom, Mark, and Dad, who put all the new fabric on the chairs. Mark and Dad were the staple gun operators.

What's Cooking: Crustless Garden Vegetable Quiche

This is one of my new favorite meals. I made this quiche about a month ago and I made it again last night. It was the first thing that I cooked in the oven at the new apartment. (I moved in about 2 weeks ago.) It turned out almost as well as the first one, though I think I may have been a little too heavy on the cheese and not heavy enough on the broccoli this time.

Transition, Part 2

The bathrooms and bedrooms are painted. The painters' tape is still on the walls. The front room officially looks like a tornado has gone through. Things have to get messier before they get more organized, right?