Lately I'm Loving

Things making me smile/on my mind/causing distraction these days:

DJ Earworm’s United State of Pop 2015 is out, and I can’t stop looping it. It’s lush but EDM-y in such a fresh, interesting way…and definitely threw me back to some of my favorites from this year’s Top 40. Loving the combination of “Shut up and Dance,” “Sugar,” and “Sorry” in the first minute, and the combo of the violin arpeggio from “Love Me Like You Do” and the trumpet from Omi’s “Cheerleader” in the last minute or so.

I have a weird, completely nerdy sense of humor. Random, arcane, literature-and-history things like last month’s “How to tell if you are in a Jane Austen novel” reduce me to tears of laughter on the regular. This week it was “If George Washington Paintings Could Talk,” which, at first, made me smile quietly, then do that little silent laugh thing, then eventually laugh so loudly and uncontrollably that my bitchy neighbors banged on the wall to quiet me down. Oops. Check them out for yourself, Martha’s apparently quite the saucy minx. 

I will always and forever stick to my Sunday morning fall tradition of cereal and the Notre Dame Band’s halftime show, specifically because it ensures I never miss total wins like the halftime against Wake Forest on November 14th. Um, hi, “Frozen?!” Excuse me while I jump up and down shrieking with excitement like a four year old in an Elsa costume. They also did “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” and my poor Backer-deprived heart almost exploded in nostalgia and happiness. 

The vast majority of my friends are just as into small, local breweries as I am, and finding the newest has become an ongoing adventure for some of us. Thanks to Thrillist's updated list of best new breweries in the Twin Cities, I've got a few more on my agenda in the next several months. I'm particularly excited about Lakes and Legends, which is less than 100 yards from my apartment's front door and apparently is serving a cranberry saison...yes please! 

Last but absolutely not least, Humans of New York is absolutely blowing my mind with their coverage of the Syrian-American refugee situation. I refresh my Facebook way more often than is respectable hoping to see updates on the stories that suck me in from the beginning with so much hardship and hope. What a beautiful and heartbreaking way to humanize a situation that, to many, is simply a reactionary numbers game. 

Lately I'm Loving

Things making me smile/on my mind/causing distraction these days: 

Oh my gosh, it's officially the holidays! I always get so excited the day after Thanksgiving when I can start totally obsessing over Christmas. Usually I've decorated long before Thanksgiving rolls around, but this year due to illness and travel, I actually refrained until a more universally acceptable date. That said, I'm diving in full-speed-ahead now! 

--Around my apartment, the sounds of my ridiculously gigantic and all-encompassing Spotify playlist are pretty much all that anyone is hearing lately. New favorites: Marc Broussard's fantastic holiday album and Jazz at Lincoln Center! 

--I absolutely adore my classic, traditional Christmas tree, but this year I've seen two alternative approaches that would be incredibly appropriate for me. Kaitlin showed me this amazing wine bottle tree on Facebook while I was in Boston, and my mom posted the link to this equally amazing book tree a few days ago! If only I had the room, the wine, and the patience to pull these off. (With my luck, I'd put a book I wanted to read on the bottom and then end up ruining the whole thing!)

--I loved last year's Minneapolis Holiday Market, but have to admit it was crazy-claustrophobic crammed into Peavey Plaza outside Orchestra Hall. This year it's right outside my apartment door in Loring Park, and is host to live music, a full-size skating rink, and lots of local breweries and restaurant stands! Best part of all, it's free admission this year, so I'll be spending plenty of time down there wandering and enjoying. 

--On Saturday night, my family attended possibly the coolest "concert" I've ever seen at Orchestra Hall...the orchestra playing the score to "Home Alone" during the movie itself! It was incredible, and led me to this amazing behind-the-scenes peek at how all the booby traps in the finale were pulled off. When you consider that this year marks the film's 25th anniversary, it seems even more fantastic that the filmmakers were able to make some of the pranks look as realistic as they did. 

--In that vein, I'm currently blogging from my parents' living room watching "Elf" with the family, and this list of 40 things learned from the DVD commentary made me smile. (I like to smile, smiling's my favorite.) I think "Elf" just cemented its status as one of my favorite Christmas movies with these revelations. 

--Although I remain resolutely single, Thrillist's list of best date spots in the Twin Cities piqued my interest. A lot of the locations were familiar-but-forgotten for me, and I'm looking forward to rounding up friends for a skyway bar crawl and spending a quiet afternoon wandering the Conservatory once the snow really starts flying. 

Hooray! Happy official holiday kickoff, campers! 

Lately I'm Loving

Things making me smile/on my mind/causing distraction these days: 

This oh my god this. I died a little inside at "A woman in an absurd hat is being an absolute bitch to you." And then died all the way at "You are in a garden, and you are astonished." This is actually now all I aspire to in life. But that's old news. 

This insanely adorable baby koala made my day yesterday. I now have the overpowering desire to quit my job and go work at that wildlife park, cuddling tiny koalas for a living. 

I love eating out in the Twin Cities, primarily because we have such a fun and dynamic food scene. MSP Mag just did a "cheffy cheeseburger crawl" and after reading their reviews, I'm dying to hit these new hotspots up...one at a time, not five-in-one-afternoon like they did! 

I've loved following the Irish this season, even though they continue to take months (years) off my life every Saturday. This NBC Sports article made my heart all warm and fuzzy (even allowing for the bias that NBC obviously carries toward their golden revenue machine). Here's to a bright future of winning records and bowl games and all that jazz...hopefully! 

Tis the season to start obsessively shopping for Christmas presents for all my favorite people...and window-shopping for myself in the process! I'm newly obsessed with Anthropologie's offerings from Molly Hatch. While I've already collected the juice glasses courtesy of my mama, I've got my eye on the coffee mugs, travel thermos, and tea caddy. Essentially I just want every drink receptacle in my life to come with words of affirmation because I am basic that way. 

Lately I'm Loving

Things making me smile/on my mind/causing distraction these days: 

--I've waxed poetic multiple times about how much I love my best girlfriends. Turns out I'm potentially just buying into a social media phenomenon and mass cultural shift, according to the New York Times. Doesn't mean I'm going to stop Snapchatting Kelsie manicure pics, brunching with Hannah, or inundating this blog with photos of my favorite girls. 

--Since Kanye West "officially" threw his hat in the ring for the 2016 Presidential race at the VMA's a month ago, I haven't been able to stop laughing at the appropriateness of The Kanye West Wing on Tumblr. Combining scenes from "The West Wing" with Kanye lyrics or vice versa, it's made me laugh multiple times with its perfect pairings. (Can't you just imagine the horror of Kim Kardashian as First Lady?)

--One of my goals for myself in this space is to try to candidly capture both the best and worst of my life. We've all seen articles make the rounds on how social media makes it alarmingly easy for everyone to fake perfect lives, and this story in The Atlantic about the hashtag "#luckygirl" on Instagram really hammered it home for me. I would call myself lucky, yes. Fortunate may be a better word, to have had the opportunities I've had in my young (still SO young) life. The critique of the social media portrayal of good fortune and hard work, however, was really interesting to me. 

--I live just around the park from the beautiful La Belle Vie, and couldn't believe when I read that it was closing! All political opinions aside, because I don't choose to share my thoughts one way or another in this space, I think it's a travesty that I've never made it there, and am seriously debating trying to sneak it in before it shuts its doors just shy of its 10th anniversary on October 24th. 

--Ending with football, as usual this time of year: Notre Dame plays Navy this weekend in an historic rivalry full of respect and tradition. While I may have been a bit bitter about the 43-year win streak being snapped my freshman year, or the fact that we lost to them 3 of the 4 years I was at ND, I more than made up for it with an amazing trip to Ireland with Kaitlin to watch them face off in the Shamrock Series in 2012. This year's game will feature each team sporting the same base layer, gloves, and cleats, which are all linked to in this Sports Illustrated article. I love that they've got the alma maters printed on the sleeves...what a cool touch. Here's to a great rivalry...and (hopefully) an Irish victory ahead! 

Lately I'm Loving: Irish Edition

Because I’m obsessing over Notre Dame in general lately, here’s a quick roundup of all things Irish on the Internet these days…

--I’m one of those naïve, idealistic girls who thinks college athletes shouldn’t be paid to play. Interesting to hear our university president, Father Jenkins, basically agree with me. While I think the article exposes some critical shortsightedness and he makes some fairly big conjectures about just how untouchable ND football is, I found this New York Times article a fascinating read.

--With starting QB Malik Zaire out of commission for the rest of the season with a broken ankle, I found myself wondering (probably along with the rest of Irish Nation) who the heck our new kid QB was. Enter Grantland with a great Q&A rundown on DeShone Kizer’s gameday performance last Saturday, along with incisive but accurate commentary on everyone’s current state of mind in the post-Zaire era.

--In non-football news, campus played host to US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor as classes kicked off a couple weeks ago as she addressed a packed house in a fireside chat type format with NBC News correspondent Anne Thompson. The recap of her speech makes me wish I could have been there…her topics and presentation sound fascinating. Catch a brief clip courtesy of WNDU, campus TV, here. 

--I’m almost considering adding Showtime to my already-expensive basic cable package just to be able to tune into their new Notre Dame show, “Hard Knocks: A Season With Notre Dame Football.” It’s going to be interesting to see how they handle chronicling an entire season, especially one that’s already been plagued with injuries and looks to be an uphill battle to a bowl game…or the championship…hey, a girl can dream.

--And last, but certainly not least…this photo will never cease to make me giggle. Mostly because I feel like we ALL felt that way after the game ended…100% wrung-out and completely incapable of even basic human function. So…go Irish, beat Yellowjackets!