Random Ramblings (of a Deranged Mind...)

This Sunday is my Mom's birthday lunch.
There will be yummy vegetarian food at The Table and then we (and possibly Sara) will be going to see the Harvey Milk movie, and then coming to my place for tea and cookies. This, in theory, will go over well. :-) I must, however, first get confirmation from my sister (via work-email, which she hasn't yet answered) that this is fine and dandy with her.


This Picture? I *love* the outfit on the left. Both the colour-scheme and the cut of the garments are very, very ME. :-) (The outfit in the middle, jewellery included, is also gorgeous).


From Alas, A Blog, some suggestions on how to do conversational transitions without hurting the people with-whom one is conversing:

(a) Acknowledge: Make it clear that you were in fact, paying attention to what your interlocutor was talking about it (and find it worthy of acknowledging).
(b) Affirm: Expressly state that you affirm what your partner is saying is important and valid. Even if you disagree with some of it, or even most of it, unless you find the entirety of what was just said wholly repellent, try and find some kernel inside of it that you can sympathize with.
(c) Segue: Explain the particular move you're making: why and by what steps you're specifically jumping from topic A to topic B.
(d) Transition: Now, make the point you wanted to make.

In terms of dinner, I'm thinking:

1 package Baby-bella mushrooms, washed and chopped
1 Red pepper, likewise washed and chopped (possibly in long, thin strips)
¼ Onion, diced
2+ large cloves of garlic, minced
Sun-dried tomatoes (2-3), snipped into little, tiny pieces
1 tin romano beans, well rinced

Sautee everything together in a pan with:
Sesame oil
Savoury, Rosemary and Sage

Add to:
¾ C Quinoa and/or millet + ½ C lentils (OR tempeh) ALREADY cooked in veggie broth

Over this, pour a dressing of:
Sesame oil
Cashew butter
Tamari(?)
Curry powder and
Minced ginger

(Dressing can also be used as a dipping sauce for fried tofu cubes).

I might do spiced pears in wine or something as a dessert. Still debating on that one.

Hopefully (A) this will taste really good, and (B) there will be left-overs for lunch tomorrow. :-D


In other news (and by "news" we mean time-wasting activities) we have:
Seventy-Five Questions to Ask Yourself.
Just for the hell of it.
(Note: some of them seem rather stupid. E.G.: "Am I Nice?" Why not "Am I compassionate?" or "Am I kind?"? "Nice" is just such a trite word, sometimes. Others, however, are actually useful if you're trying to do a little soul-searching or otherwise learn about yourself. That said, there's no guarantee you'll answer yourself honestly, right? ;-)


From the same site: 20 Ways to Change the World (Again, some - like "be a productive member of society" are, ah... kind of annoying. At least they are in my mind. That phrase always smacks of "Support Capitalism!" to me).


ZenHabits.net is a very nifty (so far) blog about simplicity and getting things done without stressing or doing too much. I approve of this concept. :-)


Anyway.

That's all for now. :-)


- TTFN,
- Amazon.

Minimalist Opulence

Okay, so I was yammering away at Idioglossia today, and I asked the following question:

How does one fill one’s home with opulent, decadent splendour and live a headonistic, sensual, Bohemian life… without accumulating too much stuff (or debt, for that matter)?

It's weird. I keep swinging between these two extremes -- Razorblade Barebones Minimalist (although that's more of an economic necesity than anything else) and Opulent Bohemian Headonist.
I *prefer* the latter. By a significant factor.


See, I’m not actually a minimalist.
But I find that having a messy house (not enough space to tidy *away* my stuff) tends to get me down.
And I seem to have developed an unexpected coping mechanism – when things get really emotionally stressful? I get rid of stuff.
I seriously got this from my divorce.
Who knew?
This is, perhaps, why I have three boxes of “to goodwill (or wherever)” living in my house.
Besides, I long-ago developed a bit of a loathing for knick-knacks (I used to adore them. Then I had to clean. Once. That was the beginning of the end for my love-on with brickabrack).

Problem is: I still love STUFF.

I watch movies like Moulin Rouge and I just go GAGA over the jewelrypatternsfabriclaceandboningtexturesandsuperlonglashes and everything else that’s involved.
I love that stuff.

So how do I go about getting that, that headonistic opulent magnificence, without getting a tonne of clutter in the bargain.

Let me tell you a secret (it’s not even much of a secret) that I learned while I was working in the store.

People crave sensory stimulation.

A few years before I left, we had gone through an autumn and a winter of pinkpinkpinkpinkpinkpinkrosefusciaandpink. PINK! And then we got this green stuff in.
The green was lime green. Acid green. Mint green. Whatever you want to call it, it was bright and it was green.
And people went totally nuts over it.
They loved it.
But they wouldn’t buy it.

They loved the *sight* of it.

And these are people who spend their days in cubicles.
Many of them made a habit of coming to my store purely because they wanted the walls full of bright colours (and slightly nutso patterns) and the loud-enough-to-drive-you-mad pop music because they didn’t get any of that for the other eight hours they were in the building.

What I want from and love about the whole Moulin Rouge hedonist thing is the sensory stimulation.

I love the colours and textures and sounds and smells and tastes that I associate with this theme.
The way light plays on silk and silver, leather and taffeta, the way velvet absorbs it. I love the weight of stone and metal, the richness of colour found in red wine and semi-precious stones and high-quality nail polish or lipstick.
I love the smell of honey and chai spice, amber, vanilla and myrrh. I love the smell of magnolia flowers in late March, the sight of wild roses in June. I love the taste of sharp cheese, sweet ice wine, fresh berries, persimmons, mangoes and nectarines.
I love the softness of bearskin and buttery leather and peau de sois.
I love hot baths scented with essential oils, I love soap that smells like caramel and leaves its scent clinging to my skin.

So my question becomes: How do I stimulate my senses *a lot* without ramping up the clutter factor in my life?


( Lesson One )

( Lesson Two )

There will be more on this subject, I think. But not quite yet. (I have to go unclutter my kitchen counter. ;-)


- TTFN,
- Amazon.


[1] NOTE: I don’t use them all the time. Multiple times a year, yes. But – given my lack of a dishwasher anyway, I could conceivably use them any old day of the week just for the hell of it. I will have to get into the habit of doing this sort of thing.

[2] NOTE: If one is looking to furnish a house all in one go, places like India Imports (on Bank at Gilmour) or websites like fabindia.com can be very handy if you want the look without the travel expenses.

[3] Yes, I realize that the stuff I use in my daily life (E.G.: my jewelry collection) is currently cluttering up my house something fierce (finding/making a wall-mountable hook-screen thing from-which I could dangle my necklaces easily would be a nice way to fix this – other than the part where I’m running out of wall. For now, I suspect I’ll be tossing them all in a shoebox and going from there, but an actual jewelry box would be a very good thing to have. Possibly the kind that are actually a tool box in disguise). It’s not entirely foolproof. But it *is* a very good start.