I know that I said I’d do this post every Friday, but you should know me well enough by now to know that I am an unstoppable liar-liar-pants-on-fire. In fact, I’ve had a distinct singed smell to me for weeks now. My nutritionist* says I eat too much soy, I say it’s the lying.

Mood: Mentally and physically, I’m about as exciting as a wet noodle right now. It’s hot here, and I tend to wilt when it gets over 75 degrees. Go ahead, judge me in my wimpiness – I don’t care – I’m too limp to fight back. Plus, in the past few months, I have had this thing where I will be inexplicably hit with a wave of nausea that lasts for about 5 minutes. I will dash to bathroom, and stand there, hands on knees, breathing deeply, expecting at any minute to revisit breakfast or lunch. It has nothing to do with eating anything, since it’s always been on an empty stomach. Nor does it seem to be related to any specific food or smell. Nothing ever, ahem, comes of the nausea, but it freaks me out a little. It’s all very odd – so between being hot, and kind of just… ew feeling, I’m not feeling particularly chipper. Sad face.

First words out of my mouth this morning: “Uuuuuuunghthbtttblah.” It took me forever to fall asleep last night, and having finally achieved REM cycle, I really did not want to be wakened out of it.

Coming up this weekend: The 4th of July! Chere and Seth (two of the four sibs) are both coming down this weekend. Also, it’s a much needed payday. ALSO – I’ll have my new iPhone. SO FRICKIN’ EXCITED.

Self improvement: I need to clean my room.

Materialism: I finally got my gorgeous 12 cup food processor, now I want a Kitchen Aid mixer. In red.

I also want these red Keens shoes.

I dreamed: I dreamed someone flushed a teddy bear down the toilet. I was irritated.

Last thing I ate: Due to aforesaid random nausea attack (RNA? Nah… I write about ribonucleic acid waaay too much on this blog) I was a little worried about eating dinner. But I choked down some chicken, green beans, and whole wheat sourdough bread, and then spent 20 minutes pacing, terrified it was all going to come back up again. It didn’t. (Aren’t you SO glad you read my blog?)

Last thing I cooked: See above. Plus a pan of blondies that I can’t even look at, but that my roommate says are really good. They have peanut butter and pecans in them. Want some?

What I want to cook next: I have a burning need to replicate Pinkberry. I dream of it when I’m not dreaming about sabotaged plumbing.

Today’s playlist: Patty Griffin, Marvin Gaye, Ray LaMontagne, Radiohead, Kelly Clarkson, Live, Bon Iver

Reading: Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, Wiener Dog Art by Gary Larsen (it COUNTS).

Inspiring design: Tim Burton’s new Alice in Wonderland, Scott Hansen, You Look Marvelous,

What I’m wearing: Black pants, black shirt, hair up in messy bun (I didn’t want my hair getting in the way of vomiting), smudged eyeliner.

Picture of the day:

This PhotoBooth picture was not taken today. But you should know that I took a picture of myself five minutes ago and decided that this distorted version taken last week is actually much more flattering. No lie.**

*I have no nutritionist. You’re so gullible.

** I don’t know how you can trust me. But really, I look terrible today.

I don’t like this header either. Back to the drawing board.

Ok, finally – a final version of the header is up. It’s the multi colored lake one…. you might recognize the picture from the Utah Lake series in the post before this one.

Ok, it’s the truth. I’m in Provo, UT. Again. All I can tell you is that it felt right. And even now that I’m here in this little town, it feels right.

So, I got here roughly three weeks ago, and since then, I’ve moved into an adorable little house, developed an ulcer over the process of buying a car, and have gone out taking pictures.

Here’s proof: (Note: these pictures make it seem as though Provo is simply a bunch of fields next to a lake. This is not so, it’s a town. Full of people and stuff to do. It’s no New York or LA or even Salt Lake City. But it did occur to me that these pictures could be very misleading. These are actually of Utah Lake – a lake near Provo.)

There’s nothing like a drive by Utah lake to make me feel good. Too bad the mosquitos will strip you to the bone if you get out of the car.

I have to change my blog header. I’ll do it as soon as I unpack my camera cord.

Update: Haven’t taken cool pictures yet. But have done lots of other cool stuff that I will blog about SOON.

In the meantime – how do you like the new design? Red is my favorite color, but I always worry that it looks a little too Communist.

Update 2: Nope, totally hated it 20 minutes later and actually had to go out and take groovy pictures of lake to make myself feel better. I modified it to include a picture from my sunset jaunt out to Utah Lake. I like this much better. For now.

I arrived in Provo safe and sound on Friday night. I don’t know how happy I am to be here yet. I keep getting asked what I’m doing here, and believe me, I’ve asked myself the same thing over and over again. But I’ve thought about it for a long time, and I felt strongly that I needed to come here, at least for a little bit. I needed to get out of my incredibly safe and perfect little bubble in California. I realize that Provo is not exactly a difficult place to live – but I needed something that would force me out of my shell a little bit more, and this town’ll do that to you. Solitude and Provo don’t mix.

That being said, all attempts to go out and do anything social have been curtailed by a lovely little bout of bronchitis, which has me hacking and coughing in an incredibly unattractive manner. I decided that first impressions are important enough to me that I don’t want people to remember me as that girl with the manly voice and plemgy cough.

I’ve had several small panic attacks since Friday night, and I have to remind myself to just keep breathing, which then brings on a barrage of coughing. It’s all very glamorous, this life of mine.

I’m going to do this post every Friday. Join in if you want!

Mood: anticipatory – like a boxer before a match. I have to start packing and worse… cleaning.

First words out of my mouth this morning: I haven’t said anything yet! Ha. It’s almost noon.

Coming up this weekend: I’m making my final big Sunday dinner before I move, and I’m going southern. Key lime pie, Savannah pie (more on this later), cornbread, garden greens salad, and …. I can’t decide on a main dish, dang it. I’ll let you know.

Self improvement: My great struggle in life is sticking to a set schedule. It’s a constant work in progress, finding the right routine for me. The basics are hard for me – like a set bedtime, or wake up time. I was 22 before I settled on a routine for the order in which I got ready for bed. Sometimes I wish I were just a little more OCD, then I wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel every time I got ready in the morning. Is there a word for this? Is it some kind of disorder?

Materialism: I want just about everything LUSH sells.

I dreamed: I was in a pseudo New York City, and I was visiting significant Beatles landmarks. Totally fake ones, I might add… see definition of “pseudo.”

Last thing I ate: Kettle corn, fresh from the farmers market. YUM.

Last thing I cooked: Sticky Spicy Chicken, yellow squash, and pasta with herbs and lemon.

What I want to cook next: Korean food! Korean tacos to be exact.

Listening to: Duffy, Adele, Kings of Leon, Pete Yorn, Frou Frou

Reading: The South Beach Diet: Supercharged, by Dr. Arthur Agatston (side note… the SBD is the ONLY diet that has ever worked for me).A Life at Work: The Joy of Discovering What you Were Born to Do, by Thomas Moore, and My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro, edited by Jeffrey Eugenedes.

Inspiring design: Jessica Hische, A Field Journal, Shinybinary

What I’m wearing: Jammies. I have to do laundry. Badly.

Picture of the day:

Ever do something that you knew was right, but made you a little nervous?

I’m leaving the sunny state of California and my eucalyptus scented paradise for a life that really isn’t much more complicated, but will certainly be less predictable. I’m alternating between the calm assurance of a correct choice and the nausea I feel when I think about going into an actual office.

I also have to buy a car. I hate things like this. In Chinese, getting things done, or doing business is called “ban shi”. Things like paperwork, car buying, house hunting, buying furniture, dealing with smalltime buearucrats – all ban shi. And I hate it. When I get married, I’m going to be paralysed over the paperwork. I may refuse to change my last name – not from a feminist standpoint necessarily, but because I just don’t want to deal with the hassle. Also, not a lot goes with Tai Li.

I need to remember that every place has it’s good points and bad – and that someday I’ll find the right balance of family, friends and personal space. Until then, I’ll just keep looking for it.

In other news, I have 98 weeks until I turn 30. So it begins.

Fred Flare is my new favorite store. Click the images.

Pink and red rose rings. $10

Glass milk box. $15

This Book Belongs to Labels. $10.95

Gold ball point pens. $10

Arrow ring. On sale for $1.99!

Salt and pepper shakers. $14

Holly Golightly sleep mask. $14

False teeth icecube trays. $10

Migration necklace. $34

Blinged out earbuds. $15 (8 other styles – so cool!)

I just can’t get away from stairs. My last post about stairs got an “I don’t hate it” award from Sam Anderson (aka Mr. White Eyebrows, aka Spam). So now stairs are popping up everywhere I go (not literally, that would be freaky). I’m seeing stairs. Get it? HAHAHA.

This time from Desire to Inspire.