dripping with passion

dutch adjective [hell-SELL-ichk] 1. having company with a pleasant, friendly ambiance 2. cozy atmosphere 3. an upbeat feeling about the surroundings "a perfect example of untranslatability is seen in the dutch language through the word gezellig , which does not have an english equivalent. literally, it means cozy, quaint, or nice, but can also connote time spent with loved ones, seeing a friend after a long absence, or general togetherness." "a room can be gezellig , and in this context the word is quite similar to cozy. but gezellig encompasses way more than that. it is closely tied to the company you are in and also refers to the atmosphere that is created when you are together. for that to be gezellig it is essential that you connect with the other person or people. gezellig is what makes you feel good, relaxed, warm, protected - almost cuddled. it's a sense of familiarity, or feeling at home." christastime in malden, ma - at home with the shumways:...

a perfect last night of 2010 in sf : nikki and i set out to see all the pulchritudinous christmas trees downtown. not only did we see the big ones in plazas and squares but we also popped into shops, office buildings and hotels along the way. mirth and cheer were streaming in the city and the world was smiling. we oohed and aahed, we relished the magic and the sparkle, we talked about christmases past and the true meaning of the season, and we ate at in-n-out. other jolly things that have made the season bright : -a splendid little bff christmas celebration - last week jane treated me to fancy dinner downtown. the chosen locale was the restaurant town hall in soma it was so perfectly spruced for christmas and had just the right amount of dim light to make it enchanting. the food was divine and the company was even better. -festive events that have included: nutella hot chocolate, laying on the floor and laughing uncontrollably hard, hanging off a cable car whooshing down san francisco...

words i discovered recently, really like, and want to add to my personal vernacular: pulchritudinous [pulh-kri- tood -n- uhs ] - adjective physically beautiful; comely chintzy [ chint -see] - adjective 1. of, like, or decorated with chintz 2. cheap, inferior, or gaudy 3. stingy; tacky; miserly uncouth [uhn- kooth ] - adjective 1. awkward, clumsy, or unmannerly; off-color 2. strange and ungraceful in appearance or form 3. unusual or strange quixotic [kwick- sot- ik] - adjective 1. foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or chivalrous action 2. impulsive and often rashly unpredictable. that last one maybe sounds a little too much like my personality. book club book for this month is jane austen's "mansfield park." i am on page 3, but have already found a gem of collection of words: "but there certainly ware not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are women to deserve them." amen, jane. i like ...

  here is our christmas tree. a little low on funds, i decorated it with two strings of lights, ornaments left over from the ward party, ribbon and paper chains. i love it so much. whenever i am home i cuddle up by it, bewitched by its glow. when i come home at night and see it sparkling in the window my heart sings, it really does. "o christmas tree" to be exact. oh! i love it so much.   my friend krystal was in town interviewing for a job this weekend. it was so fun to see her after a three year separation. krystal and i were the token mormons in our class at wellesley, and she was a great blessing in my life, and still is. another one of those that i see after so long yet feel like no time has passed. i took her to baker beach and it was soooo foggy but sort of enchanting as the fog horns belted, and as we drove out of the presidio we drove out of that cloud to behold a stunning sunset kissing the hills. i gushed about how much i love san francisco because its beauty wa...

why do i sometimes feel like writing, so much that i have to stop what i am doing, sit down, and spill out words? why do i feel that ache for expression? why do we have to be so pretend sometimes? why do we feel like we have to play games? what makes us want to be something other than real? how can my heart feel so huge and overflowing, like it is clobbering all my other organs one night, and so debilitatingly empty the next morning? why is the natural man so prideful? why do i feel a twinge of jealousy amidst the happiness when i hear of a dear one's gladness or success? why does that grass over there look so dang green? how can i be so lazy? why do i feel so tired sometimes? it's been nearly a year. why does my heart still hurt sometimes? why? why do i sweat and breakout and get throbbing headaches? why do i have poor vision and fat fingers? why do we rashly do things that we methodically regret? why do i hate being left out or missing out? why do i care about things i can...

when i was 14, i started a happy things list. simple pleasures; tender mercies; bits of life that make me feel ridiculously merry, or peaceful and content, or pleasantly delighted, or just a little twinge of bliss. the list has grown and grown and grown and now is about 75 typed pages long. i like to add to it when i am feeling glad and read it when i am feeling blue. this week has brought some definite glad additions and also some definite blue reading. for some reason or another, lately my heart has felt sometimes somber and melancholy and sometimes overwhelmed and worried. i am frustrated about the job search and also, bah!, about boys. yet, i somehow weirdly love those less than exuberant feelings because they are part of the mortal experience. they help me to be human. they make me greater in dimension and broader in being alive. and they make all those listed happy things seem bedazzled and spectacular. this week's additions to the long, long list include: -rainy, thoughtful ...

what a dream of a city. seattle is gray but kind of a shiny gray. enchanting. i'll live there for a while someday. kelsey and i had a lovely little saturday in the city. she showed me her beloved spots and i took polaroid pictures incessantly.   we began at pike's place, which last january bolted right up high on my theoretical top 10 favourite places in the world list. there is something in the air at that place, i swear, something magical (corny but honestly true). i loved the samples and chatting with the vendors and taking in all the goodness of the world's best farmer's market.     we had to make a quick stop at the gum wall, which is a very important reason that i love pike's place so much. i seriously think that alley full of chewed up gum is pure brilliance. the human family coming together to make sticky, spitty, colorful public art. i am blowing a bubble in this picture. you can't really tell. i just look like i am making a weird face. and...