Mi Casa Es Su Casa

[laliandra]

I swear, I've been trying to upload these pictures everyday for ever. Ok, I may be exaggerating. But that's what it feels like. It's been a bit of a week, to be honest.

I have been distracted by work (which, that's a whoe other post) and going to the ballet (<3) and not being able to shake this damn cough (When you sound like Satine at the end of Moulin Rouge, it's never a good sign) and doing edits and then Word losing 13 pages of them (*shakes fist*).

Huh, actually, when I put it all down, it's been more than a bit of a week. But life goes on, and so must this meme.

So, these are the things that y'all wanted to see! If you have ever sent me anything, keep your eyes peeled...

cellophane_ria  wanted to see "your before-sleep book pile"

My book pile is woefully small. I just read fast, so I never have that many books on the go at once. If I want to read them, they get read. But! Maurice to re-read because I sped through it last time. It was one of those books where you cannot leave the characters in the miserable place that they are in, and so hurry to the end so that you know they are alright. Thank you lovely, b-boy, it was a wonderful present! And more Georgette Heyer because well done romance is my happy place.

She also wanted to see my favourite stair-sitting place.



This is the middle landing of our house, and I hang out on it quite a lot, for some reason. Jill and I live in the attic rooms, you see, so we tend to congregate outside Elliot's room. It's more central, or something? Plus this way you get a better idea of just how crazily multicoloured our house is. Yes those are crisp packets and lavender. No, I don't know why.


littlered2 pointed out that Bookshelves are windows to the soul. So as you see, my soul is a little messy.

You can see my slightly confused 'Books I brought to Uni' collection, as well as cards from miabee023 , kaiserkuchen and apple_scruffer . And some fairy lights and my New Year's Eve hat and my Steampunk fic post-it notes. Sadly the one that says "MAKE OUT?!" is just out of shot. The Delek thing? Totally a Dr Who eggcup!

mcollinknight wanted my favourite reading chair. Admittedly I usually read in bed or on the bus, but if not

It has lots of light and my cushions and my quilt that my aunt made me *happy sigh*

and the place where I hang out with my housemates, which if not the stairs is here!

This is our kitchen, and it's very yellow and the clock is Always Half 8 and Never Christmas. But it has that dresser and tea and sometimes cake. We like to sit around and make accidental innuendos and mock each other's degrees.

brimtoast wanted to see a sunspot. I laughed. This is the corner of my room that gets sun when there is any.

It handily also shows lots of other cool things that people have sent me <3

kaiserkuchen asked to see "all your bling",

I have a very snazzy system of Bling Organisation, utilised after many years of having to untangle necklaces and loosing one half of pairs of earrings... The rest of my dresser, not quite so systematic. When I was tidying it to take this picture I found a collection of train tickets, a mouse mat and a football fridge magnet, amongst other things!

and my favourite thing to eat that is in my kitchen

I cheated and showed you the contents of my fridge. The Diet Coke is not mine, incidentally, but I had space. It is for Jill and Lal's ongoing quest to finish up all the half empty bottles of spirits that live on top of our cupboards. So far we have defeated a bottle of rum and one of JD!

So, there we are. Worth the wait?!

Comments

[novembersmith.livejournal.com]

I am entirely charmed by your soul-messy bookshelf (DALEK EGGCUP! POST-ITS! RANDOM BOOK THAT SAYS 'THUD!'!) and by your house in general. It looks cozy and colorful and well-lived in. I will be invading post-haste. WHO IS THE COLONY NOW, EH? EH?

...:D

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

:D

The post-its send their love! And Thud! is an amazing book. Do you not read Terry Pratchett? IF NOT WHY NOT?

You can come invade any time, darling. Me and the eggcup would be delighted to have you.

<3

[miabee023.livejournal.com]

I LIKE YOUR MESSY SOUL. A LOT. And... wait. WHY ARE THE BRITISH COVERS FOR THE GENTLEMEN BASTARDS SO MUCH BETTER THAN OURS? Ours look like they were done by some lazy sci-fi cover maker at three in the morning, utilizing skills learned in his high school Photoshop class. Right after his girlfriend dumped him or something similarly traumatic. THIS IS NOT FAIR. I am totally ordering the next one from uk!Amazon, I don't care about expensive international postage.

(Note: I think it says something about me as a person that I would notice the different binding for Red Seas Under Red Skies and then find this utterly demoralizing. But! Book covers are v. important... which is part of why the new US cover for The Demon's Lexicon distresses me, since, even if the original cover was kind of ridiculous, it was still FABULOUSLY ridiculous, in a way that made me laugh every time I got it down from the bookshelf. Now I just find new!Nick to be nowhere near attractive enough, with poor lighting and weird hair. Pouty!orange!Nick was still better than that.)

And speaking of TDL, did you write anything for the contest? (I figured I would just ask... because I am too lazy to look through all the round-ups, apparently.)

And yes, your house is incredibly colorful. I kind of envy you, after my ceaselessly cream-colored walls here at this fine institution of higher learning. I also envy your fridge, which looks well-stocked and full of delicious things. (Yes, cafeteria food might just be getting to me this semester.)

Woo ballet! I'm not really one for ballet (because I find myself being more interested in the music than the dancers, which I feel kind of misses the point), but I appreciate that other people appreciate it. (Or something.) I assume it's a bit like me and opera, basically - very cultured and AWESOME, but still in a bit of a silly way. (Like Verdi's Falstaff, which spends about half its time making jokes about fat people, I kid you not. STUNNING MUSICAL ACHIEVEMENT, YES.)

I would say something about not having heard from you in forever... but then, the last time I updated my lj was two weeks ago, so I'm probably not one to talk. But it's still good to hear from you, albeit briefly, and now I should probably go finish my Machiavelli reading, since I have that class in, oh, twenty minutes. (I AM SUCH A GREAT STUDENT. MY PARENTS SHOULD BE VERY PROUD.) Take care!

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

:D I feel it is very representative of my inner self, ngl. I had not seen the Merican ones but OMG, OURS ARE SO MUCH BETTER. I love the Lies of Locke Lamora cover (sadly hidden in the pic by the eggcup and candle) is one of my favourite covers ever, probably. It is so moody and abstract and cool. I love your description, by the way. How do people get away with this shit? Aren't they paid good money? Does no-one CHECK the cover before they slap them on a book? Do they think that people really don't judge books by their covers? Because THAT IS A LIE. But then your series won't all match up! I like it when you can line them up and they look all matchy. Although I hated the Deathly Hallows cover so much badly that I bought the very pretty adult version with the locket on instead...

I think it says only good things about you as a person. I do like the new American cover better, even if it is UTTERLY GENERIC. I don't see why thye couldn't have just rejigged the old one, made it less orange perhaps, and the pouty model smaller or something. But apparently the ORANGE! BOY! combo was putting readers off, especially boys, and I am all about more boys reading, so I cannot complain about it too much.

I didn't do anything for the contest, no. Did you? I didn't because I won an ARC last year and somehow would have felt bad if I had won one this year, not that it was likely. But that was my strange mental process about it. I loved the lego video beyond the telling of it, and I know the girls who made it, so I am very happy that it did well.

I like all the yellow, it is very cheery. I took these pictures just after going food shopping, my fridge does not always look like that. Being able to cook your own food is a revelation.

I love ballet but then I love all kinds of dancing. It is SO ridiculous, yes! It was Romeo and Julliet, so you can imagine the HIGH EMOTION. I loved it anyway, but it's the least natural thing in all the world. Heh, I did not know that about Falstaff! MARVELLOUS.

Hmm, yes, I do mean to blog more but. Ach. I will do better! I have been feeling kind of gloomy of late, and I tend not to blog unless I am happy. I am strange like that.

I hope that you enjoyed the Machiavelli! At least you will have done the reading. That is the main thing :)

[miabee023.livejournal.com]

But that's the worst part! MY COVERS DON'T MATCH UP. See, our very first hardcovers for TLoLL were the same as the classy British ones, so my first book looks like this. But then they changed them! So my hardcover for RSURS looks like this, and is, for some reason, about an inch shorter, which I don't even begin to understand. And now I have discovered that there actually exist hardcover copies that look like this and I am kind of dying inside... not least of which because I tried to order the one reasonably priced used copy on amazon.co.uk and, even though the seller specifically noted that they ship internationally, apparently they won't ship to my address. But the one that costs three times as much will! I just-- WHY. Soooo... now I've sent an email to the sellers asking if there's some way they can still send me this book, because I am just that obsessive about my book covers. Um. I really... have no excuse for myself, other than my blatant insanity. At least I should be able to sell my copy of Red Seas Under Red Skies if I do manage to get this different version, so that should help a bit.

Yeah, I'm glad I liked the art for all the US HP books as well as I did - I think they're just so cool because the artist hides all sorts of things from the books in the covers, so, when I was younger, I would spend ages staring at them trying to figure out what everything was. (Also, I feel like the British version of Harry looks weirdly buff. Is that just me?)

Yes, GENERIC! That is the perfect word for it. I mean, the old cover was just so... memorable. I mean, it was definitely going to be seared into your brain for the next few days. (I actually feel part of its great charm is the back, which suddenly breaks out in violet, indigo and hot pink rainbows. As I said before, IT'S PRETTY DAMN FABULOUS.) But, as far as attracting more male readers goes, I feel like the cover for TDC isn't particularly effective - I mean, to me, that seems like a distinctly girl-book cover, for some reason. (Well, also it reminds me of the American Gentlemen Bastards covers for their absolutely horrifying use of Photoshop, but oh well.) I generally dislike covers that give a face to characters in the first place, though - since I feel like that spoils the imaginative license of the reader. (Which was why I kind of liked the original TDL cover, because it was obviously so far off the mark that you could kind of discount it entirely.)

Yeah, I wrote a short snippet about Jamie over here. I didn't really expect to win, so it was more about having an actual deadline and absolutely no story ideas to start with and then seeing if I could actually come up with something in time - which I did, so I count this as a personal victory. The lego video was, indeed, pretty fabulous. I was surprised by the choices for the fanart, because I remember seeing some others (when I was doing about two minutes of browsing) that I thought were better... but what can you do.

NO WAY! My host parents went to London right after Christmas and went and saw Romeo & Juliet at the Royal Ballet or whatever it's called and sent me one of the little advertisement squares. Such coincidence.

Yeah, updating my lj should probably be my one goal before I leave for Arizona on Monday. Like, you'd think I would be able to accomplish that single thing. So... we'll see, in other words.

Oh, mostly it was just Machiavelli going, MANIPULATION IS IMPORTANT!, and, THE MASSES ARE IDIOTS, BUT THEY ARE IDIOTS WHO CAN DESTROY YOUR REPUBLIC, SO WATCH OUT. I'm kind of enjoying Machiavelli, actually - he's refreshingly cynical after we just finished up four hundred pages of Bede shouting about God's endless glory.

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

Oo, the hardcover is totally pretty! I like the colours and the simplicity of it. But that is not what my LoLL looks like, actually. It looks like this - http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0575079754.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg (I can never remember how to do proper linking, fail). So it matches my RSURS.

AAHH MY EYES. What the hell? I know it has RED, RED in the title but that is NO EXCUSE. Ewwwwwww. What the hell is with American covers and photoshopped photos?! I can't think of one cover that uses a photograph that I like. I mean, I am willing to be proved wrong, but seriously. EW.

If you are struggling I am sure we could work something out with getting you a nicely covered book. You could order it to my address and I can post it to you myself. It would be fairly simple, surely. And then everyone would be happy. And no one would have to look at that horror of a cover.

It's true, the back of the book is actually kind of pretty. And I met an American copy in person at Christmas and it was much nicer in the paper than it looks in pictures. Still. They could have just made the whole book like the back cover bit! With the charm and the ravens! Pretty! Just think how striking that would have been. That is why I think drawn covers are better, because they are clearly only a representation of the character. I tend to just disregard them most of the time, but it REALLY pisses me off when they get stuff wrong. As a child my beloved copy of my beloved The Secret Garden had a picture of Mary on the front with BLACK HAIR. I used to get so cross because it was perfect in every other way. That said, I do like the UK cover for TDC, because it really captures a lot of Mae and really helps my mental picture of her.

I just love lego. Lego Eddie Izzard is one of my favourite ever things on youtube. Yeah, I was kind of surprised about the art, but then I guess that there will always be a certain mismatch in people's mental pictures of the characters.

Ours was The Northern Ballet. It was also cool because it was at the really old, fabulously Rococo Grand Theatre. I mean, Romeo and Julliet is already so ridiculous...

AHA, my housemate is doing a Masters in Classical Studies and she is so, so sick of Bede. Apparently all he talks about is the timing of Easter.

[miabee023.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figured you had the other cover, which is also pretty awesome (and with such subtle use of Venice, oh my - yeah, I totally cracked up when I realized the church on the front of my copy of TLoLL was San Marco - admittedly, whenever I try to describe TLoLL to people, my basic description seems to be, "It's like a massive con game in a city that's like Venice, only somehow even AWESOMER"). I hadn't realized there would be different covers for the British copies until I saw the binding of your RSURS, and then when I looked that one up I saw the copy that matches my TLoLL.

And yes. Photoshopped covers are the bane of my existence. (Well, one of many banes, I suppose, along with beets and one-way streets and the latest AU craze in Thremedon that leaves me utterly baffled and mildly frustrated that people cannot understand that beauty that is present in a not-entirely-happy ending.)

It is amazing of you to offer to help me out with my book cover woes, but once the postage tallies up (4.50 pounds for the book itself, then 2.75 in postage, then another 5 or so pounds to send it overseas, according to the Royal Mail website), it all comes out to about $18, which is a bit too much for me - especially since apparently every author I love (aside from Neil Gaiman) has decided to put out a book this year, and, since I remain unable to ever find a job (even though I seem to do a lot of volunteering, for some reason), I kind of need to save my pennies for all five of those shiny new hardcovers. (Being nerdy is so ridiculously expensive sometimes, I mean, SERIOUSLY.) But thank you so much for offering, and maybe if I win the lottery or something I will take you up on that.

I will take your comments on the new TDC to heart, though I still am quite distrusting of TDL in the face of those curiously blue flames. Perhaps it will win me over when I see it in person, though.

ROCOCO IS ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE ART PERIODS, just because of how fabulous and downright ridiculous it is. I remember the first time I ever saw a Rococo church was on my choir tour in Slovenia, when we walked into this church that was on the outside quite simple, albeit pink, only to suddenly be struck speechless to find ourselves faced with this. (We also really appreciated the disembodied hand hanging off the side of the pulpit.)

Your housemate is absolutely correct. THE MAN IS OBSESSED. And just when you're in the last section of the book, and he hasn't mentioned Easter in quite some time, and you're just ten pages from the end and, oh, you're almost there-- MY GOODNESS, IT'S ALL ABOUT EASTER. AGAIN. Still, at least I managed to get a mildly interesting paper out of it, all about women using their innate temptress capabilities for the good of the Lord, not to mention we had the epic roleplay game our last day of the unit where my class had to pretend to be heathens while the other class were the Christians trying to convert us (via cookies, which apparently were supposed to show all the wealth and bounty they could offer us if we accepted the word of God), so I guess I should be a little easier on the guy, but... no. Too much of my life has been wasted on pages of Easter timekeeping to allow me forgiveness now.

[cellophane_ria.livejournal.com]

Of course it was worth the wait. :) Especially to see that we seem to have the same edition of "Maurice". :) Ah, your book pile may be small, but it's definitely high quality...

You do ballet? How it is? Oh dear, I'm thinking about it, is it very very hard? *excited*

I love your multicoloured walls, and your bookshelf! So--lived-in, and cozy, and inviting. Also, ha, nice to see that my postcard reached you. :)

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

:D

My copy of Maurice was a present and it is so delightful! I do love purple.

I went to see a ballet production, actually. I did ballet when I was very small, but it was too strict for me. I joined a tap class instead, much more me. But I love watching ballet, despite its silliness.

Oh, didn't I say. I'm so sorry! I love it to pieces, thank you so much for it. I absolutely treasure it.

[khasael.livejournal.com]

Bookshelves are windows to the soul. So as you see, my soul is a little messy.

You're messy soul is awesome. My soul is newly cleaned and uncluttered, though it used to be absolutely crammed full of stuff. I don't know what that means. Yay, pic!posts. I have no camera :(

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

It probably means good things. A rejuvenated soul sounds good to me. That is sad, I would love to see your bookshelves. I am so nosy, and I always investigate people's books as soon as I get into their houses.

[khasael.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, I just realised I used the wrong 'your'. I am so ashamed. This is why I should not be allowed to comment while exhausted. Gmail has a feature that bars you from sending emails at certain hours or unless you can solve a series of math problems. I needed that for my comment above.

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, don't worry about it. I've done much worse, my typos are legendary...

Heh, I love gmail for stuff like that. I am such a googledork. Anyway, I think nothing less of you as an awesome writerly person :D

Also, love the Top Gear icons!

[isil-helyanwe.livejournal.com]

What an awesome lovely house. And YES MAURICE THE AWESOMEST BOOK EVER. I'm so going to reread it soon, it's addictive.

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I really didn't know much about Maurice before reading it, and have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with E.M Forster, as in some of his books I adore and some I just can't stand, but this one goes on the love pile. Just the dedication makes me all heart-clenchy...

[mcollinknight.livejournal.com]

I ADORE YOUR KITCHEN TO NO END! Seriously, the dresser! My kitchen is woefully grungy and has holes in. So I have major kitchen envy.

Also you just made me look at *my* beside-the-bed reading pile, which could kill a small child if it ever fell.

I also have mad love for your yellow elephant pillow <3 YOU HAVE A LOVELY HOUSE, LAL MY DEAR. I think I am going to do this meme soon :)

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

The kitchen and the squishy couches sold me on the house. Also Elliot's promise of making me dinners. The dresser looks extra cool in that pic because it is covered in birthday cards.

Heh, the thing is, I never have books long enough to make a huge pile. My pile of books in my head that I want to read is kind of terrifying, though...

:D It comes from Thailand! Kaz would be proud. You can't see but the other cushion also has elephants on it. THANK YOU DARLING! You're welcome anytime :)

Your pics are making me stare guiltily at my folder of hitherto untouched holiday snaps lolol whoops

[kaiserkuchen.livejournal.com]

FIRST OFF DEAREST LALFACE, have you seen that Lambiel post of computer-killing brilliance that I posted about? Here is the link again!

All those BOOOOKS in your pictures make me look forward to finally getting around to amassing some books of my own againw when I get settled in BKK. I still regret that I hardly got to read anything this Feb due to LASERING PEW PEW though I think that also had its own rewards lol. And I hope you know that I am interpreting those kind of bare walls in your room as a challenge to send you more swank postcards and Stuff :DDDD Speaking of which, I totally just stared at a pile of stuff that will be your birthday present and I am quite pleased, though it may not necessarily be what I set out for at first (I need time to scout out those shops to do my bidding when I'm back home, so you will probably get it as an Xmas present instead moo ha ha *rubs hands together*)

OH and I of course approve of any and all systems to organize bling :DD One day I will befriend some accessory store sales people or find out the supplier and they well sell me these epic spinny things where they put all their earrings in the shops /actual legit life goal of mine

PS OM NOM NOM CHAMPIGNONS

PPS The Gawker headline is stupid, but the clip itself is cute. HIS SAUCY FAAAAAAAACE lolol sweetie that's the last place I'd look XDD

Re: Your pics are making me stare guiltily at my folder of hitherto untouched holiday snaps lolol wh

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

OMMMMMG MAGIC ZEBRA, WHEN DID YOU GET SO HOTTTTTTTTTTT?! I looked at it on Lawrence's laptop for ease of viewing. Muhaha.

Aha, I have hardly any blank wall space, really. I hate blank walls SO MUCH. But the wall above my bed gets really cold and nothing will stay bluetacked to it. But please feel free to send me as much stuff as you like! :D:D:D. I am sure I will love whatever you pick. A pile! I am OVERCOME.

The ribbon system is fairly cool, I totally stole the idea from an ex-housemate.

I made mushroom and butternut risotto and it was SO GOOD. Well, Elliot helped. By helped I mean, did most of the actual cooking. NONETHELESS.

ANDERPANTS! ILHIM SO MUCH.

Re: Your pics are making me stare guiltily at my folder of hitherto untouched holiday snaps lolol wh

[kaiserkuchen.livejournal.com]

THE PICS ARE AMAAAAAAAAAAAZING RIGHT? Every time I look at my desktop I still ~~sigh a little in happiness :DD And lol speaking of Mr. Zebra I totally just looked at that backstage clip where he is oh-so-fabulously lip-synching to that mysterious C-something-word song and ahhh that is also a very potent mood lifter.

AHHH THAT RISOTTO SOUNDS SO DELICIOUS good thing I am eating a tin of tuna and cous-cous so that I am not going DD: DO WANT at the computer screen as I type XDD

HE WILL NEVER STOP BEING LOVEABLE AHHHH I still can't stop cracking up about the fact that he bought this old firefighting place lolol OH ANDY.

Re: Your pics are making me stare guiltily at my folder of hitherto untouched holiday snaps lolol wh

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

SO GOOD OMG. He is so adorable. I still think they say cock in that song. What else could it be? I am so sad that he is retiring. You are so talanted, bb!

Aw, that does not sound so shiny, I'll admit! You give me food envy all the time, though...

Gah, I hope they are very happy in their firehouse. OH ANDY YOU ARE SO ADORBS.

[branquignole.livejournal.com]

This all looks very awesome and bright and colourful! I want to live in this house too. :D

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

:D Thanks Bran! You should come visit some time...

[arkeiryn.livejournal.com]

I... may want to steal your chair ^_^

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

*clings to chair*

Do you have a chair flag?!

[arkeiryn.livejournal.com]

No... do I need one? :P