Fjallkonan: Iceland

Check out this wonderful video Mr. Chokkattu made of our time in Iceland!

Both Jonsi’s Helmgilas and Phoenix’s Love Like a Sunset were songs we played over and over driving through the country and I think Iceland’s beauty can really only be underlined by someone from there. We both miss Iceland dearly, and personally, for me this video is a tribute to happiness.

(If you see some Asian dork in blue, it is 100% NOT ME. NOT ME AT ALL.)

300th Post: Can’t be bothered

Things that starved me of life today:

  1. Driving to Princeton.
  2. Forgetting the fragrance I was going to wear.
  3. Driving to Trenton.
  4. Going to the DMV.
  5. Driving from Trenton to Edison.
  6. All of the edible spots in Edison being on the other side of the road.
  7. Driving around Edison during rush hour.
  8. Driving around Edison and having to convince every cop blocking a road that you belong on that road because you’re working the event they’re blocking.
  9. Driving home from Edison when there’s construction going on and the local roads are dark as hell.
  10. Being really hungry but knowing that 11:40PM is not a good time to be eating anything.

Fortunately, Mr. Chokkattu bought me naeng myeon and Chow Chow puppies exist and I love them. Life restored.

Cocoapuffs

I said I wouldn’t make a directly Iceland related post, so this post is not about Iceland (though I am absolutely going to use a ton of the same tags.) Instead I wanted to make a little tribute to my level-headed and adorable travel mate, Mr. Chokkattu.

In the kayak, Seyðisfjörður

In the kayak, Seyðisfjörður

Not only was it his idea to go to Iceland despite my original hesitation and ignorance, he helped make the trip worthwhile by being his kind, patient, sweet, wonderful self.

However. That’s not quite all he did…

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Things I adored about Iceland

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A picture Mr. Chokkattu took of me while we were on a kayak.

This will be my last post explicitly about Iceland!

So we all know now that I adored the country of Iceland, and I want to go back some day really, really badly, with maybe a job long enough to support me for a few months or just some more cash in my pocket. And that the scenery is beautiful and the landscape breathtaking, etc. But I have to share some of the specifics I jotted down. Some of them are important, some of them are surprising, some are less about Iceland and more about trips in general, and some are pretty stupid but whatever they seemed important enough to write down at the time. This list is a little long, so let’s get started:

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Iceland Day 6: Penultimate Post!

This will be the second to last post about the most beautiful and refreshing place I’ve ever visited. I will miss a number of things about Iceland, which I will enumerate in my last post, but can be summed up as: how the hell did this little island slip my travel plans. It was only because of Mr. Chokkattu that I thought of this place at all as a potential destination and that’s insane to me now.

We filled our last full day in Iceland with Snæfellsjökull and rounded the trip out back in Reykjavik at the Settlement Museum before we bid the country adieu the next morning. My last glut of pictures, 60 altogether:
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Iceland Day 1: Reykjavik

Iceland is so far beautiful, and glorious, and confusing at times. Reykjavik is lovely and eccentric and proud of its uniqueness, as it should be. Perhaps the business transactions we made today didn’t go down quite smooth (why exactly do we have to retrieve our wireless hotspot from above a post box underneath some stairs near a furniture store, and why do people think this is totally normal?!) but the people were welcoming, kind, and generous, and that’s all Mr. Chokkattu and I could ask.

Today, I saw all of these things!

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Field notes in New York and puppy positivity

The return of my mother and my brother from their time in Hong Kong, my productive breakfast at Lole Atelier, and a 5 minute conversation with a really nice dog owner with a 4-month-old black shiba puppy has been rejuvenating in a way I never really seem to expect, which is good, since it wouldn’t be so effective if I expected it to happen.

Highlights from:

Speaking about social media and branding

Matt Archambault: Social media and branding

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Buly 1803

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/fashion/perfume-buly-1803-paris.html

Buly 1803 opened as a cosmetic and fragrance store on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris. Founded by Jean-Vincent Bully, who had a reputation for welcoming scientific breakthroughs into his cosmetic developing methods, in contrast to many of the old-school perfumers who treated perfumery as artistry and preserved and kept secret old traditions in favor of the new. He invented new methods and new formulas for his products, and was well-regarded as a distiller, perfumer, and cosmetician.

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