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Neurotic As Hell

Choosing Figs Blog

March 15, 2016
in Apartment, Hallway, Travel Souvenirs

[caption id="attachment_48882" align="aligncenter" width="2000"] A collection of owl souvenirs from around the world.[/caption]   Thai superstition says that the owl is a cursed, evil, symbol: if one lands on your roof, horrible things will happen. In most other countries, though, owl symbolism leans a little more positive. In most other countries, the owl is much brighter figure, representing intelligence, perspective, wisdom, protection, mystery, power, fortune. It seems that only in Thailand does the fowl bring misfortune. So, maybe, it's kind of ironic that my owl collection began in Thailand. I never meant to start a collection of owl souvenirs. I didn't. I simply walked into...

March 10, 2016
in Apartment, Kitchen, shopping

  Want to know how to get a kitchen as awesomely teal as mine? If there's one thing in this world I'm an expert in, it's finding teal home decor. Especially for my kitchen. I can walk into any store, sniff the air, and zone in to anything teal. I'm kind of like a drug-sniffing dog that way. It's my super power. Anyways. It's actually really easy to collect everything teal for your kitchen (or any color, really), so long as you're not in a rush. I didn't go out and buy everything at once, I just slowly collected through the years,...

March 7, 2016
in Apartment, Kitchen

Whenever anyone compliments my interior design abilities, I tell them my secret: if you just buy everything in the same color your decor will always match. OK, so there's probably a line that you can cross in going from just enough of a single color to look put together to swimming in an over-the-top monochrome jungle. My teal kitchen might just be tiptoeing that line. I didn't really mean for my kitchen to become an explosion of all things teal (and aqua and powder blue and turquoise). Although OK maybe I did. I mean, have you seen my couch? I just...

March 3, 2016
in Apartment, relationships

I moved into my apartment last March, and have been living alone, happily, in this one bedroom place for a year. The fact that it's been an entire twelve months is crazy to think about. In a lot of ways it doesn't feel like I've lived here that long, but, thinking back to when I first moved in, I guess it really does. I remember those first few weeks in my new apartment, when everything was so empty and everything was so new. Things I hadn't seen in years came out of boxes, so many new things were acquired, and all...

February 29, 2016
in Chicago Life

Sometimes, I wish I was an artist. February reminded me of that. Between an afternoon at the Van Gogh bedroom exhibit at the Art Institute and coming across this gorgeous painted travel journal/blog/store, I just kept thinking, "I wish I was better at art." I've always been really involved in the arts. In high school I was in dance, choir, drama. I'm a photographer. I'm a writer. I work in opera. But drawing and painting? No. Not at all. I guess you can't be good at everything. I guess. Two years ago I did take a drawing class. I wasn't terribly good...

February 26, 2016
in Apartment, Bedroom, shopping

  It's hard to ever really declare something as "done." Usually things come to a point where you've "done enough" or where anything else you do is really just nitpicking or when you're just so over it you can't do any more. It was like that when I launched my new site last year. It came to the point where I'd "done enough" to go live, even if the site was far from ready. I just couldn't put it off any longer. Yes, even still, I have a laundry list of things I need to fix and, yes, I still have...

February 22, 2016
in Asia, Koh Samui, Thailand, travel

I didn't particularly love Koh Samui the first time around. Nothing against it, it just wasn't the most memorable place. But that's where I ended up for my last few days of vacation in Thailand. I was having a terrible time deciding on where to go, what to do, and was second guessing everything. I had every intention of going somewhere new, somewhere I hadn't been before. But, when it came down to it, I just wanted to go somewhere easy. Somewhere with a beach. So, I chose somewhere I could fly to. Truth was, all I wanted to do with my...

February 19, 2016
in Asia, Chiang Mai, Thailand, travel

If you walk about a block from my hostel in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and then turn right and walk another two blocks, past the woman selling fried chicken and meat on a stick from a cart, you'll find the closest 7-Eleven. If you turn left at the sleeping dog, right at the temple, walk a few blocks, turn left again, walk another block or two more, you'll find my favorite spot to get khao soi for lunch. Before you get there, across the street and a few doors down, there's a good place for a massage and a couple of funky boutiques....

February 15, 2016
in Apartment, Dining Room

I have a buy-once philosophy: I don't like spending my money on things that I know will only be temporary, that I know I'll want to replace eventually or upgrade. Sure, things wear out, things break, things go terribly out of style, not much lasts forever. Things, sometimes, have to be replaced. But the key phrase there is "have to." There's a difference between replacing something because it no longer functions and replacing something because it wasn't what you really wanted in the first place. Replacing a placeholder. I try only to buy things with the intent that I'll have...

February 12, 2016
in relationships, travel

I'm single. Very very single. Truth is, I've been single for a long time: I broke up with my last actual boyfriend in 2003. No, I didn't misplace a one there. I said 2003. He's now married and lives in the suburbs with a kid and I'm totally happy for him and all that crap. And yes, if you've been reading for a while, I have had my share of "relationships." But those have been mostly men I've met while traveling, temporary things, the longest being two weeks and the shortest probably a few hours. They weren't boyfriends, they weren't actual relationship...

Choosing Figs


© Choosing Figs / Val Bromann
2006 –
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