My Cup Runneth Over

The words haven't been running through me lately, you may have noticed. Life sped up as soon as I got this full-time office job at a Real Estate company. For a few weeks I was doing that during the week and still working at the carnival on the weekend. Not relaxing. Right now I am writing this in an attempt to keep myself awake for the last hour of work on this here Friday/ day after Halloween. As soon as Fete ended I had volunteered to help my friend Kima with a fashion show she was participating in. I designed and created some set pieces and props to surround her costumes. The result was very nice, I will include pictures soon. Working with Kima opened a small door of opportunities. She needed business cards and so I made them for her, along with a brand new logo. You can see it on her website by clicking here. Kima works for a small community theater in the Lower East Side that puts on a big show for Halloween, she asked me if I wanted to paint a mural on one of the walls in the basement and I obviously couldn't decline. You may recognize the landscape as none other than Farmer Don's Pumpkin Patch. This brings me to the source of my sleepyness: The Halloween ball which occurred last night. It was a feast for the eyes. All the old crazy theater people you would imagine at a community theater in New York City. Their costumes were amazing though, and the highlight of the night was when my cousin Marc ran into the dude he was dressed as! Only in New York my friends.

And some more stuff happened

In the month and a half since my last post a few things have happened. I got a job at a french circus called Fete Paradiso which was set up on Governor's Island which is fun, but only one day a week. There I am on the Chinese Dragon with my friend Joel who as it turns out lives literally across the street from me. My cousin Marc and I went to Montreal to Visit our other cousin, Linda. That was super fun except that everyone got sick our second day there for various reasons. Me and Marc on the train and me and Linda in front of the architecture. On Wednesday I'm going to Chicago to see my friends Katie and Colleen whom I met when I was studying abroad in Prague. They are the best. Katie's parents throw a big lamb roast party every year and so I'll get to go to that. More on this topic later, the words are not flowing through me today.

Wonderful Challenge

Things are getting a bit rocky in the narrative of this adventure. I mentioned that I was let go from my job (which I didn't like, the job that is, being let go wasn't especially great either) and thus was trying to find new work, but also trying to collect unemployment, food stamps, and take the summer a bit leisurely. Turns out the universe disagreed with this plan. On Tuesday I walked the 1.5 miles to the food stamp office and after sitting in the waiting room for a little over an hour I met with a worker and found out that I am may not qualify for food stamps after all due to my talent for saving money. I had to bring back a few documents and I will find out in a month whether or not I am able to receive them. Sitting in the food stamp office in Brooklyn was really interesting though, not like sitting in the DMV in Oregon which is the only thing I have to compare it to. I didn't bring a book but was not bored at all while eavesdropping on the young man next to me who was talking so much to whatever pretty lady would listen to him about his troubles with his ex-girlfriend and her family. I also enjoyed watching the father who was great with his toddler and 5 year old, next to the Armenian family with three young kids who all looked like miniature versions of their parents. Oh and there was this adorable 8 year old Latina girl who was pacing around, mumbling into a digital camera she had pressed to her ear with her shoulder like a cell phone while holding a thick stack of papers. The next day while I was walking to the Staples in Queens to print out my unemployment papers to bring back to the food stamp office (a 6 mile walk in total) I got a call from Oregon Unemployment informing me that my last employers are claiming that I was terminated, thus rendering me ineligible for unemployment benefits. Kick me while I'm down I thought, but today I have a different outlook. After listening to inspiring podcasts and looking at pretty blogs for the last hour I am inspired. I can't remember how exactly, but the confluence of events right now seem like a lovely little challenge. Like when I'm running through the airport to catch a flight, and I think I have enough time but it still seems like a good idea to run. It makes me feel important, and I'm a little panicked but also pretty sure I don't need to be. Who knows what will happen but I know that I am going to keep looking for jobs more vigorously than before when I thought I was getting unemployment, and maybe that was the whole point. Maybe the perfect opportunity for me is going to be a little harder for me to find and skipping around all summer was not going to bring me there. I have been productive in other ways. Today I made cookies and then ate way too many of them.

And a couple days ago I finished this drawing that I plan to send to Valerie (my "french mother") and Bruno with a congratulations note on their recent marriage.

In related news Alison (Valerie's daughter who was our french exchange student for a month after high school) wrote to me today to ask if she could stay with me when she comes to New York in September! I'm excited. Having her around will make me feel closer to France and I want that right now.

When in Doubt go on Vacation

I've just returned from an invigorating trip to see my old friend Kesslie up state. Kesslie and I went to kindergarden-high school together. We reunited a few years ago in New York while I was here on my way back from Israel. The only way I would have known that she was even living in New York is through Facebook since we lost touch after school, thank god for social media because I have loved every minute that I get spend in the beautiful Hudson Valley hanging out with her. I wanted to go back up there ever since returning from Portland a few weeks ago, and since subsequently loosing my job there was now nothing stopping me. I know I've talked about this before but being jobless is scary but also kind of fun. I'm loving the endless possibilities especially considering that I didn't like going to my last job, it can only get better from there. The only downside is the potential for no opportunities materializing but I can't really focus on that or the stress will make my back muscle pull my rib out of alignment again. My daily routine lately has been to sit on the "productivity couch" in my living room, which is much better than my "lazy bed" as comfortable and convenient as it is. After I apply to as many jobs as it takes for my brain to get smooshy I go for a run around my neighborhood and up into Queens. I'm going to do that today, after this. I must be sure not to make the same mistake I made last time of giving myself to unrealistic goal of running to a park in Queens that was in fact 2.6 miles away (it looked much closer on the map!) This is a recurring mistake I keep making that comes with moving to a huge city from Portland. It was drizzeling out when I started running and it did not let up like I hoped it would. By the time I was thoroughly exhausted I hadn't even reached the park yet but I thought I was close and my goal oriented stubbornness became apparent as I insisted on continuing to try and find the park despite the confusingly similar street names (69th st, then 69th pl, then 69th dr...) and the multiple dead ends. I finally did reach the park which was kind of relieving but then needed to run all the way home since I didn't bring my metro card and also couldn't walk since I was completely drenched and would freeze. My hair was in droopy pig tails since my hair is at that awkward length now, and as I ran down Metropolitan Ave. I laughed at the thought of everyone I passed thinking "look at the stupid white girl running around in shorts and a tee-shirt in the rain" There's a visual reenactment of the scene. Well anyways, so that happened, but back to my original point: I had a lovely time up state with Kesslie, hanging out at the bar where she works and driving around the country roads in her big old red Toyota 4-Runner. I took some really cool pictures of Kesslie in the shirt I painted for her. Here is one: You can find the rest of them here: http://aureliar.com/2013/06/05/kesslie-in-up-state/

Feelings

Um I feel strange, like I'm all kinda bummed in a realist way like I realize that I have a lot of work to do to rise above the rest of talented people looking for work and graduating more recently than me with more technical ability, but, last night as I was leaving this party at Marc's house I just had this surge of excited energy where I felt young wild and free. Like stuff is all messed up and I have no idea what I'm doing or if anything good will happen to me at all but oh the possibilities. I feel like I can do or go anywhere and hardly anything is of consequence. So every once in a while today, among my unproductive distractions, I keep thinking, 'yea but this is kinda great'. I love my pajamas that I've been in all day, and my computer that I somehow managed to buy myself, and I love my room that I procured and decorated myself, I mean besides all the furniture that was just left in there... as I was walking away from the Matt & Kim concert yesterday, I was looking at all the big old houses that surround Prospect Park and I wanted to start crying because I missed my friends who are fun and get me and wouldn't ditch me in the middle of a music festival because it was raining and they were "getting over a cold", and I was crying because I wanted things, I want to be successful and creative and interesting and I want to go places and make things that people are interested in. And I tried to stop crying cause I was walking in public but I also kind of didn't want to because it felt kind of good and vindicating. I think it might be good to cry because you want things so bad, I don't even know what those things are even. But I want them a lot.

Here is a picture of my wall as it looks today. Piece of velum that I pinned to the wall because I have no flat surface to store it, with pieces cut out of it for cards or whatnot. The blue card from Colleen fell behind the dresser and I still haven't retrieved it. Frame chunk that I found, spray painted and tied to the wall. Thank you card from Caty & Eliot, piece of paper I rested my paintbrush on one time and thought it looked cool. Ripped off piece of a Whole Foods bag that I drew old building facades on when I was playing hooky last Tuesday and wanted to draw these for a future project, maybe painting them on shirts, and my steel half pear cage that I hung up today instead of making a new portfolio or looking for jobs.

Outsourcing

Hiya, Since we last spoke I've been to Portland and back, got sandwich sneezed all over me on the plane, attended a strange and frustrating interview where the old southern woman interviewing me kept sort of falling asleep and referred to youtube as "youtubes". I managed to finally upload some pictures of my most recent hobby to my website. You can see the post here http://aureliar.com/2013/05/16/fun-with-screen-printing-ink/ it may be of interest to you. Here is a sneak peak. . . . . .

Sunny Saturday

Today was nice. Martha wanted to go to Red Hook, a southern neighborhood of Brooklyn. I was initially opposed because it is essential exactly where I work and I always want to avoid that place on the weekends, but I obliged and I'm glad I did. We took two trains, the same ones I take everyyyy day to get to work but then walked for about 15 minutes in the opposite direction until we reached the water. Beautiful, industrial, waterfront. We paused to take pictures in front of a particularly photogenic wall, thus igniting a day of silly picture taking. See examples below. So we giggled down to the edge of the water wear we purchased small key lime pies from some notable pie place in a old picturesque warehouse, and then we walked back up for about 15 minutes where we found a bar where Martha bought me a beer because she is nice and I am in a bit of a financial struggle wherein my work hasn't paid me for over a month. It's not good but I'm not very surprised from the condition of things, so I'm job searching. I never really liked working there and the prospect of discontinuing working there is really nice but it's making it so much more unbearable to be there even for a perspectively short amount of time. They're trying to improve operations and reach out for more work, and I do think that's important and wise and I like the people I work with and I think they're very talented and more than worthy of success but I just am having a very hard time caring and putting in the effort they're asking of me when I can't pay the bills and already have one mental foot out of the door. But i'm going to Portland on Wednesday. That's only two more days of being in there before I can flee for a week. In a perfect world I would go into work Wednesday morning (a big shot production designer is visiting the shop to discuss a project we're building for him, and I just really want to meet him) and then go straight from there to an interview and then straight from there to the airport. Freedom!! It's so close.

Finally Spring

It was near 80 degrees yesterday and again today it's creeping towards 70. It smells different outside, it reminds me of day camp at Fun In The Sun and Lacrosse practice after school. I've even found small signs of nature blooming, okay it's no Portland but i'll take what I can get.

Inadvertent Rosa Parks Appreciation Day

It's Sunday, and despite the lovely weather outside I don't want to leave my house. I would leave my house but I most certainly am not taking public transportation. No sir. Every once in a while when a day comes where I have no obligations to anywhere outside of my neighborhood I feel like I must siege to opportunity to take a break, brief as it might be, from the MTA. Time consuming, dark, grimy, fluorescently lit, MTA. Not really all that bad but after 2+ hours a day for 5 days a week it starts to wear on me. Having ignored my innate urge to be out and about in the world I have been pleasantly productive this weekend. Yesterday I did dishes, folded laundry, tried to get my taxes done at a volunteer center in my neighborhood (still a 15 minute walk from my house), and the after being turned away for not having my social security card, returned home, ate some beans and salsa, watched a movie and then went to the lower east side to try again at a different volunteer center. This was a much more pleasant walk, and more pleasant waiting room. After 1:30 hours I emerged, my lawful duties completed. I went grocery shopping at Whole Foods and then schelpped them home on the subway (45 min. journey btw). Today my brain is scattered. I can't explain why. I've been having a hard time holding on to things like dishes. I've been typing in wrong e-mail address and passwords. I wish I could figure out what's distracting me, but until them I'm going to keep trying to read about typography and listening to my roommate listening to npr. And maybe I'll eat some more of these Kettle Chips. I'll leave you with an image because writing is boring without graphical representation. Today's image is of some logo ideas I was thinking about for myself (thus the book about typology).

Yea I'm Lame

I don't know what happen guys, I seem to have lost the will to blog. Probably things got a little more busy and I had less time to analyze my thoughts and think about what they may sound like written down. Since we last spoke I quit my "internship" at Storefront and started working on a freelance design project for a bookshelf for the same guy I designed the last bookshelf for. I'm essentially just copying a design he picked out and translating it into the space of his apartment, but hey, somebody's gotta do it. Millionaires need built-in bookshelves too! Still working at the metal shop. Am now the only girl working there, 'cept one girl with blond dreads that works on the floor but she seems to have no interest in acknowledging my existence and i've heard word of her imminent firing so she doesn't count. I could talk about other things, how I'm excited to go see Kesslie in Rhinecliffe soon, how I'm excited for spring and to stop wearing my smelly winter clothes...Although I can't imagine wearing shorts to the metal shop, that just seems too unsafe. I made a super sweet new shelf-like apparatus. Okay I'll show it too you but then I'm going to bed. I found a chunk of a frame on my way to work the other day, and I picked it up. Something about it was beautiful to me. I didn't like the color of it though, so I spray painted it silver, the only color of spray paint I could find at work and coincidentally one of my top 3 fav. colors. So now we are in love, the frame chunk and me. It's really more of a one sided affair, it being an inanimate object in all. I do love it so, I think I am going to have to take it with me when I leave New York. I can already imagine myself carrying it threw security and trying to store it in the overhead compartment.

Do you know it's my birthday?

Sometimes when I'm walking through a subway tunnel past a thick stream of people I start to have internal conversations with them. I think its because i'm noticing things about them, really quickly as we pass each other, it's like flipping through a book of human faces. I often catch people's eyes as we pass each other. I wonder if it's unusual that I look at the people I pass.

that was a doodle of me walking past a lot of people on a typical day. Here is a doodle of me last tuesday.

Nobody knew it was my birthday! I don't know why but something was weird about that. Not really weird just...I dunno, it made me giggle. Like I had a special secret but they had no idea that they were walking past a girl WHO'S BIRTHDAY IT WAS! Yea, it's weird isn't it? Those doodles also double as experiments as my dear cousin Marc bought me a drawing tablet for my birthday!!! Those sketches were me trying to draw into Illustrator. I think I was having an easier time with Photoshop. Here was my first attempt at that.

it actually kinda looks like him. I think i'm gonna have fun with this thing. Well I'd love to tell you more about my birthday and the adventures that resulted from it, but I am very sleepy. Perhaps a later time, internet.

Mitzvah girl all day

First of all woah, a blog post two days in a row, this is a rarity i'm sure but I feel good right now and I feel like writing. I just watched Girls and it actually ended on a positive note this night and it gave me a boost of positive energy, especially as I simultaneously finished my art project but I'll get into that later. Today I woke up, made a cream cheese and cheddar cheese and chive omelette and then set off to Penn Station. I think I mentioned this in my previous post... I probably should've reviewed it so as not to be redundant but meh, here we are. Judy (Pearl's daughter) is awesome, she reminds me of Janeane Garofalo. I love Janeane Garofalo btw. Martha and I saw her preform at UBC one time but we didn't have a magical moment like I wanted. It would've made my year if she had at least heckled me or something...but I digress. Judy is a funny/spunky/smart art teacher with successful children. Her mother, Pearl, is my step-grandma of sorts. I stayed with Pearl for a couple days two years ago when I was in New York. She is wonderful. Judy and I took the Long Island Railroad up to Rockville to the assisted living home where Pearl is lives now. Pearl is still very smart and mostly lucid. Once Judy introduced me to her she remembered my name for the rest of the visit (which is more than I can say for most people I meet) and I think she remembered how she knows me but she was very fuzzy on things like relationships. She often thinks Judy is her aunt or mother, things like that. Pearl wanted to give us things to make us happy. She kept trying to give Judy sweaters that Judy had bought for her. It's sweet but I couldn't help but keep making connections to infancy, like when toddlers are always trying to hand you things...except they usually try and snatch it back right away so maybe this analogy doesn't work. Although on the way to Pearl's room we passed the "craft area" and it reminded me so much of elementary school. Big letters painted on the wall that said "inspire" and "create" and there was a display of paper mache masks that the seniors had made...I did that exact same activity in fifth grade! I don't really understand it but there seems to be some sort of cyclical pattern in behavior or needs. This feels like it's going to be a long post. Bare with me I've got two more mitzvahs to share before the day is done. Judy and I take the train back to the city (after popping our head into a cathedral next to the train station) turns out Judy has been commissioned all over the place, one time she made a fresco on the ceiling of a bank in North Carolina. Awesome. So we part at Penn Station and I take the E to the L, back to Brooklyn, then transfer to the G to go to Wendell's house. He lives in the...well next to the projects, but I was happy to be exploring a new neighborhood and was cold but beautiful out. Look I took a picture!

He wanted me to help him figure out how to create a vaulted ceiling out of paper for this installation he and his artist collective are working on. This part of the project sounds amazing and we might actually be able to pull it off. At first I was confused and frustrated because I had never really considered the construction of a vaulted ceiling before, this only needs to be a representation and not structural of course but still the shape of it was frustratingly obscure until I figured out that it was only two shapes converging... long story short is I think I have a handle on it now and I just need to spend a few hours with the computer at work to suss it out. Before I got to Wendell's I was getting texts from my friend Grace asking me to help her move her bed frame to her new apartment. I kinda wanted to help but since I already had a plan for the rest of my day I was trying to think of a polite way to decline, but then offered to buy me a cheeseburger and a beer afterwards. You guys. It has been way too long since I've had a cheeseburger, an unhealthy amount of time. And so I call her and plan to come to her place after Wendell's, and I do. I leave Wendell's house at 5:30 get back on the G, go to Grace's old apartment, in ANOTHER neighborhood I had never seen. We maneuver her Ikea bed frame (still in its assembled form, I guess she didn't have a drill or something) through her kitchen, down the stairs out onto the sidewalk. We walk it about 10 blocks, this is a full bed frame by the way, to her new apartment, in this cool graffiti industrial area where Hailey and I walked that one time, up two flights of stairs and into her new apartment where her new roommate and her Austrian boyfriend are animatedly watching the Super Bowl. I am starved to death because in my activity I skipped lunch. We finally get back on the L, go 4 stops and get a burger and beer from Dumont Burger so inexplicably amazing. I was so full afterwards, walking back to the subway I actually burped something solid and I didn't even care. It was worth it. I'm sorry if that was a gross over share but it is the only way I can figure to describe how good that burger was. Then I come home, exhausted from food, it's maybe 10pm. I watch two old episodes of 30 Rock and then new episode of Girls and I finish my doodle for what will eventually be the back of my new business card. I love it. It turned out exactly how I imagined I wanted it to, and now I'm going to sleep with a pleasant feeling of accomplishment.

My birthday is this week, but more on that later, you've read enough for now. Go rest your eyes.

Still here

I'm coming to you again from the indoor tundra of Storefront For Art and Architecture. It seems to be the only time I have forced, unmonitored, computer time. Although today I was given a fun AutoCAD task that I really want to be taking seriously but this is my first time using AutoCAD for mac and it's different and confusing, and not as streamline as the version I am accustomed to and so for now I'm am writing instead. I had a uniquely interesting experience on the subway getting here this morning. There is construction on the track where I usually get the 6 downtown and so the 6 runs on the other side of the track, but for some reason doesn't make it's regular stops but continues down to the end of the line and then you have to get out and transfer to an uptown 6. This happened to me last Saturday but is apparently the usual now for a Saturday. As the train passed my stop there was an inaudible announcement made, I turned to the woman next to me to ask if she heard it, but as it turns out she was a bit of a crazy lady who continued to speak animatedly about how this is just more kinds of "b.s" and if they're going to keep doing stuff like that then they should lower the price, and the something about her daughter...I kinda tuned out once I realized it was gonna be that kind of a conversation. But I only had one more stop to go so I smiled and giggled accordingly while trying to stare ahead. I did sneak one more look at her for any visible signs of crazy that I may have missed the first time. She had some bags, but not an insane amount. She was wearing cheetah print which maybe counts for something but alone is not grounds to avoid someone. Probably the give away was her lipstick permeating the line between lip and skin, but still I forgave myself for the mistake of engaging her in conversation. It was unforeseeable and inconsequential. As the train was about to reach it's final stop it turned a curve and a coffee cup laying on the floor pivoted so that it's spout was now closed to the floor, slowly releasing its contents out into the center of the aisle. There was nothing to do but stare, if the coffee moved far enough I would move my feet so that it not touch my shoes. It didn't go that far so I continued to stare. I then looked up to find that the other four passengers in the immediate vicinity were also staring blankly at the small stream of coffee. I giggled at the shared human behavior. What else were we to do? No one carried paper towels for these situations, all you can do is stare at the mess being made. So now i'm sitting here. I need to be better about moving around when I have to stay here because when I walked to Starbucks a few minutes ago I felt like my brain was frozen and I kinda couldn't remember how to walk. After this I'm going to go home, eat dinner with Martha and her parents who are in town. Tomorrow I will meet Pearl's daughter (Pearl is my step-grandmother for all intention purposes) at Penn Station and then go with her to the place where Pearl is living in Long Island, afterwords I will meet with Wendell about porticos... Wendell was in the Unitarian youth group that my dad led when I was three. Now he lives in New York as an unemployed artist. He and his artist collective are building a portion of a Cinema Palace and i'm going to discuss how they might make the ceiling into a portico of sorts, I dunno, it's kind of confusing to me too. I really need to move around now, I'm going to go do some squats and read about interns over there.

Live From New York

Hello again, I've decided that my life might still be interesting to some even though I am not living abroad, or on vacation. I'm away from home and it's interesting enough to me to want to take note. If you're reading previous posts please don't be confused as I've only changed the title of this blog and not created a new one so older posts are from my trips to Chicago/Indiana/Prague. Today I'm coming to you from my stinky internship at the Storefront for Art and Architecture here is a picture of me right now.

It is cold. And dark. Here are some photos of the gallery, I just took, to illustrate why:

Yesterday was the first day of snow (besides that freak noreaster we had back in november when Hailey was here). The gallery was designed by the world renowned Steven Holl so I can't complain too much, I'll just direct your attention to the wide gaps between the rotating panels and the wall. Ingenius design, really, if only it weren't 22 degrees outside right now. The exhibit in the gallery right now, which I helped to put up (you see those black walls? One of those coats was by me), is about competition architecture and the interns behind it. There is a binder in one of the corners with short testimonials from young architectural professionals/interns discussing their experiences. The irony is not lost on me. A quote at the end of one of them that I read today was "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall die." -Imhotep. This has me again seriously contemplating changing my working environment. I eat and drink a little cause I am poor. I am pretty sure I can not describe myself as merry right now. On a completely different note: last night I had the opportunity to go to the Philharmonic at the Lincoln Center thanks to the lovely and talented Martha since she was going out of town and couldn't use the ticket her family friend sent her. I was so excited to finally get to sit in some fancy. If you didn't know, I now spend the majority of my time in a smelly, filthy warehouse on the Gowanus canal. I work here we do beautiful work, but the work environment is less than beautiful. I wore my dress and tights under my jeans and jacket yesterday and the plan was to remove the jeans at work and then change into fancier shoes on the subway. It was snowing when I left work, however, so I stupidly decided to keep jeans on until I could't anymore. The shop were I ate my pizza dinner didn't have a restroom so I was stuck disrobing in public. The subway seemed like a decent enough idea mostly because it was warmer than outside and it wasn't like I was getting naked, just taking jeans off under my long jacket, but every time I started to slip off a sneaker or unzip my jeans I felt the eyes of a nearby stranger and I decided the anonymity of the outdoors was probably my better option. When I emerged onto 66th st. in the hustle and bustle of the lincoln center I was confronted with the sting of sub freezing temperatures and a bank of picnic tables and chairs about 5 feet away. This was going to have to be the place, I decided, and I quickly sat down and starting yanking off my jeans without glancing around. As snow was falling on my face I happened to look up to the large and modern concert hall across the street and was pleasantly presented with an accidental dance performance while a group of professional dancers practiced near a wall of windows. Oh to be a professional dancer in New York City and to get to spend time in the beautiful (and heated no doubt) structure. Upon further investigation it appears that I was looking at Alice Tully Hall which is maybe a part of Juilliard.

My initial plan for the evening was to take myself for a fancy date. I was going to attend the Philharmonic and then walk around central park to the Plaza and get myself a manhattan. This plan seemed doable when looking at a map but less practically in the reality of snow and Martha's Steve Madden heels. After literally falling asleep towards the end of the 2:15 hr concert I wanted nothing else but to go home and drink tea and finish the other half of my Dean & Deluca blondie that Marc bought me the night before. So I did. I laid on the couch with a comforter and ate my cookie and tea and watched the new episode of 30 Rock and after that I ate some ice cream out of the tub and watched the new episode of Bob's Burgers, fishing out all of the chocolate chunks and avoiding the freezer burned parts. It was very, very nice.