6.30.09

It's like I should give up isn't it? Oh well. Sorry the posts are fewer and farther between each week. I can chalk it up to a few reasons:

1. I'm having too much fun to write much. I work hard and play harder (seriously!) and I'm always jetting off for dinner or a show or hosting friends from out of town or wandering around New York with Nathan. It is summer. Summer is the time for being out and about and not near a computer--wait until winter and I'll probably start updating again.

2. I got an iphone and started updating my Twitter account, so follow me other there--I update several times per day.

3. I'm tired (see #1). By the time I make it home, I pull something together for dinner and want to spend all my waking time with Nathan. You understand, right?

So this past weekend we had a party that was an odd collision of my past with my present. It was a gathering mostly comprised of people that I spent every waking minute with when I was 10-16. It's odd how we grew up, but reassuring. We all made it, some more than others surely, but we're all functioning adults.

It was also exhausting. I felt the need to justify all my life choices and to explain how I got to this point. Yes, I'm married. No, I don't own a television. Yes, I'm still a vegetarian. No, I don't want to live near more restaurants. C'est la vie, eh?

6.19.09

When I was a little girl, I would completely lose myself in books. On the surface it appears that I am less apt to do that now. While I am ferocious reader, I rarely get completely lost in the world of a book. I think this has somewhat to do with the quality of books available for adults and also says something about all the real world things that consume my daily thoughts.

If you know me in real life though, and I mean really know me, (so maybe I mean, if you are my mother or Nathan) then you know that I often pretend to be other people. I don't do this in a creepy way, but rather in a "well, how would such and such a person wash this dishes" kind of way. Does that make any sense? I apologize if you are all creeped out now. I promise that I am crazy in a different kind of way. Think of it as me having the imagination of a six year old that never really died. I don't let a lot of people know about my super imaginative ways because, well, I'm a functioning adult, but bet your bottom dollar that I daydream often about fictional people that I wish were my friends.

What's the point of all this? Well, last week I read the most fabulous book: The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society. If you have not already read it, please do so immediately and report back. I l-o-v-e-d it. Period. End of story. It was incredible and not in a deep, thought-provoking way, but in a "man, this book just made me smile" kind of way.

Now, if you also know me in real life, you know that if I am very sad, I am quiet and will only send you emails. If I am happy (and, really, I'm rarely somewhere in the middle) then I am deliriously happy and I will blabber on and on and on about how happy I am and then I will comment on every little thing that makes me giddy (lately, I've been chatting non-stop about walks around New York with Nathan, Pinkberry and Paul Simon--mostly to Nathan--I imagine that being married to me can be exhausting).

So, last week, every time we were on the train together and I was reading this fabulous book, I would inevitably put it down at some point, turn to Nathan and start chattering away about how much I loved it and how great it was and how I either wanted to be Juliet Ashton or wanted her to be my best friend.

So Nathan asked me what was so great about her and I think I mentioned hats, a weekly column, her natural wit and how she was being wooed by an American publisher. Well, my husband, bless his heart, pointed out to me that I too was daily wooed by an American publisher. (And yes, my husband is a publisher). Well, y'all, I almost died and went to Heaven to realize that I actually did have something rather substantial in common with Juliet Ashton.

Since then I have honest to goodness felt wittier. I have tried to let my humor shine forth a bit more in my writing and I have constantly be on the lookout for other ways to channel Juliet.

So imagine my delight (imagine my delight is very much something Juliet would say) when a friend I had written back and forth often but never met in person asked if she and her husband could stay with us while they were in New York. Y'all--I lost it. THIS is what Juliet does in the book. She writes letters to people and forms friendships and then gets to meet everyone in real life! (To be fair, I know the husband--we grew up together and his sister-in-law was one of my best friends in high school.) Still, I am so excited!

They are kayaking the east coast and you can read all about their journey here. I am stocking the pantry tomorrow for them. The towels are clean. We have spare keys at the ready. To top it all off, I was just chatting with Nathan this week about how I finally have so many things I always equated with being a successful adult (great husband, funny cat, lovely home, inspiring job, busy social calendar), but that I wished we hosted more parties and house guests. Well, look at that--dreams do come true!

6.14.09

Can you spot Miss Marple? Look up:

Oh yes--there she is--lounging about up high. I love her.

Is this not the coolest sign? If you can't read it, it says: Anyone placing any ---(unreadable) brace on this balcony will be fined ten dollars. Yes, our apartment is so old that $10 was a hefty fine when they put that sign on our fire escape.
Oh, and here, please meet my pepper plant:
And my tomato plant:
And my basil plant. Yes, that basil leaf is the size of my hand. This is proof that you can have a successful New York City fire escape one pot garden.
Don't they look so cozy and happy after endless days of rain?
I snapped this one morning while getting ready for work. (Don't tell Nathan--haha).
Oh, and we had family come visit. What is everyone staring at (besides Nathan's mom)?
This:
What a crazy motorcycle, huh? It was on display at the Central Park skating rink. You should totally stop by next time you are in Central Park. These rollerbladers and rollerskaters are crazy. Picture this: that really great roller dancer from your local rink multiplied by 50 and all in Central Park. It's so cool to watch them dance on skates.
And, oh yes, we picniced in the Park too--what good is a sunny New York City Saturday in the summer without a picnic?
Hope you enjoy these recent scenes from our life!

6.13.09

Every Saturday (unless we have a pressing engagement) Nathan and I eat pancakes. It's our thing. I make the batter and he cooks.

We were joking this morning that our children will feel totally out of place the first time they eat pancakes with their friends, because Nathan and I both eat our pancakes with our hands, drizzled with honey. This is strange, we know, but, let me tell you, it is incredibly delicious. Lately, we're been eating pumpkin pancakes with whipped peach honey. Yum!

6.11.09

Well, my posts are just increasingly sporadic, are they not?

It's summer time and the living is chilly here in NYC and frantic. So far this week I had a hiring open house followed by eating mussels with my bosses until 11:00 pm (oh, and then I convinced myself that my cab driver was going to try to kill me because he was so FRIENDLY and I've been watching too much Law & Order), the first meeting of my new book club (fabulous! and full of other girls from NC--and some from other places), I put Miss Marple on a diet (seriously, y'all, my cat has a fat face--who knew that was even possible with cats) and a stranger/friend of a friend heard my plea for bulk yeast on Facebook and is shipping two pounds to me tomorrow.

In between, I haven't been responding to emails or picking up calls on my cell phone. I have been begging Nathan to get iphones. I have eaten Pinkberry only once (good for me) and I did some solitary shopping yesterday and found the perfect navy dress (JCrew) and the perfect navy shoes that toe the line between dressy and casual and are insanely comfy (Born). Obvi, I bought both--you don't search YOUR ENTIRE LIFE for items and then not buy them when they are on sale. I also ate a yummy brunch with a good ole friend (who just went on 7 dates in 7 days--record, no?--don't worry, it was set up for a blog--she's not a solid ball of pheromones or anything) and I've read a book or two.

Good week. So what's up with y'all?

The Month in (Book) Review: May 2009

I realized with a start this week that I have become one of those "typical" women you read about in magazine articles--working hard, trying to maintain a house, juggling one too many things. Good grief. The bad news is that Intellectual Domesticity has suffered from my insanely over-packed schedule over the past two weeks. The good news is that I still found time to read between working early and late and visits from family.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife was highly recommended to me and I am excited to see the movie. I didn't think it was the most romantic book ever--as was described to me--but, still, it was a great novel. My perception of it may have been a bit tarnished by trying to discuss it with Nathan and him being hung up on the particulars of Henry's time travel. Have I ever shared that physics is not my thing? Have I ever told you that part of Nathan's job involves reading academic articles about time traveling written by actual scientists? Yeah--that was a frustrating conversation at Pinkberry.

Me: So this book was really interesting. The wife has known her husband since she was 6 years old, but he was always an adult.
Nathan: Particles...two main theories...that can't happen scientifically...blah blah blah.

So, read and enjoy if you husband doesn't know a freakish amount about scientific time travel studies.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner is a difficult book to read for most, but it was a bit too literal for me to feel deeply moved by it. Evocative language is far more jarring to me than graphic depictions. That said, it's a violent story and one that may haunt you. I don't think I could handle the film.

The story follows a boy in Afghanistan who witnesses a harrowing racially and sexually charged attack on his best friend and how these events, and the wars in Afghanistan through the 1970s to the present, shape their lives.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Kitchen Confidential made me feel so, so, so glad that I have never worked in a restaurant kitchen. I did work in a coffee shop for years, but it's not the same at all. It was really cool to have an insight into a world that you are never a part of as a consumer even though all that separates you is a swinging door, but it definitely got old after a while. Anthony Bourdain had one main theme: kitchen workers are pirates and we love it. He hit that same note for 200ish pages.
New King of Non-fiction (edited) by Ira Glass

I don't know if you love creative non-fiction, but I do. This was a great anthology. I only skipped two essays--one by David Foster Wallace because, really, it's so difficult to read his stuff that it's not worth it (and it was about talk radio--ugh) and one about poker because I don't understand poker and it was too much to process at once. All of the other essays were interesting and on topics I could wrap my mind around: a day in the life of Saddam Hussein, a piece about a 14 year old arrested by the FDIC and a piece I particularly loved about being a hostess at an exclusive New York restaurant.

If you're into the stories people tell ala This American Life, you will love this collection.

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

I so wanted to love Julie & Julia. What could be better--a young wife in New York City with a tiny kitchen attempting all of Julia Child's recipes in one year while blogging about it--sounds perfect, right?

Well, this book is really not about that. It's about Julie trying to battle her depression and listening to her friends wax poetic about thier sexual exploits. I quit reading halfway through.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach and Russell Munson

This book is a great graduation gift, although I more highly recommend The Alchemist (below). In other words, not a lot of substance, but you feel really good and inspired after reading it and looking at the pictures of seagulls. I read it in about 25 minutes which irked me because I had to endure my afternoon commute with no book. Anyway, the story centers on Jonathan Seagull who learns to follow his dreams and pursue his passions and finds happiness along the way. Pure sappy graduation goodness.
Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant (edited) by Jenni Ferrari-Adler

All of the essays in this collection focus on eating and dining for one (something I rarely do), but I found most of the essays really interesting. Only one was really whiny which is a plus in my book. The rest were celebrations of aloneness in the midst of our busy lives. The authors are a nice mix of food writers and writers who happen to touch on food sometimes.
Eat.Pray.Love. by Elizabeth Gilbert

Am I the last person ever to read Eat.Pray.Love.? I think I might be. Anyway, I had the same reactions every one did--I immediately wanted to pack up and move back to Europe. It didn't help that I read it on the one-year anniversary of coming back from Bulgaria.

The book wasn't that thrilling for me, story-wise, but it was entertaining and I was excited for Elizabeth that she hit some balance in her life by the end.

I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

If David Sedaris were female, upper middle class-raised and went to college in New England (and subsequently picked up that special kind of snobbery), he would be Sloane Crosley. Man, I was right there with her on the essay about her first job. I teared up when she quit--no joke. I was proud.

Sloane is much less laugh out loud funny than David Sedaris, but these stories were super engaging.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Oh, The Alchemist. I didn't want to love this book and, truth be told, I think the premise is a wee bit cheesy, but I think we could all use some cheesy sometimes. In much the same vein as Jonathan Livingston Seagull, The Alchemist is about following your dreams and pursuing your passions. This book does a much better job, however, about being real about the risks of dreams. In fact, Coelho points out time and time again that the risks are central to the process.

I really connected with the ideas of the manifestations of God in the everyday and also that a dream can be a simple undertaking in the eyes of the world, but can turn out to be more than you ever imagined.

It's an uplifting story of a Andulusian shepherd who is trying to follow his God-given dream. The shepherd meets a cast of characters along the way and finds out his dream is better than he ever imagined. The driving force of the story is "be the best possible 'you' that you can be in any situation and always make the next correct choice." Loved it.

6.6.09

Happy Birthday, Best Friend!

Y'all, this girl has been my best friend since we were 10 years old. Here's a few things I LOVE about her:

-She introduced her to her other best friend who is now one of the best friends too--she is a sharer!

-Her hair is inspirational to me. One day my hair too will be so gorgeous!

-She is never afraid to tell me what she really thinks about stuff==she's told me before that I was acting like a terrible person and that clothing looked terrible on me. She's also quick to tell me she loves me.

-For whatever reason, she often jokingly takes Nathan's side--unless it's serious and then I know she always has my back.

-She's the one person I know who would probably actually kill someone for me if she thought it was justified. For bonus points, she would also willingly go to jail to serve her time after this, but would always steadfastly believe the person "needed killing."

-She did and does all the things I never did - like dating more than one person (ever) - and she tells me stories that make me feel blessed beyond belief.

-Pieces of clothing that look terrible on me look wonderful on her and vice versa. This is awesome. We shop together better than anyone else. I sort of hate shopping with people that aren't her.

-We talk every other day or so. Probably no one else besides Nathan knows as much about what's going on in my life.

-So, pretty much, I love her beyond words. I can't wait to see her again in August and I'm pretty much counting down the days. Happy Birthday, Bestest Best Friend!
Me and my "Best Maid" at the rehearsal dinner.
With our other best friend.
At Other Best Friend's wedding.
Best Friend's 21st birthday.
At this lovely lady's 21st birthday party--Blackjack themed.
Hahaha. What good is a birthday post without my FAVORITE picture of her ever?
We were tired. We had been B-maiding it up all weekend--I think we earned that yummy cake!