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I am so much more productive at night. I wish I was a morning person, but I’m not and I’ve come to accept the fact that I am not. I can get more done between 11pm & 3am than most can during an entire work day. Especially when I’m rockin’ out to good free tunes (thanks Kate!) The fruits of my labor? Rearranging my bookshelf for a more aesthetically pleasing style. We’ve got an open house this weekend and so I’m trying to dot my i’s and cross my t’s. I thinned out quite a few of the books too. I’m terrible at returning people’s books promptly so I have a stack of those; I have another stack to donate to our church and yet another to the library. I also decided to pull all of my journals. I had no idea I had such a collection (over 20). And no more magazines. Those can all go in storage down below. This is what I was left with:
I also thought that people who arranged their book shelves by color were pretentious people who liked to surround themselves with books they don’t read. However, if you are the person who has arranged these books #1. you become well acquainted with your books and #2. i do tend to remember things visually, so I know what the color of the book is that I’m looking for. Yet again, I’m having to eat my words and step off my high horse. I will however still reserve judgement for those people who turn their books around backwards for display. Now that truly is impractical!
But even the trees were playing along with organizing color today. It is so beautiful in Michigan this time of year. I’m glad I didn’t miss it.
it was cold, overcast, and raining all weekend at the cottage. so i stayed inside cozied up with a book and a magazine. after finally finishing my august issue of vanity fair i decided to reread lewis carroll’s classic. (incidentally it was written just down the road from here right on lake michigan.) i can’t wait to see tim burton’s adaptation on the big screen.
so i just spent the last few hours crying my eyes out. i just finished reading the time traveler’s wife. seriously. i even decided to ride a bike at the gym instead of my usual treadmill so that I could finish. and don’t you know i looked like an idiot just peddling my little heart out while tears streamed down my face. i’m excited to see the movie in august. (i just hope they don’t botch up the story line as they did with my sister’s keeper.)
*Post Script: Interesting note, the movie is PG-13…I must admit I was looking forward to seeing that Eric Bana bottom!
That is the expression on one of my husband’s most beloved t-shirts. It was his great-grandpa’s & they don’t make them any more. But I thought it the most appropriate expression upon seeing the wonderful flickr group: Dutch Graphic Design. (I know, I know… I still don’t like flickr though!)
I tell ya, the Dutch may be cheap and drink their courage, but they know good design. It’s not all windmills and tulips and unusually small kids kissing!
Originally spied by {Oh Joy!}
I am a sucker for good marketing be it on a wine bottle or a book. I am forever in love with this website that showcases fabulous book cover designs and designers. I can always peruse when I need a little visual inspiration and I always experience a sense of immediate gratification. I would love to have all of these covers enlarged and framed to take up and entire wall in my dream house. I guess it would be the second best thing to having all those actual books around me.
Take This Bread – Sara Miles
Sara Miles is an unexpected Christian; a self-proclaimed left-winger, lesbian journalist with an obsession with food raised in an atheist home, she finds herself at an unexpected place: St. Gregory’s in San Francisco. It is there that she experiences a profound “conversion” as she participates in communion. She then records her experience of joining a community that she can’t help but love and hate at the same time. Basically she sees the heart of Christianity as LOVE and one of the most basic ways to offer love to ALL people is through food. She decides to start a food pantry and reaches out to the poorest of the poor in San Francisco and a very interesting story ensues.
I think my friend Lynn said it best when she describes Sara as a “crass Anne Lamott”. I always find it refreshing to have an unexpected take on traditional spirituality, especially something that seems to make it more accessible to all. I love that this woman has a story…a great personal story. She’s covered wars in Central America, had a child, cooked in restaurants in New York, has a great family and is crazy-passionate about food.
I can see how for a stuffy-suburbanite this book (and author) could seem completely radical. Her spirituality (and that of this little Episcopal church in SF) is quite “unorthodox.” I think people could be completely turned off by her or as some have said in my book group, I LOVE THIS; I didn’t realize you could be a Christian and be like her.
For me, it was much like when I first read Blue Like Jazz; an unorthodox approach to spirituality and church is not revelational (for me). So yeah, guess what: surprise! church happens outside of church. Loving people, and especially those different from you, is church. It’s Christ.
But what I did think was great and fresh was her whole approach to food. I found myself being so envious of not only her love of food (and GOOD food) but her ability to see it as this thing that can cross boundaries. I wish I was that passionate about food. Fortunately for me several people in my immediate circle of friends and family are very passionate about good food and therefore I receive their spoils; however unfortunately for me I’m totally an Eat to Live person. It’s not that I don’t enjoy good food, I’m just not willing to put in the effort that my husband will to tickle my palate with delicacies most do not.
But that’s the thing with this author, even though she’s a total foodie, she still makes it accessible to all. I think I can only be so insouccient about food because I’ve never been in a place of want. I’ve always had it. I’ve never had to go without this most basic need. And I wish I could syphon some of her passion about feeding people.
I like knowing there are people like her out there doing things that I would not think of. A good read indeed.
(purchase from your local bookstore)
I worked on my mini some more. There are some pages I like more than others, but I think for now I’m enjoying the process. (Mostly because I get to do something crafty every day.)
…although I may have been mistaken for a vampire for the last 3 days. Having spent such intimate time with the Cullen Family I seemed to pick up some of their habits. I didn’t move much, ate less, and really didn’t sleep. I guess I was anxious to get through them all. It’s just how I read the Harry Potter series. I guess it’s a good thing that I read each HP book as it was distributed rather than in one shot. I certainly didn’t mean to isolate myself per se… This is one of the reasons I really don’t ever read fiction. It’s like watching a movie for me and I hate being interrupted. I think a better comparison made by my husband is that it was like watching a t.v. series on dvd. You just don’t want to stop. You know you can get the information you want immediately…if you’re willing to commit.
So…the story. Hmm. I’m not real sure where to begin. My sis and I agree that the order we like the books is 1,4,3,2. So making through the second one on Friday was annoying. I’m just glad that she too had read them (this weekend) so that I could debrief all this madness in my head. They are worth reading when you need an EASY read that flows and keeps you occupied. Bring it on your next vacation to the beach. But be forewarned…you’ll want to finish the series. That darn, dreamy Edward Cullen gets in your head and …
I’m such a nerd. I can’t believe that I am hooked…nope make that addicted to the Twilight series. Over the weekend my sis brought me the first book; some of the kids at church talked about them all summer, but I thought, vampires–how lame. Ok. Vampires, at least the love-struck high-school ones, are not lame. They are so cool in fact that I went to see them on the big screen last night after I found out that it was the last night it was showing in the theater. They are so cool that I am going to drive 45 minutes out of my way to go to a friends house to get books 2, 3 & 4. There is a snow storm coming for the weekend. I will be not only buried under snow, but my nose buried in a high-school teen drama. My noble intentions of reading about the women that have shaped this country — gone — put back on the shelf for a forbidden romance. Sweet.
I’m surprised by how excited i’ve been about just watching today’s big events on t.v. i’m so glad to be a part of this wonderful day in our history. after the day’s events subside, i think i’m going to dive right into a new book I picked up yesterday. I have a feeling I will devour this as quickly as I did my last book.
“The history of American women is all about leaving home — crossing oceans and continents, or getting jobs and living on their own. Some of our national heroines were defined by the fact that they never nested — they were peripatetic crusaders… The center of our story is the tension between the yearning to create a home and the urge to get out of it.”
I think I’m going to like this book.
*********Post Script***********
I surprised myself again by tearing up several times today. I am so proud to be part of such a wonderful country; I feel so fortunate to be alive and grateful… for so much!
time is relative. i love my new schedule. breakfast with a friend. stop in a local shop to see what’s new. meet my priest for afternoon coffee. quick shoe shop with another friend. stop off at library. sit and read magazines. bring home a few goodies. new snow falling. i’m looking forward to tomorrow.
and new on my shelf tonight:
Well it’s officially fall around here. Yesterday we made apple crisp from freshly picked apples, watched a scary movie and kept the windows open. Today it rained and stayed in the 60s and my hubby was inspired to make a fall meal. Each year when the leaves begin to turn, I reach for one of my favorite cookbooks. Well, it’s not actually a cookbook. It was a “best of” from Cooking Light in 2003 (or 2004). This little book-lett holds 119 recipes of the best soups and stews. And today proved to be no less memorable than in fall’s past. We had the Crab & Corn chowder and Oh-So-Help-Me. Yum. We originally invited my in-laws over, but I’m glad they couldn’t make it because now we have left-overs!
(too lazy to type the recipe. email me if you want it typed out!)
So I decided to make a new cake… well actually it was a new chocolate frosting from last month’s Gourmet magazine. Whoa… it is RICH! The recipe is simple:
1 1/2 lbs of semi-sweet chocolate
3 cups heavy cream
Put choc. in large bowl. Heat cream to simmer and then pour over choc. Stir until melted. Let cool then chill overnight & thaw before use.
For the cake I just used a basic yellow cake recipe from the Southern Living Cookbook of choice. And I decorated with the a basic butter-cream recipe from Wilton. As Michael Kors might say, I think I over-worked it. I should have left off a few dots and flowers…but I couldn’t edit myself when I had all that sugar.
I’m having a hard time motivating myself to get ready for work today. I had a hell of a week last week. It finally ended with me doing the one thing you should not do at work. I cried. In front of a co-worker. A male co-worker. It was humiliating. First of all I’m not that much of a crier anyway…well usually. It seems that I can only muster up tears after much needed really good sex or when I’m terribly sad. But here I was, looking my co-worker in the face and I couldn’t hold it back any more. I was particularly frustrated b/c this is a guy who comes into work exasperated once a week that his wife was crying for no reason and he thinks women are just so “emotional” (and therefore illogical). His ability to reason and see me as a valued and educated woman just went out the door. This was not helping. I immediately thought of the ladies of Sex and the City when they recounted their own mortifying crying-at-work experiences and then the prejudices that follow.
One of the best stories I’ve heard about this came from a book I received when I first got married. In it the author is on a plane when he picks up a magazine and reads an article about a woman who found herself in tears at work. The cliff’s notes version is that the light when on for him when he read (and I paraphrase) “I just wanted to tell everyone in that room — ignore these tears, I’m merely sweating. I am hot, bothered and need some air.” That’s really what I wanted to say to my co-worker, I’m merely sweating…just through my eyes…And I’m really frustrated and need a release and this is how it’s happening. This doesn’t mean I’m any less rational or thoughtful. It just means I have to have a kleenex in my hand for the next few minutes while I try not to ruin my makeup.
So when I was bumming around blog-land yesterday I found some photos that seem to capture how I feel about plugging into the matrix today. I think these photos are so creepy…but so cool. The artist is Alexey Titarenko. It’ called City of Shadows. I originally found it here. These Russian commuters caught on a time-lapsed camera capture what i think it feels like to go to work…anonymously, faceless, storyless.
