A Homemade Life

Working at the Library comes with some unofficial, yet fantastic, perks. The nonfictions section, as per the usual, has me mesmerized and every once and a while a great title or cover catches my eye. Currently I'm reading A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg; and I usually don't recommend books until I've finished them, but this one couldn't wait.

Molly's book developed out of her blog, and the passion for cooking she learned from her father. She recounts delightful memories that will have you giggling and connect you with the recipes she shares--she'll become your friend, and her stories inspire an intimate connection.

"For one thing, [my mother's] quite petite; barely over five feet tall. "Five feet and three-quarter inches," actually, is what she would tell you. When someone hugs her, she almost disappears, swallowed up in arms and fabric. Like those impossibly tiny lamps and teacups you find in dollhouses, she inspires a lot of cooing, and though she's very assertive, people often want to pat her on the head. Luckily, she has a special trick for times like these, when a little height would come in handy: she can trot around in a pair of high heels as though the were bedroom slippers. Legend has it that she wore them straight through her pregnancy with me, with nary swollen ankle to be seen. She may be eligible for the senior discount at the movie theater, but she's very much a fox. She also, incidentally, makes a fine pound cake, and between you and me, that's the clincher." 

A Homemade Life is the kind of book I carry around with me wherever I go. It is an I-don't-want-to-put-it-downer, chocked full of fun stories and moments tied together with food and family. Keep in mind I haven't finished it yet, but already I want to go to the market and pick up a bag of flour, and some eggs.

Molly's blog, where she still writes and posts recipes is orangette.blogspot.com.

All the Kids

 Vegetables. From left celery, carrots, peas, corn, and zucchini.

 Just look natural Zach.

This is from a few weeks ago, Zach and James came over to hang out around dinner time. The thing about Thomas and Beth's house, is you feel completely at home after just a few times hanging out. These guys got to stay up and watch a show and even though it was probably Diego or Arthur, they plopped down on the couch just the same. You bet I did as well.

Out My Window

The sun set as an enormous cloud, swirling and churning like waves in the ocean hovered above our neighborhood. Soon we heard the wind that was pushing the clouds around above us, and rain began to hit the windows sideways. The sky erupted with cracking and grumbling--for hours it continued to roar.

Rainy Day

We've been having a drought.

All summer.

Yesterday it finally rained. This morning I woke up to a cloudy-rainy-sweet-lazy sky. The Alina, Levi and I drew pumpkins this morning and hung them on the fridge.

I've been working at the Library for about a week now and I absolutely love it. I'm getting faster at shelving books and it's so amazing to work in such a wonderful, quiet, peaceful environment. Sometimes I catch myself reading the picture books and often I find books I really want to read and they end up on my cart to take home.

Currently I'm reading Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campell.

Currently tea, James Taylor radio, and a cozy house full of people are filling my day.

Team

If I start to write less, call less, skype less, answer your text messages less, get back to you after a few days rather than later the same day--please be patient with me. I got another job.

The exciting part about all of this is that I was hired at a local library! I will be shelving books about 18 hours per week, at night. Yesterday was my first day and I love it already. I work mostly on my own, there is a lot of quiet, and it is only a few hours a day. Today I worked in the children's room, a blast.

However this means I will be working 50 or more hours a week. There will be less time for internet usage and I may not pick up my phone as often. I'm trying to work as much and save as much money as possible.

Because we're getting married.

James also picked up another job, which may be more news for some. He will deliver newspapers for the San Antonio Express at night and keep his current position during the day. He pulled out all the seats in his car so he can stack papers up high.

He'll sleep in the afternoons.

We may not see each other much.

But in all of it we feel as if we are on a team, working together, fighting back to back. We're saving up money, paying off debts, and investing in the season to come. Thank you for your love, your support. Thank you for believing in us and loving us from wherever you are. We wouldn't be doing great without you.

Stand By Me

Yet again. San Francisco, how I love thee. Branches, you've stolen my heart.

September

This is my favorite month. Absolutely, without a doubt, my favorite month of the entire year.

I discovered my love for it while in college. September in Costa Mesa and Newport means warm, sunny coastal weather, empty beaches and delicious ocean. It means the start of a new school year, breezy afternoons on coffee shop porches with slanted sunlit spaces. It means cardigans and bike rides on empty beach-town streets. Poetry and art, fire pits and friendship. It contains naps in hammocks lazy painting afternoons.

September in Oxford, England means books and walks through parks. It means lattes at Blackwells and romps in the countryside. Bells ring and leaves begin their journey into beauty. Ice cream walks. Pub nights and theological debates about humanism. There are picnics in meadows and journeys through palaces. September in Oxford brings soft strolls around the libraries to get sandwiches for lunch, with jackets and boots and scarves. Sunday afternoon tea with oranges, cookies and a door propped open to let the fresh air in. Apple scrumping and painting by the river.

In Maryland September means beautiful. Full of hope and life it fills old houses with sweet smells and laughter. It means stinkbugs too. Early mornings with hot tea and chocolate chip pancakes. There are big backyards full of garden wonder, and a cat that lays lazy in the light. Train rides with books and seats full of people. Fresh crab dinners on the back deck, port that pairs perfectly with chocolate chip cookies. Brie cheese with honey and fruit. Salads and potato-leek soup. We wear tights and with skirts and boots there in September. The whole green world hangs suspended in time waiting for the perfect moment to explode with color.

The light of September is different somehow. The sun hangs differently in the sky and and it's warmth inspires me.

This morning it happened. With a cool breeze September arrived.