I came up with the genius idea earlier this week that I should spend my Sundays like a true writer, typing up a proper blog post full of reveries from that week.
Alas, I wasted too much time doing nonsense things that needed no doing. Now at almost midnight I am too knacked to think and write.
This is no reason to abandon such a good idea though, and we’ll all just have to live with the fact that the first addition of Long Form Sunday was short on length and contemplation. There is always next time.
My highlights from this week include:
I received a postcard from Spain! Our cousin Priya is taking a year long sabbatical in Seville to learn Flamenco dancing. What a bad ass thing to do! And to think she made time to send us a postcard (with the most beautiful cursive writing I have seen in a while) made me feel incredibly special.
{ Life lesson # 267860976 – Send someone a postcard and make their day! }
I begged my family all week to come up with dinner ideas for next week and this is the best we came up with. I am in a phase of life when all signs are pointing to the fact that I am a bad cook. I hope it’s all in my head. I decided that may be just following recipes will cure me of my curse but that hasn’t worked. Apparently my fault also lies in being bad at picking recipes which even when made exactly, are not things my family will eat.
Speaking of food, I made a Spanish toast for snack today after taking a lovely walk alone in the rain. It was a nub of a baguette from Boulted Bread that I had frozen the other day. Toasted and rubbed with garlic clove and tomato. Sprinkled with olive oil, salt, and pepper. On my walk, I listed to Oliver Sacks’ Everything in its Place: First Loves and Lost Tales on Audible.
On Friday we went over to our friends for pizza and movie. We walked over with our many children, a bottle of wine, and a delicious tiramisu (made by my mom-in-law; one tray we ate fresh; other she had secretly left behind to be discovered and devoured later). We came back feeling whole and loved and so lucky to have such wonderful people in our life.
David Sedaris is one of my favorite authors. My secret dream is to write and make people laugh like he does. He grew up in Raleigh. I think of him every time I go to the YMCA on Hillsborough Street where sits the abandoned building which used to be an IHOP where he’d go to write. Or also when I see his brother’s hardwood business ads on my walks around the neighborhood, which happens frequently enough. It’s a small world, I mean we practically know each other.
I saw this story in the New York Times this week and it flooded me with so many memories. The year was 1995 when DDLJ was released. My older sister was probably there for the “first day first show” because she was in love with the lead actor. Few days later, when out parents were out of town, she surprised me by calling my school to say I was sick and then whisked me away to the movies so that I too could watch DDLJ. I was probably the first in my group of friends and couldn’t stop bragging about it. Sisters are the best. I am not sure how one gets through life without one.
I had this dream of working on a big jigsaw puzzle with my family where it takes days to solve the whole thing. Well, dream realized. It eats up half the kitchen island and is always in the way. But dream realized I suppose.
I designed some journals! I had this idea floating in my head for the last two year but I never seemed to find the right time to actually work on it. Then I took a solo trip to Paris for a week at the end of October last year. I came back with so much energy, determination, and headspace that I made not one but three journals in a matter of a week. You can find out more about them by going to the SHOP tab above. I have more announcements coming your way regarding this, but for now, let me just say that it feels wonderful to get the idea out of my head and into my hands for you to see.
That’s it for now. Have a good night and talk to you soon!
