Then We Came to the End

In early 2011, I wrote a list of goals that I have no desire to revisit now.  Why?  Because this year didn't go as planned. At all.  The Year of the Unexpected. And it was (I am) all the better for it.  Yes, there were low points--and it's not quite ending as I had hoped--but the past 52 weeks were worth it.  365 days during which the following people, events, songs, misc. things were there, and for that, I am eternally grateful*:

1.  Devotchka:  Exhaustible

2.  Singing "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" in a large music hall with The National and several strangers who were momentarily friends, just like this (although in a different location):

I could cry now for the happiness in my heart at that moment.  All the very best of us string ourselves up for love...


3.  The realization that I work with some freakin' amazing people including but not limited to:
*  Sweet V., whose laugh makes me laugh. Every. Time.
*  Cotton, with the most impressive cultural and vocabulary knowledge you'll ever encounter. Our team is simpatico. It's fait accompli.
*  Hilarious T., Specpar, the Shawshank Redemption tunnel into ACL to grab a chicken cone, etc.
*  Equally hilarious J., who understands music, the 90s, the impossible cuteness of Eli...and who I trust would kick any ill-mannered boy in the groin on my behalf. Not really. But she possesses the awesome spirit of someone who would do that.
*  O., who I'm pretty sure I've been friends with since forever.

*  My little brother, M.  

*  S., among other things, for the story of throwing the matchbook at her future husband and for listening to stories about Dave from Dallas.  Good times. For reals.
*  And...for...
*  Too many others to list here. What I learned in 2011 is that, in taking the time to get to know the people you spend the most time with--even if it's in a work setting--you'll discover that the vast majority are worth getting to know.

4. Finally acknowledging my long-standing crush on Jeff Tweedy, following his interview for a PBS show during which I was an attentive audience member.  Maybe this will explain it.  Maybe not. If not, simply marvel at the music and the drum kit. P.S. I love you, NPR Music.

5.  Snowmine:  Let Me In

6.  My running groups.  Overwhelmingly supportive and encouraging.  Can't wait to start again in just a few months.

7.  Mi familia.  It seems we rarely see each other, but when we do, we just pick up where we left off and laugh our way into some more memories.  We also have some of the best photographs ever taken.

8.  Beirut: Santa Fe  (with Goshen closely following)

9.  A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.  Words will fall short to try to describe how much I love this book.  And, I got to hear her speak in-person.  What the what? Amazing.

10.  A visit to my alma mater to remember its beauty and memories and to rub a terrapin's nose for luck.  And a visit to The Bagel Place.  (Though, why did you have to close, Jungle Grille?)

11.  Krissy (Krissy. Krissy.), my sister from a different mister.  Though such language may freak you out.

12.  The Head and the Heart:  Rivers and Roads

13.  Taking pictures.  Not that I have a particular talent, but...it mattered.

14.  "Focus One Point and Breathe" on the bridge and other graffiti in The City in which I Live.

15.  The Middle East:  Land of the Bloody Unknown

16.  Neighbors who are friends.  There is a rumor that neighbors no longer care for each other. So, thanks to my neighbors, for choosing to live according to the opposite.  And we have the license plate numbers of "suspicious vehicles" on our listserv to prove it.  You're the best.  Seriously.  A big part of the reason that moving to this zip code has made me start to feel like this is really home (for now.)

This picture was taken not far from my neighborhood and is a metaphor: 

several individual lights come together to make the world shine brighter. 

Think about it, won't you?

17.  Mannon and P-Tuck who consistently demonstrate that friendship can survive time-zone differences.

18.  Passenger: Flight of the Crow (We get each other, Michael Rosenberg.)

19.  Dads are the Original Hipsters, Brilliantly Sarcastic Responses to Completely Well-Meaning Signs, Cute Overload, This is Photobomb, and Catalog Living for giving me the five-minute mental breaks I need to be more productive.

20.  The Leisure Society:  You Could Keep Me Talking

21.  Visits to the same coffee shop every Sunday morning where they now know my name and drink. And I don't say that in a poser kind of way.  Four-point-five journals completed over several iced mochas sitting among a crowd of familiars.  My distant family of sorts.  Some of the best quality time of the year.

22. Playing guitar. Again, no particular talent, though I did learn to play riffs for the first time.  And I don't say that in a poser kind of way.

23.  The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins and its subsequent unorganized book club at work, to be continued when the movie is released in March 2012.  Life doesn't turn out the way you think. In fact, things often turn out in ways that you wished they wouldn't.  But, we find ways to go on...and love wins.

24.  Van Morrison:  Brand New Day  (A song for both an ending of one year and for the beginning of another that comes tomorrow.  For the love of humanity, can anyone find me the Van Morrison Unplugged album in 2012?)

*Disclaimers:  This list is neither exhaustive nor in any particular order.  24 acknowledgements, 2 for each month.

Bonus (or something I reallyreallyreally want to remember in 2012):  In 2011, my car--by no fault of my own--was hit-and-run in the exact same spot.  A smallish dent became a largish dent.  Impossible you say? Bad luck you add?  So it seems.  

But, here is the silver lining:  If the impossibility of bad can happen...then the impossibility of good can happen! Anything is possible, friends!  Anything!  With an expectant heart, I look to you 2012...

Happy New Year to all!

A Winter's Tale in Fall

I wondered why you listened when I philosophized about stars, ashes, and the capitol building where a would-be statesman might be if he hadn't first run away with music.

Even after I was back here, walking with you along this street you call home, our lives never dwindled into an epilogue of predictability and too many nights in on the couch.

And all the answers came when you held my hand beneath those stars and blew away the ashes of my mistakes, showing me that we are building according to a greater design as we run to the music that carried us here.


photo source

Yard Sale Finds & the Past Future of Science

Yesterday, I visited the mega-church mega-yard sale in my neighborhood.  I rolled out of bed at 6:45 and made it to the sale by 7:10.  I guess I'm one of those early birds.  And here are my discoveries:

That big vase is going to be filled with something!  Something, I tell you, but I don't know what yet.  Let me pause to mention that all-white objects are difficult to photograph.  Moving on...

Vintage fabrics & tableclothes. Bloggers love vintage fabrics & tableclothes like they love Pinterest and Etsy. It's how we roll.

I'll eventually to attach a hook to the back of the bowl and hang it on my dining room wall. I'm going for a 70's kitsch theme. More on the later.

No kitchen is complete without a rhinoceros butter dish.  Oh, I don't use stick butter.  But, it's a rhinoceros butter dish!!  I'll hide something in there.

The fabric is an apron.  It was deep pockets in which I plan to carry around a baster, spatula, timer, meat cleaver, and a full set of knives.  A cook should always be prepared to draw the necessary utensil.

And now my favorite:

An early 1900's science book on hygiene and the ill effects of alcoholic beverages and spirits and opium.  You'll see that, at the turn of the 20th century, bones were sewn together--if people were of the mind to call it that.  The scientific advances we would make in the next 100 years...

Let's test our knowledge, shall we?

Do buckwheat pancakes ever taste not as well?

Ones woman's trash is another woman's treasure, my friends.

This is Whole Foods On Saturdays at Noon

I can't believe you cut in front of me at the salad bar!

Source

You will not get the last dark chocolate & orange brioche!

Source

Especially after someone stole my cart in the produce section today.  I'm not kidding. 

Maybe next weekend, it will be more like this:

We love shopping!

source

P.S. I love you, Whole Foods. I really, really do. You know I'll be back.  Because we always go back to the things we love.

Trapeze Swinger

 

Someone wrote the sentence above in response to this song.

I won't say anything else lest I ruin the woeful beauty of the quote and the song.

Sew Fun

This fall, I embarked on an adventure called "I'm going to really start doing all those things that I have said a million times I'm going to do". To that end, I signed up for a Hand Embroidery class.  The class is held in an ordinary house-cum-magical craft house. 

My two classmates and I learned about nine different stitches.  Embroidery is very therapeutic.  A bit of a challenge and definitely requires practice.  The pattern with which we started looks like a Picasso-esque face:

but soon, with a bunch of perfectly placed stitches, it will look just like....

  A flower, the sun, and some grass!  Just like it!

My little crafty crew demonstrated a certain esprit de corps, congratulating each other for every shaky stitch and promising to look for each other in future classes.  I drove away from the magical craft house mentally cataloging every piece of fabric that's in need of a good stitch (or eighty).


I've got my eye on you, Martha Stewart.

It's Easy Like Saturday Morning

This is how my day started:

I inherited this copy of "Nine Stories" when I moved into my newest office. Its pages were begging to be read.  Judging by the still stiff spine, I may be the first person to expose them to light.  It smells like it was once one of twenty-seven ten-cent garage sale books in a box dragged up from the basement.  Altogether, very delightful and I'm sorry it took me so long to pay attention to it.


This particular trip to the coffee shop also included a Nutella donut.  I had intentions of taking its picture, but the temptation of eating it was too much. 

You may think this blog entry is pointless, blog reader, but it is not.  There is a lesson here:  Read "Nine Stories" and eat a Nutella donut.  Don't wait to take pictures.  Just eat that thing.

Happiness is a Weekend with a Warm Puppy

And So It Begins...

This new blog starts on a Saturday afternoon. 2:18 p.m. to be precise. An unpredicted thunderstorm is passing through spreading .01 inces of rain--an appreciated yet trivial amount that will not even begin to remedy this drought that may turn my state into a dustbowl (though one could argue it already has.)


Next Stop Wonderland. My blog title.  Taken from the movie with the same name.
For several reasons including these quotes: 


Bookseller: : Don't close it. You should never close a book until you've read something from it.
Erin Castleton: What?
Bookseller: Well, just a sentence or a word. It can be very, very revealing. Just read something, anything.

Andre de Silva: See, you are sad and happy. You don't smile but you are content. You are sad and happy at the same time. In Brazil we have a term for that - it's 'Saudade'. It's like ... melancholic, nostalgic; it's very Bossanova. 

Welcome to my blog, friends. I'm so glad you're here for the adventure.  Next stop?  To be determined.