Together at Last

This is my bike. She's a real champion. A friend.

She is strangely unnamed.

She's just joined me in the desert along with the rest of the belongings that we'd left languishing in storage until we had the time to drive them cross-country.

We finally moved into an apartment that is reasonably sized for two full grown human beings and has more than one closet.

I am ecstatic.

There are still boxes strewn about, but it already feels like home.

Zen Desk

Image via http://youaremyfave.tumblr.com/

This afternoon after fighting the procrastination and non-productivity beasts for a few hours, I cleaned off my desk at work. My inspiration came from this post by Gretchen Rubin, the happiness guru.

And you know what? She was right. I feel more calm and ready to tackle tomorrow's work day already.

Now on to unpacking that suitcase that I've been neglecting....

Beautiful Mind

Over the holidays, Kim Peek, the inspiration for the movie 'Rain Man,' passed away. His obituary in the New York Times has been popping up in my mind ever since. They said that Mr. Peek had "an astonishing skill that allowed him to read facing pages of a book at once — one with each eye — he read as many as 12,000 volumes. Even more remarkable, he could remember what he had read."

His story is a reminder that there is so much that we still don't know about the miracles and mysteries of life. And so much that we shouldn't judge.

And just like that...

Photo found here.

My blogging hiatus has come to an end.

Think I got a bit overwhelmed by the combination of travel, holidays, work, and the Best of 2009 list.

Very, very excited about 2010 and the goals I've set for myself. Maybe more on that to come...

One of my resolutions involves dusting off the beautiful sewing machine my parents gave me for Christmas last year and re-learning how to sew. Marisa's project over at New Dress a Day has been seriously inspiring. My obsession with thrift stores can be justified if I can remedy ill-fitting pieces.

Blog Find of the Year: Smitten Kitchen

This year I moved to Phoenix. Because it is where my husband is, and because home is where the heart is and he's my heart, it's now my home. It flows like a romantic logic problem, but it makes sense, right? Now that I'm out here, I seem to have more time on my hands. I am still working east coast hours, which means I start very early and end fairly early, too. More time is a beautiful thing. But in a new city (especially one that sometimes traps its residents indoors with 115+ heat), it can feel a little bit lonely.

And when I get lonely, I like to eat. So while my husband is toiling away at grad school and I'm holed up in our teensy apartment, I'll cook elaborate meals that I never would have had the time to make a year ago. Smitten Kitchen is my go-to for what's for dinner. Deb, the genius behind the blog, writes in a casual, hilarious way that makes me feel like I've been talking to a good friend about mushroom bourguinon or pumpkin butter. It takes the intimidation right out of serious cookery. She's not super rigid about instructions or measurements. In fact, she makes me feel like even though I have a tendency to forget whether I've already put in 2 tsp or sugar or 3, or added baking soda instead of baking powder, whatever I'm making is going to turn out ok. It always does.

Deb's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Heaven.

Best Workshop 2009

My feet have really been dragging on this post. I think I was scared off by the word "conference," which to me represents long hours on aching feet. Work stuff.

So, instead, let's discuss the drawing class I took back in January, as it was a workshop of sorts. The class took place over the course of four Monday evenings in an ill-heated art studio in Charleston. They were a gift to myself. A gentle nudge to keep myself inspired.

There were four of us in the class. Two wildly talented kids and a mother with children my age. I struggled at first to realize that, while the others had more refined skills than me (and probably just more skills in the art department, period), there was nothing wrong with my drawings. They were just mine.

It was intensely relaxing and perspective-altering to sit down for 90 whole minutes and focus on trying to capture what I saw on paper. After each class I felt like I'd just finished a yoga practice. Calmer. More focused. Like I was interpreting the world a little bit differently. Just thinking about it makes me want to go home and sketch...

Best Night Out 2009 - Everyone I Love in One Room

One of the greatest things about weddings--aside from marrying your best friend--is the bringing together of friends and family. Everyone you love in one room. My best friend from elementary school with whom I used to prank phone call my fifth grade teachers involved in a deep conversation with my World War II fighter pilot grandfather. My nine year old twin cousins dancing with the man that introduced my husband and I nearly six years ago in Costa Rica. Just thinking about it I get teary eyed. It makes you want to bar the doors and keep everyone in the reception hall forever.

After our reception the party got rowdier. It shifted one block down the street to our neighborhood bar, a dark, somewhat stinky, incredible dive. My husband and I were exhausted, in every sense of the word. Our getaway car took us to a hotel and we began peeling off the wedding garb. We lay on the bed, and in any other circumstance, there's no way we would have gotten up. But we looked at each other and the thought of our best friends at our favorite bar was enough to propel us out of the hotel room and to the curb to hail a taxi.

When we arrived, there was a five second silence as the doors swung open and then everyone started to cheer. The bar was packed with familiar faces from all the eras of our lives. It was magic.