It’s no secret that I am mildly obsessed with “Real Simple” magazine. I am also obsessed with their website. What did I learn today? What is in season in Spring:
Spinach
Potatoes
Asparagus
Green Beans
Strawberries
Cherries
Snow, Sugar Snap, and Garden Peas
Rhubarb
Baby Lettuce
Radishes
Scallions
Artichokes
Luckily for me, these are all things I love. Explore for yourself, here!
This weekend, I did a little spring cleaning. I cleaned the kitchen, cleaned out the fridge (which seems to always have modly cheese in it), cleaned the bathroom, opened EVERY window in my house and watched the hair/dust balls roll around like tumbleweeds. Even though I had just swept. This has made me realize I need to buy a vacuum. Stat.
Meanwhile, I also cleaned out my closet this weekend. J and C helped, and I must say we were very successful. Most of the time I had to be CONVINCED to KEEP things. I know that K and SS will not believe this, but it is true.
The result? 2 garbage bags full of donation clothes. Including:
1. That ugly pink/white shirt (long sleeves) that fades from thread-bare to pink that K and SS both hated more than life;
2. Every pair of pants I was saving to fit into when I magically lose all the weight I’ve gained since I was 14;
3. Most of the t-shirts I owned from concerts that simply weren’t fitting. Sorry, Lifehouse and 3eb. I tried. Make bigger shirts;
4. That skirt that was every color under the sun (kind of plaid?) that I wore probably twice that SS and K also thought was weird;
5. Any t-shirt I haven’t wore in the past month;
6. Most of my pajamas except the ones that I also wear for yoga.
What did it not include? My Verve Pipe T-shirt (sorry K and SS, but I wanted it) and my Ben & Jerry’s t-shirt from Rhode Island I got when I was 13. Some things are meant to keep.
I feel better, but now I have no shorts for summer, and basically no clothes. And, before we even started, C and J both said, “I can’t believe these are all the clothes you have.” So there, girls from the East, see? I am out of clothes! I don’t have any! I swear!!
Next stop? Shopping with a group of ladies that know I am only allowed to buy practical items. We’ll see how it goes…
I love the Internet. For a lot of reasons. But one of the most recent reasons is because I can search for books that I can hardly remember anything about and find them.
For example, I have been haunted for years by this book I read in fourth grade about this girl who travels back in time through fog. One quick google search leads me to the answer: Fog Magic.
Another book I often think of is a book about a brother and sister who are orphans who have to pick parsnips for their foster parents, and then stumble upon an alternate universal. Google tells me: The Owlstone Crown.
10 other books I recently rediscovered from my childhood include:
1. Jacob Have I Loved
2. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
3. The Egypt Game
4. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
5. The BFG
6. A Wrinkle in Time
7. Heckedy Peg
8. Walk Two Moons
9. Tangerine
10. My Name is Brain
“I learned that unbelievably awful things can and do happen. In truth, they are not so rare, isolated events. Each of us has a story that would break someone’s heart. Despite the grief and unfairness of it all, we keep going. There are chores to be done. There are people who need our care. There is a life to be led. The real lesson was found…I realized that, regardless of the heartache, we may choose the moments in which we live. On that day, I learned that love creates a tremendous capacity for grace. And perhaps it is that grace that keeps us moving forward.”
So my friend, J, she had a heartbreak recently. She is so sad, and we are all sad for her, and we are doing lots of cuddling, loving, and snuggling in an attempt to forget sadness and focus on the purple and love.
I made her a mixed tape, or CD I guess, for those moments when she hurts so bad she thinks her chest might bust. That way, she can get it out on her own time.
If you’re looking for a good cry, or if you just like melancholy tunes, here’s a mix for you:
Being in Los Angeles this St. Patrick’s makes me homesick for the East, and for South Boston. Usually my St. Paddy’s day involves some form of a one Miss Katie and her fabulous Leprechaun boyfriend. And all the Irish friends that live about those parts.
I miss the cold, the layers, the Irish being proud of themselves (more so on this day than others) and the bars that are so clearly Irish. Oh, Solas, a night without you is sad this March 17.
Things I miss about the East, and St. Paddy’s day:
1. People calling you “lass”
2. “Top of the morning to ya” (“and the rest of the day to yourself,” which is the proper response.)
3. The Irish Blessing heard about the city (I am listening to bag pipes outside my window at work, so that’s OK.)
4. Green everwhere, signifying the beginning of Spring
5. Parades
6. Everyone discussing how they are Irish
7. Red Sox shirts everywhere (with a shamrock, or without, we’re pretty lenient)
8. Green dyed food (such as donuts at DD)
9. The word “wicked” thrown into every sentence (St. Paddy’s day, or not)
10. People who actually go to church on the Saints’ days.