As soon as she gets out of school, 8th grade or 12th, depending on where she’s from, she must get a minimum wage job at a bulk food store, bagging cinnamon powder and gummy bears and oats. Here she will learn valuable skills such as customer interactions, and how to not cut her fingers off with a cheese slicer. Once she has completed her bulk food term, other job options include cleaning houses, labeling books at Choice Books, anything related…
Ahhh. Introducing this book to you all feels like introducing you to my (secretly favorite) child. It’s one that I reread every year or so, when I want something light and relaxing and hilarious, and every time, it is just as fun as I remembered. Daddy-Long-Legs, by Jean Webster, is the story of Jerusha, a girl who had spent all eighteen years of her life in an orphanage, until one day, she was called into Mrs. Lippet’s office for an…
“Mmmph yrsh,” you mumble in reply as you hastily swallow your unchewed food. Leave it on, it will drive you nuts. Tear it off, it will bleed and sting. Ah yes, the great equalizer of humanity. This person will be seated next to you at the party. He’ll probably also chew with his mouth open. Of course, you won’t notice till you have your legs comfortably stretched out into the middle of the circle you’re sitting in.
Ok, first I have to get something off my chest. What’s pictured isn’t a charcuterie board. Charcuterie means cold cooked meats, and this board has no meat on it at all, but I’m going to insist on calling it a charcuterie board because I like that word, even if I’m always afraid I’m mispronouncing it. I could call it a vegetarian charcuterie board, but I’d want to wash my mouth out with bacon after saying that, I’m afraid. So here’s how you…
When I talk to people about Asheville, the reaction is usually either, “Ooh, I love Asheville!” or, “Asheville is too weird for my taste.” It really is a place unlike any other I’ve ever been to, and since I’m a fan of bizarre, I’m in the “I love it!” camp. It is packed with artists. When you walk the streets, you’ll see musicians on many corners, playing anything from guitars to keyboards to saxophones to spoons. It is also peppered…
I think I was born into the wrong family. Athleticism seems to come easy for most of them. I have a sister who can whip any girl around in softball (and some of the guys too), and brothers who seem to shine at any sport they try. I also have brothers who lived hours away from the nearest road, and who climbed up and down the steep mountainsides faster than the people who grew up in that village. Even my mom…
I’m blaming Pinterest, with its perfect little bohemian houses. But whoever made me do it, somehow I ended up buying a mandala throw instead of a traditional beach towel when I was doing my pre-beach shopping last summer. Turns out, it was one of my favorite purchases all year. Allow me to tell you why. One. The light, cottony fabric is perfect for wadding into a little ball to stuff into your beach bag or picnic basket. It folds up much…
Update: The lucky winner is Naomi. Congratulations! Thank you all so much for your entries. Hello pineapple comrades. This is a giveaway! But you already knew that. This is ostensibly to celebrate the summer solstice happening tomorrow, but mostly it’s to celebrate that you’ve stuck with me and read my ramblings and cheered me on this far. The winner will receive the book pictured above- a gift from my personal library. It’s a compilation from one of my favorite authors,…
You know how sometimes you encounter a book quite by chance, and it kind of knocks your socks off? When I worked at a little local used bookstore, someone brought in this book to exchange, and the quirky illustration and title made me decide it needed me. The story starts out simply enough, with Reggie answering a newspaper ad for gifted children looking for special opportunities. But he is quickly drawn into a plot much bigger than himself, and is placed…
Illinois is… …the place where I first lived on my own, twelve hours away from my family. I moved there, knowing one person previously, and I’ve never regretted it. I seem to have awesome luck in finding roommates, and while our lives have taken very different paths since that year together, we still have loads of fun when we see each other. …homey. In many ways it feels like stepping back in time to go back there, to the community…
I know probably most of you live in the country, and would never have it any other way. But in the last year I’ve discovered that I positively love life in an apartment in the middle of town, and I’d like to tell you why. One. I don’t have to mow a yard, because I don’t have one. Instead, I can walk a few blocks to the town park, which is much bigger than any yard I’d want to maintain,…
“So, what are we doing exactly?” I asked Lyn. “I’m really not sure myself,” she replied, as we travelled the long road to our mysterious destination. It started like this: I heard whisperings that there was a random lady who wanted to give away free facials. She was trying to do a certain number each month, and through some twisted grapevine, she had offered to do facials for Lyn and I and a friend. What a goodhearted lady, it seemed,…