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Archive for the ‘Nostalgia’ Category

To Tammy on her Birthday

Posted in Core, Food, Fun, Home, Nostalgia on February 24, 2023| 2 Comments »

Today is my sister’s birthday.

My first forever friend.

The person with whom I have the most inside jokes.

My “we can fight but if you so much as look at her unpleasantly I will end you” person.

I’m very protective:

(and not at all trying to make her kiss her elbow because MeMaw told me that if she did, she’d turn into a boy. I don’t know where you heard that vicious rumor.)

We grew up here:

With these people:

Lots of room to run, play, make mud pies, stage wedding ceremonies for our cats, chase the dogs, and swing until we threw up.

One of the things I love most about Tammy is her exuberant enthusiasm for all things joyful.

Like good teas from Equal Exchange.

Or a day to binge-watch Disney+

And getting her hairs done.

And Christmas.

And making sure the dogs are clean.

And marrying this guy.

I love our coffee (and sometimes pie) outings.

(KIMZEY’S. It took me this whole week to remember the name.)

She’s the person I call if I need cake and don’t want to eat it alone.

She’s the first person I call when I have good news, because she’ll be even more excited for me than I am. She’s the first person I call when I have bad news, because she already has a plan.

She is passionate, principled, warm, funny, organized, curious, responsible, and diligent.

I’m so blessed to have her as a sister.

I love you, Bock. Happy birthday!

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To Michelle on Her Birthday

Posted in Denton, Fandom, Fun, Home, Lucky, Mental Health, Nostalgia, What I'm Into on February 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

You may remember Michelle from the approximately 2,342 times I’ve mentioned her over the years, or at least from her cameo on Tuesday’s post:

Today is her birthday, and I’m so happy she was born.

We met on the MRMB (Michael Rosenbaum Message Board – ah, fandom), where I knew her as ravenluvslex (raven for short, which is still the name she’s listed under in my phone). I met Michelle when I still had my first blog on livejournal (RIP). We traveled to Kansas City together to meet up with other fans where no one turned out to be a serial killer and we sang happy birthday to Michael Rosenbaum’s face on a cake.

We also met back before I carried a phone that takes pictures everywhere I went, so most of my documentation of our early days is in writing or in a picture album somewhere. Or on videos taken by other fans that we don’t really need to see.

I still have a lot of pictures of her sticking out her tongue (see above and below).

(Aw, orange couch)

(aw, Bochy’s)

There are so many things I adore about Michelle.

She’s always up for a good time.

She lets us take group pictures of feet even though she hates them (feet, not group pictures, to be clear). 

She loved going to the club as much as I did.

(It’s not blurry. It’s ARTSY.)

(We should go again sometime. I promise to only spend a minor portion of the evening crying about the old place.)

She gave Nelly Cat a great life.

(Aw, Nelly Cat. *pets*)

She helps me locate Billy Boyd when necessary (the world is just better knowing that somewhere, he is).

And sends me pictures of her face when I tell her I miss it (which is even better than Billy Boyd).

She also made this super cute kid:

I love Michelle’s passion, her compassion, her boldness, her humor, her honesty, and her insight. I love that we have just as much (or more) fun together binge-watching TV and sharing delicious snacks as we do going out. 

Michelle/Raven/Rupert, I love you. So, so much. Happy birthday, friend.

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To Maggie on Her Favorite Day

Posted in Denton, Food, Fun, Joy, Lucky, Nostalgia, What I'm Into, Work on February 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I met Maggie when she was a student working in the building where I was a night desk clerk, where she fit in really well with our weird staff.

She endeared herself to me pretty quickly because:

  1. She would work the night shift on the weekends, which were otherwise horribly difficult to schedule.
  2. She often hung out at the front desk with me when I was working, but in an unobtrusive way. Just the right kind of company.
  3. She was the mastermind behind the original Suzanne-a-thon, an all-night appreciation event, which I appreciated in return.
  4. She liked and encouraged my choice of nicknames for her, which mostly consisted of words that begin with “Mag.” Magnanimous was the one I used most often.

Soon, she was promoted to night desk at another hall. We IM-ed all night during our shifts, and we sat by each other at Friday staff meetings, where she totally wore green.

Soon we became good friends, which doesn’t typically happen quickly for either of us, but we seemed to click.

We shared similar hobbies.

We went shopping together.

We often enjoyed brunch with messy coffee (hers) together.

We even saw the Smurf movie. I really, really have to love someone to watch the Smurf movie with them.

And she must really, really love me, because she got up at ridiculous hours and went outside to go running with me when I forgot my personality and decided I wanted to train for a marathon.

She liked (most of) my friends and got along well with (most of) them. One in particular:

Maggie and Michelle and I lived together for a while, and that was so much fun. Well, for most of us.

Then Maggie moved to Houston, but we still text and IM almost every day. The first time I visited, we had pie.

And, of course, brunch.

We don’t see each other very often, but when we do, we make the most of it with delicious food and (sometimes) matching pjs.

All this is to say that, although my view of Valentine’s typically mirrors the words of another Maggie, the day always makes me think of my favorite Maggie.

The best Maggie.

The only Maggie for me.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Magamemenon.

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Day 30 – Holiday Cozy

Posted in 31 Days, Church, Home, Lush, Nostalgia, Seasons on October 31, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Aw, Advent candles and pockets. Ignore the ash on the table.

Advent is soon! I’m considering Celtic Advent this year, because the four-ish weeks never seem long enough.

Cozy is the main reason I like Advent and Christmas. The lights, presence, pleasure (coffee, tea, wine, cake, etc.), communal/equality, gratitude, comfort, togetherness, shelter/home of it. I get why this season is hard for a lot of people, especially those who live here and don’t celebrate Christmas, especially if they work or have worked in retail where they play the most annoying Christmas songs ad nauseum for months on end. And in some ways, it’s hard for me, too. But a spot of melancholy hardly ever keeps me from enjoying something.

I do feel compelled to keep a lot of my joy about the season under the radar (except here and now on the internet, of course) so that I don’t become part of the intense way that others try to shove the holiday down everyone’s throat (looking at you, Starbucks cup zealots). Luckily, I’m usually so caught up in preparing for services at church and other fun things I enjoy this time of year that I miss a lot of that, especially during Advent. Because of the way it falls around work schedules and family gatherings, the twelve days of Christmas partly become a transitional time of letting go and tucking in to prepare for the new year. It’s the time of the year that I’m most likely to enjoy getting by on as little as possible and appreciating what I have.

I don’t know if it’s the start of the church year or (some of) the seasonal music or the (mythical) sweater weather, but the season is very cozy to me. Some of my traditions include going to the farm, reading night the night before I leave (I often buy new pajamas and book specifically for the evening), and coming home to rest. Then there’s the best week of the year (Christmas to New Year’s Day) with goal-setting and shopping and catching up with friends but not really planning anything. I used to plan a lot before the week but I’ve found that it’s even more relaxing if the weeks leading up to it are calm, too.

I tend to celebrate seasons more than holidays, so I don’t know that I have specific traditions for certain days. What are some of yours?

I’ve been talking about living a lush life all month.

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Day 28 – Spring and Summer Cozy

Posted in 31 Days, Beauty, Food, Lush, Nostalgia, Seasons on October 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

When I think of the things I like about spring and summer, it’s a short list, and it’s mostly food. The fresh produce in Texas during summer, y’all? Amazing. I mean, it’s good all year, really, because we don’t have proper seasons. But that first bite of ripe peach in late June/early July almost makes me forgive it for being 14,000 degrees outside.

During childhood, summer meant swimming lessons and the occasional church camp. Mostly it meant more time to read and being locked outside to “enjoy the sunlight, dammit.” We have a big backyard at the farm, so there were often games set up for the family or whoever else moseyed on by to play. I still have a scar from running into the horseshoe post while playing frisbee. My favorite game we played was croquet. Spoiler alert for my 50th birthday coming up in a few years – I may have a Wonderland party, complete with an ongoing game of croquet. That seems like a fitting way to end half a century and kick off the spring.

Summertime is synonymous with play to me. I never quite shook the summer vacation vibe, even though I no longer work in a job where I have summers off (or at least with a lighter workload). I’m more spontaneous during the summer. I’m more likely to say yes when people say, “Hey, if you’re not doing anything tonight, join us for ___!” Unless it’s outside. Because WHY. What about Texas outside in the summer is fun at all?

For the last few years, I’ve posted a summer bucket list that is often full of fun things that I want to remember to enjoy, like farmers’ markets, swimming, fresh flowers, and snow cones. My food staples are typically fruit, salad, and sandwiches because it’s too hot to cook. I make several batches of sun tea, and I usually have a signature potion or two that I particularly like that season (this past summer was a toss-up between hibiscus and fresh mint).

I’m also more likely to adopt a signature cocktail over the summer. Some of my summer favorites include:

Summer hygge is capturing that perfect lazy afternoon by the pool with a good book and an umbrella drink. Days like that almost trick me into forgetting the weather.

Every season has its lush moments.

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Day 16 – Food

Posted in 31 Days, Church, Food, Lush, Nostalgia, Nourish, Roots on October 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »

“If hygge was a person, I think it would be Alice Waters.”
Meik Wiking – The Little Book of Hygge

From the moment I heard about Alice Waters and her connection to the Slow Food movement, I’ve been hooked. Maybe it’s because I grew up on a farm where we grew our own peaches and pecans and enjoyed the bounty of MeMaw’s robust garden. Perhaps it’s because I’ve always harbored secret fantasies of building my own version of Chez Panisse. It could just be the simple fact that good food, especially food grown or produced within driving distance and/or cooked with love, gives me a solid sense of place like nothing else can.

The fastest way to my affection is to cook for me. One of my favorite birthdays was one of the years I was vegan. I was having a hard time coming up with a restaurant that all my friends would enjoy and where I also could get food I loved and would eat. I was about to give up when my sister offered her house to host a potluck. My friends brought over such a feast of all my favorite vegan things. It was so kind and generous and the best gift I could have asked for. Another favorite birthday was the year I invited everyone over to my apartment and served three kinds of lasagne.

I don’t always love cooking, but I love sharing food. I doubt I’ll ever actually own a restaurant, but I love feeding people. For me, there’s no such thing as a lush life without shared meals.

I go through phases of different favorite things to make. Bread. Pie. Cookies. Risotto. A couple of times, Maggie and I put aside a whole weekend to bake and invite people over to enjoy what we made. Cookie weekend was epic. Pie weekend was pretty good, too. Maybe July wasn’t the best time to bake pies all weekend, but it was delicious.

I’m on a real soup kick right now. Yesterday, I did not want to go to the grocery store, so I did a pantry sweep to see what I could make for the week without running that particular errand. Imagine my delight at finding a goldmine of yellow split peas. With some onions and bell peppers and a few herbs, I now have a vat of one of my favorite soups to indulge in all week. Bliss.

Saturday, our church is hosting its annual Empty Bowls luncheon, and I’m looking forward to sampling soups from several restaurants in the area. Maybe I’ll even host a soup party of my own someday.

I am writing about all the things that make life lush this month.

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Day 15 – Comfort Crafting

Posted in 31 Days, Beauty, Lush, Mental Health, Music, Nostalgia, Writing on October 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »

So satisfying!

It’s all well and good to create a home environment that is lush and cozy. For me, what makes decor even better is to have pieces made by beloved friends or things I’ve crafted with my own two hands. I use coloring pages to recover plain journals or as a backdrop to poetry written on scraps of paper in my art journals. All the blankets I have are either quilts made by MeMaw or Aunt Edna, throws I’ve knitted, or the large fleece blankets with knotted edges that my mom helped me make when I was sick enough to need to stay still but just well enough to be bored.

As an added bonus, a lot of the DIY craft work I do is mentally soothing.

As a writer and a musician, I am used to pouring my creativity into things you can hear. I have my favorite words, and I love exquisite phrases. I spend at least an hour a week sight-reading new pieces on the piano and practicing old favorites to keep my fingers limber. My friend Sarah has introduced me to the wonderful world of experimental sound, and the skills I continue to hone after decades of playing help me be more playful and spontaneous during improv.

One thing I have discovered in the last few years, though, is that I love being surrounded by things I’ve created that I can see or touch. I adore making my home a place that tells my unique story to anyone who walks in. Both the process and the outcome of crafting are therapeutic. It quiets my soul, and that is a very lush feeling.

I’m writing about the lush life this month.

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5 Favorite Books of March

Posted in Books, Friday Five, Nostalgia on April 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »

I was about to type “I didn’t read as much in March as I usually do…” but then I looked at how long some of the books I finished in March are, and turns out I did read quite a bit. These were my favorite five, in no particular order.

  1. A Match to the Heart by Gretel Ehrlich – The telltale way to know I really enjoyed a book is that I immediately seek out other books the author has written. This was a memoir about getting struck by lightning, and it was fascinating. I’m super excited to read The Solace of Open Spaces.
  2. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor – Ok, I lied. There is somewhat of an order. This was my absolute favorite of the month. Laini Taylor is a world-building rockstar. I’m about halfway through the second book in this duology (Muse of Nightmares), and it’s just as good.
  3. Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust – This was my second time reading this one, and it was just as lovely this time around. If you like fairytale retellings, check it out.
  4. Microscripts by Robert Walser – A collection of essays compiled from notes the author scribbled on scraps of paper. I picked it up because Maira Kalman is the illustrator, and I love her. I’m so glad I did.
  5. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll – Technically two books but my copy has both of them in the same volume, so I counted it as one. I don’t remember how many times I have read this and I love it just the same every time.

What is the best thing you’ve read recently (books, articles, bumper stickers – whatever)?

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Day 14 – Favorite Children’s Books

Posted in 31 Days, Books, Nostalgia on October 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I’ve always been an enthusiastic reader. When I think about my favorite children’s books, though, I don’t necessarily think of ones that I read when I was an actual child. My favorites in this category are often divided between then and now.

My parents and grandparents read me a lot of Little Golden Books. The Tawny, Scrawny Lion is the one I remember reading over and over again once I could read on my own. I would “teach” my granddad how to read using the well-worn copy at their house. Once I graduated to chapter books, I tore through several series – Little House on the Prairie, Nancy Drew, and The Boxcar Children. I loved Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books, but honestly? I identified more with the big sister, who is obviously not the hero of the story and a person merely tolerated rather than celebrated. I preferred her Ralph S. Mouse series. I tried The Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit, but I was a more serious child and didn’t have a lot of patience with fantasy elements.

Until Alice.

I was enthralled with Alice in Wonderland, and I don’t think I’ve ever recovered. To this day, I will read anything remotely related to Alice. My favorite episode from the first season of Once Upon a Time is the one that features the Mad Hatter. I played the Dormouse in our high school one-act play production (I, of course, was brilliant and adorable). This story fed my young imagination in so many ways and instilled in me a lifelong sense of curiosity about possibilities and wonder.

Looking back on stories I read and was told, I feel nostalgic fondness for things like Winnie the Pooh and fairy tales, but I am pretty sure these memories have more to do with television and Disney movies than the actual books. I’m still drawn to the stories, though (and Christopher Robin still made me cry).

I have especially grown to love fairy tales. I will read any fairy tale retelling. I guess most of them are presumed more appropriate for adults (as are the original fairy tales), but as a child, I might have liked them better than the saccharine, musical versions presented to me. Don’t get me wrong – I like a lot of Disney movies. But I would have found the comeuppance Cinderella’s stepsisters received in the original much more satisfying, even as a young child.

Working daycare during undergrad introduced me to other children’s books, but so many have come out since then I’m not sure I can narrow it down. One of the authors that always reminds me of my daycare kids (who are grown folk who can rent a car and probably have kids of their own by now) is Sarah Boynton. But Not the Hippopotamus is my favorite, and there are a slew of other board books that are perfect for toddlers and two-year-olds.

There are so many great children’s books out there. Which ones are your favorites?

I’m writing about books all month!

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Friday Five – What I’m Into (This Week)

Posted in Books, Food, Friday Five, Music, Nostalgia, What I'm Into, Writing on July 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Friday Five 4

Hello! This weekend, I am embarking on a 24in48 marathon of luxurious reading. After the 70- and 80-hour work weeks I’ve been having, I am very excited about adding extra money to my Aspiration account, but I am also really looking forward to this much needed break. Here are some things I’m into.

  1. First, lists of books and book shops. I love fantasy novels .  I also find this list intriguing – a particular book to read at each age. Someday, when I have time off, I may do a few days of just rambling through bookstores in the area.
  2. I have a confession. I’ve always loved Cats. Some people sang 80s songs into their hairbrushes. Me? McCavity: The Mystery Cat. [I mean, I totally sang 80s pop. And punk. And…I like to sing.] It’s strange and confusing and of course it is because that’s what you get when Andrew Lloyd Webber adapts T. S. Eliot poetry into a musical. I cannot wait for this movie to come out. If you go see it with me, prepare yourself for the moment when Jennifer Hudson sings Memory on the big screen, because I will cry. Already teared up just during the trailer. It’s just gonna happen.
  3. I joined a cookbook club, and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made this year. We meet once a month, each bringing a dish and the cookbook we found it in to share with others. One big decadent potluck. There are daily posts on the group page about things like classic pasta dishes and the best lemonade ever.
  4. I’ve already signed up for next year’s writer’s retreat to be held at Maplehurst. If you’ve read any of Christie Purifoy’s books (I’m currently soaking in Placemaker. Highly recommend.), you are probably familiar with Maplehurst’s story. You should join us.
  5. I’m officially moving my yearly Hemingway party to the fall. I had it later last year, and that was nice. It makes sense. Work is less busy in September or October, and it’s cooled off enough that I can actually bake without it taking 14 years for my apartment to cool off. As I’m planning, I hope to keep this advice in mind.

What are you into these days?

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