Poco-Cocoa – Page 34 – Things & Stuff

Letters #20

Dear Husband,

Thanks for taking long walks with me, and for washing the dishes, and for cooking, and for cleaning the litterbox, and for carrying the laundry, and for being an amazing designer, and for having great hair, and for making the best margaritas ever.

Dear Cats,

I realize that the nights are a bit chillier now, but if you could just sleep somewhere other than GLUED TO ME, that would rock. Husband is just a few inches away, and you could glom onto him, and then I could actually flip over in the middle of the night without being tangled up in a flurry of cat feet.

Dear Fall Weather,

I am SO glad you’re here! Even if you’re close to 80 degrees during the day, and sometimes you rain, and the leaves are not red and yellow, and all that jazz. You still make me want to take walks, and drink hot tea, and wear something other than tank tops, and ride my scooter. You rock.

Dear Craftiness,

I think I’ve found you again! I’m knitting a giant scarf, and have plans for a little blanket, and I’m planning to collect pieces for a quilt, and possibly sculpt something out of paper, and oh, if you could help me out with making thrift store clothes fit perfectly, that would be awesome.

Dear Public Library,

I wish I could express my love for you. With your new books section and your awesome typewriter that’s free for me to use, and your rows and rows of information and words and photos and loveliness, and your general generosity with the knowledge and the books and the words and the insight. Thanks.

Dear Austin Film Festival,

I am READY for you. I’ve got my schedule all planned out, and I’ve watched the previews, and I’m excited for all the new films you will bring. But please, PLEASE don’t cause any injuries to my husband this year. K? Thx.♥

October 21, 2013

Everyday Life, Letters + Moments
Randoms
This weekend we attended our very first ACL Festival. After over ten years of living in Austin, we finally went – but only because a friend gave us free VIP passes for the Friday shows. 🙂 We had a great time wandering around, hanging out in the VIP Grove, snacking on foodstuffs, and listening to awesome music. It’s hard to decide on my favorite – Vampire Weekend was incredible live, but my favorite memory was at the end of the evening, when we decided to head home, and were caught up by an amazing show by Kaskade, along with a rainstorm that left all of us dancing, drenched, and happy. It was something I’ll never forget.

We also got to see The Book of Mormon at Bass Concert Hall, which was hilariously irreverent, with amazing performances and themes that were thought-provoking. Overall, it was a fantastic weekend.

In other news, I watched Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, which I had been meaning to watch since the Austin Film Festival back in 2010, and only got to tonight. It’s hilarious, and it’s a lovely ode the the horror cabin-in-the-woods genre. Definitely worth watching (especially if you’re a huge fan of Alan Tudyk.)

Here in Austin we’ve had lots of rain, and cloudy days, and a bit of fall-like weather, though we’re still a ways out from boots-and-sweater time. At least I can wear jeans without sweltering.

Oh! And I’ve fallen in love with Trader Joe’s, as probably everyone assumed I would do. It’s like a Whole Foods or a Central Market, but less expensive, and with more awesome convenience ingredients. I can buy pre-chopped organic Tuscan kale, peeled and diced fresh butternut squash, autumn-spice tea and speculoos cookies, miso-ginger broth and inexpensive organic, cage-free eggs. AND they have cheap bubbles, which we have renamed chubbles. And best of all, it’s just a few minutes from our house, so I can hop on over any time.

Other recent things:
- I read The Name of the Wind, the first in a trilogy of long but amazing fantasy novels about a badass named Kvothe. Book two is waiting for me at the library, and I plan to start reading it tomorrow.
- I’ve started reading The Tender Bar after a strong recommendation from a man named Peter who we met at the bar at Jeffrey’s one evening. This is why I love dining/drinking at the bar – there is so much potential to meet and talk with amazing people. And find new books to read.
- I’m slowly working my way through the first season of House of Cards. I love it, even though it is so much darker and skeevier than The West Wing. Somehow I am rooting for the bad guy, and I feel okay about it.
- I bought Nigel Slater’s newest book, and I’m slowly devouring it as I did The Kitchen Diaries, and Ripe, and Tender. God I love Nigel Slater.
- I got a new fall haircut, with bangs! I’m super excited about it, because it’s exactly what I wanted, it’s easy to style, and it feels fantastic. I’ll try to post a photo soon.
I hope you all have a fabulous Columbus Week! 😉 ♥
October 14, 2013

Random Thoughts
A Hemingway Day

A Hemingway Day is when you wake up to a laugh from your love, and put on your robe and sit on the patio sipping sweet, milky coffee. You wash your hair with sage shampoo and wear your favorite jeans. You ride your scooters to an east side diner to have lunch with friends. You eat soup with big chunks of bone-on beef, potatoes, zucchini, and cabbage. You drink iced tea and listen and laugh and talk about football and New York and Vietnamese sandwiches.

You spend the afternoon on the sofa with a good book (by Hemingway) and a series of French 75s. You can hear the football game in the background, and you get occasional snuggles from a cat or two. Later in the evening when you realize you are starving and too tipsy to drive anywhere, you take a walk with your love to the neighborhood market and pick up an odd mix of hot dogs, ice cream, chips, and Chef Boyardee. You walk back home, eating Cheetos from the bag, enjoying the cool night air of the first real autumn day. You eat and make more cocktails and read until there is no more story to read and fall asleep on the couch and are wakened by your love who brings you to bed and sweet Hemingway dreams.♥

September 22, 2013

Everyday Life
The words that inspire me

Some of these are printed and posted on my inspiration board. Some are just written in my little pink journal that fits in my purse.

Once he saw her shaking a walnut tree, once he saw her sitting on the lawn knitting a blue sweater, three or four times he found a bouquet of late flowers on his porch, or a handful of chestnuts in a little sack, or some autumn leaves neatly pinned to a sheet of white paper and thumbtacked to his door.

–– from Fahrenheit 451

You are not in charge of the universe. You are in charge of yourself.

––A. Bennett, or some tumblr somewhere

I love all wastes and solitary places.

–– from Honey From a Weed

At the end of the day, it’s just food, isn’t it? Just food.

–– Marco Pierre White, via Bon Appetit

Love is infinitely more durable than hate.

–– Ernest Hemingway

Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.

–– Ernest Hemingway

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

–– George Eliot

And most importantly…

I can’t think of any better way to spend money than on champagne.

–– Ernest Hemingway

And yes, I adore Papa Hemingway.♥

August 28, 2013

Random Thoughts
14 and stuff
Happy Anniversary to us! Last week we celebrated our 14th anniversary. We are OLD, people. We had dinner at Qui, where Paul and Deana were so gracious and made sure we had an amazing dinner. If I could, I’d have the kanpachi kinilaw and the pasta mazeman-style EVERY DAY. So good.

I made this salad for lunch the other day. I remembered how much I like shredded lettuce, so I did that, and mixed it with some dressing, and added some avocado and some boiled eggs and dukkah. Pretty good, but better with a squeeze of lemon.

Currently, I’m:
- reading Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. I must have heard about it somewhere, but I have no idea where. The author is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, and this book is just fascinating. I keep stopping, closing the book, and saying to Justin, “But… I don’t understand!” It’s a religion with a background that is just mind boggling.
- re-watching The Great Gatsby. My favorite.
- listening to Royals by Lorde
- wanting to pick up some creative hobby. Maybe film photography again. Or sewing. Or book-binding.
- wishing for an autumn trip to the northeast. Or northern New Mexico. Or back to Portland or NYC. Or just, you know, somewhere not in Texas.
- so happy with an amazing 1954 Modern Library copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray that I found at South Congress Books. Now if I can locate a similar copy of The Sun Also Rises, I’ll be in heaven.
- thinking it’s time to ride my scooter again.♥
August 20, 2013

Everyday Life