I didn’t get teary-eyed today until I saw this. Trains+Obama=magic!!
(Do you know just how thrilled I am that his train took some of that same route that we went on just a few short weeks ago and I won’t even take the time to whine about the woman who sat in the windowseat and prevented me from taking any pics as we passed through 4 states (sheesh)!)
Author: Jana
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trains and tears
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Inaugurated
the Inaugural Brunch Bunch :)
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cowgirl
When I was in NYC I picked out all kinds of interesting strangers to start conversations with. In this case, it was a quirky youngish Japanese girl in a cow costume. Others were french fry afficianados, bookstore proprietors, bakery customers, or fellow subway riders. Nearly every random conversation turned into a memorable encounter. John wrote about one particularly serendipitous exchange here.
I’m not usually the type of person who’ll strike up a conversation with whoever happens to be nearby. But I think I might just have to change that from here on out…..
What about you? Have you ever had a particularly memorable encounter when chatting with a stranger?
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cemetery
John knows that I find cemeteries fascinating, and along with the requisite train ride, I think a cemetery visit is a must when I/we travel. This one was rather forlorn and I couldn’t get any close-ups because the gates were locked (as was the case with all the NYC cemeteries that we happened upon). It had the most vigorous squirrel population I’ve ever seen–the ground was crawling with them.
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there is no blue…
“There is no blue without yellow and without orange.”
~Vincent Van GoghMy craving for sky blue (as if I don’t get enough of it outside every day) inspired me to paint the wall behind our bed this lovely color (and it helped that I scored the paint on Freecycle, too).
It’s really amazing how much peace the blue has brought to our bedroom space.
However despite my fondness for blue, I’ve also been craving orange–I love how warm and alive it feels. Each morning I burn a small orange candle for my morning meditation and I love wearing orange, too.
Alicante Une orange sur la table
Ta robe sur le tapis
Et toi dans mon lit
Doux présent de la présent
Fraîcheur de la nuit
Chaleur de ma vie
~Jacques Prevert -
magic
This magic happens when you tell John that you sorta have a cupcake craving….
yum! -
just three
On one of our days in NYC we went on a tour of indie bookshops with cats. I know it sounds odd, but it was a very Remy way to spend a day in a new city.
In Alabaster Books (which is around the corner from The Strand and doesn’t appear to have a website), this sweetie came right up to me for lovin’. It was obvious that she’d recently had surgery and when we asked the guy behind the counter, he explained that she’d just had her stitches removed that morning–from surgery to amputate one of her hind legs due to cancer. Of course I loved that story and I loved that kitty. And I added a few pounds to my suitcase with purchases from Alabaster. :)
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he’s picking some nits
Allright internets, I’ll be the first to admit that I make up words all the time and even innovate on my spelling occasionally and on purpose. Sometimes I even abandon punctuation altogether. Sometimes. Nit-picky, indeed.
I say, relax and let your fingers have some fun, Mr. Luker…
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just so you know
–those blue streaks in my hair…well, I most certainly did not violate my resolve to not dye my hair.
–so my dissertation adviser now eavesdrops on my blog. How’s a person supposed to blog guilt-free when she knows that there’s research and writing to be done?
–I swam an easy 1000m at lunch today, trying to keep cool in the nearly-90 degree heat. When I came home I looked rather longingly at the pile of sweaters from my trip that I’ll probably never wear here in SoCal.
–had the heebie-jeebies last night after reading the “finding the murdered body” scene in this book
. Ghastly, creepy stuff, that. Ugh.
–have been thinking about my costume for this upcoming event when it dawned on me that I already have an Edwardian-era dress–that white one I wore on a rather important occasion 16 years ago. Do you want to take bets on whether it still fits? And I wonder, for events such as this one if being period-correct is really that important, or is it just an excuse to wear a corset and garter belt?
–my mailbox has been chock-full of this kind of porn lately–what about yours?
PS: the blue streaks match the color of the new blue wall in my bedroom…
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simple savings
Given the economic crunch I know we’re all trying to save money these days(!). I find it hard to do so sometimes when I’m also committed to eating healthily and buying fresh local produce. Because of course hotdogs & fruit roll-ups (blegh) are cheaper than anything free range or organic!
Back in the stone ages when I was a college undergrad and I took a nutrition class, our teacher recommended that the best way to stay healthy and spend less on groceries was to skip the middle aisles (read: processed foods) and only buy items on the periphery of the market (produce, dairy, bulk grains, etc). Of course it’s not that easy!
One way we’ve saved money and lived closer to our values over the past few months is to subscribe to a CSA plan that offers a weekly “veggie box” of fresh produce from a local farm (produce in image above is just a sampling from one week of goodies). I plan our meals so we eat 2 or 3 dinners and several lunch salads from each box. Yum!
I came across an article today that discusses how the author cut her grocery bill by 75% without having to sacrifice buying organic and healthy items and though you all would appreciate reading it and seeing if you could save as much, too.
Another idea I’m toying with is hosting regular potlucks where everyone cooks a dish to share–which would save me some cooking time and I’d get to enjoy the variety of others’ culinary efforts. This idea appeals to me on several levels–because I love spending time with friends and I think sharing the mealtime workload makes a lot more sense than everyone individually cooking well-rounded meals.
As long as you’ve dropped by, why don’t you drop your best grocery money-saving tips in the comments for all of us to benefit from!
Photo by John
