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T and I are flying the friendly skies again today. Destination: Connecticut via Brooklyn. We'll be attending a friend's wedding in what is supposed to be a rainy New England (thanks weather.com). It'll be my first time in that part of the country, which I hear is lovely. I hope it has that prelude-to-autumn feel in the air. Fingers crossed, anyway.
Pictures to come when I get back late next week. Have a great weekend!
Here are a couple birthday treats I'd like to share with you: beautiful peridot earrings (my birthstone) that are my new favorite pieces of jewelry, and the new Prada perfume, L'Eau Ambree, which has notes of amber, patchouli, vanilla and opoponax and smells delightful. It's warm, yet a bit spicy and surprisingly more subtle than what I've come to expect from amber scents. I've been wearing it non-stop since it arrived on my doorstep, creating a happy fragrance memory that will forever link the amber scent with my 28th birthday.
Can you tell that I'm rather obsessed with birthdays? I can't help it, it's been ingrained in my childhood and hasn't really gone away. I look at birthdays as not just another year of getting older, but rather as another year to learn new things, to strive for a better, simpler life, to be adventurous and generous and happy and grateful for everything I've experienced and everything that has yet to come my way. What's not to get excited about?
I had, quite simply, one of the best birthdays ever. Last weekend, T and I flew up north for a little wine-tasting adventure in Sonoma and Napa, and we brought some friends with us along the way (and stayed with T's wonderful and obliging sister and brother-in-law). The entire weekend was filled with great food, great wine, and great company. In other words, it was absolutely perfect.
We flew to San Francisco via Virgin America. As a nod to my 28th birthday, T sprang for first class, where we drank sparkling wine and toasted to a terrific weekend ahead (which it was). Incidentally, Josh Groban was on our flight and could be seen flirting with the flight attendant (he sat in coach, interestingly enough). After we landed at SFO, we were invited to check out the cockpit, our ticket to this little privileged tour being our two-year-old travel companion, Oliver. Thanks, Ollie!
Breakfast on my birthday consisted of poached eggs and asparagus on toast, as prepared by T's fabulous sister Heather. Talk about yum.
We toured Trefethen winery in Napa, where T grew up. I sampled a tiny grape from this vine; its sweet flavor burst on my tongue in a perfectly delightful way.
Barrels upon barrels of wine, each containing 300 bottles. The mind reels from the sheer volume of so much wine and begs the question, 'Have I consumed 300 bottles of wine in my lifetime?' We ended up taking home their cabernet franc. Not all of it, just a bottle. :-)
Birthday cupcakes!
We had three small children in our party, so while the little ones napped in the afternoon, the grown-ups relaxed on a blanket underneath a shady tree (the female ones did, anyway; the males ended up napping along with the babies!), complete with delectable grilled cheese-and-avocado-and-tomato sandwiches and sparkling wine. Rough.
Here is T's baby niece Sophia looking like the angel that she is, post-nap.
The next day we escaped the 100+ degree weather and headed for the much cooler beach. I actually prefer gray, foggy weather, which surely must be some residual love from my London days.
Oysters and South African sparkling wine make a killer combo.
On the last day we headed into the city, where we caught a planetarium show at The Academy of Sciences (which was awesome), lunched in North Beach, spent an hour at City Lights bookshop (I'm guilty as charged), and admired the water from the Ferry Building. It's always bittersweet to experience such magical weekends as this, because for all the fun and sheer enjoyment I felt all weekend long, it's also rather excruciating to see it end and go back to reality. Although I'm struggling with serious post-birthday blues now, each day that passes gets a bit easier and I become even more grateful for having such wonderful friends in my life with whom to share a beautiful birthday weekend.
August was a particularly busy month for me. I attended a handful of fetes celebrating impending motherhood, moving, and birthdays, including my own (more about that in another post). The number of books I read this month is a paltry two, making August the shortest book month yet. I'm trying not to feel too bad about it. Although I didn't get through as many books in August as I would have hoped, I had a pretty spectacular month, celebration-wise. Oh, yeah! Below are the books I read this August.
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I love that tingly feeling upon opening the pages of a good book, when I feel as though I'm entering a world that is so utterly unlike my own that it's like I've gone through a magical portal. I open the book and instantly I'm transported. This doesn't happen to me with every book I read (the magic occurs far too seldom), so when it does happen, as it did with this one, it's an exceptional treat. This book left me positively spellbound. Golden writes with beautifully rich metaphors that linger in your mind long after you've read them. The world the reader inhabits is so vivid and resplendent with color and drama and is at times exciting, frightening, and also quite sad. These women or "geisha" are not independent; rather, they rely solely on the generosity of the men they charm and entertain and/or upon the geisha house to which they belong. Nowhere is this more apparent than during WWII when the geisha are forced to give up the life they've adopted after begging their male benefactors for protection. The title is misleading, as the book isn't exactly nonfiction. I've read plenty of book reviews in which people have expressed frustration with this literary tactic, but it doesn't bother me. I take the book for what it is: a splendidly-drawn, imaginative world that felt so real to me and which left me utterly bereft when I extracted my nose from its pages.How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff. It's sometime in the future, and there's a war going on. Fifteen-year-old Manhattan native Daisy moves across the pond to stay with her English cousins and aunt in the countryside. When the aunt travels to Oslo for business, the children revel in their newfound independence and spend an idyllic spring on a remote farm fishing, reading for hours, and falling in love (i.e. Daisy and her cousin Edmund, eyebrow-raising to say the least). Things are going swimmingly without any adults around (and really, what young adult work of fiction features parents that are present all the time?) until terrorists descend upon the little sceptered isle and a military group takes over the house, separating Daisy from her cousins. This is when the book gets really interesting. Daisy must struggle to survive in the country, in the middle of a war, in a way that is totally alien to her considering her urban upbringing. The war shapes Daisy and her cousins and for them life is never the same. For a book touted as 'young adult', there are some pretty adult themes coursing through its veins. I listened to the audiobook version, too, which I highly recommend. And now we reach the month of September and my absolutely favorite time of year. There's something about the arrival of the 1st of September that conjures the autumnal mood for so many people, including myself, even though the weather outside is anything but fall-like at the moment (Southern California is ablaze right now and temperatures are reaching sweltering highs). This won't stop me from celebrating this happy season, if only in my book-inclined mind. I recently treated myself to a couple books recently (happy birthday to me!) that align perfectly with my autumnal state of mind.
Look at these lovelies! They arrived today and took me completely by surprise. They're actually more vibrant than this photo would have you believe and really fragrant, too. I'm enjoying them now before I head out of town on Friday. My birthday is on Saturday, August 29th, and I am really looking forward to celebrating a long birthday weekend!
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of entertaining two little visitors, my twin nieces, Alexa and Stephanie. They're not quite four years of age, but you'd think they were fourteen by what comes out of their mouths sometimes. Upon arriving, Stephanie immediately asked to see my shoe collection and requested I paint her fingernails after seeing my own lacquered nails. Then after spotting my four-year-old Apple powerbook computer, Alexa asked me if I thought about getting a new one, as if she were a computer sales rep trying to sell me the latest model. Ironically, T has been spending the last week or so trying to convince me that I need a new one, so I wonder if they're in cahoots with each other?? The girls came bearing the best gifts for my upcoming birthday: two mini potted roses, a bottle of nail polish (OPI Siberian Nights, excellent choice), a nail file, and a hand cream with SPF from nail guru Deborah Lippmann. What more could a girl ask for?
While I was taking a quick snap of the lovely rose bushes, Stephanie stuck her little head in the frame at the last second. Clearly, she doesn't have a problem with the limelight.
Post-gifts, we had lunch and went to a local park so the girls could run around and enjoy the summer sun. Alexa especially showed off some pretty enviable monkey bar skills. It was a great day.
The boyfriend wrote a script with his best friend recently and shooting has commenced at my apartment of all places. This could potentially be a trying, albeit exciting, experience for me, the apartment dweller, but I tend to make myself scarce while they're shooting because it's just easier that way (although I couldn't resist watching a few takes). And when I get home everything is miraculously put back in its place, as if no filming had been done at all. Can you believe that it's just the two of them doing this all on their own? Impressive, right? T is co-writer, actor, director, cinematographer, camera operator, and film editor (whew). Yeah, I think he's wildly talented, too.
T doing his thing while his friend Marco mentally prepares himself for the scene ahead.
T and I are flying the friendly skies again today. Destination: Connecticut via Brooklyn. We'll be attending a friend's wedding in what is supposed to be a rainy New England (thanks weather.com). It'll be my first time in that part of the country, which I hear is lovely. I hope it has that prelude-to-autumn feel in the air. Fingers crossed, anyway.
Here are a couple birthday treats I'd like to share with you: beautiful peridot earrings (my birthstone) that are my new favorite pieces of jewelry, and the new Prada perfume, L'Eau Ambree, which has notes of amber, patchouli, vanilla and opoponax and smells delightful. It's warm, yet a bit spicy and surprisingly more subtle than what I've come to expect from amber scents. I've been wearing it non-stop since it arrived on my doorstep, creating a happy fragrance memory that will forever link the amber scent with my 28th birthday.
I had, quite simply, one of the best birthdays ever. Last weekend, T and I flew up north for a little wine-tasting adventure in Sonoma and Napa, and we brought some friends with us along the way (and stayed with T's wonderful and obliging sister and brother-in-law). The entire weekend was filled with great food, great wine, and great company. In other words, it was absolutely perfect.
We flew to San Francisco via Virgin America. As a nod to my 28th birthday, T sprang for first class, where we drank sparkling wine and toasted to a terrific weekend ahead (which it was). Incidentally, Josh Groban was on our flight and could be seen flirting with the flight attendant (he sat in coach, interestingly enough). After we landed at SFO, we were invited to check out the cockpit, our ticket to this little privileged tour being our two-year-old travel companion, Oliver. Thanks, Ollie!
Breakfast on my birthday consisted of poached eggs and asparagus on toast, as prepared by T's fabulous sister Heather. Talk about yum.
We toured Trefethen winery in Napa, where T grew up. I sampled a tiny grape from this vine; its sweet flavor burst on my tongue in a perfectly delightful way.
Barrels upon barrels of wine, each containing 300 bottles. The mind reels from the sheer volume of so much wine and begs the question, 'Have I consumed 300 bottles of wine in my lifetime?' We ended up taking home their cabernet franc. Not all of it, just a bottle. :-)
Birthday cupcakes!
We had three small children in our party, so while the little ones napped in the afternoon, the grown-ups relaxed on a blanket underneath a shady tree (the female ones did, anyway; the males ended up napping along with the babies!), complete with delectable grilled cheese-and-avocado-and-tomato sandwiches and sparkling wine. Rough.
Here is T's baby niece Sophia looking like the angel that she is, post-nap.
The next day we escaped the 100+ degree weather and headed for the much cooler beach. I actually prefer gray, foggy weather, which surely must be some residual love from my London days.
Oysters and South African sparkling wine make a killer combo.
On the last day we headed into the city, where we caught a planetarium show at The Academy of Sciences (which was awesome), lunched in North Beach, spent an hour at City Lights bookshop (I'm guilty as charged), and admired the water from the Ferry Building. It's always bittersweet to experience such magical weekends as this, because for all the fun and sheer enjoyment I felt all weekend long, it's also rather excruciating to see it end and go back to reality. Although I'm struggling with serious post-birthday blues now, each day that passes gets a bit easier and I become even more grateful for having such wonderful friends in my life with whom to share a beautiful birthday weekend. 
Look at these lovelies! They arrived today and took me completely by surprise. They're actually more vibrant than this photo would have you believe and really fragrant, too. I'm enjoying them now before I head out of town on Friday. My birthday is on Saturday, August 29th, and I am really looking forward to celebrating a long birthday weekend!
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of entertaining two little visitors, my twin nieces, Alexa and Stephanie. They're not quite four years of age, but you'd think they were fourteen by what comes out of their mouths sometimes. Upon arriving, Stephanie immediately asked to see my shoe collection and requested I paint her fingernails after seeing my own lacquered nails. Then after spotting my four-year-old Apple powerbook computer, Alexa asked me if I thought about getting a new one, as if she were a computer sales rep trying to sell me the latest model. Ironically, T has been spending the last week or so trying to convince me that I need a new one, so I wonder if they're in cahoots with each other?? The girls came bearing the best gifts for my upcoming birthday: two mini potted roses, a bottle of nail polish (OPI Siberian Nights, excellent choice), a nail file, and a hand cream with SPF from nail guru Deborah Lippmann. What more could a girl ask for? 
While I was taking a quick snap of the lovely rose bushes, Stephanie stuck her little head in the frame at the last second. Clearly, she doesn't have a problem with the limelight.
Post-gifts, we had lunch and went to a local park so the girls could run around and enjoy the summer sun. Alexa especially showed off some pretty enviable monkey bar skills. It was a great day. 
The boyfriend wrote a script with his best friend recently and shooting has commenced at my apartment of all places. This could potentially be a trying, albeit exciting, experience for me, the apartment dweller, but I tend to make myself scarce while they're shooting because it's just easier that way (although I couldn't resist watching a few takes). And when I get home everything is miraculously put back in its place, as if no filming had been done at all. Can you believe that it's just the two of them doing this all on their own? Impressive, right? T is co-writer, actor, director, cinematographer, camera operator, and film editor (whew). Yeah, I think he's wildly talented, too.
T doing his thing while his friend Marco mentally prepares himself for the scene ahead.
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