You Are Among Friends

in the first two weeks of august:

we moved to urbana, into a two-story house of our very (rented) own
i left the world of part-time receptionisting behind
and leapt forward into a career as a copyeditor (which i love)
i had two big writing deadlines for school
OH, and i started watching pushing daisies on netflix

so that's why i haven't been around much.

life is really, really, really great and i am feeling very happy and fulfilled and thankful to be alive.

holding hands with james joyce & hunter s. thompson right after work. it was ninety degrees when i pedaled the four blocks home at 1 p.m. today i discovered another cherry tomato growing in my garden! and i tried to help the venus fly trap eat some gnats, but they were too smalll and CLIMBED OUT OF ITS MOUTH.

as thrilled as i am to be moving in sixteen days (!!!), i still want to take lots of photos of this cool-ass apartment while we're here. this is larry's adorable studio (also my office!) featuring his equally-adorable mic monster. musicians, get these!! handmade boutique mic covers, fully lined with vinyl so you don't get dust all up in yer holes! (gearbrat.com)

and here's izzy gazing thoughtfully at her ikea-built home. she has slept overnight in it zero times.

Some photos from Cambridge:

Things I'm not ready to deal with just yet:

• my Gmail inbox
• returning to my receptionist job
• loading new film into my hipster camera
• my desperate need for a haircut
• how much I want to quit Facebook
• the Intervention marathon on A&E today

Things I am so super into dealing with:

• Runaway by Alice Munro, which I am reading very slowly so it will never ever end
• all the annoying pre-semester paperwork I just finished and sent out
• WRITING THE BEST SHORT STORIES I HAVE EVER WRITTEN, RIGHT NOW
• reminiscing about Cambridge in the summertime, so sunny and walkable
• a cold can of PBR while watching fireworks from our roof last night
• actually submitting stories! To places that publish stories!
• ...the Intervention marathon on A&E today

right now, the writing tactic that works best for me is to keep track of how many words i've written, marking the time and number every time i sit down, like i'm punching in a time card.

today i slept in late in my warm bed with my favorite warm person, ate a bowl of cheerios with cold almond milk, did some house-cleaning (this feels so much better in the spring than in any other season) with larry, figured out how to reasonably hold my hair back (answer: two severely mismatched pigtails) and left for the next part of my day: yoga, champagne, a massage, and a FORTUNE TELLING session with my mom and her best friend, peg. i'm as giddy remembering it as i was anticipating it.

the tarot card reader looked me in the eyes and said you feel like you're spinning your wheels, but you are not spinning your wheels. the patience you're learning now will make you a better writer. and even if it is all hocus pocus and voodoo, it still felt so good, to hear those words from a stranger.