October, don't go!

My weekend plans revolve around the kitchen: pumpkin bread, eggplant lasagna, cranberry scones. Last night I bought two baking dishes and a cookie sheet, so I can operate the oven in a more assembly-line fashion.

Tomorrow night I'm hosting book club for the premiere time. We read Dracula this month, which lends itself to a wonderful potluck: red trifle, bat-shaped cookies, pulpy-looking aubergine, red wine, Bloody Marys--basically heaps of tomato sauce and red food dye. Martha would be proud. So would Morticia. 

Less than two weeks until Big Day 2008. If I think about it for too long, I get mega butterflies. Jurassic Park butterflies. I'm just so nervous. I think I will lose all faith in America if--

No. Not even considering it. Enjoy these last few days of ... (Bush?) Bake in blissful ignorance.  

The trees are all thrashy and wind-whipped outside. Thank goodness my day revolves around my kitchen. My level of desire to go outside is on par with my desire to go to the gym, my desire to consider possible outcomes of the election, and my desire to read the November issue of Bazaar, which has a flag-draped Drew Barrymore on the cover. (Wha??)

The November issue of Rolling Stone, however, is thick, glossy, standard-sized, Obama-adorned, and contains the utterly best, most touching, most reverent article about David Foster Wallace that I've seen anywhere. It's a collector's issue if ever there was one.

Enjoy your Saturdays, pumpkins.

Utterly Autumn

We went to Chester for Amykins birthday. Mega candy store + pumpkin patch = October

Orange juice and fever dreams

I feel like bollocks, but I'm at home, so I feel a little better for that. On my second glass of orange juice, almost done with the October issue of Elle, obsessively checking my work email like some emergency might befall us and they couldn't possibly be able to save the day without me. Uggh. I hate feeling guilty for being sick.

Today, a woman I work with turns 90. Ninety! Every morning, when I see her shuffling down the hall with her green Jansport on, and her breakfast bagel in a paper bag, I never cease to be amazed. She wears Asics. She is amazing. 

Ugggh.

I am so sickly. If I were in England right now, I'd be utterly ill. But I'm not, thank god. I'm in my own bed, and I never want to leave, I just want my computer keeping me warm and a marathon of The Rachel Zoe Project.

I'm missing yoga right now because whenever I try to touch my toes, it feels like a big Republican elephant is sitting on my head. 

Must rest up. Friday I'm meeting my fifth grade teacher for coffee. He is responsible for teaching me how to play chess, how to juggle, how to walk in a city, how to give a firm handshake, and how to use logic. 

I haven't seen him since I was eleven. I would be nervous, but I've been breathing through my mouth all day and my tonsils are dry. Bye.

Mondays--not so much

Today I wished so bad that my work had a nurse's office where I could lay down and snooze on a vinyl bench covered in butcher paper and not have to think about my headache or keep my eyes open anymore. That's exhausting.

I've utterly always wanted to play chess in the park, but I'm too chicken to ask.

Fridays are my favorite and my best.

It feels more like June than October, and I have a blood blister on my pinky from the staple-remover, but life is grand. A grab-bag, if you will. Let's see:

-icky blood blister that makes me hold everything from the pole on the subway to my water bottle like it's a proper tea cup, pinky raised.
-ANOTHER Harry Potter nightmare that I was attacked by a giant poisonous snake. I'm not going to read too much into it. Blame it on the Equus posters everywhere.
-someone's been using my face wash and I really don't want to confront roommates about it.
-I possibly, almost quite certainly am a lactard. Soy milk in my tea is growing on me, but I still miss cheese on a daily basis.
-it's utterly black when I get up in the morning. The sky looks like it's full of UFOs, but it's really just the air traffic over LaGuardia.

+going home this wkend to see Lauren!
+my boss isn't here today, which is why I'm writing this now! It's also why I was the first one here this morning, which I love. I scooted down to the 11th floor because they have the best K-Cup selection, and our floor only has French roast and Breakfast Blend and other Zzzz coffee flavors. I swiped two Hazelnuts and two Southern Pecans, all before 9 o'clock!
+last night I put together my new desk ALL ON MY OWN, and it makes my bitty room look slightly smaller, but heaps more organized.
+found The Paris Review Interviews in the give-away box yesterday (everything's coming up Paris), and read the Ralph Ellison one on the subway ride home. Don't have it with me now to reference, but the interview was conducted in some cafe which I will most definitely visit when I am en France en Decembre.
+in the last week I saw Julia Stiles and Alicia Silverstone at close range.
+despite the personal economic tightening of my belt, due to a certain plane ticket that needs to be paid for, I have decided to treat myself to lunch today. Soup? Falafel? 'WichCraft? How can I work when I have so many decisions to make?
+Wednesday was Amy's birthday--Happy Birthday, you!

A Bushel and a Peck

I told you.

Okay, real quick.

Before I leave work, which is momentarily, I just wanted to say hi. I just drank a grown-up juice-box of calcium-fortified orange juice and am experiencing an utterly infrequent end-of-the-day second wind.

Tonight:
library to get DRACULA for book club (more later)
pumpkin gingerbread
bakery for Mom
drinks with my friend Sarah Silberman, no not that one

More TK! Pictures if you're lucky!