The Week 9.13.15

(I’m playing around with a slightly new format for my weekly recap posts. Feedback is welcome, and appreciated!)

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I’ve been reading a lot of other books alongside Anne Karenina all summer, so it’s taking me forever to finish. But I’m in the home stretch – less than 100 pages, and am not starting another novel until I finish. I’ve also been reading Slightly Foxed #47. (From the archive: why Slightly Foxed is my favorite literary quarterly.)

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Graham and I have been doing a major fall cleaning / reorganizing of the apartment. This week’s most exciting purchase was a new hoover! I can’t express how happy vacuuming makes me – it’s silly. We’ve also been cooking a lot (see below), and Friday we had a dinner date, and then walked along the Brooklyn waterfront to see the 9/11 memorial lights. Saturday the rain held off long enough for me to meet up with two former co-workers and friends in a park downtown for a picnic. Yesterday evening a strong rainstorm made it super cozy to be tucked away inside the apartment, eating our first pot of chili of the season and watching Michigan State take revenge on the Oregon Ducks.

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Autumn Book Excitement
Book Review: The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips

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All of my US road trip photos from last year have been popping up in my Facebook memories every day, as well as the Desert Road Trip I took in September 2012. It’s been making me dream of being out west: under the hot sun during the day, hiking across the red rocks, and under the wide open starry sky at night. General plans for a summer vacation camping trip out west next year have been filling my travel dreams and wanderlust.

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Photo by H Matthew Howarth on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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My job means a lot of time spent on Etsy (hard life, right?), and as I result I see a lot of really awesome things. I thought it’d be fun to share a few of my favorites every week. (You can also follow me on Etsy, if you want the full stream of favorites.) Additionally, I put a fancy new disclaimer on my about page, as a reminder my opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer. Any links to items I share here are out of fondness and free will.

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On Tuesdays and Thursdays there’s a farmer’s market in downtown Brooklyn, along my walking route to work. I’ve been stocking up on fresh vegetables and we’ve been roasting them with dinner every night: squash, carrots, broccoli, red peppers, asparagus, etc. It’s been wonderful to have easy access to fresh food, and the broccoli in particular is ridiculously good – the best we’ve ever had. We cooked healthy dinners all week, and then treated ourselves to pizza and beer at a rooftop bar on Friday night.

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Stephen Colbert is back on the air. STEPHEN COLBERT IS BACK ON THE AIR. That’s what I’ve been watching, and it makes me incredibly happy.


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I haven’t had as much time to read print books since going back to work, but I now have a lot of audiobook time each weekday – about 35 minutes each way on the walk to/from work, as well as a lot of time around the house while I’m showering, getting ready, washing the dishes, and cooking dinner. I flew through Gumption by Nick Offerman this week. I have a lot of thoughts and mixed feeling about that one that I’ll be sharing soon. Now I’m listening to the audiobook of Just Kids by Patti Smith – I got the urge to re-read it to prepare for the release of her follow up, M Train.

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  • Keeping up with my News Blur feeds (currently 417 unread posts) is a constant struggle. I love that Shaina started a new feature: The Real Good Roundup, featuring great posts from around the blog world. And I’m honored & grateful to have been featured this week!
  • I shared this on Twitter too, but it’s so good that I must make sure everyone has a chance to see: these photographs of Zen foxes are perfect.
  • This Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake was featured on Design Sponge this week, and has just shot to the top of my To Bake List.
  • Speaking of sugar overload – Graham and I have been trying to monitor/reduce how much sugar we’re eating, and to eat healthier in general. I appreciated Zandria’s great summary of The Blue Zone Solution, a book that’s on my TBR pile.
  • How Not to Do It All by Zen Habits: much needed, every day.

By Emily

Book-hoarding INFJ who likes to leave the Shire and go on adventures.

11 comments

  1. Love the new format! Really, it’s fantastic. I’m really excited to follow you on Etsy (I didn’t even know you could do that, go figure). I don’t spend much time there, but when I’m looking for something in particular I often pop in.

    I’ve been watching a bit of Colbert and think he’s doing an interesting job of it. I particularly enjoyed that fantastic interview with Joe Biden, who I really fell in love with during that segment. I am disappointed things apparently keep running long and it sounds like we’re missing some great stuff. I know I COULD go to the website and watch, but I also know I won’t. Colbert looks like he’s having fun and that makes it fun to watch.

    1. Thank you so much Lauren! That’s wonderful to hear. :D

      Yes! That Joe Biden interview was fantastic. I feel the same about going to the website to watch – for some reason that feels like an insurmountable task, and I never do it. Also – the times I’ve tried to do so on various shows (ok mainly only the Daily Show) you have to find the right video and then skip ahead and try to find the part that’s extended that you haven’t seen – it’s a pain! I wish we could subscribe to an email that just sent out a link to watch only the part you missed live. Now that would be something my lazy self could possibly handle.

      He does look like he’s having fun – I love seeing it. I think he’s still settling in a bit, which is very natural. The bits have been hit or miss, but his heart is there, and they’ll find a groove. His interviews are fantastic – that’s the part I love most. He was always great at them on The Colbert Report – but he never had much time! It’s nice to see him getting to have longer conversations. I also love that he’s been mixing in A-list celebs (pretty much a requirement for talk shows) with really interesting (non-traditional talk show guests) people: the CEOs of Uber & Tesla, and Stephen King.

      1. Agree completely about his interview skills. I wish we got more of those and less of the variety-type bits. I don’t need to see SC in a Gunga Din hat. But hey, I guess it’s a variety show now and not just the Report.

  2. You are very busy! I laughed that you like vacuuming so much. Husband and I hate vacuuming so much that we ripped out all the carpet and installed wood floors throughout the house so we don;t have to vacuum anymore! That wasn’t the only reason, but it’s a very happy benefit!

    1. That is so funny – it just shows life is all about perspective! I love the way my hardwood floors look, but I feel like I’m at constant war with crumbs and dust on them that get stuck to my feet immediately (our apartment is very old with exposed brick, so that doesn’t help the dirt/crumbs). I get so tired of endlessly swiffering and sweeping – that never quite gets *everything* up. The vacuum feels so much more satisfying to me! I’ll let you know how I feel after a while though – my song could change. ;)

  3. This is a great format! :) Also, thanks for the shout-out and (again) for the awesome review of Did You Ever Have a Family. Fingers crossed I finally get to it this week!

    My boyfriend and I both started eating vegetarian (and, okay, fish, because we can’t give up sushi) this year and have been enjoying figuring out how to incorporate more veggies into our meals. If you’re ever in need of recipes, give me a shout!

    And OMG I need that Mug of Motivation. It is too perfect. I’m so excited to see what other things you come across! I usually browse Etsy for their bookish content, so it will be fun to see a wider swath of items. :)

    1. If you want a fantastic vegan cookbook I have one for you. Most of my family is vegan/vegetarian. Most of them are also good cooks. I am not. Well, it’s not that I’m bad, I just don’t really get into it all that often, especially if I’m just cooking for myself. And long recipes with 8,000 ingredients are not what I’m after (sensing a theme? No long books, no long recipes, I’m apparently all about the Cliffs Notes of l ife). Anyway, the cookbook Isa Does It, by Isa Moskowitz, is fantastic. Recipes are all vegan, very easy, and GOOD. I’ve not made anything from it yet that wasn’t fantastic. The clam chowder is to die for.

      1. I just put a hold request in for it at my library! Thank you kindly for the recommendation.

        I’m just starting to not run from things with “Vegan” descriptions, because I do love dairy and meat. But I’ve had some great vegan food this year, and am more open to mixing it into my rotation, especially because of the health benefits. I love that you mentioned the recipes are easy – that’s what we need right now!

        1. Sorry to be responding to your responses so fast, I hate when that happens, but I just happen to be sitting at my desk catching on all my comment conversations and I’ve been woefully behind!

          I”m glad Isa was at the library, that’s a great way to give it a try! I love this book for many reasons, but one of the main ones is the pictures. I need visuals on recipes if I’m to have any clue whether it’s something I want to make or not. I’m not great at visualizing food from a list and directions.

          Veg and vegan food (and available recipes and substitutes) are getting better and better as the choice is getting more popular. Something like 200 MILLION less animals were killed last year just based on people doing little things like meatless Mondays. Every little bit helps, and I think that’s helping the food industry offer more and better vegan options. Even cheeses are getting fantastic. I hope you love Isa. The first recipe I tried was the clam chowder and it was to die for.

          Enjoy! And keep me posted good or bad.

          1. I LOVE hearing that there’s pictures…I’m the same way. I have no idea if I want to make something unless I see photos. This one sounds like a winner! Graham and I have been on our Vegetables First kick for about a month now, and I’ve never felt better. I’m excited to keep discovering new recipes, and I’ll definitely keep you posted on the Isa book results!

            (Also no apologies for anything comment related is ever necessary – you do what works for you and I’ll be grateful for the chance to chat with you!)

    2. Thank you! :D

      Any great recipes you have, please share! We need EASY things – I’ve been so tired after work that I don’t have a lot of energy. We’ve been mainly just tossing things in olive oil and roasting, but would love some good crock pot recipes. We’re still very much meat eaters, we’re just trying to eat WAY more veggies.

      Likewise – I had my own little “corner” of Etsy before, and it’s been fun to discover so many new things. Happy that people seem to be excited about me sharing them too! :D

what do you think?

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