I didn't need them, anyway.

OMGYOUGUYS. So last night I was looking for a tin of tomatoes for dinner and not only did I NOT find one - how does one lose something like that?? I swear I just bought a half dozen recently! - but I DID find a chewed-through bag of chia seeds and a package of destroyed raisins, irrefutable evidence that not only do we have a mouse, we have a crazy vegan one who's probably lighting candles to her moon goddess as we speak, thanking her for the bounty. She didn't even touch the baking cabinet with its bags of chocolate chips and gluten-filled flour.

She clearly has to go. I can't stand health nuts.

Also, she apparently hasn't seen what I did to this guy.

In other news, guess what I'm getting today? A Hackney library card! I've still got my Islington one which I will clutch to my heart until my dying day, so now I'll have access to TWO library catalogues which means there won't be a book out of my reach. Unless it's American. Either way, I am thrilled about it. If this isn't the beginning of world domination, then I don't know what is.

And now, because effing adorable, a pic from last Saturday: Halloween, London-style.

Big hugs and lots of love,
Esss

Already winning it

OMGYOUGUYS. It's the first day of MyBloWriMo and not only have I not made dinner yet (at 9:30, don't judge me, at least I'm not ordering a curry) but I haven't even done a BIT of writing. This month of blogging is obviously off to an awesome start.

Some cool things have happened this weekend, which we will go with as blog-fodder-o-the-day. One, Wolf's BFF got married yesterday and it was so lovely and - this even more important given my stage of life - local - and SO MUCH north + east London milleniality. Pics of that clearly coming soon, because bicycles and plywood and studios and things. Also, today was our first neighborhood Meet and Greet (not officially titled that, but basically) with all the neighbors both established and new and seriously - though this could be the Malbec talking (they had like twelve bottles! Is that their favourite varietal? Should we remember that for Christmas?) -  we have not met SO MANY NICE couples in SUCH A SMALL SETTING since...maybe ever...?? One couple has recently moved from Essex and like us, they have a place in France and also they love reality TV, so right away we found common ground with Lack of French Proficiency and Vanderpump Rules, and the second couple was a gorgeously diverse Arabic/Japanese architect combo and we went down the rabbit hole of interior design, cards against humanity, gochisosama deshita and craft beer, and next thing you know SO MANY BEST FRIENDS WE WANT TO SEE TOMORROW. I am now planning twenty mini-parties and NOBODY CAN STOP ME.

Sidebar: Wolf is on an MBA call with his team right now and every time I yawn - they're talking about RATIOS and FINANCE sets - he glares at me and pointedly jabs the 'mute' button. Like I'm not working here!

That said - really, I SHOULD get on making dinner, that bloody aubergine won't last forEVer - here is a picture of how beautiful yesterday was. London in autumn, what a *sigh.* I mean, that church in the background! Those leaves! Cut it out, Stoke Newington. Too much.

Big love and lots of love and see you tomorrow,
Essss

C'est la life, c'est la Hackney, c'est la leaving the house

OMGYOUGUYS. Because my monthly cleaner has occupied our home and nothing makes me more uncomfortable than sitting on the couch while she hoovers around me, even if I AM working, I've currently camped out in my neighborhood organic cafe (because Hackney) right next to a record player (because Hackney) sipping a bottomless cup of coffee (because 'they've always wanted American coffee service'). It's absolutely lovely and I can't believe I haven't been here yet. 

My workstation:

See the stack of paper my laptop is sitting on? 

That's about one QUARTER of the manuscript I'm proofreading right now.

Then, as I was taking the above photo (feeling a bit basic because come ON, if one more person instagrams a cafe with distressed wooden counters and quinoa salad and a blackboard menu, then surely the world will combust. Also don't check my instagram), the woman sitting at the table across from me asked if I would like to be IN the photo. I mean, obviously not, no, never, don't make me slap you, but then also HOW NICE WAS THAT and WHAT KIND OF NEIGHBORHOOD IS THIS so of course yes, I would love that, thank you so much! *hands over phone, sits back down slowly, suspiciously*

Not even black and white makes it look like I'm really working in this photo. 

Also, the curve of the 'Specials' going over my head makes it look like I'M special. That woman surely had the last laugh. 

Speaking of this crazy place we now live in, we had an excellent time with the neighbors at our social hour last week. They didn't try to dismember us ONCE. We gathered in their kitchen, where the husband cultured his rye sourdough starter every half hour and told the Wolf about his new smoker and I chatted with the wife about the grossness of attachment parenting and how good her nanny was. It was delightful. And get this! In a couple of weeks the neighbors on the OTHER side are having a little meet-and-greet for all the cute couples at our end of the road! I think it's safe to say we've found quite the little community here. I'm going to pack ALL my best behavior. *curls hair, digs out pearls* Why yes, Louise, I too feel the same about Benedict as Hamlet, ha-ha, ha-ha! Do pass the wine, won't you? Ha-ha! Aren't we wild!

Okay, I should get back to tackling that mound of paper. All my love to you and I hope you're having an excellent weekend!

Big hugs and lots of love,

Essss

The rain is trying to bring it but I've got socks on

'Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.' - Viktor E. Frankl

OMGYOUGUYS. NationalBlogWritingMonth* is coming up fast so I've got to get back in the swing of things. In that spirit, and high on the domestic bliss that comes with doing the dishes, laundry, and groceries all in the same hour, I'm attempting a post today. And one next week, and the week after, and so on and so forth until November hits and I'm spewing daily nonsense once again like the devil's on my heels.

NaBloWriMo comes at the ideal time, really, if you think about it. November is such a wonderfully gloomy month, perhaps second only to January or February in the calendrical 'why go on's'. The October autumnal romance is gone, you're a bit down but cosy with the knowledge that things will be looking up soon with Christmas, and in an effort to stay warm and dry and not short of hope, what better cure or past-time than writing? I know I take small comfort in it, and I'm not even a writer. I may even throw down a poem or two if things get desperate next month. I am BRILLIANT at abab rhyme scheme, so get excited for that.

Lately I've been playing this really fun game in the mornings that I think of as What Do You Remember or perhaps You Reliant Fool and the gist of it is seeing how many things on my to do list I can do before having to consult my evernote. For example, today it was the aforementioned laundry, dishes, groceries, and blog. (I'm pretending not to remember emails, expense reports, media, and invoicing.) Then I get the never-ending satisfaction of opening my checklist and ticking off stuff before the day's even begun. Doesn't that sound like terrific sport?

Speaking of wild living, the neighbors have invited us round for drinks. THE NEIGHBORS. Like, a SOCIAL call. Like, we're going to SOCIALISE. With the NEIGHBORS. Youguys. It's crazy. I am looking forward to it in the same part of me that wears an eyeglasses chain and wants to own calling cards and has a purse full of wadded tissue and dusty mints. (That is to say, the biggest part of me.) The Wolf is a bit groany about it but I am secretly excited. I'll bet they're wicked fiends, which is why they asked us to come over after their babas have gone to bed.

I will leave you now with this picture of an Argentinian cactus. This cactus is like me: watching the lush, healthy people around me thriving and growing and connecting, while hanging out on the edge, barbed and wishing I had tequila.

I also like how there's clearly something happening in the distance and he's craning to see it. Never confuse antisocial for incurious.

Big hugs and lots of love,
Essss

*This is not actually a real thing** but rather a misappropriation of National Novel Writing Month. I like to think the heart of NaBloWriMo is the same while the practice is wildly lazier.

**OMG just googled it and it turns out someone's created a National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) but since clearly NaBloWriMo is way different I'm going with it. I don't need no stinkin' community! CACTUS OUT. *mic drop* 

On butterflies, a holiday home, and a new place to live

'No one can be sad while they're using wrist and hand and eye and every muscle of their body. . . It was the hardest work I'd ever done, and, while it lasted, one could think of nothing else. I said not long before that work and weakness are comforters. But sweat is the kindest creature of the three - far better than philosophy, as a cure for ill thoughts.' - C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

OMGYOUGUYS. I'm currently working from the back garden listening to my favourite jazz playlist on Spotify and I KID YOU NOT as soon as Brubeck came on, a host of butterflies flew in and fluttered around like a bunch of maniacs. COINCIDENCE? I think not (she says as she begins to pen a paper titled 'The Brubeck Butterfly Correlation').

Sidebar: I'm currently expecting a work call that is leading me to answer the home phone that I always pretend not to hear and as a result, I've just been privy to a sales call about the value of insuring my home's boiler. EFF YOU TELYPHONE. Also, why do I keep asking this sales person more questions? She's calling back in a week now! Her name is Stephanie! My boiler is old!

Back to the business at hand: please indulge me for a moment while I attempt to explain - perhaps miserably - my blog-esque absence of the past three months. It has not been a NORMAL three months. There was a visit to America in May (San Francisco, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, to be specific). There was an attempt to finalise the French house in anticipation of The First Visitors Not Us. And all of this - busy enough as it made things - happened to time exactly with - spontaneity of spontaneities, how quickly things grow - a house move here in London. And in the midst of all this stress, Alan's wonderful, good-humoured and beloved father passed away and the earth temporarily halted on its axis and grief paid a visit.

It has been - needless to say - a very full time. But slowly things are starting to steady and boxes are getting unpacked one by one and things are becoming more or less okay, or at least normal-looking. Which to be honest, I will totally settle for at this point.

Onward and upward! Would you like to see the French place? I'm thrilled by how it's coming together, even though there's still a lot to be done.

This is our dining room. That stone wall is like a million years old. Also I'm excellent at history. Also we're getting more chairs so if you're OCD like I am, DON'T PANIC. 

What you can't see: behind that painting is a chimney! For the wood-burning stove that we don't have! But it will be done. Oh yes. It will be done.

Youguys, look at that 1930's art deco chandelier. I got it from a French flea market for like FORTY EUROS. That's like twenty five cents in Great British Pounds. Or LESS even.

I don't have any photos of the bedrooms yet because I feel like they aren't finished - that said, I don't know what they need in order to become so - but hopefully by the end of summer they'll be closer to where I want them and then I can show you the whole place.

Speaking of rooms unseen: we've officially moved house here in London. A beautiful opportunity came up for a place in (deepest, darkest) Hackney and - despite reservations about moving out of bustling, central, civilized Islington - we saw a back garden, we saw a bigger kitchen, we saw an extra bedroom, and we jumped on it. They say we're still in Zone 2 but guys, I swear we're out in the country. There are TREES on our street. Like big, pretty ones, not scrawny little well-ordered ones. The houses have bay WINDOWS. We've met the NEIGHbors. They've given us welcome-to-the-street chocolates and a CARD. A CARD YOUGUYS. Signed by their KIDS. WHAT EVEN IS THIS! I'm equal parts terrified and delighted.

Inside the house, however, is a small world of chaos: prints lean against walls waiting for hanging, a tv sits on the floor, our clothes have already overflowed the lone wardrobe, and shoes lie everywhere. But each week something else finds a spot and in this small way we're getting there. Home home home.

Not pictured: home.

I hope your summer of 2015 is going well, and all my heart to you.

Big hugs and lots of love,
Esss