On brain pickings, high art, and much much lower neurosis

Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining. - Anne Lamott

OMGYOUGUYS. Have you discovered Brain Pickings yet? If you have, don't judge me, I'm a little late to the game on this one. (And I owe it to Kyle that I came across it at all.) Don't think for a second of following that link unless you're prepared to lose the next hour(s) of your life, because each link leads to ten more interesting links, and those to ten more, and next thing you know, the sun's gone down, you're fumbling for your glasses, and you feel a strange urge to go to a poetry reading and hug people.

My latest foray into BP was when I followed a link to Anne Lamott on Grief, which then led me to an article on how we keep ourselves small by people-pleasing, and then WHAM, there's Jorge Luis on writing, F. Scott on love stories, and Dani Shapiro on the Creative Life. It's all just too much, youguys. Get in there. When you're done, you'll want to create something wonderful. Or messy. Or anything. Because as Neil Gaiman will tell you, it doesn't matter, just do it.

I really like this stuff because while I'm not a producer of art, I really love people who are. I find what they do impossibly impossible.

Speaking of Jorge and Vik, Argentina is fast approaching! FRIDAY, youguys. That's how fast. FRIDAY. That is, like, three days from now. I have about a book's worth of google maps and flight confirmations and driving instructions and STILL I have the sneaking sensation that I am forgetting something. I lie in bed at night, mentally packing my bag. Virtual sandals, check. Virtual passport, check. Virtual camera--CAMERA! Tripod! BATTERY CHARGER! Where is the last place I saw the battery charger?? The living room socket behind the speaker?? WHERE IS THAT THING! WRITEITDOWNSOMEWHEREBEFOREIFORGET! I lunge for Evernote in the dark hours, tip-tapping away at a thousand lists, syncing and re-syncing, determined to start packing, like, yesterday.  I'll be so exhausted by the time I arrive, I'll probably sleep through the entire holiday.

I CAN'T WAIT.

Big hugs and lots of love,
Essss

On friends, pies, and all over London

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. - Emerson

OMGYOUGUYS. I had big plans for the blog today. It was going to be my Thanksgiving Day Special. I was gonna post sexy sexy food photos and all sorts of heart-warming feel-goodery and basically just be THANKSGIVING WHAT!, but at the rate I'm going, we won't be eating until ten so this will just not happen. 

So let's talk about other things that have made me thankful this week! That will be totally close to London-food-photography and crackling fireplaces in an evocative, thought-provoking romantic-holiday-abroad post.

First thing that made me happy this week: running into good friends randomly, turning a Big City into a Small One. This happened yesterday, when I was running around looking for pie and en route stopped at a pub to drop something off. And I kid you not, it doesn't matter how on-the-go you think you are: when you see these faces, your day is derailed in an instant:

I mean, HONESTLY. Just LOOK at them. 

On the left is Pip's dad who was in town visiting and the reason they were out in the middle of the day. He speaks approximately 9.75 languages, which explains so much about Pip. Next we have Rich, who can not only (successfully) do ANY accent, but also communicates with such physical theatrics that he's got to be one of the best story-tellers on the planet, seriously missing a career on stage and screen. Then we have Pip herself: brainiac, cook, humorist, and creative, who has now written four novels, the latest in only two short weeks. And these are my FRIENDS. How is THAT for Thanksgiving.

The second thing I'm thankful for: crazy wonderful London. Look at this sign I ran across while continuing my pie hunt after Pip-n-Rich Fun Times: a local pub celebrating Thanksgiving by being thankful for . . . American things?

I know this list makes ME proud.

Also, the question mark after the NFL. Well played, sir.

And last but not least: I FOUND AN APPLE PIE. It was super gourmet, but totally worth the splurge:

Hey, look! Food photography! And I thought it wouldn't happen. 

Oooh! Timers! It's Go Time! I hope you have all had an equally lovely week so far, and talk to you tomorrow!

Big hugs and lots of love,
Esss

Plastic kills, Mom.

Youguys, This Is The Day. The day I prove what proofreading stuff I'm made of. The day I am going to read for twelve straight hours and YEAH, I JUST GOT PRESCRIBED GLASSES, WHAT'S YOUR POINT.

I am going to leave you with Happy Tidbits today in lieu of a proper post. I hope this is cool. If not, GET YOUR OWN BLOG.

Tidbit One, a snippet of a greater story: my sister has blogged about the differences in my nieces, and while the post in its entirety is great, those differences can really be summed up with this single interaction:
The Younger One: [trying to eat a candy cane without taking off the wrapper]
The Older One, alerting my sister: Plastic kills, Mom.

Tidbit Two: Hedgehogs Muffins:

From 19 Things Hedgehogs are Not. PLEASE CLICK THROUGH THERE'S A FAULT IN OUR STARS ONE.

Tidbit Three, from my favourite tumblr. Captions theirs:

WHEN THE PERSON YOU'RE IN BED WITH IS KICKING IN THEIR SLEEP.

WHEN I'M LEFT ALONE WITH SOMEONE I JUST MET.

The internet wins again! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got brain cells to fry.

Big hugs and lots of love,

Essss 

It is our responsibilities, not ourselves, that we should take seriously. - Peter Ustinov

Do you guys know the number one google search that directs people to my blog? It's the source of a TON of traffic. An ALARMING ton, because it's - are you ready for this? - ZOO PORN. I KNOW. I don't even know WHAT* those people are hoping to find, but imagine how disappointed they must be when they arrive on this post and there's only, like, some post-coital zebras smoking cigarettes.

In other news, look what we found sitting on the bed when we landed at Frank and Betty's yesterday: these cookbooks from Alan's sister Marie! They're a housewarming gift for the French house because MARIE KNOWS.** They fill me with warm fuzzies because it is exactly these sorts of additions that will turn it from a nice getaway into a real home-away-from-home. Check this out:

Do you love Floyd as much as I do? I'm already glad I have this, because I never knew one should do their cooking in a tux in France and I could have really embarrassed myself. 

Okay, off we go! A wedding in three hours and this bathrobe is going to look ridiculous if I don't at least add a flower.

Big hugs and lots of love,

Essss

*I mean, I can guess, but I DON'T WANT TO.
**The best places for heart-stabbing.

On houseguests, butter, and family love

Conversation with our weekend's houseguest*:

Wing: My mum didn't believe that I wasn't coming here empty-handed.

Me: What do you mean?

Wing: She asked, 'Are you sure you are bringing them something??' I said, 'Yes! I have chocolates!' and she said, 'Take them this.'

Me: Butter? Your mom sent me butter?

Wing: Um. No. Open it!

YOUGUYS IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY. Her mom made almond cookies!! And while technically the container says, 'I can't believe it's not butter,' I wholly believe there is nothing in these cookies BUT butter. They are like heaven. Alan and I have eaten nearly all of them, which just goes to show you why I don't keep sweet things in the house. WING, YOU WICKED THING. 

Here is another Wing Highlight for you, which will tell you everything you need to know about why we're friends: we spent our Saturday morning piled up in bed like puppies, clutching our coffees, watching Gilmore Girls together on the laptop. It turns out Wing is a crazy fan, too! (Of Gilmore Girls. AND coffee.) It turns out when she was writing her thesis at Oxford, GG was her afternoon break. Isn't that lovely? A and I didn't go to Oxford but I like to think our experience of GG is very similar. 

And last but not least, on this dark, wet Sunday, while the smell of Alan's slow-cooker chilli scents the lamp-lit air and the dishwasher hums and a manuscript awaits, a trip down SF-Memory Lane courtesy of one of my favourite photo-takers: 

I KNOW.

Big hugs and lots of love,

Essss

*I just realised, looking at the date on that post, that this weekend was basically OUR THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, WING! I will totally have a present** for you next time I see you!

**It may or may not be an empty butter container. 

CARROTS, right?

"It smells like a wet snowsuit. It's that kind of weird musty . . . then it's like, 'Let me make that a part of me.'" - Leslie Goshko, on eating celery

Okay, so for some reason blogger won't embed this video (I had this problem with a Funny or Die clip last week - does anybody know what I could be doing wrong?) but youguys have to watch this hilarious 'Americans Try Vegetables for the First Time' video. It will make you race straight over to Whole Foods.

Also, if it's wrong to be falling asleep at 8 p.m. on a Saturday night, then I don't want to be right. I've got a book and a phone full of funny funny tumblrs, which are my two favourite ways to unwind in an evening. Between this and my tylenol p.m., I just don't know if it gets better.

I love youguys, I hope your weekend is going well!

Lots of hugs,
Essss

One more Chester pic and I swear I'm done

Sure I'm not funny anymore, but there's more to life than making shallow, fairly obvious observations. - Seinfeld

OMGYOUGUYS. It is Friday. Friday came. I know we were all a bit worried about that possibility on Monday, but THE EARTH KEPT ROTATING. And now we're all winners.

Hey! My veg peeler is still missing. Just in case you wondered. My mom says it's probably buried in a pile of peels which I could TOTALLY see happening, but this means that it would now be somewhere in the depths of my compost bin, and youguys, that is not a place I want to go digging.

I'll bet you're super glad you came to my blog today.

You want to see another picture I took in Chester on Wednesday but didn't add to yesterday's blog because it was already insanely long and probably took your computer six minutes to load because of all the images?

CENTRAL PERK. 

I KNOW. I am not even making this up. It's an entire Friends-themed cafe! TV show posters on the wall. Giant flat screens showing episodes on a running loop. Big squishy velvet couches and armchairs in bright colours. It was AWESOME. I nearly tinkled myself. My only regret was that I didn't have time to stop in and have a giant cappuccino while exchanging casual witticisms with fellow patrons.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend planned! Wing is visiting AND it's the start of the jazz festival so there is just all sorts of joy potential over here.

Big hugs and lots of love,
Essss

You are in luck today. I am so wiped out from my merry wanderings around Chester (according to my fitbit I walked 6.5 miles! Take THAT, David Kolonay!) that you are getting what has to be the world's shortest blog post. I barely know my own name right now, let alone how to string a coherent sentence together. 

But lest this be a truly futile gesture of a post, here are two little gems to make your visit (slightly more) worthwhile:

1. This gorgeous food blog that my sister-in-law Lesley just shared, full of yummy-looking recipes and even better photography. 

2. This picture from Chester: 

Clearly Voldemort's house.

Fun fact: did you know it's technically still legal in Chester to shoot any Welshman found inside the city walls after midnight? AS LONG AS YOU USE A BOW AND ARROW.

I will leave you with that to think on. 

Big hugs and lots of love,

Essss

Because Monday Deserves a Showcase

One must still have chaos within oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. - Nietzsche

Real World Confession: I am currently listening to the Pitch Perfect soundtrack on Spotify. Because I LIKE it. I like to think this is an upgrade from youtubing the riff-off, but I think we all know better.

Today let's talk about Things of Late That Have Given Me Joy (TOLTHGMJ, for short):

1. My sister has started her first blog! I am directing you to her first post because it's all about how awesome I am, so that's my favourite.

2. My friend Marie is assisting at a fashion shoot this week involving DOUGLAS BOOTH. Also quite possibly SAM CLAFLIN - you know, that shirtless guy from the Hunger Games? Finnick? THAT GUY. Needless to say, she's obviously going to be wearing her adult diapers. As am I, because I will be paying her the big bucks to take some illicit cell phone snaps when no one's looking.

3. Remember My Favourite College Roommate of All Time? She's officially NPR-endorsed AND performing at the Kennedy Center next month! Tom HANKS will be there, youguys. He is like the Douglas Booth of Amerka. Her career just continues to climb which means that it is ONLY a matter of time until I'm working on her Late Late Show.

4. Speaking of My Favourite College Roommate of All Time: remember her husband Kyle, the poet extraordinaire? He has recently shared this wonder of a Wordsworth. It will make your day.

5. And last but not least, this gift of gifts from The Annie:

And that concludes the day's list of brilliancy! It doesn't get better than this. 

Big hugs and lots of love,

Essss