LABOR DAY MONDAY 2018

A labor day weekend update, a month and a half later!  How is everyone doing? Do people read blogs anymore?  I still love looking back at old blog entries of mine, so I shall proceed:  documenting, telling, sharing - thank you for being here. 

Most of October stayed warm - there were pumpkins showing up at the stores, and they seemed like utterly out of place, and then there were mentions of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and truly, I don't understand why one would ruin a chocolate chip cookie with pumpkin? And then suddenly, a few days ago, the weather turned and we are officially in autumn weather. Which isn't bad really, but I know what's coming, so I'm diligently taking my vitamins and hoping for the best. 

Anyways, rewinding back to the beginning of September, when we were mentally gearing down from summer and trying to prepare for the new school year (Sloane starting 1st grade! ah!), I realized we hadn't been to the river all summer, so I planned a trip to Belle Isle for that Monday morning. Ken and I used to go to Belle Isle at the James River all the time (and fun fact:that's where he proposed !) but we haven't gone with the kids often, so it felt novel. We took our time; we sipped and savored on that morning, the rushing waters providing reprieve from the sticky air.  Us together walking to the rocks and resting there, felt like an appropriate commemorating of a new season. 

Here are some photos from that morning: 

Do you see the person on that little bit of land? Logan saw him and said, "Look! A really tiny grownup!" 

We saw a lot of dogs that day (I think we counted 24?) and as usual, the girls tried to meet as many of them as they could. 

This seemed like a good book to start reading on labor day weekend to start the new school year. 

WHAT I'M READING V. 36

1. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

This was an absolute stunner of a book. It's a story of friendship and also one of the effects of trauma. It's also about continuing on with life when it seems like you can't, how hard it is to believe good things about yourself if you have been told something otherwise for so long, and how powerful friendship and love can be, but only to a certain extent. I cried and cried reading this one, and gave it a standing ovation once I was through.

2. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

I marvel at the self-control and restraint the author must have had to walk through the nuances of such an emotional and thing as police shooting of black kids. It's a skill to start of with a small story and spiral it out to all its cultural implication, especially one that is still so rampant in the news today. Along with all of that, the author captured the story and voice of a teenage girl and her community in vivid ways that made me feel like I got true insight into this girl's life.

3. Educated by Tara Westover

It was stunning and gripping. I was totally captivated by the narrative; I couldn't stop listening to it to the point that I felt like I was its prisoner. Not only is the story incredible, but the writing is fantastic. There is also commentary on what writing a memoir is, which I love. This was probably my favorite memoir since Mary Karr's "Lit", and I highly recommend it. It has led to many ruminations on the state of education in this country and in general, and what it means for power and opportunity and self-worth. It reminded me of "Hillbilly Elegy" but darker and more intense.

4. The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sachs

I know of Oliver Sachs from Radiolab, and always regarded his stories and clips and contributions as some of my favorites because of the fascinating insights he offered into our brains.  This book shares interesting stories of people with various conditions like face blindness, apashia, and blindness, and what is happening in the brain when these occur. I think learning more about other people's medical experience in this way enlarges our world view and our understanding of what makes us all human.

WE'VE BEEN MARRIED 8 YEARS

I've been married to this man for 8 years! 8 years of some of the best growing we've done as people. 

For our anniversary last month, we stole away (thanks to our MIL who held things down at home with the girls) for the night and stayed at a local hotel, Quirk, in downtown Richmond. It was bliss. some photos of those almost 24 blissful hours below:

Such a gorgeous lobby, where pink reigns supreme.

The hotel is connected to the Quirk art gallery, which features local artists and also has a very cute shop in it.

Our room was a lovely burst of whimsy, modern, cozy...pink! 

The room had a balcony with a wonderful view of Richmond and it was right next to the rooftop bar that Quirk has at the top of their hotel. 

I was giddy with excitement getting these bikes and rolling around the city streets.

Brenner Pass had our table ready with complimentary champagne because they knew it was our anniversary. It was perfect and got us in the mood for oysters and fries, which is what we settled on.

Oysters, clams, trout roe, creme fresh and corn cakes were all delicious.  I got this St. George's rye gin (neat) and it went great with the dish.

Fondue Frites!

Beef tartare

Our bike ride back, listening to LANY.  (Notice my jean shorts... I brought flats and shorts to tuck my dress into, and when I got to the restaurant, I changed my shoes and took my shorts off. Voila!)

We went back to the hotel, got a drink at the rooftop bar, and spent the rest of the night talking and drinking on the balcony. The next morning, we slept in until after 9AM, which was one of the chief things we were looking forward to about this getaway. 

Coffee at Alchemy and then back home to our babies (where Ken cooked us an epic breakfast).  

What a joy and luxury to be able to celebrate something like marriage! A celebration of the relationship, an acknowledgement of ourselves as works in progress, a commemoration of the kind of love that puts the other first.  Thanks for doing this with me, Ken Lu. 

FAMILY SESSION BY BETTY CLICKER

These days, I think my main purpose in life is to whisper little prayers of thanks for all the dozens of small things I encounter in my day.  "Thank you that the girls have clothes to wear throughout the week" I think as I pick up the pile of laundry in the bathroom, "Thank you for a laundry machine" I pray silently. "Thank you that they are healthy" I sigh, as I walk past their bedroom where the girls are fast asleep. "Thank you that we have a home to keep them warm," I think, eyes upward. "Thank you that I have food to pack my kids for lunch", while packing lunchboxes.  I gather feelings like this inside and push it outward, releasing and relaxing. "Thank you for running water", as I wash my face...and on and on.  My day is made up of these little prayers, carrying me from moment to moment, my buoy in the up and down waves of the day.  That's where I find my purpose, to give thanks for these small things that make up my life, and to pay close attention to the way I feel and think in the in-between moments. It's a discipline I've practiced for years, and one that feels more and more natural as years go by.  And over time, I've found that this sort of rhythm of gratitude helps fuel the things I want to get done, and prioritize the things that need to get done. How peculiar, and magical.

The other week, Kate Thompson (of Betty Clicker fame) came over to spend an hour hanging out with us and worked her magic capturing some of these in-between moments of a regular morning at home. Kate is a RVA treasure and has a lovely demeanor and calm energy that made us all relaxed around her. More and more, I treasure moments like these at home, where the pace is slow and we are called to care for the things that are closest to us, to look after the place that we inhabit day after day. 

You can see more of the photos below! (And because she's awesome like that, if you tell her I sent you, you can get a 10% off any family session from her.)

Also, throwback! Kate did these photos for us back when I was pregnant with Logan. I have these printed and framed in our home. Logan loves looking at these pointing out that it is her in my belly in these photos.

WHAT I'M READING V. 35

1. Clifton Strengthsfinder

I had heard about Clifton Strengths Finder from my friend, Emily, who had done the test with her work and recommended it as another helpful personality framework. This one in particular focuses on your strengths, and helps you to determine how you work in a group or team. The bummer about this is that you have to pay to take the test ($20! -  Or if you buy the book for $20, you also get a code to take the test, which is what I did. - and that only gets you the first five strengths. For the rest, you need to pay more, which I haven't done.) but my friends and I made it into my birthday activity, and all took the test in preparation of us getting together for my birthday so that we could discuss. My friend Emily even put together a power point presentation so we could analyze our results over wine and snacks. I think my results were pretty accurate to what I believe my strengths to be - although I missed several questions (I was interrupted for a chunk of time during the timed test and I couldn't retake it) - my top one being "Strategic".

2.  Calypso by David Sedaris

David Sedaris' latest book! Some of these I had read before in the New Yorker, but it was just as fun to ramble through them within this collection of short stories.  It is the usual collection of delightful and humorous stories, but a little darker and sharper than his previous collections.

3. March by Geraldine Brooks

This was last month's book club reading and I liked it more than I thought I would. I'm finding that is the fun of book club - I get to experience books that I haven't heard of, like this one! This one wonders about what the character of Mr. March (the father of the four daughters "Little Women"!) was doing when he went off to war. At first, during the first couple of chapters, I wasn't sure if I would like it, but as it progressed and I saw that it was touching on topics like idealism, morality, marriage, communication and Emerson and Thoreau make an appearance, I was sold.


4. Mother tongue: English and how it got that way by Bill Bryson 

This was my fourth book by Bill Bryson. I have loved every single one I have read, and I am more determined than ever now to get my hands on everything he has written. His writing is precise, informative, interesting, smart, with doses of humor sprinkled throughout.  This one was fascinating and I thought several times that I should have taken more classes in Linguistics (than the one I took in college, and loved!) I listened to this book on audiobook but loved and appreciated it so much that I bought the physical copy so I could read it through again.