son of a whore and a scotsman

I have not figured out my entire life on Day 1 of my mini-retreat to the mountains, but I gave it my best effort. Today was glorious, all in all - sunny, warm (but not too warm), and perfect for relaxation. I had breakfast; I walked across the meadow; I laid out by the pool and started SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER, which is a memoir that came out last week to all sorts of (deserved) acclaim. Then I got a massage, because that's what one does here - it was the first massage I'd had since covid started, and it was so amazing that I'm getting another tomorrow.

After the massage, I had a margarita and a salad on the patio while journaling, and then I talked to Alyssa for our usual Wednesday check-in. Then I read some more of the memoir before going for dinner, where I journaled some more. Then I brought a glass of wine back to my room, and I was too intoxicated by the book to finish the wine - instead, I gulped down the last section of SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER like it was the finest libation imaginable. The narrative arc of the book was deceptively simple, focused mostly on her experience as a child in a difficult household marred by a father in prison and a mother who couldn't manage to keep it all together without succumbing to (understandable) rage. But the prose was gorgeous, and there were some interesting questions about what's forgivable, how families engage and model 'appropriate' behavior for each other, etc. All in all, I loved it, and I'm glad I had it with me today.

And now, I should probably sleep - I want to repeat most of these feats tomorrow, but with a different book and perhaps a bit more journaling and a bit more movement. Goodnight! 

a tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies

I'm super tired and should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I've been dozing in my living room (yay Saturday night). Today was lovely, though - I slept in, thanks in large part to my new mostly-blackout blind in my bedroom, which was an excellent investment. Then I messed around, made coffee, talked to Katie, ate some leftover pizza, and spent a few hours doing stuff in my basement. I'd been letting the stockpile get a little unruly down there, since it's pretty easy to just take groceries down there and never put them away. So I reorganized, put everything on my shelves, made a list of things I need to stock up on (I am down to one can of coconut milk, which just won't cut it in the apocalypse).

Then, I took a shower. And then I unpacked my gorgeous new kitchenaid mixer - I got it in a lovely creamy yellow, which looks great in my kitchen. I made a test run of chocolate chip chewies, which turned out perfectly - I'm really not sure why I waited this long to get one, but thanks Aunt B for the gift!

As soon as my cookies were done, I took them + a bag with ingredients for moscow mules over to Katie's house. We had a proper backyard hangout/dinner - she made roast beef, mashed potatoes, and roasted carrots, all of which were perfect, and we had moscow mules and many many chocolate chip chewies while the kids ran around and watched a movie. Chocolate chip chewies are delightful in part because you can cut whatever size you want, which often results in fun 'fooling yourself' moments in which you cut a thin sliver all the way across the pan to pretend that you didn't really have a cookie.

Eventually, though, we were all tired, so I came home and exhibited commendable restraint by freezing some of the chewies immediately rather than leaving them out to gorge on tomorrow. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

don't take the money

I worked from home today and was way more unproductive than I had planned - getting back into it on the Tuesday after a three-day weekend was harder than I expected (with no real rationale, since I should have expected exactly this outcome because I've had many three-day weekends in my life, and they have never resulted in me being super eager to get back to work on Tuesday). But I did get up before work and write a few pages, so I'll take that and hope to replicate tomorrow.

And the day wasn't all bad - I did get a few things done, which is better than nothing. And I wrapped up a little before five when Caroline showed up at my house - she and I made plans to see the major Monet exhibit at the Denver Art Museum before it closes in a couple of weeks, so she drove into Denver and met me at my house. I haven't been to the Denver Art Museum in years (since before moving here, actually), so it was fun to play hooky at the end of the day and go there.

The Monet exhibit was, frankly, incredible - it was a gigantic retrospective of the artist's work over his entire career, and if I were to switch jobs I might be interested in the logistics, finances, and negotiations that must have occurred to get so many works on loan from so many different museums around the world. It was really well done, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Also, there is something not so different about visual artists like Monet when compared to the writing life -- his obsessive return to specific themes over the course of his life, the way he kept distilling things down from what were fairly detailed paintings in his twenties to what became a very abstract attempt to capture the essence of light and color and feeling in the end, the way he played with and broke the rules around form and movement....it all resonated, even if I'm more familiar with using written words to describe the landscape of internal conflict instead.

So, I'm really glad we made it into the exhibit before the end - it was worth it. When we were done, we had a fancy dinner at Panzano - I never go out downtown, but we had an excuse since we were already in that area. The brussels sprouts were amazing to start with, along with an excellent burrata; I then had a pork chop with polenta that was pretty much perfect. And it was great to hang out with Caroline - we have many things in common, especially with regards to work, and so we were able to go deep over wine rather than limit ourselves to drive-by discussions at the barista area at work.

And now, Caroline is ensconced in my guest room and I need to sleep if I have any hope of writing tomorrow - goodnight!

there are giants out there in the canyons

I had an awesome day despite not getting enough sleep to kick it off. I rolled out of bed perilously close to 7:40am, which only gave me twenty minutes to shower and put on some foundation (and some clothes, I guess) before an 8am meeting. And then I slogged pretty much straight until 1:30, at which point I shut my laptop and greeted [censored].

[censored] is visiting me for the weekend - we had grand plans tonight, and then I intend to con him into doing house stuff. We started off with a tour of my house, and then we grabbed a late lunch at The Universal, which I usually don't go to because it's often packed. It happens to not be packed fifteen minutes before closing, and so I had my usual pork green chili with grits, and [censored] had a delish-looking breakfast with sausage and eggs and a biscuit with gravy.

This, it turns out, was perhaps too much food for the time of day, since we had dinner reservations approximately 2.5hrs later. But we came home first, and I took a v. quick nap to restore myself before getting ready. Around five we took an uber downtown - I'd made a 5:15 reservation at a pizza place near Coors Field since I knew it would be a pre-concert shitshow around there, and I'm glad I made the reservation since they were definitely turning people away. We went to Marco's Coal-Fired, which turned out v. tasty - surprisingly, the lemony chicken wings that we shared as a starter were the best thing I've had for at least a couple of days (but I can't say for a week, since everything is still in competition with Lazy Bear).

After that, we walked to the stadium and hung out on the rooftop a bit before finding our seats. The weather was looking *super* ominous, and it rained a little bit while we were under cover on the rooftop - but it turned out that this was all perfect, since we didn't really get wet and it was way cooler than it has been. So we found our seats (on the field, about thirty rows back, but off to the side) and settled in.

The concert was Billy Joel, and I am super glad that we got the chance to see him live. He's incredibly talented with a very deep catalog, and he played a whole bunch of our favorites (and some songs we didn't expect to hear). There was an unexpected graphic of 'children of thalidomide' during 'We Didn't Start the Fire' that I probably could have lived without, but otherwise it was pretty much perfect. If I could be that creating and productive (and rich) at seventy, I'd feel pretty good.

Then we caught an uber home, after a bit of an ordeal (but not as bad an ordeal as I was expecting). And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

now my morning has broken

I'm sitting in bed in Kearney, Nebraska, watching Guy Fieri slowly kill himself through a marathon of 'Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives'. Of course, I shouldn't judge, since he looks somewhat nimble while stuffing red-eye gravy in his face, while my legs feel like I'm eighty-five due to a couple of weeks of endless moving + periods of sitting still and letting everything freeze up.

sssanyway. I woke up fairly early this morning and tried to get through as much of my kitchen as I could - I didn't hit my goal of unpacking every single kitchen box, but I made a lot of progress. Things feel like they're starting to come together, and having most of my kitchen + my bedroom done makes me feel better about things. I still have a lot of kitchen + my entire office, and then I want to slowly furnish/decorate/paint/etc/etc - but the key word is 'slow', and taking time to find things I love rather than just buying something relatively quickly to fill a gap in my place.

Around noon, I'd done three loads of laundry, unpacked a whole bunch of stuff, and decided that it was time to prep for the rest of my day. So I loaded my old desk in my car, put my luggage in, took a shower, and then grabbed a late lunch at Blue Pan Pizza. It's two blocks from my house and has the best gluten-free pizza crust I've ever had. GF crusts tend to be thin-crust, which I've come to like and appreciate - but Blue Pan (and Wild Flour, which is the Boulder company they get their dough from) has solved the problem of making a real pan-style GF pizza. I don't know how they did it, or how it tastes like it actually rose with yeast and everything, but it was delightful. I'd heard Blue Pan was good, but after only one try, I'm a total convert.

Then I went home, grabbed the last bit of stuff, and took off for Iowa. I drove for five hours today, which is about halfway - so I should probably go to bed so that I can get home tomorrow early afternoon. That timing is a bit in flux since I accidentally stayed up a bit too late (the timezone changes around Ogallala, and my body thinks it's 11, but it's actually midnight). But my dad sent me a photo of my beloved A&E french onion dip this afternoon, so I have some incentive to get there. Goodnight!

finished symphony

I had another great day in Boulder - the new year is off to a great start if you ignore the day job, which I've successfully done so far. I woke up in time to trim my bangs, shower, and throw together a frittata before John, Jess, and Ian came over for breakfast. The frittata turned out v. tasty, as usual, and I also had a bunch of berries (which was key since that's mostly what Ian wanted, although that turned into him force feeding them to John). Ian ran around my house a bit after, disappearing upstairs for a minute and then yelling down the stairs, "Auntie Wamp, can I play with this?" Since it turned out that 'this' was my rotary cutter, which was possibly the most dangerous thing he could have found in my house with only thirty seconds of searching, we decided that he could not play with it.

But despite my cold-hearted denial of his desire to play with my rotary cutter, we had a good morning. John and Ian went to a park, and Jess and I went to do the free tour at the Celestial Seasonings plant, which is based in Boulder. I don't drink much Celestial Seasonings because almost  all of their 'teas' are herbal infusions (no tea), or tea that has been overly flavored for my tastes - I mostly likely my tea without any flavors, unless it's a nice Earl Grey. But the tour was pretty interesting - they produce something like 1.6 billion bags of 'tea' a year, so the factory was cool.

After that, Jess and I grabbed a quick lunch at Boxcar, and then she went back to their hotel and I came home, napped, and journaled/wrote in the afternoon. We were supposed to rendezvous at Pizzeria Locale at 5:30...but at five, I idly wondered why I hadn't gotten a confirmation today, and then discovered it's because I'd made the reservation for next Saturday. Extreme rookie move. So I dashed over there without much hope, since it's v. hard to get a table there on weekends. I put my name in and they said they'd probably be able to seat us at the pizza bar around the same time as my original reservation, but that a table would be a two hour wait. Resigned to fate, I got a glass of wine - but also chatted up the staff whom I've befriended there, and suddenly a table appeared. We had to vacate it by seven, but that was more than doable - and I was pretty happy that I would be able to show my friends the full Pizzeria Locale experience (although my actual Pizzeria Locale experience is usually drinking three glasses of wine and reading a book at the bar, but this was acceptable too).

John/Jess/Ian arrived just after I scored the table, and we ordered some v. tasty stuff - the pizza that I usually get (a spicy pepperoni-type pizza), along with a pear pizza that Jess chose (delicious!), and some broccolini that was insanely good. We also got the little arancini balls to start, which I loved, and the whole meal was just about perfect. After, we took Ian out to 'hit the town' (it's super cute when he says it), but he wasn't as in the mood for another bar as we were, so we went back to the hotel and hung out in their room until it was time to say our goodbyes.

And now I should sleep - it's back to the usual grind tomorrow, since they're leaving super early and I have a bunch of stuff to do in preparation for the week/month ahead. Goodnight!

hot as a fever, rattle of bones

I had a v. successful first day of my romance conference, thanks for asking! I got up unusually early (both for conference and for normal life) so that I could meet Veronica and attend the Day of YA event (#protip: YA = young adult books). 'Day' was a bit of a misnomer, since it was from 7:30am to 12:30pm, so it probably should've been called 'Torturously Early Morning of YA'.

I'm not a member of the YA chapter, but it was good to do the event - for one, I met a couple of Colorado writers, and for another, the speakers were mostly pretty good. The keynote speaker was Pintip Dunn, who went to Ivy League schools and practiced law before writing a bunch of books, but she did all that while suffering from intense fibromyalgia that is so bad that she can't use a keyboard. She actually wrote a book while lying flat on her back every day underneath her glass coffee table with her laptop screen showing through the glass so she could dictate her words to it (she was so sick that she couldn't sit up), and she's written her last six books on her phone since she can somehow type on the smartphone screen if she's careful. In other words, I need to suck it up and write a fucking book while I'm still in possession of a body that is capable of doing it.

sssanyway. The agent/editor panel was a bit too basic for me, but then there was a two hour plotting-type workshop that I quite enjoyed. After the Day of YA, I parted ways with Veronica, dumped stuff in my room, and met up with the delightful Maya Rodale for lunch. We went to The Kitchen (there's one in Denver in addition to Boulder), and it was a perfectly boozy afternoon - we shared a bottle of rosé, and we each had steak frites, and were so delighted with each other's company that we're planning to have dinner tomorrow (unless she sobers up and comes to her senses).

After closing out the restaurant, we grabbed coffee, then came back to the hotel, where I changed and relaxed for approximately five minutes before Katie came over after work to hang out. I was eager to introduce her to my writer friends, which goes against all my usual instincts to keep all my friend groups separate so that they can't all piece together just how weird I am. But Katie came to the hotel, and the group slowly gathered over a drink in the bar, and Maya stopped by to meet Katie too.

Then, Katie, Veronica, Grace, the Barbaras, and I went to Linger, where I'd made a dinner reservation, Poppy and Barbara's daughter Kristen met us there, and we spent a couple of hours gorging ourselves on one of the best meals I've had in awhile. The concept there is world street food, and it's pretty incredible that they can do such different dishes so flawlessly - we way overordered, but each dish was better than the last, and I wanted to eat all of it. I think I've convinced my friends that Denver is pretty cool - other than the fact that it's a million degrees, it's a good place to live, and the restaurant scene in particular is quite delightful.

Then we sadly parted ways with Katie (everyone liked each other, which was good since I didn't want to have to make any hard choices about who to cut from the program if they weren't kindred spirits), and the writers all came back to the hotel And now I need to sleep - I have a packed schedule tomorrow, so resting my eyes and continuing to ignore my email (sorry friends!) is my current best choice. Goodnight!

stolen dance

Today was mostly good, all in all - I did not want to get out of bed after getting less than six hours of sleep, but I managed to rally, shower, and go to the doctor for a checkup. This meant I didn't have time to write this morning, nor did I have time for breakfast, but at least I checked the appointment off my to-do list.

Then I went to the office, where I worked from 10:15 to 3:30 without any real breaks - but five hours isn't that onerous (although working so much last night means I felt pretty entitled to going home early today). I also spent the last bit of time putting strips of LED lights around my desk, which awed my coworkers - I had lights on my last desk in California, and I kind of missed them, so I'm happy to have them back. So now my desk is completely blinged out and ridiculous, which is as it should be.

After that, I had happy hour with Nicole - it was my third late afternoon in a row of sitting on a patio and hanging out, and it was pretty magical. I may not have as many friends here as I do in California, but when I can scrounge up friends, I'm quite enjoying the warm summer evenings. We went to River and Woods, which is becoming my fave place; the backyard was perfectly shaded, so we had some chenin blanc and split some poutine and generally gossiped/laughed/had a delightful time. I think we're actually becoming friends, which is great, so hopefully we continue to hang out in the future.

Then I came home, took a nap, talked to Katie about weekend plans, and generally did nothing the rest of the night. But even though it's not quite eleven, I really need some sleep - I have some serious deficit from the week and some serious plans to see Katie tomorrow, which means getting some sleep now is the only thing that will save me. Goodnight!

ave maria

Today was a high holiday in my calendar, since it was the long-awaited wedding of Prince Harry (who somehow did not choose me, weird) and Meghan Markle. However, I did not get up to watch it live - I hate mornings, as you all know. Instead, I slept in, then spent most of the day trying to organize my office - it's the only messy room in the house, and I need to get it straightened up so I can focus better.

But after taking care of house stuff, doing five loads of laundry, changing the sheets on my bed, buying groceries, etc., etc. I finally decided I had done enough, and so I spent the last five hours watching the BBC wedding coverage that I'd recorded this morning. It was a super chill way to spend the evening, and a casual outside observer might have found it a wee bit creepy (I turned off the lights, lit all the candles in my fireplace, and drank a half-bottle of champagne)...but don't judge.

Anyway, the wedding was gorgeous, and I loved the vibe - as someone who is obsessed with every era of the monarchy from William the Conquerer on, it's v. interesting, and perhaps awe-inspiring, to feel like I just witnessed the start of an entirely new chapter and an incredible bit of evolution from what the monarchy has been to what it could be. It was fresh and modern in a way that previous royal weddings weren't - but that's the flexibility that a spare has, especially a spare who is getting married after the queen has lived through ninety years of scandals and sorrows caused by prioritizing state duty over love.

sssanyway. I could wax on about this for hours, but I would be better served by going to bed - goodnight!

genie in a bottle

I had a long day at the office filled with many annoyances. There were some good things too - I hired Kristen, who is my friend Barbara's daughter, and her first day in the Boulder office was today, so we had breakfast and also had a 1:1, and that was great. I also had a 1:1 with my manager, who is v. entertaining (in a good way). But generally speaking, my meetings were a series of annoyances piled on top of other annoyances, and I was v. eager to leave at 5....

So I went to Whole Foods to pick up some coffee beans, yogurt, and granola (all I need to survive), and I also retrieved Katrina there. We came back to my place to stow the groceries and change, and then we walked to Pizzeria Locale, where we were v. lucky and scored one of the last tables (and a v. bicep-y, v. nice waiter). They had a delightful Neapolitan-style gluten free crust, and so we ordered two pizzas - a white pizza with burrata, among other things, and a tomato-sauced pizza with eggplant, many kinds of pepper, and pecorino. I think I still have a mild preference for the pizza I usually get there, which has salami, mozzarella, red pepper flakes, and basil, but it was great to branch out and try something different. I also had wine and Katrina had a tasty-looking spritz, and we split some sorbet for dessert, so that was delightful.

Of course, we went suuuuper deep on issues of women in tech, all of which I find rather infuriating (really, my mood today could have used some improvement). And I could go super deep now...but after we got back from dinner, I took care of a couple of things, basically fell asleep while reading my phone, but had to rally for a 10-11pm call with Hyderabad. This should be illegal. It was my own fault for not seeing it sooner - my calendar doesn't naturally extend that far down, so I didn't see it until I was in schedule view for today, which was brutal.

But after dialing in, saying hi, staying silent for an hour (while backchannel pinging jokes to someone on my team), and saying bye, it's finally time for bed. Goodnight!

i do my makeup in somebody else's car

I'm back in Boulder after approximately 24hrs on the ground in California - and I'm glad to be back for the foreseeable future. Today was pretty uneventful, although I was a bit tired and cranky after getting only six hours of sleep - I woke up at six a.m. so that I could shower and sneak out of Veronica's house in time to beat traffic (although it wasn't exactly sneaking since she got up to say goodbye to me). This proved to be a wise strategy - while it took 90min for me to get to Mountain View, that included a stop at a Philz somewhere just south of San Francisco, so I had v. tasty coffee to sustain the rest of the voyage. Given that it was raining, this was great time - although it reminded me that Boulder is still preferable when it comes to traffic, even if I occasionally have to scrape six inches of snow off my car.

When I got to work, I put on my makeup and finished getting ready, then ate a hurried breakfast before my first and only meeting of the day. Since that meeting was 5.5 hours, though, it's no wonder I was a bit fried by the end. So I drove to the San Jose airport, returned my rental, and spent some quality time working in the airport - first a meeting, then answering some emails while eating a burger to get me through the evening.

My flight was totally uneventful - I had an empty seat next to me, and I should have worked, but instead I read the whole way (A COURT OF MIST AND FURY, which is the sequel to the book that I was obsessed with this weekend). I had started it on the plane yesterday and reluctantly put it down to see Veronica; tonight, it was so good that when I got to Denver, I sat in the airport for almost an hour reading some more before reluctantly getting in my car and coming home. And now all I want to do is finish it...but I know I shouldn't stay up until three a.m. So, I'm going to crawl into bed and sleep - goodnight!

saturday night's all right for fighting

Long day and I was cranky for a lot of it - I'm hitting my introvert wall hard after many months of traveling around and talking to people, which wasn't good for keeping the peace today. But I got up and said goodbye to Barbara S, who left a day early, and made myself some coffee and an omelette, which was almost enough to perk me up.

I also spent the morning taking care of annoying life tasks - but the result is that I'm going to get my stuff shipped to Boulder next weekend rather than waiting another month, which is a great thing. This meant I had to change my ticket since I was supposed to fly back to Colorado next Thursday...but staying 'til Saturday is worth it if it means my stuff gets to Boulder the following week.

I also did some solid brainstorming on the young adult book - several of us discussed it this morning, and I'm feeling like there's something good there. I did some writing this afternoon, but it was all pretty intense, so I took a nap at five p.m. (unusual for me, since I usually like my naps earlier), and then showered before dinner. I'd wanted to go out, but a couple of people wanted to stay in, so they bought rotisserie chickens and made baked potatoes and I drank almost all of the last bottle of wine I'd stockpiled, so the wine smoothed out the edges of my temper. So, too, did sitting by Grace and looking up ridiculous photos of ridiculous people (mostly my favorite old cover model ever, who shall remain nameless).

But at 9:30, as everyone else was considering going to bed, Anne and I stole Christie's car (I was not driving, obvi) and went down the road to watch 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle'. It was, without a doubt, the worst movie I've seen in awhile, and I LOVED IT. #noregrets

But now I must must must sleep, since I have to get up in less than seven hours to pack and help prep the house to be abandoned so that we can drive to SF. Goodnight!

all monkeys do what they see

I had a pretty perfect day in the dirty east bay. I got enough sleep, then got up, showered, took Lily for a walk, and talked to my parents - probably not for long enough, and definitely way earlier in the day than usual, but I wanted to catch up with them before the rest of the day's plans commenced.

Then, John and Jess and Ian and I went down to Saul's (aka the best place to have breakfast/lunch/brunch in Berkeley, although don't tell Jess that we had brunch since she disapproves of such a dissolute meal). We had to wait a little bit for a table, but it was totally worth it - I had my favorite corned beef hash, which was as perfect as always, and I also got a latke and inhaled almost all of it. John's spinach benedict looked amazing, as did Jess's pita/egg sandwich, and Ian did a great job trying to eat his crayons. In other words, we all won!

Then they left to come home, and I wandered around the neighborhood for a bit and bought some groceries just in time to get picked up from Safeway by Heather (aka dear respected madam). She v. kindly drove all the way up from San Jose to see me, and it was totally delightful - we spent a good seven hours hanging out, mostly on the back patio in the dappled sunlight with a bottle of rosé and some snacks. Then we ordered Indian food for dinner (pretty tasty, not the best I've ever had), and then we sat in the hot tub as the sun went down, and it was all pretty much perfect.

Then she left, I took a quick shower to get rid of the hot tub feeling, and I also messed around online for too long. But now it's time for bed - goodnight!

american dream

It was my last day in Miami, and I am most definitely not ready to leave - it's a pretty cool city despite the endless heat, and I feel like I've only scratched the surface of what I could find here. Beyond that, I'm feeling super antsy to dig in and make serious progress on my next book - I might have been able to do that this week, but instead I spent fifteen hours dealing with last year's taxes, which certainly put a crimp in my plans. I'm liking the nomadic experiment so far and am happy with what I've done -- but for the future, I need to aim for 4-6 week stays in places if I want to be productive.

But that's an issue for another time. Today was mostly consumed with wrapping things up here - I did spend a couple of hours writing in my notebook while enjoying the tiny desk in my extra room (my Miami room is definitely the nicest of the three Roams I've stayed in), but I mostly spent the afternoon packing and organizing and dealing with last-minute tasks. I leave for Austin bright and early tomorrow morning and I knew I couldn't put off packing until then (even though packing should theoretically be easy since I'm taking everything I arrived with).

I also needed to finish early because I had evening plans - my cousin Moriah lives in Miami, and we went out for dinner and drinks. I believe this is the first time we've hung out alone as adults and it was pretty great - she's the same age as [censored], so we'd hung out quite a bit when we were little, but she grew up in St. Louis and we never spent that much time together once her family was busy with sporting activities and stopped coming to Iowa so frequently (especially after my grandma on that side passed away).

So anyway, Mo picked me up and we went to Wynwood, which is a very cool, artsty neighborhood that I'd wanted to check out but hadn't made it to yet. We had burgers at a hole-in-the-wall place called Kush, which looked like a dive but is all in on the farm-to-table movement, where I had rosé from a can because their menu trends heavily toward beer instead of wine. Then we went to Wynwood Walls, which is a famous outdoor art installation area, and I saw some amazing murals (my fave was one of Moriah's faves as well - from a distance it looked like a very well-drawn face, but up close it was actually made by gouging concrete out of the wall to create shadowing that turned into the face from a distance). We continued to catch up over mojitos at one of Mo's favorite bars on that street, and it was all quite delightful.

But I sadly had to part ways earlyish, since I want to get six hours of sleep before my flight tomorrow - fingers crossed that I make it out of here okay, since it was stormy most of the day and I don't have high hopes for improvement tomorrow. Goodnight!

a little flesh, a little history

Sleepy, stuffed, and definitely ready for bed - today was tons of fun, but I overindulged and need to sleep it off before starting again tomorrow. I woke up this morning after not quite enough sleep and rendezvoused with Terry (remember her?), and we promptly engaged in some debauched day drinking. And by that I mean that I had some sort of vodka-filled berry lemonade with my cajun scramble, which is way stronger than I usually start with in the morning...

Then we change into swimsuits and spent the afternoon on the beach. We'd been told that there was beachside bar service, but this was not true because of some special events happening this weekend, so I held down the fort while Terry went across the street to get a couple of drinks to go for our first round - which felt more like rounds 1-3 (or 2-4, if you count brunch), because they gave her plastic quart containers like you get takeout soup in, each filled to the brim with a mojito (for me) and a margarita (for her). A quart of mojito is approximately 1.3 pints more than I was expecting, so I got somewhat tipsy while we laid in the sun and talked about life...

And then we continued the fun by going to Tequila Chicas and having a frozen margarita and some chips. Then we changed and went to Drybar, where we got blowouts - Terry was shocked that I'd never done one, as was my blowout guy and every other person who worked there. But my blowout guy complimented the texture of my hair, so at least someone in South Beach besides myself got to feel how awesome my hair is....

Yeah, I'm bragging, not sorry. ssssanyway, we took our fancy hair to our dinner reservation at 27 Restaurant, which turned out to be an incredible place. Of course I had to have a cocktail in the twenty minutes we were waiting (a Bayside Britney, which was tasty, and I had to text Irish Matt to show him the menu since, as he responded, the drinks all sounded like the chapters of his autobiography). Then we were seated, and the food was outstanding - we had the best falafel I've ever had, some fish in a curry sauce with 'ancient grains' (some of them need to stay ancient, but they were really delish in this context), and arepas with beef brisket that was to-die-for good. And we (or I) ill-advisedly ordered a brownie and had a few bites, which is probably not helping my sudden headache/stomachache.

Or maybe that's the fact that I drank basically no water and approximately 80oz of cocktails today. I only had one with dinner, which I ordered solely for the name - "One Night in Bangkok", which was essentially bourbon in a thai iced tea, and it was better than it had any right to taste, and I'm sure my face lit up with the expression that I get when I suddenly want to have ten cocktails. It's a good thing Adit wasn't there, is all I'm sayin'.

After dinner, we were stuffed beyond belief, and both of us were tired, so we took a cab most of the way back to her hotel and walked the rest. I went up to her room to get my stuff, and then we walked out to a different street where I could get a lyft without getting stuck in crazy traffic. Then I came back to Roam and promptly talked to Katie for awhile - this is not our usual time to talk, but maybe it should be since the kids had just gone to bed and we were able to talk for quite some time (and I think I held it together despite my alcohol consumption). And then I finished the book I started reading yesterday, and now I must sleep so I can go back to South Beach in the morning before the traffic gets totally insane - goodnight!

baby i'm so rising

I overindulged in food and friends, but I don't regret any of it. I spent the morning attempting to get some work done - this mostly involved standing at the kitchen counter working on my laptop so that Duncan wouldn't sit in my lap and distract me (Duncan is a cat, not a boyfriend or a vagrant, fyi). I also made perfect avocado toast and iced coffee, which felt v. much like my old San Francisco life, except for the fact that I don't live here anymore and perhaps never will (but never is a word I never like to use).

Eventually I showered and schlepped myself down the hill three blocks to Nopalito, one of my favorite restaurants, where I had a solo lunch with my journal and my thoughts. It was delicious, and I left completely stuffed - I've never gone alone before, and I wanted the special appetizer (a cold tostada with snapper and smashed avocado, which was outstanding), but I also wanted the quesadilla roja con chicharrones and a million other things on the menu. So I settled for ordering the appetizer and the quesadilla (which is made with a delicious combo of queso fresco, pork, and pork rinds - you may find this abominable, but I find it #winning), as well as a margarita, and I ended up eating most of it and being totally, uncomfortably, gluttonously full.

So, of course, I had to add coffee to my stomach to increase the drama. Then I settled up my extravagant lunch bill and went to the Outer Sunset, where I met up with Veronica for more 'writing' ('writing' is in quotes because we talked a lot about writing, and each also did a bunch of admin work, but as far as I know neither of us wrote new words on our intended projects). By 5pm it was time to admit that we were far more interested in each other than in our books, so we finished off the last glass of champagne left from the bottle we opened yesterday, and then the last glasses of red wine from the bottle we'd started at dinner last night. I had a great time, as per usual, and it all flew way too fast, and I'm not ready to say goodbye....

But eventually I said goodbye, took a lyft with a delightful man in his seventies who also composes flamenco music (and said a prayer to all the gods and muses that I don't have to drive a lyft when I'm seventy to subsidize my art, especially since lyft will be dead and we'll all be cyborgs by then anyway), and met up with Claudia (aka Santy Claude) at My Tofu House. Claude had had a tooth pulled today, which is why we went for soft tofu - but it was good to go back there, even if I wasn't hungry at all when the food came out and I ate it anyway like a true champ/loser, take your pick.

So, we caught up over steaming bowls of deliciousness, and then we went to the Mission to meet up with Vidya (aka Chandlord). The stars aligned and Claudia found parking immediately, right across the street from ABV, so it felt like it was meant to be. ABV is one of my favorite bars in the city, and I had my favorite cocktail from their menu (The Jackel, which is misspelled for reasons I don't understand). We sat around and talked for an hour or two, and then Claude went home and Chandlord and I walked to Market St, where we parted ways on different lyfts to different locales.

And now it's definitely time for bed - goodnight!

i'd be safe and warm if i was in l.a.

I was very sad for my retreat to end today, but I caught up with some old friends, so the rush of new experiences overcame the sadness of leaving San Clemente. It didn't help that I barely slept last night - I was all good from eleven p.m. to two a.m., but I woke up at two and was as wide awake as if it were eight, and I tossed and turned the rest of the night. I realize this is normal for a lot of people, but I consider myself to be a champion sleeper, and so those rare nights when I can't sleep make me feel angry and oddly defeated.

sssanyway. I got out of bed around 7:45 and spent a v. happy hour (which feels so long ago now) sitting on the deck looking out through the mist to the ocean beyond, drinking coffee and answering emails and planning activities for my upcoming sojourn to the bay area. But I had to stop enjoying myself so that I could shower and pack and vacate the premises. We all said goodbye to Christie, who was driving back to San Diego, and then Barbara and Anne and I finished getting ready and took a lyft to the airport. We parted ways there - they were on the same flight back to SF, while I was only at the airport long enough to pick up a rental car.

I then drove to Culver City, which took a little over an hour - since I haven't driven much in the last four months, and most of that driving happened in Iowa, this was a bit like going from a tricycle to an Evel Knievel-style motorcycle stunt. Luckily, I navigated the freeways and lights and accidents and sudden stops without any issues (despite being exhausted and hyped up on Mountain Dew), and I made it to my destination...

...which was a bookstore that specializes solely in romance novels. I would mention its name but I don't want to show up in any of their social media scans - but the store was totally wonderful, and it was great to see them put such an emphasis on romance novels that are mostly ignored everywhere else. I was mostly there to meet up with my friend Jenn, who hangs out there a lot, but I was glad to see the store.

However, I didn't browse much initially - we were both starving, so we walked down the street and had lunch and caught up on work/life. She also writes historical romance and also is the photographer for most of my covers, so we had a lot to discuss. Then we went back to the store, and I managed to only buy three books and a necklace (a real sacrifice on my part, made solely because I don't have room for any more stuff). Then I said farewell to Jenn and drove my airbnb (50mins to go less than ten miles, which is a v. California situation).

I was only here an hour, but I used half of it to take a nap, which miraculously restored me before my dinner plans. Mahin picked me up at 6:30, and we went to Urth Caffé, which had a delightful outdoor patio with even more delightful heat lamps. Mahin and I used to work together forever ago, and she and I would occasional have lunches to secretly talk about romance novels, which always felt fun and vaguely forbidden. I hadn't seen her in forever, but we'd exchanged emails a couple of months ago, and since she's living in LA now we took the opportunity to get together again. She's also a writer now, so we talked a lot of shop, which is fun and fascinating for us and of absolutely no interest to any of you.

So, three hours flew by way too fast, and my heart wasn't ready for the night to end, but my stamina was on the verge, so Mahin dropped me off at my airbnb - and hopefully it won't be another five years before we see each other again. And now I'm desperate for as much sleep as I can squeeze in in yet another unfamiliar bed before tomorrow's fun plans destroy my immune system and my liver - goodnight!

on the road again

I'm all packed up and ready to go - but my heart's not quite ready. Approximately twenty-four hours from now I'll be landing in the US - I was telling Veronica about a great restaurant in Boston today, and when I pulled the search result up on my phone to show her the location, it reminded me that Ritu/Bill/I have reservations there tomorrow night. It will, of course, be great to see all the people I'm about to see, but I'm not quite ready for my trip to be over....

...but I am ready to swap out the 40kg of stuff I have and get some different stuff for the next phase of my travels. Today was a v. idyllic last day, although everything still felt like it was spinning after all the hours I spent standing on ferry boats yesterday. The last day of class was excellent; Rachael is a great teacher, and I've enjoyed all the exercises tremendously. After class, Veronica and I grabbed lunch nearby (a great gluten free pasta! and then a salad after because we were both still starving, although the waitress looked at us askance when we ordered a salad after having pasta because that's just not done). Then we took naps. Then we went out in search of fun things to buy - we found the paper place we've wandered by multiple times and managed to find it when it was open, and it's now one of my favorite stores in the world. The Italian man who runs it seems to be a sole proprietor and also makes everything himself, and I bought the most beautiful leather journal with the Venetian lion embossed in the cover, and holding it makes my heart happy. He also showed us his guest book, which was signed by Johnny Depp, and then he gave me and V each a bookmark with our initials, and he was so friendly (and kept speaking to us in Italian even though we clearly didn't really quite understand him), and it was kind of magical.

Nothing could really top that, but we wandered around a bunch more shops, and found a jewelry place that had also been closed the last time we saw it, where I bought a pair of earrings. Then I cut myself off from further purchases, because really, it's unnecessary. We ended our wanderings with a glass of wine and an attempt at looking out over the water (really we looked out over a dock, since the waterside restaurants reserve the waterside tables for people who are eating meals). Then we met the rest of the group for the goodbye dinner - it was a cute outdoor terrace right around the corner from our hotel, and I had more gluten free pasta and split a bottle of chianti with Misty (who is lovely - another SF person, although I don't know her well), and generally enjoyed the feeling of the end.

Then I came back to the hotel and packed, and I think that I distributed the weight in my bags appropriately to keep from having to pay any excess (as long as my backpack doesn't burst in transit). And now I'm going to sleep so that I can prepare myself for the flight tomorrow - goodnight!

lay it all on me

Venice and my foreign travels are rapidly drawing to a close - it's odd to think that I'll be back in the US in two days, since I've spent thirteen weeks away. But I'm too high on life, drunk on Venice, and in love with the last few weeks to think about the future.

Today was utterly exhausting and utterly excellent. I woke up after getting the first full night's rest in a week, and I could have happily stayed in bed another couple of hours, but I ralled and dragged myself downstairs for this morning's writing workshop. It was all about memory and taboo subjects, which hits at some of the core of what I want to write (and what I have been avoiding writing forever). At the end we tore our exercises up into tiny pieces in the courtyard of the ancient monastery where we're holding our workshop, and it was all v. cathartic.

Then I had a break, and I used it to have a simple lunch of roasted chicken, potatoes, and wine (half a bottle of it) in the Venetian sun while scribbling in my journal. Then, we took a v. long trip to Burano and Murano - this was all kind of a killer, since it was an hour and a half each way to Burano, and while Murano was on the way back, we waited forty minutes for the boat in Burano. So, I didn't really see the glass blowing or the glassworks of Murano. But Burano was gorgeous - such beautiful colors on the buildings, and lots of lace (their traditional specialty).

I spent most of the afternoon/evening hanging out with Veronica and her family + Lisa, and we had a great time - after we finally got back from the other islands, we v. quickly grabbed jackets and went to the dinner Adam had reserved for us. We went back to the neighborhood we went to last night, and the meal was perfect - just different enough in terms of style to feel satisfying, but the food was gorgeous and decadent and wonderful. We split a couple of bottles of wine, and I courted disaster with gluten again by having spaghetti carbonara - if I was going to court disaster, I'm glad it was with this dish, since it was utterly perfect and I almost ordered another helping for dessert.

And now, I need sleep rathe desperately - goodnight!

lemons and desperation

Venice continues to delight, and I continue to be v. v. tired - almost hungover with the elated exhaustion of finishing my book. Today I tried to be mindful and in the moment even though I'm distracted by book release stuff. The writing exercises this morning were great - we spent some time wandering around and observing things, and Rachael pointed out that a lot of my little pieces have involved vessels full of water (cups, mugs, cisterns, wells), which was interesting, although I don't know what to do with that bit of wisdom...

After we were done for the morning, I took advantage of some downtime to wander the quiet sidewalks and ancient canals between here and San Marco. San Marco itself is awash in tourists, but I found a restaurant that served surprisingly good risotto for being in such a touristy area. So I sat and people-watched and ate my risotto and drank my wine, and it was all a perfect moment.

Then I met up with the other writers at the Doge's Palace - we had a 'secret itineraries' tour, which took us through the secret wings of the Doge's Palace. That includes the prison cells for the highest-ranked prisoners, the areas where the secret police and the Council of Ten did business, the area where Casanova escaped from, etc. It was cool to see, especially since the tour guide was a great storyteller.

Then Lisa and I split off from the group, took a vaparetto (water bus) back, and had a couple of drinks and snacks near our hotel so we could catch up properly. Then I took a twenty minute nap that could have happily lasted two hours. And then I had dinner with Rachael, Veronica, V's husband Adam, and their son Owen. We went back towards the neighborhood where I had such a lovely dinner last night, found a great little restaurant with the perfect outdoor seats, and enjoyed a lot of fun conversation and some delicious food (they had gluten free pasta!). And my time here is all too rapidly drawing to a close...

Which means, I suppose, that I should sleep. Going to bed now would go a long way toward restoring my sleep deficit, which means I'll probably play sudoku for an hour, but I'm hoping sanity wins out. Goodnight!