. I have slowed way down since the middle, in absolute dread of finishing it. And if you haven't read this
either, you should.This music
. It's like the Bee Gees crossed with the soundtrack of Friday Night Lights, crossed with all your own memories of broken heartedness. In the most beautiful way. Just listen to a bit of that first song and see if you like it. And if you do, then go watch this Bonnie Raitt cover.This blog. Which is my friend Emily's. She's as lovely as she seems like she would be.
These movies.
Right on the edge (and by "on," I mean, of course, "over"), in terms of appropriateness for the kids, but I have never actually seen Birdy laugh so hard before. I thought she was going to choke. We regaled our friends Daniel and Pengyew so thoroughly over lunch, that they rented the first one too and are still chuckling over the line, "I'm boiling a roast." Speaking of: major heat wave around here. Yikes.This dress, which I wear every day, all summer long. I even hiked the Alps in it last summer! I have it in black and scuba, and I even bought it new, which is an exceedingly rare phenomenon, as you know, if you see me at the Salvation Army on Family Day.
These skirts. Okay, full disclosure, that's my friend Nicole's etsy shop. But seriously. How gorgeous are they?
This snack. Mmmm. Though it gives us all the thing we call "nut sickness," and I know you know what I'm talking about--the eating equivalent of pouring liquid into a bottle through a funnel and forgetting that it's going to keep filling, filling, filling for a little while even after you stop pouring. If there's no Trader Joe's near you, maybe you can figure out how to make these, and then tell me all about it.
Stay cool. And thank you for co-reminiscing with me over that last post. I am always in such good company with you.
xo
p.s. I see that somebody ended up here from Googling "Catherine Newman Brazilian." I sure hope it was only chocolate cake you were looking for, given the expansive fact of my navel-to-kneecaps pubic hair.
I read State of Wonder last Sunday - one of the best books I've read in a while. Bel Canto is also one of my favorite books.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading State of Wonder now. good stuff.
ReplyDeletethe dress link doesn't work. I'm having a terrible time finding good summer dresses, the suspense is killing me.
kisses to you, my friend.
ReplyDeletehow's about now, cate?
ReplyDeletexo
I don't know about Cate, but I just got the dress link to work. And "Catherine Newman Brazilian" is making me snort. Not that I actually know you for real, but a brazilian doesn't really seem to fit your vibe.
ReplyDeleteEverytime I read a new entry I'm like "Oh! We'll find out who won the blog name game!" And then, no,we don't- but the entries are so good it's just impossible to be disappointed!
ReplyDeleteAnd the dress link worked fine for me- but my fear of falling down stairs and landing in a skirt-over-my-head-and-mom-underwear-clad-butt-up-position keeps me in shorts 99.79% of the time...
Ooh, book sounds good. I just finished the Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and was also filled with sadness approaching the end. Sign of a good read!
ReplyDeletep.s. My friend calls them her "public hairs" heh heh
Nut sickness -- that is the exact thing I get when furtively snacking on Nestle white chocolate or butterscotch chips straight from the bag. Oy.
ReplyDeleteNut sickness and eating cashews (no matter the flavor) go hand in hand. Everyone knows that, right?
ReplyDeleteOoh, so excited to come here and see links! I love good links! Of course I just spent like an hour going from link-to-link-to-link, so I appreciate that you don't do it all the time.
ReplyDeleteAs far as loving something from Trader Joe's goes, I say, stock up, my friend! They always reel me in with some delicious thing, and then when I'm good and hooked, they discontinue it. I am in love with their Jasmine Pearls Tea (good hot or iced!) that I just went back and bought 4 more boxes, just in case.
Mostly just wanted to say hi, as if we were real-life friends.
-Loren
I can't think of anything clever to say. Only that I love your blog and have felt like your BFF ever since reading "Waiting for Birdy" 3 years ago (have also been reading your blog(s) for a long time but this is my first comment). Please keep writing and inspiring me with your delish recipes and wise, wonderful musings about life.
ReplyDeleteOMG that last line almost made me choke! I have to try you're iced coffee recipe. too hot to go get some today (112 heat index in NJ?!) my boy is 9, is that the same age as Birdy? We are too excited to share our fave movies with him. Forgot about Naked Gun...
ReplyDeleteCute dress...is it kind of flimsy- I am afraid that maybe it would be flimsy and you could possibly see that I have cellulite?? Maybe I can forget that I have it while scarfing down cashews from Trader Joe's, which we always visit when we go to Santa Cruz to visit my husbands family. It's always, "Oh yeah, there is the majestic ocean and the pristine beach...can we go to Trader Joe's now?" We sadly do not have them here in Colorado, so we always come home with exotic sounding packaged goodies and wine from there as if it were a foreign country whose cuisine we had never heard of. "What's this? Trader Joe's Mocha Java coffee? Outrageous!"
ReplyDeleteOh, Catherine Newman, I love you for that last sentence. Have you already read Cutting for Stone?
ReplyDeleteOK, now I don't feel too bad for letting my 6 & 9 yo daughters watch Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with us. We were on a road trip and as I snuggled in bed with my 9 yo I reminisced about the "Those aren't pillows!!!" scene. We all laughed so hard watching that movie. We watched the car rental counter scene twice (Wipe that F#%**ng smile off your rosy F#%**ng cheeks...I want a F#%**ng car right F#%**ng now!!). So, so funny and of course reminding the girls that swear words aren't funny at school!! BTW went camping to Bass Lake, CA and made the banana s'mores in foil recipe I got from you years back - so, so good!
ReplyDeleteEvery time I read one of your new blog entries, it is as though I just sat down with a best friend for an hour long chat. Love that! Keep 'em coming!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Catherine, for the lovely links!
ReplyDeleteThe dress is perfect and I had to laugh at the negative review about it looking/feeling like a nightgown. Don't know about you but that would not be a deal-breaker for me!
Happy Summer!
I am both amused and mortified to read your last sentence because that was *me* Googling "Catherine Newman Brazilian." I was up late Thurs night baking your Brazilian Chocolate Cake and had forgotten to print out the recipe, so had to keep pulling up the site on my phone! I probably Googled it 10 times--never thinking of the alternative interpretation! The cake was unbelievably delicious, BTW. We had it last night, then again for breakfast and practically died laughing when I saw this post on my phone *while eating* some! Thanks for all of the delicious recipes! Somehow, having your stories and commentary along with the instructions makes them seem so much more fun and accessible!
ReplyDeleteYou crack your Brazilian reader up!! Come on, you've blogged about making sugar wax before.
ReplyDeleteQuick question... those skirts, years and years ago you wrote about this book (alabama stitch something) and you actually sewed matching skirts for you and Birdy -- are you still sewing this kind of stuff. Definitely lovely. Will have to come back to this post NOT at almost 2 am to check out each reference more carefully! ;)
I LOVED State of Wonder - more than Bel Canto even. I also loved The Paris Wife. Even more, I love your links and recommendations! Happy summer.
ReplyDeleteI read Ann Patchett's book about her friendship with Lucy Grealy, after having read Grealy's book "Autobiography of a Face." Both were very interesting. "State of Wonder" is the next book I'm planning to start. I just finished a silly read called, "Edward Trencom's Nose."
ReplyDeleteI just finished Good To A Fault on your recommendation and loved it. Can't wait to try the others!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the book recommendation- I love love love Bel Canto so I'm excited to see she has something new out. I just finished lecturing my brother in law, to whom I loaned my copy of Bel Canto and who declared it to be intolerably boring, on the virtues of Ann Patchett. I nearly whacked him over the head with it. YOU MAY NOT DISAGREE WITH ME ON THIS!
ReplyDeleteI just put State of Wonder on hold at the library. I am 1091st in line for it. Oh dear.
ReplyDeleteAh Bel Canto - a favorite of mine. It demonstrates what I love about Patchett - her ability to capture all different kinds of love (platonic love, romantic love, respect, rekindled love, filial love). That book was awesome. Have you ever gone back to read about the actual incidents that inspired the book? It is really fascinating to see how she took a real event as her basis, and through art, made it into something completely unique. Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks, dear.xx
ReplyDelete