1) I got a new mattress. I’d begun to wonder if waking up in the morning with marks from the springs was altogether normal, so I went to the excellently named Mattress Depot and got the cheapest thing there. That’s me, making my home my refuge like they tell you to in the Pottery Barn catalog. It’s very comfy, this bed now. I put the purple flannel sheets on it and an extra red blanket and it’s wonderful and soft and warm and excellent in every way. Bed, I love you. Never leave me.
2) The other day I stopped at the chocolate shop near my house on the way home. I was going to get a chocolate-dipped macaroon to try to ease election-related pain. In addition the regular stripey hair girl barista that’s usually there, there was a pale skinny boy barista.
Boy Barista: Did you make that hat and scarf?
Chiara: Why yes I did!
BB: I can tell.
Chiara: They suck that bad, huh.
BB: No, no! It’s just that the yarn matches so well. Also you don’t often see such bright colors together. The fact that you knit those says a lot about your personality, probably. One ninety-four, please.
Inside Chiara’s Head: Huh.
Chiara: So, are you a knitter?
BB: And six cents is your change. Oh, no. I mean, not for a while.
Chiara: Really?
BB: Yeah. I was in the knitting club in middle school, you know, but that’s just because I had to do it for PE if I didn’t want to play basketball.
Chiara: Wow.
BB: Yeah. You know how it is.
Chiara: Totally. Well, you should start up again.
BB: [looking off into the distance] Maybe I will. Maybe I will.
3) My Netflix this week included a couple of nature shows that featured, among other things, crazy whale sex. I had to fast forward through some of the scary parts, like when the eagle catches the fruit bats or the chimps chase the little baby monkeys and eat them, but, uh, I rewound the whale sex part a couple of times.
Also I got to watch The Muppet Movie and that made me really, weirdly happy.
4) I had a lovely day over at Sundry’s house today. She made me some lovely croissant French toast and fruit salad and then we went to the craft store and Circuit City and got some needles and yarn for her to learn to knit on and some CDs for me to burn CDs with and spent the afternoon petting the dog and cat and yelling at our yarn and stealing each other’s music. It was the perfect Sunday afternoon.
5) And even though it’s dark now…pitch black since 5:00 this evening, kill me now please…and I sort of think I should be in bed already, in fact my Sunday activities are not yet over! I may be out tonight as late as ten or ten-thirty! It’s J’s birthday tonight (happy birthday J!) and perforce we are going bowling at Garage, which I fear is a lot hipper than I am, not that that’s hard to be in any way. I am not much of a bowler, nor a pool shooter, but maybe there will be a Ms. Pacman or something. Ever since I lost so miserably to Mo at JournalCon I have been wanting to prove my Ms. Pacman mettle. Maybe this will be my chance. Or maybe I will direct my energies to devising the perfect bowling name. Last time I went bowling I was Petunia, which was okay but didn’t have the steely edge one looks for in a bowling name. I am thinking either La Tigresa or Cupcake LaRue tonight. I’ll let you know how it goes.
6) Hey, guess who I’m seeing this weekend? My mom! And sister! And grandmother! In the midwest! We’re all going to Michigan together to visit her for Veteran’s Day. I haven’t seen my grandmother since my sister’s graduation last year. I haven’t seen Mom since Paris. I haven’t seen my sister since Christmas. I’m looking forward to seeing all of them, even though I’m a little trepidatious about seeing firsthand the changes my grandmother has experienced since last I saw her. After a long time in the hospital she’s no longer living on her own, and there’s definitely some cognitive dysfunction. Mom says she’s generally doing pretty well, but I imagine it will still be a little bit of a shock. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing my Midwesten relatives, most of whom I hardly know, and get in touch with my heartland roots.
7) And hey, did I tell you the other trip I’m taking soon? No, not to the ABL for Thanksgiving. I’m going to London for a week in December to visit our first expatriate Key Girl Ashley. She and her husband Tom are doing missions work there and plan to be there for at least three years. I plan to visit them often while they are, as I love nothing better than visiting exotic locales and staying with my best friends for free. She’s going to take some time off and we plan to have an excellent time together in true Key Girl fashion. I’m totally excited to be going but it feels worlds, eons, fathoms different from my last trip abroad…of course, my whole life feels so different from that time that I can hardly believe I’m the same person wearing the same red suede sneakers. Anyway, for those of you who remember, for that last trip I was super into it and spent much time reading guidebooks and researching everything and obsessing about what to bring. This trip, my itinerary is like: a) Get on plane with a bag of stuff, b) have Ash pick me up at airport and cover eyes while she drives to her flat (her flat!) on wrong side of car and wrong side of road c) walk around and do stuff for a couple of days, d) get on plane and go to Miami for Christmas, e) have Mom pick me up at airport. Very simple, compartatively speaking.
And all y’all who have been there (or who live there!) please do tell me all about your trips and about some fun things to do with your best friend. Knowing us, we’ll probably sit around the flat talking all day and night, but she’s got to work during some of the time I’ll be there so I will be at loose ends and looking to get in some trouble. Help me get in trouble, readers! The kind that will allow me to get on the plane at the end of the trip and home to the loving bosom of my family to give them some lovingly chosen souvenirs, please.
8) And, since it’s time to go bowling now, I will leave you with Sorry Everybody, which I am greatly enjoying. I couldn’t say it better myself.