It's One of Those Days

I made myself greek yogurt & honey with a cup of tea and sat down to check my email. Blissful.

The boiler guys came by today to replace a valve so we don't have to keep topping up the pressure or lighting the pilot light. Their tools strewn about the kitchen floor reminded me of home and I chatted to the older one about his one trip to America: Vegas & Hoover Dam.

The laundry smells so good just out of the wash and miraculously (read: cleverly) fit on every space we had available for drying.

My love's placement got done early and suddenly she was home before I left, to answer wedding questions, make choices with me, and watching a few episodes of Glee.

Which, by the way, if you're not watch Glee, you are seriously missing out on some of the best television programming of my LIFETIME.

I got off track, and then I had help getting back on track.

My watch shows the age of year and makes me smile.

I got home tonight, made myself some carrots, peanut butter and sultanas with a cup of tea, and sat down to check my email. Blissful.

For Saturday - Poem a Day

For Christmas, my mom bought both of us a book we could read simultaenously, transtlatically: Poem a Day. I thought it was a brilliant idea; she thought it was kinda cheesy. As New Year's things go, I did alright for the first few weeks of January, but found my bookmark somewhere around January 21st last night when I opened it up again. As a I read from January 21st onwards, these are the things I learned:

• not all poetry before 1900 is terrible
• Keats was pretty cool
• Robert Burns kicked ass
  
• and part of me really wants 'My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose' read at my wedding.
  

Random Facts

• I know that Vladimir Propp has dilstilled the fairy tale down to 39 functions.
• I once dated a guy who smoked a lot of dope AND worked in a heart valve factory.
• My favorite roses as a teenager were yellow with red tips; they mean 'friendship.'
  
• Now, I find orange roses most beautiful; they mean 'desire.'
• My love bites her fingernails and around the edges.
• And sometimes her peering at me over her knuckles makes me melt.
  

Monday Monday

• Finish editing Chapter 2
• Finish COA application, so I can get married and stay here
• Eat something
• NOT stress out
• Smile once in a while
  

Where I've Been

Wow. That is the first word that comes to mind in reflecting upon the last four days: wow. As you may have noticed, I've been gone from one a day for more than a day with Thanksgiving festivities. At home in California, there are three days of traditions. For my first year in England for Thanksgiving, there ended up being three days of festivities.

The actual day of Thanksgiving my mum-in-love brought out all the surprises after she joined us in London for the holiday so I could be with family. First, it was a bowl of Jelly Bellies and a plate of vegetarian sushi. Then, I was banished to the bedroom while her and Alex decked out the living room/dining room with fabrics, candles, potpourri, flowers and food. After that, while all the yummy food a la Marks & Spencers was being heated and the cava flowing, our front buzzer rang with surprise guests of J&E (Alex's sister & her wife) with their dog, Foxy, to top off all the surprises!! Warm, loved: such a relaxing evening with my second family on this side of the ocean.

Friday brought the baking: family recipes of sugar cookies and pumpkin pies. Attempted home-made hummus and planning for our first turkey roast the next day. I even got to talk to the family and all the cousins in California via the delightful possibilities of the internet (thank you, Skype!)

Thanksgivin' a la Tooting! happened on the Saturday with 16 of us (16!) filling out the 3 tables + chairs spread Last Supper style down the center of our living space: decorating cookies'; enjoying devilled eggs, wine and champagne; feasting on the intense amount of food provided; conducting the most stellar clean-up job I've ever seen from a collective group of people at a party; and playing games and chatting until the clock struck twelve.

Endless moments to be thankful for, countless people to feel loved by near and far, epic proportions of food to be relished over.

Mmm, the food. A one a day list to be drooled over:

• Delia's style turkey with butter, bacon, salt, Tony's Creole seasoning (not Delia style) and lemon
• Mashed potatoes with spring onions, butter, sour cream and milk
• Sweet potato souffle with pecans
• Southern Green Bean Casserole with home-made fried onions
• Cornbread
• Devilled Eggs
• Home-made hummus with carrots & celery
• Champagne, wine and sweet tea
• Nut-Vegetable Loaf
• Brie & Goats Cheese
• Cranberry sauce a la Britian
• Cranberry sauce a la Washington
• Hawaiian style stuffing
• Paxo stuffing
• Home-made sugar cookies
• Home-made pumpkin pies
• Ice cream, Double Cream, Cornish Cream
• New York Cheesecake
• Mini Mince Pies
• Chocolate Tart
• Bakewell Tart
• Tarte aux Pommes (Apple Tart)
• Citron Tart!
  

Today & Yesterday

• I found a purple flower earring on the street I think would make a good pendant.
• I remembered someone wrote about me (positively) in an online review of the restaurant I work in, and that rocked.
• I slept when I needed to.
• I made a breakfast burrito for the second day in a row, this time not only with cheese but with potatoes, red onion and garlic as well.
• My neck hurts when I look down at my laptop or read too much; and I think I want to get a massage on Friday.
• I think I deserve a massage.
• Yesterday, I checked everything off my to-do list.
• I can't seem to help telling people that I'm getting hitched next year, or that my lover is going to be a Physician's Assistant.
• I'm proud of my lover.
• I found a motorcycle shop near my house yesterday on a walk, but I haven't told my dad about it yet.
  
• I found pick ribbon in my drawer today and I really like the color of.
• I keep wanting to spell 'color' as 'colour.'
• I figured out that if I pronounce words like 'address,' 'literature,' and 'weekend' differently, people who live in this country understand me more easily.
• When my father in law lived in America, he found this out too, and triumphed the day the waitresses understood when he said 'water.'
• Posy is my favorite sister in Ballet Shoes and Titty is my favorite in Swallows & Amazons.
  
• It's time for bed.
  

List of Food I'm Not Proud Of

This is what I ate on Thursday:

• 1 bowl of Chocolate Wheatibix Minis
• 1 cup of tea with 1 and 1/2 spoons of sugar and milk
• 2/3 a medium KFC popcorn chicken
• 2/3 a medium KFC chips
• 1 regular size Pepsi
• 1 caramel chocolate
• 1 can of ginger beer
• 1 Snickers bar
• 1 Grande Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks
  
• 1/2 a dodgy hot-dog from Clapham Common
• 1/2 can of Scrumpy Jack
• 1 bowl of home-made, oh-s-good spaghetti bolognese a la Alex

No wonder I woke up feeling sick on Friday.

List of Joys

• Walking home from the shop, clutching the 12 pack of recycled paper toilet roll to my chest, and crossing the street, repeatedly, just to walk in the sunshine.
• Putting cinnamon in my afternoon hot chocolate to give it a little kick.
• An email exchange with a friend all morning.
• The warmth of the sunshine through the window in my work space.
• Figuring out that I could sit on the floor in my bean bag, positioning myself in the sun, and maybe warm up too.
• Breathing.
  

To Do Tonight

• Exit Counselling for Student Loans
• Iron shirts and trousers
• Dishes/Recycling/Bin
• Unpack 1 suitcase
• Make a plan for tomorrow
• Check uni email
• Check gmail
• Eat pie
  

Wake Up!

• Seeing the strips of fabric sewn the wrong way.
• Cutting 9" instead of 3"
• The volume of the sewing machine at 11:15 PM.

Quilt or Sleep? Quilt or Sleep?

What It's Like to be Home

As you can probably tell, One a Day has not been 'one a day' lately. There are a number of reasons. Not excuses mind you, but observations I've had.

First, way back in May when I started this assignment I changed the time zone setting on my account from PST to GMT. After all, I am now living in London full-time and not the West Coast of the States. However, since coming back to California I had forgotten all about switching time zones and was astonished to realize that as I was making my one a day deadline, it published as the next day, 8 hours ahead, as if I were in London. Lifeshock #1.

Second, I have no routine here. No empty house to myself, no set aside time to check my email, write, and blog. And can I just say, I miss my laptop. Ok, I not necessarily my laptop in particular as a midnight discussion with my love the other night proved I desperately need one that works, but the IDEA of a laptop. Freedom. Mobility. No back aches sitting at a not-computer-desk desk. (Which, I may also take the time to note, I don't have in either country.)

Thirds, it's busy here. People's works schedules. Family. Friends. All good, don't get me wrong, but not much time to walk in the park--or write on the computer. It'll be sporadic for a week or two, but I think I'll start by changing the time zone temporarily.

Books to Read on this Holiday

• A Death in the Family, James Agee
• Coraline, Neil Gaiman (Next--Finished 7 Sept)
  
• In Praise of Falling, Cheryl Dumesnil (Started! And now available fresh off the press!)
  
• Balzac and the Little Chinese Mistress, Dai Sijie and Ina Rilke (Finished)
  
• Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson

Update:

• Cradle to Cradle,William McDonough
  
• Holes, Louis Sachar (Again)
  
• The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway
• Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
  

For Thursday - Slacking

I'm a wee bit distracted.

First of all, I'm on holiday: no rules, no time lines, no have-to's.

Second, I'm in California, the land of my birth. There is sunshine here. And warmth. And my family. They are hard to resist.

Also, I'm at the beginning of planning two weddings with my love and just so excited about the whole damn thing that I can hardly sleep in.

Lastly, related to the prior comment, all I want to do is curl up and snuggle with my love. She's got no exams, no studying, no classes to attend. We get to just hang out, eat whatever we want, go anywhere, no pressure or appointments.

Life's pretty darn good.

For Saturday - Ben's Surprise

• Two parts vodka
• One part white rum
• One part dark rum
• Orange Juice
• Cranberry Juice
• Grenadine

From Left-overs for a Queen(s)

- Homemade hummus from curried chickpeas
- Tuna in salt water with mayo, lime juice, green onion, red onion, salt and pepper
- Grilled corguettes, peppers and baby corn
- Pomodoro tomatoes & broccoli, raw
- Boiled broad beans with salt and soy
- Baguette and Ryvlia crackers
- Chenin Blanc

* Hot chocolate with evaporated milk OR Chocolate Eclair OR Gu Brownies OR Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert

That'll do.

Possible PhD's

Topics I Might Be Interesting (in no particular order):

• Queer Theory & Children's Literature
• American Studies: Cowgirls and Country Music
• Serial Narrative Poetry
• Contemporary Poetry, if the above doesn't exist
• Urban Theory & Children's Literature
• History of Cowgirls
• A Clue for What I Want to do with My Life
• History of Consciousness

Possible Locations (in no particular order):

• Oxford
• Sussex (Brighton)
• Greenwich
• Berkeley
• Santa Cruz?

Thoughts?

• 
  

Why I Love Clotheslines

With the weather being gracious enough to allow me to hang my newly washed clothes on the line this morning, I thought I would reflect on why I absolutely love clotheslines:

• Using the clothesline forces me to slow down, enjoy the sunshine and/or wind and take deep breaths in the 10-15 mins it takes me to put up a full load.
• It saves energy, and my electricity bill.
• Sometimes it only takes an hour or two for clothes to be dry on really sunny or windy days.
• My garden becomes instantly colorful.
• It's, like, so European.
• Puns like "Is she hanging out?" or "I'm outside, pegging out!" are hilarious. (Thanks, Andrea.)
• I will always remember one house in Ireland along my bus route that had their family's clothes on the line, every day, rain, wind or shine.
  
• Drying 2 or 3 loads of laundry on the line in one day is so much more satisfying than sending them in through a dryer.
• A clothesline is so easy to put up and use: someplace to hang it from, wire/rope, pegs.
• You can even have a clothesline on a balcony.
• My clothes smell nice.
• I like the wind-blown look.

Things that make me truly happy

A short list:

• My family
• A needle and thread
• Writing poems about my love
• Getting so excited about something with a friend, you're practically talking over each other
• Cute days
  
• Really well-prepared vegetables
• Loosing myself in music, particularly at a concert
• Both bedside lights on, each snuggled in with a book
• Baking, with anyone
• Summer thunderstorms in Northern California
• Proper tea, with two big spoonfuls of sugar
• Irish soda bread, toasted with olive oil, Buffalo mozzerella and fresh tomatoes
• Big musical productions
• Dancing, anytime, anywhere
• Airmail

Wednesday's list

• My dreams are like train stations.
• Idea: quilt out of handkerchiefs?
• Almost burning the pancakes because you're distracted by your lover is total bliss.
  
• Patsy Cline is my new favorite crooner.

On the Journey of Prop 8

Thoughts:

• The voters and the Supreme Court of California do not diminish my love for my partner.
• The law and love are unrelated.
  
• The Gay Rights Movement is not the same as the Civil Rights Movement; different principles, different histories, different battles. Comparisons of marriage rights are not a creative solution.
• I want to deeply question how and why I will get married/sign a civil partnership/have a commitment ceremony.
• I do not want to erase the parts of me that make me different. In fact, I want to express them even more.
  
• I want to be part of a movement and a campaign that unites rather than divides.
• I do not care if I am unrealistically idealistic--we do not truly know what is unrealistic.

• All of these are poems.