On the Inside Looking Out
You'd think what with the Miracle of Life taking place in my innards that I'd have a lot to blog about. At the very least, you'd think I'd update frequently enough to keep the "OMG, are you all right" emails at bay. But work is busy and free time is spent falling asleep on the couch in the middle of various movies, and with the price of gas ($4.29 for regular! at least!) and the increasing anxiety over becoming, at least temporarily, a one-income household come winter, I just can't find the motivation to get out into the world more than is absolutely necessary, which leaves me nothing to say aside from recapping my favorite episodes of reality home design shows.
Yesterday, for instance, I stayed home from work and read a novel (for work) and if I may I'd like to take this moment to pat myself on the back for having chosen a career in which it is perfectly acceptable to stay home and read a novel while curled up in a bathrobe and a big red chair while the fire blazes forth into the living room and the cats try to kill each other. (Eve is going through a phase in which nothing would please her more than to sit upon Linus's head. He fights back, of course, and much hilarity ensues, but mostly Simon and I are just grateful that the one-sided deathmatches have seemingly come to an end and Linus has been definitively out-alphaed by the reining feline queen, and all is right with the universe. Although still skinny, Linus is now as tall as Eve, and she must have reasoned out that their size parity means it's now okay to kick his ass, and boy does she ever.)
Speaking of sitting around the house all day, someone recently left a comment about how I don't post as many photographs as I used to. When you read that, imagine I'm saying "photographs" the same way I might say film or auteur (as opposed to "movie" or "director")--you know, all freshman-philosophy-major-like. I still post "pictures" pretty regularly, but yeah, the photographs have been few and far between. Why is that, I wondered to myself somewhat innocently, unaware that the question would be the fun-slide entrance to downward spiral of realizing that the reason I don't photograph anything is because we don't do anything. What with the first-trimester blahs and Simon's wacky back (he's in physical therapy now and already feeling better!), plus having a house at which there are always things to clean up, reorganize, weed, water, whatever, we've been a pretty dinner-and-a-movie couple for quite a few months now. Some might say we're squandering these final months of pure freedom. I say we're practicing being homebodies so when baby comes it won't be such a shock to our lifestyle. See how lies can be good sometimes?
But last weekend we actually did something! We went to brunch and then the famed Alameda Flea Market with Sara and Ron and then, after a failed visit to a gigantic stuffed polar bear (not open on Sundays), we dragged them back to our house and used their new vintage juicer to make lemonade. We sat on the porch and ate cheese and crackers and fresh strawberries until the fog rolled in and everyone who didn't put on an extra-thick layer of SPF 50 turned a little pink. Yay friends! Yay flea markets! Yay strawberries!
And hey, speaking of friends, the comments on that last entry were totally awesome. New readers, a bunch of old, old readers (Sam! Meredith!), and even some infrequent commenters who say I probably don't know who they are but I totally do. I'm not as good about commenting on blogs as I used to be, so newer contacts tend to get fewer comments than older ones, but now that I know who's out there, know that I know you and am so glad you're out there. And if you'll be at BlogHer next month, by all means come say hi! I'll be the round one on the arm of the guy who's clearly used up twice his share of drink tickets.
Finally, here are some photographs from the Alameda Flea Market. What a bunch of cool (overpriced!) stuff!
You have the coolest job ever, I've always wanted to be paid to sit around reading books.
So jealous that four of my favorite people do fun things without me! ;)
Glad you guys had a good time.
the photograph of the camera made me drool a little bit
Hey, we have the same job!! Okay, not really. I wish, but I get to do that too. It's the bestest.
Great pix! And will you hire me to read novels? I'm really good at it! I used to do it professionally, in fact (academic)...
Man. I wish I could read books for my job. I would be so good at that!
There is, of course, that whole part about eventually having to FIX these books. Sometimes it's fun and sometimes it makes me murderous. Good thing about half the authors I edit are already dead!
Ooooh, those pictures turned out great. We had such a fun time on Sunday.
Oh my, I would LOVE to read books for a living.Even if they're bad-I mean it's sitting home reading. ALL.DAY! I'm so jealous!
I also think it's funny that Eve just now feels comfortable beating Linus up now that he's bigger. Punk has been beating on Alex since day 1. It's gotten better since they locked themselves in the bathroom but still. She wins all the time.
Is that awesome thing a birdhouse (above the cameras)? I'd have to have that!
How do you edit authors who are already dead? I have NEVER edited a dead author! All of mine are very much alive, sadly, and boy howdy, do they not let me forget it.
I was totally just thinking that i need a trip to the flea market. I'm obsessed with those old typewriter keys!
I was *just* wondering about your photographs this afternoon! I was at Boot Camp, and my mind wandered (as it is wont to do). I also wondered if you still met with your photography group.
I have missed your photographs. I lurve the one of the Canon. But you probably knew I'd say that.
Arghhhhh, how can it be A WHOLE MONTH until the next Alameda Flea Market? Your PHOTOGRAPHS are like crack to me. Last week I bought a 1957 turquoise typewriter on Craigslist for $15 because I was having flea market withdrawal symptoms. ALMOST as good but not quite.
Love the pictures. Very lovely. And, sigh, to get to sit and read...
PS Although, what am I doing right now???? Just not reading a book, I guess.
The picture with your feet in the bottom left corner with the large letters? The only thing my mind sees when I look at that photo (picture?) is "spider". Do you see it too?
Sadly, BlogHer is way too far away for me, but I'll be thinking of all the fun people I could be meeting if I didn't live on another continent.
Photos! Awesome!
You will get the chance to take "photos" rather than "snapshots" when the wee one comes along, too. Nothing is quite as satisfying as shooting your spawn (uh, with a camera). Tip: get more memory cards now and obsess about a digital-photo filing system now before you've got 300 DVDs of Leah Jr.'s exploits that are not somehow organized.
Someday before my mom totally cleans it out I want to photograph my grandmother's attic. It's like a one-person flea market and graveyard for failed home appliances. There's even a working "mangle," which my grandmother used once and got scared of (it pressed and folded clothes automatically).
That place is TOTALLY overpriced! Great shots, though. And I don't think I'm the only one who would LOVE advice on how to get one of those "read for a living" kind of jobs...seriously.
Oh, and I'll be the awkward gal who introduces herself to you (and Simon and Wombat) at BlogHer this year. I can't wait to wander around with all the other blogger ladies out there!
I wish I lived in San Francisco to be able to to to the Alameda Flea Market. The finds at this market are amazing.
Dude, you should have bought me the baby fever-guide, although maybe it's mispunctuated and should be BABY FEVER guide.
Inside would be a thermometer you pop into your mouth whenever the urge strikes to snatch up someone's little darling and devour his tiny pink toes. While your mouth is full, the unwitting mother wanders off to another booth of expensive junk, and the thermometer (certified accuracy!) reads, "Whew, that was a close one!"