Ten Happy Things

Ganked from elisem :

A happy meme.

Post 10 things that are going right in your life right now. I don’t care how small. You’re happy with your cup of coffee. You saw a flock of geese flying over. ANYTHING. Things that make you happy. Things that make you smile.

Behind me, a white cat is gamboling in the sunlight, quite literally chasing her own tail.  And her tail?  Is winning.

I am unexpectedly free-for-a-day: it is for the worst of reasons (my campus is closed because of fires and high winds, and I sincerely hope that everyone in the vicinity is all right), but the practical outcome is that I get to catch up on my backlog of work.  This is good, as it will keep me from developing an ulcer.

On Saturday, we went to a flea market, and I found a dress of ice-blue oriental silk from the '50s.  It is pretty much the original wrap dress, and it has a decorated sash-belt the span of my palm, and it fits like a glove.  I imagine that for the 1950s, it was tremendously daring.  I will feel like a potential vandal whenever I don it, because, hey, it survived 50 years, but it might fall to a d_aulnoy  with a glass of red wine ... but, in a weird way, that's part of the pleasure of owning and wearing it.  Because life isn't meant to be wrapped in tissue paper, and there's something fundamentally sad about the fact that such a beautiful dress is in mint condition instead of being a much-loved tattered rag.

My husband will be back on Thursday (which is to say, a day earlier than usual)!  And in two weeks and a day, we will have been married a full year.  Almost better yet, for once, I am fully prepared with the presents!  And they are good!  And have I mentioned, early?  For a chronic procrastinator, this is A Big Deal.

I am thisclose to being done with the next Cabinet des Fees intro.  And I imagine that erzebet  is married by now!  The image of her being wed in a red, red dress, surrounded by pomegranates and happiness, is a wonderful, tangible thing to me.  Because she is Erzebet, I am also imagining golden leaves and golden flames and ivory bones and a variety of other aesthetic triumphs, all wreathed round with joy.

It is Tuesday: that means that I am on day three of an all-leftover diet, and this is awesome, because I cannot cook.  Next up: a perfect steak from The Stinking Rose.  I will imagine this is what they means by "aged beef," and I will also imagine that it will be delicious.

Philosophy has stopped making pomegranate-scented bubble-bath (which now joins my favorite Henri Bendel pomegranate-scented candle in The Great Discontinued Product Bin in the Sky): this does not make me happy.  The fact that they do now make apple-scented bubble-bath?  Does.

While I may have failed with the red-hot-chili-pepper plant, I have hopes of reviving it, and I seem to be having better luck with the tiny potted roses!  Maybe the key to gardening success for me is to keep it an indoor activity ....

Friends.  I have been spending a lot of time catching up with them, and it feels damned good.  Y'all are funny, kind, intuitive, brilliant people.

And, finally: being back in NY soon! 

I'll be in town for a few days at the end of the month to celebrate my father's 66th birthday.  It will almost certainly be an all-family, all-the-time affair (major socializing will have to wait for the December trip), but, oh, how good it will feel to be home.

Ten Happy Things

Ganked from elisem :

A happy meme.

Post 10 things that are going right in your life right now. I don’t care how small. You’re happy with your cup of coffee. You saw a flock of geese flying over. ANYTHING. Things that make you happy. Things that make you smile.

Behind me, a white cat is gamboling in the sunlight, quite literally chasing her own tail.  And her tail?  Is winning.

I am unexpectedly free-for-a-day: it is for the worst of reasons (my campus is closed because of fires and high winds, and I sincerely hope that everyone in the vicinity is all right), but the practical outcome is that I get to catch up on my backlog of work.  This is good, as it will keep me from developing an ulcer.

On Saturday, we went to a flea market, and I found a dress of ice-blue oriental silk from the '50s.  It is pretty much the original wrap dress, and it has a decorated sash-belt the span of my palm, and it fits like a glove.  I imagine that for the 1950s, it was tremendously daring.  I will feel like a potential vandal whenever I don it, because, hey, it survived 50 years, but it might fall to a d_aulnoy  with a glass of red wine ... but, in a weird way, that's part of the pleasure of owning and wearing it.  Because life isn't meant to be wrapped in tissue paper, and there's something fundamentally sad about the fact that such a beautiful dress is in mint condition instead of being a much-loved tattered rag.

My husband will be back on Thursday (which is to say, a day earlier than usual)!  And in two weeks and a day, we will have been married a full year.  Almost better yet, for once, I am fully prepared with the presents!  And they are good!  And have I mentioned, early?  For a chronic procrastinator, this is A Big Deal.

I am thisclose to being done with the next Cabinet des Fees intro.  And I imagine that erzebet  is married by now!  The image of her being wed in a red, red dress, surrounded by pomegranates and happiness, is a wonderful, tangible thing to me.  Because she is Erzebet, I am also imagining golden leaves and golden flames and ivory bones and a variety of other aesthetic triumphs, all wreathed round with joy.

It is Tuesday: that means that I am on day three of an all-leftover diet, and this is awesome, because I cannot cook.  Next up: a perfect steak from The Stinking Rose.  I will imagine this is what they means by "aged beef," and I will also imagine that it will be delicious.

Philosophy has stopped making pomegranate-scented bubble-bath (which now joins my favorite Henri Bendel pomegranate-scented candle in The Great Discontinued Product Bin in the Sky): this does not make me happy.  The fact that they do now make apple-scented bubble-bath?  Does.

While I may have failed with the red-hot-chili-pepper plant, I have hopes of reviving it, and I seem to be having better luck with the tiny potted roses!  Maybe the key to gardening success for me is to keep it an indoor activity ....

Friends.  I have been spending a lot of time catching up with them, and it feels damned good.  Y'all are funny, kind, intuitive, brilliant people.

And, finally: being back in NY soon! 

I'll be in town for a few days at the end of the month to celebrate my father's 66th birthday.  It will almost certainly be an all-family, all-the-time affair (major socializing will have to wait for the December trip), but, oh, how good it will feel to be home.

Snippet from a forum I frequent ....

"traditionally, a lot of fairy wives become humans and gain souls" 

This isn't quite my default - I tend more towards the Swan Maiden tales than the Undine stories - but it's accurate enough, and tonight, it's tickling my fancy.

I mean, it basically implies that the Little Mermaid can be read as a metaphor for the perils of illegal immigration ....

Snippet from a forum I frequent ....

"traditionally, a lot of fairy wives become humans and gain souls" 

This isn't quite my default - I tend more towards the Swan Maiden tales than the Undine stories - but it's accurate enough, and tonight, it's tickling my fancy.

I mean, it basically implies that the Little Mermaid can be read as a metaphor for the perils of illegal immigration ....