2014

...Wear high heels . Don't slouch . Smile more . Live with less . Say yes . Keep the kitchen sink clean . Read . Read more . Make the bed . Leap . Tell the truth . Make space . Carry a camera . Make mistakes and then move on . Laugh . Laugh a lot . Be unyielding . Don't compromise . And by compromise I mean settle . Don't apologize . Not for your life . Write about it . Keep going . Text less, call more . Say things out loud . Be patient . Wear dangly earrings . Curl your hair . Dance . Dance in your apartment . Dance in public . Dance even though you're really pretty terrible at it . Ask for what you need . Assert your worth . Pull out the bright lipstick . Practice confidence . Own everything--mistakes and blessings and delayed discoveries . Bloom . Be something in bloom . Sink into mystery . Move your body . Because you can . Because it's good for you . Because it deserves as much . Stretch more . Kiss more . Give love freely . Give thanks . For everything . For the gift that is this next year ...

christmas in texas

Christmas was so good this year. It really was.

It was impossibly short, I've never had such a bad travel experience, and my mother had a cold that she kindly gifted the rest of us, but even with all that nonsense...it was just. so. good.

The in-your-bones-sort-of-good.

We ticked everything off the box. Christmas carols and sugar cookies. The traditional Christmas Eve dinner of appetizers and Love Actually. Midnight mass. A Christmas morning of kielbasa (to honor our Polish roots) and champagne (because why not?). We spent as much time as we could around the tree and even more around the table. We gathered in the kitchen and made meals together.

My parents are leaving this house--this house that spanned so much of my childhood--this house that none of us thought we'd be in for very long, but that now holds so many memories and dresses up so well for Christmas. So I sort of wandered around it, clicking away with my Canon, making tangible what I could of what I remembered.

It's a good last memory to have--this last Christmas in this house--it's a really, really good last memory for that particular place. Lots of twinkly lights and good food and the sort of love that gives the word home so much meaning.

christmas in new york

(My grown up shoes. The glitter leaves a trail...perhaps, inevitably).

(That Chagall in the background may be one of my very favorites. Ever).

(Thank goodness for friends who understand the importance of a damn fine cheese plate).

For all of the things to do in New York, and all the glamorous places to go, almost nothing beats a house party.

I find that so much in this city belongs to the public domain. Walking and taking the subway and traveling and eating--nearly everything is done in view of others. There's a reason everyone gets comfortable with crying in public here, you sort of have to. And because so much is public, that makes the private spaces that much more sacred. Not just anyone can be invited over the threshold and into your home. So when someone does open their door for you, well, it can make for a really lovely evening.

I'm so lucky to have the girlfriends that I've met in this city. I'm keeping them for life, that much I know. Even when, as I imagine will happen, time and fate scatter us across the country (or the world), I'm keeping them.

Good food, good wine, much laughter, and an apartment all lit up with lights and stories...I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sunday nights have a way of inviting in loneliness like no other, but last night--well, last night was good. A family night in the most expansive sense of the word.

A perfect start to the holiday week.

my new york | the one where christmas steals in and colors absolutely everything

what i'm listening to | nathan reich

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJTw7sivbiY&list=UUnx6v4nROV5sxTBL3nud7oA

...you're so very welcome.