The prolific blogger

"From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood..." Betty Smith

I have been a busy little blogger lately! Maybe I miss the daily musings on Cheap Women, or maybe I am bored. Either way, thanks for tuning in to all of my crazy thoughts.

Am thinking of starting a book blog. Is that oversaturatiion? Should I spend more time with real people as opposed to online communities (myspace, facebook, goodreads...). I often find myself wanting to write about yet another book here, so is another blog the way to go? I am going to let this marinate in my brain and see what happens.

I love, love, LOVE these!

Cashmere! Mini! Dress! With tights and boots, plus big hoop earrings, Oh yes. In the summer with just some flip flops and a big hobo bag and oversized shades.

Euro-chic. Riding my bike to a farmers market, or having lunch outdoors. Cooly comfortable. This outfit is made for a long, lean figure. And blondes. Named Elisa.

I miss Charlie Murphy

Anyone want to steal him for me?!

Random thoughts on a cold winter night

I love my job. SO much. I love the people and getting to know a new industry and watching book trends and reading. I love the smell of a book fresh of the presses. Next week I am having dinner with an author that had a bidding war for his new book and is pegged to be 'the next big thing'. I am meeting Thomas Friedman in LA come May!
I also love leg warmers. Is there any cuter trend right now? NO! miniskirt+tights+legwarmers = happy Elisa!
Just got the Vulture Whale Cd (available on itunes). it has been rockin' my itunes all week. It is just good rock and roll, but not too formulaic. It is also comprised of Birmingham boys who are nice as pie and cool as shit. Check it out. I particularly like Older Younger.
HOT YOGA. Seriously, this is amazing. You sweat for 90 minutes and stretch and do poses and leave feeling refreshed. I go here, and Steven is the instructor. He rocks. It is helping me so much.

I am feeling very hopeful today.

Culinary Awakenings

As you know from my last post, I love the idea of cooking. However, I have yet to make this a reality for more than a month at a time. There are many reasons for this: cooking for one is hard, no time, no money, etc. Well, I can cook for more than one and have people for dinner, make time (because right now, rest and restful things, as cooking feels to me, are good), and I am (finally!) making more money than I have to pay every month. All in all, I think a food discovery is on the horizon. Now I must get the troops together, i.e get some cooking stuff. Ok, this is not totally necessary, I realize. Things like a kitchen aid mixer. Oh the things I could make with that. Creme Fraiche, breads, pasta, pestos. yummy. I am coveting one pretty badly. I searched ebay and am hoping that I win one soon. And things like muffin pans. Yes, that is correct, I do not have a muffin pan. I used to have one, but one too many turning-the-oven-on-without-looking-to-see-what-I-may-have-crammed-in-there have made it a black mess.
I cannot wait to go to the store and buy flour and sugar and natural vanilla extract and honey and cinnamon and buttermilk and fresh parsley (Or, an herb garden! yes! In the backyard of my new apartment!), And the joys of finding my very own cooking soundtrack...I am thinking Bela Fleck and Wilco and Feist and Green Day and NPR's classical. The look of my flour and grease splotched aprons (that I have already started to make). Being able to entertain friends and not worry about transferring the store bought food to a serving tray. The joy of breaking (homemade) bread with friends and sharing wine and laughter.
I am smiling just thinking of it.

I don't cook, but I read about it on my computer

Today I made the most wonderful world wide web discovery...Orangette. It is a beautiful and beautifully written blog about all things epicurean. A feast for the eyes and soul. I want to jump into all of her pictures and eat my way out. After reading this, I again realize the beauty of cooking and preparing food. I want to go a farmers market and fill my arms full of dirty vegetables and red apples and homegrown honey. I want to milk a cow just to make the cheese, and raise chickens in my backyard. Get up on a sunday and whip up some orange nutmeg muffins and greet the day, coffee in hand, apartment smelling of baked goodness and a book on the horizon.
It is a culinary delight which reads like a good fiction novel. To sum it up: I love it.

Teen Book Sunday

Tomorrow I am starting 'Teen Book Sunday' (which I will readily admit I stole from my friend Carrie, who, while running a bookstore, had 'Mystery Sunday'). Since a big chunk of my job is Children's and Teen books, I think it a good idea to get to know my 'market'. I will also be reading books that will be heavily promoted in the near future, enabling me to be able to speak intelligently about them (is that an oxymoron?!). Plus, Teen books are normally a pretty easy read, and I will take innocent escapism in any way I can get right now. Tomorrow, I begin with Ghost Girl, by Tonya Hurley.

So...if you are wondering what Teen book to get your neighbor, babysitter or daughter, check me out every Sunday or Monday. I will keep you all enthralled by the escapades of every Meg Cabot character and the dealings of the Gossip girls. We will be reintroducing Sweet Valley High (which I personally I am so excited about I want to cry), so I think it safe to say that Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are going to be featured here a lot!

To remembering how fun crushes are and reliving old insecurities...

Take a look, it's in a book, a Reading Rainbow.

This weekend I read. I read so much that the only muscle in my body that does not feel atropied is my brain. I devoured words, chewed them up and digested them into my very soul, forever circulating in my mind. I read so much that the lines between real and fiction blurred, and the characters became like friends. The sort of friendships that are intense for a very short period of time, but then taper off, leaving you to wonder if the girl you pass on the street is your long ago Ashley, or Gillian, whom you shared an intense summer abroad with, but now is a stranger, alive only in your memories as the awkward girl that finally understood your love of Beverly Cleary like no other. This weekend I also beat the odds in Vegas, opened a French restaurante, was humiliated and even had an affair with an obscenely younger man.
The books took me away from my life, but also helped me understand it. I understood to the point of tears what was meant when Myriam described loss saying " And then we realize that the earth which opened up beneath our feet, gaping with sorrow, has filled in again. Leaving no trace." (Chez Moi, by Agnes Desarthe, p.80). I saw how my lean toward the chaotic and risky even shows up in what I read,as I joined a crew of MIT kids who took on Vegas (Breaking Vegas, by Ben Mezrich), I found out that I am a 'courtly' book lover, as opposed to a 'carnal' lover! (Ex Libris, by Anne Fadiman)
When my eyes hurt and my neck was sore, I took a break and listened to NPR's Book Tour and Book Lust podcasts (both of which I highly recommend).

Kill your televisions! Support your bookstores! Join the library! Read to your child! Read to your friend! Read to your Spouse! READ, DAMNIT.

Well, time for my weekend love affair to end. Although, seeing as how I buy and read books for a living, I may not have to end this affair for a long, long time. Which is fine with me.

Once you leave the industry, fashion can be fun again

Apparently, I either have to dress like a slut or my grandmother. I went looking for a simple skirt today, and all I found was slutty dresses or mini-skirts, punctuated by the occasional grandmother length pinstripe skirt!! I know that this is the season of the dress (which I predict ending soon, we are now almost in year 2...), but what is a tall, lanky girl to do? Dresses are short, as are pants. Skirts are my only option.

I also walked into many stores, looked around for 30 seconds and realized "hmm, I may be too old for this place". I was pissed.

In the end, I did find a simple khaki skirt at Banana, which was of course overpriced, but darling. Just the right combination of professional but playful ans stylish. Also overpriced but now in my closet: pair of brown cords. What is retail therapy for if you can't buy something too damn expensive every now and again?

It was all made ok by the heather grey Cashmere sweater I snagged for $20!

Remember: Tomorrow is Knee Sock Sunday! Today I got a package from a friend with 2 new pairs...one with skulls. It serves dual duty, for Knee sock Sunday and Skull and Crossbones Wednesday (which you better still be doing, Trip...you promised).

ciao!

Who am I now?

Right now, I am trying to figure out how to incorporate this loss and pain into my life. Now that the newness is over, how do I live my life? When you get a cut it heals back, but often it heals back a little bit differently than how it once was.

How I am going to heal back? What are the scars going to look like? Will the pain always be here, but changed? Everything feels very unsure to me. As though I am in a new town and everything looks vaguely familiar, but I am not exactly certain of where anything is or how to get anywhere. Familiar yet strange and changed.

At least I am not alone. No one here can fully understand me, but I know that I am not alone. My Father understands me, and that is what I clinging to right now. With all of my might. During the nights when I toss and turn and weep and wonder...He is what I cling to. Even when I lamenting and moaning and pleading with Him to help me understand...He is what I cling to.

What else is there to cling to?

help needed

I have found comfort in the oddest things this past week. A friends house where I stayed immediatly following Scott's death, Books that are distracting but lovely, routines that I love, like Starbucks coffee every morning. However, the thing that has brought me the most comfort is this little rubber ducky hot water bottle. I have slept with it hugged close every night. Here is where I need help: It does not belong to me. But I want, no, need one. If anyone can help me find one, I would be so grateful. There is not a maker's name on it, so I am a bit stumped. I suppose I could search the internet, but I just don't want to. Thanks so much.

And thank you for your support, prayer and love. It has been invaluable.

To comforting duckies,

Elisa