11 Things I'm Loving Lately

1. 100% grape juice. The big jug from Costco. Doesn't last more than three days in our house. My dad's ideal treat is a tall glass of this deep purple stuff and a handful of cashews. "Ahhh. It's like candy," he says. He bought Chad and me our own extra-large vessel of it one time and we've been hooked ever since.

2. My new planner. Nothing better to encapsulate my daily check marks than faux snakeskin leather in a pleasant shade of turquoise. I flipped through, measured, and weighed at least a dozen daily planners at Barnes & Noble last week and finally found the ideal amount of daily writing space.

3. Daring To Be Yourself, by Alexandra Stoddard. Written by my mother's long-time idol, this book has been my sidekick during my recent obsession with personal style. My mom gave me her copy during our visit to Washington last month, and I am honored to be scribbling and underlining in the book she received for her birthday the year I was born. Perhaps she waded neck-deep in an identity crisis of her own when she was a new mama.

4. Writing Down the Bones, by the ever-wise and Zen-tastic Natalie Goldberg. This book is my writing bible, given to me by a dear friend on the steps of our college library. Lately I've been feeling like I've forgotten how to write well. Natalie is helping me get back on course. If you haven't read it, get your hands on a copy immediately.

5. For as long as I can remember, my mother has had a cookbook stand similar to this one beside her kitchen stove. I found this the day I was searching for my perfect planner. It was sitting at an odd angle next to the Mary Engelbreit calendars, having been absentmindedly set down by a no-longer-interested customer. I knew I had to have it. (The cookbook is Fanny at Chez Panisse, by Alice Waters.)

6. Wasa wasa wasa. I may have chosen these multi-grain crackers entirely because of their name. My freshman roommate used to eat them by the truckload, and though they were too health-nutty for me back then, I now love them spread with soft cheese (see numbers 7 and 8) or almond butter.

7. Cream cheese. Specifically, the chive and onion kind. I (literally) ate the plain stuff by the spoonful as a little girl, but have only recently discovered the pleasantly sharp taste of the chive and onion.

8. Chèvre. If colby jack is the poor man's cheese, goat cheese is for the rich man...or the wife of a college student who likes to close her eyes and imagine that she is abundantly wealthy. Toss this stuff with pasta and broccoli and you have a delicious dinner indeed.

9. Roasted red pepper hummus. I took a picture of this at the beginning of the week. At the time I was happily dunking my pita bread and cucumbers into it, but I think I overdosed. Let it be known that hummus is divine, but only when eaten sparingly.

10. Gala apples all the way from Washington! I generally don't stray from Granny Smiths when purchasing apples, but when autumn is right around the corner, I know that the Galas are crisp, crisp, crisp, and ripe for the eating. 

11. This face. Those cheeks. That mischievous smirk. Addie-girl has had me bouncing up and down, yelling the silliest cheers I can think of just to get her to crack a smile. This is the best I could get today.

Happy weekend! Bring on those thunderstorms!