So honestly I am exhausted. What a week. What a weekend! I’m completely exhausted, but it’s that delicious, satisfying sort of exhaustion that comes from doing work that feels worth it. In my career, in my activism, and in my personal life and family, I’ve been doing a lot of work that feels so, so worth it.
So I’m exhausted, and I’m totally okay with it. A few photos from this past week:
On Friday night Jeremy took me on a secret date. He told me about it a few weeks ago,
but I didn’t know any of the details. All I knew was that it was out of town, and that I should wear regular clothes. On Friday evening he picked me up and whisked me off, I didn’t even know what direction we would be driving!
And as it was, we didn’t go North along the coast, and we didn’t head south towards LA. Instead, we turned up the old two lane highway and drove into the foothills, towards the Santa Ynez valley. Towards wine country. And we landed at this adorable, fancy little farm-to-table restaurant, where we were given the super, *super*, superstar treatment. Everything pre-arranged, a full multi-course gluten-free vegan meal, and it was so unexpected and amazing. Thank you baby!
Go Science!
And now, it’s time for the one, the only, Le Love List!
Pleiometrics. // Seeing common vegetables prepared in completely new and unique ways. // Rioja. // The thunderous roar of Waits helping Jeremy roll out the garbage cans. // Office supplies. // Getting a Mother’s Day Tea invitation from Waits in the mail. // Powering through. // Secret Date Night. Our secret date ended with a live show, and I was wracking my brain trying to think of who it could be. There’s not any big venues in wine country, so it couldn’t be a big deal headliner. And I don’t even really listen to much music, just old folk and some newer melancholy stuff, but really mostly podcasts these days. Who could it be?
When we walked into the ballroom and I saw the big America banner hanging behind the stage, my mouth literally dropped open. For those who don’t know, America is a late-60s/early 70s quintessential folk band. Lots of people look at me blankly when I say their name, but most everyone actually does know their music: Horse With No Name, Muskrat Love, Tin Man, I Need You, and so much more. You’d recognize them in a heartbeat if you heard them.
I was never really into them until this one afternoon just almost exactly a year ago, when we had a spontaneous family painting adventure and decorated our washer and dryer. While we were painting, Jeremy put on America’s greatest hits and we listened to the whole thing through, and when it was done I said “Hey, do you mind if we listen to that again?” And so we did. The whole thing.
And I’ve been a huge fan ever since. This is the music we play when we want to relax and have fun: road trips to far off places, family drives through the mountains, cards and cocktails in the back yard. It’s whimsical and melodic and haunting and emotional, and it’s the kind of music that makes you smile, ear to ear. So when I saw that banner, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. America is an OLD band! I would never have guessed that they’re still touring, but they are, and they are amazing.
And they played my favorite song, Ventura Highway, which is my happy song, and I totally cried because I have all the feelings. It was just so magical, and I am so grateful to Jeremy for making it all happen. Talk about surprise! Yes yes, surprise date = success.
~~~
Alright guys, now it’s your turn! I really love reading your own Le Love Lists, so please leave them down in the comments below. What are the little things in your life that make you smile this week?
Happy new week, and I hope it’s a good one!
♥
The inspiration for this recipe came to me rather unexpectedly — from Waits’s teacher! A few Mondays back I was dropping him off at school, and I asked her about her weekend. She told me that she’s made a delicious nasturtium pesto, and I was like “Wait, WHAT??” I love nasturtium flowers and I eat [...]
Fifteen weeks straight! Not so bad for a perpetually-busy bee like me. This week was strange, with glorious Saturdays sandwiching a seriously grumpy, grouchy, no good, very bad week. I was in a funk Monday through Friday, despite some exciting goings-on (Jeremy’s birthday!) along the way. Does that ever happen to you, just an unexplained [...]
♥ Amazing photo courtesy of Waits’s outdoor school. ♥ There is a glass full of blooming daffodils on the table in front of me, and my skin is sun-warmed from a lovely day of romping around wine country. The hillsides are all ablaze with wild mustard, bright yellow and shoulder high, rolling down to the [...]
Two years ago, I was invited to attend the first ever Vegan Street Fair in North Hollywood, CA. I was in the middle of grad school, I had mermaid hair, Waits had just turned 5, Jeremy had just opened Still. It was wild times! And it was a wild day, full of fun and old [...]
