The Week 11.01.15

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I’ve been a bit M.I.A. on the blog the past few weeks. Last weekend I was upstate in Copake, NY with some of my dearest friends, and this past week I got to pup-sit again for the adorable Hideki. During my free time all I’ve wanted to do is relax and read, so I just went with that. This pup didn’t object:

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I had a wonderful weekend with my friends in Copake and took a lot of photos. Here are a few of my favorites:

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Graham is in England right now, and I miss him like crazy. Fortunately, I get to go to England at the end of this coming week – I’m so excited to see him, and to (finally!) meet his family!

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I’m very happily reading Bill Bryson’s new book, The Road to Little Dribbling. I wish Bill Bryson was a bit more prolific so that we could look forward to a new book ever year. But alas, I’ll take quality over quantity, and I’m loving this one. I’m also reading & listening to Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jarod Diamond. Lauren and I decided to be reading buddies for this one, and I’m glad we did. It’s very good, but a bit overwhelming — I’ll likely need the obligation to help me power through. (I’m not formally participating in Non-fiction November, but I think my November is going to hold a lot of lovely non-fiction anyway.)

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Thirteen Ways of Looking by Colum McCann
Readathon: Fall 2015
Readathon Hour 8 Mini-Challenge: Armchair Traveling

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As I mentioned above, I’m currently reading Bill Bryson’s latest book, which is a travel memoir featuring his return to exploring his adopted country (England). It’s added a lot of destinations to my travel bucket list, especially hiking the Seven Sisters – seven chalk cliffs along the English Channel, part of the 100 mile long South Downs Way. We won’t be able to do it during my upcoming trip, but I hope we can someday soon.

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Photo by Matthew Hartley on Flickr. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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Etsy spots of the week:

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I’ve had a lot of great food since my last weekly post. I’m drooling a bit just looking back at the photos. My friend Jon cooked us a an absolutely divine chicken dinner:

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I got to work from Etsy’s Hudson office for a day while I was in Copake, and had a wonderful lunch with one of my teammates:

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One of our evenings in Copake we cooked a big delicious family dinner: homemade meatballs, fresh pasta, a side salad, and homemade garlic bread:

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And I still remain obsessed with (and grateful for) Eatsy:

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I thought I’d catch up on a lot of “my” shows while Graham is away, but I haven’t been watching a lot of TV. I did re-watch Bridesmaids last night while crafting, and it sparked a desire to go on a female-led comedies spree, so maybe that’s in the cards for this week.

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I’m listening to Hunger Makes me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein. I’ve never watched Portlandia, and I’ve never heard of her band before. How did I come to be listening to her memoir? Well, it’s a combination of 1. Hearing her on Fresh Air and seeing her on The Late Show, 2. Reading general good acclaim for it and having no idea what audiobook to listen to next, and 3. Being a bit obsessed of late with memoirs of creative people — stories of developing their craft and establishing their voice.

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I’ll end with a wonderful quote I found in the Terry Gross interview:

‘‘I don’t know if it’s a function of age or temperament,’’ she said, ‘‘but I’m no longer seeking those major exclamatory notes of pleasure. I want a life that has pleasure contained within it.’’
-Terry Gross

Published
Categorized as life

By Emily

Book-hoarding INFJ who likes to leave the Shire and go on adventures.

11 comments

    1. I can’t either. He’s so ridiculously cute.

      I can’t wait to share UK photos – we’re planning on going to Hay-on-Wye in Wales – the Bookstore town – and I’m incredibly excited. I will be taking a TON of photos to share!

  1. Oh, those food photos have me drooling! You eat good.
    And that shot of the feathers… Wow.
    I have Guns Germs and Steel on my shelf but I don’t think I’llbe able to sneak it on, sad,

  2. Even your posts about your doings tire me out, I can’t imagine actually doing all this, but it sounds wonderful! 1. That dog is adorable. 2. As always, your pictures are great. What can top a fat little bird? NOTHING. 3. Except maybe a duck feather close-up. Adore that shot. 4. I want to hike the chalk cliffs with you. 5. Just looking at your food pictures is torture. I would love to but never could work at Etsy.

    Thanks for all the greatness, I really love these posts that are packed full of such wonderful things from all different arenas.

    1. Thank you so much Lauren! As I’ve said before – it makes me happy to write them, it’s almost like a diary… a way to remember things, and it makes me so happy that other people enjoy them too!

      PS the secret to Eatsy is that it’s usually quite healthy! I’m grateful for that. I’ve never eaten so much kale in my life!

      1. It is like a diary. It would be fun to put all of those posts into a bound book. They have services that do that straight from your blog. I always thought that would be a neat thing to have, but for these posts especially I think it would be cool.

        1. Oh that would be fun! My Dad printed out my travel posts while I was traveling around the world last year so that my Grandma could read them (let’s just pause a second too and recognize HOW CUTE THAT IS) and I saw the print outs after I got home – it was so cool!

          1. I literally did lol at this because as I was reading about what your dad did I thought to myself “That is the cutest thing EVER,” and then read your next line. It’s unanimous!

  3. Beware during your trip to England. Those drafty English estates are riddled with secret passages. The Chambermaid will steal your jewels, the “Kindly” English Vicar will try to force himself upon you, and the homicidal Butler will murder everyone in sight. Just read an Agatha Christie novel, you’ll see!

what do you think?