Library Dreamin’

Chris and I have paid for a storage unit for almost a decade.  I would love to say it’s full of treasure, but on closer inspection there are only a few things of value there, and that value is mostly sentimental.

In our efforts to streamline our lives and simplify our “stuff”, we’ve decided to rid ourselves of all excess. And so goes the storage unit and its contents. The problem, believe it or not, is not parting with the rotten refrigerator (why is it in the unit? Why?) or selling the Big Tooling Machine that Chris bought eleven years ago with Big Plans to Make Things. The problem is my books.

Ten boxes of books that he hauled to storage one Saturday morning. We had discussed selling the house, you see. A realtor came by and discussed things with us using words like ‘staging’ and ‘sellability’ and ‘clutter’. And like that, the books disappeared.

“It’s temporary, honey. When we move you can stack them all up again, just the way you want them.”

Long story short, we didn’t sell the house, and my books stayed put. Now they are coming home, and I am planning a welcome party for them by splurging on new shelves. For inspiration, I found some libraries online that piqued my interest. Like this:

 However, the loving engineer who is also my spouse fears it will look like this:

I can’t blame him. I’m not one known for organization (even if I DO know where every single book actually IS.)

I’ve found two great sites full of great photos of libraries: Bookshelf Porn and Pinterest, which is also full of other amazing stuff.

Wish me luck with my book explosion. I’m looking forward to having all my babies back home.

San Francisco and Northern Cal

Delayed, delayed, in writing this post. Parker and I had a wonderful California trip- a spectacular escape from the heat, drought and fires of Texas for the cool and misty mornings of The Bay.  Here’s a quick overview:

Leaving, on a jet plane

We flew Virgin America, which I highly recommend. Parker and I both loved everything about this airline!

Parker at the Golden Gate, eleven and a half years after her first visit to this spot.

We went to Sausalito and posed like models.

Beautiful Girl

We went to the Farmer’s Market with Aunt Elizabeth and George…

Farmer's Market

 Brunch with Kaymaria, Carlos, Elizabeth and George…

Brunch!

Parker got her birthday wish and ate crab at Scoma’s…

Thank you, Aunt Elizabeth!

And we got to hang out at the pier and Fisherman’s Wharf…

My baby by the bay...

Our second leg of the trip landed us on an Amtrak heading north, to Auburn. I’ve got to admit, the train ride was super cool.

Amtrak, Emoryville to Auburn

The next few days were spent at Cana Vineyards with Uncle David and Aunt Donna. We hiked, chilled, and I was lucky enough to taste a little vino.

The Harrison abode

Another great shot of the house…

Harrison home from Cana Lane

We hiked on private property near Lake Tahoe, I think it was called Hidden Lakes. Breathtaking!

Beautiful day!

Hidden Lakes was a real treat. Parker had a blast!

Self portrait, because we are dorks

Park had told Uncle David all she wanted was a hike in the woods and a picnic. He delivered!

Thanks, Uncle David! What a great day!

And now, a nice little interlude of wine tasting…

Some men have "man caves", well... David has WINE CAVES

Wine cave. David and I tasted straight from the barrel, which is cool.

Wine Cave at Cana

Donna and David Harrison

We spent our last night back in SF, close to the airport, and caught the shuttle at 4:45 am to head back to Dallas.

Big brown suitcase from thrift store = wine and olive oil (can't carry on the good stuff )

Overall, I highly recommend the one-parent-one-child vacation, and can’t wait to take Peyton somewhere for her twelfth birthday. We took many, many more pics but this gives a great overview.  Thanks to the Lendaris’ and Harrison’s for unmatched hospitality! We had a fabulous trip!

 

Impromptu Austin

With a single thought, that became a single text, I put my whole family in motion on Friday afternoon. We boarded the dogs, arranged for a cat-sitter. (Well, more like a cat-checker. She doesn’t require much.) We booked a fabulous weekend hotel special and loaded up the truck. Austin! My favorite city! With hubby and girlies in tow!

We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel at the Arboretum, just northwest of the city. It had two pools. An Atrium. Room Service. On arrival, we ate at Z’Tejas, which is frickin’ awesome, swam in the indoor pool until almost midnight, and crashed. Saturday was a full day, starting at the South Austin Trailer Park and Eatery, where we enjoyed Torchy’s breakfast tacos in a gravel parking lot in front of food trucks.  Beautiful.

Then to The Capitol:

At the Texas State Capitol. It's like we're the Von Trapp family, except only two little girls.

 Pey did, however, find a way to have fun.

I call this one War and Peace. Guess which one is which?

After the Capitol, we walked to Amy’s Ice Cream, which is somewhere everyone has to go in Austin, especially when it is 106 degrees. Along the way, Pey was quite taken by the grafitti. Some examples:

She is not making a political statement, just lovin' on Barack.

This next one is my favorite, for totally obvious reasons. I mean, grafitti is bad, but this is totally awesome. And hilarious. Just ask Pey.

If I ever change careers and become a graffiti artist, this is the kind of art I will produce. You gotta admit, it’s good stuff.

From there, we went to Barton Springs, which I highly recommend, yet failed to take a single photo. If you don’t know, it is a natural spring with year-round temps of 68 degree water, framed by a concrete edge, complete with stairs. And it’s totally awesome.

After a short trip back to the hotel for showers, (as Parker pointed out, we needed to wash away the healing waters of the spring with chlorinated and over sterilized tap water, synthetic soaps, etc… yup, that’s my girl…) we headed back downtown to 6th Street to soak up some local culture. “Culture” in Austin means street musicians, wandering yet intellectual homeless (they all seemed to sit quietly, reading weathered novels. It was quite refreshing), and tattoos. LOTS of tattoos. Pey, our little one who lives with a “Two-Tat Rule” and constantly changes out her temporaries, was a little overwhelmed by the proliferation of serious, real and forever tattoos. We ate a quick meal at Chupacabra, before the sun went down and things got crazy. Here’s me and Pey:

Gotta love Austin. And gotta love a little girl named Pey.

After that, we found a cool trailer park of nothin’ but dessert, and bought cupcakes from a cool dude in an airstream trailer while a hillbilly sang Blue Moon of Kentucky nearby. (I had the red velvet. Superb, and I tipped the guitarist. Gotta love me some Blue Moon.) Go to Hey, Cupcake! and see for yourself. Sorry, no photos. I was too busy stuffing my cupcake hole.

Then, there are the bats. Austin houses the largest urban bat population under the Congress Street Bridge. It’s ridiculous, and amazing, and another reason why everybody loves Austin.

Behind them? That's the bat bridge. Don't they look cute? (Poo and Parker. you can't see the bats yet)

It was a great little weekend. For forty-eight hours, I didn’t worry about work, or my novel, or the debt ceiling debate. I just enjoyed Austin. And I highly recommend it.

 

 

 

Loving Ann Patchett

Check out this great article by Carolyn Kellogg in the LA Times about Ann Patchett’s new indie bookstore in Nashville. It’s inspiring to see authors do what they love.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/07/ann-patchetts-nashville-bookstore.html

And if you haven’t yet done so, RUN to your nearest bookstore and pick up her latest, STATE OF WONDER. It’s truly brilliant.

 

Future Toppers

Parker has convinced me that she is destined to go to Texas Christian University, a darling little campus near our home in Fort Worth that costs more per semester than my house. I’m a big fan of higher education and I’m a Horned Frog fan myself (Yes. They are frogs. I know, right?), yet I still took the chance on the road trip to infuse her with my own sense of school spirit. See below:

Alas, I’ve found out that tuition at my dear alma mater has increased exponentially since the late 1980′s. Couple that with out-of-state tuition and I think we are in trouble.

Suddenly I’ve become a huge fan of test-prep, PSAT scores, AP classes, and scholarships…. wherever they go, they’re gonna need ‘em.

Go Toppers!

940 miles = 15 hours, If you were wondering.

4 am moon from the front of my house. Pulling out of Dodge!

Texas.

Somewhere west of Texarkana.

Arkansas to Tennessee.

Nothing happened from Texas, through Arkansas, to Jackson, Tennessee. Then I stopped for lunch.

Made it to Bowling Green, Kentucky. Stopped for gas and to buy bourbon. (Gifts, people.) This is when the car’s air conditioning stopped working. 200 miles to go.

Air conditioning quit at mile 742. Two hundred miles to go.

 

The sky got pretty in Lexington. Horse farms. 75 degrees. Lightning bugs. Home. Need I say more?

 

Long Day.

 

The Blue Bird Suicides

Alas, the suicides continue. Why are they so dispondent? Or are they just flying into the big glass building? Makes me sad. Such beautiful lives, cut short.

Sadness.

Soundtrack, Song 1

My friend Julie and I have talked about creating a soundtrack to go along with our novels. Interestingly enough, we’ve both recently completed first drafts, and I am pulling together my set list now. Here’s a song that’s important to a critical scene in The Angels’ Share: Wade in the Water, an old spiritual that I grew up hearing and singing. Of all the versions I could find on YouTube, this one is my favorite! Tell me this doesn’t sound just awesome

Enjoy

Road Trip!

Leaving today for an impromptu road trip back to Leona for steaks. Taking the in-laws with us– should be a great night!

Check them out here if you are ever on the road between Houston and Dallas. Thursday night is catfish, and Friday and Saturdays are steak. Worth the stop, I promise. Great people and great food

Leona General Store and Steakhouse

The Mystery of the Big Orange Penis

Vandalism is a funny thing, you  know, when nobody gets hurt.

Last Saturday morning over coffee, my father-in-law spoke without looking up from the morning paper. “There’s a big orange penis painted on Chris’s truck window, just thought I’d tell ya.”

He and my mother-in-law had stayed with us the night before for the final night of their road trip. “A big orange penis?” I asked.

“Well, yeah. Might wanna check that out.”

I was already on my way. This is what I saw:

Yup. It's a big orange penis, all right.

So beware! The Big Orange Penis Gang is on the loose!