Grace in Small Things: Issue 15

1. An unexpected workout via snow shoveling.
2. Inspiration to bake chocolate chip cookies as the snow fell.
3. Baked cod with tomatoes, garlic and thyme.
4. Junior Mints.
5. Test-driving a couple of guitars, including this one.

Grace in Small Things: Issue 14

1. The presidential inauguration is on the horizon.
2. The snowfall was just a dusting.
3. The temperature is no longer intolerable.
4. The outing on Monday with my sister's family is shaping up.
5. The movie last night was very entertaining (although the ending wasn't my favorite).

Sweet!

Parallel parking in a tight space on the street, just steps away from my haircut in Center City, finding as I get out that there's two full hours already paid on the meter.

Life is good!

Chandler Browne, You Made My Day!

From the New York Times: All of these suggestions for President-Elect Obama are sweet, thoughtful and entirely in keeping with their demographic.

But I really like young Chicagoan Chandler Browne's 10-step program for the president.

Grace: Issue 13

1. Being on the weekend side of a workaday Friday.
2. Putting aside a bear of a project for a few hours - only to find I am able to complete myriad other projects during that break (YAY!).
3. Smiling at my husband and feeling - like a connective thread - that invisible thing that makes him smile back.

Grace: Issue 12

1. Azaleas


2. Magnolias


3. Rhododendron


4. Hydrangea


5. Hostas

Grace: Issue 11

1. A World of Butterflies by Kjell Sandved to redirect one's mind to more tropical climes
2. Real Simple's comfort food issue - perfect accompaniment for burrowing under the covers on a wintery night
3. Pink highlighter pens
4. Invitation to a surprise bridal shower (I adore happy surprises!)
5. "Another Train," sung in tight harmony by The Poozies.

Grace: Issue 10

1. While driving to work one morning this week, a car horn beeped beside me -- it was my sister!
2. I have a dinner with a friend I haven't seen in a while scheduled for Friday.
3. Just spoke with my Mom today; all is well with everyone.
4. I have a day off coming soon, and will likely spend at least some of it with another friend, catching up and hearing about her recent vacation.
5. All my cookie-induced post-Christmas weight seems to be gone.

Grace: Issue 9

Grace to be found in winter:

1. Homemade vegetable sausage soup
2. Down coats
3. Our bedroom is always the warmest place in the house
4. Crocheting projects that warm your lap as you create
5. Spring is just a matter of time.
   

Not what I expected

part 1
On the ground on the sidewalk leading into work?
Swimming goggles.

Part 2
Man walking his bicycle down a suburban street, balancing something on the seat...
As he strides by, I see that it's a hamster in a cage from the pet store.

Grace: Issue 8

1. A husband who does laundry.
2. A partly sunny, albeit cold, Sunday.
3. Coffee that kicks just as it's needed.
4. Dvorak's Slavonic Dance.
5. Social commentary aside, the animation skills it took to produce Wall-E.

Glass Bead Making

In a few weeks, I am taking steps forward on my commitment to leading a more creative life: I will take a weekend-long class on glass bead making. And I can't wait!

The class will be led by Louise Mehaffey, one of the bead artists whose work I've admired for a long time. Her creative genius has been featured in all the bead magazines, and she's recently published a book on creating glass beads.

The class will be small, just 8 students.

If I find some time, I will read up a little on the subject so it's not completely foreign to me.

Because I work with words all day long, that approach is part of who I am. I like knowing the language of a project before I learn something entirely new. That way, I can focus more on paying attention to and learning the process involved.

So stay tuned next month for pictures of my progress - who knows? I may have discovered a new obsession.

Grace: Issue 7

1. Mark Bittman. I like his easy-breezy approach to food and the way he writes about it.
2. Apple's 3G network, which is saving my sanity while we await a replacement router that got zapped in a rainstorm yesterday.
3. Teeny tiny iPhone keyboard that either lets me type what I'm thinking, or provides a funny substitute (see "otgar" instead of "other"). Wonder what otgar really means?
4. The realization that I tend to get along very well with others who also happen to wear Skagen watches.
5. The last of the Christmas fudge my neighbor bestowed on us.

Grace in Small Things: Issue 6

I promise, this won't be all I write about from now on. But since January 1, I've been so busy I can't even stop to think. But for now here we go:

1. Making unexpected connections with like-minded people.
2. Experiencing an "a-ha!" moment.
3. Realizing I really did manage to do more with friends in 2008.
4. Getting off the phone with a friend who is so utterly calm, just five minutes of conversation with her managed to lower my blood pressure during an especially hectic day.
5. The act of making tea.

Grace in Small Things: Issue 5

1. Waking up to "You Only Get What You Give," a favorite old song by the New Radicals, soon after the alarm went off this morning.
2. Crocheting a scarf out of forgotten yarn I unearthed from my junk room.
3. Knowing a cobbler who fixes up boots like new.
4. Cinnamon buns from the bakery around the corner.
5. The anticipation of a new electric toothbrush during its first 12-hour charge.

Grace in Small Things: Issue 4

1. Hot soup on cold days.
2. Basil leaves -- an unexpected whiff of summer in January.
3. Having my sister live nearby.
4. Cozy sweaters.
5. Bagels and lox on a lazy Sunday morning, the sun streaming through the windows.

Grace in Small Things: Issue 3

1. Pre-bedtime Sudoku, a soothing salve for my disorderly brain.
2. Crisp, fresh sheets.
3. Lambswool-lined slippers.
4. Soft, colorful pajamas.
5. That ultra-refreshing moment - and sense of achievement, after many fitful nights - upon waking from a deep sleep.

Grace: Issue 2

1. Sun breaking through the clouds after a snow squall
2. Beating a deadline
3. Finding a brand-new Moleskine in the bottom of an old handbag
4. An unexpectedly good candid snapshot of my niece and nephew
5. Cookies.

Full of Grace: Issue 1

During 2009, to pre-empt any insta-negativity that creeps into my thoughts, I am going to participate in this. Because there is always grace to be found in the small things.

So... hello. And welcome to the first issue. Among the small things I am grateful for:

1. Being unexpectedly impressed by Vanity Fair's Tina Fey profile.
2. My husband's sense of humor and perspective.
3. Laughing with my sister.
4. Finally seeing the wood of my desk, instead of paper piles.
5. Kashi Heart-to-Heart Cereal.

Brunch at Norma's

This trip to New York was mainly to visit with my friend from college, who married a wonderful man from a foreign country, where they returned to live. She was back in the U.S. on holiday and I was thrilled she had a day to spend roaming the city with me.

Although she's very happy with her husband, her adopted homeland doesn't know from brunch.

In the weeks leading up to the visit, we planned on brunching at Sarabeth's, purveyor of lovely jams and over-the-top omelets. I'd never been there for brunch, but heard good things.

Unfortunately, they take no reservations. And the legendary wait for a Sarabeth's brunch on a Saturday when the city is filled with tourists can take an hour or more. At first, we figured it would be time well-spent, whiling away the hour as we caught up on each other's lives.

But in the days leading up to that Saturday, it was clear the weather was not going to cooperate. Who wanted to wait outside in 20-degree temps with wind and potentially sleet?

Not me.

So I browsed OpenTable.com and spotted a reservation at Norma's in Le Parker Meridien hotel. Perfect!

We arrived breathless and starving, having first tried the main entrance, only to find that it was closed for two days! So we had to unexpectedly scurry around the entire block to get in another door.

Luckily, our table was still safe - this despite dire warnings in the reservation confirmation email that if we were more than 10 minutes behind schedule, they'd charge my credit card a cancellation fee of 50 bucks and turn the seats over to the huddled walk-ins waiting to eat.

My friend ordered the Artychoked Benedict -- poached eggs over artichoke hearts with a truffled sauce. On a day when we were struggling against the wind and sleet to get around, the richness was a welcome comfort.

At the same time, my Very Berry Brioche French Toast arrived... topped with a fuchsia-colored orchid blossom.

Two thick slices of tender brioche French toast smothered in syrupy stewed berries -- strawberries, blueberries and the like. While it did not arrive hot, it did remain delicious, and it looked exactly like the snap I found later on their website:


And the decadently priced, $9 bottomless glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice - AKA Sunshine in a Pilsner?

If, like me, you enjoy orange juice, it was totally, justifiably worth the expense. Felt like a Vitamin C jolt and tasted like the perfect combo of tangerine and super-sweet oranges, with just enough pulp for authenticity.

Looking back at that Norma's visit, I realize that was the start of the holiday season for me - a holiday season full of chocolates and homemade butter cookies that I ate by the dozen. A holiday season that officially ends tonight.

Happy New Year to all: I wish you a fun, happy and healthy 2009, spent with people you enjoy.

Sugar and Spice

Despite the sleety Saturday weather, we knew what we needed to do next.

No trip to SoHo is complete without a stop at Balthazar Bakery.

So off we schlepped from Pearl Paint to the best breads in the city, slipping and sliding in a few spots while we got our bearings and finally came to Spring Street.

SoHo was alive with visitors from the tri-state area and foreign countries alike - all intent on getting their shopping on.

And once inside, the tiny bakery was crammed full of people, jostling for position and craning their necks to see what was for sale.

In front of the croissants and brioche, some lovely little desserts tempted those ahead of me.

But for this trip, it was no time for pastries - and we would be in and out of there in 7 minutes. I was squarely focused on the items that would travel well for a day wandering the city:

A few chocolate madeleines...

A multi-grain loaf... (which, in the end, was way too overdone for my taste)

A perfect French boule...

And to top it all off: two decadently frosted chocolate-on-chocolate cake doughnuts.

It was these doughnuts that helped Mr Spandrel and me ease into a lazy Sunday the next day, while we enjoyed the warmth of the house and the lights on our Christmas tree, as I regaled him with tales of the trip to the city, reconnecting with my dear old friend.

But, oh, did I mention brunch?

Wherein I Take a Long Time to Get to the Point

So a week ago Saturday, December 20 to be exact, the New York metropolitan area was digging out from a sizable snowstorm, and my friend who was staying outside of the city and I were checking conditions.

"It's looking good!" she reported during our 7:30 a.m. check-in call, just before we each were to leave our respective houses to head to train stations in two different states.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Primarily because I hadn't seen my friend for two years, and also because I adore visiting New York. So of course, like many things I love and do way too infrequently, I'd built this up so much in my head that not going would have been a major bummer.

After meeting up in the city, our first stop was Pearl Paint, in Chinatown, trolling for art supplies as a gift for a nephew.

After running the gauntlet ("Handbags-Handbags-Handbags-Handbags-Handbags-Handbags-Handbags-Handbags-Handbags" the men muttered under their breath, as people scurried around, burying their heads in plastic garbage bags full of knockoff purses and wallets), we made it to the craft haven.

The two of us could have spent all day there.

Aisles and aisles of supplies of every type, from paint to pastels to pottery.

A billion different varieties of pencils!

Boxes in which to contain your finds.

Shiny plastic folders for storage and paper-toting.

And all manner of drawing paper and other media to use as a blank slate and draw inspiration, whether of the spiral-bound variety or even Moleskines.

Amidst the holiday hubbub, it was the proverbially serene oasis of calm, the store clerks inventorying the wares and occasionally offering their advice or scrutiny over our selections.

We made our way through three or four floors' worth of merchandise, and made our purchases before heading back out into the sub-zero temps, bound for more shopping...

Lovely

Despite my best intentions, it's all so focused on stuff, this time of year. (This aside from all the worky-work that needs to be done by 12/31.)

It's enough to make the idealist in me just want to cry.

But it makes me extremely happy that people - of all ages and walks of life - can band together and think like this.

That an event like this could take place.

This, this gives me hope.

Dreaming of an Aimee Mann Christmas

My sister and I decided on the spur of the moment, late this week, to go to Saturday night's Aimee Mann Christmas show at the Keswick Theater.

To our surprise and chagrin, it was much less focused on Aimee Mann and her band, and more on the special guests, who included Grant-Lee Phillips (eh), Nellie McKay (ordinarily, someone I'd have wanted to see perform, but again, eh) and Amos Lee, who just the only one who really had it going on and boy that guy can sing. Oh, and the profane stylings of the Hanukkah Fairy.

Finally, at the end, Aimee and band played a few of my favorite songs from the Magnolia soundtrack (Save Me always gets me).

Before the show, as we walked through the ticket gates, I'd just been thinking to myself, all these people at a very local theater, and nobody I know here?

A moment later, I walked right into an old friend in the lobby. Gotta love those cosmic-fun moments.

Favorites, Part I

Among my favorite Christmas tree ornaments is a miniature pink-frosted cupcake house that has a delicately fluted base and a tiny door, out of which a jaunty little mouse is peeking, welcoming you inside.

My Mom gave it to us to commemorate our first Christmas in our house, and it has stood the test of time.

Each year, unwrapping it and finding it a place of honor on the tree results in much giggling.

Unless I think about it too hard, the weirdness of finding a mouse in a cupcake - or in your house, for that matter - doesn't really cross my mind.

It's just one of those super-cute things that makes me smile at the incongruity of it all. A photo will be forthcoming, as soon as we unearth all the holiday decorations. (Someday...)