one of the best days of my whole life.

all throughout my childhood i was a compulsive lister. i don't think much has changed. i was constantly revising lists: in my head, in my diary, on scraps of paper and on chalkboards. i loved planners and pocket notebooks and post-it notes, and have written myself at least one daily 'to-do' list since i was about twelve. (i used to include 'wake up' every morning!) the back of my first diary--pink with ballet slippers, and my name in stickers-- held a running list of 'best friends' that is hilarious too look at, both for the ridiculous reasons i crossed people off the list, only to add them back on, and for the fact that the word 'best' didn't seem to limit my quantity! 12 best friends, really?

one of my mental lists through my growing up years was that of the 'best days of my whole life'. some were very specific events--one particular Palm Sunday in which i felt very grown up, my eighth and ninth birthdays, the day my brother and i filled up a top hat with snow and made beautiful 'snow cake', some family vacations, a 24 hour period i spent exclusively painting as a freshman in college, a very hilarious fancy dinner in which my sister katie and i accidentally got drunk... there are too many to count.

today was one of the best days of my life, despite being entirely solitary and without much to speficically define it. i suppose i will just list everything, in keeping with the theme!

• woke up (without an alarm) to good weather
• spent a lovely almost-hour talking to my littlest sister on the phone (SHE called ME! so nice!)
• cinnamon toast and coffee
• did the underpainting for something new i am working on (mother's day!)
• showered, got dressed in the new ($20) Audrey Hepburn pants i bought yesterday (sorry, it's a cellphone picture)

• lunch on my sun deck, pretending i was on an enormous cruise ship (delicious egg salad and iced tea!)

• read C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves: Friendship
  

and in an hour i will finish it off with Mass. the best.

-papermoon

metropolis coffee/pumpkin pie.

ok, i know that extremely recently i said noble tree was my favorite chicago coffee spot, but today i am almost reconsidering. i have been to metropolis before, but today, i like it more than i ever have. i think this slice of pumpkin pie is creating a powerful bias.


the bad coloring of this bad photo does not do it justice.. the pumpkin part is having an awesome effect on my brain: one bite: THANKSGIVING, two bite: CHRISTMAS, three bite: FIRST DAY OF FIFTH GRADE, etc. etc. it is an olfactory/taste trip down memory avenue. (like the way i avoid clichés? new clichés!) the crust is RIDICULOUS. it tastes like a glass of buttermilk. its crunchy and not greasy. it is terrible for me. i am so happy.

plus, i have been trying to detox because my coffee consumption is legitimately out of control, and i am thus trying out an AWESOME tea. it's ginger lime rooibos. i have already had two and a half cups of coffee today, so i guess i'm not really cutting down. but still. this tea is a start and it's gooood. now i am going to do a ton of excel work, while listening to fallish, girly, slightly-feeling-sorry-for-oneself folk music.

nice. very nice.

oh, and some nice people made me feel very good about myself this morning by writing me nice facebook comments. you give me more credit than deserved for fairness, but hey, i'll take it! :)