My daily life involves a lot of writing, whether it’s for this blog or for magazine freelancing, but I recently realized that I’ve never talked about the root of my writing, which is actually reading. Writing takes practice, sure, but reading is what makes me better, hones my skills, and quite honestly, teaches me new words.
No snobbery here: I think magazines can be just as inspiring as books. (Though I do think of all that’s out there, it doesn’t get more smart and inventive than New York Magazine.) But for today’s post, I wanted to share the scoop on my recent book reads. The following are new in the grand scheme of things, but I actually read these after all the buzz. Life gets in the way, I fall asleep within minutes of picking up my Kindle before bed, and sometimes I really just want to watch Real Housewives. For all those other times, here’s what’s on my virtual bookshelf:
Wedding season continues! I spent the weekend in Oklahoma for Eaman’s sister’s wedding, and it was our first Persian one (for Eaman, too!). The celebration was an intimate ceremony and party held at his family’s home, and filled with traditions, dancing, and more food than you could imagine, including my favorite chocolate cake from the local bakery, La Baguette.
The above right picture shows the sofreh, an elaborate spread for the ceremony, known as the aghd. It’s decorated with flowers, candles, foods, the Koran, and more. The sofreh and the whole wedding itself was quite the DIY affair. As soon as I arrived Thursday night, we were working on flower arrangements, fruit baskets, and other details. It might sound like a lot of work, but I loved being able to flex my brain in a new and creative way.
It was also all a welcome distraction from a bit of a slump I’ve been going through. Work has been hard, I’m still adjusting to working from home after being in an office the last three months, and Teddy has been a mischievous, horribly misbehaved runt. Eaman was gone the whole week, so Teddy was all mine. And he yanked me during leash walks, wouldn’t listen to me at the dog park, and worst of all, randomly ran away at the dog beach which is totally unlike him. I actually had to jump in someone’s ATV to catch him. It was a nightmare.
But all of that was muted when I took Teddy in for a routine vaccination and found out he’s lost eight pounds in a very short period of time. He has been sick on and off since February with stomach issues, and we can’t seem to find a solution. We’re now waiting for some tests results that’ll hopefully shed light on the root cause.
The stress all just became a little too much, and on Tuesday I just melted into the carpet and had a good cry. (Teddy seemed to sense something was wrong and gave me a nice lick on the face.) Those tears were a long time coming, and it felt good to have that release.
I’m still working on fixing the slump, but the weekend was a good excuse to force negative thoughts out and put a smile on my face. Persian dancing will do that to you.
Onwards and upwards, as I’m trying to tell myself!
San Diego is a city of transplants. Sure, there are many whom are born, raised, and never left, but more often than not, I meet people who end up in our sunny city for a job, for a relationship, or for the simple life. And we transplants tend to gravitate towards each other. For example, my neighbor/friend, who moved to San Diego from Chicago via Albuquerque, introduced me to Annie D’Souza, a community manager and blogger, who recently moved to SD from Minneapolis. I’ve had dinner with Annie, chatted over coffee with Annie, and celebrated the New Year with Annie, but best of all, I received a rubber costume horse’s head from Annie. (Don’t ask. It was a Secret Santa thing.)
Like me, Annie balances multiple gigs—including a contributing editor role at Brit + Co.!—with her blog, Worthy Pause, which chronicles her adventures in Paleo cooking and general life musings. Because she seems to do it all so well, I’ve turned to her on more than one occasion for guidance and motivation. Today I turned to her for a different reason—to ask her about her rituals, and as it turns out, this San Diego newbie has carved out quite the routine in her new city.
Remember that simple, sort of blasé two-tier shelf I had Instragammed in April? Well, I finally got around to giving it some TLC, and here’s the end result! Thanks to everyone who chimed in with ideas. In the end I went with a white metal frame—à la Maggie‘s suggestion—and dark wood shelving because there is something so crisp and modern about a rich brown against a white frame.
During a Yelp session one afternoon, Eaman was on a mission to find authentic international eats. Antojitos Colombiano was one of the top results. A casual Colombian restaurant in the no-frills neighborhood of Grant Hill, Antojitos had overwhelmingly positive reviews, many of which came from native Colombians or second generation Colombians who moved from New York to San Diego and were looking for some home cooking.
Though I’m not Colombian, I did spend time there during our RTW trip, so we were familiar with the local flavors. And Antojitos Colombiano felt like a little cafe straight out of our backpacking trip. Flourescent lights, Colombian television blaring, pretty much just Spanish spoken—it was like we were back in our grubby T-shirts, carrying our musty backpacks.
Our plan was to order a few small things, split one entree, and get a juice each because our favorite memory of Colombia is the amazing juices. (The country is home to dozens of tropical fruits rarely found elsewhere.) And a healthy juice feels almost mandatory considering much of the menu involves fried food and cheese. (Totally worth it, mind you.)
Our waiter, Silvio, was so thrilled to hear we had been to Colombia that he showered us with goodies—an arepa, free juice refills, and a Colombian lollipop for me. But he could’ve been a raging despot, and I’d still come back to Antojitos Colombiano. The flavors took me right back to our time in Colombia. Here’s what you need to order: read more
