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Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Random Tidbits

I am thick in the season of writing my term papers, and my brain feels like it is being squished to mulch right now. I am so focused on writing coherent things about Ben Jonson and Daniel Defoe and modern feminist literature that I have nary a leftover brain cell for writing coherent posts here. But I do have a collection of random thoughts rattling around that you are welcome to peruse.


My Dream Job - So, I have two great loves in life: words, and food. Which obviously means I love books about food (see here). However, do you know my favorite place to find good food writing? The Trader Joe's ad. I'm serious. I don't even shop at Trader Joe's (undying love for Aldi, once again, see here), but I sure do look forward to getting their ad in the mail every month or so. If you do not live in an area with a Trader Joe's, or you've never had the opportunity to peruse their ads, you are missing out. Less a food ad, more an old-fashioned newspaper periodical, The Fearless Flyer is a literary treat. I don't know who gets to do the write-ups on their food items, but I want that job! Any job that involves eating delectable food and then writing short, witty, entertaining pieces about said food sounds just about perfect (I guess that means food critic would also be my dream job?). Honestly, the Trader Joe's ad is one of my favorite pieces of breakfast reading material. The writing style is completely delightful, and everything about these ads just tickles me. If anything will convince me to one day drop my spendthrift habits and splurge on higher quality foods, it will be these ads. (Also, they just started posting these ads online if you're dying to read some fun food descriptions, although it's better in the full newspaper format.)

NaNoWriMo - Do you guys remember that time I participated in National Novel Writing Month? That poor little book I wrote was pathetic on so many levels, but it sure was a fun experience. I've been seeing lots of participation around this year, and reading everyone's updates makes me want to do it again real bad. Actually, I kind of do feel like I am participating, except instead of writing a fun and fluffy fairy-tale novel, I'm writing academic term papers (blech!). But, I still have daily writing goals and lots of pressure to be done by the end of the month (my first paper is due December 1st), so there is that similarity. Goal for 2016: officially participate again.

Winter Envy - It is one of the great tragedies of my current life that I do not live in a location with four seasons. I've been seeing lots of complaining recently about "Snow already! No!" and "Let's gear up for this long, depressing, winter thing." And I'm down here in Houston just THRILLED that I got to wear a jacket (jacket, not even a coat) yesterday, because we were still blasting the AC on Monday (our first year here, I was seriously depressed when I had to run the AC on the day we set up our Christmas tree, it just felt so wrong). Send your snow my way, please and thank you! It's not so much that I love winter and cold, as I love winter clothes and food and festivities. I love boots and scarves and gloves and hats. I love soups and stews and all those warm holiday foods. I love cozy blankets and snuggling up on cold, crisp days. I'm a home body, and cold weather is the perfect excuse to stay home and snuggle up. However, I will readily admit that when we lived in Chicago, which definitely has it's fair share of winter, I was more than sick of pulling out my winter coat by the time May rolled around. Which I think means that more than anything, I just like a CHANGE in seasons. None of this eternal summer business for me.

Don't Forget, The Book Blab Premiers Tomorrow! - Just  a friendly little reminder to check back in tomorrow evening (8PM CST) to tune in to the first episode of The Book Blab (see my last post if you missed this announcement). You can come right to the blog where I'll have the live video feed posted, or you can find us here on the Blab website itself.

And that's all for the random thoughts. See you tomorrow!

2 comments:

  1. The Fearless Flyer is funny! And Houston does have all four seasons, just in moderation with three of them. Fall is December, winter is January, spring comes in February, and then summer hits! :-)

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  2. You are right. The leaves started falling last week, and Nathan and I were both commenting how it feels like perfect September weather. Le sigh.

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