Show and tell club

Last week, my friend Ali hosted the inaugural meeting of our Show and Tell club (the name is being worked on, since it sounds a little weird and porn-y and not at all representative of how brilliant and awesome our club is!). My friends from home once attempted a book club, but the problem with book clubs is that they fizzle as soon as there's a book that not everyone is invested in--which is bound to happen. Ours ended with Olivia's choice of Steve Jobs' biography. 

The idea of the show and tell club is that every member brings something to share. This can be a book, a podcast, a brilliant idea, a hilarious story, the new vest you just bought at Anthropologie...

We had so much fun and I felt so empowered and motivated by sharing ideas with such smart, talented women. I invited a few friends, none of whom knew each other beforehand, and Ali invited her friend Becca, who was also new to the group. 

I can't wait to share the amazing things I learn at show and tell club here on the blog, so here's what we covered last week! 

Paige started us off by talking about Super Freakonomics (she's an elementary school teacher so she pulled a book out of a backpack and it really felt like show and tell). She focused on an excerpt about the availability heuristic regarding shark attacks, which segued into Rachel telling us about her friend's shark bite (I told you this is a cool group of chicks).

Next, Ellen told us her engagement story. Which I know doesn't sound exciting since we're inundated with these via FB daily, but she is such an amazing storyteller! Not to mention that her fiance, my friend David, killed it. 

Which naturally led nicely to my share -- a podcast about murder. It's called Serial and it's hosted by This American Life producer Sarah Koenig. The season follows one story, of a man who supposedly murdered his ex girlfriend back in 1999, and I find that I change my mind every few minutes as to whether or not he actually killed her. it's fascinating and so well done, and the show and tell group is hooked! I loved getting a text from Paige on Friday saying, "he obviously did it!"...it took me a few minutes to figure out what she was talking about. 

Then Becca read a short story of her own, about a topic most San Franciscans can relate to: bikes. How cool, to read your own work in front of a room of people you met an hour ago! 

And finally, Ali talked about a topic about which I've written: StoryCorps. This organization is amazing and I highly encourage everyone to check out their site, or their booth at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library. 

I tried to keep this short, but as you can see, there were just too many cool and interesting things to write about. Maybe for my next post I'll have to focus on just one person's presentation, but I had to give each member her due credit for making our first meeting such a success. I can't wait to learn more from each of you! 

I'm already brainstorming for our next meeting, so please share any amazing books/podcasts/stories/articles, etc.!! 

It's October 3rd.

Happy Friday!

Fall in San Francisco

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”- The Great Gatsby

Substitute “hot” for “crisp” and you have October in San Francisco. But new beginnings and adventures, nonetheless!

Summer is finally here in San Francisco, rolling in just a month after East Coasters packed away their swimsuits and white jeans. While it’s always terribly sad to wear a winter coat to a Giant’s game in July, there’s something lovely about wearing a sundress while drinking a pumpkin spice latte.

October is my absolute favorite month in San Francisco, so I wanted to highlight some awesome events to celebrate and places and things to take advantage of while we enjoy our (hopefully) entire month of warmth and sunshine!

This Saturday I am so excited to head back to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, a free festival in Golden Gate Park. It gets SUPER crowded and they don’t sell booze, so plan accordingly. I’ll be getting there early with friends, setting up camp with a cooler of champagne, orange juice, beer, bagels and cream cheese, and listening to live music all day long. I’m especially excited to see Robert Earl Keen—a favorite of my dad’s whom I grew to love while living in New Orleans (this was my theme song once I realized that the hell that was teaching would soon be over…).

Next weekend: HRC Gala. I love when supporting my friends and great causes involves a Dry Bar appointment, Rent the Runway, and a night of cocktails and dancing.

Next week/weekend: Litquake. Love books? Running the Nike Women’s Marathon Sunday but still want to have a social Saturday night? Here's an overview of the event, and don’t forget to stop by Elbo Room for a  a free book (which, by the way, is a thoroughly entertaining and fun read).And here are just a few of the talks, but there are so many that look interesting and inspiring!

73 Women on Life's Transitions, Misfortunates in Love and Life: A Comedy/Storytelling Event, 826 Valencia Student Reading (Learn more about 826 Valencia here.), 7x7 Presents: Travel Misadventures.Here is the full schedule (including a week of events leading up to this Saturday).

Cheer on the NWM runners on Sunday by Ocean Beach! And afterwards, wait in an insanely long line for delicious toast, grapefruit juice (called the Yoko Ono, they do not respond well to the request for “juice”—yes, this is one of those places) at Trouble Coffee.

Looking towards November (always a planner, I can’t help it), another of my favorite SF festivals: Dia de Los Muertos in the Mission.

Oh October, I love you already. Cheers to a fantastic fall, and more regular blog posts chronicling a beautiful new season!

(Photo of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass via.)

Good reads lately

Just a quick post because I had to add my voice to the many in singing the praises of The Goldfinch. It is an incredibly sad yet strangely hopeful, exquisitely written novel about, well, so many things, but namely the evolution of a boy who experiences unfathomable loss to a man haunted by lost love, missed opportunities, and the inexplicable nature of beauty and the way in which we are uniquely drawn to and compelled by it.

I read it for about an hour this morning before work and it’s one of those books that tricked me into feeling deep feelings that rightfully belonged to the character. (Kind of like the time I read American Psycho and had to stop because I was so. depressed.). In other words, the character development is spot-on and it really sucks you in.

Anyway, I thought the quote above was really poignant and kind of captures the general gist of the writing.  

A quick weekend round-up

So the great thing about working at a publishing house is that, even when all of my bosses are out of town and I’m sitting alone at my desk drinking cold coffee because no one has made a new pot since yesterday…I get to read our pretty, interesting books and call it “research.” Oh, and blogs. Researching lots of lifestyle blogs today.

Not much of a round-up (I’m still trying to get back in the groove), but here are a few links I enjoyed reading this week:

These are a few of my favorite things. 

A smart way of asking teachers not to kill creativity in education. 

Missing NOLA and adding bucket list items to my next trip (king cake cheeseburger, anyone?).

100 Children's Books to Read in a Lifetime. Which would you add?

Kelly and I want to read this book for our next book club pick. 

I didn't watch this season of The Bachelorette, but I got the run down of "the scandal" and I agree with this article. 

I'm off to get some brunch but have a wonderful weekend! 

(Photo found here. Missing Tahoe this weekend!)

Life lately

It feels completely foreign being on my blog right now seeing as it's been four months (!!) since my last post. I was really in a groove for a while, then I fell off the wagon, and have been slowly building up to this post (which I realize, after that introduction is going to seem lackluster, but bear with me). I've been reading, watching, eating, and seeing wonderful things, and at this point it's just selfish not to share.

First up, in May I went to Paris with my grandma and that will need its own post once I figure out how blogging fits into my new life of living in a new neighborhood, having a new job, having a new boyfriend....yeah, lots of big (and happy/necessary/uplifting/motivating) changes around here. Anyway, Paris is always inspiring. I read A Moveable Feast  and ate chocolate croissants and watched my grandma's eyes light up like saucers when she saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time. Magical.

I also just finished reading The Interestings--I know I'm very late to the party--and thought it was great. It was refreshing to read contemporary literature after a semester of Shakespeare and Austen, and Meg Wolitzer is an incredibly talented author who made me think, hey, I can still read great books without crossing titles off of my "classics-I-must-read" list.

Much of reading The Interestings happened on the beach in Miami, where I stayed at this quaint boutique hotel with two of my best girlfriends from college. We also discovered the tequila mockingbird (with vodka substituted for tequila) and drank them nightly at our hotel bar.

And this is it for my rambling list, but last night I saw Boyhood and oh my god. What a fantastic movie. If you haven't already heard the buzz, they filmed it in Texas over the course of 12 years. Ethan Hawke, whom I love from the Before Sunrise trilogy, plays the father and it focuses primarily on the son, Mason. Mason begins as a cute, chubby boy and we watch him through his awkward pre-teen years up until his high school graduation. They really felt like old family friends by the end of the movie (it's a long one, but I suppose you can do that if you spend over a decade filming...) and it resonated in the oh-man-haven't-we-all-been-there kind of way. I would highly, highly recommend this movie.

So there's a very abridged update of my life, and I'll look forward to posting more regularly again. I've also agreed to write for another blog, so more on that once the ball gets rolling :).

Always good

I know the blog has been radio silent -- it is a goal to become more consistent, but with midterms and personal stuff going on, it's been tough! 

One of those personal things was my grandparents' joint burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. last week. I flew out for a whirlwind 40-hour trip, and it was really unique to see a military funeral with full honors -- it was precise, synchronized, and reverential, and my grandparents would have been very happy. 

Before the service we got to speak with my grandpa's best friend, a retired army general named Joe Ratke. He told us a lot of stories about Poppy, but a simple phrase he used to describe him was the most impactful. He talked about how Poppy was "always good." Such a simple, yet loaded sentiment when you think about how difficult it is to always be good. 

Poppy was always good at work -- we've heard from numerous colleagues how fairly he treated his subordinates, how respected he was by his colleagues, and how he always went beyond the call of duty.

It's even more impressive to be able to say that he was always good in life. It can be hard not to be selfish and to consider how our actions will affect others. It can be hard to be honest, to be respectful, to be kind, to be good. But it's so important to try. I think that's my Poppy's greatest legacy, and a legacy to which we can all aspire: to live a life in which your actions gain respect from others; in which you treat people with kindness; in which you are always good. 

(Sorry for the ghetto, unedited iPhone photos. One step at a time, ya know?)

A new resolution

I absolutely loathe the abundance of "Things I learned in my Twenties" or "10 Ways to Improve Your Relationship" articles that seem to be floating in every nook and cranny of the internet these days. However, I have a confession: I read far too many of them. There's something so tempting about having someone spell out for you what to do, what not to wear, which date to go on, etc. Most of these enlightening and profound posts are written by smug 32-year-olds who once went backpacking in India and had some transcendent experience, the retelling of which will benefit all of humankind. Reading these articles never ends well. I'll read an article by a 40-something woman that says your twenties are about career, not relationships, and begin to freak out that I'm in a serious, long-term relationship at only 26. I'll read about how I should be traveling, then one click later about how four years out of college I should be very settled in my career track. These articles that make me doubt my relationship, my choice to go back to school, my friendships, how I spend my free time....It's exhausting. 

I've become very wary of self-help, or advice from strangers, but every once in a while, in digging through all the garbage, I find gold. I think this article is perfect and, at age 90, you probably have advice that is worth listening to. 

That being said.

For lent I'm giving up meat (I had chicken jambalaya for lunch yesterday so it's really not off to a good start), but after reading yet another of these dumbass articles, I have a new resolution. The month of March is no-self-help month. No more reading this or this -- pretty much no more reading Thought Catalog at all, which is good because it's 98% terrible, anyway.  Less reading about the experiences of people I don't know, and more journaling and reflecting on my own experiences -- because these are ultimately the ones that should impact how I view my life at present, as well as the choices I make in the future.

(I think the origin of this rant is my 3-hour medieval mysticism course on Thursday evenings, in which we read medieval religious contemplatives who all claim that they have found the key to God and Heaven and perfection. We always talk about where their authority comes from, and emy classmates are slightly more diplomatic in their musings, and I really just want to be like no, but seriously, what the f*ck? So here we are.)

Teaching abroad

I am so excited to share my first interview with you guys! One of my best friends from growing up, Kelsey, recently moved to Japan to embark on a new adventure and teach English. She's only been there for six weeks, so it will be interesting to speak with her again towards the end of her year-long commitment. Here is a recap of some her initial thoughts and feelings:

What prompted the desire to teach abroad?

After working in sales for three years out of college, I started to get the itch for something completely different. Although I would not consider my time in a cubicle "soul crushing," I definitely wasn't feeling fulfilled. After coming up with a slew of odd job ideas and following through with some... I decided and made peace with the fact that I still had absolutely no clue what I want to do professionally. I did however discover that bottom line, I want to travel. Teaching is not my passion but more a means to an end.

I love that you're honest about the uncertainty.

I think people want to hear that moving to Japan was a well thought out plan bc that's a comfortable idea. It makes people feel uneasy that it doesn't have to be so hard or scary to move across the world. Anyone can do it for any reason or no reason at all. The possibility of it all scares people I think. But here I am, a gaijin in Japan and I'm doing just fine. 

Why Japan? 

I hate this question. Probably because I get it daily but mostly because I feel like my answer disappoints. No I don't like Manga or Anime, I'm not "in the know" with who's hot in JPOP (yet) and I have never studied Japanese. Japan was just a good place for me to start. The application timing, pay and especially location was right so I jumped at the opportunity. I'm living in Osaka, Japan, which is a fascinating city of almost 3 million people. Not only is it an exciting city famous for its friendly folk and indulgent food, it's known as an international travel hub.

What is your initial impression of Japanese culture in the classroom vs. the public schools you attended in the U.S.?
I teach a variety of ages from babies as young as six months old, to high schoolers, but the average age is around ten. After a month of teaching I can confidently say that students in Japan are exactly the same as students in the U.S. Maybe with the exception that they put less in their mouths. Maybe. They still act out, have short attention spans, sneeze and snot on everything, and above all, they want learning to be a fun break from their already hectic schedules. I think Japan and the U.S. are neck and neck with encouraging children to be overly involved in extra curricular activities.

What is your daily routine in Japan?

Tuesday through Saturday I work from 10:00am to 7:00pm. Before and after work I do things to explore the city casually. I walk with out direction a lot and experiment with local street food. Especially with the various Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki and ramen stands, which the Kansai region is famous for. But mostly I do the same things here as I do back home, I just struggle way more. Rarely do people speak English so every day is an interesting challenge! My weekend is more for exploring outside the city and being more of a tourist. It's typical for people my age to take the train somewhere on the weekend nights and not come back until 6:00 the next morning when the trains start up again. This Saturday night I am heading to Umeda to meet a group for dinner and nomihoudai (all you can drink) then Sunday- Monday I plan to explore Nara, a neighboring city to Kyoto. 

What about socializing? How have you been meeting people?

I have a lot of friends that I work with. I don't work with them directly because I'm the only English teacher at my school, but they are in the same program, just teaching elsewhere. I have some Japanese friends from work, going to local restaurants  and I've also joined groups on MeetUp: the Kansai Hikers Club, an entrepreneurs club, Kansai coffee and tea club, the free activities club for my area... The man who created the hiking group said that he doesn't speak very much English but when your common interest is exercise, there's not too much need for talking! There's a plan next month to hike Fuji, so hopefully I can get a day off work and go. I also signed up to host people on Couchsurfer, and in my profile I said that I plan on eating my way through Osaka. I was surprised to get messages from Japanese locals who said that they would love to explore new restaurants and work on our language skills. I had dinner last night in Umeda with a couchsurfer friend and tried fried fish female organs for the first time. 

What about romantic relationships? Do you feel any pressure to be dating someone? 

No, but I'm sure it will get lonely from time to time. For now I am prioritizing what I'm doing over forcing any relationships. I'm hoping to find someone who's like-minded and we can do all this together. 

How is the language barrier?

It's actually tougher than I thought it would be. I should have kept up with Rosetta Stone! Not many people speak English here and 99% of the people who do, are too shy to use it. So I learned Hiragana and now I'm moving on to Katakana and Kanji. I also meet with a woman and her son on Mondays for conversation class and I start group classes in April. It definitely helps that my coworkers' native tongue is Japanese! I keep hoping it will sink it all at once one day.... Ha.

Do you ever get lonely?

I only get lonely when I'm frustrated because I can't do something. The language barrier is frustrating in that it prevents me (or slows down the process) from doing simple things like opening a bank account, grocery shopping, even using my washing machine. I start to think, I wish I didn't have to try this hard, but then I realize that that's part of the fun, part of the adventure. 

Any last advice for someone thinking about teaching abroad?

Think less about it and just give it a shot. You can't figure out every detail before and you will never know if it's for you unless you try it. Even if teaching is not for you, I believe that experiencing a different culture has tremendous benefits even if only for a short while. I told myself before I left that no matter what, I'm never stuck somewhere. Keeping that mentality helps put things in perspective. 

Kobe Chinatown 

Street Takoyaki

Nightlife: At a drag bar in Umeda

At a cat cafe in Umeda

Hiking Mountain Maya in Kobe

(All pictures courtesy of Kelsey; top photo on Miya Jima Island.)

On Carrie Bradshaw

How insane is it that it has been 10 years since the 'Sex and the City' series finale? I remember sitting on the couch at my parents' house (I was a senior in high school), calling my friend Alysse at the commercials (how ancient is that, we weren't even texting and I'm pretty sure we were using landlines) and crying while Carrie and Big kissed passionately alongside the Seine River. I loved the Huffington Post article An Open Letter To Carrie Bradshaw on the 10th Anniversary of 'Sex and the City' -- this resonates deeply with someone who is still, at age 26, getting over the delusion instilled in me by Carrie Bradshaw and her massive Manhattan apartment. I told myself in high school that the purchase I would make with my first "big girl paycheck" would be a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes. Ummm. The first paycheck I ever got could not buy one Manolo Blahnik shoe, let alone a pair. Also, Where did I think I would wear said shoes? Toss up between the grimy halls of the high school I worked in or as house shoes because I had 0 friends and 0 parties/dinners/events to attend for my first six months in New Orleans. Oh, and let's not exclude LSU frat houses or the aisles of Whole Foods.

I am still nowhere near being able to afford $1,000 high heels, but there are other elements of the show that I romanticized which have become a reality. I get to be in love, drink fancy cocktails with girlfriends, and write about life in my favorite city in the world. And for that, I think Carrie (and teenage Megan) would be proud.

(Photo)

Stitcher + Airbnb + StoryCorps

I am so upset that I forgot to take pictures last night, though it's usually a good sign when I'm too busy enjoying my company to whip out the ol' iPhone.

Cam and I attended a re-launch party for StoryCorps, a small company devoted to the preservation of stories from the lives of everyday people. Airbnb hosted the event at their beautiful new office downtown; each of the offices is designed to look like the room in a house (get it...) and their event space felt so modern with its high ceiling, exposed stone, and massive sprawl of indoor ivy shaping into the company logo. I had one of those moments, while sipping free beer, talking with interesting people, and eating steak tartare off a tray, where I felt like my naive ideas of twenty-something life as depicted by Sex and the City were actually being realized.

Cam often muses about how telling our grandchildren we lived in San Francisco in the 2010s will be as fascinating as (but happier than...) hearing our grandparents' stories from World War II. The technology, drive, and who's-gonna-make-millions-this-week mentality all contribute to the excitement of being right here, right now. I absolutely felt this energy last night, and it was great to support companies I already love (Airbnb and Stitcher) as well as learn about a company whose mission inspires and incites in me the desire to work harder and be better.

A little on StoryCorps: they started with a booth in Grand Central Station, and now have several throughout the country, including the San Francisco Public Library. Basically, you take a loved one and get 40 minutes to interview them. You keep a copy of the interview and one goes to the Library of Congress, so that the lives of ordinary people are recorded and remain accessible for generations to come. It is so incredible to hear "ordinary" people tell such extraordinary stories. I highly recommend checking out the site (or their podcast on Stitcher), and I can't wait to start interviewing my loved ones!

Valentine's Day + Birthday

 I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day and a relaxing Presidents' Day! After berating Cam all week for not planning something romantic for the long weekend, I discovered I had class on Monday (doesn't that always happen when you're being a brat?). He made us a delicious dinner at home on Friday evening, then Saturday night we stayed at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. I don't think I have ever done a staycation before this, but it really was the best! It was so nice to relax all morning Saturday and leave for Berkeley exactly when we felt like it. We got pizza at Cheeseboard, roamed around and envied the undergrads walking to their frat parties and Saturday night haunts, and then settled in with a bottle of red wine, a box of Tagalongs, a bag of gummy bears, and season 2 of House of Cards.

My birthday was on Tuesday and Cam and I ventured back to Berkeley for dinner at Chez Panisse. Dinner was so relaxing, and the food was delicious, but the best part was when the couple next to us got engaged! I had never seen a real-life proposal before, and it was pretty funny because we were in a small room with only four tables, each occupied by couples around our age. The man got down on one knee, and the rest of the room slipped into some pretty stereotypical gender roles -- I was fighting back tears and couldn't stop smiling, and one of the other guys joked with Cam about having their thunder stollen. Anyway, it was beautiful and special and their love and energy was contagious...such a fun birthday treat :).

Thanks to everyone for the calls and texts, it was so wonderful to get to talk to so many of my important people in one day. And a HUGE thanks to Cam for making both days so very special.

Our view from the hotel room: bay + tennis courts + palm trees

Ordering breakfast in bed

On the morning of my birthday, Cam recreated my favorite breakfast from the Ferry Building: lox with lemon slices and tomato 

Treat yo'self: new birthday dinner outfit :) 

100th post...Happy Valentine's Day + literary love quotes

Happy Valentine's Day! Whether you love or hate this holiday, it's a time for reflection on what, whom, and how we love. Instead of a links round-up, I thought I'd pull together some of my favorite reflections on love, from people who can articulate this crazy, hectic, passionate, terrifying, exhilarating, horrible, wonderful (you get the picture...) sentiment far better than I can. They're all literary quotes which tells you a little bit about what's been going on in my brain lately (so. much. reading!)...

"As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once." - John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

"This sensation of listlessness, weariness, stupidity, this disinclination to sit down and employ myself, this feeling of every thing's being dull and insipid about the house! I must be in love..." - Jane Austen, Emma

“When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are to become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No … don’t blush. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away. Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? But it is!” - Louis de Bernieres, Captain Corelli's Mandolin 

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." - Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

"Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering." - Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

"My love is deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite." - William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

"Maybe...you'll fall in love with me all over again."
"Hell," I said, "I love you enough now. What do you want to do? Ruin me?"
"Yes. I want to ruin you."
"Good," I said. "That's what I want too." - Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

"When we hear voices that we love, we need not understand the words they say." - Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

"Love should be allowed. I'm all for it." - Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket -- safe, dark, motionless, airless -- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell." - C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

And Fyodor Dostoyevsky agrees in The Brothers Karamazov...

"What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love."

"Love will carry you all lengths." - Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

(Photo of this month's cover of The New Yorker -- I am obsessed with it!)

This video gets its own post

Cam just sent me this video and it. is. awesome. Ira Glass is the host of 'This American Life', a podcast I often listen to on Stitcher. In this short clip, he talks about the creative process and the importance of sticking with it, even when the results/successes seem dismal.


THE GAP by Ira Glass from frohlocke on Vimeo.

I read a lot of bad blogs, and a lot of great blogs, and more often than not I find that I categorize my own blog into the former category. My interpretation of Glass' argument is that by simply having the objectivity to realize that your work isn't actually the best around, because you can recognize the best around, the potential is there. Potential + recognition that you kind of suck + good taste + lots of work = success, yeah?

As a side note, I embedded this video in my blog using HTML, which probably isn't that impressive but is also proof of what we can do after lots of repetition -- this is blog post #99, and I wouldn't have figured that out on post #1 :).

I'm feeling brave today...

Hi Friends,

Thanks to Madison for outting my secret life as a blogger. I've been really nervous about making my blog public, even though I've spent a ton of time working on it over the past year. Since you're here, here are some posts that you've obviously missed (unless you're my mom or boyfriend) and might enjoy.

If you want to read about San Francisco (and the Greater Bay Area)...

Cataract Falls

Muir Beach

The Sunset District

Legion of Honor/Land's End Hike

For vicarious traveling...

Lake Tahoe (x2)

Point Reyes and Tomales Bay

Hiking the Inca Trail

Hiking (part of) the Pacific Crest Trail

Destination bucket list: Russia

New Jersey and NYC

Humboldt County

Austin, Texas

If you liked my Facebook statuses from teaching...

A reflection on teaching

Cool websites/apps...

TEDtalks

Stitcher

Stuff that doesn't fit into one of the above categories...

Taking a big trip on a little budget

Plastic bags and insecurity

Literary tattoos

Honey glazed salmon recipe

Writer's block

All of my Friday posts include fun, interesting, or motivating links from around the web -- if you're having a slow day at work check them out for some good reads. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to leave a comment or email me with any feedback. : )

Love,

Megan

Mimi and Poppy

Hello from the rock I have been living under for the month of January! Over the weekend, my friend Dan organized a pub crawl through Chinatown in honor of Chinese New Year (and his birthday). My 2014 has been off to a fairly tumultuous start, so I decided to embrace the commencement of the Year of the Horse as a new beginning. In order to move forward, I wanted to take a look back and remember my Mimi and Poppy, both of whom I lost in January. I usually love to write about fun adventures, suspenseful novels, and favorite spots in San Francisco, so thanks for indulging me as I get sentimental :).

My grandparents were married over 63 years ago in a small town in Oklahoma; Poppy was 19, Mimi, 17. Poppy had been orphaned twice before the age of 12, and turned to the U.S. Army as a source of camaraderie, family -- a sense of belonging. Just last night my boyfriend, Cam, was at a concert in San Francisco and I tossed and turned until he returned home in the early hours of Sunday morning. It's simply unfathomable to imagine a 17 year old girl (and I use "girl" deliberately) fostering and nurturing a relationship with someone whose location and well-being were so often unknown. While Poppy was the nurturer, the caregiver, in their later years, it was really Mimi who created the Thrasher family as I now know it, moving their four small children, including my mom, over twenty times throughout Poppy's career.

Throughout their speeches at Mimi's funeral, my mom and her siblings iterated a common theme: "Home was wherever Mom was." With each move, she packed up the furniture, photographs, paintings, and toys, and with each new house, established a new home. It was no matter that they would only be there for several months, or maybe a year or two, she kept a beautiful home and was always quick to entertain new friends, and encourage this outgoing nature in her children. Mimi would shelter her children from the loneliness of moving through fantastical lands and stories, whether it be reading to them or creating cups for fairies out of the tops of acorns. As I would later learn in my own childhood, being with Mimi was always safe. She was always quick to laugh and to make everyone feel comfortable.

Growing up, Poppy was intimidating: a military hero and the revered patriarch of my family. In a very roundabout way, Mimi's deteriorating health due to Alzheimer's was a blessing in that it enabled us to see Poppy in his truest form, and to see the rawness and realness of their love.

Poppy once told my mom that, "the first 50 years were mine, the last 50 will be hers." While they unfortunately didn't get the full fifty, his statement could not have been truer in the way he acted towards her in their final years. He would tie her shoes, feed her breakfast, change her soiled bedsheets and clothes, kiss her forehead, lift her in and out of bed, and, what I found to be the most profound -- talk to her. He didn't seem to notice or care that she didn't respond. Every card was still signed from both of them, whenever I called he would start each sentence with, "Mimi and I," even when it was clear that Mimi wasn't thinking or communicating much of anything. He was fiercely loyal and loved her with a vigor and authenticity that most only know to be the stuff of fairytales and Nicholas Sparks novels.

In 2012, Poppy was diagnosed with cancer, which slowly debilitated his ability to care for Mimi. This disability wore on him, but he never stopped fighting. Just months before his death, he underwent a colectomy and urostomy, a grueling 8-hour procedure, just with the hopes that it might restore some energy so that he could continue to be there for Mimi. He never uttered a word of complaint regarding his own disease; his concern stayed entirely on Mimi's comfort and happiness.

Mimi passed away on January 4, 2014. Poppy walked into the funeral home in his brand new suit and quietly began to cry. It pulled my heart in a direction I didn't know it could go, and yet I felt truly fortunate to witness firsthand what I think everyone really wants -- to find the one person who makes you whole, without whom you are broken.

Within days of Mimi's funeral, Poppy's cancer metastasized and he was told he had 3-4 days to live. It was shocking for everyone, including him, but he took the news with dignity and the knowledge that he would soon be reunited with the love of his life. I talked to him on the phone two days before his passing, and he told me that when you choose family first, always, you can never choose wrong. He told me how proud they (again, always "Mimi and I") were of me, and I told him that I was proud of him, too. I have always been, and will always be, so proud of the hardship and difficulties my grandparents overcame together. I will always be proud of their love story, and happy that I get to include their story in the narrative of my own life.

January was a month for mourning, but also a month to celebrate two of the best people I've ever known. Poppy always said, "Look up not down, look forward not backward." So here's to a new year of staying motivated, staying healthy, being kind, and always looking up and forward. I love you both forever; rest peacefully, and thank you for sharing your lives and love with us.

Cheers to a good weekend

Happy Sunday, everyone! I know my blog has been painfully silent this January, and that posting weekly round-ups doesn't reeeally count as meaningful or thoughtful writing. I'm hoping that February will bring a renewed sense of routine and normalcy, especially since I start graduate school tomorrow! I had a wonderful weekend catching up with friends and celebrating the "end of summer" -- and the weather totally cooperated with that theme. We enjoyed a seventy degree and sunny (sorry, East Coast friends) Saturday in Dolores Park, and relaxed all day today. Cam and I have been watching The Sopranos for the last few months, and tonight we are finally on the last episode. In keeping with the Italian theme, he made baked ziti so we're about to dig in to that and enjoy the finale of a show that we have thoroughly enjoyed watching together. I hope everyone had a nice weekend, and enjoy some links from around the web:

The importance of girlfriends. 

A few fun quizzes: Which Harry Potter house do you belong in (I got Slytherin, ew) and which Disney princess are you (I'm Belle, the "beautiful bookworm" ;).

Especially relevant to my life this month: The Art of Presence.

Ahhh, sooo true! Things That Happen When You Move A Lot. 

Enlightening article on food in America. Cam and I shelled out $30 on the more expensive salmon after reading this.

Books You Didn't Read In High School But Actually Should. Numbers 1-3 are some of my absolute favorites. 

How to talk to women. 

Girls and Sex and the City do brunch. 

Cringecringecringecringe.

Have a nice weekend

I really don't have much of a round-up this week, as it's been kind of a doozy. My grandmother passed away on January 4th, and my grandfather, her husband of 63 years, joined her in Heaven yesterday. I really want to write a more thoughtful post on their relationship and legacy, but I need a little more time to process emotions (my brain is soooo foggy!). Cam and I are heading to Houston tomorrow morning, but tonight I'm excited to go see the movie 'Her', which has gotten amazing reviews. Enjoy this sad excuse for a round-up, and I'll look forward to writing more next week!

I really, really, really want this. It reminds me of my trip to Morocco with Cam, Mark, and some of our friends who we studied abroad with in Barcelona.

I know Jennifer Lawrence is everybody's 'it' girl right now, but Kate Middleton is still my fave.

What City Should You Actually Live In? I got Cape Town!

Good to know when looking for cheap flights.

Speaking of flights....Barcelona, I miss you so, so much! Take me back!

(Photo: One of the things that has brought me comfort this week has been daydreaming with Cam about living in Paris. We've been working on our French with the Duolingo app....I have a looong ways to go :)

Book post for 2013

Hello! I apologize for the radio silence; my 2014 has not been off to the greatest start -- more on that later but I wanted to post something before it becomes February and I realize I've only posted once! I mentioned before that I loved Valerie's posts on books she's read each year. My friend Kelly and I had a 'classics challenge' for 2013, and while I didn't finish the whole list, I feel pretty good about the 21 books I did read. Here's a list of what I read this past year, and a few quotes from some of my favorites (and some general commentary ;). I'm starting my Master's in English Literature program on the 27th, so I'm sure there will be some book discussions on the blog in the year to come :).

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Broken Harbor by Tana French (French writes murder mysteries set in the Dublin, Ireland area, and I've read all of them. Easy, suspenseful, and aside from the whole murder aspect, really make me want to visit Ireland.)

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (I read The Sun Also Rises in college and didn't care for it, so I was shocked when I love, love, loved this book.)
-- “If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.” 

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris (I had read short stories by Sedaris before but devoured two of his novels in two weeks.)
-- “States vote to take away my marriage rights, and even though I don't want to get married, it tends to hurt my feelings. I guess what bugs me is that it was put to a vote in the first place. If you don't want to marry a homosexual, then don't. But what gives you the right to weigh in on your neighbor's options? It's like voting whether or not redheads should be allowed to celebrate Christmas.” 

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo (Fascinating and tragic.)

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini (Love all three of his novels.)

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
-- "Even now, all possible feelings do not yet exist, there are still those that lie beyond our capacity and our imagination. From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written or a painting no one has ever painted, or something else impossible to predict, fathom or yet describe takes place, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feeling, the heart surges and absorbs the impact.” 

The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Didn't really understand the hype here, unfortunately.)

More Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin (I love this series, very fun and San Francisco-y.)

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Can you believe I had never read this? I loved it. I also laughed out loud at just about everything Holden Caulfield says, so I can't choose a quote.)

Wild  by Cheryl Strayed
-- “How wild it was, to let it be.” 

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (Okay, this took me for-ev-er. Brilliantly written and thought provoking but probably the closest I've gotten to the antithesis of a beach read.)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
-- “A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”  <--But seriously.

(Photo found here.)

Holiday photos

Happy New Year! I've been thinking about some posts on resolutions and goals, but I think my brain is still a bit foggy from all of the travel, good food, family catch-up sessions, and holiday cocktails. I'll have more interesting, insightful posts next week, but for now, if you'd like to see, here are some pictures from Houston, New Jersey, and my and Cam's pre-Christmas celebration in San Francisco.

My handsome brunch date having the best bloody mary of his life at Foreign Cinema

Christmas in the Mission District

Cards Against Humanity with the family...an interesting choice

My dad's traditional "Feliz Navidad" dinner

Christmas morning

Their 63rd Christmas together

Nothing healthy at this Christmas dinner

I didn't take many pictures in NJ, but I loved getting to spend time with these two! 

Our fabulous New Year's Eve hostess 

I had to. ; )