sometimes i get a good feeling.

sometimes i think 25 may be the age of panic.

i mean, there are people my age who are married, getting promoted, having babies, buying homes, contributing to retirement funds, operating on live humans, etc.
and since i want a few of those things eventually too, the fact that it's all so out of reach at present can really make it seem like i missed some sort of bus to the land of comfort and stability -- doomed to an eternal life as one of the main characters in HBO's Girls.
(side note: i enjoy Girls, while also finding them truly offensive and pathetic).

so instead, i'm making myself a fan of the little goals:
- like, the day i can afford to own a really nice blender will be an epic day in my life. monumental.
- or a july with my boyfriend in Israel and Jordan, filled with goat cheese caves, world wonders, writing, and the promise of the best hummus of my life.
- to make the crack pie from Momofuku Milk Bar. (recipe here).
- to understand tax law.
- etc.

thus, my challenge is: not to panic. not to let the panic waste so much of my time. and not to let the panic force me to lose that all-important tool in the life skills kit: perspective.



p.s. some articles i liked:

The Atlantic: Jersey Boys.

GQ: Up From the Streets.

WSJ: Always Dress to Impress.

The Atlantic: Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?

june.

My house was called
the house of flowers, because in every cranny
geraniums burst: it was
a good-looking house
with its dogs and children.
Remember, Raul?
Eh, Rafel? Federico, do you remember
from under the ground
my balconies on which
the light of June drowned flowers in your mouth?
(Pablo Neruda, I'm Explaining a Few Things).

what is happiness? it's a moment before you need more happiness - don draper, mad men.

 

dunking last night's impulse baking of oatmeal/chocolate chip/almond cookies

into this morning's coffee.

i plan on playing Florence + the Machine's Shake It Out every time i become overwhelmed.

summer! in images.

summer! in sunday night meal form = ribs + red wine + crunchy cole slaw + baked beans + vanilla ice cream + peach cobbler.

p.s. so helpful: best $15-and-under red wines via Food & Wine Magazine.

Bill Simmons.
and Thunder v. Heat tomorrow!

also perfect.

via Loeffler Randall.

where books are loved.

this is perfect.

via The Sartorialist.

sports talk.

All he'd ever wanted was for nothing to ever change. Or for things to change only in the right ways, improving little by little, day by day, forever. It sounded crazy when you said it like that, but that was what baseball had promised him. The dream of every day the same. Every day was like the day before but a little better. You ran the stadium a little faster. You bench-pressed a little more. You hit the ball a little harder in the cage; you watched the tape with Schwartzy afterward and gained a little insight into your swing. Your swing grew a little simpler. Everything grew simpler, little by little. You ate the same food, woke up at the same time, wore the same clothes. Hitches, bad habits, useless thoughts -- whatever you didn't need slowly fell away. Whatever was simple and useful remained. You improved little by little till the day it all became perfect and stayed that way. Forever.(The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach).