culture club.

(walker doing the dead sea float - it really is quite the experience).




jerusalem: i love how friday mornings are busy, busy, busy. it's like everyone is out running errands in preparation for an imminent snowstorm. how an entire city shuts down at dusk the same evening, not to open up again for an entire 24 hours. saturday shabbat is certainly not the sunday sabbath in america - forget the lost profits, everything is closed, today we are untouchable. and people running to their family's shabbat dinner with braids of bread and bottles of wine under their arms.

nazareth: i love how the call to prayer washes over a city. especially during ramadan. when i have to remember not to torture people by chugging water right in front of them during the desert heat of the day. the men flipping tiny pancakes in the streets for katayef: later stuffed with goat's cheese or cinnamon walnuts and doused with geranium syrup. kids running wild once the sun goes down. and the most powerful of all, the large group of men praying in the plaza for the breaking of the fast, the neat rows of prayer rugs, the coordinated movements and chanting.

how we plan to make our millions.

implement mint lemonade stands on every corner like they do alongside the Red Sea.
i'm all for cheap, refreshing thrills.

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.