Monday, October 1, 2012

Turning the page

*sparklingly (http://sparklingly.blogspot.com)
{ An autumnal table }


Much as I love the month of September (not only because it's my birthday and when a new school year starts—even though I'm no longer in school, but because I believe that everything starts afresh in the Fall, not on January 1st), there’s something sweet about October 1st. Maybe because it falls on a Monday this year and seems fresher? More crisp?

Regardless, I’m glad it’s here, if for no other reason that the subways are on their way to being more bearable and the A/Cs will soon be shut off (crossing fingers for no more descents into sauna-like conditions post-shower and pre-work and that yucky water will no longer drip on me from above as I pass below window A/C units).

Also, I can finally drag my knitting bag out, which has been holed up behind the couch all summer, and now drinking yummy tea, besides being comforting/delicious, keeps my fingers warm and soothes the throat! I’ve been thinking about ways I can commemorate what may be (if all goes according to plan) my last fall in NYC/the US (for the foreseeable future). Day trips upstate/Hudson Valley? More apple-y/squash-y dishes? More leaf-crunching walks? All of the above are in order, I think.


. . .

I’m tempted to start off just like that, but whenever I come across a new blog I always scroll back through the archives to the first entry to get the “How it all started” story, so it would be fairly sneaky of me to try and get away from doing it for myself.

So, here’s me in a nutshell: Born in NYC, grew up in VA, had a brief hop in the D.C. area post college, started a multi-year transatlantic courtship with R, a Sicilian/Swede whom I met on vacation in Italy, moved back to NYC, married my Sicilian/Swede (twice!) and have now decided to move back to Europe next year.


Not Sicily, mind you, which most people assume I would do, but the gloriously cold, organized, efficient, minimalist, sensible, soothing Stockholm! (It should be noted that I am notoriously always hot, have little patience–hence can’t deal with inefficiency/bureaucracy, and work in branding/advertising, so a major city is a necessity, which puts Stockholm miles above Sicily in my affection). PS. More on my love of Stockholm/Sweden.

Plus, if we ever want to start a family/have a dog without making drastic career changes, we need to leave NYC. And there’s nowhere else in the U.S. we'd like to live right now and I do want to live abroad at some point in my life, but don’t want to go to R’s hometown in Sicily, so Stockholm it is!

Other things to know about me?

+ I’m a first-generation American (of Portuguese/Indian descent).

+ The color purple (and its relatives), golden retrievers, anything ridiculously spicy, and all things cozy and candle-lit make me happy.

+ It's not that I'm anti-social, it's just that I like time alone or in (very) small groups. Huge parties give me hives, but intimate dinner parties, those make me super happy.

+ I don’t like horror movies (but love fast-paced international thriller spy-type ones).

+ I'm in the natural, sometimes raw, wholesome foods camp (which for me means steering clear of gluten and sugar. The former for a sensitivity and the latter for a desire to avoid toxins, which I feel sugar is, and which I suppose gluten is, too—at least to me). If you're interested in other things I do, all in the name of being gentler to myself, this post's for you.

+ I am enamored with Anne Shirley and Lorelai Gilmore.

+ I talk very, very fast (hence kinship with Lorelai).

 + My husband says I eat books because I zoom through them so fast. You can imagine he was thrilled when I carried a thousand-page book on Cleopatra's life with me on our honeymoon. Here's what I'm reading now.

+ I can be a bit bossy...and also very feisty. Poor R.

+ I like makings things with my hands—be it food, my own stationery, knitted doodads and other crafty bits and bobs (which doesn't preclude me from buying pretty things).

+ I think I like writing...but not actual writing. I love the IDEA of keeping a written journal, but I think I’ll have better luck in the digital realm vs. creamy paper and inky pen (which sound delicious in theory).

+ And the name? Well, I have a thing for sparkly things—wit, wine, water, jewels, lights, to name a few.