Poetry

Every six months or so we have a poetry lunch at work where anyone who wants to can bring a poem and read it aloud, while everyone eats their lunch in one of our meeting rooms. You can also just sit and absorb the words floating around in the air, and not read anything aloud yourself. I chose to sit and listen at this particular poetry lunch, but halfway through I felt the most incredible urge to jump up and start reciting one of my very favorite childhood poets, Sylvia Plath. I went home that night and unearthed my dog-eared copy of Ariel, that I stole from my parents well-stocked bookshelves when I was heading off to college. It's been a while since I sat down and read something other than a book proposal or something from the fiction bestseller list. 

Maybe I'll stand up and read next time.

Interior design:

I want to be invited to Emily Henderson's holiday party! I'm loving the navy blue touches with pops of pink and bright colors all over her home. Navy blue has a way of making a room seem very glam.

And to relax and recover from my hangover after the aforementioned holiday party, I'd like to set up shop in this Scottish fisherman's cottage found on Desire to Inspire and watch the ocean ebb and flow.

Or what about this villa on Lake Como that I found over at Quintessence today? That would do just fine too.

Enter to win these pretty blue and white fez tiles from Apartment Therapy. My kitchen would look so airy and light.

Food:

I'm crushing hardcore on Foodie Crush. Do you read Heidi's site? You definitely should. She has a magazine that celebrates her favorite food blogs and their luscious photography. The winter issue just launched and looks especially good. I love the articles on the friendships that have developed between bloggers. The more I participate in this community, the more I love it and I see those friendships developing for me too.

Oooh, I want this ultra creamy mocha hot cocoa from Angela at Oh She Glows! It would be perfect to sip on as we set up the Christmas tree this weekend.

One of my favorites foods to make in the autumn and winter is soup. And number one on that list is cauliflower cheese soup. My husband hates the smell of cauliflower, but I think there's nothing more comforting. I usually make the Moosewood cookbook version but this one from Naturally Ella looks pretty good too.

I'm making these whole grain chocolate banana pancakes from Saveur.com in the morning.

Jessica at How Sweet it Is would eat tacos every day if she could - and I totally agree. The problem (it's not really a problem) is that we have good Mexican food everywhere I look in my neighborhood, so I don't often assemble my own tacos at home. However, these smoky sweet potato and black bean tacos Jessica posted look totally doable.

Chocolate + orange? It's a combo made in heaven. Check out this double chocolate and orange swirl bread from Lillie at Butter me up, Brooklyn!


I hope you all have lovely plans for the weekend. We'll be getting our tree and setting that up. I'm hugging my family extra close this weekend and staying close to home in light of recent tragedies.

looking into the pool outside the Apple store