I’ve decided to bring back my Manic Monday post, if only to inspire myself to get back to regular blogging. In the past, this post has been a run down of books I’m reading, music I’m loving, recipes I’m trying, quotes that are inspiring me, and cool things that are going on in my life. So I hope you’ll find something of interest here.
So here we go…
Viewfinder: I spent this weekend out in Williamsport and Hughesville, Pa. 
Although it was for sad reasons — the memorial service for my childhood friend’s mom — it was a joyful time. I am so glad I was able to be part of their celebration of Judy’s life and the family gathering that took place afterward. Here’s a picture of me and Kari, friends since fifth grade, friends for life. I am so blessed to have this amazing woman in my life.
During this visit, I stayed at a B&B in the nearby town of Pennsdale. The Copper Roof Inn, seen in the photo at the top of this post, is a lovely little place. If you’re passing through this area and need to overnight, contact Becky & Leroy. You’ll get a comfortable room, a delicious breakfast, and a beautiful quiet spot to relax and re-engergize. I never sleep well away from home, but I slept like a baby here. And the conversation around the breakfast table with the other guests was fascinating. We covered everything — green juicing, the royal wedding, religion, and more. And I got to have breakfast with an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. That’s pretty cool.
Bookshelf: Right now I’m reading The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean my Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin. Title sort of tells you everything you need to know, I think. I haven’t had a lot of time to really move through it, but so far I’m liking it. A lot of what she writes reminds me of my life in big ways. In fact, I often find myself thinking I could have written a very similar book (maybe not a bestseller but content-wise similar) if I had a year to devote to something like this with such single-mindedness. Wouldn’t that be nice, to have a year to devote to anything with complete single-mindedness?
Soundtrack: On my way home from Pennsylvania, I listened to my own mix of Austin music from back in the day. Every once in a while I just need to immerse myself in all things Austin, and music is usually how I do it. Made me a little homesick for my life in Texas. If I had a boatload of money, I would for sure own a second home in the Texas Hill Country, where I would keep my boots and my guitar and my cowboy hat and a pantry stocked with real tortilla chips and a fridge stocked with pico de gallo and Lone Star beer or Shiner Bock or some cold Tecates. Speaking of Tecates, here’s a song from my mix: Muddy Jesus by Ian Moore, a guitar genius at a young age who also happens to have an amazing voice. I saw him perform many times during my first life in Austin, usually at Antone’s: Home of the Blues. I couldn’t find a good live version on YouTube, so you’ll just have to deal with the static image of the album cover, but the music makes up for that. Here’s the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoKVE0HrM-I
Appointment Book: In some ways, this feels like the first week of summer to me. The kids are all home. No lunches to pack, no camps to get to, no appointments clogging up the day. And because I crammed too much work into the past three weeks (on purpose), I get to relax a bit as well. So we’ll be clocking some hours at the town pool this week and prepping for Chiara’s birthday. Have a great week!
