I've been away from the blog for a little while, mostly for lack of inspiration...sometimes in the post-Christmas winter months I get the major blues.  So here's what I've been doing in snapshots.

Drinking coffee in the morning, as always.

 

Packing for trips, trips, trips.... Blacksburg, Virginia, Washington D.C., the wilds of Colorado.

It's amazing how monuments can make you swoon.

 Watching my father cook Persian food...and trying so very desperately to learn how to do it myself.

Drinking Chocolate Ale with my little brother.  Brewed at our favorite local Kansas City brewery, Boulevard, and made with chocolate from our famous local Chocolatier, Christopher Elbow, this special ale was sold out in Kansas City within minutes, but smart little Alex had a hunch it was available at a certain liquor store in Colorado, so he drove there, and bought out their supply.

I don't drink martinis, but I love the way the olives look on the camera.  So I've been taking a lot of shots of martinis.

Singing songs...with Corey on guitar.

The days pass, so many moments to capture, so many tiny little things I want to remind myself not to forget.

Hello from deep within a Saturday

Oh the plight of a law school wife.

Sometimes you lose out to the work at hand.  You try makeup + drying your hair for once, 2 varieties of baked goods within the same 24-hour period, and the piece d'resistance, sweetly offering up a Lord of the Rings marathon night, to no avail.  Like today, a perfectly beautiful January Saturday in Virginia and cute husband has taken off for Washington D.C. to learn about election law...
But, the man IS published, so can I really complain?

Oh you know you just want to read it so bad!

Okay, yes, I've been trying to find a way to brag about this for about 3 weeks now, so sue me....(But remember my husband will be a lawyer in 8 months, so double-check that subpoena!)

More real than the plight of a law school wife is the plight of an army wife, and I just read an excellent collection of short stories that floored me.  It's called You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon and I can't recommend it highly enough.  It's well-written and meaty--a bit more realistic than the Lifetime show Army Wives, which makes life on a military base seem vaguely glamorous--and I read it in about 2 days, you could probably read it faster.

And now I will return to watching The Office on DVD and drinking coffee.  Saturday chores can wait till, let's say, Wednesday.  Life is hard.

Stay warm

T.S. Eliot said April was the cruelest month, and I trust his literary genius, but holy moly January should be considered a close and terrible second.  Those 31 days just kind of stretch out like the Iditarod, don't they?

This is the bleak midwinter, but we can't even play the beautiful Christmas song by the same name because the most wonderful season has left us, and left us in tatters...

I don't know what to say about the events in Arizona, as it has been greatly on my mind--when there's tragedy you feel like everything's been said, there's nothing to add, other than your thoughts and your prayers, and those always seem woefully inadequate.  Over the years I've come to imagine that in dark days like these there's a big pile of thoughts and prayers somewhere that keeps getting bigger still and stronger and more solid, until it's an everlasting entity all its own that can really make things better in a way.  So each day of worry and anxiety I feel about the whole thing I take a moment to add one more ounce of thought to the pile.

~

I have fallen in love with my Kindle!  This definitely detracts from my literary street cred, but I don't care!  It's just so cool!

But of course I am still an avid collector of the paper book and that will never change.  Here's my stack...

And so Christmas fades away...

...but it is still just January, so we can keep lighting candles.

Cheerier post soon.

All that's left of this year is the peel...

Happy New Year!!!!!!

I think this mug I got in New York at the best little store near where my cute in-laws live is supposed to imply just a simple, "Hey, have your morning coffee, look out the window, relax a bit."  But I'm taking it to a whole new level--the mug speaks to me during these hectic holiday times, he says, "Take a breath.  It's okay.  Take a coffee break.  Take some photos.  Read a book (on your new Kindle!).  Plop those worries down and don't pick them up till next week."

Big snow came to the mountains today.  My brother has been monitoring the storm system on his computer quite obsessively.

Oh winter!

Darling, the snow is falling...falling like forgiveness from the sky.  --Over the Rhine

Christmas is my favorite day of the year.  We all agree to hope for peace and we go nuts (sometimes to a fault) trying to make one another happy.

If only we could freeze the moment.

Merry Christmas to all.   

Love,

Alison

Cold outside, warm inside, candles burning, Christmas tree bright.  Life can seem like a tragic novel, but certain nights are from a storybook...

Hope you've got the same feeling wherever you are.