After an early, misty morning trek to our favorite boulangerie for croissants and coffee, we decided that the best way to spend the weekend was at the beach. Hubby and I have very opposing views of what constitutes a perfect day at the beach. I tend to be drawn to gloomy, stormy weather, relentless crashing waves and pelting rain. After an invigorating, brisk walk on the water’s edge, I look forward to the coziness of the beach cabin, with its crackling fire, mugs of hot coffee and cocoa, countless board games, and hours of staring at the incessant waves from the comfort of my wing chair, open book ignored in my lap.

Hubby, on the other hand, wants meltingly hot days where he can spread out his blanket and doze off to the lively chatter of kids playing in the sand and seagulls calling to each other overhead. Later on, he wants to fly the kite with the kids, go in search of dripping ice cream cones, have a game of beach volleyball and go surfing.

Because we know a happy marriage takes a lot of work and compromise, he’s willing to accept stormy evenings, and I suppose I’m willing to have a couple scorching hours late morning.

When we arrived at the beach, there wasn’t a cloud to be seen directly overhead, although the horizon was a steely gray. We both smiled uneasily at each other, he most likely wondering how soon the rain would fall, I, worrying that they would dissipate before the wind would blow them our way. No sooner did we lay our blanket down, than the northwest wind began to roll in off the ocean, cooling the air immensely and sweeping sand across our blanket. As the clouds were still a distance away, the azure of the sky lingered on.

Unmindful of the change in weather, the kids continued their play and proceeded with plans for the sand castle. Hubby donned his sweatshirt and went for a nap; I opened my book and started daydreaming. In another couple weeks school would start, and shortly thereafter the preparations for the holidays.

And then the rain came. First one plop and then another. The mountain whose road we had meandered on, had donned a cap of foggy gray descending in waves, it seemed, down the side. We quickly sought shelter and listened from our cozy spots at the rain tap tapping on the window panes, snuggling deeper within our blankets, and sipping our hot drinks, content for the moment, to watch the summer storm push through.

According to random.org, the winner of our fabulous $25 Target giveaway is number 32! Aurora please email me your address so that I may send you the gift card! Congratulations and enjoy!

for the love of pastries

He has accompanied me in every way he could; he has backed me up and protected me even from myself; he never criticizes me; he gently laughs at my manias; he doesn’t let me run over him; he doesn’t compete with me, and even in the fights we’ve had he acts with honor. (Isabel Allende, The Sum of Our Days)

And because he is so great and he was suffering horribly from allergies, I ran to our favorite bakery and got him all these goodies, with the wish to make him feel better.  Alas, poor baby’s still suffering (but those eclairs are to die for!!!)!

my daughter

She’s got an innate sense of style.  My mother says I was the same as a child, but who is she kidding?

perfection!

There’s nothing else to say!

traveling is always best with my favorite people.

Oh, the things we do, the places we go…

my love affairs

Can’t think of a better way to spend an hour!

yummies

I am a happy carb addict.  Especially to St. Honore’s cafe eclairs.  As close to heaven on earth as it is possible.

the history of all things

I’m enthralled by it all.

architecture

architecture

I would love to live in that bottom one someday…

interiors

Ornate…

interiors

Not so ornate.

So now that I’ve shared a few, I’d like to hear about yours.  What are they?

To Aimee, Georges’s happiness seemed so much more important than her own: this is how she had loved him for twenty-five years, forgetting herself. (Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt)

At any given time my oversized bag contains about three or four books that I’m either reading or about to start reading.  Currently the books in there (in a ziplock bag, so that they don’t get bent) have been beckoning for a while, but they kept disappearing and reappearing on my mental ‘have to read this now’ list for the last several weeks.  I had this late spring and early summer love affair with Russian authors, namely Tolstoy, Bulgakov, Chekhov, and Gogol, that I just couldn’t seem to drop.  And I feel a strong attraction to the French: Colette, Sagan and Flaubert in particular, coming on, so I’m getting these books read in the interval.

The above mentioned quote struck a chord with me today.  I placed my bookmark in my book and set it aside to think about it.  In all honesty, I wish I could say that in my marriage I have postponed my own happiness in order to make my husband happy.  Frankly (and I am flinching while admitting), I am selfish and prone to a self-absorbed type of behavior which tends to disregard his wants if they are in direct conflict with mine.  Self-sacrificing doesn’t sit too well with me.

Yet, maybe it should.  I have several friends who practice this sort of behavior daily.  When we are at lunch and the husbands call, they take the call.  And later at dessert, again.  It never fails to irk me, this constant jump to attention.  But, I bet they’re on to something.  Out of all of us girls, friends for years and years, they seem to have the best marriages.  To all outward appearances, in any case.  Because really, who knows what goes on behind closed doors?  Nonetheless…

I will try to be self-less for a while.  It will be a persistent stepping on my ego, but how difficult can it be to place hubby’s happiness above mine?  Still, thank God he’s a confident man, otherwise I’d really be unhappy in this little experiment.  Stay tuned, I will let you all know how it goes.

$25 from me to one of you!

All right, I know that there are many of you who read my blogs but don’t comment for one reason or another.  In an attempt to draw you out, I’m having my first giveaway ever: one $25 Target gift card!  And yes, you need to make a comment on any of my posts for the next two weeks, to be entered into my little lottery.  Also, I apologize to my readers outside of the U.S. as this gift card could only be used within the United States.  The next giveaway will include everyone from everywhere.  That’s a promise.  Enjoy your weekend!

she takes after me

I have been sitting in front of this computer for an hour, trying to get my thoughts in order so I could write a coherent post.  When I started this blog I believed that I would really write about whatever was floating through my brain.  Looking through my journals though, I realized something like that really isn’t possible, as there is so much crap going on in there that I’d scare people off.  Besides, most of it really makes no sense even to me.  I need a disciplined mind, because I lead a disciplined life (or at the very least try to!).  This tendency to start daydreaming or allowing my thoughts to dash from one thing to another needs to be curbed.

Although, I suppose my lack of concentration could be attributed to the occurrence of this morning’s small disagreement between my husband and myself, normally there’s no reason for it.  I have always been a daydreamer.  Sometimes I do wonder if I might have a bit of ADD.  I get easily bored, lose focus, crave attention, sometimes do anything to get attention, have little tantrums, make up things and believe they’ve actually occurred, and so on and so forth.  It is embarrassing, really.  My intentions are good, but my willful mind finds a way to sneak in.

Well, I suppose I will stop here.  I could go on and on, but what’s the point?  I did intend to write about the books I’ve read the past two weeks.  Or to answer the questions of one of my readers who tagged me.  That will have to be next time, as I have exhausted all my lucid thoughts for the morning, and I really should go back to bed to recharge.  Oh, and I’m going to have some kind of a giveaway soon.  I will announce it next time, so check in!

wedding

Like several couples I know, hubby and I have two anniversaries.  The first one is our legal anniversary, the day we signed our name to the marriage license and the judge pronounced us married, and then the other one, which is our actual wedding.  For the first, not many were present.  For the second, there were about 130 people, mostly family and a few friends.  The first, very inexpensive.  The second, more expensive than it should have been.  But because we both love a good party, and all our guests deserved a good party, we didn’t focus on the cost.  Years later, with two adorable children carrying on the combined family lineage, we agree that there’s little that we’d change (with the exception of my wedding dress, of course - with the ensuing years fashion has become an imaginary friend of some sort).

legal (it is grainy on purpose, and yes, the legal came before the wedding)

Although the two of us don’t follow any traditional gifting methods, and give each other whatever strikes our fancy (by now we both know what the other likes, and hubby has never forgotten an anniversary), I thought it would be fun to include a list of the conventional anniversary gifts. In all honesty, I’ve seen a few varying lists, but this one seems the most authentic, if anybody has a more authentic one, I’d be happy to have it.  I am curious, though, if these recommended gifts are still given in the recommended order?  Or at all?

1.   paper

2.   cotton

3.   leather

4.   linen

5.   wood

6.   iron

7.   wool

8.   bronze

9.   pottery

10. tin

11. steel

12. silk

13. lace

14. ivory

15. crystal

20. china

25. silver

30. pearl

35. coral

40. ruby

45. sapphire

50. gold

55. emerald

60. diamond

Happy anniversary to all of you, and a great weekend!

side table arranged for a cookies and tea party

In the last month, I have been to more weddings, parties, showers, birthday celebrations, family barbeques, dinners, and lunches than I have the entire year. With the exception of the winter holiday season, the months of July and August are spent hopping from one place to the next. Rarely a day goes by that we don’t go somewhere or see someone. And while it is tiring (and we are the only neighborhood family carrying our sleeping children from the car into the house at midnight), it is also great fun. Both hubby and I are sociable people who love to be around other sociable people every chance we get.

Yet I am reminded that my turn is coming. One way or another, I have to reciprocate. Today I spent a good portion of my free time looking over easy summer recipes for a dinner with family and friends that I’m to give in the next two weeks. I say easy, because I usually go for the complicated, only to find out halfway through that either the meal will never be ready in time for the guests’ arrival, or judging by how dry it is, it was ready a while back, and the only thing it’s good for now, is the garbage can.

Because hubby is a fabulous cook (who really should do all the cooking in our family), and I am good at delegating, I’ll give him the job of preparing the meal. I’ll do what I do best: selecting and arranging the flowers, staging various surfaces throughout the rooms for exquisite presentations of food, donning my favorite embroidered apron from my mother-in-law, arranging the sofas and chairs in a conducive conversation provoking sitting area, and so on.

With the crowd coming, I don’t need to stress in the least. Because they love us, they believe everything we do is spectacular (and I am not giving away the menu, after all, some of you readers will be there). Still, we aim to impress, if not our guests then at least each other. That’s just how it is when one’s married, I suppose.