Juney-Juniper Junebug

oh my! a full month without blogging. so sorry so sorry so sorry sosorry.

summer fruits mean making jams and jellies! look at these adorable LABELS

what have i been doing? putting the finishing touches on my 3rd manuscript, hanging out in the backyard, tending my morning glories and poppies and peonies and hydrangeas galore. oh, and indulging in a weekly banana milkshake and these frozen GOODIES ( i like the milk chocolate babies!)

oh, and my little guy turned THREE over Memorial Day wknd (sharing a birthday with Anne!) Since he is too young to know what kind of "theme" he wants, and all he asked for was blue and red cupcakes and blue balloons, we decided to roll with the whole red, white, and blue thing. We had a giant bbq in the backyard for 20 some adults and 10+ kids under 5. We broke out the water table, the kiddie pool, the bean bag toss, the tee ball set, and our gardening wagon that comfortably holds 3 toddlers! D set up the backyard with all these little "stations"--who needs a Bounce House when you have a daddy like D around? ;)

I found cute little beach buckets with little shovels for a buck a piece(!) at AC Moore, then filled them with crayon stars, choco-star lollies, chocolate covered pretzel rods with red white and blue sprinkles on them that i made, and a sheet of star stickers. then i tied a red or blue balloon to each. The kiddoes were super psyched to get THEIR! VERY! OWN! BUCKET! and everyone, inc. parents were sent home with blue creamcheese frosted cupcakes (from scratch!) to boot. I made cupcake stands out of old boxes laying around and finished off with ribbon.













Oh and LOST and Castle and 24 are done--for good (except for Castle, which had a horrible finale, if you could call it that) and thus, no more tv for me until Mad Men time again in July(?). Right now I am all about the fruit and reading and fruit and writing a line or three when I can. And the fruit.

Office Space, Birdee Edition, aka Where the Magic Happens (poetry-wise)

I am a sucker for seeing people's writing spaces or even just their desks. As loyal readers know, my husband and I are both writers and English professors and we BOTH needed our own space to write. We end up goofing around and talking too much and laughing if we try to work in the same room--we just enjoy each other too much (gag me, I know) and can never settle down to actually, you know, write. I end up doing, say, my impersonation of the guy who helped me at the DMV after he meticulously took SEVEN FRIGGING MINUTES I KNOW B/C I TIMED IT to open a stick of gum before he called my number. And then, well, we are laughing too hard to think about writing.

Since moving to our beloved 2800 sq ft abode (la ranchera! as it is affectionately called, exclamation included), I have been addicted to YOUNG HOUSE LOVE. In fact, I am hesitant to even tell you about this blog, I want all their tips just for me. Hee hee, just kidding. Mostly. This young couple knows how to decorate a room on a budget AND they make it look so easy. Of course, they are utterly adorable, but that is beside the point. One of the tips that they hammer home time and time again is the magic of paint to cheer up a room and give it that extra punch and pizazz. I wanted a color combo that was calming but still injected LIFE AND ENERGY into it. As we are also parents to a 2 1/2 yr old (and another one on the way!), we need all the energy we can gather when we sit down to write and/or grade papers. So I chose a calm and refreshing robin eggshell blue for the base, and cherry red and black and white accent colors. I thought I was so 'over' the wall decal trend, but I couldn't resist the birdee on a tree branch I found on Etsy, and how it filled an entire wall. Basically, I love that I am never in a tired or cranky mood when I enter this room, now, as opposed to the dull and dreary woodland-theme the previous owners had left us with.

So here then, is a behind-the-scenes look at where I write:
BEFORE: a bizzaro woodland-themed room from the previous owners



BEFORE 2: standing inside the room, looking towards the door (pls excuse my then 1 1/2 yr old son during the walk-through!)


AFTER: a writing/craft workspace, same view as pic#1, looking into the room



workstation--for all you IKEA haters, the EXPEDIT is super sturdy and functional--highly recommend!



my beloved wall of poetry and creative non-fiction books in a BILLY bookcase (again, IKEA, but they are the strongest WHITE bookcases I have ever seen, and I have been researching and searching for 2 yrs). Dustin installed cute frosted glass doors in the center for all the journals and anthologies I have ever appeared in. To you know, avoid the dusties. Actually, now that I look at it, the bottom shelf are all art books and oversized magazines, so strike that.. I most certainly did not appear, for example, in Roget's Thesarus or Husband Coached Childbirth. Just FYI. ;)



another view of the BILLY bookcases


my drafting table and my closet o' shame: stuff that needs to still be filed and sorted hidden behind the sexy cerise-colored curtain--it does wonders for hiding extra files and clutter. and, if I am being completely honest, a bad stationery habit that went awry but is now (mostly) under control. A writer ends up with so much paper (work) that I just cannot get rid of (but I'm working on it!)



close up of my drafting/writing ACTUAL LETTERS TO PEOPLE table:



How I get organized for tax-season: one white box is for receipts, one is simply for bills. Totally simple but without it, I am a hot mess of crumpled receipts all over the house:



light switch decal:


The peacock-guardian of my writing. what you see when you first open the door to my office (found on ebay for $2--it was a horrid faux-brass, so I spray painted it black):



Giant matchbox from none other than Rebecca L (who sends the coolest care packages in the universe), which now houses tiny paperclips on my workstation desk:













WALL PAINT: Behr's "Fresh Water" (sorry the blue looks so different in some pics--proof of paint color changes just even during different times of the day, so when I decided on colors, I hung up swatches on the wall and made sure to note what they looked like at diff. points of the day)
LIGHT SWITCH DECAL: "deep red" by byrdiekids.etsy.com
GIANT BIRD BRANCH DECAL: ShaNickers
FRENCH FRY BIRD PRINT: dazeychic.etsy.com (and they are having a delish sale buy 1 get one free!!)

(the following are from IKEA, collected up over the yrs, not bought all at once! ;))--
BOOKCASES: Billy
LIGHTING: Kristavler (with blue thrift store gems attached), Grono desk lamp
COMPUTER WORKSTATION: Expedit with Kassett boxes
DRAFTING TABLE: Vika glasholm table top and legs

......
and I had to include this little gem, probably the most favorite thing in the room, and I have many, but I would run back into a burning house to get this pic that I have clipped in a photo holder from crate and barrel--this little polaroid of my future husband (then 5 yrs-old) on his first day of kindergarten:



I mean, come ON! I die of the cuteness, every single time I sit down at my computer to write:


Also? I would SO still carry that bag to school today.

Volcano, on video

Made this for my website last month but thought I'd share it here too. I love that I was able to use a pic of one of the pitons of St. Lucia--the actual home of THE drive-in volcano that we visited on our honeymoon. Also? I love the sound of typewriter keys. It's one of my fave sounds, esp when I can hear the faint tap-tappity-tap-tap from Dustin (he uses a typewriter in his office below mine), then a pause when he is thinking, then the rain of keys again. One of my favorite songs in the world.

Valentine

I don't know who peeked into our house to get such a clear video of how Dustin and I spent our morning together. I wasn't even going to mention that I dyed my hair blond and got a sparkly new red dress, but since it's already out in cyberspace, I figured I'd share it with you all...

fun with Orangina

So I cannot bear to throw away any Orangina bottle I consume. What is Orangina?? Only the yummiest orange fruity soda that doesn't feel so icky sticky sweet like most orange soda usually does. At any rate, D always brings me daisies. The ones we have from the yard were spent in July. so these were extra spesh when he surprised me with them. and he put them in colored water over the wknd, which turned the water in the Orangina bottles bright and colorful in like 10 minutes. It was an insanely beautiful Labor Day wknd--mid 70s, light breeze, and so much SUN. I wish I could bottle it inside an Orangina bottle and bring it all out in say, the middle of January.

But for now: so much color on our back deck, you'd never know these daisies started out white.

not just a dot

My cousin is getting married in a few weeks, which means an all-out traditional South Indian celebration. I had been lamenting the fact that I couldn't find any of my sarees (I have 4: emerald, black, red, turquoise), at least in its entirety. And I very much wanted to wear the turquoise one, as I had never worn it (besides in my grandmother's house) before. At my author photo shoot, Marion used the red and black ones as backdrops and i must have placed them in a different location from the matching blouses and underskirts. Plus: we moved. So that equals me not finding a single complete set. I was already slowly accepting the fact that i will be the only cousin NOT in Indian traditional dress at the wedding. But this morning, as I was ransacking the closet once again, D called out: Did you check the little suitcases in the back? No, I said--I would never have put them in a carry-on. Two hours later:

D (in the closet, helping me): I'm opening these suitcases.
Me: don't bother--they are NOT there.
D (opens suitcase, holds up the missing pieces of my turquoise and red sarees): So I guess you won't be needing THESE??

So YAY! I will get to wear a sari--THE sari I wanted to wear--afterall. And then I broke out my collection of jeweled bindis:
(I'll be wearing the turquoise one in the top center of the 2nd photo down)
Also? If you look closely, you will see how all the teeeeeeeny beads are all stuck in place by some sort of clear sticker. You just remove it verrrrrrry carefully, and place just in the high center, between your eyebrows. Neat-o, huh?

bad bad leroy brown

I've been a very bad blogger. The end of the semester crunch hit me and hit me hard, but I can finally see the light: 2 more classes and then I am off to MacDowell for 2 wks.

ah, picnic baskets!

ah, heart-palpitations!

It will be the longest time I have been away from my boys (2 wks), but D will also be done with classes so that will help out a LOT. Still, I know my first night away will be so very hard. I am already bracing myself for the wind.

But this time--this time I have a wicked cool HEADLAMP! Take that, skeery forest animals.
.......

Speaking of animals, D recently got all snooty and exasperated with me b/c he insisted that an armadillo was a REPTILE. He was all--WHERE is the HAIR?? Under the shell? Yeah, RIGHT, Wife.
.......

In his defense, I thought it was a rodent. Yes--we were BOTH wrong. Yes--I teach environmental literature. No--we were not drunk. That is just what most of our conversations are like.

35

 

Today is my beloved D's birthday and we are all a bit under the weather so we opted to skip church today and hole up near a fire and get the best wings in town for a day of football, cake, and naps. My husband is the hardest worker I know. His own writing often brings me to tears, it is just that crackling good, but he doesn't always get the time to work on it. I am hoping to change that in the next year. He is the most devoted and present father to our little one. D deserves many, many naps. I literally would not be able to do the things I do (readings, travel, uninterrupted stretches of time to write) without him--not just helping with The Baby, but his emotional support and unabashed cheering me along the way. He is never jealous, not a shred of it, b/c he knows that every prize and hornblow I get is also his. I cannot stress how important this is to our marriage, to our home. Not once does he ever make me feel guilty about writing, about just taking time away for myself, and when I come back to them, I am always always greeted with the brightest of smiles and open arms. He is the person who drove me around downtown D.C. during Friday rush hour with a sick mini-dachshund in his lap so she could vomit out the window. Seriously, Villanelle was so sick she was literally puking out the window and even that and the stress of driving in crazed traffic never rattled him. Just so I would not mess up my outfit for a reading that night. And did he ever complain? Nope.

And lest you think he is simply a pushover, believe u me when I say I know my limits and he will not tolerate my flightiness when I forget directions when we are already an hour on the road, or lose track of time getting ready for a party, or stay too long in Sephora or JoAnn Fabrics. But mostly he is there, steady, the only person on the maternity ward who didn't sleep in almost 3 days while he waited for the newest addition to our nest. He watches over us, over me, and I hope to spend this next yr making sure HIS gifts and talents are recognized and put to the best use. I never have to wear glitter or sparkles when I am with him and he actually prefers it when I don't. Here is the first poem I ever wrote for him, the one that appears in the Pushcart anthology this year. Today I celebrate the life of my husband, who will be getting lots and lots of naps today.





LOVE IN THE ORANGERY


When you see a seventy-pound octopus squeeze
through a hole the size of a half-dollar coin, you

finally understand that everything you learn about
the sea will only make people you love say You lie.

There are land truths that scare me: a purple orchid
that only blooms underground. A German poet

buried in the heart of an oak tree. The lighthouse man
who used to walk around the streets at night

with a lighted candle stuck into his skull. But winters
in Florida are bright—all the street corners have sad fruit

tucked into the curb, fallen from orangery truckers
who take corners too fast. The air is sick with citrus,

but you love the small spots of orange in walls
of leafy green as we drive. Your love is a concrete canoe

that floats in the lake like a lead balloon, improbable
as a steel wool cloud, a metal feather. This is the truth:

I once believed nothing on earth could make me say Magic.
You believe in the orange blossom tucked behind my ear.

blessings and light

(edited to add: have you checked the Thanksgiving cakes up at Cake Wrecks yet?? Omg. Hilarious!!)
..............

even though The Baby's only words so far are: "cake" and "wubba-wubba"
(his fave song, dont ask), I am grateful for the language that we do share together: we understand each other in ways even D says is our "own special language." To know each hurt and giggle and know exactly that he observes my facial expressions and levels of my voice. When he reaches up his hand for me to hold and know he trusts in me so completely.

my husband who does so much for me, this small family, this house, and life that we have created here in a tiny pocket of Western NY. i cannot count the cupfuls of light and laughter that have filled our house since our first date on Thanksgiving 2003 at my friend's house who had a ton of professors over that weren't able to go home. That he was brave enough to drive 4 hours to a place where he didn't know a soul and be the best date I ever had. Still have.

in-laws that make me feel so rejuvenated and who have welcomed me into their family as one of their own. parents who continue to push me (not just my buttons, but to push me in laughter and to always strive for excellence, and cheer me on even though they have just a vague notion of what this thing is I do called "poetry." They don't know it, but they are the original poets in my family.

extra fizzy coca-cola. it is my biggest vice (besides stationery).

that none of my relatives were in Mumbai when the terrorist attacks happened. My family stayed at that hotel (raj hotel) on our visit in the mid-80s. So weird and surreal to see something in my old picture albums now in the news for a horrible reason. Here's hoping they catch those guys who could do this soon and that justice is served.

friends that i adore. we can pick up exactly where we left off and I feel like I am that giggly 14 yr old girl with pink glasses again, even though we are all married with kids. friends that I've known for less time, but whose warmth and exuberance make it feel like we've known each other longer.

i am grateful for a house with a wood fireplace.

the (literally) sweet smell of my son: stale marshmallows

i am grateful for a loving, accepting, non-creepy and non-judgmental church filled with men and women who i know genuinely look out for me and my family.

freezonia hockey

OSU football having a mostly winning season

(and it's not from Sephora-gasp!) my new fave mascara

and of course, for the health and happiness of Villanelle, who i will be seeing next month during citrus season!

candles that are lit during this season and I am so grateful that i will be able to see the glow of candlelite on my parents' faces this Christmas. For a sister that I grew up with and share so many secrets and joys with. Many people I know have lost one or both of their parents and I try to cherish every day we are all together on this earth. even if they are randomly calling me at 7 in the morning to tell me the benefits of a neti pot and that I should get one right away, right after breakfast, just go and get a neti pot. and that someone has been stealing oranges from their yard again and if they should booby trap the trees or not and whether or not I have any ideas for such traps.

a tisket, a tasket...

So it looks like I will be back at MacDowell for a bit this fall. I will feel incredibly guilty leaving my guys, but it is too good of an opportunity to pass up. Days like this when I feel so incredibly lucky to have a husband who is totally supportive of my writing. Last yr, I was alone, of course, but not really. Even though I was only about 3 months preggers, I still felt like the baby was keeping me company in my studio. Not that he could have helped me fend off the skeery forest animals, though...

let the dreaming of picnic baskets commence!

Brutus Buckeye, moi, and some random fan

[[from last season.]] Do you know how hard it is to track Brutus Buckeye down on the largest campus in the northern hemisphere?? And yet, D managed to do it no less than 2 times for me in a single day. Game Day, no less! And he didn't even have to stiff arm any little kids or drunken frat boys to do it.