Springish

a mish and a mash of sploshy spring thoughts & things

First, let’s get the apologies out of the way. Mostly I’m apologizing to MYSELF because I wanted to get a posting and pictures up from the trip I took last week to NEW ORLEANS with my daughter during her spring break. (I’ll get them up in the next post AND the one after that because I’m going to have to break them up into two postings.) But I came back from the trip exhausted on the cellular level and I spent most of this week trying to recover from inserting myself into 85 degree New Orleans heat (I know about the Southwest/California heatwave and I’m sorry for even complaining about the nice weather we experienced in New Orleans) because all I’ve known for the past 6 months is an average of 45 degrees I’m guessing and grey rain, also I messed up my knee a tiny bit, also I had to finish this book:

I picked this up in a bookstore in New Orleans and I read it on the plane ride home and I also used it as a little wall shield on the plane when a Manspreading Man tried to also take up THE ENTIRE ARM REST plus encroach into my seat so I put the book next to me and used it as an arm rest and friends I COULD FEEL HIS ARM MOVEMENTS THROUGH MY BOOK, that is not something I should’ve been feeling. Then I took pictures of his manspreading and shared them to my husband and daughter. I think he knew what I was doing. What’s funny is that on the flight over to New Orleans, I had not one but TWO MANSPREADERS who I think were late 20’s early 30’s douche bros and the RAGE I felt when I realized what was happening…..on that flight my solution was to manspread MYSELF and when the guy to the left of me realized what I was doing and that I was basically like YES MANSPREADER WE ARE CUDDLING NOW IF YOU DO NOT MOVE, he flinched his leg away like he’d been burned. The other guy was asleep.

FRIENDS. Attack the Manspreaders. Do not tolerate it. They don’t need to sit that way.

Wee digression: Here is how I attacked Oblivious Men (of which there were many) in New Orleans. By the end of the trip I was feeling tired and a bit cranky from the heat and the New Orleans boil water advisory we were under etc. and I had had Enough of Oblivious Men on the Streets. One man thought it was a Good Idea to stand in the MIDDLE of the sidewalk and talk on his cell phone. It was not a good idea, as I was very hangry that particular afternoon and I stuck my elbow and my purse into the middle of his back without breaking my stride. Then another Oblivious Man tried to play a game of Sidewalk Chicken with me. He lost. I paused and stared him down and made sweeping/shooing motions with my arms and hands to indicate that it would be in his best interest to get the hell out of my way. He shooed. Then another Oblivious Old Man failed to notice my position as My Daughter’s Bodyguard behind her and he failed to notice me notice him staring at her until he passed me by and made eye contact with my Very Best Look of Extreme Rage, as well as the Abject Disdain & Narrowed Eyes of Hexing Menopausal Lady. Paddington Bear’s very hard stare has nothing on the eyes of a woman infused with the rage of all of her ancestors.

But anyway, I LOOOOOOOVED Rachel Reid’s ‘The Long Game’ and I cried many many times. Season 2 of the show is going to DESTROY me. I decided not to read ‘Heated Rivalry’ the book because the show is so fresh in my mind, but I’ll almost certainly circle back and read it, as well as ‘Game Changer’, before moving on with the rest of the series. If you’re a fan of Heated Rivalry the TV show (and if you’re not, we can still be friends but we can’t be BEST friends), the books are a must.

I’m so very angry all the time every day, even though I’m on a Rage Containment protocol of mental health medications. The problem is that I’m so sensitive to meds that I can’t really take a fully therapeutic dose so it’s like just the thinnest coat of paint veneer skimming over my menopausal rage, anxiety, and Xtreme Anger over what the patriarchy has wrought and inflicted upon the world.

Wait I’ll be right back, I have to go re-enact (again) the Manspreaders-on-a-plane situation for my husband……….Ok I’m back!

And with that I will wish you A Very Happy Spring Equinox and show & tell about some recent retail therapy and spring things of note:

During my weekly pass through of a local Barnes & Noble, my happy place, I noticed that NEW SPRING WARES were out and I thought to myself…Self - how about you make your future self happy and get this as pre-Mother’s Day prezzie to yourself. So I did. A Sleep Bedtime Ritual kit with Lavender pillow spray, magnesium body cream, and these cute little lilac socks in a reusable William Morris print box? Absolutely yes and I didn’t stop there:

This Tea Time Mug was something I REALLY did not need. And yet, it now finds itself holding court on a shelf in the side-by-side IKEA thin bookcases I have repurposed as a tea cup and fancy tea canister repository in my kitchen. Isn’t it so cute? Oh dear, I just noticed that there’s a tote bag in the same style with even more cups and tea wares printed upon it.

Look what else Barnes has! I smelled it and it’s really lovely but I didn’t get it because at that point I felt as if I had performed some kind of HEIST getting myself these treats FOR NO REASON AT ALL:

Pickle, I didn’t get a shot of the top of this Puck’s Mischief Candle….it has a gorgeous molded wax butterfly top in a lovely green color. Oh wait I can steal a photo to show you:

I love you Barnes!!

House and Garden U.K. had an amazing article with fabulous photos on how to create an inspiring reading nook space.

Ros Byam Shaw creates the best decor books about English-style home decor, she has a whole slew of them - ‘Perfect English Farmhouse’ is her latest and I can’t wait to see it.

This edition of Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’ from Wordsworth Heritage Collection (a story I infinitely prefer to ‘Wuthering Heights’) is so beautiful n’est-ce pas? What an enchanting Easter or Mother’s Day present this would be!

But if you’re in the market for a new edition of ‘Wuthering Heights’ might I point you towards this one, which is a Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition — I got this for Julia a few years back for her personal collection, and I can’t get enough of this style for the cover art. And there’s a matching ‘Jane Eyre’, which I can’t recall if I got her or not. If not, I’m a-gonna need to get it.

Please forgive me if I showed this cookbook seen below to you last spring - Friends! I’ve been doing this for about a year now! Please clap. I’m not sure if I did, but even if I did, it bears repeating because I own it, I love it, and I’m making a cake from it this week to celebrate spring with my aunty and one of my best friends to welcome in spring. It really deserves its own post, and maybe I’ll deliver on that assertion after I get a cake from it made and photographed.

‘The Plain Cake Appreciation Society’ by Tilly Pamment is ENCHANTING, which is my highest praise. A gorgeous, gorgeous book with so many charming cakes that are just right for every day, not just ‘special occasions’. One of the most darling cookbooks I own!

I think I’ll leave you today with this new tea I happened across while viewing all the spring wares over at Terrain — this Butterfly Tea Garden Gift Box from Kkokdam is the. CUTEST.

So that was a strange little post but we’re living in strange times. To my friends in flooding Hawaii….be safe, I love you!

Yours in equinox energy,

Melissa