Random.

Here we go, folks. There is no rhyme or reason right now - just a lot of meandering:

Flowers and Books
I've been obsessing over this big arrangement of bright lilies all week, and this morning when I was watering, I spotted a very similar arrangement over in our neighbor's living room (no I wasn't spying - the rather awkward layout of our building means that their living room looks directly onto our patio, and vice versa). 3/$12 at Whole Foods this week: get 'em while they're hot!

Remember a week ago today, when I was beating myself up for being a bad reader? True to form, I've read three books since that post. The first .... meh. But the second! Has anyone else out there read the Josephine Bonaparte series by Sandra Gulland? I borrowed the first book last weekend in Connecticut on the trail of my mother-in-law, who borrowed it from my sister-in-law, both of whom raved about it. Sure enough, I found myself furtively reading it all weekend and finishing it on the train, and am now absolutely antsy for M to bring me #2. Composed entirely of diary entries and letters, this work of "historical fiction" is insanely readable, and makes me hungry to fact-check everything when I'm done with the whole series.

The second book pictured here was borrowed from my friend Allie, who proudly has her grandmother's copy of the novel. Sure enough, there's her signature right inside the cover of "A Woman of Independent Means," the "splendid national bestseller" published in 1978. This novel was immensely enjoyable, particularly on the heels of Josephine B., as it's comprised entirely of letters and telegrams. (What I've learned the last week is that any novel composed in short letter form is crack to my brain that I can't put down until three in the morning.) The heroine Bess Steed is a turn-of-the-century woman who is in turns bossy, full of presumption, and privileged. Yet she is also remarkably self-sufficient, adventurous, headstrong, and surprising. I would have liked to be her friend. Bonus points for being set largely in Dallas - I always love seeing familiar street names and the like. I also loved coming across the many gems from Bess included in her letters to friends and family. Had this been my copy of the book, I would have underlined this sentence from her 1932 letter to her daughter: "The best dowry a woman can bring to a marriage is a set of memories she acquired alone." Now... to Netflix the 1995 television miniseries starring Sally Field!

Paper Love
Check out my kick-ass blog calling cards designed by pixelimpress. I highly recommend her if you're in the market for fun, reasonably priced paper goodness.

I have a couple of blogging-oriented events coming up, and it occurred to me that calling cards would be helpful. I like these so much I'm getting standard calling cards made, too - phone number and real e-mail address and the like. You know, for the many and varied networking events I attend outside of working from home all day. Ummm...

Girlfight
I'm in a fight with one of our cats right now. Switters is our needy and emotional gentlecat of leisure, while Fanny is our hell-kitten in need of Ritalin who makes "A Woman of Independent Needs" look like a charity case. The cat is obsessed with being outside, obsessed with jumping onto precarious landings, and obsessed with doing things that increase the likelihood of her scrawny, fluffy self flying over the rail and splattering onto 14th St. All week when I've been watering, I've had to repeatedly yell at her to get off the places she knows she's not allowed to be outside. Here's the thing: do I really want to be the crazy cat lady watering her plants at 7:30 in the morning, pre-coffee, bleary-eyed, and wearing some sort of outfit I threw together in the dark, loudly yelling "FANNY!" I think not.

So dammit, why does she have to be so cute when takes a nap on a fresh pile of laundry? I mean, her tiny tongue sticking out? Not fair, Fanny. Not fair at all.

Local Politics
I'm seriously stressed out about who to vote for in the DC mayoral election. That is all.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig...
So I'm heading back to NC this evening for a long weekend of Preggo Police activity. My sister is due October 19, but her little one has decided that we're way too cool for him to wait another seven weeks to meet (or is it just his 14-month-old big brother he wants to hang out with? no, probably us.). I mean, I can't really blame him, except that it's really so much better for him if he takes the next seven weeks to chill out and get strong, ya know? So with my sister about a second away from doctor-ordered bedrest and my parents leaving for vacation Saturday, it's up to a rag-tag bunch of volunteers like me to make sure that A) Little Liam has someone to run after him, B) Stubborn Lisa stays in timeout when we're forcing her to get off her feet, and C) The doc has no chance to tell her game over, it's bedrest time. T's joining me this weekend and I'm looking forward to a lot of chilling out and laughing, while one person in the group just happens to be seated the whole time. Depending on Hurricane Earl, we might have a houseful of OBXers with us, too (which I selfishly wouldn't mind one bit).

Happy holiday weekend, folks. So excited for some crispness in the air. I mean really, any time now.