A-list week

Happy Monday all! I'm back from a quick weekend trip to NYC and feeling a little fallout from my late bus ride last night. It took nearly SIX HOURS to get home, and we didn't arrive until around midnight. I am zonked. This old lady likes to be in her poodle pajamas by 9pm, lights out at 10pm sharp. Especially when I have such an a-list week ahead. Hopefully I'll get a good 7 hours tonight and feel much better in the morning...

Here's the lineup y'all- tell me this doesn't sound like a dream:
Monday: I have a hot date with myself to go to the Opera and see Hamlet (en Francais).
Tuesday: Book club with my brilliant besties where we'll be partaking in adult libations and discussing Fountainhead.
Wednesday: French class! Continued reading + discussion of L'Ecrivain, which is turning out to be a great read.
Thursday: Clean/pack/finish Casablanca/enjoy some red wine in my underwear while preparing for (drumroll please)....
Friday: DAVID and SUSAN T. SHOLTES ARRIVE IN THE DISTRICT. One long weekend with the fabulous 'rents, my sister and her boyfriend, my mang and me. This has been a long time in the works and I can't wait to luxuriously lounge in our big cabin in Middleburg, VA (a la Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor. For reals they both had horse farms out there and we'll be touring them mmkay.)

To make this week even sweeter, it will be followed directly by two additional fabulous weeks, wherein my very best bestie from Cali will visit for a long weekend, followed by 5 days in Florida for even more momma time. Stick a fork in me 'cause I'm done y'all.

And, in the spirit of capturing some reads from the past, here are some more books worth adding to your repertoire:

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (This book will be unlike anything you've ever read. Do get yourself an annotated version because the jumps in and out of reality, dream sequences and fictional religious history can be complicated...)

(Right after Pamela Chamcha finds out her husband has died:)
"The fact of being alive compensated for what life did to one. That night, in an oak-panelled dining room decorated with medieval flags, Pamela Chamcha in her most dazzling gown ate venison and drank a bottle of Chatea Talbot at a table heavy with silver and crystal, celebrating a new beginning, an escape from the jaws of, a fresh start; to be born again first you have to...well almost, anyway. Under the lascivious eyes of Americans and salesmen she ate and drank alone, retiring early to a princess's bedroom in a stone tower to take a long bath and watch movies on television."

"At Michal's wedding, however, he suddenly felt free. It was quite a ceremony, largely because the young couple could not refrain from kissing one another throughout the procedure, and had to be urged by the registrar (a pleasant young woman who also exhorted the guests not to drink too much that day if they planned to drive) to hurry up and get through the words before it was time for the next wedding party to arrive. Afterwards at the Shaandaar the kissing continued, the kisses becoming gradually longer and more explicit, until finally the guests had the feeling that they were intruding on a private moment, and slipped quietly away leaving Hanif and Mishal to enjoy a passion so engulfing that they did not even notice their friends' departure."


My Life in France by Julia Child (Not a must-read, but if you're even remotely infatuated with French food and culture, it makes for a nice trip across the pond.)

"When she swept by me and out the door with a slight Mona Lisa smile on her lips, I asked my neighbor in line why the maid had been given such deferential treatment. 'She has a new job,' the woman explained, with a knowing look. 'She now works for la comtesse. Did you see how she's dressed today? Now she's practically a comtesse herself!' I laughed and as I approached Madame to give my order, I thought, 'So much for the French Revolution!'"

"After returning to Rouen, we stopped in for lunch at La Couronne, where we ordered exactly the same meal that we'd had on my first day in France, more than two and a half years earlier: protugaises (oysters), sole meuniere, salade verte, fromage blanc, and cafe filtre. Ah me! The meal was just as sublime the second time around, only now I could identify the smells in the air quicker than Paul, order my own food without help, and truly appreciate the artistry of the kitchen. La Couronne was the same, but I had become a different person."

Here's to a great a-list week! xo