I read Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri’s second book of short stories, this summer. It was published in 2008 and despite having loved her first collection, Interpreter of Maladies, I didn’t pick this one up until last July. I read most of it on the hottest day of the summer, sitting on my couch and eating Whole Fruit popsicles. The last story was particularly affecting. I remember I finished it right before I was meeting a friend for a drink and I had a hard time pulling myself out of the world of the story enough to carry on a coherent conversation.

I recommended this book to a few friends but my experience reading it felt curiously private and I didn’t say much about it or offer to loan my copy.

On September 11 I stumbled across an article from Esquire magazine entitled “The Falling Man.” I hadn’t been viscerally reminded in several years of the tragedy of that day in 2001 and I was grateful to find a piece of writing to pull me back to the importance of the day in our collective history.

Sometime near the beginning of the summer, Lara and I went to Duplex for lunch on a weekday. It was probably early June and the weather was phenomenal and neither of us had ever been there before. I think we both ordered white wine which we sipped while deciding what to order. If you’ve ever been to Duplex you know how hard that decision is because everything on the menu sounds amazing. I don’t remember what she decided on, but I got the portobello sandwich. It came with the most delicious spread I’ve ever tasted on a sandwich – sun dried tomato goat cheese. I could seriously eat that stuff  by the spoonful. I have dreams about how good it is.

Everything about that afternoon was perfect and delightfully unexpected.

What was your best trip in 2009?

Back in January when I was heartbroken and succumbing to the worst of the winter blues, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to get out of this state. I didn’t particularly care where I ended up, I just knew I couldn’t be here. I started relatively small, spending a weekend in Iowa City with a friend and another weekend in Eau Claire. Even those short getaways proved helpful, so I decided a Big Trip was necessary. So I booked a trip for the middle of February to New York City and Asheville, NC.

I’d never been to New York before. My strongest memory of my first moments in the city is that it was not as overwhelming as I’d expected. I spent my four days there at art museums and plays, fitting in as broad a range of New York eating as I could. I took shots of tequila in the middle of the day, stayed at a bar until 4 am because I could, and walked and walked and walked.

Then I went to North Carolina. I loved Asheville. It’s a peaceful, centered town surrounded by forests and mountains and full of lovely, happy people. I spent most of my time there with a friend of mine, but the most memorable afternoon was spent with a friend of my parents’. She drove me out of town up into the hills and introduced me to all sorts of interesting folks. We wrapped up the day with delicious Indian food and fine conversati0n.

When I got back home I was overwhelmed by a new experience – I had just visited two new cities, as different from one another as they could be, and I left both places thinking to myself that I could really love living there.

1. Camp

When I was in high school, I wanted to be a camp counselor. I had several friends who were counselors at the YMCA day Camp Kici Yapi and they’d come back to school in September singing camp songs and cooing over pictures of themselves with adorable Wee Backpackers. I was so jealous and I’ve always regretted, just the tiniest bit, that I never got to be a counselor.

Imagine my delight when, on Tuesday last, my friend Max calls me up to say that Camp Kici Yapi, where he is now an administrator, is in need of some counselors would I like to go hang out with some kids for the last few weeks of summer. OMG. A ten-year-old dream come true.

So I spent Thursday and Friday of last week shadowing my friend Josh and tomorrow I’ll have my very own group of 8-10 year olds. And yes, it’s every bit as awesome as I thought it would be.

2. Inglorious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino just keeps getting more awesome. This film is stunningly theatrical. I thought the violence would bother me and there were a few bits that I had to close my eyes for, but it’s so stylized that it wasn’t too much of a problem. Go see it.

3. Web Comics (as usual)

Also Dinosaur Comics and XKCD.

4. People Watching from my Front Porch

I especially enjoy witnessing the stumble home from the Red Dragon.

5. My bedroom

I’m mostly moved in to most of my apartment. The kitchen is done, the dining room is done, all my books are on shelves, and most importantly my bedroom, aka Caitlin’s Sanctuary of Serenity, is done. See, I have two rooms – an outer room that will, when it’s done, serve as an office/dressing room and an inner room that contains nothing but a bed and two bedside tables. Any mess that I have will stay in the outer room. The bedroom will always be uncluttered and reserved for bedroom activities. My dad, who turns out to have quite the eye for interior decorating, helped me pick out paint, curtain, and bedspread colors and the result is a jewel-toned haven. It’s beautiful and I haven’t slept so well in months.

OMG Fringe. I missed the showcase last night in favor of a night in my own neighborhood. I’ll be at Bedlam starting today, though.

So, come to see a Fringe show. Or many. Come to Bedlam and drink. It’ll be awesome.

Summer in Minneapolis is phenomenal. I soak up so much energy from the sun and all the people sitting on patios and walking around lakes – even when I go to sleep in the wee smas I wake up with the sun. I cherish long afternoons alone, listening to music and reading and eating popsicles.

And then there’s Fringe! On Thursday! I’ll see you all at Bedlam…

(You may know them by that incessant and yet strangely appealing track “That’s Not My Name“)

It’s Blitz from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

(Thanks, Alayne! Best dance party ever!)

and

Illinoize, a mashup a la The Grey Album that samples Sufjan Stevens‘ Come On Feel The Illinoise.

I’m also obsessively refreshing the All Songs Considered blog because they’re releasing the results of the Best So Far music poll and I need to have my exceptional musical taste validated by the masses.