It’s been a long but good week, and I’m currently enjoying a much needed three-day weekend. So, with nothing to do on Monday for once, I thought I’d spend a few of my unburdened minutes sharing some of the highlights of my week.
1. My Paris Kitchen
I got my long-awaited copy of My Paris Kitchen in the mail the other day and I’m hopelessly in love with it. David Lebovitz is a talented and creative cook as well as an eloquent writer, making this cookbook both an immediate source of kitchen inspiration and a riveting read. I haven’t been able to put it down. I especially like that Lebovitz, a former vegetarian, includes many recipes that are either meat-free or that can easily be altered to be meat-free, something I haven’t often encountered in French cookbooks.
2. Cinema Studio on Etsy
I chanced upon Cinema Studio the other day and I can’t wait to order a few prints to spruce up my office. It’s an Etsy shop featuring unique movie posters with a retro vibe. I particularly love their Wes Anderson prints but, alas, once I decided to purchase the above pictured Moonrise Kingdom poster, the shop’s owner went on vacation. But if you’re coveting some Andersonian wall décor like I am, fear not: their away message states they’re in the midst of moving to Barcelona and will be back up and running in mid-June.
3. Wendy Davis
Wendy Davis is currently running for Governor of Texas, and I had the opportunity to attend an open house at her office in South Dallas this past week. She delivered a hopeful and heartfelt speech to the sizable crowd in attendance, and I enjoyed hearing her elaborate on her positions on issues such as equal pay for women and the importance of higher education. Cheers to turning Texas purple!
Me (far right) with two of my most favorite people, Anand and Nicole, and Wendy Davis (second from left).
4. Mad Men
The final episode of the first half of season seven of Mad Men (I know, that’s confusing) airs tomorrow night. Last week’s episode was one of the best of the entire series. Matthew Weiner never ceases to amaze me: Don Draper’s character continues to grow increasingly complex; the tension created by the question marks that populate every single relationship on the show is gripping; and I’m glad that the women at Sterling Cooper & Partners finally seem to be having their day. It kind of breaks my heart knowing the show is almost done for good—but at least I’ve got another year before we say goodbye forever.
5. My husband
Last but most important, my husband’s and my sixth anniversary is today. I can’t believe how incredibly lucky I am to have landed the greatest guy on the planet. He’s the smartest, handsomest, and hardest working person I know, and he’s changed my life in a hundred thousand different ways.
In honor of our sixth anniversary, here are six lessons I’ve learned about marriage thus far:
- Pick your battles. I know everyone says this, but it’s really true. I think that fighting constantly over the small things is like pouring a little arsenic in each other’s coffee every morning: eventually, it’s going to kill you. Think long and hard before you decide something is worth starting an argument over.
- Ignore the small stuff. In the same vein, my advice is to try to ignore the little things that bother you. Case in point: my husband always leaves his shoes right outside the door that goes from the garage into the house, so I’m forever tripping over them when I’m heading out to my car. Every time this happens, a few choice words of the four-letter variety escape under my breath, but I’ve never nagged him about this or any of his other peccadilloes because I know that, if something ever happened, those are exactly the things I would miss most about him. So I think of the dangerously placed shoes and the ear-piercing whistling and the jeans thrown into the hamper with the belt still on and the dishes left to “soak” in the sink as little signs that I have an amazing man in my life and, despite his handful of fairly innocuous foibles, I should be grateful for every day I have with him.
- Go to bed angry. Everyone says not to, but I’m a big believer in “sleeping on it.” Nine times out of ten, if I just hold my tongue, I don’t care about (and sometimes can’t even remember) what was bothering me by the time morning rolls around.
- Give your husband/wife some space once in a while. My husband has been to a few out-of-town bachelor parties recently, and I’ve made a point of not calling him while he’s gone. I want him to feel like he can go out and have fun and not worry about being chained to his phone. I also want to show him that I trust him completely, so even if it’s 2am and I can’t sleep because I haven’t heard from him, I tough it out till morning—when he invariably calls with tales of typical but harmless male hijinks.
- Don’t lose yourself. On a related note, don’t lose yourself in your spouse. This is something I personally have to work hard at. Make time for yourself and maintain your own interests. Go out and do things with your own friends. Watch the movies you want to see and buy the food you like to eat. Compromise is important, as is spending time with one another. But maintaining a healthy sense of self is imperative if you want to be a healthy couple.
- Marriage is not that hard—actually, it’s a lot of fun. Don’t get me wrong: marriage has its ups and downs, and you’re not always going to feel drunk on love the way you did on your first few dates. No matter how amazing your spouse is, there are bound to be days when you wish you could strangle him or her. But, at least in my experience, the more mindful you are of your marriage, the happier and easier it will be. Think before speaking. Be genuinely considerate to one another. Think about each other’s feeling and always bear in mind how your decisions will affect your spouse. And be proactively kind to one another—do nice things for each other without pretense and for no other reason than making your other half happy. There is no “perfect” marriage, but if you consciously take care of your relationship, it doesn’t have to be hard.
Happy Memorial Day weekend!
Moveable Feasts 