Lizzard Loves book club.
And books, and reading books. Grown up books, YA books, kids books. I like most books! Stands to reason that I would like book club, huh? On that note, to the list!
1. Mom's Group Book Club
See above regarding my love of books. Its amazing to me how a great writer can make you feel like you are there- experiencing someone else's reality, feeling their feelings, celebrating their successes and mourning their losses. Its honestly magic. In some ways, great friends are similar - once you are connected and invested in the other person, you start to feel with them and for them in a way you wouldn't feel for or about a stranger. I started a mom's group a couple months after Lulu was born to answer the question "how do you make friends after college?" We had been living in our house/in our new town less than a year when she arrived and I didn't feel like we had met too many new friends outside of our amazing neighbors who we are pretty much eternally grateful for. So, I took to the internet (I figure, I met my husband on the internet, maybe I can find new friends there too?). As much as I struggle to keep my mindless usage of Facebook intact, it is great for connecting virtual strangers! The group was born & unbelievably has 140 members. There are always suggestions for new ways to get the moms together, including a book club! I hosted our last meeting and we had a great time discussing a particularly dark book "The Secret History" by Donna Tart. I love that book clubs help open my eyes to books I might otherwise never have picked up. I tend to like happy books with happy endings (for whatever reason this is even more true after becoming a mom..........who knows why?!?) So it was a great evening this week, plus an excuse to make a giant pot of soup, bake some bread & set a pretty table. Oh, and clean up the house...which doesn't get done nearly enough!
2. One Inspired Evening
You might know that I volunteer to serve breakfast to homeless & formerly homeless guests at Inspiration Corporation's cafe. I love doing it and have been doing it for years. It harkens back to my time as a waitress at a bakery in Oxford, OH while I was in college. It is cozy and casual and our guests tend to be kind (but just like the wider world, there are jerks to be found in any group of people & this group is no exception. I don't want to paint an unrealistic picture of this experience - which is why I mention it.)
There is an annual art auction fundraiser we attend called One Inspired Evening. It hops & bops around the city, setting up shop in different warehouse style, industrial, raw spaces. They are always interesting & its a great excuse for us to check out a place we've never been before. The art is sold via silent auction on an app on your phone - it gets just as competitive as the old school paper sheet silent auctions did! The major difference is, you don't know who exactly you are competing against. We got to spend our evening catching up with friends that Chris went to law school with, staff of Inspiration Corporation as well as my friends who I volunteer with.
A wonderful excuse to get dressed up in grown up clothes & eat delicious food & have extended adult conversation. Plus we came home with 4 pieces of art & a gift certificate for a professional photography session - so I'd say we did our part in supporting a cause we care about! It was also fun to remember 2017's event because I was 9 months pregnant, life was very different then :)
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| What a difference a year makes....this is from 2017!! |
3. Saturday beach walks
I love how close we live to the beach. I love that we walked there on Saturday, enjoyed the playground & walked on the sand. I love how much Owenn loves the beach. I'm excited for Lulu to start loving it too. A sunny (if cold) March day meant there were few other people out, but I was struck yet again by how completely beautiful it is. It is always a treat to go on long walks with Chris on the weekends, I like to walk by myself, but I really enjoy his company.
4. Visit from a dear friend
Oh man how I wish we still lived near each other! My wonderful friend Sarah & her husband relocated to Traverse City, MI 3 years ago. Rather than living 5 miles away from us, they now live 335 miles away. I don't have to tell you; but I will: that is far. It made my heart so happy when I got her text last week that she'd be driving down with her kiddos for the weekend. Yippee!! I was so excited to introduce our daughters who shared a due date! Her little love arrived a week early & the bug arrived a week late - so they are not birthday twins; but being pregnant together was something I was so so thankful for.
It is simply glorious to spend time with old friends. There is no pretense, it is not work. There are shared memories to laugh about but no worry of saying the wrong thing. It was a tremendous several hours and it pretty much made my month. I think I don't allow myself to realize how much I miss my distant friends (probably to protect my heart from hurting) in my day to day life. Then we get together and it is as though a hole is filled that I didn't realize was there. After our visit we agreed that we must get serious about visiting each other more regularly, which seems like a pretty great thing to get serious about.
I hope you've had a great week with at least a few things to feel grateful for.
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