Plainfield Days/ Farm Shop

 After our bakery farm breakfast,

we stopped by another farm on the way back to Annie's house.

She'd cooked us some amazing pork chops from this farm.

It was an honor system store.

Just tons of meat and eggs and veggies in the fridge.

You grab what you want.

Weigh it.

Write yourself a receipt.

And get yourself some change from the cash box.

Pretty amazing.

Amazing that still exists.

And really amazing pork chops.

Plainfield Days/ Breakfast Edition

 Remember those lovely Plainfield, Vermont days earlier this summer?
Well after a slumber party night there one of the weekends,
we drove up the road
to a local bakery
in the middle of nowhere.

 

It was super busy,

and delicious!

Oh man, 

now that the cold is snapping,

I already want to go back

to this summer morning

on a blanket with 

coffee, danishes, and lovely people.

 

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In wildness is the preservation of the world...Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him.

-Henry David Thoreau

Design / Sugarboo

Photo: Sugarboo Designs

When I was home,
I wandered around a lovely farm town Serenbe with my mama.
And found this in one of the shops.
I flipped through this book of love notes and had to buy it because I immediately knew who I wanted to give like 10 of them to.

It's a fun, more low-key alternative to a card.

I also wanted to buy her artwork,

but that will have to wait for another day,

when I am not a medical student.

Vulnerability #2

Here's the follow up talk to that first talk.

Equally awesome.

Taking Step 2 of the Boards exam on Thursday.

Then I will emerge from this cave,

in which there is no blogging.

The no-blogging cave.

Yes.

 

Anyway, watch it.

Talk about it.

Live it.

---------------------------------------------------

When they teach [doctors] how to suture, they also teach them how to stitch their self-worth to being all-powerful.

Sustainability & Design/Osborn Shoes

"Our mission here at Osborn is to do good with good design."

Swoon.

 

Yes, yes, and yes.

 I found these shoes through some blog stalking a little while ago,

and just started day dreaming about them again,

so thought I would share.

I have many more things to share.

Of Costa Rica and revelations and astrology,

but Osborn is having a sale right now,

so go shop since I can't right now.

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A person should design the way he makes a living around how he wishes to make a life.
Charlie Byrd

Be brave enough to break your own heart.

A musician sublet my apartment one summer in Burlington.

She said we had the same style.

I thought that was awesome, because she was touring the country singing american folk/country and wearing cowboy boots and her name was Charlie Faye and it sounded like she was basically living a dreamy life.

She stayed in 10 different towns for 1 month each

instead of bouncing around like a normal tour.  

 She wrote this song at my kitchen table:

Anyway, she posted a link to a website that had advice 

from a 40-something writer to her 20-something self.

These were my favs.

Pretty awesome.

And very appropriate right now.

(I did the bolding.)

Stop worrying about whether you’re fat. You’re not fat. Or rather, you’re sometimes a little bit fat, but who gives a shit? There is nothing more boring and fruitless than a woman lamenting the fact that her stomach is round. Feed yourself. Literally. The sort of people worthy of your love will love you more for this, sweet pea.

You are not a terrible person for wanting to break up with someone you love. You don’t need a reason to leave. Wanting to leave is enough. Leaving doesn’t mean you’re incapable of real love or that you’ll never love anyone else again. It doesn’t mean you’re morally bankrupt or psychologically demented or a nymphomaniac. It means you wish to change the terms of one particular relationship. That’s all. Be brave enough to break your own heart.

Don’t lament so much about how your career is going to turn out. You don’t have a career. You have a life. Do the work. Keep the faith. Be true blue. You are a writer because you write. Keep writing and quit your bitching. Your book has a birthday. You don’t know what it is yet.

Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be. Sometimes you’ll put up a good fight and lose. Sometimes you’ll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go. Acceptance is a small, quiet room.

The useless days will add up to something. The shitty waitressing jobs. The hours writing in your journal. The long meandering walks. The hours reading poetry and story collections and novels and dead people’s diaries and wondering about sex and God and whether you should shave under your arms or not. 

These things are your becoming.

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I like to think I'm still in my becoming.

Oh Vermont...

you soothe my soul every time...
I've gone back up to Vermont so many weekends during this Connecticut exile...
and everytime, I appreciate it more and more...
that it's easy to recycle...
that people ride bikes instead of Hummers...
that there's a community with a thriving downtown instead of spread out strip malls...

Here are some photos from these weekends of bliss and reasons that Vermont restores my soul...

Popovers at my friend Lizzie's house for brunch...
my friends live so well and beautifully....



Exploring old ski lift huts and fire towers in some of the last days of snow near Brattleboro...


Then when the snow melts it forms hidden gems like Sterling Pond near the ski slopes...




Sunset drinks overlooking the lake with friends who live so stylishly and make gin and tonics with fresh cilantro from their garden...





Live music outside under the Big Dipper summer sky...good music like the Avett Brothers because Vermont appreciates good music...

Easily rustling up 10+ people for a hike up Camels Hump with glorious views...




Coffee with friends at an adorable bakery run by a young beautiful family with their 2 year old riding around on his tricycle...




Lake Champlain, view of the Adirondacks, Adirondack chairs, pure bliss....