Letting the Days Go By

How on earth did it get to be September so quickly?

Below, a recap of how I spent my three weeks of blog vacation.

*entertaining*

*Our new garden pergola is slowly becoming a chic new destination for sunset cocktails and lazy Sunday breakfasts. Still on order: French cafe chairs, lanterns, cushions, and some trailing bougainvillea vines.

*Our dining table was a gathering place for some serious quality time with friends. 

*Our formerly-scary garage has been reinvented as a combination yoga/sewing studio (for me) and Playstation nerve center (for Luca).

(All photos by LBG.)

*travelling*

Actually...I did zero travelling this summer; instead, I edited my book and spent my time wandering through over sixty classic novels. But the hills around my house are an architectural treasure trove -- in an hour's hike, it's amazing how many countries you can convince yourself you've visited.

*nesting* 

Since so much of my attention was firmly rooted indoors, I couldn't help but update a few things in my immediate sightline:

*The living room daybed is sheathed in a new French ticking stripe made by Sunbrella -- so I can't wait until the first person spills a glass of wine on it and I can sincerely tell them not to give it a second's thought. 

*My $50 flea market chair received a similar striped facelift -- along with a few vintage concert buttons so it doesn't feel too serious.

*The hall bench was recovered in a heavy gray-blue linen and then tufted to add a bit of come-hither appeal.

*exploring*

I didn't read all these books in the last three weeks, but I did read most of them this year.  And oh! the places I've been from my chair in the corner!

Note: If you ever decide you want to read Proust (and FYI,  it's worth it -- the characters are so comic with all of their gossiping and social-climbing and anxiety about being chic and cool -- it's very Woody Allen-ish, actually), I highly recommend these companion volumes:

*A Reader's Guide to The Remembrance of Things Past by Patrick Alexander -- Alexander is the super cool professor who makes sure you don't miss a beat (or theme, symbol, and motif). If you didn't read Proust in college, then you need this book.

*Paintings in Proust by Eric Karpeles -- In Search of Lost Time is such a visual odyssey and this book is lavishly illustrated with all the paintings Proust writes about. It's the next best thing to being there.

*Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret -- the tell-all memoir by his personal maid -- and she knew everything.

(And yes, I know Alain de Botton's book on Proust is there, too, but ehhhhh...it didn't move me.)

*living*

You know the Talking Heads song that goes:

Letting the days go by, water flowing underground,
Letting the days go by, Once in a lifetime...

Well, that's what I tried to do. Our summer involved a whole lot of nothing that somehow added up to everything.

*and paying for it*

Oh, but there were a lot of desserts this summer: home-made berry crumbles, blondie bars, trifles and more. I'm pretty sure I didn't say no to anything. Now I'm on day seven of Alejandro Junger's twenty-one day Clean cleanse and feeling -- dare I say it? -- as strong as a warrior princess from Game of Thrones. My sluggishness, foggy head and predilection for midday naps has vanished -- maybe because caffeine, sugar, white flour and dairy have too. *sigh* But to be honest, it's all good -- there's no question that my venti black coffee habit needed an intervention.

It's nice to be back.

I missed you.

What's going on? 

Are you getting ready for fall? 

x/Lisa