It is such a gray, rainy day here. While rain is not my favorite weather option, there are times when I love it, find it soothing, cleansing and an excuse to get back in my pajamas (if I'd changed out of them in the first place), make a cup of tea and hunker down with something to read or simply looking out at it all coming down. At present, I'm in quasi-jammies -the kind of outfit you can wear out to the market under the auspice of having gone or planning to go to the gym even if that is not in the cards- drinking tea; Oliver is napping, Jack is in quiet time but keeps finding excuses to come downstairs for some critical reason, and I've got 17 minutes until mommy-off-limits time officially ends.
Days like today remind me of being single for some reason- perhaps that's the last time I really experienced them. I think back about my admissions work- when we still read paper applications rather than those submitted online. We got to work from home several days a week, and I'd set myself up on my couch, surrounded by the words of hopeful young adults for whom I felt really excited. At that point, I was passionately in love with the newly introduced Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks so around 4p would take a quick break for one of those and a bit of Oprah. In my Evanston apartment, I had huge windows that looked out onto Dempster St, and my block was a hopping one, nestled in between the El and Sheridan Road if I recall correctly. Directly beneath me was a dry cleaner so my floor was always warm and humming gently. It was a cozy apartment, and although that was a tough year in some ways, I look back on it fondly.
In New York, I didn't live alone until the last of my years there but when I worked from home, I was usually the only one there. My first place was a complete pit; if you closed the door too hard, the freezer door flew open and more than once I came home to a mess of thaw. However, it was affordable and in a good location, so...I got out of there when I could, and my next place had nice light. I liked working from home there, but my favorite was my final NYC apartment, a tiny studio in a walk-up building. It felt good to be able to afford my own place despite the fact that rent was more than 50% of my income. Still, I wouldn't trade it and spent many an afternoon there drinking my Gingerbread Lattes and reading applications. During my tenure in that apartment, T gave me the espresso machine and grinder we still use so lattes from that time were even better.
Two minutes left, my tea is finally steeped the way I like it, and the newspaper is, sadly, still folded the way it was when it came out of its baggie this morning. Ah well. Off to see if my Lusty Sungold Tomato recipe is up for consideration in this week's food52 contest...Even if not, it is a darn good dish. Try it!
