Daily Photo: November 7 - 13

Sunday, November 7

To avoid writing an embarrassingly overdue reply to my mère d’accueil (the Host Mom I lived with in 2005 during my semester in France, which is the trip where I met Matt!) using the French I barely remember anymore, instead I spent literally all day reorganizing my art wall. I hung cork boards. I framed pictures. I re-shuffled pictures that haven’t moved in years. Years. I would have (unknowingly) drilled into an electrical wire in the wall but Matt intervened (spoilsport). Everything’s so fresh. I love it. I still have to write that email in French, though. Je ne l'aime pas. (I had to freakin use Google-freakin’-Translate just to write that much. Shameful.)

Monday, November 8

Mondays I’m using to ease back into the habit of going to the studio. Now that it’s open-ish again, we had a table re-shuffling and, for the first time in my decade+ membership, I have moved out of the Main Room and into the West Wing. Still against the same wall, so I'll still get the same sunlight, but with an ever-so-slightly different change of environment. I spent a good two hours or so just catching up with Steve. I'm so glad this place exists. I'm so grateful I'm a part of it. It's so much more than a place to work.

Tuesday, November 9

Worked out with Lucy to another Ghostbaby barre class. Posted another burst of pages about Space Camp. It feels… so good. I’ve been frozen on starting this story for years now, because how do I make this a cohesive narrative??? But now that I’m just illustrating my original notes with stick figures without trying to work out a proper story structure, it’s like a little dam has cracked in my brain. I’m not writing a whole story with a beginning-middle-end, I’m recreating little moments from this one unique time in my life.

Wednesday, November 10

I pushed myself too hard. As soon as I started, my body said “hey, this sucks, stop” and I was like “we just need to push through and we’ll find our groove and we’ll feel better overall afterwards like we always do” and so I made it through to the end of my 10 minute set time and then I did not, in fact, feel better afterwards. In fact, I debated whether to text Matt to come help me. Although I don’t know what he could have done to make my lungs feel like they were getting enough oxygen and make my body stop quivering. I’m ok now! I’m ok. I don’t know what that was about. As ever, the lesson infuriatingly remains “LISTEN TO YOUR BODY, IDIOT”, just as it always has been since the dawn of time.

Thursday, November 11

Matt made me surprise crepes :3

Then I had dinner with Ben and Kendra, who ALSO has an allium allergy which is AWESOME because that means this is the only other household I’ve ever found that also does not cook with onions, which means I don’t have to have the old post-dinner-party diarrhea in somebody else’s home 😭 #Blessed

Friday, November 12

Tig was like “LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT” and I was like “You are going to hate this because it is raining” and she was like “LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT” so I got her all harnessed up and when I opened the door she was like “What in God’s name did you do to Outside?!” and refused to exit the house. I told her “I told you” as I scooped her up and plopped her down on the lawn. She immediately sprang back to the house, huddling under the back door stairs. I used the opportunity to pick a bell pepper (the picture is me walking to the bell pepper patch) and then I brought her back inside. Matt used the bell pepper in our dinner tonight. I still cannot get over the fact that we eat the things I grow in our backyard and they actually taste the way they’re supposed to.

Saturday, November 12

I only took one Lactaid instead of two before scarfing down my crepe-wrapped ice cream burrito of decadence and then, obviously, I had diarrhea so intensely that I had to take a couple-hour long nap for my body to recover from the exertion. (#WORTH #IT) My stomach is still delicate but I’m well enough to do the Important Stuff (drinking tummy-calming tea and embroidering on my tapestry stand)

I conclude this week of photos with an accidental self-portrait as I put my phone in my Muppet coat pocket.

I still have not replied to my mère d’accueil 😬