The Wilder Life

Last night I was lost and cursing in SoDo, trying to find the UPS warehouse in the pouring rain. When I finally picked up this mystery package, it turned out to be a galley of The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McClure (who I just found out is the author of the amazing Laura Ingalls Wilder twitter account I've been "following" and admiring for a while, even though I'm never on there). I'd forgotten that I entered a contest from Penguin to win a limited number of advanced reading copies (ARCs!). Definitely worth the trip to the wasteland that is the UPS customer service outlet.


I eagerly started reading the first chapter last night. At first the author's uber-casual writing style bugged me. It reminds me a little of a less-inflated Sarah Vowell, who no one in my book club liked when we read The Wordy Shipmates one month. But by page 6 I was laughing out loud (in her list of things from the Little House books that she wanted to do): "Have a man's hands span my corseted waist, which at the time didn't seem creepy at all" and by page 17 there were some genuine tears. Not sad tears, but nostalgic tears of the futility to hold on to the past.


If you loved the Little House books, definitely check it out The Wilder Life when it hits stores next month! I'm inspired to re-read the series now. Plus, look how delicious this cover is (designed by Meighan Cavanaugh):

Yay

Just saw about 30 chicken feet tied to a noose and nailed to a telephone pole on 65th. It's times like this I miss my old camera phone.

Missing...

Carlsbad Flower Fields

www.edgeparkcs.com and Carlsbad Flower Field March 2007-DSC_3575 a photo by akaporn on Flickr.

Things I've been loving lately

1. "Freaks and Geeks" makes me so happy. I'm trying not to watch them all too fast, but I'm already over halfway through the 18 episodes. THIS is the one of the best tv show moments ever. I sweat from awkwardness and laugh until my eyes are brimming with tears. "You're my lady" is still echoing through my head as I type this, as it has been ever since I watched this episode. Thank you, Jason Segel.

2. Born This Way Blog - LGBT adults submit photos of themselves as kids along with their stories about finding their identity. Super adorable, but I often find myself tearing up as I look at these sweet little faces and read about how lonely and unhappy many of their childhoods were.

3. I guess I don't really have anything for #3, except to say, have a very happy President's Day.

This afternoon at Trader Joe's it was face painting day! I knew the girls doing the face painting and they insisted I be their guinea pig. I looked over their choices, "How about that lightning bolt on my forehead, Harry Potter style?"

Results: