Tuesday, July 6, 2010

content. and then some.

bookcase
this fourth of july,
i received the best present
i've ever been given for the holiday.
(truth be told, it's probably
the only present i've ever
gotten for the fourth.)
nevertheless, this was the best:
we bought bookcases
and unpacked my cookbooks.

you see, they've been caged up
in boxes, waiting for the office
to be painted a pale turquoise - or
what turned out to be an aqua
or slightly bright light blue, still
almost the color of a gemstone -
and for our bookcase to be
reassembled. but, after the office
was painted, i could not bring myself
to place our dark brown bookcase
in the whatever-color-it-is and white
room. and, i really wanted the
cookbooks in our office.

but, in the meantime,
i struggled. i didn't realize how
much i like just knowing that my
cookbooks are an arms length away,
just waiting to be used. and, i was tired
of forgetting they were boxed up -
more than once i came home with
ingredients, like monkfish and
an eggplant two thursdays ago,
only to realize that
i wasn't going to be able to flip
to find the recipe any time soon.

but, then on friday, we took
advantage of leaving work early
and found a great deal on white
bookcases. i practically bounced
up and down in my seat the
whole drive home, knowing
what this meant. we sacrificed our
friday night to put them together,
together - a true test, i thought,
in case larry ever gets his way
and we audition for the amazing race
(note: never. gonna. happen.).

and the moment they were assembled,
i looked at larry and he knew his fate:
one solid hour of unpacking, organizing
and arranging books. but, he was a very
good sport about it and by 10pm,
the bookcases looked like this.
cookbooks, unpacked
still-to-be-filled bookcase
i cannot lie.
i wanted to sleep downstairs,
in the office that night,
just because i was so proud
to finally have space to store
them. (there were several that
had never actually made their
way onto a shelf before, instead
relegated to stacks on the floor
of the closet.
but, now they all had their own space.
hello,
modmex and
hello,
too many more to count.)
my new favorite place to be
but, i came to my senses.
i slept upstairs.
instead, the next day, we went
and bought a pair of very
unbrooke-like chairs
that for some reason, i've had my eye on.
and now,
for the past couple days,
even though we don't have a rug,
or a lamp, any accessories,
or even a chair for the desk we're
soon to replace, i've been sitting
in these flowery chairs,
so happy to be surrounded
by my cookbooks.
when i look at them,
i'm home.
books, books, books
*it's very important for me to note
that while i've always loved cookbooks,
my true obsession started while working
for the magazine. we were often fortunate,
receiving five copies of the same book and
getting first dibs when it was time for
a cookbook clean out. i think larry regularly
lived in fear of what i would come home with
from the office. and while i've purchased some,
many have also come from friends who have
noticed that i have a bit of a collection and
help it grow come birthday or chanukah time.
unlike an accidental, oh-i-see-you-like-peacocks-
so-here's-another-and-another collection, this
is one i truly love, take pride in and am grateful for
all the time.

1 comment:

DesignMiner said...
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