start wearing purple...

it gets better.the trevor project. wear purple.

on the road again...

i keep telling myself this is the summer where i learn how to drive. and i'm terrified. i love being in cars. i love road trips. i love old cars and stretches of fields. and driving through winding roads and hillsides dotted with old barns and cows. i love driving with the windows down blasting doo wop. and hip hop. and honky tonk. but i'm so scared of being behind the wheel. think good thoughts for me, i think this week i may attempt to be 16 again. give me dirt roads and parking lots. and a lot of courage.

what does fall smell like to you?

today i am grateful for...

the arrival of my new fall scent...

a mixture of in the library with a dash of burnt wood and a heaping of burning leaves. i keep nuzzling my wrist and smiling to myself. it just smells like my high school's camp grounds, where my husband and i would sneak off to empty cabins and smooch. our first kiss was on the trails by the bonfire circle, fall of '97. swoon.

i wish i could customize an all-star fall scent. perhaps i would also add hot apple cider spiked with loads of cinnamon and clove. freshly cut grass, like the kind you find on a football or soccer field. especially when it is early in the morning and still covered with dew. piles of leaves and earth muddled together. pencil shavings and rubber cement. new book smell. new textbook smell. chapstick kisses and winterfresh gum. old spice deodorant. wool sweaters and rarely, barely washed denim. but who knows what kind of calamity of opposing smells it would create. i think it sounds lovely in theory...

thank you christopher brosius for your talented nose. for being able to bring back wonderful memories with one inhalation. maybe one day i will track you down for a custom scent, if i can ever catch the elusive cb i hate perfume.

but really, what does fall smell like to you?

everything will be ok...

today i am grateful for...

hometown diners.

ok cafe is a childhood touchstone for me and an atlanta landmark. i love this greasy spoon. pancakes that can run laps around any fancy overpriced new york establishment, and biscuits that put any recipe i've tested to shame. coffee that is consistently piping hot, never burnt, and never watered down. waitresses who wear 50s blue and white soda pop shop dresses, aprons, and funny little hats. and the check arrives with tootsie roll candy, their equivalent of an after-dinner mint.

*oh and by night, the ok cafe parking lot transforms into the local meeting ground for friday night football games. a giant carpool of buckhead teenagers with handmade posters and painted faces. awesome.

grateful days and new traditions...

today i am grateful for...

summer's sun-scorched flowers. i like imperfections. a whole lot.

thank y'all for posting your gratitudes. i kept smiling to myself throughout the entire day. i would like to start "grateful days" where i post y'alls gratitude lists with a photo of your choosing (or i can dig through archives and pick one, if preferred) and a link to your blog or website. i was going to assign this to a specific day, like every friday... but i think i would rather show gratitude love all week long.

if interested, please email your 5 things and photo to me at ginnybranch(the "at" symbol)gmail(dot)com. sorry to spell it out this way... i've just heard it thwarts all those unfortunate spammers.

merci beacoup, sweet folks out there!

5 things i am grateful for...

today i am grateful for...

1. community. it feels nice to be a part of a larger whole. in the city, life felt a lot faster. a lot harder. and a lot lonelier. it feels nice to have neighbors who smile as you pass their flower stand on the way to the train. who ask about your husband at the deli. who wave eagerly as you pass their restaurant. oh it feels too good.

2. partaking in local memberships.  gym. library. and now c.s.a. which might be the best program ever designed! little miss jc at mystic domestica introduced me to the whole concept, and i couldn't be more thankful! i came home to an overwhelming amount of fresh produce. my sweet husband lugged our goodies home all by his lonesome... kale, cilantro, onions, squash, corn, lettuce, garlic, cucumbers, peaches, and plums! oh my! i ate my first plum and wolfed down a peach. we shared a cucumber, eating it momma merrick style. and corn on the cob with butter and salt. i think i might start giving farm fresh produce to people as presents...

3. receiving a clean haircut by the cutest barber in the history of the earth. i feel like im sneaking into a boys club every time i go for a trim. the shop is run by the baudiest bunch of barbers who make me blush as soon as i cross their threshold...but not mike. he is so handsome and polite. and a true gentleman. he is currently helping me keep my hair tidy while i attempt to grow it out. he goes to the chelsea antiques garage flea market on sundays; has an old timey barber pole tattooed on his forearm; has a phonograph radio station; and used to cut his grandmother's hair. what's not to love?

4. waking up at 7:00 am to enjoy the sun rise, drink coffee, and gather my thoughts. i never thought i would be a morning gal, but you know what? i highly recommend it! if you have the means. it is so choice. 

5. hearing other people's gratitudes. it really is an instant mood lifter to hear what made other folk's day so dang good. can you list 5 things that made your day better? please tell me. i like reading them, hearing them, sharing them...

biscuit lips and lemonade kisses...

today i am grateful for...

1. inching closer to perfecting a biscuit recipe, as every good southern woman should. my first batch was too heavy and chalky. this one was a tad too sweet, but awfully close. nothin' a little butter and jam couldn't help...

2. the wunderkind josh goleman, for hand delivering our wedding goodies... a stack of polaroids tied up in ribbon. the reel from our wedding film. dvds with all the photos and the actual film. and contact sheets with his hand markings of his edits. i love seeing his artistic process and kind of want to frame them all!

3. my sweet eddie for setting up our printer and scanner!!!! i haven't had one of these, really ever. i sort of remember how to use them from art school days... but i am definitely going to be a bit rusty. and i am so grateful for momma stelling, who gifted us with this new toy!

4. fixin' lavender and mint lemonade. oh my. tastes like summer a thousand times over. and today is one of those no-relief-from-the-heat kind of days. where the sun slaps your face and makes the sweat drip into your eyes. but we've got a ceiling fan breeze and a cold drink in our hands.

5. organizing my address book and labeling envelopes. in fact, i need to go sip some more lemonade and tackle more thank you letters. the list is long and way overdue. we have many folks to thank, so i must pick up where i left off...

knock em dead ed...

rock steady eddie. #24 on the field, #1 in my heart. 

today i woke up at 5:30 am to make eddie a "good luck breakfast" before he takes the bar exam today. he has been studying for this since the moment we got back from the weddin'. i made the biggest pot of coffee and shuffled around to find #2 pencils.

"you mean of all the hundreds of fancy, oh-so-vintage, and oh-so-pointless pencils that you don't have a classic original #2 lying around?" a loving question, from my patient husband.

thankfully i dug deep into my bag of tricks, and found a pair of pencils for him. and made him a to-go peanut butter sandwich . and a mini "good luck eddie" garland. i need to get my hands on some poster board and jumbo markers. bring it back real old school. i really am so proud of him. he has been hard at work and i wish i could be there to cheer him on. but i think that would be considered unprofessional. and downright distracting. i bet law schools frown upon those kind of things...