Today is June first, which means the countdown of the remaining days of my thirties is down to single digits, and small ones at that. Yikes. Softening the blow, though, was a lovely Memorial Day weekend, full of all my favorite things: friends, family, cookouts, deviled eggs, bruschetta with fresh tomatoes and chocolate silk pie. Oh, my goodness. Plus, with the rain that fell, we had both puddles (great for jumping in with galoshes on: if you haven’t done that in awhile, you really should) and the emergence of turtles, which made every walk kind of like a nature safari. This week, I’m busy trying to get organized for our upcoming beach trip, which will encompass not only my fortieth (I STILL have trouble typing that, why is that? I’ve had all year to prepare myself!) but our ten year wedding anniversary.
When I think about THAT milestone, I just keep having flashes of my favorite movie, Grosse Point Blank, when Jeremy Piven and John Cusak are driving along and Piven says, suddenly, “Ten years! TEN! TEN YEARS!” and starts beeping the horn, freaking out that it’s been so long since high school. Tell me about it. It really feels like maybe it was only last summer that at this time I was fretting over the weather and how my hair was going to look and whether all my cousins would be able to find our the farm where we were having the ceremony. The wedding planning just encompassed EVERYTHING, but now that I’m looking back, I’m like, why? It was one day. What’s really mattered is all the ones that have followed. It’s like how obsessed I was with my pregnancy and birth plan and all that, and then it’s suddenly over, but parenthood is forever. I have to say, though, as someone who waited to get married for a long time, and wasn’t sure it was even necessary, I have come to like it very much. And I will especially like going out to the beach next week with my husband and my daughter and a couple of good friends, where we will stand on the sand and do a short but sweet redo of our ceremony. This time, though, no fancy dress, no caterers, no rehearsal dinner. Just us, barefoot, with my husband getting to wear shorts, the way he wanted to the first time around. He only had to wait ten years. Poor guy. Hopefully this will make it up to him, at least a little bit.
In other news, this afternoon I have been multitasking. Which is to say, trying to catch up on my movie watching WHILE puttering around my office. Sort of like half-watching a movie, half paying your taxes kind of thing. Today’s film: The September Issue, a documentary about Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, and her staff putting together their biggest issue of the year. Watching this, I swear, was like witnessing an alien planet to me. Everyone is so skinny and angular, and fashion is such a passion to them, like a religion almost. Watching it in khaki shorts and plain white T-shirt, with no makeup, seemed almost disrespectful. I swear, there are times in my life that I think it would be so fun to be part of that kind of world, in New York, fast-paced and elegant and all that. The clothes and the people are so effortless and beautiful. But then I think about those puddles, and the turtles, and think…..well, maybe not. I think I’m where I am supposed to be.
Honestly, though, the movie made me not just somewhat wistful and wishing I had better clothes, but HUNGRY. I guess it was all those skinny skinny skinny models? Yikes. Time for a deviled egg, I think.
Have a good night, everyone!
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cool!
YOu are a great author and so far I love your books!I just finished Just Listen and am now reading Lock and Key. I hope to be a writer one day!
Re: cool!
Whoa! No way i just finished “Lock and Key” and i’m going to read “Just Listen”!! You with LOVE “Lock and Key”!!
~LGS
Sarah, every time I read your blog, my craving to live in North Carolina (after I finish university) increases, like, ten-fold. I mean, turtles!? So lucky.
: )
Ms.Sarah Dessen, you are such a fabulous writer. I love ALL of your books. You’re an inpsiration to me, who strives to one day have books published. I’m following you on twitter as well. It’s great to hear about the day-to-day things you partake in. It makes it feel as if you’re more than just an author of some pretty amazing books, but you’re a person! Who would have thought? : )
-Bee
Congrats on the ten years! That’s awesome.
I have to say, Sarah, that I am so jealous of you being exactly where you’re supposed to be. I just finished my undergrad degree (still scary to think!) and I’m struggling with figuring out what the heck to do next. I’m in the music field, which I’m sure is no more promising than writing might have seemed to you when you first started out in the real world. But that’s why you give me hope! You’re doing what you love and you’re happy doing it, and that’s truly an inspiration. So, thank you, and enjoy all of your upcoming celebrations!
I know the feeling
I have two days left to be a teenager before i turn 20, so I understand what you are feeling. Not that 20 is old, its more I’ll miss parts of being a teenager. Or maybe I’ll just go write young adult fiction and I’ll be a teenager forever
Happy birthday!
Super Skinny Models
I hate that models are so skinny. There’s skinny and then there’s not eating skinny. My sister is naturally thin ad that’s fine, but i hate when girls starve themselves.
I tweeted this to you yesterday, but thanks so much for tweeting your deviled egg recipe. I have never made them before, but I followed your recipe (just tweaked the amounts) and they turned out great! so yummy! just one more thing to add to all the things I love about you. great deviled egg chef! have a fabulous day.
Skinny is there really a definition for this?
It makes me upset when I see models and there beyond skinny its not healthy for them or us I mean Seeing a model skinny makes teens and even adults think that’s what it means to be beautiful, but in reality its not. Eh sorry i’m very opinionated…its in the genes…thank goodness!
Re: Skinny is there really a definition for this?
i am a skinny girl too! though i agree with you, a models diet isn’t the way to go! i get my skinny body from the genes
~LGS
Re: Skinny is there really a definition for this?
I honestly don’t think that being skinny means you’re beautiful. If you’re a good person on the inside, that generally shines through and makes you more beautiful on the outside.
Books
I loved your book “Lock and Key”!! I am about to start “Just Listen” but unfortunately i have to give it to my teacher by the end of the year(which is in 7 days!). I just realized you had a blog and i had to stop and read todays. Happy 10th Year Anniversary!!!! And Happy early 40th!!
skinny!
i know what you mean by the models! but my mom says I’m on a models diet because I’m so skinny. though she and i both know its in the genes.
i love your books!! you rock!
~LGS
P.S. i wrote the “books” comment
anniversary
it is my parent’s 25th anniversary today!!!
Reading this made me think that it would be great to have that kind of life at least a little bit, but then they may be thinking the same thing about our lives.
Sarah, as someone who is going through a very difficult time, I’d like to thank you. My fiance, who I’ve been with for almost seven years, dumped me two weeks ago. I’m devestated. This blog is so upbeat and chearful and appreciative that it is all the more admirable. I too have often considered marriage as something I’m not even sure I want or need, a better word. I feel lost, confused, and all around scared but I see my direction and I must, “Keep Calm and Carry On”. Thank you once again for providing clarity for your readers who adore you.
Happy (almost!) anniversary and birthday!
I remember as my husband and I pulled away from our wedding ceremony, I thought, “Why did I care so much about what kind of tablecloths we had? I never even noticed them tonight…”
Hope your ceremony “redo” goes well
Stephanie Morrill
do you think that you would do a sequel to Along For the Ride but from Thisbes point of view like now shes older and its her turn to explore love and the unknown with Auden and Eli and Maggie and every one there to help her with her quest….maybe i just thought it was a neat idea.
I have the same birthday as you! I hope it’s a great one spent at the beach! I wish I was on a NC beach! They’re beautiful! But, I’m down here on the gulf with the oil spill! Not too pretty!
I lived that life in NYC, Sarah, and trust me–it’s as alienesque as you think it is. I did my five-month internship and then went back to the real world to write my books. (Which may be alienesque to non-writers, but which I call home in my PJs and makeup-free face.)
-S.