1. Yes, I know this is usually a FRIDAY Five, and it’s Thursday. But this week has been nuts, and tomorrow I’m spending the day with my best girls from high school, doing our annual get-together, so I’m going to try and get this done today. Which is hard because I have been going non-stop since about six this morning. It was like the perfect storm of STUFF happening around here: husband leaving for race track at 5am, guys coming to take down a dead, leaning tree by 9, plus babysitter and other people and dogs barking and OH MY GOODNESS. By the time I got over here to my office and the quiet, I felt like it should be bedtime. But that’s the way it is in this house. Either nothing is happening, or everything. There seems to be no in between. Secretly? I think my husband likes it that way. Why, I have no idea.
2. Also today we had some car switcheroo going on, so my babysitter was driving mine and I had my husband’s sedan. It’s a manual transmission, which isn’t a big deal, as I can drive a stick shift. My first car was an automatic, a 1984 Nissan Stanza hatchback:
Mine was blue, and I looked JUST about as cool driving it as you can imagine. (Side note: I found this picture on a site called Old Cars Parked. Ouch! But I digress.) My Stanza was great, though, got me everywhere I needed to go, even if it slowed to a crawl up steep hills. When I was in college, though, my parents traded it in for a new car and gave me their old one, a white Honda Accord with a manual transmission. Learning to drive stick was NOT easy. My husband (then my boyfriend) was too nervous to be in the car with me while it shuddered and stalled repeatedly, so the task was passed to my brother, who had just returned from living at a Zen Buddhist center in California and was very relaxed. We spent hours with me trying to master the clutch, stalling, jerking around parking lots. Finally, I was on my own, so I started practicing late at night, after I got off work at the restaurant. I’d drive around empty neighborhoods, try to stop on hills (sometimes sliding down them backwards, whee!) until I finally got comfortable enough to try daytime. I drove stick for years, and ended up being so used to it that when I did finally buy my own new-to-me car, I was really bummed when the one I wanted and could afford was an automatic. I got it anyway, but since then have prided myself on my stick shift ability. It’s just a good skill to have, like being able to fold a paper sailboat or assemble a decent bean salad from memory. I am still good with a Honda. But my husband’s car is European, the stick is kind of different and today, I kept stalling. Shuddering. Embarrassing myself having to turn the key AGAIN to start at stoplights. (Often some of the SAME stoplights where I stalled out at night, all those years ago. Full circle!) So maybe I am not as good at it as I thought. Which is a realization I am coming to about a lot of things as I get older. And now I am DEPRESSED. *thinks a minute* You know, I wouldn’t want to be in my twenties again, though. Even if it meant rocking the manual transmission. Too much angst, not enough nice sheets. Yeah, forties are good.
3. Speaking of my brother, I will now share this picture of us as kids for no other reason than I WISH I could find a dress in the same toadstool pattern today. Also, you can admire the shag haircut my mother STILL insists was super cute (I disagree):
4. One thing I did in high school AND now was always carry too much stuff in my purse. I have never been able to go minimalist in ANYTHING, but especially when it comes to my bag. Do I NEED a big wallet, sunglasses and regular glasses, my phone, many lipsticks, a cute change purse AND several smaller bags to hold various other things? Probably not. But I have them. I was always the one—speaking of my high school friends—who ended up carrying everyone ELSE’S stuff because I was already lugging around this huge bag. “Can you hold my keys and ID?” I’d hear, and then my shoulder would sag under MORE weight, while my friends danced off to the bar or wherever. Anyway, every once in awhile I decide I am going to try and be different. So this week I found a great little wristlet on sale and got it. It fits only my phone, a couple of credit cards and one lipstick. TINY! But I packed it up for date night with my husband and was feeling SUPER proud of myself…until my babysitter commented on it. I said, “I’m thinking it would be great for if my friends and I end up at a club or something on Girls’ Night.” People: the LOOK on her FACE. “Sarah?” she said to my husband. “At a CLUB?” And then she giggled. In a nice way. See, that’s why I need a big purse. To whack people over the head with when they stuff like that. A wristlet=not the same. (I’m still going to take it with me this weekend, though. So there!)
5. Finally, a book update. I finished Jennifer Weiner’s THE NEXT BEST THING (which I loved) and have now moved onto Gillian Flynn’s GONE GIRL, which is one of those books that picks up steam and suspense so much that you realize you MIGHT be in danger of letting everything else in your life fall by the wayside until you finish it. I am trying not to do that, though. On audio, I finished Anna Quindlen’s LOTS OF CANDLES, PLENTY OF CAKE and have moved onto David Sedaris’ SQUIRREL SEEKS CHIPMUNK, which is just as twisted and weird and wonderful as you would guess from the title. On deck in print: BEAUTIFUL RUINS by Jess Walter; on deck in audio, LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED by Jenny Lawson. So many books, so little time. Especially since I probably need to start writing another one of my own….
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Oh, I loved this blog update! Starting from the memories of the cars (I’m nineteen and I still don’t know how to drive manual. I tried to learn but dropped it. And it’s not like I’m very good at driving automatic. So I use my friends and family as transport).
We’re very proud of you! It must have been hard, all those nights. The best thing is that you didn’t give up.
Wow, you’ve been quite a while with your husband. Was it like now at that time when you started? I think it must be a good story.
And well, you’re the woman of the house! They owe you more respect hahaha. There’s nothing wrong with using a smaller purse. I’m like you, and I’m getting used to using small ones even though I keep needing things I didn’t pack. Oh well, that’s life for us!
Have a good time with your friends!!
Loved Gone Girl.
So, I turn 21 in exactly a week and you are my absolute favorite author. I would love nothing more than to get an autograph from you. Can we make this happen? =)
If you really want it, you can get that toadstool pattern in fabric. There are websites where you can upload a picture and they can turn it in to fabric for you.
I learned how to drive shift in Chapel Hill. I would frequently practice going up hills late at night/early in the a.m. on the street that runs between Airport (now MLK) and Franklin, beside the Flying Burrito/ Foster’s shopping center. I am now fairly convinced that everyone who lived along that road probably found it very amusing. Possibly to the point of a drinking game….
Thanks for the memories! On a side note, THANK YOU for your amazing blog! Love it (as I love every single bit of your writing!)
I absolutely adore the Bloggess! it makes me inexplicably happy that one of my favorite authors is “reading” one of my favorite books not by her!
Hi Sarah!
I’m not sure if your going to see this, but, I’m a teen reader and you are absolutely my favorite author. None of your works have ever disappointed me and I love them all so much, I have all of your books and can’t wait until June for your new one! I wish I could go to one of the book events that you sign at and meet you- hopefully I can someday in the future. You’re a huge inspiration and I hope you’re having a great day. Keep up the good work!
Sincerely, Alli
I can totally relate to you on carrying a big bag! I feel naked without having half of my possessions with me…and I end up carrying everyone’s stuff as well..oh well, the sacrifices we make
I’m feeling like you are my long lost twin. Did your mom make your clothes and cut your hair…just like mine did? The “Dorothy Hamill” cut which really was a glorified bowl cut, ugh!
I also learned to drive on a stick shift with my dad yelling, “This car has a clutch! So USE IT!!” My then boyfriend would let me drive his Camero and that didn’t go any better. Somehow I managed to get my license in the family station wagon, lol!!
Have fun with the girls.
I finished Gone Girl yesterday! Such a crazy crazy book but so good!
lol, i know what you mean, i just got a new car thats automatic, even though i love my new car i still find myself missing my 1996 manual honda civic i used as a trade in. i think manual is just much funner to drive, once you get the hang of it at least, it took me awhile to perfect the skill, my learning experince consisted of here are the keys thats the clutch now drive. sink or swim, it forced me to learn fast.
you loyal fan
[...] always amazes me the peak she gives us into her life. (Like Maureen Johnson, and John Green!) Her Friday Five posts are always fun to read. Go check it [...]
I LOVE YOUR BOOKS SARAH! Please keep writing!!!!
Usually I’m worried that I’ll finish like 8 books throughout the course of the day, so I end up with an extremely heavy bag.
You are such an amazing person. The way you write, & the things you say, make me smile! Thanks for being you and such an awesome inspiration!
& I am 23 and yet came to get the courage to learn to drive a stick shift, but I want to! Props to you, whether you’ve mastered it or not, you still did it; and for that you should be proud.:)
By the way, you’re first little hooptie, is a sexy little car
Thanks for the book updates. I have always stuck to reading your books, and only your books, but I think I will write these ones you recommended down, & find them at my local library & read them ASAP!
Hope you had fun with your besties! I am so excited for you to write a new book! Maybe next week you could tell us some ideas, or a sneak peak? Matter of fact, keep it a surprise. More suspense the better! Thanks again, Sarah!
hey sarah i have been to tell you how mutch your books have ment to me i started reading your books when i was 14 and my parents were haveing problems i needing a was to block out the fighting and your books were the most amazing things they weren’t about silly girls fighting over boys they were about real life i have read your books for 6 years now and have to say they have helped me through a lot my favorite one is just listin i went through a similer thing as annabel and your books have helped me a lot thank you for being an amazing writter your books have really made a difference in my life thank you =)
Omq i just love yur books nd i adore yu so much nd yur books are just life changinq me nd my friends just love readinq them over nd over again yur just an marvellous writer nd our inspriration.
Hi Sarah, I love all of your books! I can’t wait to read the new one
I just started reading your blog too! I just finished reading a book and I can’t seem to find another one to read (none sound all that interesting -.-) Anyway, if I you could maybe recommend some books to read (anyone else here can recommend too!) that would be really great! Thanks!
Hi. I just want to say I have read all your books and lived them all!! Are you planning bin writing a new one? I am a speedy reader but
ith your books, I always intentionally read slow because I hate when they end.