still in style.

I sometimes wonder if anyone notices the girl with the mustard yellow winter headband warming her ears, loaded down with handbag and gym bag and grocery bag, basking in the warmth of the subway platform (which 5 short months ago was unbearable until the doors of the F train opened, blasting the lucky ones with cool air).  I wonder if they catch her casting sidelong glances at them as they wait for a train, and if they know that she's already stitched a narrative of their past in sixty seconds, all lost loves and long voyages and small in-between moments held together with twine.  I wonder if they've done the same for her.

But most of all, do they notice her reading material?  Do they realize it's no longer Sunday?

rainy day poem.

It's a rainy day in Philadelphia, so I've settled in at the coffeeshop with a giant bowl of milky latte & my GRE books. And I decided it's a poetic rainy kind of day, so I'm sharing a poem by Mary Oliver.



Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me

Last night
the rain
spoke to me
slowly, saying,
what joy
to come falling
out of the brisk cloud,
to be happy again
in a new way
on the earth!
That’s what it said
as it dropped,
smelling of iron,
and vanished
like a dream of the ocean
into the branches
and the grass below.
Then it was over.
The sky cleared.
I was standing
under a tree.
The tree was a tree
with happy leaves,
and I was myself,
and there were stars in the sky
that were also themselves
at the moment
at which moment
my right hand
was holding my left hand
which was holding the tree
which was filled with stars
and the soft rain –
imagine! imagine!
the long and wondrous journeys
still to be ours.

Mary Oliver

time to get oriented.

I'm leaving in about an hour to attend a week-long orientation for the Augustinian Volunteers. I'm anxious, excited, not really that nervous, & really mostly looking forward to getting more focused on my imminent year abroad in South Africa. One of my best friends from college just had her orientation for a different volunteer program, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, and she said it really helped her re-focus and reminded her why she wanted to do this year of service in the first place. I hope to come away feeling that centered.
I think I've overpacked, but it is eight days long. Although it's just down the turnpike in Wayne, it'll be nice to have some time away from home with new faces. I think there are a handful of other Villanova grads in the program as well so maybe I'll make friends with people I never even knew while at school!
Before finishing my errands (like getting a heinous passport picture for my visa and picking up medical forms from the doctor), I stopped by the book sale at the library again with my mom and sister. Today, the remaining titles are half-off... which means I just bought:

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
A Supposed Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace (which I almost bought at Border's for fifteen bucks last week!!)
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, and
Brick Lane by Monica Ali

for a grand total of.... FOUR DOLLARS. God bless the library.

That means that my "fall reading list" now looks a bit like this:

I can't wait to get stuck in! I think my commute by train to my new job in Center City will give me some much-needed reading time.

I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was quite enjoyable; on Friday night, I stayed in with my family and then made a trip over to my friend Ashley's house for birthday cake and a hug, since she turned 22 this weekend. On Saturday, my college roommate Colleen & I met up in Philly for drinks and eats at Tria (one of my new favorite spots!) and then went to see Passion Pit at a sold-out show in the basement at the First Unitarian Church. It's one of my favorite venues, but I have to say it was less of a passion pit and more of a sweat pit. I've never been so disgustingly hot in my whole life. It was, however, one heck of a dance party!

Yesterday, my sister Niamh and I hung out together since she'll be moving back to school when I'm at orientation. We shopped (and I got super excited for fall), laughed a lot, & then made spicy black bean burgers for dinner- they were so delicious! The recipe is here if you'd like to try your own... I highly recommend using Hungry Student's variations on it.

And so, I leave you with a photo or two from the weekend, and à bientôt until I get home next week.

Yummy! Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, truffled egg toast, & Tuscan white bean spread at Tria


Sweating it out to Passion Pit

Mm, mm, mm! That IS a tasty burger!