Lauren of North Africa is here! (Hey, L.O.N.A. is not a bad acronym for someone that Gus calls Aunt Lola. It just might stick!) Her arrival brings many things:
To begin, she got us out of the house in the afternoon. I can't remember the last time I saw the 4:30pm skies. Normally at 4:38 dinner prep has reached a delicate point and Gus is snacking on playdough and delivery men are buzzing and people are texting and I am running to the window to see if my backpack-wearing husband is on the corner and twenty seven seconds away. Once he's home, I don't like to mess with a good thing and we stay put. And today, after leaving Gus's play date because "if you are not going to treat your friends nicely we are going", I wasn't feeling too spunky. But Lauren brought revival and got us walking (or rather, we drug her on an errand in an effort to be fun and hip Prague-sters). The result was beyond our fathoming----a new and better beer store. And by beer, I mean Aventinus (Tap 6! Tap 6!) from Munich and Delirium Tremens from Belgium and gigantic Kocour bottles that we all carried home in floral shopping bags with glee.
She also brought this:
How can you not befriend someone that juxtaposes French champagne, canned mechouia, and halvah? It's not a complete photo. There was fierce and lively textured art created by one (or both?) of her talented young men. There was also a bag of macarons from a French bakery that Gus and I frequented last week near her Tunisian seaside home. And then there's her. Lauren is all goodness and real conversation and things familiar and deeply loved. She is family, that wicked-smart L, and we are happy to host her in the evenings while she visits Patrick's school during the daytimes to get even smarter.
Lastly, she brought a little organization. I spent Friday's naptime not napping and instead cleaned up a bit and made meals and snacks (I was all about leeks and spinach, so it's Rebar cookbook's Apple, blue cheese, spinach tart and SmittenKitchen baked potato--with leek and added spinach--soup). It's good to have weekend foods and someone with whom we can share them. Lona got me planning ahead, so Monday's sketchbook deadline is met, and we've nothing but free evenings (and possibly a few brews) to savor. Yippee!
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