urbanwanderlust: roving observations of a city girl: all is calm, all is bright

The blogs I read are unusually quiet for a Friday.
Work is abnormally still.

There must be something about midwinter that does this to people.
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I have two friends who are taking adventures! One to Colorado, and one to Alaska. Having done both types of pilgrimages last year (a last-minute trip to Chicago and a trip-of-a-lifetime to Ireland), I am excited on their behalves. Traveling always leaves its mark on you. It's mind-altering to get out there and see the world. And it's serene and warm and comforting to come home. The journey there -- and the journey back -- are such lovely moments, for such different reasons. Getting there is all about anticipation, that good, frenetic anxiety, the pandoric feeling of not knowing what's to come but being intensely curious, so much so that it can scarcely be contained. And coming home is a siren's call, about returning to stasis and balance, about being quiet and reflecting on how you are in the world and how the world is in you.
It's official: now I want to plan a vacation.
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The Hold Steady played on Letterman last night. I willed myself to stay up. They played Stuck Between Stations. It was classic Finn. He was all up there on the Letterman stage, adorably timid in his thick black-framed glasses, encouraging the audience to clas (but not double-time clap... I would like to think he saves that just for we special kids at the Minneapolis shows.) And he's all sweaty and timid and compelling all at the same time... and I just love his stage presence. Kubler's wearing a top hat (!) and there's a close of of Franz on the keyboard, at about which time I promptly swoon in my flannel pants and slippers. He's just. so. good. at what he does.
And it was pretty damn obvious that Letterman didn't have a fricking clue what band was playing... but at the end of the song, Finn sings:

Well these Twin Cities kisses
They all sounds like clicks and hisses
and we come down and drown
in the Mississippi River

And I think, Oh My God.
He's in New York, which (next to Minneapolis) is my favorite place on the planet. And Craig Finn is doing his little ADDin a studio in New York, with all of its history and art and music and diversity and beautiful buildings and fantastic restaraunts and, let's be honest. It's the urban nerve center of the world. And he's singing about me, and my friends, and my city.

And it was probably just exhaustion and everything else in life right now, but it brought tears to my eyes. David Letterman might not know what he had on his stage last night (and perhaps everyone else actually gave two shits about Madonna's adoption blah-de-blah), but I knew. It was magic.
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Taking Monday off... It's Martin Luther King Day, which doens't mean much (unfortunately) in the business world, at least not as far as time off goes. But I am taking a little mini-retreat of my own (not a vacation, just a retreat) and I'm stoked. I don't know why; it isn't like the whole week between Christmas and New Year was excruciatingly busy. But this is different... with the holidays over, its truly relaxation time. I ponder the miracles a whirlpool tub will work. End scene.
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I had one of those productive nights last night -- the kind where you get all the nagging to-dos off the list -- and felt great about it. I love sitting in my home when it is clean and organized and everything is right. I have all my artwork up now; I have the furniture in it's rightful places; my kitchen is as organized as its going to get; and I didn't even have to fight for the washer and dryer last night. Ah, domesticity.
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A short list of things making me happy right now (I just got some disconcerting news, so I'm trying to take a little advice from Monty Python and always look on the bright side of life... whistle with me now):