The thing about blogging is that even though I have no idea if anyone is reading, I feel this need to write often and feel as if life is slipping by too quickly when I fail to complete even a short post. Last week I had something I wanted to write about almost every day, and not doing so made me feel like I missed a week of vitamins and need to start tripling up on my calcium and fish oil. At any rate, here’s a week-in-review.

I made really fabulous laundry detergent the other day, trial washed a few loads and then decided I should make more. I got my recipe from http://www.diynatural.com/homemade-laundry-detergent-soap/ and love it because it is a perfect starter recipe. You only need three ingredients: a bar of your favorite soap, Arm and Hammer washing soda, and Borax. Everything is in the laundry aisle at your local grocery store, so it’s super easy to get what you need and get started. I grated a bar of Dove Pomegranate soap, and stirred in one cup of Borax and one cup of washing soda. That’s it! The only tedious part is grating the soap, but I’m going to try the food processor next time. The beautiful thing is that it smells great, cleans well, takes only one tablespoon per load and translates to about .03 cents a load. In the future, I might try to get fancier with a granule mixture that includes fabric softener beads, but for now? Success.

The majority of my week was spent in brain-melting academic sessions at the Atlanta International School, which was the site of my training in order to teach courses in the International Bachelorette program this fall. After full days of “let’s look at the interstices there that creates the enjambment” and trying to figure out acronyms that everyone else seems to know: the IO, the IOC, and the IOP, I literally felt like there was smoke coming out my ears. The remedy? A tour of East Atlanta’s downtown, about a mile from our townhouse. Nicholas and I spent an afternoon taking a foodie’s tour–we started at Tomatillos for a light queso snack and margarita on the patio before sampling Dollie’s ice cream and East Atlanta’s pizza. We walked the streets, admired the graffiti and read the local circular. We planned on one more stop–to Glenwood Neighborhood Pub, who supposedly serves Reuben egg rolls, but they were filming a movie and wouldn’t let us in. Leisurely kicking around the streets was a perfect way to regain perspective and appreciate our new space and community. We ended the day with a visit to the East Atlanta Farmer’s Market, which has similar venders as the one in Grant Park, but had cheaper produce and a more neighborly feel. I loved the sense of belonging in pointing and saying, “We just live down the street. We’ll be here every week.”

Friday night, we walked a portion of the Atlanta beltline for the first time; we were in route to dinner at Harper’s Station, a restaurant on my growing bucket list. Friends of ours just live down the street, and we met at their house, and followed the unpaved railroad tracks to the restaurant. The city is about to continue the paving of the beltline which is going to be really cool in the fall to walk and bike to restaurants and shopping. We sat outside and enjoyed a breezy evening of hilarious stories, great food and dear friends. I haven’t felt like I really fit in anywhere in a while, and it’s amazing and yet humbling to feel this sense of belonging–like coming home even when it’s someone else’s place.

In my quest to continue furnishing and decorating the house on a budget, I went to Scott Antique Market, which takes over an airplane hanger and the surrounding properties once a month in order to display a little junk, some shabby and lots of shabby chic. It really was an incredible experience, and because I couldn’t take in enough in yesterday’s three hours, I went back again this morning in order to bring home another round of gems. I spent the better part of this afternoon refinishing furniture instead of annotating Shakespeare’s Sonnets for a planning session tomorrow.

It was a great week, and I anticipate an even better one–in spite of a lengthy reading list to accomplish for school, the menu board is sporting some new ideas, I have a peach and strawberry “jam” session with a friend, plan to stir up my grandmother’s cinnamon bread, have a girl’s day out with two old friends and leave for Savannah for a belated birthday weekend. Somewhere in there, I’ll be sharing some of Poppi’s Italian recipes, starting with the famous marinara–I can’t wait to share a piece of our kitchen with you!