1. You know when you’re having a Twitter chat and S.E. Hinton drops in?
Turns out the author of my fave teen novel loves elephants as much as I do! In the chat, we were talking about things we will be forever in love with. I said how I will be forever in love with elephants because they’re my spirit animal. As I was posting, I saw S.E. Hinton’s RT of an elephant with some zebras and a giraffe. So of course I had to RT her RT…and there you go. This is the kind of connection with an author I admire that would have blown my mind when I was rereading The Outsiders for the zillionth time as a teen. Yay technology!
2. Speaking of The Outsiders, who remembers this slammin look from 1983?
I mean. C. Thomas Howell was killing it with the popped collar and Izod sweater. And that hair. I have so much love for this movie poster I can’t even. My tattered old copy of the book has this cover, the best cover of all the editions IMHO.
3. Throwing it back to the 80s, I played the violin from 7th grade to 12th grade because I loved the challenge of developing the skills specific to playing a string instrument. There was all this snobbery the orchestra nerds had over the band geeks. Mastering a string instrument requires finesse. Meticulous finger placement. Methodology of bowing. String instruments are nothing like wind instruments, where all you have to do is press buttons or cover holes or whatever. That was our philosophy, and we stuck to it, scoffing whenever some percussion player bragged about his new drum riff. Ah, memories.
I also just love how string instruments look. How they are made. Their parts and pieces. In a way, string instruments are like people.
4. What else do I love? So. Many. Things. Like how at my old place in the West Village and at my new place in Gramercy Park, a personal mourning dove has made friends with me. He sits in a tree outside my window.
If you searched “mourning dove” on this blog, you would probably come up with like 23 results of me talking about how the mourning dove hoo makes me so happy. Seriously. It’s one of those sounds that instantly elevates my mood, no matter what. And look how puffy and cute this guy is! Bliss.
5. THIS.
This is why I’m here. This was the inspiration for my City Love trilogy, which just came to an end with Forever in Love. This is why I moved to New York City 21 years ago, and why I will be forever in love with this magical place, glittery with infinite possibilities.
Here’s to your city love, wherever it may be. ❤
Susane Colasanti - Blog 