Champagne in the fridge.
And life lately, in photos.
Psst: No podcast version today as I am dealing with an end-of-summer cold (very fun!).
Years ago, I read a post from Emily Schuman1 where she mentioned that she always keeps a bottle of champagne in the fridge for special occasions. I loved this idea because it was hopeful. It was a small gesture that said magic and possibility was right around the corner. I also loved it because, at the time, I had an abundance of champagne.
For whatever reason, when I was an editor and a freelance writer, champagne was the thing beauty brands sent in mailers. A new blush… and champagne. A new mascara… and champagne. A new eyeshadow palette… and well, you get the idea. And you know what? Sure! Why not! A girl could hardly complain. So shortly after I read that quote from Emily, I grabbed a bottle of Veuve Cliquot from my pantry with the idea of storing it in the fridge for… something. A one-day dream.
Except I already knew what I wanted the champagne to be for. I knew exactly. I had just started writing a book, and I wanted to keep that champagne in my fridge until I sold said book. I wrote ‘sell my book’ on the foil in Sharpie, stuck it in the fridge, and carried it around with me for four years. When my husband and I moved to another state, the champagne came with, and into the new fridge it went.
Somewhere along the way, I sold another book. When I signed that contract, my therapist said, “Why don’t you open that bottle of champagne now?” It was a fair question. I knew what she was getting at was my tendency to downplay my own accomplishments, to diminish them before anyone else can instead of pausing to celebrate. But I also knew I wasn’t going to open that specific bottle of champagne, not yet. That first book still existed in a drawer somewhere. That first book still meant something to me. I still believed.
Last year, four years after I first placed it in my fridge in Philadelphia, I finally sold that book (you can pre-order it right now). I finally opened that bottle of champagne. I saved the cork. And the foil wrapper. And the bottle itself. The cork is in a bowl of jewelry in my bedroom, buried under a swirl of necklaces and rings. The bottle sits in the corner of my L-shaped desk, next to my journals and my favorite novels. I don’t notice it most days, but when I do, it reminds me that I believed in myself enough to chase a dream. I want that for myself, always. I don’t think the champagne in the fridge guarantees the dream being realized, but I do think it reorients me toward self-belief and hope and possibility. I want that the most, I think. Maybe that’s the dream.
Now, there’s another bottle of champagne in the fridge, for the book I’m currently drafting (more on that below, if you’re interested). I have faith I will open it one day, one way or another. It makes me smile now and I have hope that it will make me smile then, whenever that may be.
And now, some life updates, via my camera roll…
Life lately, in photos.
