The CZ Life

October Book Report

2011-11-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

Seriously…I’m Kidding
By Ellen Degeneres
Grand Central Pub., 2011. 241 pgs. Biography

Ellen’s got a new book, and it’s pretty funny. In her most recent memoir/collection of humorous essays she discusses her life and opinions over the last few years. She talks about her popular talk show, her season on American Idol, and her marriage to Portia de Rossi. She writes with her trademark happy humor giving advice on beauty (she is a CoverGirl spokesperson), finding true happiness, being nice, saving our planet, and she even includes a few coloring sheets for the kids.

Ellen is just fun. This book is not terribly deep or insightful, but it is completely enjoyable and can be read really in a day or two. Her fans will certainly want to pick this one up.

Heat Rises
By Richard Castle
Hyperion, 2011. 320 pgs. Mystery

Police investigator Nikki Heat’s career is on the rise. She is up for a big promotion and interested parties are coming out of the woodwork trying to take advantage of her imminent rise to power. Life isn’t quite perfect though since her new boyfriend, reporter Jameson Rook, has failed to keep in touch as he roams the globe researching his next big article. A new case is also giving her trouble and as the investigation deepens and the stakes go up, she may have to gamble everything she has earned to discover the truth.

This is the third installment of the Nikki Heat series which is written by the fictitious author Richard Castle from ABC’s hit drama ‘Castle’. Truly the best parts of these mysteries are the references made to the television series. This volume even refers to actor Nathan Fillion’s portrayal of Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the cult favorite TV show ‘Firefly’. If you are fan of ‘Castle’, I highly recommend reading the Nikki Heat series. If you don’t watch the show, they aren’t quite good enough to stand on their own.

The Twelfth Enchantment
By David Liss
Random House, 2011. 398 pgs. Fiction

Lucy Derrick is the charming heroine of David Liss’s new book which I’m surprised to describe as a Victorian supernatural romance. The recent death of Lucy’s father not only left her bereaved but also penniless. Forced to live with an unkind, distant relation, Lucy decides that her best means of escape will be an advantageous, though loveless marriage to up and coming factory owner, Mr. Olsen. But strange events warn her away from the engagement and even stranger events throw her into the middle of a desperate struggle for the future of England between a number of supernatural factions.

The Twelfth Enchantement provides an interesting story and a few intriguing characters. While I wasn’t captivated on every page, I certainly kept reading and, in the end, I was glad I did. Liss is an interesting author who continues to offer novels of differing types of writing for a variety of time periods and in a number of styles. I admire him for his efforts but would personally be completely satisfied if he stuck with 17th century financial thrillers starring one of my all-time biggest literary crushes, Benjamin Weaver.

The Leftovers
By Tom Perrotta
St. Martin’s Press, 2011. 355 pgs. Fiction

The premise of The Leftovers is absolutely brilliant. What would happen if millions of people just suddenly disappeared? No explanation. No warning. Was it ‘The Rapture’? Why were some taken and others left behind? How would society, families, and individuals react and cope? Perrotta’s story centers on Kevin Garvey, the mayor of a small town, and his wife, son, and daughter. Kevin attempts to keep his family together as they deal with the ‘event’s’ aftermath. But despite Kevin’s efforts, his son leaves college to follow a self-professed savior, his wife joins an organization giving up all earthly ties and takes a vow of silence, and his teenage daughter, once an ‘A’ student, struggles to keep from failing out of school completely. As they each deal with their own experiences and their own losses, they strain to find themselves and their individual futures.

The execution of this story was not quite as brilliant as the premise. While mankind is not a stranger to tragedy and loss, the idea of this type of sudden, mass heartbreak without definable cause or even an entity to blame demonstrates a fascinating theory of what we can survive and how we make sense of our world. What I struggled with was the way Perrotta’s characters all seemed to turn away from family and focus so wholly on themselves. Perhaps this reaction is possible, maybe probable, but I would like to think that in times of such personal turmoil people would turn to those they love and strengthen those bonds as opposed to breaking them. A very interesting read providing a great deal to think about.

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star
By Heather Lynn Rigaud
Sourcebooks Landmark, 2011. 424 pgs. Romance

The major plot points will surprise no one. Our proud and affluent hero meets our poor yet witty heroine and they both immediately dislike each other. Misconceptions and misunderstandings follow until ultimately they realize they are perfect for each other and live happily ever after. That is not to say that readers will not find a few surprises in this reinvention of Pride and Prejudice. With Darcy, Bingley, and Fitzwilliam rock stars and Elizabeth, Jane, and Charlotte members of a struggling girl band given the opportunity to open for Darcy’s group, expect a lot more sex, drugs, and rock and roll than the original story included.

In the Time of the Butterflies
By Julia Alvarez
Algonquin Press, 1994. 325 pgs. Fiction

In 1960, three sisters were found dead near the crash site of their Jeep. The official report claimed that their deaths were accidental but few people actually believed the story. In the Time of the Butterflies tells of how these beautiful young women ended up as legends and martyrs to their cause. Each of them, plus their surviving sister Dede, narrate the tale as they become active in fighting the despotic regime of General Rafael Leonidas Truijillo.

I listened to this book on CD and while I enjoyed the story itself, I did not enjoy the production. The readers were definetly not my favorite and the editing left something seriously wanting. I think if I had simply read the book, I would have walked away with a much more positive impression of the book. The sisters’ journeys were inspiring and I learned a great deal about the culture and politics of the Dominican Republic.

Girls in White Dresses
By Jennifer Close
Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 293 pgs. Fiction

These are the adventures of Isabella, Mary, Lauren and a cast of their friends as they navigate life after college. Some of these girls are getting married and starting families while others are stuck trying to survive the dating scene. Further frustrations are felt when careers fail to move forward as well. But with a great deal of honesty and a good dose of humor, readers are treated to entertaining glimpses into the lives of girls becoming women, wives, and mothers.

At first, I didn’t love this book. The girls all seemed a little too jaded for my taste. They were funny, but I thought their attitudes were darker than they should have been having just graduated from college. It takes a few more years than that to give up on finding true love and gain that level of cynicism. However, as the book progressed, I started to love it more and more. In the end I walked away loving the lessons learned and the overarching message, which I interpreted as being: Life isn’t easy for anyone and your ‘happily ever after’ is not likely to look like you thought it would. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean it still isn’t happy.

The Night Circus
By Erin Morgenstern

An orphaned young boy and a traumatized little girl are headed, eventually, to a mysterious magical competition. Their respective teachers spend years developing their skills and strength but keep them completely in the dark concerning the nature of their approaching contest. The venue constructed to both showcase and disguise their magical duel is a breathtaking circus that appears mysteriously and treats its visitors to experiences and wonders beyond their wildest fantasies.

But such a public and complicated setting unavoidably involves a great many people, and when the duelists’ forbidden passion for each other threatens the stability of the circus, it also threatens the lives and safety of all the people they have come to consider family.

“The Night Circus,” by Erin Morgenstern, is a dark and enchanting journey into a magical world described in such vivid detail that its colors and wonders simply come alive. Readers become visitors to the circus and explore the amazing tents, taste the delectable confections, and witness unbelievable feats of skill and daring.

This is a wonderful debut novel that has been described as “Harry Potter for adults.” It certainly presents an equally engaging and vibrant imagined world, with characters fighting against daunting powers. Positive buzz for this book was circulating long before its release and it seems to be living up to the hype. There’s a good chance “The Night Circus” will become one of this year’s most popular releases.

Crossed
By Ally Condie

This is the second book in the Matched trilogy. Cassia leaves her comfortably controlled life with her family in the Society to search for Ky who has been sent to the Outer Provinces where he is unlikely to return. She finds clues to his escape into a distant slot canyon. I liked this book more than I liked the first. The narrative picks up a lot and I enjoyed the alternating viewpoints between Ky and Cassia. I'm excited for the third and final book to come out next year.

The Language of Flowers
By Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Victoria Jones has spent her entire life bouncing from one foster home to another. Having finally reached her eighteenth birthday, she is finally able to emancipate herself and head to live on her own terms. Her obsession with flowers and their meanings, as identified by a Victorian guidebook, becomes a great means of supporting herself when she gets a job arranging flowers with a local florist.

This is an interesting look at families, the families we build around ourselves as well as the ones we are born with. Victoria isn't the most endearing protagonist, but she provides a great look into the mind of a very damaged young woman fighting to build her life. It was good...not squeaky clean...but good.

Room
By Emma Donoghue

Jack has never left the twelve foot by twelve foot room he was born in. On his fifth birthday his mother begins to tell him of the world outside The Room. But without a point of reference, everything his mother describes seems unbelievable. She tells him that they are being held captive by a man who kidnapped her from her family years ago and that they need to escape. And so Jack begins his journey into the world and his discovery of his place within it.

This book was good, but disturbing. Jack's five-year-old voice got a little grating...I had to read it because I had tried to listen to it but couldn't get mare than 30 seconds into it without wanting to tear my ears off because of the annoying 'child's voice' that was being used. That said, it is also a really interesting story. How terrifying would the world be when your whole life you had only known a single person and a single place? It ends on a positive note, but it's quite a rough journey to get there.

I don't know exactly how...but my life just changed...

2011-10-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was listening to a book on CD called "The Social Animal" (it's been very good, so far I highly recommend it). It's all about humans and our behaviors, etc. It is filled with many interesting little tidbits of information, which I obviously love. But yesterday I heard something that seriously challenged my whole understanding of my lack of a dating life.

Get this...they did this study where they had a bunch of men go on a hike and made them cross a rickety old bridge that was questionably safe. Right after they crossed, a young woman came to them and asked them some questions and then, on the pretext of them having additional questions about the survey, gave them her telephone number. They also had the young woman do the same thing to a group of men who had not just crossed a freaky bridge.

So, only about (I don't remember the exact number) 30% of men who hadn't crossed the bridge called the girl within a week of getting her number. 65% of the men who had crossed the bridge and were all high on adrenaline called her back.

Do you know what this means?? They found that the men's subconscious minds confused interest in the girl with the rush of adrenaline they felt after almost dying!!

I have always wanted to go sky diving and all of the sudden I have a really good reason to do it. I just need to make sure some desirable guy is there jumping with me....then I introduce myself and boom....he thinks I'm exciting! Then he can hopefully stay confused long enough to actually get to know me and see that I'm not the worst option out there!! It's a foolproof plan!!

Okay...so that may not work. But I am certainly going to look into more extreme sports or activities in which to participate. Obviously, this will require some more thought... And why didn't I know about this before I went on a trip to California and spent a whole day on roller coasters??!! I didn't hit on a single man while I was there!!

Books I Didn't Review at Work

2011-09-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

So I usually just steal my work book reviews and post them here....'cause I'm lazy. But sometimes I read something another librarian already reviewed and then I just don't get around to reviewing them here. But, here is a little make up. These will certainly be shorter than the others....I'm tired!

No Apology by Mitt Romney

I listened to this and actually liked it. It was interesting to hear what Romney's beliefs are. I'm not as politically minded as I should be, but listening to this let me feel a bit more informed.

Witches of East End by Melissa De la Cruz

This is a YA author who wrote this book for an adult audience. I believe it ties into her YA series, Blue Bloods which is about rich vampires in New York. The Witches of East End is about a mother and her two daughters, all witches, and all trying to live without using their magic. They fail miserably.

I'll be honest....I didn't love this book. I don't really recommend it.

Bloodmoney by David Ignatius

I've been on a 'spy n

ovel' binge for the past few months and I'll admit they are all getting a bit mixed up in my head. This one is about an undercover operation going horribly wrong and the subsequent investigation that puts even more lives in danger. The investigation is led by Sophie, a young agent with a few serious grudges. That's about all I remember about the plot, but I remember really lik

ing it. It's a little gritty and violent, but really well written and great if you are looking for a suspenseful read.

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Valentine is an apprentice shoe maker in her grandmother's wedding shoe boutique in New York City. In this chic lit/fashionista novel she searches for love and professional success. At first I really loved it...and then she just wouldn't shut up! Seriously....she goes on and on and on about her frustrations and family troubles and work issues...etc. etc. etc. Made me want to scream at her...

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Two sisters are reunited after one ran away from home soon after graduation. It's been years and she returns with a daughter in tow and an angry ex on her trail. She reluctantly returns home where her sister has a catering business which uses the family's enchanted garden to prepare food that alters the eaters feelings. Not bad. I liked her new book The Peach Keeper a lot better.

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Walton (this is my review from

the Daily Herald)

Imagine waking each morning unable to remember the last 20 years of your life. You are lying next to a man claiming to be your husband and in the mirror you find wrinkles, scars and gray hairs you don’t remember acquiring. Sounds a bit like the movie “50 First Dates,” but “Before I Go to Sleep” by S. J. Watson is no comedy.

One morning, when Christine awakes and attempts to orient herself to her unfamiliar life, she discovers a journal she has been keeping. This journal chronicles discoveries she has made over the past few weeks about her history, the incident that caused her amnesia, and a terrifying list of the lies she is told anew each day.

I cannot help but compare this brilliant book to the classic thriller starring Audrey Hepburn , “Wait Until Dark.” The suspense creeps up on you, grips you by the throat, and drags you down a path you are sure cannot end well. The reader senses the danger and knows that the heroine is blind to what is lurking in the dark corners of her mind.

“Before I Go to Sleep” is a carefully crafted psychological thriller that is certain to linger in your mind long after that final page is turned.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Very much like The Secret Life of Bees and Charms of the Easy Life. CeeCee has seen a lot of hardship in her 14 short years and it will take a whole cast of delightful southern women to help her heal. A sweet coming of age story with a good dose of Southern charm. Cute.

American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

A wealthy American heiress (surprise!!) marries a poor British earl. Navigating the British aristocracy is much more difficult than the young bride anticipates and accepting his wife's financial support strains the marriage almost immediately. This is really a great book and it's pretty clean, too. Great for anyone who loves historical novels with a little helping of romance.

Book Report

2011-09-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

Adrenaline
By Jeff Abbott
Grand Central Pub., 2011. 400 pgs. Fiction

Sam Capra’s life is almost perfect. He has a beautiful wife he loves, a new baby on the way, and an exciting job with the CIA. However, in the blink of an eye everything is gone, his wife and child are missing, his coworkers are all dead, and the government he has served faithfully believes he has betrayed them. Desperate to rescue his family and restore his professional reputation, Sam is willing to do almost anything. And while he makes some shocking discoveries about people he has trusted in the past, his greatest shock may be the discovery of his own capacity for violence when the ones he loves are at risk.

True to its name, Adrenaline is a fast-paced piece of espionage fiction. Sam is a great character and you can’t help but root for him. The action keeps coming and there are a number of surprises along the way. This is no doubt the first book in a series featuring Capra, since the ending is left wide open for continuations. Crime and spy novel readers will enjoy this new addition to the genre.

Thick as Thieves
By Peter Spiegelman
Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 295 pgs. Mystery.

Carr was recruited from the CIA into a ring of thieves by an old man who quickly takes the haunted young man under his wing. At the end of a seemingly simple job, Carr’s mentor is gunned down, leaving the crew without a leader and Carr with a pile of questions. Despite their recent losses, the thieves decide to proceed with a job, monumental in its scope, but with the potential to provide them all with a generous retirement. As the danger becomes more and more real, tension between the players mount, and Carr finds himself questioning the people he must trust with his life.

Thick as Thieves is an utterly fantastic heist novel. It has action, intrigue, and suspense in just the right quantities. Just when you think you know who to trust, the other shoe drops and you are left reeling from new discoveries and eminent danger. Very fun and very exciting!

The Magicians
By Lev Grossman
Viking, 2009. 402 pgs. Fantasy.

Quentin has spent his entire life waiting for the ‘something more’ he instinctively knows is out there. Then suddenly, at the start of his senior year of high school, he is transported to a hidden school where he discovers a world of magic and possibility. The problem is that when anything is possible and troubles can be banished with a quick spell, life loses its wonder. After graduating, Quentin and his friends find they must travel beyond this world to find the adventure they crave.

This is Harry Potter for adults, complete with whiney teenagers and adults who are unnecessarily cryptic and secretive. While I didn’t love the book, I didn’t hate it either. Some of the characters are intriguing and the storyline had some merit. I think what bothered me most were how obviously the author was paying tribute to classic fantasy works like the Chronicles of Narnia and The Wizard of Oz. Everything seemed a little stolen which made me feel a bit like a guilty accomplice. But it was still crafted with skill and epic fantasy readers will probably enjoy this first book in the Magicians series.

Sister
By Rosamund Lupton
Random House, 2011. 336 pgs. Mystery.

Beatrice lives in New York, an ocean from her only sister Tess, a poor art student studying in London. But the distance doesn’t keep them from maintaining an intensely close relationship and when Tess goes missing, Beatrice immediately flies to England to help locate her. As the investigation proceeds, the police decide no foul play is involved, despite Beatrice’s assurances that her sister was being harassed and feared for her safety. Without official support, Beatrice tries to use what resources she has to investigate on her own and find her beloved sister.

Sister is a touching psychological thriller, if such a thing is possible. The relationship between the two women provides depth of character and motive which intensifies the impending danger and the reader’s engagement. Revelations are spaced throughout the narration providing various ‘ah-ha’ moments and a satisfying pace. This is a terrific debut effort from a promising new writer.

Rules of Civility
By Amor Towles
Viking, 2011. 334 pgs. Historical Fiction.

The year is 1938 and the city is New York. America is just finding its financial footing after surviving the Great Depression and young Americans are seeing that their dreams may not be as impossible as they may have seemed only a few years ago. On a dark New Year’s Eve, Katey, Eve, and Tinker meet up and begin the year with a promise to break out of their ruts and embrace unexpected opportunities. Within weeks, a tragic car accident will force those promised changes and start the three friends toward futures no one could have anticipated.

This story is fantastic and these characters are vibrantly depicted, but it’s the sense of place the author infuses in his writing that makes this one of the best books I’ve read this year. Katey, is by far, the star of the story. And, while the book is certainly more literary than those typically labeled ‘chick lit’, I can not seem to keep myself from placing her among my favorite heroines from that genre. She is certainly more self-assured and socially presentable than Bridget Jones, but she still inspires in this reader that same sense of loyalty and desire for her to come out on top. This is an easy recommendation to historical and literary fiction readers.

Then Came You
By Jennifer Weiner
Atria Books, 2011. 352 pgs. Fiction

This is a story of four women. Each one is at a turning point in life and is struggling with her own set of challenges. India is attempting to becoming a mother before the opportunity has passed. Bettina, India’s step-daughter is desperately trying to keep her fractured family from further disintegration. As a college student, Jules has financial troubles which are complicated by her drug addict father. And finally, Annie who needs to help keep her family financially afloat while staying at home with her two young boys. These four women will be brought together and each one will play a vital role in the life of a baby being brought into the world.

This book was okay. The premise is intriguing and the issues interesting. Society’s definition of family is put under the microscope as the story raises the consequences of solutions science has found to help infertile couples have children. Egg donation and surrogacy are both necessary to bring India’s familial dreams to life but unanticipated events complicate the already convoluted situation. A decent addition to the world of women’s literature.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany
By Susan Vreeland
Random House, 2011. 405 pgs. Historical Fiction

Clara Driscoll lived during an exciting and turbulent time; especially if you were a woman in the workforce. Following a brief marriage to an older man, the young widow returned to work at the studio of Louis Comfort Tiffany, a respected artist and eventual heir of the famous Tiffany and Co. jewelry company. She managed his department of unmarried women building stained glass windows and eventually helped to invent and design the beautiful Tiffany lamps crafted from stained glass. Her story vividly portrays how hard women in the early 1900s fought to secure a place in both the arts and in the corporate world.

Vreeland brings art to life in her fiction. Her descriptions of the masterpieces created in glass cannot help but fascinate readers. As with much historical fiction, the best part is that it is based on actual facts. Clara’s unrecognized contributions to such a famous art form is a tragedy. And while in life she never received credit for her gifts or skills, this novelization of her efforts and courage is inspiring. A good choice for art and historical fiction fans.

The Art of Racing in the Rain
By Garth Stein
Harper, 2008. 321 pgs. Fiction

Enzo, a lab terrier mix, is adopted as a puppy by a race car driver named Denny. The two bond almost immediately and Enzo quickly realizes he is far more self-aware than other dogs. He watches as Denny meets and falls in love with Eve and learns how quickly things can change as a couple becomes a family. As he narrates the story, Enzo recognizes the strength and courage necessary to live a full life, loving people and striving to achieve fulfillment.

This has been a popular novel over the past couple of years. If the reader is a ‘dog person,’ I think it would be easy to enjoy the story and Enzo’s insights. However, since I’m not even an ‘animal person’ I found the canine narration annoying and self-righteous, but I believe I am severely biased and species-ist. I enjoyed Denny and Eve’s story and some of the parallels drawn between life and racing, but I was never able to really ‘buy in’ to the book’s premise. I good book for a different audience.

July Book Report

2011-08-13T20:03:00.000-07:00

The Mozart Conspiracy
By Scott Mariani
Simon & Schuster, 2011. 337 pgs. Fiction.

As a former British SAS officer, Ben Hope has a valuable skill set that he uses to help individuals in a variety of crisis situations. After rescuing a kidnapping victim, Ben’s hopes of several weeks of recuperation are destroyed by a call from a close friend’s sister, who also happens to be Ben’s ex. Leigh’s brother died months ago in an apparent accident, however recent events are making the circumstances surrounding his death look more and more suspect and Leigh’s own life has now been threatened. Here enters an intriguing and dangerous puzzle involving Mozart’s mysterious death and the Freemason movement of the late 18th Century.

This book has been described as “James Bond meets Jason Bourne meets The Da Vinci Code,” which is a tall order to fill. But Scott Mariani succeeds in this exciting adventure novel. The Mozart Conspiracy is the first American release for a British series that currently has six installments. I am anxiously looking forward to the next volume’s US release. Enthusiastically recommended!

A Young Wife
By Pam Lewis
Simon & Schuster, 2011. 289 pgs. Historical Fiction.

Based loosely on the life of the author’s grandmother, A Young Wife tells the story of Minke van Aisma. At the age of 15, Minke is sent to Amsterdam from her small fishing village to care for the dying wife of a wealthy businessman named Sander DeVries. After only a few months, the wife dies and Minke is caught completely off-guard when Sander proposes marriage and a plan to leave the Netherlands for opportunities in Argentina. Mistaking an exciting infatuation with lasting love, Minke agrees to the marriage and is soon saying farewell to her family and homeland. However, life in Argentina fails to live up to Sander’s promises and Minke is forced to face the consequences of her rash decision to marry a man she barely knew.

I thought the most interesting part of A Young Wife was the descriptions of turn of the century Netherlands, Argentina, and New York. Each stage of Minke’s journey illuminated the lives of immigrants who left the Old World searching for happiness in the New. I finished the book a bit curious as to what portions of the story were true and which portions were fictionalized. The plot’s conclusion seemed a bit too coincidental to be believable but sometimes truth can actually be stranger than fiction, so you never know.

Prophecy: An Historical Thriller
By S.J. Parris
Doubleday, 2011. 375 pgs. Mystery.

Giordano Bruno returns in this second installation of Parris’s new mystery series. This time, all of England is talking about the prophecies predicting Queen Elizabeth’s imminent death. Powerful astrological phenomena abound but when one of the Queen’s ladies is found violently murdered, Bruno is skeptical about the causes being supernatural and begins a hunt for conspirators and murderers.

Parris continues her series with vibrant historical settings and an intriguing mystery to unravel. Bruno is an entertaining and likable hero with virtues as well as faults providing a believable and multilayered character. This is a great choice for both mystery readers and those who enjoy historical fiction.

Robopocalypse
By Daniel H. Wilson
Doubleday, 2011. 347 pgs. Science Fiction.

In a future not far distant from our own, humankind has grown to depend heavily on machines and computers to assist them in their day-to-day lives. As researchers continue to increase the intelligence of their robotic creations, one scientist gives life to a murderous super computer who creates a networked army with the machines and androids present around the world. Now a great war is being waged and the people of Earth will have to work together to survive a nightmare of their own creation.

This is an apocalyptic story of mankind’s ability to adapt and survive. It is told as an oral history through transcripts, surveillance footage, and eyewitness accounts. It can certainly be classed as an exciting sci-fi thriller. However, on the final page I was surprised at how disappointed I felt that I had not been able to spend more time with the characters. Their development remained shallow and they never progressed beyond acquaintances keeping the reader at an unsatisfying distance. A good quick read if you are in the mood for adventure, but if you enjoy character development and more depth in your reading, you may want to pass. A movie is rumored to be in the works for release in 2013.

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris
By David McCullough
Simon & Schuster, 2011. 558 pgs. Nonfiction

Paris during the 19th Century was considered the world's center for the arts and learning. This was one reason why a number of Americans including author James Fennimore Cooper, artist and inventor Samuel Morse, painter Mary Cassatt, and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sacrificed much to live, for at least a while, the Parisian life. "The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris" is a history of these and other influential Americans and how their time in the City of Light shaped their accomplishments and helped prepare the United States for the coming century of achievement.

There is no question that David McCullough has earned his place as one of the greatest historical writers publishing today. He seems to be able to take almost any topic and bring it to life. "A Greater Journey" is no different and brings to light an amazing group of individuals whose experiences abroad inspired their work and achievements. Anyone who has, will, or desires to visit Paris should pick up this book. It will certainly augment the experience and bring added significance to the city's many attractions, historic sights, and timeless allure.

The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You
By Eli Pariser
Penguin Press, 2011. 294 pgs. Nonfiction

As Internet users we are, in general, oblivious to the amount of information our most trusted websites are collecting about us and our interests. Google, Facebook, Amazon, and many other sites use information gleaned from our past use to improve our experience the next time we log on. How this personalization is putting our society at risk is the topic of Eli Pariser’s new book. He shows that this new online environment, in the short term seems to be a great idea since we get relevant results quickly and do not need to spend as much time searching and sorting. But in the long run, we lose an accurate portrayal of what the world around us actually looks like.

Pariser's aim is clearly to frighten readers and he does a pretty good job. If you would prefer to continue your carefree enjoyment of the Internet and its amazing conveniences, certainly do not consider reading "The Filter Bubble." If, on the other hand, you are ready to have your eyes opened to the dangers presented when we mindlessly trust the websites we use daily, this is a troubling report sure to ignite important conversations.

Book Reviews

2011-07-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

Doc: A Novel
By Mary Doria Russell
Random House, 2011. 394 pgs. Fiction.

The need to fight for life began at birth for John Henry Holliday who immerged into this world with a cleft palate, which at that time was almost a death sentence for a newborn. His uncle, a gifted surgeon was able to repair much of the deformity, and his mother spent months feeding him with a dropper and years helping him to speak well enough that few knew he had ever struggled. While he was still young, his mother died of tuberculosis and left her only son with the same disease. His TB would eventually force him to move from his home to the dry, clean air of the Wild West. He would eventually become famous for his involvement in a brief shootout at the O.K. Corral and generations would know him by his nickname, Doc Holliday.

Doc is historical fiction at its finest. Russell paints a realistic and vibrant portrait of an educated man forced to live in a wild frontier. Doc Holliday is a great hero in his own story and while Russell doesn’t sensationalize the myths that are associated with his life and deeds, he is still clearly a larger-than-life character along with Wyatt and Morgan Earp, Miss Kate, and other key players who inhabited Dodge City. Readers will appreciate Russell’s humor and beautiful writing style along with Doc’s adventurous and courageous spirit.

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War
By Karl Marlantes
Atlantic Monthly Press, 2010. 600 pgs. Fiction.

The horrors of war are brought alive through the story of young Lieutenant Waino Mallas as he joins Bravo Company deep in the jungles of war torn Vietnam. Mallas joins the Marines hoping to distinguish himself and launch his hoped for political career. But the realities of the controversial conflict almost immediately make him question the wisdom of his enlistment. Wild jungle animals, disease, malnutrition, jungle rot, leaches, not to mention the opposing forces all endanger the lives of Bravo Company marines. However, the internal dangers of the conflict become nearly as deadly as Mallas faces misinformed and dangerously ambitious officers as well as violent racial aggression.

This is an extremely powerful novelization of a conflict that has not been portrayed often in fiction. It’s a stunning debut effort for Marlantes who spent ten years writing it using his own ex-marine experiences. He pulls no punches as he describes the violence and trauma faced by soldiers at war. Readers should expect a great deal of gritty language along with an amazing and eye opening story that won’t be forgotten soon.

22 Britannia Road
By Amanda Hodgkinson
Viking, 2011. 323 pgs. Historical Fiction.

World War II stories abound in recent literature, but 22 Britannia Road tells of the personal aftermath the conflict visited upon those who survived. Silvana and Janusz fell in love, married, and welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world just as Germany took control of their Hungarian homeland and they were forced to part. Years later, they reunite in a small home on Britannia Road in England. But too much has happened during their separation to allow them to pick up where they left off. The scars and secrets they carry will eventually rise to the surface and the love they once had for each other may not be strong enough to keep their family from falling apart.

Despite my own struggle to relate to these characters, 22 Britannia Road is a great historical novel. It illuminates the heroic efforts required by that generation to live the lives they fought for so desperately. Living through war is only half the story. For those who remained, peace would require equal acts of bravery and resolve.

Smokin’ Seventeen
By Janet Evanovich
Bantam Books, 2011. 308 pgs. Mystery.

Stephanie Plum has a serious problem. She is in love with two men. One is Trenton police detective Joe Morelli. The other is mysterious security expert Ranger. Both men have undeniable attractions and both relationships contain possibly insurmountable obstacles. But Stephanie is determined to find out what her heart wants and she may possibly have time to make a decision if it weren’t for all the people who are trying to kill her, not to mention the dead bodies that keep appearing with gift tags addressed to her. Add to that an unfortunate curse placed on Stephanie by Morelli’s crazy grandmother and you are set for another fantastic mystery in this hilarious series.

This is one of those guilty pleasures I just can’t seem to resist. I love Stephanie. I love Lula. I love Grandma Mazer. I even love Mooner. However, the past few books have left me a little disenchanted with the love triangle. Stephanie just seems to waffle back and forth between the two men and it seemed to be getting a bit stale. Smokin’ Seventeen broke that trend and I felt that the plotline was able to progress without actually progressing …a difficult thing to manage as has been demonstrated by innumerable series both in print and on TV. I am, once again, looking forward to Evanovich’s next Plum mystery.

Couple More...

2011-06-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

The Peach Keeper
By Sarah Addison Allen
Bantam Books, 2011. 273 pgs.

This was a really great, quick summer read. Willa Jackson's life is upturned as her old family home is restored to its previous glory. The renovation stirs up old ghosts and better yet, old skeletons. Willa's attempts to distance herself from her family's past as well as her own is made impossible, especially when old high school friends turn up. She and an odd and somewhat unwilling group of high school classmates are thrown together and forced to face their pasts as well as their futures.

This isn't a squeekly clean read, but it was fun with a little romance, a little mystery, and a little invitation to join the book's characters in deciding if the years between your high school graduation and now were spent becoming more or less the true you.

Dead Reckoning
By Charlaine Harris
Ace Books, 2011. 325 pgs.

I'm really just posting this because I feel a need to have full disclosure. I'd hate to think I was lieing to anyone about the garbage I sometimes read. I swore I wouldn't continue with this series after the last one, which was just dumb! But, I totally caved and fortunatel, Dead Reckoning was actually better than #10, though nowhere near as good as the first 5 or 6. I'm afriad I can't recommend any of them since the poor plot development after book 7 or 8 just doesn't make up for how much fun those first few are. The series really doesn't have many, if any, redeaming qualities....except that I love Eric...darn it all!

Book Reviews

2011-06-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

The Redbreast
By Jo Nesbo
Harpercollins, 2006. 519 pgs. Mystery

The plot to this wonderfully complicated thriller/mystery begins at the German Eastern front with a group of Norwegian soldiers fighting the Russians for the Nazi regime. This historical story is told amid a modern story starring Harry Hole, an unlucky inspector for the Norwegian Security Service. The two narratives are expertly woven together and the plot takes a number of fantastic and unexpected turns.

Harry Hole is a terrific protagonist for this mystery series. Nesbo is a good writer and unfolds his story with a great deal of insight into the human psyche. It does have a dominant European feel and I would readily recommend The Redbreast to anyone who enjoyed Larsson’s popular series but would like to try something with a little less graphic violence and sex. I am eager to continue to read of Harry’s further adventures in the second book in the series, Nemesis!

Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography
By Rob Lowe
Henry Holt & Co., 2011. 308 pgs. Biography

Rob Lowe’s autobiography takes readers through his early mid-western childhood, his introduction to fame and the addictions that followed, and finally to his recovery and eventual professional and personal success. The narrative moves quickly as Lowe describes his journey through the obstacles of life in the limelight. He does, indeed, tell some great stories and he includes a star studded line-up of friends, acquaintances, and colleagues.

Lowe proves himself a good writer and I could easily list Stories I Only Tell My Friends among the best celebrity autobiographies I’ve read. You could almost accuse him of name dropping, except that he makes it so much fun. Celebrities pop up consistently and Lowe’s behind the scene stories make this a perfect book for fans of the Brat Pack and all things 80s. Warning: Readers should be prepared to feel a serious need to Netflix The Outliers, St. Elmo’s Fire, and the first four seasons of The West Wing.

Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II
By Mitchell Zuckoff
Harpercollins, 2011. 384 pgs. Nonfiction

High in the unexplored mountains of New Guinea, just as World War II was wrapping up, a plane full of servicemen and women crashed and was swallowed by the dense jungle terrain. They had set out on a sightseeing expedition to fly over a hidden valley frequently referred to as Shangri-La. Survivors of the fiery crash would need to find a way to signal search planes and then survive until a rescue mission could be attempted. After weeks of surviving in and exploring the exotic region, survivors and their rescuers were finally able to escape the hidden paradise and return to civilization.

What makes this book great are the amazing people involved in the rescue and the survivors themselves. Their stories are fascinating. Also, the natives of the valley add a great deal to the story as readers glimpse a community of people completely isolated from the outside world. What was a little disappointing was that the actual rescue operation took up only the last several pages and, while it was certainly daring and fraught with danger, it still left me a little underwhelmed. Despite that, this is a wonderful piece of nonfiction that can easily be recommended to World War II enthusiasts and armchair adventurers.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich
By Eric Metaxas
Thomas Nelson, 2010. 591 pgs. Biography

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born the son of a respected psychologist in Germany just after the turn of the century. Raised as an intellectual, Dietrich surprisingly decided to dedicate his career to the study of theology. As he began to study religion, he quickly became a sincere and prolific Christian at a time when devoted religious practices were far from popular. When the Third Reich gained control of German politics, Bonhoeffer’s beliefs placed him prominently against the Nazi Party. His tremendous patriotism and desire to truly live his religion ultimately required him to make the greatest sacrifice possible.

This was such a great book about a truly inspirational man. Many are familiar with the Valkyre plot to kill Hitler. However, the story behind the brave men who had been placing themselves in opposition to Hitler from the outbreak of war have had less notoriety. Bonhoeffer’s biography brings many of these heroes to light and his theology, deeply rooted faith, and very personal relationship with God make this a recommended read for many reasons.

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School
By Alexandra Robbins
Hyperion, 2011. 436 pgs. Nonfiction

Alexandra Robbins new book focuses on her ‘Quirk Theory’ which states that the very characteristics that make some students outcasts during their middle school and high school years are the characteristics that may make them more successful adults once they enter the real world. To prove her point, she introduces readers to seven people representing the “lunchroom fringe”. We me meet the loner, the popular bitch, the nerd, the new girl, the gamer, the weird girl, and the band geek. Each of these characters is given a challenge to change other’s perceptions of them by stepping outside their comfort zone and engaging with others.

If you are reticent to return to the awkward moments we all had in high school, I’d veer clear of this book. However, if you are interested in the psychology of cliques and teen self esteem this is a great place to get an honest look at what it means to be a teen in today’s high schools. It is difficult not to start rooting for each of these characters as they try to make a difference and gain the confidence we wish all young adults had access to. Robbins ends the book with a list of things teens, parents, teachers and administrators can all do to improve the social aspects of our educational system. I believe the one overwhelming lesson to be taken from her narratives is that we need to encourage the celebration of diversity and individuality in ourselves and others, not only in high school, but far beyond.

Swamplandia!
By Karen Russell
Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 315 pgs. Fiction

On a small island in the rural swamplands of Florida lives Ava Bigtree and her family. They run a tourist attraction headlining Ava’s mother, Hilola, who swims with and wrestles the alligator. Business was never booming but when Hilola dies of cancer the family is left with a gaping hole and no star performer for Swamplandia!. The family begins to crumble apart as Grandpa’s dementia requires he be sent to a home on the mainland; Ava’s brother’s resentment of their father’s desperate attempts to keep the park open eventually forces him to run away from home; her sister hides from her disappointing life by communing with the spirits which haunt the swamp; and Ava is left trying to hold the family together as she desperately clings to the only life she has ever known.

Florida’s Everglades is a great setting for an interesting coming of age story and family drama. However, I never felt a real connection to the characters or their stories. Ava’s older brother, Kiwi, was the most believable or at least the most accessible of the characters and his efforts to acclimate himself to life off the island were some of my favorite parts of the story. But I felt the ending was unexpectedly dark and a bit contrived leaving me somewhat unsettled.

The Dangerous Edge of Things
By Tina Whittle
Poisoned Pen Press, 2011. 281 pgs. Mystery

Tai’s life is already a bit complicated. Despite her brother Eric’s adamant disapproval, she has inherited her uncle’s gun shop and is in the midst of establishing a new life for herself in Atlanta. So when she finds a dead woman in a car parked outside Eric’s home she is quickly in over her head. To help her in his absence, Eric hires a security firm to protect her, a job that would be infinitely easier if she could overcome her uncontrollable curiosity. Trey Seaver, her protective service agent, has his work cut out for him as he tries to keep her safe while keeping her from discovering his own secrets.

This book has been compared to Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels. It does share a fairly incompetent female protagonist placed is situations she is far from being equipped to handle and a cast of intriguing and entertaining supporting characters. However, Whittle’s new series doesn’t include the madcap hilarity, not to mention the language and sex, Stephanie Plum is famous for. Despite these differences, and possibly because of them, I found The Dangerous Edge of Things completely enjoyable and I look forward to reading more of Tai’s adventures in the future.

Best Library Conversation of the Year

2011-06-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

This just happened and I HAD to share. A little girl just approached the desk and we had this little chat:

LG: Can I have a piece of paper?
ME: Sure. (I give her an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of scratch paper with a little printing on the back)
LG: I don't want this one. There's stuff on it.
ME: Yes, but it's free!
LG: I want one of those clean pieces.
ME: Those aren't free.
LG: They gave me one before.
ME: Well, they were being nice. I'm mean.
LG: Are you mean to your kids?
ME: I don't have any kids?
LG: You don't! Do you have a dad?
ME: I do.
LG: Do you have a husband?
ME: Nope.
LG: Why not?
ME: Probably because I'm mean.
LG: Well then why did Jesus make you?
ME: He probably wants me to be nice.
LG: My mom is mean.
ME: I seriously doubt that. I'm sure she is really nice.
LG: No. She's mean.
ME: Well, I'm sure we are both trying.
LG: I guess. (And off she skips with her piece of scratch paper.)

Absolutely made my day.

Book Reviews

2011-05-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

Please Look After Mom
By Kyung-sook Shin
Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 237 pgs. Fiction

On a train station platform in Seoul Korea, Park So-nyo disappears. Her husband and four children search for her without results for weeks. They run newspaper ads and walk the city’s streetshanding out flyers offering a reward for information leading to her recovery. The emotional journey this tragedyforces the family to take is told through the voice of a son, a daughter, a husband, and a mother. Each must deal with a lifetime of regrets built by daily taking those closest to us for granted.

This is a powerfully poignant book perfect for Mother’s Day. It aptly demonstrates the sacrifices so many mothers make as they struggle to raise children, support husbands, and fulfill the myriad of responsibilities and tasks required when keeping a home. Several of the sections of this book are written in 2nd person taking the reader on a strangely personal journey with the character. The last time I read something in that tense it was “Choose Your Own Adventure” story. This book was infinitely better and can easily be recommended to anyone. Perfect for book clubs.

Caleb’s Crossing
By Geraldine BrooksViking, 2011. 306 pgs. Fiction

Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk was born a Wopanaak chief’s son on the island of Noepe (Martha’s Vineyard) in 1646. Colonists from the mainland had just settled on part of the island and some felt they had a Christian responsibility to convert as many native islanders as possible. Bethia, the daughter of one such missionary and religious leader, tells Caleb’s story which leads him from the warrior traditions of his people to the halls of Harvard as the first Native American to graduate from that institution.

Pulitzer Prize Winner Geraldine Brooks has penned another amazing work of historical fiction. Little is actually know about Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk other than a bare sketch of his existence and achievements. But despite sparse

facts, Brooks has imagined an impressive representation of what he may have been like and the struggles he would have had to face. Brooks has a gift for depicting vivid characters and a true sense of time in her work, totally immersing the reader in a breathtaking journey to another era. Caleb’s Crossing is another great work by a spectacular author.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
By Laura Hillenbrand

Random House, 2010. 473 pgs. Biography

As World War II broke out, Louis Zamperini was an Olympic hopeful and a favorite to break the illusive four minute mile. The war would put all those dreams on hold and instead he found him self bombing the Japanese in the Pacific theater. After a run of successful bombing raids, Louis and his crew members are shot down and the survivors will have to live through weeks adrift on the unforgiving sea with inadequate supplies. When rescue finally comes it is in the form of the enemy and Louis's amazing tale of faith and perseverance begins in earnest.

This is a fantastic book. It keeps moving and paints a vivid picture of the strength shown by soldiers who survived the ultimate degradation. It always seems depressing to read of how evil men can be. But, this story is handled with such skill and respect that you can't help but be uplifted by the strength of the human spirit. I highly recommend this book especially to anyone interested in World War II history.

Vacation Book Review

2011-04-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

The Informationist: A Thriller
By Taylor Stevens
Crown Publishers, 2011. 307 pgs. Fiction

Vanessa Munroe is an expert at finding information. Large corporations contract her to ferret out the stuff no one else can uncover in countries few others dare to travel. Her gifts with language and observation uniquely qualify her for this work along with her terrifyingly single-minded ability to protect herself both physically and emotionally. Her newest assignment is different from those she usually takes. This time she is going to Africa to find the daughter of a powerful oil executive who, four years ago, disappeared without a trace.

This is Stevens’ debut novel and I loved it. It does seem to be setting up for a new series of books featuring Munroe and her associates but there was still a great deal of closure. So, while I look forward to more thrillers from this exciting new author, I like that I don’t feel the conclusion left me hanging. There is some rough language and violence but nothing I felt was gratuitous.

Bossypants
By Tina Fey
Little, Brown and Co. 2011. 277 pgs. Biography.

Tina Fey is best known for her years writing and performing on Saturday Night Live, as the star and executive producer of 30 Rock, and her imitations of Sarah Palin during the past presidential election. In her memoir she tells of growing up as an outsider, finding her love for performance, and years of work in the comedy field, which is notoriously dominated by men.

I’m going to be honest, the jacket art is hideous. It is probably the biggest obstacle to enjoying this book. It’s just creepy. But, if you can get past the “man hands”, Fey offers an entertaining journey through portions of her life. Be prepared for a bit of rough language mixed in with a great deal of sarcasm and number of laugh-out-loud observations from a very funny lady.

Nerve: Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and Cool
By Taylor Clark
Little, Brown and Co., 2011. 310 pgs. Nonfiction.

Some of us tend to break out in a cold sweat at the mere thought of experiences and situations that others embrace and even seek with enthusiasm. In Nerve, Taylor Clark outlines new discoveries being made by neuroscientists about our natural reactions to environments that cause us stress and threaten us with harm, either physical or emotional. He provides excellent examples and perfectly balances instruction with entertainment. Best of all, he’s incredibly funny and personable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’m not one to pick up self-help titles and was actually surprised it was categorized as such since I had selected it while searching for a good science read. But Nerve brings to the table the best of both genres. It has great stories and insights that inform and inspire which makes this a perfect choice for people looking to understand human nature and also those looking to overcome their own fears.

Why I Love My House

2011-04-12T18:56:00.001-07:00

Well, a while ago I posted pictures of my new home. Soon after, I had my whole family over to celebrate my sister and nephew's birthdays. It was that weekend that I fell in love with my house. This is how it is supposed to be, full of people I love...I almost cried several times and other than a cold shower Dave ended up taking...it was pretty perfect.

Here are some pictures to illustrate...

My new couches are nice...but look how cute they are with dozers all snuggled in!

This is the volcano cake I made for Jonathan...it totally didn't work right, but he still acted very excited about it. I was very excited that so many people could be in my kitchen and I didn't feel crowded by anyone!

Here are the musically gifted of the family singing around the piano. They were practicing a song they sang for my Grandfather's funeral a few weeks later. They sounded amazing while practicing and at the service.

The cake may not have erupted, but it did do a pretty good job of smoking.

We put all the kids in the basement to sleep. I had found enough stuffed animals that they could all sleep with a little friend. Finishing the basement is the next big goal, I'm sure the kids will appreciate that...

Here we have two of my nephews before bed....I know you thought maybe one was a niece..but no, my nephew Nathan loves to sleep in a little pink nightgown...I mean nightshirt...and I think it's the most adorable thing in the whole entire world. No joke...the WHOLE WORLD!!

And finally, the living room...just full of people I love.

Well, there you have it. The #1 reason I love my house: People I love fit in it!

Book Report..s'more

2011-04-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

The Lost Gate
By Orson Scott Card
Tor, 2011. 384 pgs. Fantasy.

Danny is something of an outcast among his cousins growing up in a remote family compound where magical abilities are valued above all else. His parents are both powerful and respected mages who are frequently away and seem to care little for their only child. Danny’s lack of magical talents is nuisance, but when he discovers he may be far more powerful than any mage in ages, his life is in serious danger.

Card has built an intriguing new world of magic. Danny’s magical ability allows him to build gates that immediately transport him to another place. But beyond a transit device, gates also possess healing powers and can strengthen a mages powers when the gate is used to travel between worlds. However, I could not help but feel that the whole book was about the magic at the expense of story and characters. I also couldn’t shake the feeling that the entire book was a buildup for novels yet to come, an aspect of fantasy fiction that I struggle to embrace. This could be the good start to a new popular series, though I doubt I’ll be motivated to dive in any further.

Unfamiliar Fishes
By Sarah Vowell
Riverhead Books, 2011. 238 pgs. Nonfiction

Sarah Vowell’s new book provides a look at the events surrounding the annexation and eventual statehood of Hawaii. Following Captain Cook’s discovery of the islands, Hawaii became a popular stop for sailors traversing the Atlantic. And, as could be expected, missionaries soon followed. The overwhelming influence of these visitors on the paradise they came to ‘save’ quickly consumed aspects of the native culture. The Hawaiians who lived through the infestation of European and American germs had little chance of escaping the invasion of capitalism and Christianity.

Colonization always has a dark and tragic side despite the well-meaning intentions of some participants. Sarah Vowell writes with a superb combination of humor and honesty as she tells this part of Hawaii’s history. She has an impressive ability to point out the ironic and ridiculous while maintaining a respectful tone. I would highly recommend this book to anyone visiting the islands or anyone looking for a good excuse to visit the islands (as if anyone actually needed more motivation).

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
By Joshua Foer
Penguin Press, 2011. 307 pgs. Nonfiction

Each day we forget things we intend to remember. Things like our keys, our PayPal password, to pick up a gallon of milk, or why we opened the utensil drawer. And yet, there are individuals who can memorize whole books, thousands of digits of pi, and every name and face they have yet encountered. How? How do they do it? Joshua Foer decided he wanted to discover the secrets of the great mnemonists. So, he joined their ranks and spent a year training for the U.S. Memory Championship.

Foer’s immersive research for this book gives it a personal dimension that takes is far beyond simply science writing on memory. Of course, he includes some fascinating chapters on the science of the brain and theories of memory improvement, but what makes his narrative stand out is his journey toward a potential we all may have inside us. A completely memorable book.

Discovery of Witches
By Deborah Harkness
Viking, 2011. 579 pgs. Fiction

Dr. Diana Bishop has carefully suppressed her magical abilities despite coming from a long and respected line of witches. Instead, she has focused on her career which has taken her to Oxford to spend her days in the library perusing ancient documents. Diana’s self-imposed exile from the magical word becomes impossible to maintain when a mysterious folio finds its way into her hands. She is suddenly attracting a great deal of supernatural attention including that of a vampire with piercing eyes and questionable intentions.

This is the first book in a new series that seems to be a cross between Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander and Charlaine Harris’s Dead Until Dark. Readers can’t help but notice that the story is a buildup to further adventures is subsequent volumes. Few would consider this a good stand-alone since there is little closure at the end of the book’s almost 600 pages. However, enough plot advancement and character development occur to provide an entertaining read.

CZ

A Cheerio Made My Day

2011-04-03T16:39:00.000-07:00

This is what was greeting me on Thursday when I went to work and I just had to take a picture of it! Coming up the stairs from the underground party I found this solitary breakfast crumb on its edge, at the edge of one of the steps. Crazy, eh?

I hope that I don't love it because I identify with a round, lonely scrap just trying to survive an impossible situation....'cause that would just be silly.

Book Report...Serious Catch-Up!!!

2011-03-29T19:38:00.001-07:00

I have been really bad at keeping this up...I can't believe it's been 4 months since I last gave a book report. My excuse is mostly that I was busy moving, but I don't think that is much of a valid reason anymore. So, here's what I've been reading (and this was a lot to write tonight and I'm too tired to proof it...so ignore the spelling and gramatical errors :)):

NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children
by Po Bronson
Super fascinating look at the science of raising children. If you have kids, you really should read (or listen to) this book. If you don't have kids, it's fun to read it anyway because it sure makes having kids and raising them successfully sound exhausting and almost impossible.

Luck Be A Lady
By Cathie Linz
I picked this up hoping for a feel good romance/adventure along the lines of Bridget Jones. It wasn't. Fortunately, it was a quick read so I didn't waste too much time finishing it.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
By Charles Yu
This book just had a great title. I didn't hate it....didn't love it either...it was kind of boring. Imagine a strange mix of 'Life of Pi', 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', and Jasper Fforde's 'The Eyre Affair'. Strange but interesting, I suppose.

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating
By Elisabeth Tova Bailey
I really enjoyed this book. It's a short collection of essays by a woman who went from a very active life to being completely bed ridden. She is given a garden snail which becomes a therapeutic pet as she copes with her illness and learns to live life at a slower pace.

The Book of Mormon
Just thought I'd throw that in there. I finished it again and once again enjoyed the inspiration and instructions. I can whole heartedly recommend!

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession
By David Grann
Basically this is just a collection of true crime articles. Some more interesting than others. I was left somewhat underwhelmed..but maybe I just wasn't in the mood. I have no good reason for my negative impression.

Fighting Ruben Wolfe
By Markus Zusak
This is a book Zusak published before 'The Book Thief'. It's about two brothers who start boxing in a type of underground tournament. Of course, since it's Zusak, it's a lot deeper than that. Zusak's writing is just beautiful regardless of the story he tells. 'The Book Thief' is still my favorite but I enjoyed this a lot as well.

Matched
By Ally Condie
This is a new series that is bound to be really big. A lot of these YA dystopias seem to a bit the same to me, but this was very enjoyable. A 17 year old girl is part of a society which allows very little personal freedom, but keeps its citizens very safe and content. During a ceremony she is 'matched' with her best friend but later sees that another boy she knows may have been intended for her as well.

Getting the Girl
By Markus Zusak
This is a sequel to 'Fighting Ruben Wolfe'. Zusak's brilliant, what more can I say? If you ever wanted to know what goes on in the mind of an adolescent boy...this is a pretty good glimpse (anyway it seems to be...I don't actually know what goes on in the mind of boys...adolescent or otherwise).

The Immortal Live of Henrietta Lacks
By Rebecca Skloot
Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cancer while still in her mid thirties. As a black woman living in a low income area, the best medical attention she could get was from the free clinic at Johns Hopkins. After her death, cultures of her tumor cells were harvested and those cells became perhaps the most valuable tools researchers have had in the past 50 years toward curing all types of diseases. This book tells that story. It was interesting but not my favorite.

Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon
By Jonathan Stroud
I was so sad when the third book of the Bartimaeus Trilogy was over. But now, there's more. You don't have to read the others to enjoy this one and I recommend listening to them. The reader is really fun to listen to. I just love the demonic snarkiness...it's brilliant.

Science of Kissing: What Our Lips are Telling Us
By Sheril Kirshenbaum
Interesting but don't expect anything too earth shattering. It kind of seemed like the information in this little book would be great for a magazine article or two...but a whole book was a bit of a stretch.

Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen
The movie is coming out soon. So, I guess you could read it for that. Not fantastic, but I read it fast and enjoyed most of the story. Reminds me of Nicholas Sparks (even though I've never actually read a Nicholas Sparks book...).

The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival
By John Vaillant
A Siberian tiger on a killing spree. A government sanctioned hunting party tracking the cat through the frozen wasteland. A truly fantastic piece of nonfiction. LOVED it! Seriously, I loved the regional and natural history and it was told at a perfect pace with excellent timing.

Wuthering Bites
By Sarah Gray
Wuthering Heights with vampires. I really don't know how the story makes sense without the undead. Why else would Heathcliff dig up Cathy like that? Think about it.

Parrot & Olivier in America
By Peter Carey
At it's core, this is a novelization of Lafayette's time spent in America. I really wanted to like it and there were moments when it was almost brilliant...but just never quite got there for me. Interesting historical fiction.

Redeeming Love
By Francine Rivers
I read this for work as something representing 'inspirational fiction'. It's a retelling of the bible story about Hosea who was commanded to marry a prostitute. It was okay. A bit too sentimental for me, but not bad.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture
By Peggy Orenstein
A great look at the world of pink tulle and silver glitter. I think parents of little girls should give this book a chance. I didn't agree with everything she said...she has some interesting ideas...but overall I liked her message which I interpret as...you can't keep your girls from the image centered culture they are growing up in, but you can talk to them about it and help them navigate it.

The Orchid Affair
By Lauren Willig
One of my many guilty pleasures. Lauren Willig's 'Pink Carnation' series just makes me smile. It's a little bit romance (okay...a lot), a little bit historical fiction, and a little bit spy adventure. Plus this series always adds a bunch of words to my vocabulary. I don't know where she finds these words but she always has a bunch I've never heard before in my life. (I read it on my iPad and it was really great to have that little dictionary feature handy!)

Cleopatra: A Life
By Stacy Schiff
A really good biography of Cleopatra. I was really surprised about how much they actually know about her and her life.

Peace Like a River
By Leif Enger
If you haven't read it, you HAVE to! Seriously. Just read it.

Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott
By Kelly McNees
Just a little romantic version of what may have happened to Louisa May Alcott on her way to becoming one of America's most popular authors. I don't wholly recommend this book, but it was interesting to hear more about the Alcott home and how much it resembled the March's.

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming
By Mike Brown
I wrote a review of this one for The Daily Herald and got some mail back from some grad student trying to convince me that Pluto is not dead and that Brown's book only presents one side of the story. My response is: Whatever. I don't really care if Pluto is a planet or not....but I did enjoy this book and seeing a bit more of the world of astronomy.

Madame Tussaud
By Michelle Moran
Before she built her successful wax museum empire, Madame Tussaud lived through the horrors of the French revolution. This is a novelization of her and her contemporaries. Really fascinating perspective of this period of French history.

Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos
By Brian Greene
This is interesting but I think it's a bit optimistic to for me to claim to have understood even a third of the information presented here. What I caught I liked.

Heresy
By S.J. Parris
A new mystery series taking place during the Spanish Inquisition and the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Giordano Bruno, our brave hero, is an ex-monk intellectual visiting Oxford for a debate but staying longer than planned due to a violent murder.

OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word
By Allen Metcalf
Um...a whole book about one word. Probably I shouldn't have expected it to be riveting. It did have its moments, though. The word's invention, survival, and infiltration of the world's lexicon is pretty interesting.

The Weird Sisters
By Eleanor Brown
Three sisters return home when their mother is diagnosed with cancer. The truly fascinating aspect of this book is that it was written in a first person plural tense. So cool.

A Discovery of Witches
By Deborah Harkness
In a world of witches, deamons, and vampires a group of creatures form an unusual alliance while trying to ensure the survival of their magical way of life. Pretty much just Twilight for adults. I didn't realize it was the first of a trilogy until I was half way through it. Not sure I'd still pick it up if I had the choice.

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
By Joshua Foer
A reporter decides to spend a year preparing to compete in the U.S. Memory Championship and shares his journey in this entertaining and interesting book. I really enjoyed this. Lots of great science and human interest.

It's True!! I Moved!!!

2011-03-01T18:14:00.000-08:00

So....I haven't blogged in a while. But, I've been in the middle of relocating and it's been very exciting and very busy as well. I've been in the new place for a couple weeks now and to the casual observer, things are put together....I know where I cheated and still need to organize.

Anyway, I sold my condo over Christmas and found a new place at the first of the year. It took a month or so to get the financing and everything in place, but mid-Februay I was able to move in. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to all the many generous people who have helped me move...twice...and made everything so much easier than it could have been.

So, with that...here are a few pictures of my new home!!

Here is the front...it was nighttime when I took the picture, so it seems a little dark. It's brighter in the daytime :)

My favorite room in the house...the kitchen. It is big and open and I stood in it with 4 other people this weekend and didn't run out screaming or eject anyone violently. In short...I LOVE it!

The dining room is great, too. Last weekend we had 12 people around the table chatting. In the condo....it felt crowded with 2 people :) Love it!

Here is the living room with my new couches. You can't see it, but I'm waving at you in the mirror.

The Den/music room/library. I have already curled up on the chair to read. Very fun and cozy.

The guest bathroom....now I'm wondering why I included this picture. But, whatever. I love that it is so big and I can't wait to let you use it!

This is the guest bedroom. It's a bit of a work in progress...still not sure where I am going to hang some of the pictures. I didn't include a picture of the HUGE closet in this room. It's amazing. (Then again...look what I came from. The condo barely had a closet big enough for my vacuum.)

Here's my bedroom. I sleep here and it's great.

This is the HUGE closet in the master bedroom. Seriously, one of my favorite features of the house. It's connected to the master bath...which I didn't take a picture of. But there is a very big shower and a very nice long bathtub that I already love.

The house has an unfinished basement. Obviously, this is where I have shoved everything I don't want to deal with. The room down here is really big and I hope I can finish it in a couple of years.

But, no worries....I'm still using the space. I exercise back in the unfinished bedrooms. It's nice and cool which has worked out really well so far.

Well, that's it. There's lots more to see, but you'll have to come visit me to see it, and I hope you will. I am just a mile south of where I was before. Still conveniently close to the freeway. I don't think I mentioned, but it's a twin home and shares one wall in the garage with the neighbors. I really do love it and the garage has been super amazing. Everything I thought it would be!

Don't Interrupt Me...

2011-02-04T12:20:00.000-08:00

I can't figure out how to imbed this video...so just follow the link.

This is my new theme song!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuRuwR2JSXI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Proof I Was Actually There!

2011-01-26T12:13:00.000-08:00

The promised pictures are finally here!! The pictures, of course, do not do justice to how beautiful Kauai was...but here is my lame attempt. Check out Stacey's blog for prettier pictures...though she may have photo-shopped some of hers...just saying...

This was just down the road from our condo. We drove past it every day we were there and never looked until the our last afternoon.

This is one of the many one-way bridges. I was an expert at crossing them correctly by the end. Partially because a native scared me to death when he got out of his car and started yelling at this lady who had done it wrong...I was VERY vigilant about appropriate bridge etiquette after that!

Stacey in our fun convertible...and some pretty mountains.....

On our hike through the mud, the path was strewn with pretty flowers....I thought it was cool and I was sure there was some great lesson illustrated there...something about finding the 'flowers' in the mud trail we call 'life'?? Maybe??

This is the waterfall we hiked to. It's pretty.

This is me at the base of the waterfall...if you look close you can see all the mud sprayed on my legs...I was good and dirty by this point.

Stacey is up on the edge of the trail avoiding the mud down below...you can kind of see the puddles and the boards they put down to help people avoid the worst of it...we just walked up along the tree line...we still got pretty dirty and stepped in some truly brilliant mud pies.

Stacey on the trail with her arms out trying to keep her balance while avoiding the muck. It was beautiful morning though...look at the sun and all the green!

I liked this rooty tree. If I was a hobbit I would live under a rooty tree like this.

Ke'e Beach. You can see the Napali Coast out beyond the cliffs.

This is the view from our condo...other than the main road that was just past that hedge, it was pretty perfect.

Hanalei Beach was where we found the best boogie boarding...this was before we got wet...and the ocean was pretty....but mountains will always be my true love.

And, finally, this is Pepe the little gecko we found in our living room. He disappeared on the third day and I choose to believe we left the doors open long enough for him to get out into the wild where he belongs....and not that he climbed into Stacey's bed....there's no way he would have dared climb into mine!

Vacation - Day 7

2011-01-18T21:59:00.000-08:00

So sad...my vacation is over. Today we said goodbye to the ocean...to the valley of the trees...to our cute little condo...to our lovely blue mustang convertible ...Stacey almost said goodbye to her favorite hat when she tried to take a picture from over the convertible windshield ( we were able to go back and get it) ...but by far, the hardest thing to say goodbye to is the warm weather.

I am sitting in the airport and just took off my flip flops and replaced them with shoes and socks....I almost cried...goodbye pretty pedicure. I think the one thing that is making returning to the frozen wasteland I call home not unthinkable is that in just a couple weeks I will have a two car garage of my very own to shield me from the biting cold of the early morning.

It's really been a wonderful trip and I am now a big fan of Kauai. I highly recommend! Let me know if you want to go....I could definitely be convinced to come back!!

Vacation - Day 6

2011-01-17T21:05:00.000-08:00

This morning we had a Hawaii first...we saw the sunrise! Yep, we got up early and headed out to go kayaking up the river.

It was a little cold. But we warmed ourselves by rowing. We didn't realize we didn't have to start out so early, but it was kinda fun to be the first kayak in the water and the first to reach the waterfall. The trail was a bit muddy from all the rain last night and as we started the trek we were carefully avoiding puddles...by the end we stopped caring so much and embraced the mud splashing up around our knees. It really wasn't so bad...if it hadn't been for my uncontrollable need to scream like a little girl evey time my foot slipped at all. Just embarrassing!

The waterfall was very pretty and impressive...i think Stacey took more pictures of some dewey spiderwebs than of the falls...they were pretty awesome.

We were off the river by eleven and tried to go snorkeling at a beach we had liked last week. We saw three fish and decided it was too cold. It's funny because today was supposed to be the best weather we've had so far, but it was cold and windy and I was glad to go back to the condo and take a shower and finish my book.

We did venture out again to take some pretty pictures, check out Stacey's blog for some good ones. I'll post mine when we get back this week. They will be nowhere near as pretty.

Vacation - Day 5

2011-01-16T20:37:00.000-08:00

This morning we went to the local branch. And we were super spiritual and attended all three hours of church. I know...very impressive. Then we weren't even tempted to go to the beach or anything because we have been visited by some serious rain...a bit of forced sabbath observance but I'm pretty sure we would have been good anyway.

I finished my book and started a new one about Siberian tigers. It is really good and I've been reading it all day long. We made a little dinner of spaghetti and it's about time for bed.

Tomorrow we will be off early to go kayaking...so we will need a good night's rest tonight.

Oh and the branch was really great today but I thought it was kind of funny that their little chapel had 12 ceiling fans instead of our usual 3...and they turned half of them off when the men left and we had relief society

Vacation - Day 4

2011-01-15T21:34:00.000-08:00

I may have slept for ten hours last night and still had a a nap that was at least an hour long...I feel rested.

But, I did eventually wake up and get out the door. It was a beautiful sunny day and we drove to the southern end of the island to a snorkeling beach. (just as a side note, I don't include the names of any places because if you thought I was bad at spelling English words, I'm even worse with Hawaii words. Seriously, I don't even attempt to say them...I call it the a- beach, or that store after the valley with all the trees. It's like when I go to ethnic restraunts and just point to the menu item instead of trying to pronounce something hard like chipotle.)

Anyway, the snorkeling was good, pretty fish...got a little sun. Then we ate lunch at this sketchy little hole in the wall place that had good pork and cabbage. It started to get a little overcast so we headed to our sunny northern end of the island. Stacey still wanted to boogie board, but I had had my fill od beaches. ( I can only convince myself for so long that sand is not dirt and that I am not totally bugged by being covered in it...it's just icky.)

So, a had my little nap and read some more of Wuthering Bites. ( which is pretty good...the plot and characters of withering heights make so much more sense with vampires mixed in.)

The. Dinner....catch up on a little castle and I just received an invite to church tomorrow from Stacey who is learning to set up an event invitation :)

Well, that's about it. We have also been thinking and praying for little Hannah and are so glad to hear she is doing well and will get to home soon!

Vacation - Day 3

2011-01-14T21:08:00.000-08:00

This has been an amazingly beautiful day on Kauai! We rented a movie from red box last night...Iron Man 2 ...and we were both asleep 15 minutes into the thing...that would be at 9 o'clock. Kinda sad but also kinda amazing since I slept until about 6. Eventually we did get up, though and prepared for a day at the beach.

Seriously, it was gorgeous! We drove with the top down all day!

We went boogie boarding for a few hours and met a cute little local girl who would do summersaults over the waves. Then we went to another beach to go snorkeling. It was my first time and it was fantastic! I saw an eel, and a long thin stick fish thingy, and schools of beautiful tropical fish.

Then we went to see the lighthouse and have lunch at a little cafe. I had garlic fries and they were really good...I can still taste them...the garlic was REALLY strong. Obviously, it was then time for a short nap.

Before it started to get dark we went to Ke'e beach...straight out of South Pacific....if I didn't hate that song so much I would have sung it...the closest I got was humming a few bars of 'happy talky-talk'.

I did manage to take a few pictures...I'll post them when i get home. :)

Vacation - Day 2

2011-01-13T22:07:00.000-08:00

So, at this point, no pictures. Partly because I'm blogging from my iPad and I haven't figured out how to add pictures on it and partially because we keep forgetting to take our camera with us whenever we leave the house.

Well it rained all night and we had a moment this morning when we were a bit frustrated with the obstacle that might be to our vacation. However, it has actually been a fantastic day...a little damp but we still put the top down on the mustang...just for a few minutes, but still. Anyway we went to walmart and then to a grocery store. Then we took naps. :)

While that may sound like a lame morning, it was fantastic because it's truly beautiful here and it's fantastically warm. I love it!

After my nap, we went for a little walk to the Queen's Bath. It was a short little hike, but the trail was so wet that we probably won't be doing much more hiking at all. We got down to the rocky shore and found a big rock slab with etched tally marks representing all the people who have died on the cliffs we were on (28). But we were there at low tide and it wasn't too dangerous. What it was was beautiful!

Anyway, that's about it. We had dinner and are back home relaxing. Hopefully there will be snorkeling tomorrow!

Vacation Day 1

2011-01-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

The big news of the day is that the sale of my home is finally final! Hooray!!! I'm homeless!

Also, I'm in Hawaii! Stacey and I have had a lovely day traveling. In case you were not aware, it's cold in Utah. So, the minute I entered the airport, I removed my inadequate jacket and shoved it into my suitcase. We had decided to just check one bag between the two of us and as we checked in, we were surprised and delighted to find that Stacey had a free checked bag because..well we don't actually know why...but we still embraced the opportunity. That was travel miracle numbero uno.

Then we flew a long ways and I successfully avoided having to use the airplane bathroom....they freak me out. We watched 'life as we knew it' as our in flight movie. It was cute....Josh what's his name is a hottie.

Then we arrived in Hawaii. The car rental place gave us vacation miracle number two when they didn't have our compact car available and I am now driving around the island in a blue mustang convertible. Im feeling pretty sporty!

Now we are in a beautiful little condo watching a movie on a comfy non-wicker couch (our one vacation rental requirement) watching knight and day.

I wish you were here.

Why I'm a Compulsive Reader

2010-12-12T19:54:00.001-08:00

I would like to offer this explanation of why I read so much. I can't help it.

Seriously, it's an occupational hazard. What happens is this, I'm at work, minding my own business, just buying new books for the library when I run across book titles like the ones listed below. Now, you tell me if you don't just really want to read a few of them...

How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks

by R.I.M. Dunbar

Evidently...you can only have 150 friends. I can't help but want to know why...and then mentally count up who my 150 friends are...(they certainly include anyone who actually reads and comments on my silly little blog)

The Secret Life of Your Cat: Unlock the Mysteries of your Pet's Behavior

by Vicky Hall

I don't actually want to read this...I don't really understand wanting a pet, let alone wanting to understand your pet. But I still think it's a great title for a book.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture

by Peggy Orenstein

I MUST read this book. The title is amazing and the whole idea just screams to be investigated.

The Man Whisperer: A Gentle, Results-Oriented Approach to Communication

by Donna Sozio

Does this book remind anyone of a little movie titled "When a Man Answers"? I have no intention to read this book...but, again, it still intrigues a little.

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

by Elisabeth Tova Balley

I am reading this book right now and it is pretty good. Not as good as it's title, but that is really close to being the best title I've seen in months...ever since "Here's Looking at Euclid".

Science of Kissing: What Our Lips are Telling Us

by Sheril Kirshenbaum

Don't laugh...I am sooo excited to read this book! It "explores the act of kissing from a scientific perspective, from the history of kissing to how it differs in different cultures to the effects of lip gloss..." Good stuff, eh?

The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker

by Roger Ebert

I'm totally not making that up!

Creative Paper Jewerly
by Dafna Yarom
I...um...don't know what to say. I didn't know there was paper jewelry...and I don't actually intend to find out about it....but look at that necklace!

Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot and Never Will

by Judith Schalansky

Totally sounds like my kind of travel book! Learn all about a beautiful new place without having to deal with all the sand and sunburns.

Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools,

Including the Author

by Donovan Hohn

Love it. Totally makes me think of another book I really wanted to read this year and never got around to..."Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Da

nger of Everyday Things".

We, Robot: Skywalker's Hand, Blade Runner, Iron Man, Slutbots, and How Fiction Became Fact

by Mark Stephen Meadows

Brilliant title...but the reviews didn't actually make it sound all that interesting. The title is a bit misleading.

Well, anyway there are just a few books that caught my eye this past week. I probably won't get around to reading most of them...but I want to, and that is what keeps the pile of books by my bed so tall. And keep in mind, these are just the nonfiction books, fiction titles can be just as good...like say "Dukes to the Left of Me, Princes to the Right."

But I think I've made my point.

Book Reviews...I'm Way Behind!!

2010-12-05T19:53:00.000-08:00

So, I haven't kept up on this, so I thought I'd catch up tonight. I haven't LOVED anything recently...but I've read some good stuff and some dumb stuff. More complete reviews at: http://provolibrarystaffreviews.blogspot.com/search/label/CZ

Blind Descent by James Tabor

If you don't have claustrophobia before reading it...you will after.

Defending Angels by Mary Stanton

Silly supernatural mystery book...total waste of my time.

Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman

Not squeaky clean, but I really liked it and would recommend it.

I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

Seriously fascinating novel about a girl kidnapped by a serial killer.

Roses by Leila Meacham

Not bad but its plot was a little too much like a soap opera for me.

Thin, Rich, and Pretty by Beth Harbison

Kinda annoying and really pointless.

Earth (the book) by Jon Stewart

He's funny...inappropriate, but funny.

Maybe This Time by Jennifer Cruise

I really loved this quick little piece of chick lit.

A Secret Kept by Tatiana De Rosnay

Not nearly as good as her 'Sarah's Key' that I read last year.

Proofiness by Charles Seife

This book convinced me...as if I wasn't convinced already...that statistics presented by politicians, reporters, and corporations are all complete crap.

Women, Food, and God by Geneen Roth

Some parts presented interesting insight into addictive behavior..but the rest was too much like the last yoga class I attended...I have no idea what it means to "center yourself in your core."

Rich Boy by Sharon Pomerantz

I didn't like this book...almost as much as I really didn't like the protagonist. I haven't wanted to reach into a novel and strangle a character so much in a long time.

Naked Heat by Richard Castle

A novel spin-off from the ABCs Castle...not great literature...but it's fun anyway.

Great House by Nicole Krauss

Huge disappointment. I loved "A History of Love" and this was just great writing with a really lame story.

Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay by Beverly Jensen

Just strange...and depressing.

Colorado Kid by Stephen King

Strange story, but a great taste of King's amazing writing without the gore or freakiness.

Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

This was a great psychological thriller...well not thriller, thriller....but it was still a page-turner.

Oh, No She Didn't by Clinton Kelly

100 fashion faux pas..only a few of which made me start freaking out...he tried to convince me to throw away my hoodies...I still believe they are appropriate sometimes. It's cold and they are comfy!!

I'll Mature When I'm Dead by Dave Barry

He's still funny!

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

Really not as good as 'The Forgotten Garden', but I liked it.

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow

Short book that really stuck in my head. Terribly well written.

The Wave by Susan Casey

Tow surfing sounds like the scariest thing ever....I'll stick to boogie boarding.

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

Science is crazy...scientists are crazier!!

At Home by Bill Bryson

Bryson is always brilliant. He's the king of the tangents and I love him for it!

The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell

A surprisingly tender tribute to motherhood.

Okay...that's it! I'm too tired to add cover art...I doubt anyone will actually read all this anyway :)

Halloween at the Library

2010-11-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

I experience scary moments in the library year round. But this Halloween brought a couple of special treats.

First, a story about me and a little old man who likes to hang out at the library all day. He seriously looks like this old man from the Pixar short.

Old Man: Do you dress up for Halloween?
Carla: Not usually.
Old Man: You should dress up as a cat.
Carla: Excuse me?
Old Man: It would be perfect for you. Just draw on a little nose and some whiskers.
Carla: Um...interesting. I'll keep that in mind.

Well, needless to say, I didn't dress up as a cat. And I kinda forgot about the interaction as one of those quirky conversations I so often find myself in. (Right after this one...some guy came up and told me I looked ill. But at least I didn't look tired...right?)

Anyway, yesterday the little old man returned for an encore...

Old Man: Did you dress up as a cat?
Carla: No. I didn't.
Old Man: Why not? You would make a perfect pussy cat.
Carla: Um...I'm not really sure how to take that. I'm not really a cat person.
Old Man: Oh...not a cat. A pussy cat.
Carla: Meaning....?
Old Man: Well a cat that doesn't scratch or bite...just rubs up against your leg purring.
Carla: (speechless)

First of all, if you know me at all...you know my personality is so far from a "pussy cat" this whole story is frankly hysterical. And second, it's creepy...right?

Moving on.

I did actually dress up for Halloween, but only because I pretty much had to for work. We presented our first ever Teen Book Fest and had YA author extraordinaire Scott Westerfeld as a keynote speaker. The event was fantastic and we had over 800 people there.

The only downside was that I did have to dress up. So, for weeks before the event, I spent hours putting together my costume. I had the pith helmet already and just built the steampunk (Westerfeld's latest books are all steampunk) costume around that.

Anyway, it turned out really well. The most impressive part...I sewed the shirt, vest, and pants all by myself (with a little help from my mother on the pants and the button holes...'cause she loves me). Seriously...you're impressed aren't you...I know I am.

I kinda consider myself a 4-H success story since I haven't really sewn clothing since high school...just crafty stuff which I think is totally easier. (And I don't count the Von Trapp costumes as sewing....I didn't even use a pattern on those and they barely held together for the ward party.)

Some of My New Favorite Things

2010-10-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

First of all, a super great co-worker (AM...are you reading this?) pointed out a website titled Catalog Living at catalogliving.net . So, on this site, they take pictures out of catalogs and make up captions for them as if people actually lived in them. Totally hilarious.

Also, just to make my day, yesterday I received my favorite catalog in the whole world. It's called Heifer International and you can buy animals for

communities in third world countries. The concept is actually really great...but for some reason the idea of buying "Pigs as Presents", "Heifers for the Holidays", and the "Gift of Goats" makes me giggle.

The best is that you can give the "Gift Ark" which includes 2 cows, 2 sheep, 2 camels, 2 oxen, 2 water buffalo, 2 pigs, 2 beehives, 2 goats, 2 donkeys, 2 trios of ducks, 2 trios of rabbits, 2 trios of guinea pigs, 2 flocks of geese, 2 flocks of chicks, AND 2 llamas!! (Only $5,000!!)

And finally, I love the Old Spice guy commercials...and the BYU parody was great...but, that's not all! Now I found a Grover version...here it is! (This is totally for you Marla!!)

My Favorite Sign in the Whole World

2010-10-05T18:55:00.001-07:00

I've seen a sign like this before, but I still get a kick out of it whenever I see a new one. This one is located on my route home from work and it always makes me smile and feel just a little better about myself.

I kinda wish I could hang one around my neck, but I don't think anyone else would get it. I think it's the word "Gorgeous"...not pretty or special or beautiful...."I'm Gorgeous Inside!"

Aren't we all?

Feeling a Little Nostalgic?

2010-09-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

I was reading a newsletter the other day at work and ran across this website. It's called the YouTube Time Machine. You just give it a year and it gives you a youtube video from that year.

www.yttm.tv

It's an excellent time waster! And who doesn't need a good time waster every once in a while?

Book Reports

2010-09-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

Remarkable Utah Women

by Christy Karras

This is a collection of short biographies of over a dozen remarkable women from Utah's history. I should have expected it, but I was surprised how much polygamy played a leading role in the lives of most of the women. Really interesting and a quick read. I highly recommend for book clubs!

The Postmistress

By Sarah Blake

This was a really interesting work of historical fiction and I'm not really sure how to even describe it. It takes place as World War II is beginning but before the United States becomes involved. But the story is really more about several people on both sides of the Atlantic, as they come to terms with the violence erupting in Europe.

Packing for Mars

By Mary Roach

A quirky look at space travel. What I learned was that I do not want to be an astronaut! I don't really like to go camping because of the inconveniences involved. Space travel is a million times worse! Seriously, though.....weightlessness does still sound kinda cool.

Priceless

By Robert Wittman

This is an autobiography about an FBI agent that specialized in art crimes. I listened to it, and it was okay. An interesting mix of "Burn Notice" and "White Collar"...without the really cute guys (so maybe a little pointless).

The Passage

By Justin Cronin

This book was totally not what I was expecting. The first section really made me think of "The Road" in all it's post-apocolyptic glory. But later it becomes a really exciting adventure story with a little romance and a whole lot of super terrifying vampires. Certainly not for everyone, but I really liked it. Looking forward to the next one in the trilogy.

Book of Awesome

By Neil Pasricha

This book is a collection of posts from a blog called 1000awesomethings.com The author writes about the simple but beautiful joys in life like pealing an orange in one piece, going to bed right after shaving your legs, waking up and realizing it's Saturday, and the smell of freshly cut grass. My only real complaint was that every single entry ends with the word "Awesome". Guess what!! The word awesome can be over used. Eventually, I started putting my hand over the last line of the post so I wouldn't have to read that annoying final AWESOME!

The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise

By Julia Stuart

I don't even want to talk about this book. Other than the little bits of fascinating history about the Tower of London this was a complete waste of my time! It had been compared to "Guernsey" but it was soooooo not! Don't read this book!

Blind Descent

By James M. Tabor

Deep cave exploration is a very dangerous hobby. This book talks about a number of teams of spelunkers who were trying to penetrate the deepest cave in the world. I listed to this book on CD, so this may just because of the narrator, but the author seemed to have written each sentence as a cliffhanger and the cavers almost died so many times I could barely keep from rolling my eyes toward the end. But, it was an interesting look into an area of science/extreme sporting that I NEVER want to explore. Logan cave was enough for me!

See!!! Kids can like me!

2010-09-13T20:51:00.000-07:00

I don't think it's much of a surprise that I'm not known as a "kid person". They often smell funny, they are loud and unpredictable, and I've just never been super comfortable with them. Even as a teenager, I hated babysitting and was always glad few people ever asked for my help.

However, the last few years I've learned that nephews and nieces are different. They are absolutely adorable and so easy to play with...most of the time. They still smell funny at times, but their little smiles, hugs and "Tarla came in her tar"'s just melt my heart.

I still struggle with kids I'm not related to. But, I'm learning to love them as well....especially the kids in my little Primary class. I'm not really shocked....you learn to love those you serve. What does surprise me is that, they are starting to like me too. Here is a little note I received from little Jessie in my class:
Isn't that sweet! Of course the week after she gave me this letter I gave a horrible lesson on tithing....complete with tears and a "You explain things weird."

Oh well! Win a few, lose a few!

Rice Krispie Treats 2.0

2010-09-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

Months and months ago, I took some Rice Krispie Treats to party thing. I had included a large box of Nerds in with the Rice Krispies and they turned out super tastey. As we were munching, someone (I hesitate to claim the idea was only mine...but it probably was...I can be brilliant that way...while still suprisingly humble about it) suggested we try Pop Rocks! the next time.

Well, it's taken a while, but I finally got around to trying it out and, I'm telling you, they are AWESOME! It takes 10-15 packages of Pop Rocks! and you really should try to eat them as soon as possible...they still pop 12 hours later, but within 24 hours they are pretty much just regular Treats.

Before they go flat, though, they are, "A party in your mouth!" No joke.

For Sale: Little Condo Home

2010-08-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

I did it! I met with a great realtor and put my condo up for sale. (Listing Link )

I've been meaning to do this for a while and finally couldn't wait any longer. I have really loved my little condo home. It took me to a great ward and stake where I met amazing people and some of the best friends I have ever had. Plus, I took a roommate along that first year and she met the boy she was supposed to marry...which is just super for her! :)

But, it's time to move on. I am desperate for a garage and a bigger kitchen. My family has grown and now when they come to visit, the cozy living area isn't quite adequate any more. I won't start to seriously look for new homes until mine is sold....but I'm sure that will be fun. (When isn't it fun to spend crazy amounts of money all at the same time on an asset that could crumble to pieces due to earthquake or tornado?)

If you happen to know anyone in Utah County looking for a really great little place, let them know my home is available. With the housing market the way it currently is, I'm not thinking it will go super fast...but we'll see. Keep your fingers crossed!

My Latest Crush

2010-08-23T12:02:00.001-07:00

I love spies. I'm not really sure what the appeal is. Could be their uncanny capability to save the damsel in distress (I do love superheroes as well). Could be their nifty gadgets (Batman always was cooler than Superman because of that). Could just be the fact that their exciting lives are such a complete departure from my own mundane daily existence. Or, it could be that, as a whole, they are just plain awesome!

I love them in books, TV, and movies. From Jason Bourne to Michael Weston, from James Bond to the Scarlett Pimpernel...I love them all. Well, I found myself a new spy to admire from afar. Where did I find this new practitioner of espionage? Helaman Chapter 2, my friends!

So, here's the story as I interpret it (keep in mind I watch way too much TV, read way too many books, and have such an overactive imagination that at times I confuse myself with scenarios played out in my mind and real life):

Gadianton and Kishkumen are busy trying to organize their secret combinations and take down the government. Here enters our hero "one of the servants of Helaman" who "obtains, through disguise, a knowledge of those plans." He totally goes undercover to find out what is going on. Super brave and resourceful....very attractive qualities!

Then he happens to run into Kishkumen on his way to kill Helaman. Mr. Superspy gives him the secret sign and gains our villain’s trust by staying true to his undercover persona, going so far as to encourage the murderer with a "Let us go forth unto the judgment seat."

So, off they go on their little assassination mission, Kishkumen "pleased exceedingly". But...this is where things get awesome...Kishkumen never reaches his objective because Mr. Superspy stabs him "even to the heart, that he fell dead without a groan." (Sounds to me like a move totally worthy of Jason Bourne!) The Judgment Seat is saved!

Well, that's all we learn about him. It's only a handful of verses but I plan to hear the whole story sometime because you know there was more to it than that. Until I know the whole truth though, I've created a great adventure for our hero in my mind.

Oh....and in my mind....he kinda looks like Hugh Jackman for some reason.

Book Review Catchup for July & Part of August

2010-07-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging....but I have been reading. Here's a little catch up. If you want the full reviews, if they aren't included, follow the link to the library's blog.

PCL Staff Review Blog

Sizzling Sixteen
By Janet Evanovich
The series stays strong! Still a little dirty....still totally hilarious. I really loved Lula's new diet...the "One Diet". You can have one of everything. One pea, one apple, one roast, one cake...sounds good to me.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
By Aimee Bender
I still haven't quite decided how much I liked this book. I liked it, couldn't stop thinking about it, even weeks after I finished it. Fascinating premise; a girl who tastes the emotions of anyone who prepares her food. With 'cake' in the title, I thought it would be a little less deperessing, but it was still really fascinating.

Soulless
By Gail Carringer
This is one of those vampire books I have a strange affection for. This particular piece of fiction is more steam punk than horror, but I really liked it. It's the first in a series. I'm not sure I'll read the others...mostly because I'm trying to avoid dirty-ish books...which this is.

Writing Jane Austen
By Elizabeth Aston
Elizabeth Aston is the author of the "Mr. Darcy's Daughters" series which I actually love. This book is not part of that series and I really wouldn't recommend it to most people. It's kind of entertaining, but the story totally drags and the romantic aspect of the plot is completely unfulfilling.

The Last Dickens
By Matthew Pearl
This, like most of Pearl's literary mysteries, is based on actual facts. An American publisher becomes mixed up in the opium trade while trying to find the unpublished conclusion of Charles Dickens's last piece of fiction. It was good. I recommend to anyone looking for a good clean mystery.

Spies of the Balkans
By Alan Furst
I realized recently, I read a lot of WWII fiction. This one takes place in...surprise!!...the Balkans just before war breaks out. This wasn't a terrific book, but it was good enough. The love story was a little annoying to me...glances across the room lead to true love within moments....kind of obnoxious...or maybe I mean kind of nauseating...

The imperfectionists
By Tom Rachman
This was basically just a collection of short stories which use the common setting of a English language newspaper printing out of Rome. The writing was really good, but I have a hard time getting excited about short stories. By the time I start to like the protagonist...the story is over.

Agent Zigzag
By Ben Macintyre
This is the same guy who wrote "Operation Mincemeat", which I loved. I also loved this book, not quite as much, but almost. This one is about a British/German double agent during World War II.

Graveyard Book
By Neil Gaiman
I've said it before, but it is seriously still true...you should always listen to Neil Gaiman books. He just does a fantastic job of narrating his own stories. This won the Newberry award a couple years ago and is a story about a little boy raised by ghosts in a graveyard.

Here's Looking at Euclid
By Alex Bellos
This is a little tour through the history of mathematics. Sounds boring, but I really liked it. Bellos has a real gift for words, as you can tell by the BRILLIANT title. He also called a horse whose owner claimed could count and do basic arithmatic an "equine Eistein"....had me giggling for days. (I'm easily entertained...and LOVE alliterations!)

Team of Rivals
By Doris Goodwin
I'm a little mad about this book right now. I found out after listening to 8 discs that I was listening to an abridgement of this book! I hate that! I feel so manipulted. Still, it was a good book, Lincoln was a brilliant leader and just a really good man and this is a great review of his presidency.

Pearl of China
By Anchee Min
This is a fictionalization of the life of Pearl S. Buck. I really enjoyed it and learned not only about a really brave woman but also about what was going on in China during WWII and the Chinese civil war that followed.

The Invisible Bridge
By Julie Orrington
I checked this book out 3 times before I actually got around to reading it. But I'm glad I stuck with it. I really enjoyed this story of a young Hungarian Jew during the years building up to WWII and then through the nightmare of the holocaust. Not a clean read, but a really great work of historical fiction by a gifted writer.

Well, that's it. :)

Jane Slayre

2010-07-01T22:17:00.001-07:00

Jane Slayre
By Charlotte Bronte and Sherri Browning Erwin

The plot should sound familiar. A lonely orphan is raised by her heartless aunt until she is sent away to boarding school where she eventually becomes an instructor. She then takes a job as a governess and falls in love with the taciturn master of the house. He, in turn, loves her but their plans to marry are thwarted by the existence of a lunatic wife. “Jane Eyre?” you ask. Not quite. This is the story of Jane Slayre. A lonely orphan, gifted in the art of slaying, who is raised by her vampire aunt until she is sent away to a boarding school that harvests zombies where she eventually becomes an instructor. Naturally, after that, she takes a job as a governess and falls in love only to have her opportunity for happiness stymied by a lunatic werewolf wife.

I am not the biggest fan of Jane Eyre, but I loved this horrified version of her story. I’ll admit the zombies are usually a little much for me, a prefer vamps and weres; however, even that wasn’t able to detract from the enjoyment I experienced as Jane spiked and beheaded her foes while winning Mr. Rochester’s heart. I wholeheartedly recommend this funny spin on a familiar tale to anyone looking to venture into the ever growing world of twisted classics.

I'm On Vacation!!! (and almost rested enough to enjoy it)

2010-07-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

I just arrived today in…well, not rainy…but cloudy Seattle and I’m just excited to be here!

As I prepared to leave this week, I found myself trying to put in as many hours as possible in order to limit how much actual time off I would have to take. I know that doesn’t sound especially crazy, but I’ve decided it actually is.

You see, I have plenty of vacation hours. Why then, do I feel a compulsive drive to kill myself working long hours so that when my vacation actually comes I spend the first day just recovering from staying up too late and getting up too early to actually keep functioning? That is just insane!!

It’s like when you start building up a savings account and then, even though you have lived with less money saved up in the bank….it is just torture to deplete that stockpile. If that analogy doesn’t connect with you…how about when you have your favorite treat or dessert and you put off actually eating….saving it for the perfect moment….and then you go to eat it and it has gone bad. (Olloliberry Pies come to mind….)

Anyway, my point is just that I really struggle using up scarce resources even though they are actually a bit abundant…..but what if I need more at some time in the future???

Who Knew...I Love Mincemeat!!

2010-06-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory

By Ben Macintyre

Major William Martin’s body was found on a Spanish coastline. He appeared to have died in a plane crash while delivering extremely sensitive document about an upcoming Allied invasion. Though Spain was officially neutral in the conflict, the documents were leaked to German intelligence before being returned to British officials. These important plans were relayed all the way to Hitler himself, who used the information to redeploy German troops to the areas of the impending attacks. Fortunately for the Allied Forces, all the documents found on Major Martin’s corpse were forgeries planted by British Intelligence to dupe the Germans, and Major Martin himself never actually existed.

This is the best spy literature I have read in ages, fiction or nonfiction. Macintyre is an engaging story teller and this is a story well worth telling. The individuals involved are fascinating and the plot is filled with lucky breaks and daring deeds. I can highly recommend this to anyone interested in World War II histories, espionage stories, or students of both human folly and courage.

The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Is Wrong

By David Shenk

In The Genius in All of Us, David Shenk presents new scientific discoveries uncovering a new way to think about IQ and talent. First, he argues for a new way to think about genes and genetics. Where we once thought our genes decided who we are and what we can become, science is now finding that our environment plays an extremely large role in activating those genes and changing how they in turn alter us and our potential. Once the science has been explained, Shenk gives on overview of what this means for us and our children.

Almost half of this book’s 300 pages contain “The Evidence” which includes sources, notes, clarifications, and amplifications. The author’s presentation is convincing and fascinating. What we learn is that while not everyone can become an expert at anything, we are all hardwired to be adaptive to our environment. The right circumstances, drive, and opportunities can create amazing abilities in peoples. It would almost appear that we have more control over our genes than we do over our environment which is a dramatic paradigm shift. This book’s topic reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, but relies more on science to make its arguments.

I Blame the Fact That I Was STARVED!!

2010-06-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you really want to do something, but you know that...even though it totally makes sense to you....others may think you are crazy if you actually do it? Well, sometimes....I just have to do those types of things anyway.

So, I'm in a fabric store where I had just selected my 4 bolts of lovely flannel when I found myself at the cutting table with a couple of women in front of me and no store employees on the other side of the counter.

After waiting for what felt like 10 minutes, but was probably only 2, the cutter returned to the table with three large rolls of 2" ribbons. They were for the ladies in front of me and each roll needed to be measured...which is fine. The first roll was unwound and measured (it was 10' long) and then, the store employee proceeded to slowly and meticulously roll the ribbon back onto the spool.

Now, in my mind I'm thinking, "How weird would it be if I offered to do the re-rolling? This is going to take FOREVER!! Will they think I'm rude? Or just nuts?" I'm proud to say I refrained from stepping in....until she got to the second roll of ribbon (8' long) and started re-rolling.

I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to offer my help! There were three of us just standing there staring at the one person who was doing all the work...slowly!

I put on my sheepish, unjudgmental face and said "Could I please roll that up for you?" They all looked at me like I was a little crazy....so I added "I'm really hungry." They laughed nervously and the employee handed over the ribbon and I happily started winding it back onto the spool.

When it came time to wind the final spool, the lady buying the ribbon actually offered to do it...I felt a little bad...but seriously....I was really hungry and I just wanted to buy my fabric and get out of there.

Fortunately, I don't go there often, but I really do think I was totally justified....I just wanted to help. And in my defense, I was starving to death and I could tell my stomach was eyeing my liver as a possible place to find sustenance....though I wouldn't have eaten anything last night if I thought my stomach could go ahead and start munching on other pockets of stored cellulite....

Kicking Me While I'm Down...

2010-06-19T19:45:00.001-07:00

This is not a "pity me" blog...just in case you were wondering.

However, I had a rough week...and by rough I mean frustrating in a way that will entertain others. I was kind of totally dogged this week by a guy I kinda liked. Nothing big or anything, but it's sad to learn that a hope you had has dried up like the last leaves of autumn and crumbled into nothing but dust...dust that then is blown by the winds of disillusionment and then gets lodged under your contacts and hurts like....well, it hurts.

Anyway, so I was feeling a little down and wouldn't you know it, but the sketchy residents of Provo came to make me feel better. First there was the tattooed, weird facial hair guy that smelled like smoke who asked me to look up his library card number. As I did my little look-up thing, he observed "You don't have a ring on."

"No, I don't." I politely acknowledged.

"Well, does that mean you are available?"

"No," I asserted. "It surely doesn't."

The third depressing "guy" related experience this week found me again at the reference desk. Minding my own business when I noticed that two men (both, I swear in their late 40's) were pointing and giggling like two high school girls. The one I have talked to before (he informed me that when I worked in the old library (10 years ago) they (I have no idea who "they" is) used to call me 'sleepy eyes'....I know....it's that looking tired thing again). Anyway, I just had a bad feeling about the way they were acting, so I got up from the desk to run a few errands hoping to avoid any awkward confrontations.

Well, I was too slow. The guy I didn't know, we'll call him "the friend", says "Hey, ma'am."

"Yes?"

"What's your name?"

"Carla."

"Well, my friend," he looked around for his friend who had disappeared someplace. "He's a little skittish....well, he just thinks you're real pretty."

"Um...thanks? That's very nice of him."

"He just thinks you have the nicest eyes."

Again...since I've never really found a good way to say what I was actually feeling which was "The words you are saying are things I would like to hear...but the fact that they are coming from you makes them really depressing." I simply said "That's very nice."

And I made my little escape.

Later I learned that they met up again a few minutes later and the "friend" told his friend that he had "told me I was pretty for him." And...better yet...that I had thought that was really sweet.

Awesome!!!

Well, my question is....WHY!!!!???? Why do guys I like run away from me like I'm a leprous one eared freak....when really weird guys feel free to hit on me. Someone explain!!

Rich People Are Crazy!!

2010-06-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich

By Robert Frank

Just before the U.S. economy took a brutal beating in 2008, Robert Frank wrote this book detailing the lifestyles of the wealthiest Americans. The spending habits of these multi-millionaires and billionaires (because just having a million dollars now-a-days barely raises you above the middle class) demonstrate a shocking level of consumerism and opulence. And if readers aren’t dazed by the spending, they may still experience feelings of astonishment over the amount of debt people are willing to get themselves into in order to “have it all”.

Before reading this book, I thought I had a pretty good idea of the amount of money the “other half” was spending. But when I read about the $350,000 watches being purchased, I had to take a serious moment to swallow the unkind feelings that may have surfaced. It would be interesting to learn what has changed over the past couple of years since the recent economic downturn. But definitely, the strongest conviction I walked away with was the assurance that if I found myself in possession of a large (or small) fortune, I would surely be a better rich person than most of those described in this book. "I would demonstrate the perfect combination of frivolous and sensible. Money is so wasted on the wealthy!"

Anybody recognize the quote at the end?

Weekend Reviews

2010-06-08T14:55:00.001-07:00

War
By Sebastian Junger

From the author of The Perfect Storm, comes a new book detailing the lives of U.S. Army soldiers fighting from the most dangerous camp in Afghanistan. What goes through the mind of a man after a bullet ricochets off his helmet? What type of relationships develop between soldiers who continuously trust their lives to each other? How can these men return to civilian life after living on the front lines? Junger tries to answer these and other probing questions, illuminating the sacrifice and courage demonstrated by those fighting for our country.

The author spent months at a time on the outpost eating the same food, sleeping in the same bunks, and venturing out with the company on missions into enemy territory. His observations give a unique look at these men living in extreme circumstances. It’s a look into what we ask of those protecting our interests and the toll it takes on them physically, emotionally, and mentally. I highly recommend this book. Be prepared for the rough language that necessarily accompanies an honest portrayal of Army life. But also be prepared to understand a little better how modern warriors are made.

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates
By Wes Moore

How are our fates decided? How can one person succeed and another fail when their origins appear to be so similar? These questions are asked in a very powerful way through this dual biography of two boys whose names, family circumstances, and socioeconomic positions are all eerily similar but whose lives lead them in two entirely different directions. One becomes a Rhodes Scholar and the other is sentenced to life in prison. The author summarizes their stories well on the front jack stating “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.”

In each of the eight chapters, Moore describes events or decisions in both boys’ lives during a single year that led them to their polarized futures. Don’t expect any real answers to what points a kid toward success or failure. What Moore does provide is a very vivid picture of the obstacles young men face as they progress to manhood, especially in our country’s inner cities. Readers gain a timely reminder that our youth need role models and positive influences that give them confidence in their own ability to rise above their circumstances. Moore realizes at one point that “The Expectations that others place on us help us form our expectations of our selves.” A powerful message our society undeniably needs.

Thank Heaven! The worst is behind me...

2010-06-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

I was putting together a bunch of family pictures for my Dad's 60th birthday when I came across this gem. It is officially the worst portrait that has or ever will be taken of me. There I am, in the top left corner....terrifying eh? The bad hair can be blamed on the decade...no one survived the 80s without a few bad do's...yes, that is a cold sore on my lip... the glasses are what we used to wear...seriously....and I just can't excuse the startled look on my face. Soooo bad!! Maybe I was trying not to blink?? Ever??

I'm proud to be secure enough to post this picture...putting it out there to the ridicule of my family and friends (Melanie and Shayla have already bonded over this). But I'm not so secure that I won't also post a cute picture of me when I was little....because, I was a dang cute kid.

I'm the one smiling on my Dad's lap.

You may be wondering how I know this will be the worst portrait of me...I'll tell you! It's one of the benefits of being a grown-up. I now have a lot more control over what pictures survive to see the light of day. Never again will something like this survive to be witnessed by others! Seriously...I'll destroy memory cards with massive magnets if I have to. :)

Just a few books I read over the holiday :)

2010-06-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
By Seth Grahame-Smith
Grand Central Pub., 2010. 336 pgs. Fiction

As if Abraham Lincoln didn’t have enough stress in his life, what with preserving the union and emancipating the slaves, Grahame-Smith also has him saving the nation from vampires. Abe is first introduced to this dark world of death when he learns that his mother’s terminal illness was caused by his father’s dealings with the undead. He vows to avenge her murder and begins a quest to rid the entire country of all vampires.

This was so much better than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! The picture of a tall, thoughtful Abe Lincoln wielding a fierce ax as he slaughters the walking dead is surprisingly believable…as far as stories of vampire hunters can be believable. Historic facts are represented as Lincoln struggles with depression and suicide each time he is devastated by the deaths of those nearest to him. If you are looking for an entertaining and light horror read with little language or sensuality but a whole lot of blood and guts, this book may be perfect for you.

Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History
By Scott Andrew Selby & Greg Campbell
Union Square Press, 2010. 319 pgs. Nonfiction.

Is there such a thing as a perfect crime? Probably not, but a group of jewel thieves from Turin came pretty close when they robbed the vault of a building in Antwerp’s Diamond District. They got away with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of diamonds, cash, and jewelry without anyone being aware of their visit to the vault until a security guard opened the building for business the following Monday morning. Some of those involved were apprehended and sentenced to jail time but there are still aspects of the job that baffle investigating officials.

As a fan of heist movies and novels, I didn’t think this true narration was exactly gripping. It was fascinating though. The patience the thieves had over the two years of planning for the theft and then their nerve in actually pulling it off was truly amazing. On the other side of the crime, the authors also describe the actions of victims and law enforcement officers as they face the crime’s aftermath. This is an entertaining true crime story, without the violence that genre often contains.

Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders
By Neil Gaiman
William Morrow, 2006. 360 pgs. Fantasy.

This is a collection of short stories and poems, including a novella featuring Shadow from American Gods. The introduction includes a short explanation for each story telling why it was written, where it was originally published, and any awards it won. Gaiman’s stories contain the dark humor that usually accompanies his work. Fans will enjoy these little morsels, but those not familiar with his other works may find them a bit random.

I listened to a production of this book read by the author, which I’m convinced is the best way to enjoy all things Gaiman. His skills as a writer are enhanced by his narrating abilities. I did not love every story, but I really enjoyed most and I usually dislike reading short stories. A couple of the stories were a little gritty and definitely for a mature audience.

Cars & Computers, aka Things That Should Just Work

2010-05-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

Last night, Stacey's car battery died and I took her to Walmart to buy a new one. As we were standing there, looking at a wall of EverStarts and Duralasts, Stacey asked me which one I would buy. Without much thought, I honestly replied, "Oh...I'd have sold the car when it didn't start yesterday." (I've actually done this before....Dad got a real deal 4 years ago on a car he still drives. But I'd like to point out that it was making a funny noise which he finally heard and got fixed after owning it for a few weeks...no one would believe me!)

This is the thing, I'm not not unhandy or unresourceful. I've done all kinds of DIY projects around the house...I've installed shelving, replaced a light switch, fixed the toilet, and installed my new showerhead. I've repaired a couple small appliances all by myself and I even fixed my treadmill once when it wasn't working right. I love to assemble furniture and basically take a lot of pride in the fact that I am somewhat self sufficient! But when it comes to cars and computers...I just think they should work and if they don't, I just refuse to deal with it.

Last week I was having some issues with my computer. (I have a mac, which I love....I've had it for 4 years and this is the first time I've had problems.) I took it into the store and the tech guy said I needed to update my operating system and install some additional memory. I asked him how I went about doing that and he started explaining what I'd need to do to make the updates. I cut him off midsentence and said, "Oh, no....how do I go about paying you to do all that?" He told me and I gladly paid.

I'm sure this is just an unconscious choice I have made...to not learn to understand these two tools I use daily. I want to believe it's not because I'm lazy or stupid or something....maybe I know I rely on cars and computers so heavily in my life that the thought of them not working makes me panic and my brain freeze up.

Sometimes, I can be such a mystery to myself. All I know is that my car and my computer better keep working or they are gone! Newer, shinier models will always be available...

The Revival of an Old Crush

2010-05-15T03:50:00.000-07:00

Years before Colin Firth jumped into an English pond, I fell in love with Mr. Darcy. I first met him in the old 5 hour miniseries from...like 1985. I actually didn't love Firth's portrayal for a few years, I thought he was a little 'soft'. That first Darcy was super imposing and had a condescending glare like nothing I've seen since, but he also had the best smile by the end of the story....and with that smile I was lost.

Well, years pass and I've found new crushes both literary and real, but there is nothing like finding an old friend again. I seldom reread books, so when I want to return to Pemberly and Netherfield, I find a new version of the old story and lose myself in nostalgia.

Over the last few weeks, I found myself drawn back to Austen's England with a series I've been meaning to read for a long time, "Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman". It's a three volume series telling the whole story over again, but from Darcy's perspective, and I loved it!

I'll admit, it isn't the greatest writing in the world, and the second volume lost some of my interest, but as a whole....it was fantastic! I loved the imagined world, motives, and internal struggles Pamela Aidan imagines for our beloved hero.

Anyway, I completely recommend! I was in desperate need of something lighter after several months of heavier reading material, and I'm so grateful I finally decided to pick these up.

The Tudors & My New Favorite Word

2010-05-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

(This is a copy of a post I already posted on my work blog containing librarian reviews...'cuase I'm that lazy!)

The Tudors: The Complete Story of England’s Most Notorious Dynasty
By G.J. Meyer
Delacorte Press, 2010. 612 pgs. Nonfiction.

Of all England’s rulers, the Tudors have proved to possess the greatest ability to remain prominent in the history books. Their relatively short reign, barely three generations, managed to bankrupt the government and establish an unrivaled legacy of brutal tyranny and civil unrest. This work follows the royal family from Henry VII’s unlikely rise to power, to Henry VIII’s six wives and the tumultuous religious war he waged against the Catholic Church, on to his son Edward VI’s short time on the throne, his daughter Mary’s 5 year reign and bloody legacy, and finally to Elizabeth’s forty years in power.

Meyer writes in an entertaining style with a dry humor that kept me tied to the narrative. I did feel that the coverage was uneven; spending a majority of the book telling of Henry VIII’s many intrigues while spending an amazingly little amount of time exploring Elizabeth and her relatively lengthy reign. However, I still recommend this collective biography to anyone interested in English history. The “Historical Notes” that ended most chapters were particularly fascinating and gave excellent glimpses into life during the time period. I, personally, am glad I decided to explore the Tudor dynasty if only to be introduced to my new favorite word, kleptocracy, which was used to describe the political environment Henry VIII established. Totally worth all 20 discs and 25 hours!

Did you hear the one about the cat?

2010-05-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

My Grandma Zollinger suffered from Alzheimer's. It was hard to watch her fade, but we were fortunate in that she was able to continue living next door with Grandpa for a long time before she needed 24 hour supervision. That doesn't mean we didn't notice signs of her slipping sanity. She would forget conversations or events soon after they occurred and that would sometimes lead to humorous situations....sometimes it's better to laugh to keep from crying.

Anyway, my favorite Grandma story from this time period is the one about her cat.

I don't believe she met the cat alive. Grandma encountered the cat only after its death, but she really did love that thing. She found it some place out on the farm and immediately decided it should spend its afterlife walking along the gate behind her house. I hadn't realized we took a picture until recently. And here it is.

This is Melanie and Stephanie posing with Grandma's cat. If you can't tell, that is a rib bone from a cow that Grandma used to prop the cat up...Grandma was always resourceful.

She was seriously so fond of this cat standing on the gate. We did convince her to move it off the gate and onto the fence and slowly moved the thing North until it was behind the well house. It seemed like a good idea....just to keep from freaking out the neighbors.

I had a pair of worn out jeans...

2010-04-27T20:04:00.001-07:00

Ever have a little decision turn into something huge? Well, this is what happened to me almost a year ago. I had a pair of worn out jeans and realized that I actually had several pairs. So, I thought I'd make a denim quilt....since you can never have too many of those. But I wanted this one to be different, something really unique.

I searched online and found a really neat pattern for a circle quilt....which I decided was what I was going to make. Twelve months later, I have finally finished the stupid....I mean lovely...quilt.

Here are some pictures of it. It is big enough to fit a queen sized bed....which may have been a mistake....There are 650 circles....I went through 11 spools of thread...I quickly stopped counting the bobbins I wound.

But it turned out really well (as long as you don't look too closely...like so many things in life).

Here is the front of the blanket...

Here is a closer detail of the front....

This is the back of the blanket....

A closer detail of the back (it is sown completely by machine...those are zig zagged edges on the circles).

So, there you have it. I apologize if I haven't emailed or called you in a while.....this has kind of taken over my entire life. I'm very glad to have it back! :)

I Did Some More Reading

2010-04-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some more reviews I just wrote for work. The first, I Am Nujood, really was fantastic. Completely recommended! But the other two are optional selections.

I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced
By Nujood Ali and Delphine Minoui

In an honest and heart breaking narrative, Nujood Ali tells of her escape, at age ten, from an abusive marriage. The story she shares is clearly from her point of view and readers are never allowed to forget that they are hearing this tale from a child, still in Primary School, just learning to read and discovering the world with all its beauty and cruelty. Nujood describes her rural childhood which was cut drastically short by her marriage to a man she had never met, the horrors of being trapped without a soul willing to rescue her, and her courageous escape and battle for freedom from a life she could not bear.

It is almost impossible for me to imagine the courage needed for a little girl, completely abandoned by family, to do what Nujood did. To fight for herself and her right to a childhood in the face of such pain, is an example of inborn grace and strength that few of us can claim to possess. I believe that the humility portrayed in Nujood’s short account is what gives it the power to inspire and uplift, despite the abuse and horror it brings to light. This would be a great selection for book clubs and I can easily recommend it to almost anyone.

Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire
By J. McIver Weatherford

Genghis Khan rose to power at the dawn of the 13th Century. He conquered a vast empire through bloody campaigns that spanned decades. Because his legacy is one of brutal conquest, you may be surprised to learn of his great respect for and dependence on women to maintain control of such an expansive territory. Not one of his sons was ever entrusted with governing any portion of his empire. Instead, he married his daughters to conquered rulers and gave them power to govern in his stead. Unfortunately, soon after his death, the empire crumbled and his daughters lost power. More amazing female leaders followed throughout the history of the Mongols and this book attempts to tell the stories of their strength and influence, which extends beyond what you may guess.

If you thought the history of the Tudors was filled with intrigue and scandal, you certainly have not read up on the history of the Mongols and the great Khans. I admit to having a difficult time remembering whose name belongs to whom, what their connections and politics were, and what their significance was, but if you get past that, this book is a wealth of fascinating stories about amazing individuals in a cold and inhospitable area of the world. I was completely swept up in the lives of these nomads and their proud history. A must read for anyone who enjoys popular history writing.

The House at Riverton
By Kate Morton

Grace Bradley began working at Riverton House as a maid before the start of World War I. She is now in her 90’s and feels a need to relive the years she spent in service to the Hartford family. As her mind visits the past she is again faced with doubts concerning secrets she has kept faithfully for decades. But now that she is the last living witness to the events leading to the suicide of a young poet in 1924, she feels compelled to share the truth before it is lost forever.

Kate Morton is the author of The Forgotten Garden, which I loved. Because of this, I decided to read Morton’s first novel. While The House at Riverton is not the worst book I’ve read this year, it certainly is not as enjoyable as her second published work. I felt like the first 450 pages slowly built to the last 25, which I admit ended the book with a surprise twist I had not anticipated. This is a decent suspense novel that does remind me of Du Maurier’s Rebecca, minus most of the suspense and an intriguing storyline.

Do I Look Tired To You?

2010-04-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Last week was really boring and I didn't have anything to blog about. This week is looking very similar. But, I'm sitting here at work, trying to think of something interesting to blog about and decided to rant about what I like to call...."The Curse of the Bedroom Eyes".

"The Curse of the Bedroom Eyes" can be summed up as: For some reason I always look sleepy to people and they usually feel to tell me about it. It's irritating. Seriously, if it's not "You look tired!" it's "You just need to smile!" Maybe it has something to do with how hard I work...I'm just too busy being productive to think about grinning all the time? No....I don't think that's it.

The other half of the whole situation is that people feel free to make the comment. It's like..."Well, hi there...you look terrible!" Didn't they ever learn to not say anything if they can't say something nice?

It took me years to come up with a proper response, because, what do you say..."Thanks." Instead I usually say..."That's not good." or "Why is that?".....I try to throw it back at them and make them feel uncomfortable (cause it's just more fun that way).

This morning I must really have been tired because I didn't even bat an eye before replying, "Well, that's a horrible thing to say." I think I really made they guy feel bad....I didn't mean to and tried to play it down. Anyway, I guess I need to work harder at looking cheery and alert all the time....but I get tired just thinking about attempting that...

Thank Goodness I'm a Loser!!

2010-04-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

My email in-box greeted me this morning with the happy news that I did not win the recent ULA (Utah Library Association) election for President Elect! I cannot even begin to adequately describe my relief!! I was nominated several months ago and accepted because I felt a combination of guilt and extreme guilt. So, for the past few months I've been a little worried about actually winning, it would have been a three year commitment...and you know how I am with long term commitments....I tend to avoid them whenever possible.

I've decided recently that I believe in signs...little things that happen, foreshadowing coming events or sending, sometimes cryptic, messages we can use in making decisions or preparing for what is coming. So, I believe that this election loss is telling me that I might not still be working in 3 years....maybe I will get married sometime. What do you think? Is that stretching for a meaning I want?

I like interpreting meanings to these little signs...it's entertaining and oddly comforting at times. For example, the Library just hired a new employee named...Carla. It's true...crazy, but true! That means that there are three Carlas working full time for the Provo City Library. Ten percent of the full time employees here have the same name....and it's Carla. Do I know any other Carlas? I do not...I just work with a whole posse of them. (I know a fantastic Marla.....but not a Carla.)

So, what does this mean? I have decided that this means...that if I wanted to, I could marry a guy named David. Did I lose you with my logic? Well, here it is. Two of my sisters have already married Davids and I had really just decided that was enough and so, I turned down all those Davids that were proposing. But, if I can work functionally with two other Carlas....I am sure I could be in a family with three Davids. Now I just need to meet a David who finds me fascinating and wouldn't mind being called Davy at family functions....

Well, that's enough deep thinking for the day. (It's probably too much!)

Books I Finished Last Week

2010-03-29T11:30:00.001-07:00

Last week I read three books I really liked....I don't always post all my books on this blog, but I thought I'd review these. I can easily recommend all of them!

The Art of Choosing
By Sheena Iyengar

Why would a person choose to eat more chili flavored yogurt if it had been picked for him than if he had selected the flavor himself from an array of equally disgusting options? Why do children do better at math puzzles they choose themselves than they do at puzzles selected for them by their parents? Through questions like these, this book discusses the amazing power choice wields our lives. Author Iyengar presents a fascinating series of studies centered on our ability to choose, from the big decisions, like marriage and career, to the little decisions, like what to where and what color of polish we want on our toes.

The subject matter presented here is completely fascinating and the author is able to present it in an entertaining and vibrant voice. Many of the studies offered were conduct by Iyengar herself and she adds a personal note to conclusions made and how one set of results led to more inquiries and further studies. While not as readily accessible as some of Malcolm Gladwell’s books, this is still quality science writing.

Mrs. Mike: The Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan
By Benedict and Nancy Freedman

Katherine Mary is sent from a sheltered life in Boston to live with her uncle in Canada where, her mother hopes, she will enjoy better health thanks to the cleaner air. Soon after her arrival she meets and promptly falls in love with handsome Sergeant Mike Flannigan of the Canadian Mounted Police. Days after their marriage, she is off to the far North where the newlyweds set up a life for themselves in that great white wilderness at the turn of the century.

Though not written in a journal format, this book is similar to Nancy Turner’s These Is My Words. Katherine Mary is not the spitfire Sarah Agnes was, but she is still a strong woman enduring a life filled with danger and sorrow, yet finding joy, love and friendship. Minus a little mild language this is an enjoyable book for almost any reader looking for a gentle and uplifting read.

Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World
By Claire Harman

Jane Austen. Her name is familiar to almost everyone, but she still remains a figure we know little about. Most of her personal correspondence was destroyed within years of her death and what little remains provides a patchy portrait at best. This new biography covers more than just her life but the decades of fame she has enjoyed since her death. The author presents the popularity and almost universal enjoyment of her six novels as an unprecedented phenomenon. Austen’s books have provided material for plays, movies, prequels, and sequels and has inspired works on etiquette, dating, fashion, and more. Harman presents a host of interesting insights into Austen’s contributions to our literary heritage and popular culture over the past 150 years.

This is a must read for all Janeites. (Which is pretty much everyone, right?) Harman is an obvious fan herself and quickly draws the readers into the subject matter with warmth and humor. She includes quotes and characters from Austen’s books that enrich her narrative and make the reader feel a part of the “in” group, even including a section on Colin Firth’s wet shirt. Entirely entertaining and enlightening. After putting this book down, you will either want to pick up your worn copy of Pride and Prejudice or maybe even pop in the DVD.

I Got a Tip!!

2010-03-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

So, this afternoon an older gentleman came into the library and asked for some help with the microfilm. He wanted to access the Daily Herald in 1953. Being the excellent & helpful librarian that I am, I showed him our online index of the Daily Herald and looked his name up that way. SO CUTE!!! He had several articles listed. One was his daughter's wedding announcement and another was about his stellar performance in a high school basketball game. He had me print out all 5 articles he had appeared in from 1950 to 1977.

Anyway, he didn't find what he wanted, so we headed to the microfilm readers and I got him all set up. He found a few pages that I helped him scan and print and then he let me know he was finished. I put everything away and counted up his prints and told him the total was $.90. He opened his little wallet, pulled out a $5 and said, "Thanks for your help. Keep the change." Then headed for the elevator.

How sweet, eh? He gave me a 555% tip! I totally should have been a waitress. Of course, I had to ring the whole amount into the cash register (how do you spell til? or till?). But I suppose the Library should be rewarded for the good sense it has shown in employing me for the past 11 years.

(I feel that to be completely honest in this post I should admit that last week I got in a big fight with one of my patrons after he told me to "use the gray matter between my ears". He definitely didn't leave me a tip....he left me a little steamed. Win a few, lose a few....)

It's St. Patrick's Day....And I'm Jealous

2010-03-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

I thought that today would be a good day to list all the things I'm green about. So, here are things I'm jealous over:

Garages (someday!!!)
Closets (who builds a house without a closet that can fit a vacuum...I ask you!!)
People who don't sweat (Curse you Mary Ann!!)
People who effortlessly have flawless skin (Deep down I hate you all!)
Handsome, handy, and on hand husbands (I'm pretty sure mine is handsome and handy....just not on hand at the moment.)
Adorable children (most of the time...even the adorable ones are handfuls at times...I don't envy you parents all the time...but sometimes.)
People who retire at 35 (I'd be two years away....now I'm over 2 decades away, but who's counting?)
Athletic abilities (I really do try to be athletic...but it never feels truly natural...I'll blame it on my over sized feet.)
Cute little feet (All shoes look cute in a size 5...come to think of it....all clothes look cute in a size 5....but let's not go there.)
Natural beauty (What beauty I gain takes so much work!!!)

Well, that's a quick list. It's nice to occasionally admit there are a few things I'd prefer in life....no use denying it.

(However, I now feel the undeniable need to list some stuff I am overwhelmingly grateful for...notice nowhere on the previous list do I mention amazing friends, stupendous parents, loving and lovely sisters (and sister-in-law), handsome and handy brother (and brothers-in-law) adorable nieces and nephews, a fantastic job with incredible co-workers, a beautiful home to live in (that is quiet and all mine), good health, an infinite atonement, a wonderful ward and a great calling, Spring on the horizon,....wow, there is just so much!!)

What am I....

2010-03-11T11:31:00.000-08:00

I don't have anything to write about....but I thought I'd just fill you all in...

What am I Reading?
"The Brightest Star in the Sky" by Marian Keyes
It's okay...nothing fantastic but it fulfills my need to read a Women's Literature book for work.

What am I Listening To?
"The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh" by David Damrosch
If I had something else to listen to, I wouldn't finish it...it's kind of boring. But someone just died of dysentery...so maybe it's picking up.

What am I Exercising To?
Robin Hood Season 2
I know....it's cheesy....but even with long nasty hair, Richard Armatage is fun to look at!

What am I Watching?
Burn Notice...season 3 just ended (sob), Lost...I'm confused, Chuck....I wish I were a spy, Being Erica....who knew there were Canadian TV shows, Castle....books, murder, and Nathan Fillion, what's not to love, Supernatural...because it's good and creepy, American Idol...because I caved in to the powers of reality TV. I better stop before I sound pathetic :)

What am I Eating?
Lunch today was a PB and honey sandwich, some baby carrots and cherry tomatoes and a bag of fruit snacks.

My Seattle Trip aka The Parade of Butter and Sugar

2010-02-28T19:05:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I went to Seattle for a little trip to visit my amazing friends up there. As always, I had a fabulous time that could only have been improved if Seattle were in a tropical climate. But Seattle makes up for the rain with good food.....so I took a picture of a lot of what I ate...and it was all good!

Upon arrival we had guac and chips

with a lovely chicken salad ....I figured I wasn't off to too bad of a start....there are a lot of vegetables there under all that dressing.... and avocados have the good kind of fat.... However, I'm pretty sure this cinnamon pastry we had for dessert has the bad kind of fat.

Breakfast/lunch was this apple pull apart muffin brilliance. It was so good and so fattening, it had to be two meals at once....which was okay because I spent the morning/afternoon lying in bed reading a really stupid vampire book....so I wasn't even burning calories with my brain.

Dinner with Courtney, Tamra, and Michaelynn was fantastic at

P.F. Cheng's. We, of course, started out with lettuce wraps and then shared some black bean chicken, mongolian beef and some shrimp dish. I tried the shrimp....because I really do want to like seafood. The orange fried coating was good but the shrimp in the middle still made me want to gag. I can now ignore all fish for another year or two until I'll try to like it again.

At the movie after dinner ("When In Rome"....ah, how I miss my Veronica), I had some popcorn and raisonettes. I'd like to say I shared most of it, but that would be lying. I shared some of it...that's honest.

This picture can also act as a "before" picture of my thighs....I'm pretty sure I won't post an "after" picture.

Well, by this time in my trip....I kept either forgetting my camera at meals, or forgetting to take pictures of my meals. I do wish I had had a shot of the exploding Root Beer incident outside the grocery store....good times and one I will enjoy in my post-life review.

But a record of the food from my Seattle trip would not be complete without it's crowning course.....cupcakes.....cupcakes....and more cupcakes!!

Well, there you have it. A record of the "Carla Vacation" experience. Anyone interested in traveling with me in the future....this is what it is all about!

Goodbye Old Friend....I've Watched You Through So Much

2010-02-28T18:33:00.000-08:00

This week I bid farewell to an old companion that has stuck with me through many years. Yes, I'm talking about my old Magnavox TV. I think if televisions had odometers, that little box would have flipped it's a couple times by now....I've put a lot of miles on that thing. So, I wanted to celebrate it's long life with a little stroll down memory lane.

Maggie (yes, she has a name) came into my life when I lived in Seattle. I had a VCR, but no television set and....well, that was rather useless. So, I bought her and set her up down

stairs where she could be viewed by anyone sitting on that nasty old grey pullout (or by any of the spiders that regularly traversed the room).

After Seattle it was next set up in my little apartment off 100 East in Provo where I had roommates that liked to watch tella novellas. The language barrier stopped me from enjoying that genre of television....proving that I guess I won't actually watch anything....I do have standards.....and if not standards....limits?

Next I moved to Orem and Maggie came with me. I remember the day I realized how brilliant I could be by setting the TV across the room but the VCR right next to my bed! I could switch out movies without leaving my bed! Crazy awesome!!

For the last 6 years she has lived in my bedroom on a little rolling cart that allowed me to swivel her wherever I need her to be. At the base of my bed, turned to be visible while doing my hair and makeup, or even into the bathroom so I could watch a movie while taking a hot bath.....she's been a reliable friend whenever I need her.

But our good years are now at an end. Most of the time only the bottom half of the screen shows up and, though it may seem ungrateful, I'm afraid it's time for her to move out.

So I say goodbye....thanks for all the memories.

Thanks for introducing me to Alias, Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, and Burn Notice. Thanks for not judging my obsession with The O.C., Supernatural, and Prison Break (remember the time Mary Ann and I yelled at you for Michael to "Kill that stupid T-Bag!!! Just put the knife through his heart!!")

So many memories, so many stories, so many empty (lonely?) hours filled! I'll miss you! (Please don't judge that you have already been replaced by a really pretty LCD flatscreen....)

My New Favorite Book!!

2010-02-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

The Forgotten Garden
By Kate Morton

The Forgotten Garden begins with a small child, seemingly abandoned, on a boat headed for Australia. She claims to not know her name or why she carries with her a small suitcase containing an illustrated book of fairy tales and one single change of clothes. From this central point the mystery of who she is and where she came from is slowly revealed over a 100 year span of time. This book is all at once a family saga, a romance, and a mysterious tale of tragedy and redemption.

This is a spectacular piece of storytelling and a work of fiction I can easily recommend to almost anyone. The Forgotten Garden reminds me of The Thirteenth Tale but with a much better conclusion. Morton’s method of slowly unravel a complicated story is engrossing and I had a hard time setting the book down each night. By far my favorite book of the year and one I can see myself recommending for years to come.

P.S. I am totally buying this book, so if you want to borrow it....it will be available soon! :)

I Got Tired of the Old Look

2010-02-17T11:27:00.000-08:00

I decided my blog needed a new look. I know this isn't fancy or anything, but I like it. Speaking of looks, sometimes I look around at people and I wonder exactly what "look" they are going for.

Peopleofwalmart.com is a great example. I could probably create a PeopleAtYourPublicLibrary.com website that would be just as entertaining.

What kills me is that those people CHOOSE to leave their homes looking like that, so they must want to present themselves that way.....so maybe others look at me and think the same thing....that I'm a little crazy.

Hopefully I have friends that love me enough to tell me when I look ridiculous....enough to tell me if I have huge flakes of dandruff in my eyebrow.....right?

P.S. The eyebrow dandruff was actually icing from dishing up dessert...just in case you were wondering.

Richard Peck is Coming!

2010-02-16T15:51:00.000-08:00

Richard Peck , Newberry Award winning author of "A Long Way From Chicago" and "A Year Down Yonder", is coming to the Provo City Library!! I understand he is a very good speaker and he will be in our Ballroom, Tuesday, March 2nd at 6:00 PM.

Free tickets are now available at the Children's Desk, though I understand they are going quickly. If you are interested or have questions let me know. He will also be signing books afterwords.

When Your Stalker Moves On…

2010-02-10T10:47:00.000-08:00

A couple days ago I had a strange and unexpected empty feeling when I realized that my little schizophrenic stalker of 11 years has moved on. I know it sounds insane, but I miss his strange looks and sidelong shuffles to wherever I happen to be standing in order to say “You look pretty today.” Or him telling my co-workers that if I didn’t have a boyfriend (a lie my co-workers kindly told for me years ago), he would marry me for sure.

There was a time when he adored me. He even sent me a love note once praising my feet of all things….and did I mention there was poetry involved? Well, there was. I know I kept a copy, but I can’t find it. Anyway, at the time, I acted all above it and shut my office door more than absolutely necessary, specifically to avoid him stopping by to say hi.

But, a while ago, he got married. (Yes…the crazy schizophrenic kid got married before me…that’s a whole different issue that I try not to dwell upon.) Since his marriage he has stopped talking to me outside official questions and comments. He explained right before his wedding that he wouldn’t be able to talk to me anymore because he could only talk to his wife now….which is kinda sweet…I guess. But, like I said, now I unexpectedly miss him and his awkward attentions.

I don’t even want to begin to understand what that says about me. Pretty sure it is something about being needy and starved for attention, or maybe I just miss a friendship I never knew I valued?

Looking for Something to do for Valentine's Day?

2010-02-04T12:16:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm not....because I already have plans. Are they the plans I would really like to be making for this silly holiday? No. But, I thought I'd send out a little notice, just in case anyone would like to join me. The Library does an annual Valentine's Day Dance....it has gone through various changes through the years and this year it is going to be a little less formal than in the past, plus they lowered the price to $20 per person!!

I know that sounds like a lot, but you get dinner and dancing (and a flower for all the girls....so, that is super nice!!). They will be serving a delicious BBQ dinner followed by a live band with line dancing and some country swing stuff.

Some years I have brought dates, but I just don't have the energy for that this time. I just thought that since I have to be there, I'd try to convince some of my friends to go too.

I tried to upload the flier, but it wouldn't work. Here's the link.

Let me know if you have questions :)

Why I Feel I Shouldn't Blog:

2010-01-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

In case you can't read what it says: "Blogging - Never before have so many people with so little so to say said so much to so few."

Um....yay.

P.S. I'm doing so good with adding graphics to my blogs!!!

Also, my favorite quote of the day (from Better Off Ted....if you've never heard of it you should really watch it! Totally hilarious!): "There's really no middle ground with you. Either you don't care at all, or you care a hundred and crazy percent." Maybe you had to be there....but I laughed out loud!

Why I do what I do...

2010-01-26T12:03:00.000-08:00

I sometimes wonder how I became a librarian. It's not like it was a dream of mine growing up. I remember the library in Grace, Idaho a little bit and then when we moved to Thatcher there was the summer Bookmobile that stopped on our corner. I always loved books, but didn't really feel passionate about libraries like some people do from birth. It just seemed to happen.

Anyway, the other day I came across this little comic and wondered if, subconsciously, I wanted a career in a job where people were "forced" to talk to me and they would, by default, think I knew what I was talking about....even though usually, I'm full of crap. :) I think I also identified with the lonely chicken's attempt to lure people into interactions with food....is that bad?

Recent Books I've Read

2010-01-20T11:31:00.000-08:00

Since I had Monday off, I allowed myself to stay in bed for the morning...part of the time reading a book on motivation...which was probably why I was actually able to get up at noon instead of just staying there all day long. So...what have I been reading? Here are a few recent highlights.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - I actually listened to this a few months ago...but it is really one of my most favorite books of all time. If you get a chance to read or listen to it.....I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone. Just fantastic.

Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford - Not squeaky clean, but a lot of fun. I know I shouldn't feed the Austen-mania....but I can't help myself.

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem - Not clean at all and most the characters were stoned through the whole book. To be totally honest, I'm really not sure what I thought of this book....I'm still thinking. Definitely not recommending it....though it was interesting.

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder - A biography about a survivor of the Burundi genocide. There was no way this book was not going to be at least a little depressing, but it disturbed me more than I had expected. Fascinating story of an resilient individual. This morning in the shower (where I do my best thinking) I was struck by how grateful I am to have never in my life, feared for my life. I am actually grateful to do my taxes this year and be giving 1/3 of my salary to a government I may not always agree with, but that keeps me safe. I totally take that for granted.

I think that is enough deep thinking for today :) If you would like to see longer reviews on these and other books I'm reading....I blog them at work http://provolibrarystaffreviews.blogspot.com/

Lunchtime Blogs...a experiment

2010-01-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

I forget to blog. I think about things to blog, but never actually get around to writing and posting them. I think there are multiple reasons....

I have a hard time thinking I'm really very interesting and hate to document the proof of my doubts.
I am an expert procrastinator and it does seem like an awful lot of work when I'm sitting on my couch watching TV and doing the USAToday Crossword.

I thought I'd come up with more reasons....I didn't.

Anyway, I'm going to start blogging during my lunch break. It's not like I'm doing anything but eating at my desk and sometimes watching The Colbert Report or the Today Show. Sometimes I read, but that just makes me sleepy.

I know I should leave work for lunch....give my brain a little rest....but, when I leave I just spend money. And that isn't good either.

We'll see how it goes. And if anyone is reading this....I'll try not to be boring :)

Oh....I just thought of a number 3....I never take pictures and blogs are so boring without pictures. Am I right?

Kids are so cute....

2009-09-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

My nephew, Jonathan, was at my house on Saturday and we had this conversation.

Jonathan: Aunt Carla, where are your kids?
Carla: I don’t have any kids.
Jonathan: Then why do you have toys?
Carla: Those toys are for you when you come to visit me.
Jonathan: Well, where is your husband?
Carla: I’m not married, Jonathan.
Jonathan: But where is he?
Carla: I don’t know…but maybe if we both start looking really hard for him, we can find him?
Jonathan: (looking really confused) But why aren’t you married?
Carla: Sometimes some people just aren’t married. (added under my breath) You aren’t married either….stop being so judgmental!

Isn’t he a charmer? He really is. Most of the older nieces and nephews have had this conversation with me. I guess I should just be glad they wonder why I’m not married….it would be worse if they just came up, pointed at my face or thighs and said “You should get that fixed.”

Why I don't go to dances...

2009-09-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

I know, I know….I don’t blog enough…and this time I’m not even going to pretend I intend to do better. But, the reason I haven’t blogged recently is that I have been too busy attempting to be more social (this isn’t really true…I haven’t blogged because I’m lazy). A good friend convinced me a few weeks ago that I need to start dating more and that the key to making that happen is “Exposure, exposure, exposure”.

Now, her words could be taken in a couple different ways….I’ve decided to interpret them as instructions to get out into society more and not to wear more revealing clothes. Rest assured…if the first doesn’t work….I may resort to the later.

So, a couple weekends ago there was a singles (31-45) conference in Lehi. I had to work during the day, but I committed myself to going to the dance on Saturday night. I will never forget the experience.

First off, we were carded. Had to prove we were in the right age range.

Then, they played a whole bunch of that new fangled hip-hop music J. I don’t really mind hip-hop (it does remind me of how terrible I was in my community education hip-hop class….but whatever). My complaint was that here we are….older singles and they didn’t play many of the “stake dance” songs I have such fond memories of...just seems like it would have been a good idea.

The really great part of the evening was when they turned all the lights on and made all the men stand in a big circle with all the women inside that circle in a circle of their own. What followed was basically speed dating for a 10-15 minutes. It wasn’t so bad…whatever…but then they made us do the hokey pokey.

Yes, you read right….standing there, facing each other, we (a group of desperate 31-45 year olds who want nothing more than to maintain their self-respect in a difficult situation) were asked to put our “rear ends in, out, and shake them all about”.

So, each of us was faced with a decision….you are either a bad sport and refuse to do it….or you are an idiot for actually doing it.

I have promised myself not to let this experience keep me from continued efforts to get out there and meet people….so no worries…but really!

My pleas goes out:
· Please don’t TRY to humiliate the poor singles in the world!
· And please recognize the RULE that no one should have to do the hokey pokey without a child under the age of 12 or roller skates present….it’s just not cool!

Cruising Alaska!!

2009-06-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the story of my Alaskan cruise. This was my first cruising experience and I’m going to admit I was a little nervous at the outset. I wasn’t really sure what to expect and I was worried about gaining 15 pounds during the week since I do have a serious problem saying no to food that is placed in front of me. Also, since it was just Stacey and I, I was a bit anxious about my ability to entertain her and make sure she had a good time as well.

Luckily most of my worries were unnecessary. I did eat a lot, but exercised almost every day and I’d like to think that kept the weight gain to a minimum. And Stacey was great about not needing to be entertained, plus we met some really great people throughout the cruise, which helped break up the monotony my constant presence can create.

So, here we go:

Day 1 – Disembarkation

I am a horrible packer and I can never seem to motivate myself to pack the night before a trip. (I blame this on my sister Cynthia because I remember her first trip to Girls Camp…..She packed 4 months early and when she got back she had miraculously found her journal, her scriptures and some other things she had been unable to locate for 4 months.) We left at 9:00, which meant I got up at 5:00(ish) to pack everything (and by everything I mean practically everything I own…because you never know what you will need on a trip!)

We loaded everything into the car and lovely Mary Ann took us to the airport. At check-in I found that my suitcase was overweight (shocking…I know) but we shuffled some books and stuff around and only annoyed a handful of people with our delays. Stacey tried to sneak a bottle of water onto the airplane and got detained by airport security. But we eventually boarded our plane and were off to Seattle.

My amazing friend Michelle came to pick us up (thanks Dixon for watching the kids). We went for a quick lunch and then headed for Pier 91 and Holland America’s ship The Zaandam. During our loading process there was a brief moment of passport trauma (Stacey had renewed hers but the security person didn’t like how it was done….and I had forgotten to sign mine). Then we were invited to board the good ship and find our stateroom.

We had picked a room with a window…which I was very grateful for. We went on a quick tour of the place. Found the dining areas, gym, lounges, and casino…all very important (except maybe the casino). We decided to not go to the formal dinner that first night and in stead went to the Lido buffet. The food was good and plentiful.

When we returned to our room, we started watching “Lost in Austen”. Stacey made it about 20 minutes and was out cold. (It was 7:00 at night….so you can understand her exhaustion.) I was reading the new Sookie Stackhouse novel (it was only okay…but it had some great Erik parts).

This is about the time that I discovered that despite my careful packing, there was one thing I did forget….a watch. So pretty much the most common sentence heard the entire week was “what time is it?” and most of the time we had to ask someone else.

Anyway, Stacey never really regained consciousness. She would wake up every once in a while and say something slightly rude. Once I had gotten up to look out the window and she rolled over and told me to stop looking at her. Oh…and then I ordered some room service since we had talked about doing that…ordering some cheese and crackers and chocolate chip cookies. So, I’m ordering that and decide to get a sandwich as well, Stacey makes no movement until I hang up and she says “What if I had wanted something?” and rolled over. Later when she woke up to get ready for bed, she didn’t remember any of it. Evidently she talks in her sleep ☺.

Day 2 – At Sea

2009-06-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday I got up early and went to the gym. This was the first morning Stacey and I realized we should never share a room. I can’t sleep in after 7:00 (at the latest) and she can’t sleep through me getting up regardless of how quiet I tried to be. I spent some time on the treadmill and had flashes back a few years to falling off one….the rocking of the boat makes running a little treacherous, so I had to hold on to the rails the whole time….but I didn’t fall!

We had a nice breakfast, which we had ordered from room service and then headed to a lounge to relax and read. While we were in the lounge we notice a gentleman and his son sitting and talking to our right. After a while, Stacey said she thought she heard them talking about Utah and said the word “ward”, so we thought they were probably members of the Church and we had been thinking about finding someone to go to church with us in Juneau.

Stacey was super brave and went to ask them and sure enough they were from Salt Lake City. It was a little family cruising together, the mom and the dad, a married son and his wife, and another son who was attending school at the University of Washington. We talked for a while and they were super nice.

We attended the formal dinner that night. We had requested to sit at a table of 8 and when we arrived we met a couple of our tablemates. They were two Indian sisters, one was a doctor who lived in LA and the other was a math professor who lived in India. They were so cute and even though it was a little hard to understand them with their accents, it was really fun to talk to them. We also had a crewmember join us that night. She was the acupuncturist aboard and that led to some interesting conversations as well. She bought a bottle of wine for the whole table (all 5 of us), and I felt a little bad telling her we didn’t drink but appreciated the gesture.

After dinner we met up with our SL friends. The parents had gone to bed, but the rest of us played some Dice and Canasta. I lost big time both games…which of course made it all a little less enjoyable.

Day 3 – Juneau (& my birthday)

2009-06-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

I got up Sunday and quietly, though not quietly enough…still woke Stacey up…darn it all…headed to one of the lounges and did Sunday appropriate studying while watching for whales. I saw the tail of a whale from pretty far off, but it was neat….and almost as much fun as saying “I saw the tail of a whale” which is REALLy fun...try it!!

When I returned to the room, Stacey had some presents for me. She and Melissa and Jenni and Tracy had all sent birthday gifts for me and Stacey gave me one or two each day. They are so sweet. They gave me a bunch of jewelry to help me in my attempts to accessorize a little more.
Up to this point we had had some pretty rough water. Stacey and I both loved the rocking and drunken walking…the way you trudge up the stairs and then float up them as the boat sinks and rises with the swells. However, a good portion of the passengers weren’t enjoying the trip quite as much…patches behind ears could be seen everywhere. Anyway, the captain rerouted the boat during the night and we found we would be arriving in Juneau an hour or more late.

This change in itinerary made it impossible to attend the ward in Juneau at 1:00 we had hoped to catch. So, we had a little Relief Society and Sunday School in our cabin. Stacey was in charge of Relief Society, so it was a lot better than Sunday School. We had a little good news minute and we were both excited to announce that we were on vacation cruising Alaska…it was my birthday…and we were surrounded by good food. Then Stacey gave a lesson she had presented in her ward a few weeks ago on light, how to recognize it and feel it’s influence in our lives. I gave a for Sunday School on a little quote I had heard from President Monson. Good times…until I got a small migraine which I was mostly able to ignore most of the day.

We finally docked at 2:00 and got off the boat a little before 3:00. Because it was my birthday, Stacey was a saint and let us take a special tour bus instead of public transportation which was a lot cheaper. But we jumped on the bus and headed to the Mendenhall Glacier. Our bus driver had the most unique cadence to the tour information he gave while we made the 20 minute drive.

At the Glacier we took a 3.5 mile hike up above the hillside. It was so pretty. Here are some pictures. There was so much greenery and lots of little waterfalls. It was just fantastic!

Toward the end of the hike there were just a whole bunch of stairs and we were very glad we were hiking down them, instead of up them. There was also the cutest couple hiking behind us. We would smile and say hi each time we’d pass while going to an outlook. At one point I told them we were so glad they were behind us in case some bears snuck up behind us. They responded that they were glad we were in front of them for the same reason. So we are going along, up the switchbacks and I hear this total bear growl…..ya, it was our hiking friend trying to scare us and for a second he really did. I think he felt bad afterward.

After a nap we went to dinner. No one else at our table showed up, but Stacey, being a great friend and ignoring my sincere desire to not have the waiters sing to me….totally told our waiter (Sunny…best guy in the dining room!) it was my birthday. So, sure enough, after our meal all the waiters came and sang to me with a chocolate mousse cake and a little candle. They not only gave us a cake, but a dessert sampler also, which began a little tradition where Sonny would bring us an extra dessert pretty much every night. Unfortunately, it was usually coffee flavored…so we would just pick around it and make it look like we ate it.

Day 4 – Glacier Bay

2009-06-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

So, I slept in my exercise clothes and tiptoed to the bathroom and then out to the gym…all for no reason because I STILL woke poor Stacey up. When I got to the gym no one was there! I was all alone with the wide ocean, a treadmill, and a good book on CD (Countess Below Stairs…very good!!).

For breakfast we decided to try the dining room and we were seated next to a lovely couple from Oregon. We ran into them several times over the next few days. I think that was the best part of the cruise, the time we spent getting to know other people. It was really fun!

Glacier bay was fun but super cold. Actually, I’m not really sure how cold it was because we never actually went out on the deck like we were advised to do. It just looked to cold and the people who returned from the decks looked frozen solid. So, we stayed in the forward deck and saw the glaciers and their calving. It was pretty neat to watch. My favorite part though were the waiters roaming the lounge offering “Pea Soup!?” and all I could think of was that little cockroach in “The Rescuers” calling out “Pea soup!” Anyway, it made me laugh.
We took a quick lunch between glaciers and had dinner at the buffet. We ate by the cutest old couple. This was their 18th cruise! They had almost been married 60 years and met on a blind date. They told us to totally give blind dates a chance, because you never know…. They told us how to get much better deals on cruises…though the guy said that whatever they saved on their booking fees he made up for in losses in the casino…and every time we passed the poker tables…there he was ☺.

After we left Glacier Bay we found our friends from Salt Lake City. Pete and Robin, the parents, said they had played pinochle years ago, so Stacey and I convinced them to play a game with us. Again I lost, but it was still fun.
At dinner we were joined by a new lady, she had been really seasick over the past few days, but was finally feeling well enough to join us. She was crazy! Honest, very nice…but very chatty and a bit of an exaggerator. It was her birthday that night, so we got more chocolate mousse cake.

That night we went to the crew show. The crew consists of people from Indonesia. We loved the crew! They were so nice and would greet us with a “Hello, Miss Stacey! Hello, Miss Carla!” and they were just fantastic and friendly all the time! Even though they work 11 hours a day for weeks on end and months away from their families. Anyway, they did a show that night with some songs and dances from Indonesia. Our dinner waiter, Sunny, was the MC and he was so funny! He has been working on Holland America ships for 15 years!

Day 5 – Sitka

2009-06-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

So I guess I should admit that after most of our breakfasts in the dining room….we might have headed to the buffet for a second breakfast (yes, we temporarily became hobbits…but sometimes we needed a little more of something in the morning).

This was our day in Sitka. Here we walked to a beautiful hike up into the hills behind the town. The ground was so wet that almost the whole trail was a wooden boardwalk and stairs.
I hadn’t really anticipated a serious hike….so I was sweating like a…well…like a Zollinger the whole time but it was just so great. They warned us, again, of bears, so we felt a little bit of pressure to keep talking the whole time. We ran out of actual things to say to each other about 10 minutes in…but we kept chatting and it must have worked because we didn’t see any bears at all. Though we did run into a purple haired hiker and several locals….which was when I realized why I cannot live in Alaska…everyone ownes a DOG!! Honest!!

We took a nap that afternoon and I did some laundry since by this time I had sweat soaked both pairs of jeans I had brought….needed some clean clothes in a desperate way. I also discovered that I HATE Laundromats…so not fun!

Day 6 – Ketchikan

2009-06-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

We docked in Ketchikan early Wednesday morning. Since we couldn’t go on a hike we just walked around town. We almost went on a tour of a Salmon farm and Eagle refuge….but there weren’t any Salmon running yet, so we decided it wasn’t really worth it.

Instead we went to a little museum that was connected to the local public library. It was interesting to learn a little more of the Salmon industry. We also saw a few totem poles, check out this one…I’m sure it’s really serious, but it just really cracked me up.

The other thing that cracked me up was that we sat for a while outside the library while they were opening and I swear this is what they said “We need more signs. No cell phones. No sleeping. No eating. Why is it so hard? I feel like I run around all day saying ‘Wake up and read the sign!’” It’s just really nice to know that my library frustrations are universal!

Ketchikan was really pretty though. Here are a couple of pictures. The greens were so vibrant and we did see a few salmon in river.

Then we did the only shopping we did the whole trip and headed back to the boat. At lunch we met two great couples. The older couple were serious travelers and said the most amazing place to visit was India. The other couple were so fun to talk to. The guy, during college, had decided to travel Europe despite his entire fortune amassing to about $50. So he sold subscriptions to his travel memoirs. He would send articles home every month. Because of that, he felt a need to do crazy things...he made me feel like a real coward.

But better than all those stories was the one about how he and his wife had met. She was from Spain and they wrote letters for 3 years…she wrote them in Spanish and he replied in English…each one needing them interpreted by a third party. He went to visit her once and they couldn’t even talk because of the language barrier. Then she came to the US and stayed with his family and finally learned English…she pointed out that she learned English but he never did learn Spanish. Anyway, they were a riot.

Dinner on Wednesday was a “Dinner Show” where the wait staff had to do little musical numbers between courses. Stacey and I just kept feeling so bad for them because they looked so ridiculous and adorable at the same time. That night they also had a Dessert Extravaganza and surprisingly…it was a disappointment…which was probably a blessing because I didn’t eat much that night.

Day 7 – Victoria, B.C.

2009-06-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

We weren’t going to dock in Victoria until 6:30 PM, so we had the day to hang around. We exercised during our mandatory debarkation meeting (which they were telecasting all day long, so we couldn’t figure out why it was mandatory). Then we met our Salt Lake friends for one last lunch in the dining room and then played some Yatzee and Hearts. My luck finally started to turn and I won the Yatzee game!
We had decided to go to dinner in the dining room and then walk around some parks near the pier in Victoria. Just as we were sitting down to dinner….the captain got on the PA system and informed us that the winds were too high and the ship would be unable to dock in Victoria. Below is a picture of the closest I got to leaving the country …that is Victoria in the distance.

When he made the announcement we just laughed because at the end of the cruise…I still would not have used my passport or left the country!! I am honestly never meant to leave US soil!

The crazy lady at our table showed up for dessert and asked us to stay until she finished…which she did really slowly. Tom, one of our SL friends, stopped by to invite us to play games and she kept trying to get us to invite her to play also….we are really mean because we never did invite her. I think we did her a favor because I don’t really think she would have enjoyed the games of Bang! we played.

Well, that’s about it. We had to pack up everything before we went to bed.

Day 8 – Trip Home

2009-06-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

We had our final meal and headed off the boat. It was so strange to be in Seattle and not see any of my friends or stay for even a couple of days. We took a bus to the airport and luckily the scale at the check-in counter was broken…so my luggage wasn’t overweight!

The flight home was pretty uneventful and I was super happy to see cute Jenni come to pick us up. I had a really hard time snapping out of vacation mode. I may have taken a nap for most of the afternoon/evening. Then I got hungry and didn’t know quite what to do since no one showed up with a menu….I had to settle for granola and yogurt. That is when I realized I was home and forced myself to unpack and put things away.

Thus ends my vacation. This turned into a serious narrative! Congrats to those who persevered through it!

Those Little Things I Never Buy

2009-06-14T17:53:00.001-07:00

Ever notice that there are a bunch of things you always mean to buy, but never quite get around to it? I have a bunch of things like that….I don’t know why I don’t buy them…I just don’t…things like:

A paper shredder
A pizza stone
A cutting board for sewing (you know…like the big green ones)
A hand mixer
A George Foreman Grill (or anything similar)

And a bunch of sewing tools I don't have but will need to get eventually because I plan to do more sewing in the next few years.

Well….that’s all I can think of just now.

(This might sound like a shopping list....but it isn't. I promise not to buy any of these things until at least July 15th.)

Sarah's Key

2009-06-03T11:55:00.002-07:00

Sarah’s Key
By Tatiana de Rosnay
St. Martin’s Press, 2007. 294 pgs. Fiction.

Ten year old Sarah lives in Paris as the German occupation during World War II begins. One night she is awaken by the Parisian Police and forced to leave with her parents. Before they are sent out into the night and fates unknown, she locks her little brother into a hidden cupboard telling him to wait for her to return, thinking she is keeping him safe from dangers she doesn’t understand. She is sent, along with thousands of other French Jews, to a large sports arena where they are held for days during a period of French history often ignored.

Sarah’s story is told through the discoveries of a journalist in present day Paris. She is struggling with her own trials and develops a deep connection to Sarah’s plight to save her brother and her later efforts to move past the pain and loss the Holocaust forced upon her family.

This book was suggested to me as a read-a-like for “These is My Words”, and while I did enjoy it, I definitely would not class it with Nancy Turner’s work. Rosnay tells a fascinating story with characters I especially enjoyed, particularly Sarah. I was disappointed when, towards the end of the book, the narration leaves Sarah’s point of view. I would have enjoyed learning more of her personal development after the war. A good book and an excellent choice for any book discussion group.

Ladies of Missalonghi

2009-06-03T11:55:00.001-07:00

The Ladies of Missalonghi
By Colleen McCullough
Harper & Row, 1987. 189 pgs. Fiction.

Missy is a thirty-two year old spinster living a sheltered, drab life of genteel poverty with her mother and aunt. They reside in a small town filled with their relations in Australia’s beautiful Blue Mountains. Along with breathtaking scenery, the town enjoys the small minded nosiness that accompanies such communities. A recent acquaintance, along with some troubling pains in her heart, begin to bring Missy out of her shell, much to the amazement of her relations. Her adventures bring her independence, confidence, and, of course, romance.

If you have ever read “The Blue Castle”, this plot may sound extremely familiar. It does seem to be a bit of a repeat though I found it much less enjoyable than L.M. Montgomery’s version, which stands out as one of my all time favorite books. “Missalonghi”’s characters are a little less endearing, the story a little more awkward, and the romance a little more explicit. A light, enjoyable read (but, read “The Blue Castle” instead if given the choice).

CZ

Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2009-05-29T13:17:00.001-07:00

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Quirk Books, 2009. 319 pgs. Fiction.

The dead are no longer resting peacefully underground throughout the English countryside and I am pretty sure neither would Jane Austen if she were aware of this plagiaristic and irreverent adaptation of her classic romance. This book is exactly what the title claims it to be. “Pride and Prejudice” with some zombie action thrown in. The Bennet sisters have all been trained in the deadly arts and are required to use their skills when social events are interrupted by the undead.

For some reason I had expected a story somehow based on the plot of “Pride and Prejudice” which included zombies and gory violence. What I found was “Pride and Prejudice” almost word for word…but with a few violent swordfights and a whole host of zombies popping up randomly throughout the text. I forced myself to finish just to say I had and actually liked the ending quite a bit.

I think reading this book is a lot like watching “Napoleon Dynamite”. While you are watching it for the first time, you are not sure what is so funny or why you continue sitting there. But after you finish watching it, you find it’s a lot of fun to discuss with friends and you randomly find yourself giggling when you remember different portions. If you are in the right mood, this book might be for you….I’m just not sure what would be considered the ‘right mood.’

The Queen of Excuses

2009-04-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

I am extremely gifted in the art of justifying pretty much anything. Usually, I try to only use my powers for good, but sometimes….I just can’t stop myself from allowing my talent to get me out of things I really don’t want to do (maybe because I’m lazy and like to avoid doing things that make me the least bit uncomfortable).

I have decided not to compete in the spring triathlon in May that I registered for (and stupidly told the world I was going to participate in). But, I have 10 really good reasons why I shouldn’t do it….they are:

Family is the most important thing. (You see, I can spend an extra day at home the weekend after Stephanie gets back from Australia, if I work the day of the triathlon…who can put a value on an extra day with the family?)
Being a good leader requires setting a good example. (I have a staff meeting that day. Staff meetings are very important and in my attempt to be a good leader, I need to be a good example….like showing up for staff meetings.)
I only have 2 hips and one lower back and I need them all. (My hip has been hurting and my back also, seriously!! I can barely walk after a good hard run and I need to walk!).
Proper training is vital. (May is really early for a triathlon…especially considering that the weather just barely got good enough to allow a person to train outside..on an actual bike (mine currently has 2 flat tires…which poses another problem.).)
Proper equipment is needed. (I have a mountain bike instead of a road bike…it’s so heavy and everyone else will have slick fast road bikes and I’ll just feel bad about myself and get all depressed and then slip into a permanent funk and never really recover.)
Proper training is vital…again. (I haven’t been doing my swimming training….the pool is super gross and going swimming regularly is exhausting….it’s just a lot of work to get to the pool and get cleaned up later and then you and your hair smell like chlorine for days.)
Sweat is unattractive. (As related in a previous post, I sweat a lot and my face gets super red when I exert myself to the extent that a triathlon would require. What if my future husband sees me there and is immediately turned off (and any normal person would have to be….when I say I sweat a lot…I mean I sweat like a pig in the Sahara!!) and then I never get married.)
Manners are important…and you should never ask a lady her age. (They always write your age on the back of your calf and I’m not sure I can handle that…especially if spectators have created an age guessing game (Jenni!)…what if they think I’m in my 40’s or something).
There is another opportunity this summer. (I have the opportunity to be in a less formal triathlon in August….I can still make my goal….just a little later.)
Mother Nature is unpredictable and should be respected. (What if it rains?? That could be dangerous and I’m really not prepared to deal with that if it happens ☺.)

You're in Luck, I'm the Best

2009-04-27T19:49:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine came to me a couple weeks ago asking me to take part in a study for her master’s thesis. I don’t really understand what it was really about…but it has something to do with sweat. She said she had “heard” (from an anonymous source) that I sweat quite a bit and that she needed sweaters for her study.

I replied that really, anyone I’ve ever hiked with could have told her I sweat quite a bit….so it could be many people…but that I would be happy to help her out. I also told her that if she felt like being grateful she could say a little prayer and thank my Grandmother Zollinger for the sweaty pig gene…because, heaven knows, I haven’t thanked her a whole lot.

Anyway, I went in Saturday for the study. She ran a bunch of little tests, had me fill out some paperwork and then asked me to enter a room where the temperature was kept at over 90 degrees. I was then asked to sit on a stationary bicycle and peddle away. She needed me to bike for 30 minutes after I came to a full sweat.

So, I got busy and about 5 minutes later she came in very impressed that I had almost reach a full sweat…one minute later, she said I was the fastest sweater, girl or guy, that had done the study so far. I smiled proudly and began the actual 30 minute ride.

At about 20 minutes she came in and complimented me on my “bubble sweat” which beaded up along my arms…she said only one other subject had had bubble sweat, she was very impressed again and I was just glad to be appreciated for my inborn skills.

When I was finally done, she started taking tests and gathering data. She had taped little pads to my arms and mentioned that not many people had been able to fill the pads with sweat….me?? Well, when she lifted the pad…a little river of sweat escaped….because the pad couldn’t hold all of it. She then confirmed I was officially the sweatiest person she had ever met….how great is that?

I’m very proud of my verified exceptionalism. I’ve decided to embrace my healthy sweat glands. After years of just thinking I sweat more than everyone else….I now know and knowing feels good…. It’s always good to be the best…but right now…aren’t you happy…in this case…to hand the title right over to me?

Fancy Tea Party 2009

2009-04-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

So, I decided to throw a little tea party for my 12 nephews and nieces. My mother and sisters all helped a lot. We decided to have it during the Priesthood Session of conference this weekend.

We played games, had a craft, and then a little picnic with fancy food (I made flower shaped jam sandwiches....so cute!) Anyway, it was a lot of fun and here are some pictures to prove it. The little matching dresses for the girls were made by Mother with some leftover material she had from my cousin's wedding.

Rachel, Brooke & Katie enjoying their goldfish snacks.

We attempted to take a picture of everyone...I don't know why we are always trying, it never works and we didn't ever manage to get the youngest in the picture at all.

This was Mathew acting completely too cool for whole experience. He's such a guy!!

Katie looked adorable in her little crown...she really is a perfect little princess!

After snapping multiple shots I finally captured this perfect Emmy moment....she is such a little doll. It's no wonder she has her daddy's heart wrapped around her little finger. You should see her run...melts your heart.

At Halloween I posted a picture of Sarah scowling at me...over the past four months she has decided she loves me and this picture just begins to capture her adorable little personality. It's always worth the 2 hour drive to Tremonton just to hear her yell "Carla!!" and then skip across the room. It KILLS me every time!!

And here are all the girls in their adorable matching dresses. They really loved being able to dress up and play.

Well there you have it, Fancy Tea Party 2009. Thanks to everyone that helped out!! (And Garrett that includes you!! Those wands and swords were super cute!! (and by cute I mean awesome...because swords are NEVER cute!!))

Omnivore's Dilemma

2009-04-06T16:17:00.002-07:00

OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA: A NATURAL HISTORY OF FOUR MEALS: Penguin Press, 2006: Nonfiction: 450 pgs.

As omnivores, we humans can eat a wide range of food. As members of our modern society, our choices seem more extensive than ever. One trip to the grocery store and you are faced with isles of options. In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan attempts to follow four meals from the farms where they are planted or raised to the table where they are consumed. Each meal is the product of a different type of agricultural process from highly manufactured fast food, to organic foods, to a meal he hunted and gathered on his own.

I enjoyed the premise of this book along with the parts which were essentially science writing describing farming theory and practice. However, the rest of the book seemed to me rambling justifications from a city boy that likes meat too much to be a vegetarian, but can not seem to handle the thought that his food once had a face. Maybe I should blame my childhood spent on a cattle feed lot, but I thought he came off as a bit of a sissy.

Dead until Dark

2009-04-06T16:17:00.001-07:00

DEAD UNTIL DARK: Charlaine Harris: Ace Books, 2001: Mystery: 260 pgs.

This is the first of the Sookie Stackhouse vampire mysteries which inspired the HBO series “True Blood”. Sookie is a telepathic waitress doing her best survive despite her supernatural “handicap”. Then enters Sookie’s new neighbor, vampire Bill, followed promptly by a number of local murders. Each victim has several troubling similarities to Sookie and she quickly begins to fear that her life is in grave danger.

If you are looking for a quick, fun mystery, with or without supernatural aspects, you may really enjoy Harris’s series. She provides a good mystery, an entertaining story, and leaves you looking forward to the next volume. Definitely not a clean read, the offensive language was minimal, but the sex and violence could be objectionable to some.

Test of Wills

2009-04-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

TEST OF WILLS: Charles Todd: St. Martin’s Press, 1996: Mystery: 282 pgs.

Inspector Ian Rutludge returned from the Great War a shell of the man he once was. Haunted by the voice of a dead man, Ian is determined to return to the real world and his position with Scotland Yard. His first case takes him into the English countryside to solve the brutal murder of a local land owner and war hero.

This is a very thoughtful and intriguing mystery taking place during an era of rapid change when the world was healing from wounds caused by a new kind of warfare. But beyond the larger historical context, this is a terrific murder mystery filled with intriguing suspects whose deceptions and motives provide plot twists and surprises up to the very last page.

That was totally cheating

2009-03-18T10:30:00.001-07:00

I feel a little bad that I haven't blogged in a while. I am going to make a new goal and be better...and I just thought I'd say that because I know that posting those book reviews was cheating since I write them for our staff review blog at work.

But something is better than nothing...right??

Plum Spooky

2009-03-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

PLUM SPOOKY: Janet Evanovich: St. Martin’s Press: Mystery: 309 pgs.

This is a “Between the Numbers” Stephanie Plum mystery for those of us Evanovich fans that do not like to wait a whole year before installments. Bounty hunter Stephanie is after a little twerp of a guy and find herself partnering with Diesel, a mysterious man who pops in and out of her life and who is always accompanied by strange occurances and an unexplainable abundance of green traffic lights. This adventure also includes the usual mix of endearing characters plus a bunch of monkeys.

Usually these unofficial Stephanie Plum installments are really short and a little disappointing, but not this one! I felt it held up really well against her regular, numbered books and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you didn’t pick it up because Plum Lucky was such a dud…rethink that decision.

Mr. Darcy's Dream

2009-03-18T10:28:00.002-07:00

MR. DARCY’S DREAM: Elizabeth Aston: Simon & Schuster: Fiction: 284 pgs.

Two nieces of Mr.& Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy are sent to Pemberley to escape the London season. Phoebe (daughter of the former Georgiana Darcy) has recently experienced a heartbreaking romantic disappointment and Louisa (daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Bingley) is tired of the constant pressure to find a husband among men who do little to arouse her interest. However, proving a point I have long held (that you can find love anywhere, even in the British countryside), both girls find themselves faced with the exact thing they were looking to escape.

I think Aston does a good job in mimicking Jane Austen’s style, even when it may not serve her well. I love Austen as much as the next girl, but sometimes I would like a little more intrigue and a little less boring sitting room chat concerning hats and ribbons. I was disappointed that the romance in the story takes place before the first chapter. Part of the appeal of a romantic story is the development of the relationship and I felt this book seriously lacked any of that. I would still recommend most of Elizabeth Aston’s Pride and Prejudice spin-offs, but I think this was my least favorite of the six published to date.

The Gods of Newport

2009-03-18T10:28:00.001-07:00

THE GODS OF NEWPORT: John Jakes: Dutton: Fiction: 383 pgs.

Sam Driver is a railroad mogul who has earned his enormous wealth through years of shady dealings and morally questionable financial scheming. Now in his later years, he is determined to place his daughter Jenny in the highest strata of social elitism. He chooses Newport as his avenue to the respectable society he aspires to join. His years of living an ethically deficient lifestyle makes this journey a hard one in a place where an abundance of money is only the first obstacle to acceptance.

I consider myself a fan of the historical novel, but I admit to not loving this book. I decided I like my historical facts and description to be seamlessly sewn into the story, but found that Jakes’ writing style seemed to add these descriptive details for their own sakes, without a clear link to the story line or characters. A decent read, but not one I would highly recommend.

CZ

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story

2009-01-31T09:49:00.000-08:00

THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE: A WAR STORY: Diane Ackerman: W.W. Norton: Nonfiction: 368 pgs.

Jan and Antonina Zabinski are the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo in Poland before, during and after the German occupation. This history tells of their efforts to shelter escaping Jews in their villa and the zoo’s buildings, as well as their involvement in the Polish Resistance. Ackerman brings the Zoo and its occupants, both human and non, to life as they survive this harrowing period in history.

I love reading stories of World War II and those brave people who sacrificed so much to save friends, neighbors, and strangers from danger and death. This book clearly describes the extremes in human nature the Holocaust illuminated, the atrocious acts of the Nazis and the heroic acts of those who fought against them. I can highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an accurate, sincere, and inspiring story of courage, sacrifice, and love.

(I would like to add...that I did really like this book...but I did have a few little issues with how many animals they just let run around the house...on the dinner table....in their beds. I know I am not an animal person...but seriuosly!)

Hip Hop Update

2009-01-28T20:10:00.000-08:00

Just because I thought I should update the world….I have no coordination or rhythm and I sincerely doubt 8 lessons will change that. Here are the highlights from last night’s first class….

1. I didn’t hit anyone or fall down…super big achievement!

2. I could do the head turning…though when she wanted me to do some of the head scoopy things…..they proved more challenging and don’t even get me started on the body roll….how the heck do you do that?

There weren’t too many highlights….mostly I just tried to keep a straight face and not trip over my own feet….it was harder than it sounds. I didn’t think anything would be harder than not giggling through a yoga class while someone says “center your energy on a point behind your left incisor” while balancing on your right big toe and reaching toward the ceiling….but hip hop class seriously was!

Joe says I’ll be better next week and that he will help me “uncover my inner black person”…but we’ll see J

Validation

2009-01-15T19:46:00.001-08:00

I love this video....I found it a few months ago and it just makes me smile! Enjoy!!

For When You Get Bored

2009-01-14T19:25:00.000-08:00

50 Most Beautiful Icon Sets Created in 2008

To help you personalize your desktop...or website or whatever…here’s some icons…and some are pretty cool.

19 Cool Gadgets For Your Office

I love the #2 The Stealth Switch, #3 The Nappak, #5 Carpet Skates, and #14 Bright Blinds. The rest are fun….but those are my favs.

"Get a Spine in '09"

2009-01-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

Here is how I am going to “Get a Spine in ‘09”. I am going to do a few things I have never done before….things that I might have been nervous to do in the past. But I think it is a good year to break through some of those barriers. So, here are my planned adventures:

Learn New Skills: I’m going to take at least two Community Education classes this year. The plan now is to take ‘Beginning Hip Hop’ and ‘Archery’. Thanks to Jenni for agreeing to go with me…I’d hate to try to learn hip hop without someone there to laugh at me…it would just be a waste of entertainment.

Go Skydiving: I have ALWAYS wanted to go skydiving…and I’m going to do it this year. I might have to do this one on my own….but I’m going to do it…probably this summer….I’m very excited!

Leave the Country: That is right…I’m going to Canada!! Despite the fact that been very near to the borders of the U.S. of A. I’ve never ventured across. But, I have my passport and I’m ready to really live on the edge…Victoria…here I come!

Complete a Sprint Triathlon: I’ve been convinced to register for the Iron Woman Sprint Triathlon in May. It’s my first, so I’m very excited for the whole thing...well, mostly. Anyone who wants to join in on the fun….just let me know J!

Well, those are my big ones. I did come really close to changing the theme to Michaelynn’s suggestion “Make him mine in ‘09” but…I have no ‘him’ and the whole thing seemed a little too predatory for my personality….but maybe I should become more predatory….hmmm….Maybe I should add something to my list…

Happy New Year!! Part 2

2009-01-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

So….have I ever mentioned how much I hate New Years? I really hate it. I don’t think I can remember a New Years were I didn’t get insanely depressed. And here are my reasons for thinking this is the worst holiday/day of the year.

First of all…New Years Eve is always a big let down…maybe it’s the missing kiss…or maybe it’s the fact that we never get drunk….the drunk people in movies always seem to be having such a great time with their hats and noisemakers bottles of champagne….or maybe it’s just the missing kiss….

And then it’s just that the whole holiday requires a certain amount of retrospection and that always leaves me feeling incredibly overwhelmed. My life just never looks so far from what I anticipated as it does on New Years. Not that it isn’t great….I’m just not where I thought I’d be and then I start thinking about what I could have done differently….and I just get tired trying to find a single decision I would have changed…and I can never identify one….except maybe waiting so long to grow out my bangs….and maybe some of the things I wore in the ‘80’s…and maybe the ‘90’s, too….

And finally, I also feel a need, though I fight it desperately, to make some goals and resolutions…but even as I make them….I know I will keep on doing what I have been doing….I am such a creature of habit that I seldom make some of the good changes in my life that I should….I should be a better friend and sister, co-worker and ward member…there is so much I should do that I get tired, some more, just thinking about all the goals I should make….

Anyway, now that I’ve totally depressed anyone who reads this…Happy New Year!! Tomorrow I will go to work and the new year will have started and this annual dip in my spirits will be in the past. It’s going to be a great year….it always is.

Happy New Year!!

2008-12-31T22:48:00.001-08:00

It is just about midnight and I thought I’d try to sneak in one last blog before the year is out….I probably won’t quite make it….but I’ll try. The girls just left my house and we may have pushed the clock forward 30 minutes to take a picture proving we stayed up until midnight when really we did not because we were too tired…which is also going to make this blog short…I need to go to bed!

I was going to make a list of my favorite things about 2008 but I’ve hit a creative wall….so I’ll do it tomorrow…maybe J. It has been a wonderful year and I look forward to the coming one. Last year’s goal was “Find a mate in ’08”…..which we altered to “Find a normal date in ‘08” which I feel pretty good about.

This coming year will be “Get a Spine in ’09. “ I haven’t really nailed down what that will mean in my life….I think it can be applied to several aspects….but mostly it just rhymes really well and I like the way it sounds.

Good night and see ya next year!!