Awesome People

I found this website called Awesome People Hanging Out Together and just wanted to share my favorites. Go here: http://awesomepeoplehangingouttogether.tumblr.com to see more.

Maradona and Queen

YES: Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood

Harper Lee and Truman Capote (aka Scout and Dill)

Random! Helen Keller and Mark Twain

Reading Like a Fiend

I picked this one up for the following reasons: 1) he is Israeli 2) he directed an Israeli film that I love 3) I dig short stories and 4) Ira Glass recommended it. How can you not enjoy this? There were probably 40 or so short stories in this collection, some hysterical, some sad, some absolutely bizarre. You never knew what the next story would bring and it was incredibly captivating. Good to read too when you're tired because the stories are so short- you can easily read them all in a day or can easily break them up as well.

The Borrower was also a unique tale- Lucy is a children’s librarian in Missouri and her favorite kid is Ian, a clearly gay ten-year-old with fundamentalist, evangelical Christian parents. Great combination. Lucy ends up inadvertently kidnapping Ian (or is he kidnapping her?) and they travel first to Chicago and then almost all the way up to Canada, getting more and more tangled up in webs of lies and possible charges of kidnapping and child endangerment. I loved the book up until the end- I felt that even though it was told from Lucy’s point of view, it was incomplete because you never really find out about Ian. I found myself wishing that the author would write another book from Ian’s point of view, maybe like 15 years later. Did he ever get out of the clutches of his parents? How did he explain the kidnapping? Did he ever get back in touch with Lucy? All these things were left incomplete and I was left wanting more.

Taft 2012 was hysterical. I found it in a bookstore in Sun Valley a few months ago and have wanted to read it since. It’s nice having a friend working in the library because you get books ordered for you. Taft 2012 begins with the premise that after he lost the election to Woodrow Wilson, William Howard Taft disappeared. In actuality (according to the book), he fell asleep and essentially hibernated until he woke up in 2011 and was shot by a member of the Secret Service who mistook him for someone about to attack the president. People, shocked that Taft had returned, also began to appreciate his conservative politics and his Progressive thoughts and he becomes the ideal candidate for 2012. The story is told both through Taft’s experiences as well as “transcripts” from TV shows, newspaper articles, Twitter comments, notes from the desks of various people and Secret Service logs. I have a far greater appreciation for William Howard Taft after reading this, which I did in about 5 hours. Such a great book. 

My book club this month read Gateway to Women’s Country, by Sherri Tepper. It wasn’t what I expected it to be but at the same time, I’m not sure if I could tell you what I expected. It looks at a post-apocalyptic, matriarchal society where the men are sent to garrisons at age 5 and then decide ten to fifteen years later if they want to stay with the garrison or return home to be a servitor and serve the women who are the doctors, shopkeepers, etc. The story jumps back and forth in time and is a new, interesting look, at a post-nuclear war society. It reminded me a lot of a similar premise told in Califia’s Daughters by Leigh Richards (Laurie R King), but obviously has a different take upon the situation. We had a great discussion though, only once veering off-track into the incredibly inappropriate.

The Family Fang is this great story about two children, Annie and Buster, who seemingly were born simply for the purpose of being a part of their parents living art. Each chapter interspersed with a short chapter about some living art performance that the two were forced to participate in. For example, one chapter told of a vacation down to Florida where the parents pretended they were a couple and the kids were unaccompanied minors. The dad proposed to the mom over the loud-speaker during the flight and on the way down she accepted and on the way back, she refused. The art was the visible excitement and discomfort, respectively, felt by the other passengers on the flight. Annie and Buster, both back at home after some poor adult decisions, are forced to rejoin their parents but, also as adults, now feel more confident in refusing. They find themselves caught up in their parents’ largest and most elaborate scheme. I don’t want to give anything else away because there is a pretty huge twist but the story was compelling and I kept wanting to know more about the different shenanigans the parents got Annie and Buster involved in.

 

And now to the disappointing. I stumbled across The Discovery of Witches the same time as Taft 2012 and found it at the library a few weeks ago. I was really excited about the premise and the descriptions of Oxford and was captivated for the first 200 or so pages. Then it just disintegrated into a hybrid of a romance novel meets Twilight meets Vampire Diaries meets lord knows what else. Eventually, I felt that the author had just put a bunch of ideas into a bowl and just pulled one out and wrote about it for twenty pages before doing it gain. New characters kept getting introduced while old characters didn’t seem to have any real dimension or serve really much purpose. Plot points that had been brought up at the beginning were seemingly abandoned and mentioned only briefly. And then in the end, it seemed like the easy way out was taken in order to set the book up for a sequel. Not one that I will read. Or maybe I will, just to get some sort of conclusion. 

Aaaaaaaand I've done it again...

I've let myself get totally behind with posting. So here goes a massive amount of crazy posts about my life lately. Let's start with things I've been doing with friends. A few weeks ago, MB turned 29 so we got together to celebrate his life. We started off on Abbey's patio and Jon drank his Coronas that he brought in a plastic bag. From there we headed downtown to Flatbread. We didnt' have enough seats in the car so one of us sat in the trunk of Bobcat's SUV. No names to protect the slightly ridiculous. We originally wanted to go to Casanova Pizza but it closed at 9. What place closes at 9 on a Saturday night? Also ridiculous. So Flatbread it was and we ordered a few pizzas to share, which were, as usual, delicious. It was a great dinner except for Jon mocked my cider and sometimes it took Matt, Jon and Abbey 18 tries to get a good picture. Don't worry, I haven't posted them all....

the birthday boy and Jon

Jon mocking my cider

Chicago 2011 Marathoners

me, Kassi and our pole

and Bobcat

Next we went off to the Bistro since Matt knew someone there and they were hoping for free drinks. They didn't get any but Jon did maybe perhaps dance with a man... No confirmation but it was hysterical to watch him sweat and see him and Abbey try to figure out if it really was a man or a woman. From there we went to the Basque Center. But this time, there was no party so it was a lot quieter. In fact, we were the ones making the most noise. Typical. We pretty much closed the place down and everyone was jealous that they weren't at our table.

all of us at the Bistro

Abbey and Jon

me and Jon

the "woman" Jon danced with

MY and MB

he may or may not be in the trunk...

The major discussion of the night was Matt's almost 30 bucket-list. We promised that if he completed everything on the list, we would get him a hotel suite in Vegas to celebrate the big 3-0. Let's see if he makes it happen....

the list...

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Saturday was a gorgeous, gorgeous day and Abbey, Michael and I met up at Jon’s house to ride out to Lucky 13. They all had their fancy mountain bikes but I held my own with my gear-less cruiser. I personally had ridden down from Brooke and Kevin’s to Lael and Josh’s for book club and then down the greenbelt and across a bridge to get to Jon’s. We were able to ride the green belt the entire time and it wasn’t took busy or bumpy. The river was just gorgeous and the sun wasn’t too hot, which was so nice. We made it to Lucky 13 a little early for lunch, so we doubled-back to go to Brown's Landing where we met up with Megan and Elsa the dog. We got some sweet potato fries at Boise Fry Co, chattered, teased each other as we usually do, and then biked over to Barber Park to lie in the grass and play some Frisbee until we were hungry enough to go get lunch. Lucky 13 is always a great place to eat and this time we all tried out their sandwiches (although next time I think we’ll get a pizza to share- much better). The ride home wasn’t bad either, just a little sunnier, and Michael greeted every single person we passed with an “afternoon!” The worst part of the whole day was riding uphill back to Brooke and Kevin’s. They actually passed me by the golf course and pulled over to give me a ride. The bike didn’t quite fit in the back so Kevin hopped on and took off down the street. When he finally made it home ten minutes later, he asked me how on earth I rode 26 miles with no gears. In actuality, most of the ride was pretty flat- it was just that last bit that killed me. All in all, though, such a great time and so proud of my cruiser for holding its own against the geared bikes. Can’t wait to do it again!

getting ready to head out

what terrible pictures...

Megan and Jon at BFC

me and Abbey

Jon and Michael

SOTM

I cannot stop listening to this:





(It deserves the two versions... trust me....)

Or this:



Jars of Clay.... you never stop surprising me.

Also did you know there was a Canadian version?



I couldn't find the Fred Penner version but this works :)

These made me laugh.... and also want to cry....

Of course, this last one reminds me of this scene.




all belonging to marriedtothesea.com

The New Place Part 1

So the new place is sllloooowwwwwllllyy being put together but since many people have been waiting, I thought I'd at least post a few pictures.

So first of all, here are pictures of what my room at the first new place looked like- before the roommate when nutso and made me move all over again. Ridic.

So then I moved within like a week- Niki was awesome in driving around with me and doing all the formal things like calling people and asking questions. I moved my things in two days (thanks Becky for your help) and since then have been working on making this place a home. It's literally across the street from the College so I can easily walk to campus, which is awesome. One night, when things were a little slow, I attacked the house with cleaning supplies, moving things around. And no better way to do that than with bright red wellies!

I promise it looks less of a disaster now.... So here we have it! Let's start with the kitchen.

The little shelf stand was $4 at a thrift store

Table was $13 and chair was $5- and it goes with my other three chairs at home

I love the shelving on either side and the top shelf is perfect for the wine bottles

Close-up of the shelves above the sink- great for olive oil and vinegar and salt and cooking spray and such

$2 each at a thrift store

Also thrift store finds- and I know there are more like this so there's room to add

Newest aquisition from.... you guessed it... thrift stores... April's sharp eye caught them. $1 each!

The bathroom is teeny-tiny but I've managed to make it work as best as I can. I'm hoping to get some shelves for it at some point since I'm at maximum capacity for fitting things in there....

There's an awkward little window in the shower- but good for getting light into the bathroom

See what I mean about NO room!?

Barely enough room in the medicine cabinet...

Thrift store Georgia O'Keeffe and Dollar store prints to brighten it up

The hallway has a little corner closet and lots of nails on the walls, so it's perfect for hanging my purses, storing everything that doesn't fit in the bathroom, etc. There is also a huge hall closet with shelves that is perfect for pants and t-shirts until I get my dress moved up here this summer. Eventually there will be a photo collage on the wall but I'll show you that when I get my photos delivered.

The living room and bedroom aren't finished yet but this is the second bedroom which will one day be an office but for now is the homework, cello, guitar, bike, storage room. 

$15 for the both- AND somehow transported in my car.... not sure how it happened...

Part 2 coming at some point.....