Day One has officially been tallied.
In an effort to get in better shape, while giving my injured knee a little bit of a break from running, I have signed up for this:
It's only about 20 minutes. But it's a sweaty, screaming, vomit-inducing 20 minutes. OK. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but it HURT. I'm sticking with it though.
I'll keep you in the loop regarding any (hopefully) weight loss or new muscles....
Day One
FINALLY. A complete book report :)
So...after a bit of a struggle, I completed those three reads from so far back.
The first two were great. That last one? Not my thing but I forced myself to finish it.
Here's the scoop:
My Life in France by Julia Child was just what I expected. It took me back to my appreciation of food and my love for all things Provencal. I loved that she is unapologetic for any stumbles in her cooking adventures. She says such "admissions only draw attention to one's shortcomings."
The best thing about this book is the love story that saturates it. Her husband's belief in her dream and encouragement is inspiring and makes them such a likeable pair. Their tradition of sending out Valentines is so adorable.
Her descriptions of her place in Provence take you there as she writes about the "deeply quiet, sparkling nights" and "the little owls talking back and forth."
I....want...one.
Yeah Dave's Guide to Livin' in the Moment: Getting to Ecstasy Through Wine, Chocolate, and Your Ipod Playlist was a fun read that was also fun-ny. He encourages us to enjoy one delicious moment, one beautiful moment, and one funny moment every day and who couldn't use more of that kind of advice? I also thought this would be a great daily topic for journaling and have been trying to do just that :) Some of my favorite passages:
"A human who's able to simplfy their life moves faster and farther toward their purpose than one who's bogged down with emotional and financial baggage."
"I say it's worth every bit of social awkwardness to remain true to yourself, to put yourself in the light even if nobody can see you there."
And that last read. The City of Falling Angels. It actually didn't turn out to be fiction and actually says so in the very first sentence (oops). It is journalistic nonfiction. Though an interesting take to visit a city and piece together actual occurrences to create a plot with actual real-life characters, I couldn't get into it. The strong historical aspect combined with so many characters was rather puzzling and hard for me to follow. I thought I would enjoying learning more about Venice but not so in this context. Oh well. Did learn some interesting tidbits though. Did you know that the ambient nocturnal sound level in Venice is a very low 32 decibels? 45 decibels is typical for most other cities. Of course, this is due to no automobile traffic but contributes to making Venice so peaceful.
So there you have it. It has been a very busy few weeks for me. I ran a half marathon, attended the Kentucky Derby, and, most recently, returned from a good friend's wedding in Mexico. It has been an absolute blast but I am ready to lie low for awhile and get some reading and cooking done. My three next selections:
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin:
I followed her blog for several years while she was writing this book so it has been on my list for awhile...time to nail this one down.
Next up: Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard
This one has been on my radar for a few months. I mean...COME on. A love story with recipes? Need I say more?
And the third:
An Italian Affair by Laura Fraser
Happy Reading!
The Chocolate Strawberry Pie
So I have been secretly craving this pie forever...and the craving overtook me a few nights ago at about 10pm on a work night. Crazy, right? Here she is in all her glory...
Underneath all those sweet strawberries lies a thick layer of fudgy chocolate goodness...next time I plan to use dark chocolate to make it just a bit more sophisticated :) I think this would be great for Mother's Day since chocolate and strawberries are two of her favorite things!
Found the recipe here...I'm still a bit confused because the recipe calls for 5 oz of chocolate or 1.5 cups. When I measured 5 oz of chocolate on my scale it only came out to about .5 cup so I went with something in between.
Bon Appetit :)
Still Reading
Well I have yet to finish my final book for this month, The City of Fallen Angels. To be honest, it has been a struggle for me to follow and finish and I am only halfway there. However, I have pledged that I will finish...but it may be awhile.
On another note, I am stupid excited about this:
Planning for my Eat Pray Love Release Party is already underway...invitations to follow...expect girlfriend fun complete with yoga, indian food, great pizza, and lots of laughs :)
Rock the Kindle: February
I have finally selected my book picks for this month:
First up is My Life in France by Julia Child. Like most everyone else, I was inspired by the movie Julie and Julia and this book incorporates learning more about some of my favorite things, food and France.
Next up is a book I discovered on another blog, Yeah Dave's Guide to Livin' the Moment: Getting to Ecstasy Through Wine, Chocolate, and Your Ipod Playlist by David Romanelli. How could you possibly go wrong with a title like that?
And last up includes my fiction pick that has been on my list forever and one that I hope finally inspires my ass enough to get me on a plane to Italy. The City of Fallen Angels by John Berendt.
Happy Reading!!
January Book Report
I am a bit remiss in getting my book reports finished but am proud to say I have been keeping up with reading three books per month and am almost finished with those selected for February.
Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert was very enlightening on the subject of marriage. It awakened me to how it's definition has evolved to meet people's needs and lifestyles. It did not measure up to my love for Eat Pray Love but that was to be expected. Still a very enjoyable read overall...
My favorite excerpts:
"Marriage becomes hard work once you have poured the entirety of your life's expectations for happiness into the hands of one mere person. Keeping that going is hard work."
"Whether you have children or not, then, the prescription seems clear: Save your money, floss your teeth, wear your seatbelt, and keep fit-and you'll be a perfectly happy old bird someday, I guarantee you."
And a glimpse of how the definition of marriage has changed:
"For the first thousand or so years of Christian history, the church regarded monogamous marriage as marginally less wicked than flat-out whoring--but only very marginally."
Fascinating stuff. They is lots of useful tidbits in this book. She talks about the "cheater gene", and expands on her own resistance to marriage. And I even discovered a passage that would make fabulous wedding vows ;)
For the second book, Freakonomics, I was educated on connections between things I never dreamed were connected such as abortion and crime rates, good business models and drug rings, and the significance of birthnames.
My favorite part included the classification of names given by socioeconomic status. Did you know that in households with the most highly educated parents, the most popular names are Lucienne, Glynnis, Adair, Miera, and Clementine?
And on to the third book, my fiction pick, and probably my favorite for the month, Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It spotlights a Harvard professor's struggle with the diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. What makes this book different is that the story is told from the professor's perspective rather than the caregiver. Before I read it, I always said that if I ever had to live in a nursing home, I would rather have Alzheimer's than be completely cognizant with something like diabetes or emphysema. My work in health care just made me think that it would be better to have less awareness of what was going on around me. But I was DEAD WRONG. No illness is necessarily "better" than another. They all SUCK. This book showed me that Alzheimer's is like Swiss cheese, the holes are inconsistent with varying depths leaving you scared and not ever knowing what to expect. A truly eye-opening read.
The Snowball Martini
Well, the white stuff is now 30" high and risin'....
So I figured when life gives you snow, make a Snowball Martini.
I searched for recipes using fresh snow for cocktails and came up empty handed.
Here's my concoction....
The Snowball Martini
1.5 cups firmly packed snow (or about five hacky sack sized snowballs)
1/4 cup milk (I used skim to keep the calories low)
1 shot vodka (add a little more if you like it strong)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix for just a second in the blender...pour in a martini glass..add a dash of cinnamon and a couple of snowballs with a melon baller.
Very tasty indeed :)