Monthly Archives: June 2012

Weekend Diversions, anyone?

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Some web videos that made me LOL / dance in my chair a bit. Enjoy…

My favorite YouTube band, Pomplamoose just posted this new song a couple weeks ago and I am seriously digging it. It’s a slightly different vibe than their usual stuff but at the same time, I’d say it’s still Quintessential Pomplamoose if you know what I mean.

A friend shared this on Facebook and it made me giggle a lot. Because I’m a giant nerd. Speaking of which…

I just saved you several thousand hours of television right there. In all seriousness, this month Dan and I went back and watch some of the first episodes of Doctor Who with the original Doctor and it was really weird. Because he was old. Really old. And kind of boring. And mean. And I kept thinking, “How did we get from here…. to here (David Tennant is where we’re currently at in the new series)?” Seriously. Well I guess this video (very quickly) explains it… sort of. lol

Nightstand: June

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What's On Your Nightstand @ 5 Minutes for BooksJune is silently slipping away and it is time once more to join in with the ladies at 5 Minutes for Books with yet another monthly Nightstand post. New to this fun meme? Just write a blog post about the books you’ve read recently, are currently reading or plan to read soon – essentially “What books are on your nightstand?” It’s incredibly open ended and a nice chance to talk about books with fellow bloggers, get some recommendations for new things to read and also a fun way to chronicle your reading habits.

Since we last nightstand-ed, I’ve actually only finished one book! Can you believe it? But it was one lengthy yet fantastic book that was well worth the time.
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

  1. The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman (June Book Club Pick) - finished June 20, 2012 - I really enjoyed this book – more so than I even expected. It was really masterfully written in my opinion, unweaving more of each character’s stories as you read – each character bringing a new dynamic and a new angle to the whole book. I truly just loved it.

Crossed by Ally CondieRight now I’m reading the sequel to Matched by Ally Condie, this one titled Crossed. I’m about 30% through it (I’m on a Kindle kick right now) and enjoying it though I’m still not sure if I’m liking it as much as the first book. It shows a lot of promise and I still find the plot concept to be very interesting. You know I love a good YA dystopian novel!

So what’s slated to be read next? I’m honestly not entirely sure. Summer makes me less willing to make bookish plans and frankly I have sooooooooooo many choices that I’m a tiny bit overwhelmed. I just got a handful of novels by Alice Hoffman from amazon.com after finishing The Dovekeepers so I’m considering them but also dabbling with sticking to some lighter, quicker reads to breeze through the summer months with. Some Jennifer Weiner perhaps? Or any of the dozens of free books that I’ve downloaded onto my Kindle over the past couple years? The only book that seems certain at the moment is our next book club pick:

The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum

  • The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum: “Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of the very best mystery fiction, shares the untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. In The Poisoner’s HandbookBlum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime.“

Apart from that, I’m planning to keep things simple and just read what’s appealing to me.

How about you? What are you reading right now?

Currently. (june 25, 2012)

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Obsessing over: the amazing camera on my new cellphone. I just got the Samsung Galaxy 2 and so far I am very happy with it – I went for a nature walk with Miss BB this morning and took some amazing flower pictures that I’m going to post on Wordless Wednesday so stay tuned for that (I’m sure the suspense is killing you).

Feeling: tired after a long weekend of birthday parties, baseball games, fireworks and cell phone shopping. And missing a certain handsome husband who’s on a business trip right now. :O(

Working on: keeping up with the daily chores and also tackling some longer running chores, too. I’m hoping to get the office under order a bit and work on some beading projects I’ve had in mind.

Thinking about: what to do with the little miss tomorrow while big brother is at summer camp. We went on a nature walk this morning and then played at the mall play area. Where to kill 4 hours tomorrow? Hmmm….

Reading: Crossed by Ally Condie, the sequel to Matched. So far I’m enjoying it though I’m not sure how I feel about the two narrator style of this book yet.

Anticipating: skyping with the hubby  tonight. Hoping my phone does a good job.

Listening to: the kids finishing their dinner… though to be fair right now they are doing more talking / playing than they are eating.

Drinking: a glass of water. My diet has been a bit up and down lately but I lost a tiny bit more weight this week and so I keep on trucking with it.

Wishing: that it were bedtime to be honest. And that somebody else would clean my house.

Pinning (The Delicious Edition – if I only pin it, it’s calorie free!): 

skinny peanut butter cup blondes (4 P+) * chocolate espresso mug cake * lemon cheesecake in a jar * chocolate bread pudding * peanut butter graham cracker balls

Spring Reading Thing: Wrap Up

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spring reading thing @ callapidder daysSummer is officially upon us and that means that the Spring Reading Thing hosted by Kat @ Callapidder Days is over. This Spring I challenged myself to read 6 books, which to be fair wasn’t a terribly taxing challenge since I typically read about 2 books a month, but since I found myself chasing the clock to finish my 6th book before the clock struck twelve last night, I’d say that I challenged myself just the right amount. Here are the six books I read this Spring:

  1. Bossypants by Tina Fey – finished March 27, 2012 – I really enjoyed this book. I had been excited to read it since it came out, but I have to say it even exceeded my expectations. Fey is a terrifically funny writer and she includes stories about so many different aspects of her life from her time writing for SNL to going through puberty or planning her daughter’s Peter Pan birthday party. I got so much out of this book and constantly wanted to quote bits out loud to my husband but after awhile I stopped because I noticed I was practically just reading the book out loud to him and he’s perfectly capable of reading it himself when I’m done!
  2. Seriously… I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres - Finished April 8, 2012 - I really enjoyed this – it was very funny. Probably her best book to date.
  3. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (April Book Club Pick) – Finished April 26, 2012 - There were some things I really liked about this book – the writing itself was beautiful and very well done, but the format of the book, which has a different narrator for each chapter, kept me from loving it. There were parts of the story that I would have loved to have read more about and other parts that I felt were verging on pointless that never connected back to anything – those chapters could have been used to lengthen and develop the major stories. I’m sure this was the author’s intention but that doesn’t mean I have to like it! – full review -
  4. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson - Finished May 8, 2012 - I loved this book even more than I was expecting to (picture me three weeks ago hassling the mail man and my husband about why the book wasn’t here yet already minus the hassling the mail man part because I only did that in my head). This memoir is not only laugh out loud (seriously) hysterical in a way that had me shaking the bed at night while my husband was trying to sleep and occasionally wanting to wake him up on purpose so I could read sections outloud… it was also insightful and touching in all the ways that Jenny’s blog posts often are. If you are a fan of her blog or even if you’re not… read this. But be forewarned, there will be a lot of dead animals. – full review -
  5. Matched by Allie Condie (May Book Club Pick) – finished May 21, 2012 - I’m a fan of a good dystopian YA novel and this book definitely fit the bill. A compelling love story, a fascinating futuristic society that will make you think, a cast of well written characters that all get more interesting as the story progresses. I’m looking forward to reading book two! – full review -
  6. The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman (June Book Club Pick) - finished June 20, 2012 - I really enjoyed this book – more so than I even expected. It was really masterfully written in my opinion, unweaving more of each character’s stories as you read – each character bringing a new dynamic and a new angle to the whole book. I truly just loved it.

These were not all originally in my challenge - Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson was thrown in spur of the moment simply because when it arrived on my doorstep I knew there was no chance I’d wait until the challenge was over to devour it. Coincidentally I was absolutely dragging my way through Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich and welcomed the excuse to put it down. I’ve been a longtime fan of the Stephanie Plum series but I think the last few books just haven’t been as stellar as the previous – and honestly with this many books to the series, that’s not too surprising.

Then I had every intention of reading Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde before reading my book club’s June pick, The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, until someone pointed out how massive the book was. I knew I’d need longer than my usual two weeks to finish it so I set aside Shades of Grey and that was clearly a wise decision as it took me a month to finish The Dovekeepers despite the fact that I absolutely adored the whole book. But aside from that I did stick to my original list and I’m so thrilled to report that I was able to finish reading The Dovekeepers last night and completed my original challenge to read 6 books this Spring!

Here are my answers to some questions from Kat about the challenge:

  • What was your favorite book that you read this spring? I am torn between Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson and  The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman – both were incredible for entirely different reasons and I recommend both.
  • Least favorite? So, I have to say that all the books I read in this challenge were very good in very different ways. Aside from Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich, which you’ll note I didn’t even both to finish reading. Of the books I finished, if I had to pick I’d say that Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann was my least favorite of the bunch. His constant changing of narrators just didn’t work for me the way that the changing narrators in The Dovekeepers did, either because of the sheer volume of narrators or the way that each story didn’t necessarily relate to previous ones. But that’s just a personal preference, because otherwise I’d say it was a very good book that has stayed with me since reading it.
  • Did you discover a new author or genre this spring? Did you love them? Not love them? A lot of new authors actually! I’ve discovered that I adore Alice Hoffman’s writing and would love to read more of her work. Colum McCann is very talented but I don’t think I’d read his other work. Jenny Lawson and Tina Fey could write literally anything and I think I would read it. Allie Condie’s book was good enough that I downloaded the sequel within minutes of finishing Matched. The only author I’d already read before was Ellen Degeneres (and Janet Evanovich also I suppose).

Did you participate in the Spring Reading Thing? How did you do?

Father’s Day Weekend Camping

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I know I kind of dropped off the map a little bit, but don’t worry – I’m still here! We took a long weekend to celebrate Father’s Day, beginning with a camping trip to Devils Lake State Park where we did a little of this:

Some of this…

Which caused BB to look like this:

And then Dan and I did some of this (while waiting for the kids to fall asleep):

Not that they slept. MM was wound up and too excited to sleep. BB was a typical 2 (almost 3) year old and simply refused to either because she couldn’t get comfortable or perhaps just to spite us. It was a long night. In spite of that though we had a great time.

The next morning I was pretty exhausted, but those darn kids looked like this:

Then it rained. Luckily I saw it coming early when I felt a few sprinkles and suggested we pack up while we could. That was a good call. We spent the morning at an arcade, had some lunch and then we did this:

More later…

Doctor Who Should Come With a Warning Label: Do Not Get Too Attached!

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Christopher Eccleston as the 9th Doctor

Dan and I recently started watching Doctor Who together. When the fall / winter series finally had all had their finales, we switched over to our Netflix Instant Queue and decided to finally see what all the fuss was about. We were originally going to go all the way back to the episodes from the 60′s but those original shows seem to be scattered across a million DVDs and the new re-released series is all nice and tidy and we only have to press one button. So for the time being, we started with the 2005 premier of the 9th Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston.

At first I couldn’t watch the show without commenting on the pure cheesiness. Both Eccleston and his co-star Billie Piper seemed to be laying it on pretty thick and the whole thing felt like it was filmed in the 80′s which is clearly not a compliment. But the show grew on me and the characters grew on me and every night we’d put the kids to bed and then settle down for some Tardis Time. It was our thing. It’s still our thing except something happened. Something awful.

I’d preface that this is a spoiler alert, but honestly I think you need to know. At the end of the first (billionth?) season, our cheesy big eared Doctor regenerates into this cheesy Doctor:

David-Tennant-as-Doctor-Who

Even he looks confused about the casting change

Apparently when the Doctor is basically on his death bed for whatever reason, he is able to completely regenerate in the form of an entirely new person in order to survive. Still the same Doctor, except not. Now I guess given that the previous Doctor was the 9th Doctor, I should have figured out that he wasn’t going to be sticking around forever. But in a show that has been around for 50 years or so, I’d think we’d get more than one season with him. Moreover, the whole romantic connection between Piper and Eccleston had just been (finally!) acknowledged when BAM! New guy. It’s just creepy. Don’t ever kiss a guy on television or he’ll either turn into a demon, literally change faces or die. This is what I’m beginning to learn.

I guess there have been interviews and speculations, etc. that Eccleston never intended to do more than one season because he didn’t want to become typecast or something (lame) but I have to say this was a loss for everyone. This new Doctor? I mean, he’s fine. Maybe he’ll even grow on me. Maybe they wanted someone younger so that people wouldn’t be raising their eyebrows all the time at him and Rose liking each other (though apparently she won’t be sticking around much longer either, I don’t blame her, really) but Eccleston was such an amazing Doctor Who. He has that perfect blend of silly childish humor that meets perfect comedic timing and also, frankly, you just believe. He delivers a line and you believe. I don’t get that from David Tennant yet and it’s a damned shame.

And also? I resent having to whine and complain on my blog about Doctor Who, making it vividly clear to all of you that one) I’m a giant nerd and two) I take my television shows way too seriously. But seriously! If Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey had done one season and then randomly morphed into Lindsey Lohan I think we can all agree that we’d collectively flip our shit, right? How can Derek just take that in stride and believe her when she says, “Trust me, I’m still the same Meredith. Look how I flap about ridiculously and then say the word “fantastic” and everything is okay again.”

It wouldn’t work – and not because Grey’s Anatomy isn’t a Sci-Fi Show, honestly they’ve pushed the limits on reality plenty with the whole Denny the Ghost Love Scenes and all. No, it wouldn’t work because audiences like to get attached to people. We can deal with change that’s been a long time coming but just f-ing with us for the sake of keeping us on our toes is plain mean.

Maybe their males in their 20′s and 30′s Demographic just don’t form the same attatchments that women (read: I) do but I just need to have it out and written here that, I am not pleased and I miss the Big Eared Goofy Doctor a lot. I had to go on Netflix and add like 7 movies he’s done outside of Who-ville that all seem to have lackluster reviews but I don’t care. I know I’ll need a fix. Even if it won’t be the same.

They say that the first Doctor tends to be people’s favorite which is a crying shame but certainly makes sense. Fans of Doctor Who, tell me – who’s your favorite Doctor and which one did you watch first?