Number 4: (day five) 10am / Words

Me and Champ, snuggling and reading (The Golden Compass) in bed. That's where I was at 10am, where were you?

Brattle

I have walked by the Brattle a zillion times, and even browsed the outdoor racks a few times, but I've never set food inside the actual store before today. I was looking on the off-chance that I'd find one of the books on my Fall To Do list, but instead I found a few of the Anne of Green Gables books -  unfortunately not the next one that I want to read. That spurred a walk to Raven Used Books on Newbury Street to see if I could find any of the books there...where of course I didn't.

Maybe tomorrow's football avoidance adventure will include a trip to Cambridge to check some of the used bookstores there.

Number 9: Emma

I've been working on my Spring To Do list - specifically the reading portion. I even bought a few actual books recently, because my eyes have been bothering me from the tedious work I've been doing at work and then reading on my phone! Luckily it was a small enough size that it wasn't too difficult to hold with one hand and read during my commute, although it took a bit of a beating being shoved in my bag daily for a few weeks.

Next up as either Vanity Fair (another actual book I bought) or Breakfast at Tiffany's, depending on how soon the library lets me know that they have Breakfast at Tiffany's on hold for me.

10 on Tuesday

1. I totally made that little bookmark! It was inspired by this blog post, although I didn't actually read that post or follow the instructions when I made mine, I just chopped the corner off an envelope and made the rest of it up. It was quick and dirty, but it totally works and it makes me smile when I open up my book (yeah, I'm reading an actual book right now and not on my phone).

2. Last week I went to a book discussion at the library with a new friend, Katie. It's a series called Not For Children Only, and it's (in case you didn't figure this out) an adult discussion group about children's books. The April discussion (last week) was on The Secret Garden, which I read last December and looooooooved. This month's book is The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, which I picked up at Borders yesterday. While I was there, I figured I should really start at the beginning, so I also picked up The Magician's Nephew. I started reading it on the way to work this morning and I'm already halfway through. Partly because it's a children's book (I'm no speed reader), and partly because it's so fun that I have been avoiding some chores in order to sit on the couch and read. :)

3. Speaking of chores, I had a very productive weekend cleaning and purging and organizing. Having guests come to stay is great motivation to finally turn the guest room back into a guest room - over the winter it somehow became more of a dumping ground/storage room than an office/guest room! I'm happy to report that it's almost ready for guests (I still need to make the bed).

4. The cleaning and purging and organizing over the weekend also led to my finally completing a few projects around the house that certainly aren't necessary before we have guests, but I figured it was as good a time as any. Some of these projects involved spray painting, and have you ever spray painted before? It takes patience. I don't have patience. My spray painting turned out okay despite my lack of patience.

5. One of the long overdue projects around the house that I finally got to was getting a print of this photo of my grandpa and putting it in a frame. I have a bunch of my grandpa's cameras on a shelf in my living room, including the one that is in the photo. Now that photo is framed and resting on the shelf behind the camera. :)

6. That photo is one of many that my father had scanned and cleaned up through ScanDigital. I found a whole lot of others that I love as I was going through the DVD I have of them, and ended up putting some of my faves up here (Dad can look at those and fact check me!).

7. In addition to framing pictures, I also found frames this weekend for a few original art pieces we bought from friends over the winter. One of the frames looks great, the other is going to be temporary until I take it to be framed professionally I think. In the meantime, it looks just fine in the cheapo frame it's in....and will look even better when I get it hung on the wall above the couch!

8. Today I did some serious toy/game shopping. I had a list of six kiddos that need birthday gifts in the next two months, which led to a not small Amazon order. Now I only have one kiddo left to buy something for, but it looks like it will be a brick and mortar purchase for that one. At least I know what I'm looking for now!

9. Is it totally wrong that as I was buying these gifts, I was thinking how fun it was going to be to play with some of them myself (you know, if the kids let me)? I figure that's totally right! You know it's a good gift if it's so fun you still want to play with it as an adult, right?

10. Yikes! I just heard the downstairs neighbor come in, which means it's past my bedtime. Guess it's time to hit publish. :)

Early

Met up with SB for Granny Crochet Club and got there early, so enjoyed this while I waited!

10 on Wednesday

1. I know, I know, I was supposed to do this yesterday. Pete and I walked 5 miles yesterday, and because I was at work late and we took a break to feed me, we didn't get home until 8:40. That doesn't give me much time to get anything done before bed!

2. Dear Peapod,
If you were willing to give a discounted delivery window smaller than 5 hours, I would be seeing you again tonight instead of walking the 1 block to visit your competitor. I miss you, but I need a bit more flexibility if we're going to be in a relationship again. Think about it. Get back to me.
Love,
SG

3. My knee is hurting again and I know what my doctor will say if I go see her. I want to go see a Physical Therapist about it, but I just don't have time to do it until after the 3 Day. And by then I'm sure it won't be hurting anymore. Makes me crazy!

4. Yup, I have succumb to the Twilight series. They are trashy and ridiculously over the top and poorly written. But I picked up New Moon at Borders last week and started reading it over the weekend. Based on my TV watching and book reading habits, my "relative age" (ha! a New Moon reference for you, even) would start at 14.

5. Holy crap! I just saw that on Stephanie Meyer's website there is a playlist created to go with each book. You better believe I'll be downloading those and throwing them on my iPod. I mean, it probably enhances the reading experience to listen to the playlist while I read, right? It even tells you who's point of view the song is coming from so you can figure out what part of the story it goes along with. AWESOME.

6. I've been falling really behind on my 3 Day training blog, and sat down tonight with the goal of getting myself organized and catching up. This was hindered a bit by the fact that I got through the first post and then couldn't for the life of me remember where we had walked the next day. I did eventually find a few pictures from that walk (but not where I thought they were) and figured it out, but it took me longer than it should have. Now that I have, though, I'm all set to plug away at getting the blog back up to date again tomorrow.

7. Pete and I have started watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on DVD. It's nice having something shorter than a movie to watch during the week, but it's a half hour show, so we've actually been tearing through it even though we only started watching over the weekend. Tonight we watched one entire DVD (6 episodes). We've got a few seasons to go before we catch up to current, so it should keep us entertained for a few more weeks.

8. This Sunday SB and I are volunteering at the AIDS walk. I'm particularly excited about this because a friend that I graduated with from Catholic is walking and it will be fun to get a chance to catch up with her and cheer her on.

9. Now that it's 10:30 at night, I can't for the life of me remember what I had thought earlier today and then thought "oh! I should add that to my 10 on Tuesday!" Guess I should have texted myself a note.

10. Instead of another thought, I'll actually just point you to this beautiful picture. If you check out Cat's photo stream, you'll see about a million photos of the sun setting over the beach in Santa Cruz. Every time she posts one, my heart dies a little bit because I don't live there and can't witness that for myself on a regular basis.

10 on Tuesday

1. I like this recent "heat wave". Especially when I don't have to walk 10 miles in it.

2. A co-worker (for two more days) of mine is leaving next week on an amazing trip where she'll be working towards restoring a near-extinct tropical forest in India, while living in an eco-village. That's a very brief description of what she will doing, so please check out that link to learn more. She's having a fundraiser on Thursday at the Nexus Green Building Resource Center here in Boston. If you're also here in Boston, you should come and support her.

3. Someday, I hope that I get to write this post on my blog. Hopefully "someday" comes sooner rather than later.

4. I was bummed to see this article in the Dorchester Reporter about graffiti along the bike path and park near us. We walk the path every Tuesday and Thursday (or at least most of them) for my 3 Day training, and I've always loved the murals along there. Sometimes people suck.

5. Am I the only one not freaking out about swine flu?

6. I did three loads of laundry on Saturday - all sheets and towels (and duvet cover). I meant to do at least one load of clothes as well, but I was so annoyed with the dryer situation. 6 brand new dryers in the laundry room. 2 not plugged in. 2 not reading the laundry cards. 1 filled with someones unmentionables and left there for who knows how long. I still haven't done my laundry. but have no fear - I won't have to call out of work naked after all! The clothes I ordered online last week were delivered and everything fits, so I should be good for another day or two at least.

7. Am I the only one that puts off doing laundry as long as possible every time?

8. When I got my massage last week, Stephanie told me that my shoulders were significantly worse than they've been in a long time. I was hoping for the opposite, because I've been walking pretty regularly and doing yoga videos at home 2-3 times a week for the last few weeks. Apparently it wasn't helping quite so much. :( This week that has become super evident, as I've been fighting the headache-coming-on feeling for a few days now.

9. Speaking of yoga, my friend Kate is finishing her yoga teacher training this Sunday. I'm very excited to be joining in the graduation celebration with her (and her hubby, yeah Justin!). I'm also very jealous, because some days I dream about being a yoga instructor.

10. Have you read A Long Way Gone yet? I gave it to Pete for his birthday a few years ago (you know, when it was the most recent Starbucks promotion) and meant to read it once he finished it. I finally picked it up this past weekend and it's an amazing story. Not warm and fuzzy and heart warming, but amazing.

Recomendations?

I've been tearing my way through this book, and I've only got 2 or 3 more in my "to be read" pile. Here's your chance: tell me what I should be reading! You can get a taste for most of my recent reads by going here. I'm open to anything, really, so bring on the suggestions!

Currently Reading...

Very good! Read this!

Pete brought me a Christmas surprise when he got back from WI. I was so excited I tore through the last book I was reading so I could start this one. I've already decided it's a keeper (usually I donate my read books to the local library branch because they're selection is horrible).

The Stacks

I've been amassing quite a large stack of read books that I need to get rid of somehow.

Next!

Chic Lit

Sometimes trashy reading is the way to go.

Happy birthday, Pete!

Pete scored on his birthday, and now he's got a lot of reading to do!

Old Favorite

I've been reading a lot more since my commute has grown from 30 minutes to 45, so I've been tearing through my stockpile of books to read. This is an old favorite, and I had lent it to a former co-worker who never returned it, but was lucky enough to find it cheap at a used bookstore recently. I'm loving it as much as I did the first time.