Library! Ramblings

Last week Robin blogged about the Library! She talked about how great it is that the Boise Library! has an "!" as part of it's name (you should definitely check out her post!!) Anyway, I am excited for the new branch Library! in Boise to open (this isn't the best picture - I took it with my cell phone while I was waiting at a red light on my way to work this morning). Yes, it's small, but it's close to my house, and if I ever wanted a book that was at another Library!, they do inter-Library! exchange, so I could have it delivered to this branch (not like I don't work like 2 minites from our main Library!... or like there's a library (no "!") on campus about a 45 second walk from my office).

Anyway, I really enjoy reading. I remember as a kid that I would read late into the night. I had one of those little clock-radios with a lamp attached. When I would hear my mom coming, I would pull the lamp down almost right on top of the clock so that my mom wouldn't see any light on in my room. I think that's how I learned to read in such dim light - I would continue to read with the lamp on top of the clock so that I wouldn't get "caught" reading when I should have been sleeping. The funny part about all that is that the plastic part of my clock became warped from the heat of the light bulb!

I don't have to hide my reading from anyone any more... I kind of go in spurts of reading a lot or reading a little - I think it really depends on how much I am enjoying my current book. I have gotten into kind of a bad? habit lately of buying books from the store instead of borrowing them from the Library! I joined Borders Rewards program a couple years ago and I receive emails at least 2-3 times a month with coupons for anywhere from 20%-40% off a book. I can't pass them up! I also won't pay full price for books anymore. My bookshelves are completely filled, so I guess that means I need to buy more shelves! I have always thought it would be cool to have a big house with a beautiful library, complete with built in bookcases and one of those cool sliding ladders... maybe one day...

"You know you're reading a good book when_________"

Borders Books posted this line on their facebook page and asked us to finish the sentence.  I could think of several endings!  Here are a few that came right to my mind.  Any others you would add?

• You hope for red lights so you can read the book during the stoplight.
• You read the book in line at the grocery store.
• All of a sudden it's 3 in the morning.
• You want to call in sick from work just so you can keep reading (not that I would do this because I'm an honest person, but the thought has crossed my mind!)
• You cry (or sob) or laugh out loud when you are reading.
• It's 6pm on a Saturday and you're still in your pajamas reading.

I Jumped on the Bandwagon

After at least half a dozen people recommended the Twilight series books to me, I finally decided to jump on the bandwagon to see what everyone was talking about. In the last few days, I read all three books in the series (or about 1700 pages). I enjoyed the books - they are definitely the kind that make you want to keep reading. I decided it's good that I don't get into every book I pick up like I did these books, or else I wouldn't have much of a life. I kind of put everything else on hold this week - going to the gym, cleaning my house, going to the movies, even forfeiting sleep - just so I could keep reading!

Oh, and speaking of books, I thought I'd share this great way that I've discovered to keep track of my books. Shelfari is a way to catalog, tag, review, and discuss books. You can keep of the books you own, the books you've read, and those on your wishlist, as well as see what books your friends have. Let me know if you decide to join Shelfari because I'd love to see what you're reading... I'm always on the lookout for a good book!

Book Review: The Secret Life of Bees

I just finished reading the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and decided to write my own review of the book on my blog. I have to admit, I started reading this book months ago. It took me a little while to actually get into the book - the first part for me was pretty slow. As of a couple days ago, I was only on page 50, but in the last 24 hours, I read the remaining 250 pages. Kidd's imagery is incredible, and I can picture even the tiniest details as I read the text. I'm a pretty slow reader, reading every word of the book - I don't skim or speed read. At times I felt like I was actually where the story is taking place (South Carolina). I could smell the fresh honey, hear the hum of the bees, feel the stickiness of the hot Carolina air, my heart ached for the characters, and I was even brought to tears a couple of times.

I personally would label this book as historical fiction (although I don't know that it technically is). The setting of the book is 1960 America, just when blacks finally begin to gain rights. Even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is signed into law, there are still huge barriers between the blacks and whites. It is interesting to see life from the eyes of a white fourteen-year old girl (Lily). Although she didn't consider herself a racist, Lily still had some of the feelings that had been rooted in her by society - like whites are better looking than blacks or whites are smarter than blacks. As the book progresses, Lily wishes that God had not created skin pigment at all, and comes understand that it is one's character, not the color of their skin, that defines who you are. The book teaches some powerful life lessons, including standing up for what you believe in, not living with regrets, the importance of giving and receiving love, dealing with grief, and living your dreams. I love the part of the book where Lily is speaking to her black friend Zach about how Zach wants to become a lawyer. Lily thinks this is odd, as she has never heard of a black lawyer. Lily says, "I've just never heard of a Negro lawyer, that's all. You've got to hear of things before you can imagine them." Zach replied with, "You gotta imagine what's never been." I love that line - you gotta imagine what's never been. It makes me want to take a look at my own life to see who I am and who I really have the potential of being. I give this book two thumbs up and highly recommend it!

Vintage!

I have always loved reading, and have definitely been in one of my reading zones lately.  I've been plowing through books, and only wanting to read more.  I especially love getting book suggestions from others - I think that's why I like Goodreads.  As a side note, I would love more friends on Goodreads if you are already on that site or if you'd like to join!  Anyway, a few weeks ago, Sharon from work was reading a book called A Vintage Affair, and the book is centered around a vintage clothing shop and some of the stories behind the clothes.  Brooke also read it and enjoyed it, so I picked up a copy and read it too.  It was a fun, fast read (I read it in 3 days), and it really made me want to go to a vintage clothing shop!  I have visions of beautiful clothing from the 30's through the 70's, and am looking forward to checking out a shop I found here in Boise.

In the mean time, Brooke found this great online site with an amazing selection of clothing, purses, and accessories - poshgirlvintage.com.  I think I could spend hours looking through the site.  So. Much. Fun.  Anyway, I fell in love with this purse, and made my first vintage purchase!  I think the pictures are protected somehow because I wasn't able to paste the picture in here, so the link will have to do.

I also loved a lot of the dresses and hats.  I'm nervous to buy online without trying things on first, but I may break down and do it when something truly speaks to me :-)

Healthy Living Challenge

I saw this great idea on my friend Jennie's blog and decided this is exactly what I needed... So on Monday, a few of my co-workers and I started this "Healthy Living Challenge". Here's how it works: There's a list of 10 things we are supposed to do every day. You get one point for every completed item each day, and Sundays are free (you get all 10 points)! Whoever has the most points at the end of the challenge (we picked August 1st) wins :-) I love this idea because it's all about balance and overall health.

1) Get 7 hours of sleep
2) 30 minutes of exercise
3) 30 additional minutes of exercise
4) No sweet treats (cookies, candy, ice cream, etc.)
5) 64 oz. of water, milk, or juice
6) 5 servings of fruits/vegetables
7) No unhealthy snacks or soda
8) No eating after dinner or 8 pm
9) 15 minutes of uplifting reading (scriptures, etc.)
10) Personal habit of choice (practicing instrument, journal writing, reading to kids, etc.)

So far I've done pretty well... I had 9 points the first three days of the week (it's SO hard for me to get in 5 servings of fruits and veggies!) and I got all 10 points yesterday! I was getting ready for bed (gotta get in bed so I can get my 7+ hours of sleep!) and realized I hadn't done number 10 - personal habit of choice. I decided blogging counts as a personal habit so had to get on and get this posted today :-)

Goal Accomplished

Jen and I both set a goal at the beginning of the year to read the entire Book of Mormon in 3.5 months.  I am happy to say that we both finished yesterday (April 6th of all days)!  I think it was good for me to read it that fast - I really enjoyed a lot of the stories and understood better how everybody is connected.  We plan on reading it again by the end of the year, but this time going a little slower and studying more.  For anyone else who may be interested in joining us, here's a quick calendar Jen put together for our reading.  It's basically a guideline to let us know where we should be at the end of each month... that way we don't have a specific number of pages or chapters we need to read each night, but we can still stay on track.  We will start May 1:
May 31 - 2 Nephi 8 (page 70)
June 30 - Omni (page 140)
July 31 - Alma 2 (page 210)
August 31 - Alma 30 (page 280)
September 30 - Alma 57 (page 350)
October 31 - Nephi 7 (page 420)
November 30 - Ether 2 (page 490)
December 31 - Moroni 10 (page 531)

Small Addiction

I don't know what it is about books, but I love them.  I don't just love reading them, but I love looking at them on a shelf, flipping through their pages, and BUYING them.  I admit, it is kind of a small addiction.  Every time I see or walk into a book store, I really want to buy a book - or multiple books!  I love getting my Borders email coupons each week, and can't ever pass up buying a book when I have a 30% off (or more) coupon.  Especially when I have Borders gift cards (which I ask for on any holiday and frequently "purchase" with my Discover card cash back bonus awards... thanks mom and dad, by the way, for the Borders card you gave me for my birthday!).

I think part of this addiction stems from the fact that one day I want a library in my house... an entire room dedicated to beautiful, wonderful books.  I often imagine having a house that would allow me to have a library like the one on Beauty and the Beast.  It is kind of my dream library.  I want walls of built-in book shelves covered with books.  Oh, and I want one of those cool ladders that slides from left to right along the shelves.  Wouldn't that be cool?

I have been asked many times if I would want a Kindle or Nook or some other e-reader.  I don't know that I do.  Sure, I love technology, and an e-reader sure makes a lot of sense.  But I just want to hold and admire my books.  Kind of like this stack of recently acquired books that I have yet to read  Aren't they pretty?!

Now that Boise Rec Fest is over, and I feel like my life is calming down for the summer, I'm hoping to get lots of reading in.  And I have plenty to do.  I keep adding to my "to-read" list on GoodReads.  Maybe I should get started now...

Thoughts on the Bailout

In case you didn't know, I love Google Reader. I get all the headlines from all my favorite sites all in one place. It saves me loads of time, and I like to think that because of Google Reader, I am pretty well informed about what's going on in the world. With the exception of my friends' blogs, I typically just skim the headlines (a lot of times the headlines tell me all I need to know), and only read the entire article when the topic jumps out at me as interesting or important. So imagine my surprise when at dinner on Monday, Jen started talking to me about the Bailout plan. Um, I think I had seen this in the headlines somewhere, but was ashamed to admit that I had never actually read the articles and had no idea what she was talking about. I immediately went home and started reading and reading about the plan. Both sides of the argument (for and against the bailout plan) were pretty convincing. No, as a taxpayer I don't really want to have to help pay for irresponsible home buyers who bought more house than they could afford (I'm sure it will come back to the taxpayers somewhere along the lines), but I also don't want to have the next Great Depression. Regardless of my thoughts or opinions, though, the Bailout plan passed yesterday and was signed into law by President Bush. What does this all mean you might ask? I came across this article that explains a little more about how it might affect us.

One interesting side note - As part of the bailout (not quite sure how they relate), it looks like insurance plans will start better covering mental health issues. I know several people who suffer from some sort of mental health issue (depression, bi-polar, etc.), so I am happy to see this legislation passed.

Running

I have been trying to enjoy running now for a few years.  In fact, my very first blog post ever was about running.  I was hoping it would get easier and that I would start enjoying it more... but neither is really the case.  I know people that can just go out and run forever and talk about their runner's high and how much they love running.  Maybe I've never run far enough to get a runner's high because I cannot relate to that AT ALL.  I huff and puff and am sweaty and tired at the end of each of my runs.  I was just reading my friend Liz's blog and she wrote about how she runs around 30 miles a week - amazing woman!

Anyway, I know running is good exercise, so I just keep trying, hoping that one day it might just click.  So I decided at the beginning of the year that I would set a goal to run a 5k distance each week this year.  I got on MapMyRun.com so I can keep track each time I run.  I've been successful so far, even running two 5ks one week!  One month down, 11 to go...

First Thursday - April 2011

When I heard that Brooke had never been to First Thursday, I decided we needed to do something to fix that!  We had a great time last Thursday enjoying the arts and culture that Boise has to offer.  We started out the night at the Fettuccine Forum and learned all about Idaho authors past and present... I've got some interesting sounding books to add to my Goodreads!  After that we headed to an art gallery where the artists re-purposed "found" objects, we watched a glass blowing demo, and we listened to an author reading at a locally owned bookstore.

The highlight of the night, however, was our tour of the Cyrus Jacobs-Uberuaga Basque boarding house.  It was built in 1864 and is the oldest surviving brick building still in existence in Boise.  During our 45-minute tour, we learned all about Basques and life in early Boise.  Sometimes the house had over 20 people at once staying there... with 3-4 strangers sharing one bed.  Not sure how I could have done that!  And they only bathed once a week because it was it was expensive to heat the water... and they all shared the same water, bathing oldest to youngest.  I wouldn't want to be the last to bathe in that water!

"Camping" in Style

The whole gang (minus Joe & Kirstie Bradley who had to leave earlier in the day)

Back in January when we stayed in a cabin in Garden Valley, we decided we wanted to head back up north this summer for a weekend of camping and 4-wheeling.  We finally made it up this weekend!  Jared reserved an RV and a couple 4-wheelers, Jen's family brought up their 4-wheelers and a dirt bike, and another family brought up their 5th wheel.  I have never "camped" with an RV before, so this was a fun luxury!  I think I got the best camping sleep ever :-)

We stayed at a great campground just north of Silver Creek Plunge.

We cooked lots of yummy food - carne asada fajitas, waffles with bacon and scrambled eggs, dutch oven pork spare ribs with dutch oven potatoes au gratin, dutch oven rolls, and caesar salad...  I definitely ate better camping than I would have if I were home!

Jen, Meiken, Kirsten, and Amber - cooking up some tortillas for the fajitas.

Jared's friend Jared - grilling up the carne asada (and some hotdogs for the kids!)

I love dutch oven!

And of course we played!  We all got to take turns on the 4-wheelers, but I loved the dirt bike.  This was really my first time on a dirt bike, and I had a blast (thanks Hunter for letting me ride your bike!)  I thought I would be a little more nervous and stick to the main roads on the bike, but I did end up trying one of the trails.  So. Much. Fun!  I might need to get one :-)

Loving the dirt bike!

Getting ready for a ride

Our camping spot was literally right next to the creek, so Jen, David, and Chris all spent some time fishing... After watching David catch fish after fish, Jen was excited to catch a fish of her own!

People also enjoyed playing games, reading, chatting by the campfire, swimming at Silver Creek Plunge, and more.  Definitely a fun weekend in the great outdoors!

I love my book club

I know I've blogged about book club before, but our book club dinner really has become one of my monthly highlights.  Since I last posted about it in December, we've read Night, The Art of Racing in the Rain, and will be reading The Tiger's Wife this next month.  We ate at Sa-Wa-Dee (Thai food) for our March book club meeting - I love Thai!  And the book we read (The Art of Racing in the Rain) was one of my favorites that we've read too.  So fun.  And the people are all really great.  We're going to miss Lance this summer while he is away!

Anyway, thought I'd post a couple more pictures from the evening.  Carsten ate the flower that came as garnish on Brooke's plate, and you can't tell from the picture but Lance got a flaming chicken!

Family Vacation to Badger Creek

As I mentioned yesterday, my family went on a quick trip to visit Beki this weekend in eastern Idaho.  Beki is a counselor at BYU-Idaho's Outdoor Youth Adventure (OYA) camp.  As family of a counselor, we were able to visit and stay in the cabins and do all the activities for free!  It was really neat seeing what Beki is doing all summer... I can see why she loves her job!

The camp is in Tetonia, Idaho (near Driggs) and has the most beautiful views of the Teton Mountains.

So now for the picture overload of all the activities we did... my mom and my sister always had their cameras with them!  I think this just may be my longest post ever! We started out Friday night with the Giant Swing.  That was one of my favorites!  It's hard to tell from the video, but I was up so high!  We all took turns in the swing, while the others pulled the person in the swing up to the sky :-)

After a delicious breakfast Saturday morning, we headed off so Beki could show us some of their "initiatives" at OYA.  The first one involved swinging on a rope over a "ship" and landing on the platform.  You couldn't knock over the ship (which was really a stick resting on a couple of stumps) and your entire group had to stand on the platform on the other side.  We all made it! 

I know some of you reading this might wonder at my hat because you've probably never seen me with any hat (besides my cowboy hat!).  I bought this hat in Ketchum and it was my savior over the weekend.  I can't go more than a day without washing my hair :-)

Next was the trust fall.  Hailey liked this one!

And then we headed over to All Aboard... similar to the ship platform, but the platform was much smaller.  Beki tells us that they had all 22 counselors on this platform at one time.  I would have liked to see that!

I can't remember what this next one was called... but the point was to try and walk across the cables, pushing against the hands of your partner.  The wires widened as you went, so if you made it all the way, your body would be parallel with the ground.  My mom and dad didn't make it very far, but way to go mom for trying :-)

After the initiatives, we did a little rock climbing.  Great shot, I know :-)

My trusty belayers... mom, Hailey, dad, and TJ.

And for a little perspective - we were up high!

Once we got to the top of the wall, we zip lined down.  I love my dad's face in this picture... just as he is getting ready to start the zip line.

After we had all had finished our zip line, my dad and I went horseback riding while the rest of my family had lunch and took a nap.  I really enjoyed riding Excalibur (my horse), and for the first time ever I got the horse up to a run (canter).  That was so much fun!  Way more exciting than a walk or trot.

Next up was the ropes course, aka Jungle Gym.  There were definitely a couple times I relied on my "lobster claws" (carabiners), especially in the third picture down.  Those ropes seemed so far apart!

Our last activity of the day (before smores and fireworks) was the Power Pole.  You had to climb up a tall pole, and then jump off of it and try to hit the tennis ball suspended in the air.  It seems simple, but this was probably the hardest one for me to do.  Taking that last step up on top of the pole was kind of scary!

And here's my somewhat freaked out close-up.  Not sure why I was so nervous!

I've got way more pictures, but I figure 19 is enough for one post.  Nah, let's make it an even 20.  My mom might kill me for this one, but it made me laugh so hard.  This was the first night when my mom was getting out her sleeping bag.  Look at the size of that thing!  I'm seriously laughing now as I type this.  Thanks for being a good sport mom and letting me take a picture.  You know that any picture I take has a pretty good chance of ending up here :-)  Thanks family for a fun getaway!

The Ten-to-Six Experiment

A couple weeks ago, Jen, Brooke, and I decided to try something new... going to bed at 10:00 pm and getting up at 6:00 am.  Eight straight hours of sleep a night.  We decided to try this for one month.  We would be a little lenient on weekends - like maybe 11-7, or even 12-8, but making sure we're not going to bed excessively late and that we're still getting in 8 hours of sleep (not less, not more!).

Well, the going to bed at 10:00 has been decently easy for me.  It definitely has been weird when I've had something going in the evenings (like tonight - I just got home from visiting teaching at 9:30) and thinking I don't have time to do much before it's bed time.  I previously had given myself a 10:30 bedtime (which meant I was usually in bed between 11 and 11:30!)... but it's been good to be disciplined and just go to bed instead of dawdling away my evening.

The mornings have been a little harder for me.  I have always loved my sleep, and pushed it to the last minute to get up.  I was even to the point where sometimes I would get up at 7:15, when I needed to be across town for work at 8:00!  But I have been doing well most mornings, getting up pretty close to my 6:00 am wake up call.  And it has been wonderful!  I am not rushed in the mornings.  I have had time to eat breakfast, make my lunch, clean the kitchen, do laundry, harvest my garden, etc.  I've even been to work early almost every single day.  I feel like my mornings have gone so much smoother, helping start me off on the right foot for the day.  And I've felt so productive!  Even on weekends, I've been doing better.  Take Sunday for example - I have 2:00 church right now (I know, that sucks!), so it was easy to really sleep in.  Sometimes I felt like I slept away my entire morning.  Well this Sunday I was up around 7:00 am, and rode bikes around downtown with Jen, enjoying the beautiful Sunday morning.  I was home and changed and was able to finish a book I was reading before church.

So our experiment isn't over yet.  We're only about 2 1/2 weeks in to our month.  But I've felt good, and I plan to continue with this routine.  So here's to a good rest of the month, and to one more healthy lifestyle change!

I graduated!

On December 15th, after 2 years of hard work, I graduated from Boise State University with my Masters in Business Administration. I am excited to have my evenings free again! I look forward to spending more time reading for pleasure, mountain biking, and video editing on my mac.

Doesn't This Make You Smile?

My mom sent an email to my family today.  The subject line of the email was "Doesn't This Make You Smile?" and the body included this quote from Roald Dahl:

"A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly.  You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."

I thought it was a nice quote.  We should always be thinking good thoughts.  It did make me smile.

Immediately after reading my mom's message, though, I read a response that my sister Mandi had sent as a "reply all":  Are you trying to tell us something?

Hahaha, that made me laugh out loud.  A lot.

So Far So Good!

My friend Brooke asked me yesterday if I had a productive week off work... and I am happy to say yes!  I went skiing, saw two movies in the theater, painted my spare bedroom, had lunch with the fam one day and had a BYP lunch another day, put together a puzzle that I framed for my new Boise-themed bedroom (with plenty of blue & orange), listened to two books on tape and started a third, went to the gym a couple times, took down the Christmas decorations and put up the "winter" decorations, etc.

I wanted to start off the year right, so I got up this morning and ran a 5k on the treadmill at the gym.  I decided it is much easier to run while I'm watching hockey and college football on tv!  I also cleaned my bedroom (including dusting and vacuuming!), cleaned the kitchen, and cleaned both bathrooms... Now if I had only had time to organize my office :-)  I grabbed lunch with Jen, ran errands, went grocery shopping, and finished off the night by watching the Idaho Steelheads with Brad - such a fun evening!  Now I'll spend the rest of the night reading and relaxing.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow, but am not really excited to get back to real life on Monday with a whole week of work!

Book Club

For some reason, I've always thought it would be so much fun to be part of a book club. I've always enjoyed reading, and I have pictured a book club being a place for intelligent conversation on the most interesting of books. Needless to say, I was super excited to find out that my new ward meets monthly for book club and I jumped at the chance to join in the fun. Tonight was my second book club meeting - we discussed the book Kite Runner (I'll be posting a review on my book review blog soon). The book was definitely thought-provoking and produced some deep conversation. I can't wait until next month!

I was Tagged!

I was tagged by Robin and Ashley this last week, so I figured I should play along :-) I shared 7 Random Things About Me from a tag in November, so I'll go with Ashley's tag to give a little variety.

3 Joys
1. Decorating my house
2. Blogging and reading friends blogs (this could probably fit in the obsession category too)
3. Riding my motorcycle

3 Fears
1. Falling
2. Being alone
3. Not living up to my potential

3 Goals
1. Get my PhD
2. Travel to Asia
3. Prepare and try to live on a budget

3 Obsessions/Collections
1. Costa Vida Sweet Pork Salads
2. I collect snow globes from the places I visit (the nice glass ones that are often also music boxes, not any cheesy ones)
3. The Office

3 Random Facts about Me
1. Right now I am kind of addicted to Crystal Light. When I want something sweet in the evenings, but don't want to eat junk food, I'll just drink some Crystal Light to curb the craving.
2. I love having people over to my house. I would much rather have people come over than go to someone else's home.
3. One day I would love to have a cabin along the river in Garden Valley, ID. It's close enough to Boise so that I can go often, but far enough away that I feel like I'm on vacation.

3 People I tag
1. Mandy Nelson
2. Susan Nasburg
3. Erin Colburn