Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Book Review: Plane Reading

My favorite part of traveling is getting new books to read on the plane or books on CD to listen to in the car. When I was younger, my mom would get me new books especially for the trip, and I would have to wait until we were on our way before I got them. That seemed to be the longest wait ever. And I love to browse airport bookstores for magazines and new reading material should I run out or underestimate the excitement I would have for reading the book(s) that I brought. I even bought my beloved fourth Harry Potter book at an airport bookstore in Denver.

I find that anything I buy at the airport can break my normal book-buying rules, which are as follows:
1. Try to buy as few books as possible because you are running out of room on your bookshelf, and the library lets you borrow books for free.
2. If you do buy a book, it cannot be a mass market paperback version. Splurge for the regular paperback.
3. Do not buy books that have movie covers: It will take away from the experience because you won't be able to imagine what the characters look like for yourself.

This weekend, I broke all three rules. I had brought two library books with me for the plane ride, but I just wasn't feeling them. They were too serious to be plane material (which I also experienced on our flight home from Europe with Dune). And combined with time to browse the airport bookstore because of a delay, I ended up with Charlie St. Cloud. The mass market paperback edition. With Zac Efron on the cover (which, actually, was kind of a deciding factor for me when I was trying to decide between Morning Glory.) And it was the perfect plane book. It was a light read writing-style wise but had a good message about living life even after experiencing tragedy and death. It also explored relationships and how the people in our lives affect us and how we live. I'm interested to see the movie to see how it compares.

I finished the book on the plane from Las Vegas to Denver, and found that I still didn't want to read the books I'd packed with me. So I ended up splurging on Morning Glory, and while it was just a regular paperback, it still had the movie poster cover, which made sure I pictured Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams as the main characters. This one I didn't love as much, but was definitely right for light travel reading. I think the movie will be really good, even though the book seemed to move too fast and didn't really spend much time on character development or developing motives. Even though it pains me to think that a movie might be better than the book, I think it might be the case with this one, and I think the difference is that the book is based on the movie screenplay. I'm interested to see what I think of the movie now, and actually, part of the reason I ended up with the book was because I couldn't wait to see the movie any longer.

So there you have my Thanksgiving travel reads, and I think both would be good options if you will find yourself needing light reading material over the holidays.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Viva Las Vegas

In the past I've been very particular about my Thanksgivings. I like to celebrate with turkey and mashed potatoes and pie. We've celebrated in Key West and Colorado and Nebraska. Being a child, a particular child, I was very keen on this tradition and wanted every holiday to be similar to the last. My parents threw that off one year by taking us to Sanibel Island, where we had chicken and icky pumpkin pie on a boat and I complained because the pie was really bad (and it was). But it was still a really fun trip, and as I've gotten older and spent Thanksgivings and holidays away from my family, I've realized that it's not the food or even the place that makes Thanksgiving what it is, but the people you spend with it. This year was special because we added Nathan to the family; he was lucky enough to have both his first Thanksgiving and his first Turco family vacation to Las Vegas at the same time. And what a trip it was.

We drove up to Elmwood on Wednesday night to drop Shelby off with the Lakes. Our flight left at 6:30 Thursday morning, and I'm really glad we did it that way. It seemed to be much more relaxing. As I prepared for our trip, I read a lot about the body scanner and sure enough, I ended up being chosen to go through. It really wasn't too big of a deal though. We made all of our flights (and were early) and when we landed in Vegas, my parents were there to pick us up. We went to Joe's apartment to drop off groceries, checked into the hotel, and then went to pick up Steph at the airport. We had a good dinner, cooked by the family, and Joe's turkey was delicious. We went out onto the strip, which was surprisingly busy considering the holiday. We saw New York, New York, the fountains, Planet Hollywood shops, and the lions at the MGM. We gambled at the Paris for a little bit before going to bed.

Friday morning we headed out to the Hoover dam and drove over and walked over the new bridge. Then we went out to Kohl's for black friday shopping and then watched the CU-Nebraska game. I grew up with this rivalry (another family tradition) and it was almost sad to see it end. We then went out to dinner at Joe's restaurant and then gambled. I was ahead on both the slot machines and blackjack but then lost. Apparently my luck in Vegas is better but I still don't know when to stop.

Our luckiest day was Saturday, when Nathan won us a new water heater playing Pai Gow. He hit the bonus and won the hand with a straight flush. We have this theory that whenever something bad happens, it's paid back somehow. Our carport blew off and landed on the roof, we won a free cruise. Our furnace breaks and we need to replace it and the water heater, Nathan wins money for one. So we did leave Las Vegas, not Lost Wages.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, as well!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

24 Reasons To Be Thankful

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, I wanted to reflect on the year and count my blessings. This is something I try to do every day, and as someone on Facebook pointed out today, Thanksgiving is a verb. But because we have a day dedicated to giving thanks for our blessings, I will share mine with you. I thought it would be fun to think of 24, the number of years I have to be thankful for. So that is No. 1. Here are the next 23, in no particular order.

23. The opportunity to travel. I was so lucky to be able to finally experience Europe this year, something I'd wanted to do forever.
22. People who dedicate their lives to helping others. We need more of them in the world.
21. People who dedicate their lives to keeping us safe and protecting our freedoms. These are the people we should be grateful to every day.
20. Our jobs, and the fact that we can BOTH go to work every day in our field of interest.
19. The opportunity for a college education, and my parents for helping me finance that education.
18. Faith.
17. Having this place to write, and having the resources to start personal endeavors.
16. Books, and the different adventures I experience and lessons I learn through them.
15. Everyone who helped make our wedding happen. We were so lucky to have such wonderful vendors and people in our lives to help us make our day special.
14. Everyone who came to our wedding to celebrate with us as well as those who wished us well from afar.
13. The generousity that we were shown as we started our lives together. We are truly blessed to have amazing people in our lives.
12. Netflix. I am addicted to streaming.
11. Our home, and that we have a place to live and a roof over our heads when so many don't.
10. Having food and the other resources we need every day.
9. Shelby and the love we have for her.
8. Traditions, both those of the past and those we're creating together.
7. Our co-workers, past and present, and the community and friendships we've created.
6. Dear friends, near and far.
5. Email and the post office for letting us communicate with friends and family near and far.
4. A wonderfully large close-knit extended family, whom we've been able to see so much this year.
3. Our grandparents and the memories we have of them
2. Our parents and siblings, and their support in everything they do for us.
1. Nathan: for being an awesome husband.

We're off to Las Vegas for the next few days, celebrating Thanksgiving with my side of the family. Friday we'll be cheering the Huskers on, but we won't be watching the game because we might be bad luck. The only two games we've watched in full we've lost, so we're not taking any chances!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Money Matters

Nathan and I recently started a joint checking account. We had done the "responsible" thing and talked about money before we got married; went over our earnings, savings, and debts; and created a budget we thought would work for us. And more importantly, we understood each others' spending habits and views on money—for those of you who are wondering, we're both rather conservative with our spending, but him definitely more so. Though we have kind of balanced each other out in the time we've been together. We created a money system for our mutual money that still kept things separate. We planned on having a money agreement that outlined how we would divide our finances in the event it was necessary (though we haven't actually done that yet). It seemed like we had done everything to prepare for our finanical life together.

But when we actually went to the bank and I signed my new last name on our account info, it was actually real, and we had to actually put what we talked about into play in our real married life.  

We (OK, mostly me) wanted each of us to have some separate money, because I think it's important. And Nathan agreed, so we came up with a 70-30 system, where 70% of our earnings was our "joint" money—his 70% goes into our joint checking account, and my 70% goes into a joint savings account. The other 30% is our own money, and we can do whatever we want with it. I will be saving 10% and letting the other 20% serve as my spending money.   So far everything has been trial and error. It's a learning process, definitely, to determine what qualifies as ours and what qualifies as individual. What we've outlined for joint expenses include household expenses, groceries, Shelby's stuff, gas, insurance, prescriptions, gifts, entertainment, etc. Individual money is harder to define, but so far we've decided on gifts for each other and really, anything that only benefits the individual.   Being married, even for just a short time, has definitely changed my views on money, something I realized when I read this Small Notebook post, which made me think about my perceptions of money.  

I was lucky to have parents that helped me understand how to manage money. My allowance for a while was split into thirds--
one-third for saving, one-third for spending, and one-third for investing. Even though I didn't necessarily love it when I was little, it taught me the importance of all three. I was also lucky to have parents that were able to support me financially until I was ready to do so myself, and in the beginning, it was hard. But I eventually loved being independent and able to do whatever I wanted with it, which was generally buy groceries, gas, and going out on the weekends (while saving 10% and paying down my student loans, of course).  

Being married has changed that, and after we opened our joint account, I was hit by a lot of feelings, not bad feelings, but feelings all the same. That same week we opened our account, A Practical Wedding had this post that I think really hit home with me, even though I'm not giving up my job to live on a boat or even solely relying on Nathan for income. And then it made me wonder why money was tied to independence. Of course, it makes sense (or cents, haha). Having money to spend, no matter the amount, creates opportunities for you to do what you want. When you lose that control over that, and the ways you're used to managing it, it's going to feel a little like you're losing something, or at least have that perception.  

But, when I think about it, I'm really gaining more than I'm giving up; I'm (and WE'RE) trading independence for opportunities. By joining our finances and living off of Nathan's salary while saving mine, we have so many possibilities in the future, even if our purse strings are a little tighter now. We can both pursue our interests when the time comes, have money to stay home with our kids, or be prepared in case of a major emergency. So I think it's worth giving up one feeling of independence for another.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Friday Fancies

*Have you been to any of the world's greatest bookstores? I haven't, but I still have to say that my favorite bookstore is Barnes & Noble, which is why I generally link to them. Lincoln has a couple of independent or used bookstores, as well. Nathan's favorite is A Novel Idea. And I've also been to Powell's City of Books in Portland, which I think belongs on the list!  

*So Prince William and Kate Middleton are engaged. I would probaby read this book about them. One of the more interesting things I did as an intern at Washington Life was transcribe a conversation between Carol Joynt and Tina Brown about "The Diana Chronicles." I learned a lot about Diana and intended to read the book. Here's the article that eventually ran.

*Interesting reads of the week: This article on the expectations of what Kate Middleton will go through as William's wife  and this post from A Practical Wedding about Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed. While obviously a discussion of the book, the post, as well as the hundreds of comments, also present an interesting viewpoint on what marriage is and what family is and what these mean to women (and men) in today's culture and yesterday's. I think some interesting parallels can be made between the two readings, and some interesting contradictions, as well.  

*Not book-related, but I found this recipe online and am questioning whether I want to try them. I do need to incorporate more vegetables in my life, I suppose. And chocolate, too, of course. http://www.oprah.com/food/Brownies-with-Carrot-and-Spinach  

Friday, November 12, 2010

Friday Fancies

Happy Friday! Our weather has finally turned winter-like, so I'm definitely welcoming the weekend, and hope we can stay warm in our house with the new furnace this weekend!

*Came across the Word & Film site from Random House, which where books, TV, and movies come together. Three of my favorite things, though, of course, books are No. 1. I've always been that way, too: I remember arguing with someone when I was very young (8?) about how books were better than movies because most of the time movies came from books, and even if they didn't, they were written first, just like books. I still agree with that logic. Anyway, the site features a picture from the movie "One Day," a book recommended by my friend Lisa and one I passed on recently. Very good. A site I'll definitely be coming back to.

*Somewhat related, the New Yorker has this article about movies coming out this holiday season based on books, such as HARRY POTTER. Also new in theaters (as of Wednesday), Morning Glory, starring my mom's favorite, Harrison Ford, is a book by Diana Peterfreund. This one is really on my list of movies to see.
 
*And speaking of One Day, it's No. 23 on Amazon's recently released Best Books of 2010: Editor's Picks list. I have only read one other book on that list (Before I Fall, Lauren Oliver) but highly recommend both.

*Books from the list I want to read now. Glad I have a blog to keep track of this for me now:
Where the God of Love Hangs Out, Amy Bloom
Great House, Nicole Krauss (I also just read a very interesting piece by her in Real Simple about her relationship with food: December issue, if you come across it.)
Let's Take The Long Way Home: A Memoir Of Friendship, Gail Caldwell
The Hand That First Held Mine, Maggie O'Farrell
Unbroken, Lauren Hillenbrand
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot
Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart 
Room, Emma Donoghue
The Lonely Polygamist, Brady Udall

*Going to a baby shower tomorrow for my friend Candace, who writes (beautifully) about her pregnancy journey in her column at the York News Times. She is having a little girl, due in January, and it will be good to see her and her pregnant cuteness. I made her a baby calendar for a gift. It was try two for finding a something to sell in the store, and I definitely like the concept I came up with.

*Came across two interesting posts about money this week, one on A Practical Wedding and the other one Small Notebook. They seemed to really reflect what was going on with us this week as we went through our married finances, and I hope to talk a little about that next week. See you then!

*More Harry Potter? Kind of. I hope so! My vote is for Lily and James.

*And I'm adding Eighteen Acres to the list of books I want to read. Love anything set in Washington, D.C. and how interesting to imagine the world with a woman president. I hope I'm not disappointed. Click here for a review that also includes information on the author. Oh, and for my favorite book set in D.C., check out Sammy's Hill and Sammy's House.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Book Review: Rilla Of Ingleside

In honor of Veteran's Day, I want to say thank you to the veterans in my life: my Grandpa Chris and my Uncle Steve and my cousins and friends who have served their country, our country, to keep us all safe and preserve our way of life. It's because of them and all of the other veterans that we have the opportunities we have in our country, and I'm grateful for everything they have done. I hope you also take the time today (and every day) to recognize the veterans in your life and what they have given us and sacrificed for us. Also, I think it's important to also recognize and thank the husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, children, and families of our military men and women, for all they have to give up, as well. So thank you—we are truly blessed to have people like you!

Because I like to share reading and writing experiences on this blog, I want to add a book recommendation to this post,  hopefully without taking away from the gratitude I feel. However, I think it is fitting, in a way, because it takes place during WWI, and Veteran's Day was originally set aside as a day to honor WWI veterans and falls on the official end of the war (though did you know that WWI just actually officially ended in September?). It's the final book in the Anne of Green Gables series, Rilla Of Ingleside, by L.M. Montgomery, published in 1921. Anne is in the book, but much older and really the story is told with her youngest daughter Rilla being the focus.  

I think anything Anne can be somewhat romanticized, which, really, is part of the magic of the books and what makes them classic, but I think Rilla of Ingleside really stands out as a more serious piece of literature that looks at the effects of war both on those who fought and those who were left behind. It looks at the sacrifices that people had to make during this war, what it's like to experience loss, and what everyday life was like for Canadians during this time period. It also looks at how quickly war changes people, seen mostly through Rilla, and looks at what the war was like for this particular town and family. Through letters, it also gives you a brief perspecitve of what it was like to be a solider.  

This book moves me every time I read it (and I probably read it at least once every year, normally more than that) and when I read it as an adult, it only gets better because I can recognize all of the unique writing techniques that Montgomery adds to her books to make them special. For exaomple, she often has the narrator step back from the story and make some kind of commentary on the situation, or even the war, that just works without forcing it. Or, she occassionally changes character perspecitve, such as through converstaions about Rilla, to show what her charcter has become and who she is, thus illustrating how the war has affected her as a young woman. This all plays into the message she give throughout the book in terms of what I was talking about above: The effects that war, especially wars of this magnitude, can have on everyone.

The book also adds in situations that are less serious, such as a baby in a soup tureen, and a somewhat happy ending (that is so emotionally complicated and wonderful at the same time), but I think that this is also be a realistic portrayal of war that is not often thought about. Life doesn't always stop for war, even though it doesn't go away, as illustrated by Rilla Blythe and her family.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Book Review: Truth & Beauty

Today’s book review is on a book that I consider to be one of my favorites: ”Truth and Beauty,” by Ann Patchett.

As you may have read, I posted an article written by her during my first couple of weeks of writing. I really like her as a writer, and I was reminded of her by a friend who had asked me if I read “The Magician’s Assistant.” I have read most of her books, not all, but my favorite is still the first one I read, “Truth and Beauty.” It was this book that made me go out and search for her fiction.

The book is a memoir written by Patchett about her friendship with Lucy Grealy. It’s a complicated story of friendship and writing, and more importantly, it’s a story that’s real. Because it’s a memoir, you expect it to be about real life and experiences, but Patchett doesn’t sugarcoat anything. Their friendship is complex and not always perfect and so moving. She talks about the real effects of what life circumstances can have on relationships and how friends can be such a huge part of your life, as Lucy was hers, both as a person and writer.

My sophomore year I took one of the best classes of my college years, Women in Literature. The professor made the class what it was, as she was not only passionate about her subject but also nurtured every student’s talent and made everyone interested in what she was teaching. We read books such as "The Color Purple," "O Pioneers," and "Their Eyes Were Watching God." We discussed the books in terms of how we felt about them, what we learned, and what the books said about women. It was one of the few classes I actually felt comfortable talking in and really learned a lot about English and who I was.

We had to give a presentation on a book by a woman author as a speaking requirement, and I talked about Truth and Beauty. For the assignment, you had to provide background information about the author and read a passage. It was really interesting to research both women and learn about who they are outside of the book, and I also hope to read Lucy's memoir. I'll have to add it to my list.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Bucket List: Donate To Locks Of Love

I’ve always been a list keeper, and I have a list of things I want to do before I die. The No. 1 thing on that list was milk a cow, which I did at the Colorado State Fair my junior year of high school.

I’ve also always wanted to visit the homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and last year, Nathan took me to De Smet, South Dakota, where Laura was married and was the final stop for the Ingalls family.
I’ve also always wanted to donate my hair to Locks of Love, but never wanted to have it long enough to make it happen. I really do not do well with long hair, and my hair hasn’t been long really since freshman year of college when I didn’t have a hair stylist. After I did, it was gone quickly.

But after I got engaged, I started growing my hair out for the wedding. After the wedding, I waited to cut it until it was long enough. This meant that I wore a lot of ponytails, because if it was down, I played with it all of the time, much to the annoyance of my family and friends.


Picture
And this weekend, I got it cut. It was 10 inches, and I really didn’t feel sad about it. Even when the braid was sitting on the counter, I just felt glad to have it gone. And here is the end result.


Picture

My hair dresser is amazing, and she is also growing her hair out for Locks of Love. She really does work magic on my hair, which is generally uncooperative when it comes to anything other than just being straight. I was worried that Shelby wouldn't recognize me, but she did. And Nathan really likes it a lot, too.

For more information on Locks of Love, visit their Web site here.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

On Being Discouraged

So, NaNoWriMo is not going well for me, and I'm feeling a little discouraged. I'm not saying that because I need the encouragement you all would offer me if I did (because you're awesome), but more because I want to address an important question: What discourages us as we pursue our goals? (writing or otherwise)  

Monday, day 1, I wrote 1,200 words, as I mentioned, and I'm resisting the urge to say ONLY 1,200 words because I can recognize that 1,200 is more than I've ever written before and I should be proud of myself for doing something I didn't think I could do. But then I got stuck. I mean really stuck, and I found that I wasn't a fan of where I was taking my characters. Or really, the characters themselves. They were nothing like they were in my head, and that was discouraging. Yesterday, I had a horrible headache and all I wanted to do was lie on the couch with Nathan and Shelby with my warmie on my head, which I did, but I felt like I was betraying writer Whitney and the goal that I had set for myself that night (two hours of writing). Betrayal=discouraged.
 
Tonight, I don't think I'll have time to write because we're having a clean up the house night, which Nathan pointed out we needed and he's right. I don't think the house has recovered from the constant reorganization I've done since I've moved it. I've never actually completed the projects I've started, and our stuff from the wedding is still not where it logically makes sense. And that bothers me about as much as it bothers him. And we need to get Shelby a baby gate so she's not right next to the room with the broken furnace that could be leaking carbon monoxide. Dealing with real life=discouraged. I know that these sound like excuses (maybe because they are?), and that really, if I stayed up all night and wrote, I would have met my goal. But I don't think that would make me happy. In fact, I imagine I would be significantly unpleasant to deal with.  

I look at all of the people who have written a published book, or even a not published book, or even a few chapters, and wonder how they did it. I mean, even people who aren't real can write books. So what makes these people different? Do they have personal assistants or clones to go to work for them, cook dinner and clean their houses, take care of their kids and pets, spend time with their significant others? Some might for all I know. But when I think about it, I think the real difference is that they are inspired by their ideas, inspired by what they want to write.  

When I attended the literary seminar in Key West, I remember an author, I think it was Valerie Martin, who talked about how your characters should overtake your brain and almost become a second person living inside your head (I'm paraphrasing--that's definitely a combination of my memory of the talk from almost two years ago and my interpretation of what she actually said). And right now, I feel like my character is more like a baby who hasn't been born yet living inside my head--she's there, but doesn't have much to say. I'm not truly inspired to write her story yet, because she hasn't grown into someone whose story I want to tell. I can't even think of a name for her. And I could just start over with a completely different story, but I don't want to lose her. I still have the story in my head, I'm just not ready to write, because I'm not engrossed yet. And if I'm not engrossed, why should anyone else be? 

I think circumstances also play a lot into feeling discouraged. I know that there is no time like the present to pursue your goals, but sometimes, the present IS a really inconvenient time to take on huge tasks. For example, when I think about the time I spent writing on Monday, it felt more like homework. I got distracted, I left a few times to go spend time with Nathan and Shelby because I missed them (I know, I know, they were only in the next room, but still). And my new sewing machine, still sitting in the box in the same spot it was when it was delivered, is taunting me. And so are the canisters I need to list on Etsy. So is the wedding closet that I desperately need to go through so I can find new homes for everything. My baby calendars are designed, but not printed and assembled. And even though these things seem like they should not distract me from my overall goal, write a novel, they do. Because it's almost as though those are things I'd rather be doing.   
 
So, if I'm not feeling inspired, and the circumstances aren't right and I'm not working on my goal, of course I'm going to feel discouraged. But then when I think about it, why am I making myself feel guilty for not doing something I want to do by doing other things I want to do? I wear many hats in my life. (note: a lot of our IT articles talk about IT staff wearing many different hats and it cracks me up every time. And then today, I read this post that talked about wearing different hats in a very creative way.) What makes the writer hat more important than all of the other hats, just because it's the overall goal I want most? Maybe that's my answer, but I think that taking the time to be emotionally invested in what I'm writing is going to be more beneficial for me and lead to less discouragement. I'm sure there will be different kinds of discouragement when I am ready to write, also known as writer's block, but at least if I do some research and spend the time learning about what I want to write about, I'll feel better about it.  
 
So that's my new goal for NaNoWriMo. I do still want to spend this month writing, even if it's not a novel. However, I will start taking the time for my novel, by researching and developing my characters and getting into the habit of writing, without forcing myself into something that I don't feel inspired by and just feeling discouraged. And to take the time that I need to be able to be happy doing that by finishing my other projects. Which I am sure I will be blogging about.   I feel kind of discouraged by this decision, mostly because I do feel like I'm giving up on something I didn't even start. But I know that I'll be happier in the long run and more motivated and inspired when I decide I'm actually ready to write. Because I know that I will be able to when I'm ready. And you'll be the first to know.