Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Showin' My Books - October '17

I mentioned the other day that I'm in the midst of several books at once. I'm having trouble finishing books, not necessarily because I don't like them, but ... I don't know why. But I do have a few books to talk about on the 3rd anniversary of Steph and Jana's Show Us Your Books linkup.



Life According to Steph


The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah - SO many people raved about this book and I'm thrilled that it lived up to my expectations. My IRL book club read this and it's one that most all of us really enjoyed. I need more Kristin Hannah in my life, but spread out, because there's some heartbreaking stuff in there.


One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus - I very much enjoyed this book about five high school seniors who wind up in detention but only four make it out alive. There's a lot of Breakfast Club-ness going on here (except for the murder, of course). It's told from the perspectives of the four survivors and I loved the character development, and the need to keep reading at the end of every chapter.


A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman - Before I read this for book club, it seemed like everyone adored it. So I felt like a loser because I just wasn't feeling it. After I gave it 2 stars on Goodreads, I felt validated because other people told me they didn't like it either. If you're in the "loved it" camp, that's cool; it just wasn't for me.


  



What are you reading?


Stay tuned,


Monday, October 9, 2017

The Big Give

I know it seems that everyone has a hand out asking for donations these days. This post isn't seeking specific donations, rather it's alerting Central Ohioans to an opportunity for your charitable dollars to go even further.

For the first time in 2 1/2 years, The Columbus Foundation is hosting The Big Give, which begins Tuesday 10/10 at 10:00 am EDT and ends Wednesday 10/11 at noon EDT. During that time, you can donate to one (or more) of over 900 nonprofit organizations spanning 10 counties around Columbus. You can even donate to a fund for hurricane relief. There is a $1.3 million bonus pool which will be added to donations on a pro-rata basis. So while I can't say your donation will be doubled, every donation will be amplified to some extent. Also, credit card fees during The Big Give will be covered by The Columbus Foundation.


Via

There are SO many options. Whether your passion is supporting the arts, or rescuing animals, or helping the homeless, or cancer research, there's something here for you. And I'll admit that the website can be overwhelming, so if you are interested but having trouble finding just the right nonprofit, let me know and I'll help navigate the system.

Again, here are the bullet point details:



Stay tuned,


Friday, October 6, 2017

It's Friday and I need a brain dump

Here comes some random shit that's in my head.

  • I haven't yet watched any brand new shows this season. It's all I can do to keep up with This is Us and the TGIT lineup on ABC. This is highly unlike me.

  • I'm currently suffering from Multiple Book Disorder. I have at LEAST five books started right now, none of which is the one for my real life book club which meets Tuesday. And my TBR pile (as in, actual books that I own that I haven't even started is hovering around twelve.

  • Not sure what someone just heated up for lunch but it smells like grilled cheese to me. I could go for a basic grilled cheese and fries right about now.

  • I have a vacation coming up very soon and I can. not. wait.

  • Someone hacked into my Ulta account and used my rewards points. Seriously? WTF?

  • I also had someone use my credit card (well, not the actual card, because I have that) at a Sam's Club. Easy to tell it wasn't me since I don't have a Sam's membership. Thank you MasterCard for alerting me to that one.

  • This is Day 4 of my 50 blog posts in 50 days. I almost missed day 3, but I got it there in the nick of time.

  • I have lots more to say about these things but...

    •  I'm still in utter disbelief that one person can murder 59 people and injure hundreds more in a matter of minutes. This is so fucked up.

    • PSA for anyone who still doesn't realize it: Puerto Ricans ARE Americans. And paper towels aren't going to help them. I still feel like I'm living in some bizarro dream and wonder when it's going to stop. (Side note: the "US" in US Virgin Islands? Yeah, that means those residents are Americans, too. Maybe if they were allowed to vote for the president they'd matter more?)

    • Yet with all the crises around us, it's somehow very important to make sure that employers can cry "moral objections!" and opt to not cover birth control. The reasons this makes no sense are numerous but for now I'll just say that when the consequences of having sex are as intrusive to men as they are to women, then we can talk. Until that day, spare me the morality speech. I'm not buying it.

I think that's enough for today. Have a great weekend!

Stay tuned,





Thursday, October 5, 2017

Day 3 and I've already (almost) failed

The last 24 hours have been jam packed - somewhat with scheduled activities, but also with some very unplanned obligations. But dammit, I'm not going to fail on the third day. It's 11:08 pm as I type this so I have 51 minutes to get in under the wire.


This week has felt long so of course I'm looking forward to the weekend, but I'm especially looking forward to this weekend because it's the Italian Festival, which is just a few blocks from my house. And let's be honest, the main part of the festival I can't wait for is the food. Pizza and gnocchi and cannoli, oh my!


I did manage to make a fun little button for my blog adventure. What do you think?




Stay tuned,

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Last minute ZZ Top

A couple months ago, Aaron mentioned that ZZ Top was coming to town on October 3rd and started talking about maybe going to the show. Me: eh, maybe.

Cut to October 3rd, 9:03 am. I get a text from Aaron that just says "ZZTop?" My initial thought is, no, I don't feel like it. But, seeing as Tom Petty just died and I never saw him in concert, I changed my mind and texted back "Sure."

3:12 pm - email from Aaron with a link to a concert review saying "Looks like lots of seats available. I think we should go."

Me: I already said yes. Buy the tickets.

I mean, take yes for an answer already!

So after work, we took the bus downtown and ate at an Irish pub (question: when you order fish & chips, are you expecting sweet potato fries? I was not.) and then went to the Palace Theater (Columbus friends, yes, the Palace!) and bought seats in Row L on the floor.





Fun story: although I had never seen ZZ Top, Aaron had seen them twice before, albeit nearly 30 years ago. One night many moons ago, Aaron and his friend Mike were at a blues bar in Cincinnati where they watched a group called Big Alice and Unfinished Business. After the show, they played some pool and a couple guys came in and put quarters down on the table. Those guys were Dusty Hill of ZZ Top (left in the above picture) and a road manager. So yeah, Aaron played pool with 1/3 of ZZ Top.


Stay Tuned,

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

50 in 50 - Day 1

Hello, is anyone there?

So here's the deal. In 50 days I will be 50 years old. I've decided as a challenge to myself to blog every day for the next 50 days. My tag line has always been "sometimes silly, sometimes serious, always real," and that's how these next days will be. Some days I might write about my hair, some days I might rant about a topic I feel passionately about, some days I might just write about nothing in particular. The real goal is to renew the habit of writing on a regular basis.

I'm also committing to reading (and commenting on) my blog friends' posts. I've been really lazy about that for a while. I need to be less lazy, in more ways than one.

I hope you'll join me on this journey.


Stay Tuned,