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:

• Link - https://columbusfoundation.org/giving-events/big-give-2017/
• Time period - 10:00 am EDT Tuesday 10/10 through noon EDT Wednesday 10/11
• Minimum amount for credit card gifts = $20 (no credit card fees)

Stay tuned,

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,

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,

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,

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,

Some things I've read since the last time I blogged

My poor blog has been seriously neglected. And it's been a while since I linked up with Steph and Jana. And I can't get the link up button to work. And I'm certain that I've read more than I'm listing here but even my Goodreads account has been neglected. With all that said, here we go!


Good as Gone by Amy Gentry - I liked this one a lot. It had elements of Mary Kubica's The Good Girl and a one-and-done ABC series from last year called The Family. I really kept going back and forth in my head as to whether or not the girl who showed up was really the girl who was kidnapped. There were certainly parts that didn't work for me, but overall I enjoyed it.


Exit West by Mohsin Hamid - I read this for my IRL book club. Actually, I listened to it, which only took about 4 or 5 hours. Admittedly, I went into this with a groan because the premise reminded me of Dark Matter, which I didn't love. Maybe without that bias I would have liked this better, but it just didn't ring my bells.


All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda - This was also a book club book and I liked this one better, but at our book club meeting, the first thing someone asked was "what the hell happened?" It was kind of hard to follow and the backwards-style storytelling had me reminding myself "no, that hasn't happened yet." This is also a case in which "unreliable narrator" is a bit of an understatement.


Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy - I often feel late to the party when it comes to which books I'm reading, but I jumped on this one pretty quickly. Dumplin' was one of my favorite books of last year so I was anxious to read Julie Murphy's latest. It didn't disappoint, although I'm not sure much can live up to Dumplin'. There was some controversy surrounding this book because it deals with sexual fluidity, but I like it. A lot.

What have you been reading? I'm off to the Show Us Your Books link up to add even more titles to my TBR list!

Showin' My Books - April

Hey y'all, it's been a while. Time to link up and talk about books I've read lately AND find more books to add to my list.

The Knockoff by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza (audio) - Although this is predictable and I had a hard time believing that the main character was THAT clueless about technology, it was still a fun book and I really enjoyed it.


Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty (ebook) - There are other Moriarty books I like better, and this one took forEVer to reveal what happened "the day of the barbecue," but ultimately once I got to the end I found the characters staying with me.


Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (audio) - I was drawn to this after listening to a podcast about audiobooks. I don't know if I would have liked this had I read it in a traditional way, but I loved the reader and her different voices. There are two more and I don't know that I'll read them, but I liked this one.


Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough (audio) - This book starts out like it might be a romance of sorts, shifts to a psychological thriller and then takes a turn that is crazy! I think people will either love the twist or hate it, but I loved it.


The Forgotten Girls by Alexa Steele (ebook) - Don't be fooled by my 3 star rating on Goodreads; I liked this book but it did take me a while to finish it. Still, it was a good mystery that I didn't figure out before the reveal and I liked the female detective. There's a second book and I'll probably read it.


Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House by Alyssa Mastromonaco (audio, read by the author) - Mastromonaco started working for Obama when he was a US Senator and eventually worked her way to being Deputy Chief of Staff. It's a quick, easy read (even on audio) and I enjoyed getting some behind-the-scenes info. It was kind of annoying that she jumped around chronologically and she used a lot of nicknames that the audiobook didn't allow me to go back and figure out who the real people were, but for a non-fiction book, I liked it.


DID NOT FINISH

My Favorite Husband by Pam McCutcheon - When I get my BookBub emails I often download some fluffy chick lit since it's free (or maybe 99 cents). That's how I got this one, but I just couldn't. It was too ridiculous.



What are you reading?