Highlights of the week

This week it was my turn to host Yahtzee. My theme, if you can call it that, was "shit I found on the internet." I was running around like a crazy person trying to get everything done at the last minute but it all turned out great and it was lovely having time with my girls.

Left: Brownie Batter Dip (yes, those are Lorna Doone cookies on that tray and they were fantastic with this dip)
Right: Tasty's Meatball Sub Bake - next time I might use more sauce but this was super easy!
Not pictured: Warm Bacon Blue Cheese Dip - take a tip from me and double this recipe, Black Bean Hummus with veggies and pita chips, Shrimp Cocktail, beer and wine.

A couple weeks ago Aaron and I joined a different gym. I haven't worked out in well over two years, due to surgeries and whatnot and then just plain laziness. Gwensday morning I got up early and did a proper weights workout at the gym before work. I'm feeling it but it's a good feeling. Of course there's still always this obstacle:

All week I've been thinking about this whole bathroom law bullshit and I knew I wanted to address it here but had a really hard time putting the words together. Fortunately my real-life and blog friend Steph hit it hard in her post yesterday. Some of my favorite parts from the post include:

• "We've all been going to the bathroom with transgender people for years, we just didn't know it because no one is required to flash their private parts to go to the bathroom in a public restroom." This is what blows my mind. If I'm in the restroom with a trans woman, guess what? I'm not going to actually see her genitals.
  
• "Women and children get attacked and raped all across this country every day and no one gives a fuck until now, when people want to pee with people they look like instead of where the genitals they were born with say they should pee." 

The only thing a bathroom law does is allow more hatred and bigotry toward not only transgender people, but also anyone who looks androgynous or just doesn't look like what someone thinks they should (remember SNL's "It's Pat?"). If only the Target protesters would focus their anger and energy on real sexual predators instead of people who just want to pee, now THAT would be productive.

Truth.

Speaking of Steph, she and Jana not only host the monthly Show Us Your Books link up, but they've also started a podcast about books called The Armchair Librarians. There are now 8 episodes and I totally binge-listened to all of them yesterday. My personal favorite is the one with Jana's 9-year-old daughter, who chastises Jana because she "only" reads violent books. Plus I couldn't help wondering how hard it was for them to not curse in that particular episode.


Happy Weekend!

Weekend of the arts

It's been a while since we've had a weekend full of (fun) plans. Last weekend was full of cultural events!

Friday night we saw The Full Monty at the Garden Theater, presented by Short North Stage. Eight of us from the neighborhood walked the few blocks to the theater. It was fantastic! The sets, the cast, the music... so well done! It's just amazing to be able to walk to see such great entertainment. I also ran into a sorority sister there (her sister was in the show). I haven't seen her since college, but we we're Facebook friends and she recognized me while we were in line for the restroom.

After the show we went back to our house for a Prince dance party. Sorry to any neighbors who may have heard the blaring music until the wee hours...


Saturday we recovered with brunch at The Market and naps (we did make it to the gym for a brief cardio workout). Then we took the free bus to The Ohio Theatre to see The Book of Mormon. Lots of our friends saw it two years ago when it came to town but we missed out. Hilarious! Irreverent! So much fun!


Sunday we did our usual singing at two church services. I got in another nap (Saturday was a late night by the time we had after-show drinks, not that I really need a reason for a weekend nap). Then we went back to the church for a vocal recital. A woman in our choir who had a long nursing career and then fulfilled a life-long dream of going back to school for a vocal performance degree gave her senior recital. Some of our choir members backed her up on a couple songs. It was a lovely event, and here we are in our concert attire.

We ended the weekend at our local bar, Little Rock, to say good-bye to one of the bartenders who is moving away. Sundays are "Mix Tape" nights in which all of the music is from one year. Last night was 1983, so that was fun. Of course, that was the year chosen because it's the year the bartender was born which makes me feel old. Sort of.

Showin' My Books - April '16

OK peeps, it's that time again!

Interestingly (to me) most of my selections are audio books this time around.

She Can Run by Melinda Leigh - I chose this as my "freebie book" for Erin's challenge. In this case, freebie had multiple meanings. The challenge category was "any book at least 200 pages." I got the Kindle version for free through Kindle Unlimited and little did I know that included an audio version as well! I had a day in February in which I was in the car for 8 hours and sat in a waiting room for 2 hours so I knocked this book out in one day since I was able to listen and read. ANYWAY, the book was predictable in many ways but still entertaining for me. This is the first of a series, but it looks like with each succeeding book the main character was a peripheral from the book before. I like that idea.


Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari - This was for my IRL book club. It's not a memoir, but an actual study of what it's like to date in the age of technology. As someone who's been in a monogamous relationship for going-on-29 years, I couldn't relate to a lot of this but it was fun listening to Aziz read it himself (even though he constantly teased the audio book listeners for being too "lazy" to actually read the book).


Driving with the Top Down by Beth Harbison - This was my one non-audio book. It's about a woman, her niece, and her college best friend who are all going through difficult times but end up on a road trip together and discover that it's OK to rely on others for support (and that people will actually be there for you). Also, I love the cover. (This was my "starts with the letter D" choice for Erin's challenge.)




Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner - Rachel and Andy meet as kids and even though they live hundreds of miles apart, their paths continue to cross over the years. There were times when I wanted to throttle these two, but I also understood them in different ways. I wish there had been an epilogue. I felt the ending was a bit abrupt, but overall I enjoyed this one.


Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon - I'm pretty impressed that this is a debut novel. I was pretty sure I knew whodunit but I was still intrigued by the story. Teenage Amy disappeared 15 years ago and was found a few days later beaten and unconscious and has never woken up.  Alex is a journalist with a lot of baggage who becomes obsessed with Amy's story and is determined to find justice for her. I loved this as an audio book; the narrator was very good and although the story is told from different points of view, only Amy's side was read by a different person. For some reason I felt that was important.


What's on your bookshelf?

February Books

Hello, friends! It's time for...

Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart - This book killed three birds with one stone. 1. It was January's book for my IRL book club. 2. I chose it as part of Erin's reading challenge. 3. I just knew I wanted to read it. I really knew nothing about this book except that all the cool kids were reading it so of course I wanted to as well. I didn't know until much later that, while the book is fiction, most of the characters and events really happened, and the the main character, Constance, became the first female sheriff. Highly recommend.


In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware - December's book club book, but I didn't finish it in time and I didn't want anyone to spoil it for me so I didn't go to book club. I mean, we may meet in a bar, but we really do discuss the books, too. There's a murder mystery and it kept me guessing until the end. I didn't totally love it, but it was a good enough read. What I found interesting were some of the reviews on Goodreads in which people went OFF on the main character and I wondered why someone would keep reading while feeling such hatred toward the book.


And then I read The One You Love by Paul Pilkington - I don't think I've ever truly "hate read" a book until this one. Emma's fiance disappears a week before her wedding and the book focuses on her trying to figure out what happened. In getting to the answers, there are lots of twists and turns, and frankly, there are too many. And Emma had so many people completely obsessed with her I thought she was some kind of snake charmer. I finished it because I wanted to know whodunit but it was an annoying ride. This is the first of a trilogy. I won't be reading the next two.


What have you been reading?

Gila's Favorite Books of 2015

It's a bonus "best of" edition of Steph and Jana's Show Us Your Books, in which we highlight our favorite books of 2015. Note that these are books I read in 2015, but that's not necessarily when they were published.

I thought about listing these in some sort of order, but they don't deserve to be ranked; they're all so different. So, in no particular order:


You by Caroline Kepnes - This book is crazy. It takes the reader inside the mind of a stalker/serial killer and somehow makes him likable. (My blog post about this book was in August.)


Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta - A YA novel that is truly a coming-of-age book. I loved the characters and the story. There's a follow up book (focusing on one of the other characters five years later) and I'm planning to read that one in 2016. (Also August)


Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty - 2015 was the year I finally read Liane Moriarty and I read three of her books. I enjoyed all of them, but if I have to choose, this is my favorite. Moriarty does a great job of weaving different stories together and I like to call her books "chick lit with a purpose." (November)


The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - This seemed to be the "It" book in early 2015 and in my opinion, it lived up to the hype. The characters are unlikable but I didn't even care. This really kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat. (May)


The Martian by Andy Weir - This book made the list because I resisted it for months, thinking there was no way I'd like it, and then I was proven wrong. There's a lot of math and science that went right over my head but it didn't even matter. The story itself was gripping and the narrator was sarcastic and funny. (October)


Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult - I've always been a fan of Picoult. Many people talk about how formulaic her books are and that's somewhat true, but it's never turned me off. But this one is a bit different and had a twist that I wasn't prepared for. This book came to me at just the right time and while I know I said I didn't want to rank them, this would probably be my personal number one book of 2015. (June)


Are any of your favorites on this list? What books did you love this year?

Thursday Thoughts

HA! Today I made sure that Steph also did Thursday Thoughts before posting my own.

This week in cat antics: If you follow me on Instagram, you saw this picture from last night

"But Mommm, if you're in the kitchen 

that can only mean it's time for ME to eat!" #idontcookoften

(That cupboard is where the food is kept.)

Then he recruited reinforcements:

Speaking of pets, did you hear about the first litter of in-vitro puppies born at Cornell University? I was baffled by this until I read that it's not about puppies; it's about potentially saving other animal species. Still, if Michael Crichton were alive, he could write some scary book about it a la Jurassic Park. 

Last Sunday at church, our children's choirs presented their annual Christmas musical. Every year I intend to go and don't, but this year I dragged my lazy self out of the house, and I'm so glad I did! The director of children's music, Sally Beske, writes the words and music and this is the 20th year of these original productions. The theme was finding peace, and the lesson was that we all need to allow ourselves time to rest and to play, in order to make peaceful decisions. I can think of quite a few people who could stand to learn that lesson. We all received permission slips with an affirmation on the opposite side (written by the children). This may have been the best Christmas gift! I don't know that video will do it justice, but you can watch it here.

(borrowed from a friend's Facebook post)

I’m refraining from talking politics (at least for today) because I'm trying to keep this post happy, but I do love this meme:

A Trio of Books

I contemplated skipping this month's book post as I only have three books to talk about, but (obviously) I decided to go ahead and do it. Plus, I'm likely to forget these if I wait another month and I certainly won't be writing blog posts ahead of time!

This month Steph and Jana are giving away a $25 Amazon gift card and a $25 donation to Project Night Night, which provides homeless children with a security blanket, a book and a stuffed animal. I'd not heard of this organization, but I absolutely love this idea.


On to the books:


Burning Down George Orwell's House by Andrew Ervin - I read this for my real-life book club. It's about a guy from Chicago who is burnt out on life and work and decides to go off the grid so he travels to Scotland and rents the house in which George Orwell wrote 1984 (this guy is obsessed with 1984).  The book itself was good, but I don't know how great it was for a book club read. There wasn't a lot to talk about. My friend Lisa and I usually walk to book club together and talk nonstop about the books before we even get there, and this time neither of us said anything about it. But it was still entertaining and I gave it 3 stars.


The Truth About Him by Molly O'Keefe - This is the sequel to Everything I Left Unsaid, which I talked about last month. I downloaded this book almost as soon as it was released because of the cliffhanger in the first book. I'm still giving this one 3 stars, but it was kind of all over the place. I couldn't really get on board with the "dangerous situation" this time around.  Still lots of steamy sex, and also more of the standard "he/she deserves better than me," which gets pretty annoying. But Annie and Dylan's story finishes up, and apparently there's going to be a third book which focuses on a couple of minor characters whom we met in the first two books.


The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty (audiobook) - This one gets 4 stars. I listened to the majority of this while driving back and forth to Pennsylvania around Thanksgiving. The road trips themselves didn't get me through the whole book, so I was listening to bits and pieces until last Friday when I couldn't stop listening until it was over. It's not hard to figure out the "secret," and it's revealed fairly early on, so there are parts in the middle that didn't seem necessary, but the ending was quite unexpected. I very much enjoyed the reader; she did a good job of varying her voice for the characters.