Can't Kick It

The general malaise, I mean.  I've just felt run-down and gross all week.  Exercise, extra sleep, extra water, extra fruits/veggies haven't made a difference.  Haven't even had the energy to pick up a book.  My hope is that a weekend of laying around and doing little will give me the boost that I need.  

Resolved

I've decided not to put the pressure on myself this year to read 52 books.  The original intent was to force myself to re-think how I spent my time and wean myself off a TV habit that had slowly developed.  It feels like that has happened, and there are other areas of my life that I want to focus on:  trying new exercise classes, journaling, taking pictures, getting into grad school, and spending time in the yard.  Reading can (and will) be done in addition to all of these things, but I don't want to feel pressure.  If I get into grad school I'm guessing reading for pleasure will have to be set aside, anyway.

My new challenge:  post more pictures that I take, rather than relying on Flickr to illustrate my posts.  

This photo is from our trip--a water lily at the Botanic Gardens in Sydney.

Anticipation

Tonight is the season opener of The Closer, my absolute favorite show.  I don't watch a lot of TV, but for some reason I've become addicted to Brenda Leigh's sassy antics.  I've been looking forward to this night since November!  The bottle of wine is chilling, my friend is making dinner, and I've got the dessert all planned out.  I'm also bringing my gardening catalogues as we may be planning our spring/summer gardening projects during the commercial breaks.  Oohhh...so nerdy!  I love it!  Promises to be a fun evening.

Tennis, Anyone?

Next weekend we will be watching the Australian Open, eating wedges, and drinking sparkling shiraz.  

Collectibles

I started collecting these compote dishes a couple of years ago when I found a set of 3 for $15 in a vintage store in Ft. Morgan. Once I had purchased the first three it seemed like every few months I would find another one at a thrift store or garage sale and my grandmother's collector's spirit would take over and another piece would end up in my china hutch.

After a while I got curious about it and finally did a little research. It turns out there was a whole set of dishes and serving pieces produced by Anchor-Hocking from 1959 to 1976. A quick search on eBay and Etsy will tell you that they're still not valuable at all, but that's made my obsession even worse because they're so affordable. Is it cheating to order them off the internet? I've discovered so many pieces that I've never seen before--and they're so pretty! Just last week I found one of the serving platters at a thrift store and it became part of my collection.

For someone who resolved to simplify her life this year (and reduce the clutter in the house) I'm not off to a good start!

Image found here.

Noodles in Abundance

The Mister went to Costco with my dad and came home with a giant box of Ramen noodle packages. I haven't eaten it since college, so it was a bit of a shock to see it again. Apparently the price was too good and "Costco madness" made him put it in the cart.

Time to do a Google search on "ramen recipes"...

Photos from Flickr

2008 Reading Recap

I read 59 books in 2008. I beat my goal by 7! Here is the list in the order that I read them, with a few exceptions as some of the books were for research on personal topics. My favorites have links to their Amazon page:

In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, Anne Lamott
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
Won't Take Nothing for My Journey Now, Maya Angelou
Lean Mean Thirteen, Janet Evanovich
What You Have Left, Will Allison
Tomorrow, Graham Swift
The Godmother, Carrie Adams
Here If You Need Me, Kate Braestrup
The Last Summer (Of You and Me), Ann Brashares
My Father's War, Lucinda Franks
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her, Melanie Rehak
Bad Luck and Trouble, Lee Childs
Can You Keep A Secret? Sophie Kinsella
The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory
The Mermaid Chair, Sue Monk Kidd
The Promise, Oral Lee Brown
Born Standing Up, Steve Martin
T is for Trespass, Sue Grafton
The Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs
Dead Heat, Dick Francis and Felix Francis
Trip Wire, Lee Childs
Shakespeare, Bill Bryson
Without Fail, Lee Child
Time Bandit, Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand
Mrs. Greenthumbs, Cassandra Danz
Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead, Cassandra Danz
The Violin Maker, John Marchese
Mozart's Sister, Nancy Moser
The Chris Farley Show, Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Colby
Out-Takes From a Marriage, Ann Leary
A Reporter's Life: Peter Jennings, Kate Darriton, etc.
Hate Mail From Cheerleaders, Rick Reilly
The Art of Learning, Josh Waitzkin
City of Fire, Robert Ellis
Stolen Into the Night, Patricia MacDonald
The Ex-Debutante, Linda Francis Lee
Fearless Fourteen, Janet Evanovich
Certain Women, Madeleine L'Engle
Eat, Pray, Love; Elizabeth Gilbert
unChristian, David Kinnaman
Getting Rid of Matthew, Jane Fallon
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
Twilight at Monticello, Alan Pell Crawford
America: The Last, Best Hope; William J. Bennett
Unveiled, Deborah Kanafani
Another Man's Moccasins, Craig Johnson
Redemption, Lee Jackson
Letters to a Young Teacher, Jonathan Kozol
Diary of a Real Estate Rookie, Alison Rogers
Franklin and Lucy, Joseph E. Persico
The Last Qeen, C.W. Gortner
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin

Travel Recap

We had such an amazing time! We arrived in Sydney on 12/19 feeling good and ready to get off the airplane. Most of our time was spent in Sydney visiting the Botanic Gardens, seeing a show at the Opera House, shopping at the Paddington Markets and in the cute boutiques on Oxford Street, taking the ferry to see the Sydney to Hobart boat race, and eating amazing food. We took a side trip our first weekend to the Hunter Valley and went wine tasting and roo-spotting. After an amazing New Year's Eve at the Opera Bar we headed to Tasmania for four days.

I can't recommend Tasmania enough. We hiked to Wineglass Bay, visited penguins, explored the Port Arthur historical site, and sampled more wines. The coastlines are gorgeous and there's so much to see and do.

I've linked to my Flickr photostream here. If you would like to see more pictures, feel free to e-mail me and I'll make you a "friend" on Flickr so you can see all of my photos.

Happy New Year!

I wanted to upload a photo but the computer is bogged down uploading all 902 of my photos to my Flickr stream. We had a fantastic time, simply amazing. I'm not sure what time it is in my head but my body is telling me it's time to go to sleep. Here's to a happy, healthy 2009!