The Storyteller

  The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

I do not usually write book reviews on this blog, but this book was too spectacular to not mention on here.  I happened to see this book publicized on my goodreads and then I found it on the new bookshelf the last time that I went to the library.  The storyline on the inside cover sounded intriguing enough, so I decided to give it a try.

This book follows a young woman, Sage Singer, who is a baker at a local bakery.  She has lost both her father and her mother and attends grief counseling weekly.  One week she meets an elderly man Josef Weber who becomes her friend.  Their friendship is stretched to its breaking point when Josef makes a request of Sage that will haunt her.  Sage must decide whether or not she will let her past dictate her future.

This is a gripping, honest story told exceptionally well.  This story blew me away.  It was captivating and emotional.  There are parts of this story told about the Holocaust, which means that there is some difficult content.  But it is necessary for the character to hear the story and to help make her decision.

This was a wonderful book and I highly recommend it.  Even to you Dad.  I know you don’t like fiction, but this one is worth it.  If you find yourself with some extra time over your holiday, try to find this book.  I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

10 things I have in my purse that are absolutely necessary

My purse is way to big and most of the time it hurts my arm to carry.  But there are certain things I just have to have in my purse.  These are the things that I never leave home without them in my purse.

1. My Keys
2. A Book
3. My Planner
4. Chapstick
5. At least 3 pens (gotta have a backup)
6. EpiPen and Benadryl
7. Ibuprofen
8. Wallet
9. Flashdrive
10. IPod

What can you not leave the house without?

When I Relax

When I relax, I am either laying on the couch or am snuggled into the middle of the couch where the cushions sag into a snuggly hole.  I am wrapped in our warm, soft red blanket.  There is a big red bowl of freshly popped and perfectly salted popcorn.  And I am either reading a great book, playing cards with Adam, or watching a movie.  For me that is the epitome of relaxation.  What can I say? I’m pretty low maintenance.

Fun Filled Film Friday

We are twelve days into April and so far my film watching has been pitiful.  That probably has to do with a) being out of town for five days and b) being very busy.  The first movie I watched this month I watched on Monday with my sister.  We watched Melinda and Melinda, which was a Woody Allen movie that I really enjoyed.

Because I felt so pitiful with my movie watching lately, and really I just wanted to watch some movies, I watched three on Friday night.  Yes, it was awesome.

First, Adam and I got Hitchcock from the Redbox.  We had really hoped to be able to see it in theaters, but it never came to a theater near us.  This movie was fantastic!  We really enjoyed it.  It is all about Hitchcock making Psycho.  It is important because he had to fund it himself because everyone thought it would be awful.  Hitchcock was a genius when he made Psycho.  His directing and his marketing of the film was spectacular!  I read the book that the film was based on and it was great as well.  I was really happy with this film version of the book.  I thought it was great!  I highly, highly recommend this movie, especially if you love the genius of Hitchcock as much as I do!

The next two movies I watched by myself while Adam was playing a game with his friends.  The first was Red Dawn.  For those of you who don’t know, it is a recent remake of a 1984 film starring Patrick Swayze.  This remake has Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, and Josh Hutcherson (and my uncle was a location manager on the film).  I was not sure if I was going to like this movie, but I wanted to see it for two reason 1) because my uncle worked on it and 2) and I love all of these actors, and a bonus reason–I wanted to see if Josh Peck could pull of an action/drama role.  And I would say he did!  I actually really enjoyed this movie.  It was faced paced and full of good action.  I kinda want to see the original now.

The last movie of the night was Around the World in 80 Days.  It was one of the last three (!) best picture movies that I had to watch (yes, I only have two more now!).  I had seen the remake with Jackie Chan a few years back, so I knew the story ahead of time.  But this version was much better.  This movie was not a favorite of all the ones I have watched, but I still found it entertaining.  and it had a lot of good music.

It’s good that I got to watch three movies on Friday night because I’m going to be out of town until Wendesday and won’t get to watch any until I get home.  I have my eye on a few more at the Redbox, and Adam and I are going to go see 42 when I get back next week (so excited!)

Have you watched any good movies lately?
Is there a movie in the theater you are dying to see?

Break your tech addiction–Measure your VMI

 

All of the conference details, the ones you care about, and the ones you don’t—Part 4
Saturday

Saturday morning started with the final plenary, “The Digital Diet: the four-step plan to break your tech addiction.”  The title of the plenary is also the title of a book written by the speaker, Daniel Sieberg.  Daniel is a tech expert for Google.  His talk was very interesting, and his book is now on my list to read.  One really interesting thing that he talked about that I wanted to share with you is a VWI index.  A Virtual Weight Index, which is basically how much your body is weighed down by technology.

His formula can be found here or you can do it with me now:

For every…

Smart phone you own, add 3 points

Social Network you use, add 4 points

Laptop you own, add 1 point

Tablet or iPad like device you own, add 2 points

E-mail account you use, add 2 points

Cell phone texting service you use, add 5 points

Online role-playing game log-in you use, add 7 points

Desktop computer you own, add 1 point

E-book reader you have, add 1 point

Digital camera you have, add 1 point

Additional gadget you own that requires a charger but doesn’t fall into any of these categories, add 1 pt

Blog you write or comment on, add 2 points

 

Here’s my VWI

No smart phone—0

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, Google+–16

One Dell Laptop—1

No tablet device—0

Personal email, blog email, work email—6

No texting service—0

No online role playing game—0

No desktop computer—0

One Kindle—1

Two digital cameras—2

No additional gadget—0

Write two blogs, consistently comment on 2 blogs—8

 

My Virtual Weight Index—34

What’s your VMI?

 

After the plenary the schedule was workshop, lunch, workshop.  Unfortunately, both workshops were meh and I didn’t learn anything (the first time all week, and I was extra disappointed since it was the last day) and I had Taco Bell for lunch.  It was a very unexciting, uneventful afternoon.  But since I enjoyed the morning Plenary so much I guess it worked out.

Tune in next time for the last and final part of this epic mini-blog-series.  It will be about my favorite part of the week!

So glad to finally be done

I finally finished reading Anna Karenina.  It had been one of my goals for this year.  I had seen the preview for the new movie and decided (stupidly) that I would read the book, not knowing how long it was.  And boy was it a mistake.  This book is so long and honestly I was bored out of my mind!  Phew, I am so glad I am finally done.  If I had not made it a goal to read it, I would have quit a loonnnggg time ago.

Inspiration

I am currently reading “Julie and Julia.”  Some of you might remember seeing the movie a few years ago with Amy Adams and Meryl Streep.  That movie and my newfound love of cooking inspired me to read the book.  I am only a few chapters in but I really love it!  It is such a fun story to read.  If someone hadn’t already done it, I would be tempted to do this exact same thing!  Maybe one day I will cook my way through a cookbook.  However, I can’t help but think of the problems that could arise by my doing this.

1-not being able to cook all the recipes because of food allergies

2-spending hours hunting for strange ingredients

3-having the money to buy ingredients for all of the homemade meals

4-cooking something I don’t like

We’ll see if it ever happens, but I am definitely inspired to do something like this.  I love trying out new recipes.  Maybe one month I will try out a “new recipe month.”  Well, on the other hand, with our food budget, it might have to be “new recipe week.”

I’m curious, have you ever read a book that inspired you to do something?

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Last week I bought a box of popcorn (my favorite treat) and there were two codes for free redbox rentals.  So last night I rented Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter because it has been on my “to watch list” forever now.

Almost a year ago I read the book written by Seth Grahame-Smith and I absolutely loved it.  Ever since then I have been waiting to see the movie.  I didn’t get to go see it in theatre and every time I have gone to check it out it isn’t there.  And last night I went to two redbox machines until I found it.

I really enjoyed the movie for it’s action and fight scenes, but I enjoyed the book for its more extensive plot.

It was a fun telling of Abraham Lincoln’s history.  I really thought it was a fun story and really enjoyed it.  Also, the actor they got to play Lincoln is perfect.

So glad I finally got to check this movie off of my list.

 

And since it has been snowing this weekend, I have watched:  The Dark Knight, lots of Big Bang Theory, The Dark Knight Rises, and Pitch Perfect, again.  And who knows what tomorrow will hold.

Coming soon:  my weekend craft fail!