OK... so the three things in my blog title aren't all a part of one great story I'm going to share... but they could be!
Just over a week ago I was at the Maryland Library Association conference in Ocean City and had a great time! I got to room with an old friend and a new one, caught up with some fantastically fun librarians from around the state, ate some great food and learned a thing or two along the way! There's something really cool about coming together with peers, sharing ideas and having a common desire to better libraries for our communities... and also, I don't know if you've noticed but librarians aren't stereotypically boring but actually quite a bit of fun to hang out with.
Along the way we ate at some tasty restaurants and one that I would HIGHLY recommend is Liquid Assets. It appears to be a liquor store/bar at first glance but they also serve some amazingly delicious food. I had the deluxe grilled cheese (spectacular) and shared and order of their donuts for dessert... the glaze was out of this world.
After spending time away from home for a few days last week...this weekend was all about some quality time with my husband and a plethora of 80's rock bands. We went to the M3 Festival on Friday and Saturday and rocked it out with Firehouse, Lita Ford, and Whitesnake. You can tell by the link that there were lots of other bands there but in my opinion those are the three most worth mentioning. By the way... I think that if you are going to tour again 20 years later and were once known as a "hair band" that you should still have long crazy hair... or fake it (Firehouse - I'm talking to you!) It just wasn't the same experience watching a few of the bands with shorter manes... just saying. Props go to Lita Ford and Whitesnake for keeping the long locks in great shape! In between the bands I had a great time people watching...people wear, say and do pretty silly things at rock concerts and I never got tired of just sitting back and taking it all in.
Unfortunately I don't have much to report on my 101 things to do list... I accomplished some things (I ordered fish a few more times in restaurants and knocked that off the list and went to a few more classes at the gym) but nothing earth shattering or terribly exciting. I'll get back to it this week... I hope to get to the gym a few times, get some outdoor running in, and hopefully squeeze in a trip to a state park with my happy hound.
daffodils
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
The Cruising Life... Ahhhhhhh
A few thoughts from vacation:
1. I could probably live on a cruise ship... you know if it weren't so expensive and I didn't have to work for a living.
2. Being "off the grid" for a week was actually a pretty liberating experience. Don't get me wrong... I'm not giving up my gadgets and social networking addiction but I thought I would feel disconnected and antsy to get online but that wasn't the case at all.
3. I wish my bed in my house would rock me to sleep at night the way the ship did.
But alas - now I'm back at home, and back to work, and my bed doesn't rock me to sleep... but that does mean I am back online (yay!) and can publicly take stock of where I'm at with goals and with my 101 things list.
First off -- I had 3 goals in my last general (non book review) blog entry: clean out my car, attend a centergy class at the gym, and read a book. I'm excited to say I accomplished all three! In fact I read 3 books so check out my blog entries about them.
As far as the 101 things list goes (you can see the list - link on the right side of the screen) here is what I accomplished:
29. Order fish in a restaurant 5 times - I checked off one more time after having a dish with both Halibut and Salmon while out with the inlaws last night. It was a surprise dinner out - they were at my house when I got home from work... apparently my husband scheduled the dinner with them about a week ago and forgot to tell me... not surprisingly my house was not clean... oh well.
38. Take Centery class at the gym at least 3 times- 1 down - 2 to go. I will probably continue on even after 3... I really enjoyed the class but the yoga/pilates fusion is much more difficult than I expected...I learn exactly how flexible I am not!
86. Go on a Cruise - Bermuda was beautiful by the way and the people were SOO friendly.
96. Do not check work email from home. What a lovely thing! I like to be informed even when not at work... but when I'm on vacation or off for a few days I ALWAYS regret checking work email...not having internet for a week was fabulous in this way.
104. Travel outside the country ... and I'm already contemplating the next use of my passport ... The Lake District of England is calling my name!
All in all I've been pretty productive in my relaxation activities and since I've been home (a week now) I've even managed to move forward with some general goals... I was at the gym twice last week and ran 3 times... which unfortunately was entirely necessary after eating cruise food for a week... maybe living on a cruise ship is not such a great idea... at least not unless I get very well acquainted with the gym and the jogging track on the top deck.
Goals for this week: finish the biography I'm reading, run at least twice and get to the gym once. I'm going easy on myself because my week is full of out of town meetings.
1. I could probably live on a cruise ship... you know if it weren't so expensive and I didn't have to work for a living.
2. Being "off the grid" for a week was actually a pretty liberating experience. Don't get me wrong... I'm not giving up my gadgets and social networking addiction but I thought I would feel disconnected and antsy to get online but that wasn't the case at all.
3. I wish my bed in my house would rock me to sleep at night the way the ship did.
But alas - now I'm back at home, and back to work, and my bed doesn't rock me to sleep... but that does mean I am back online (yay!) and can publicly take stock of where I'm at with goals and with my 101 things list.
First off -- I had 3 goals in my last general (non book review) blog entry: clean out my car, attend a centergy class at the gym, and read a book. I'm excited to say I accomplished all three! In fact I read 3 books so check out my blog entries about them.
As far as the 101 things list goes (you can see the list - link on the right side of the screen) here is what I accomplished:
29. Order fish in a restaurant 5 times - I checked off one more time after having a dish with both Halibut and Salmon while out with the inlaws last night. It was a surprise dinner out - they were at my house when I got home from work... apparently my husband scheduled the dinner with them about a week ago and forgot to tell me... not surprisingly my house was not clean... oh well.
38. Take Centery class at the gym at least 3 times- 1 down - 2 to go. I will probably continue on even after 3... I really enjoyed the class but the yoga/pilates fusion is much more difficult than I expected...I learn exactly how flexible I am not!
86. Go on a Cruise - Bermuda was beautiful by the way and the people were SOO friendly.
96. Do not check work email from home. What a lovely thing! I like to be informed even when not at work... but when I'm on vacation or off for a few days I ALWAYS regret checking work email...not having internet for a week was fabulous in this way.
104. Travel outside the country ... and I'm already contemplating the next use of my passport ... The Lake District of England is calling my name!
All in all I've been pretty productive in my relaxation activities and since I've been home (a week now) I've even managed to move forward with some general goals... I was at the gym twice last week and ran 3 times... which unfortunately was entirely necessary after eating cruise food for a week... maybe living on a cruise ship is not such a great idea... at least not unless I get very well acquainted with the gym and the jogging track on the top deck.
Goals for this week: finish the biography I'm reading, run at least twice and get to the gym once. I'm going easy on myself because my week is full of out of town meetings.
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
The second book I read on vacation was The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. I loved this book. I haven't felt this way about a book since the first time I read Looking For Alaska by John Green. If you know me at all and are aware of my complete devotion to that book and its author you realize this is a big deal.
The Sky is Everywhere is a beautifully written first novel (in both poetry and prose). It's main character, Lennie, is working through the grief of the sudden death of her older sister. Lennie is far from perfect and she managed to earn my sympathy, anger, and joy throughout the novel. The exploration of grief in my opinion is so well done and realistically portrays a girl going through many stages of grieving and of living. I won't lie... I certainly had moments of tears while reading this book but I also had moments where I caught myself smiling or even laughing out loud. The characters (all of them, not just Lennie) make this book and I felt like I knew each of them personally by the end.
This is definitely a book I can see myself revisiting and that I would highly recommend to anyone who will listen. When it was over I just wanted to hold it in my arms and stay with the characters for a while....
The Sky is Everywhere is a beautifully written first novel (in both poetry and prose). It's main character, Lennie, is working through the grief of the sudden death of her older sister. Lennie is far from perfect and she managed to earn my sympathy, anger, and joy throughout the novel. The exploration of grief in my opinion is so well done and realistically portrays a girl going through many stages of grieving and of living. I won't lie... I certainly had moments of tears while reading this book but I also had moments where I caught myself smiling or even laughing out loud. The characters (all of them, not just Lennie) make this book and I felt like I knew each of them personally by the end.
This is definitely a book I can see myself revisiting and that I would highly recommend to anyone who will listen. When it was over I just wanted to hold it in my arms and stay with the characters for a while....
Vacation Books...Insatiable by Meg Cabot
One of my favorite spots on the cruise ship was a comfy chair next to a big window:
I was able to use some of the free time while at sea to catch up on some reading and finished two books.
The first one I read was Insatiable by Meg Cabot. The quick synopsis is that Meena Harper is a young single writer (for a soap opera) and has the "gift" of being able to see how people will die (not so much fun). The powers that be at her TV show want to take the show in a new direction with a storyline about vampires... surprise.... at this point some real vampires make their way into the storyline of the book. Meena of course falls in love with the leader of all of the vampires and much action/romance/melodrama ensues. With murdered girls being found in the city --- vampire hunters enter the plot and a sort of battle moves the story forward. I actually would have like to see more exploration of the relationship between Meena and Alaric (vampire hunter). This was a good book to read on vacation... it was fast paced and I generally like Meg Cabot's writing. In the end though I didn't love the characters (which I usually do with Cabot books) and in turn didn't love the book. If you want to read a Meg Cabot book with supernatural aspects I would recommend the Mediator Series which I really enjoyed (it's a teen series but I read it as an adult).
The first one I read was Insatiable by Meg Cabot. The quick synopsis is that Meena Harper is a young single writer (for a soap opera) and has the "gift" of being able to see how people will die (not so much fun). The powers that be at her TV show want to take the show in a new direction with a storyline about vampires... surprise.... at this point some real vampires make their way into the storyline of the book. Meena of course falls in love with the leader of all of the vampires and much action/romance/melodrama ensues. With murdered girls being found in the city --- vampire hunters enter the plot and a sort of battle moves the story forward. I actually would have like to see more exploration of the relationship between Meena and Alaric (vampire hunter). This was a good book to read on vacation... it was fast paced and I generally like Meg Cabot's writing. In the end though I didn't love the characters (which I usually do with Cabot books) and in turn didn't love the book. If you want to read a Meg Cabot book with supernatural aspects I would recommend the Mediator Series which I really enjoyed (it's a teen series but I read it as an adult).
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