Lucy's Eclectic Literature Club for August

For August, we'll read How Nancy Drew Saved My Life, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted.

In her fourth novel, Baratz-Logsted, author of The Thin Pink Line (2003), offers the charming tale of a literature-loving nanny. At 23, Charlotte Bell has just had her heart broken by the married man she unwisely fell in love with. She decides to take another position, as nanny for the American ambassador in Iceland. Once she takes up residence in the large, creaky house and meets her imperious, forbidding employer, Edgar Rawlings, she can't help but feel like literature's most famous governess, Jane Eyre. But Charlotte turns to Nancy Drew (channeling the girl detective) for help investigating the more puzzling aspects of her situation, such as the silence surrounding Edgar's mysteriously absent wife and the strange laughter she hears coming from behind a closed door. To make matters worse, Charlotte is starting to fall for Edgar, whose engagement to an Icelandic ice queen seems imminent. Readers who appreciate classic love stories will enjoy the old-fashioned dialogue and Charlotte's fanciful imagination.

I think this will be a really fun book for us to read. I just picked it up at the bookstore and it looks great so far.

For September, we'll read Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff.

For fourteen centuries the story of Arthur was a legend, misted over by the tradition of romantic hero-tales. But he was real--a man of towering strength, a dreamer and a warrior--who actually lived, and fought, and died for his impossible dream. The man whom legend calls Arthur of Britain combined the best of Roman civilization with the fierce dedication of his Celtic ancestors. Down through the generations his passionate determination to preserve the values of decency and freedom against the darkness of barbarism has been a clarion call that speaks to the best in humankind.

I got the idea for this one from the fabulous book Book Lust that my friend Kathleen game me. (Thanks, Kathleen! It's wonderful.) It's one of the author's favorite books and I've loved all the other books -- and I've read many -- on the legend of King Arthur. I figure that it's a pretty good bet we might enjoy it.

Your Money and Your Man

It's book club time again! I hope you read Your Money and Your Man so you can join the discussion. It was a pretty easy read, but no competition for Harry Potter.

So, I’m not the biggest fan of non-fiction, but this book came highly recommended, so I made an exception. I think it will need to be a while before I read non-fiction again. I liked the approach, but I didn’t feel like I had some great insights while reading the book. I also don’t think I’m any better prepared for retirement. I thought the advice for women before getting married was good, but it’s too late for me. I’m also not sure that I agree that multiple accounts correlate to a lack of trust.

I also had what I consider a funny experience with the advice. I was reading O magazine’s Suze Ormann column right after finishing the book. Suze recommends having three accounts: one joint and one each individual (with additional savings, investment, etc.). The book recommends only one account. Although I appreciate both points of view, I think that ultimately you have to figure out what works for you. I don’t think you have to read much into either decision. It’s just that different things work for different people.

I would highly recommend the book to someone just starting on their career as there is good basic advice about starting investments, but otherwise, I was underwhelmed. I guess I was looking for more depth. Though, I guess the book helped in that as well. I now know that I should talk to a financial planner and get serious about my investments.

What did you think?

k.d., Lyle, Francine, the Big Band, and Rain

Yesterday, I flew home from Orlando. It was a pretty grueling trip. I got up at 4:30 a.m. to get to my 6:15 flight and got to Seattle at 11:30, which was actually eight hours after leaving Orlando. I decided it would be a good idea to go to the Super Mall in Auburn since we were so close anyway. Of course, it was another 20 minutes south of the airport.

By the time we got home around 2:30, I realized I had already been up over 12 hours. I was tired. I ended up getting a tiny bit of napping in, but not much before we left for the k.d. lang/Lyle Lovett concert at the Chateau Ste Michelle winery in Woodinville.

Did I mention the weather in Seattle this week? It's been raining a bunch. Last night, there was .3 inches of rain. It doesn't seem like much unless you're sitting outside in it. I was going on hardly any sleep and getting soaked while watching a really good concert. I was pruny by the time we decided to leave, which was only about half-way through Lyle Lovett's set. We really enjoyed k.d. lang's set, but I just couldn't sit in the rain any more once the temperature started to drop.

The good news is that I was with the DH and I really like his company. We also met Rick and Cathy there. Rick works with the DH and we have a nice time with them whenever we go anywhere.

Here's to being home again!

Mmm... Tastes Like Chicken

I leave Orlando early tomorrow morning to head back to Seattle. Today, I helped in our booth at the big conference and talked to lots of really nice people and cheered for all of them that won Zune mp3 players. It was pretty fun.

For dinner tonight, we went to a restaurant called Bone Fish. It was really good. We had the apertizer platter that included aligator. It tasted pretty much like chicken, but had the texture more like calimari. It came with horseradish sauce and was really good. I'd eat it again. Although it's already late, I was planning to have an earlier evening than yesterday. It won't be hard though since I stayed up until 2:30. I just kept telling myself it was only 11:30 in Seattle. That was cold comfort at 7:00 a.m. when the alarm went off though. You just don't want to remind yourself that it's 4:00 a.m. in Seattle then.

I'm really looking forward to being home again tomorrow.

Orlando

So, I'm in Orlando for the big convention. I guess there are only 15,000 employees here. I was exaggerating before. When I arrived on Wednesday, I was pretty tired. I'd been traveling for eight hours and didn't get lunch at all. My layover was supposed to be an hour, but ended up being 20 minutes with no time to get lunch. I flew NorthWest and they had NO food at all on the flight. I didn't have much fun at all.

When I got to Orlando, I got a cab to my hotel and watched a big thunderstorm start to brew on my way to the hotel. I checked in and got a room on the 26th (top) floor. it was perfect for watching the electrical storm that came through. The sky was black and the lightening looked so cool from that vantage point. It was probably the best part of my day. I had dinner with my co-workers at the convention welcome reception and went to bed too late.

Today, I spent the day watching demos of cool new software and listening to pep talks about selling the cool new software. It was pretty interesting, but 8-6:30 sitting in one spot pretty much the whole time. I could have used a few more breaks. For dinner, we went to Epcot center and ate at the Norway lounge. After dinner we watched the fireworks. They were the same as last year, but last year we got to stay and ride the rides. This year, we had to leave right after the fireworks. Bummer.

Now I've stayed up way too late, so I'm sure to be dragging tomorrow. Dang. I've had a really nice time with my co-workers though (which is why I've stayed up too late) and visiting with my old friend Blake. He seems to be doing well. It's really great to catch up. More later!

Stuff and Stuff

So, it's been too long since I blogged. Work has been crazy busy and so has life. There are a few things that must be blogged, however.

1. If you're reading along on Your Money and Your Man and you're married, then just skip to chapter 13. If you're single, go ahead and read all those chapters, but the married folk won't learn anything that isn't too late to hear. We'll discuss on the 1st of August.


2. The DH and I saw Carmina Burana (after a fabulous dinner with Sam and Maile at the Brooklyn -- YUM!) at Benaroya Hall on Saturday. It was one of the most fabulous evenings of music I've had in a long while. Simply splendid. If you're not familiar with the music, watch this YouTUBE video.


3. The symphony came after a whirlwind trip to Portand. We left on Friday at 3:00 and it took us five hours to drive the 180 miles down. We ate at the wonderful Dan and Louis Oyster Bar. It's 100 years old and the food was great. On Saturday, we went to the DH's company picnic. He got his 10-year service award and lost the horseshoe tournament. We then tore back to Seattle in the afternoon to make our evening engagement.


4. The previous weekend, we went to see Alyson Kraus at Marymoor Park. The venue was nice and the music was great. We are seeing a lot of really good live music this summer. I think I like it.


5. My birthday really ended up being great. I had a wonderful time with all the friends that made it to my party. One of the best things was that people even helped clean up, so when everyone left, I just relaxed and then went to bed. Here's a shout out to all my cool friends!


6. Last night I got an invitation to speak in church. I hate speaking in church. I really mean it. My dad will be getting a call to help me. He's really good at this kind of thing.


7. I have a lot of good friends who are dealing with really hard things. It makes me sad and I've had a hard time blogging because I want to write about those things, but they're mostly too personal and also a bit of a downer. I really prefer blogging (and dwelling) on more positive things.


8. I'm going to Orlando this week for a huge conference for work. The Company basically brings in all the people from the field worldwide for this broughaha (yes, that's the correct spelling) which gets about 35,000 people in one place. It will be exhausting. I will get to go to Epcot for the fireworks display one evening and see my good friend Blake who lives in Singapore now. I'm looking forward to those two things.


9. I'm mostly looking forward to coming home on Saturday.

That's enough for now.

Independence Day!

I love Independence Day, and not just because it’s my birthday. I think this is a pretty great country, in spite of some of the really stupid things Americans do. I don’t like politics, but I love the premise of our political machine. We are so blessed to live in a country where we have so many of our freedoms protected. Let’s hear it for America!

It’s also a really great day today. It started with breakfast at Mae’s Phinney Ridge Café. That place is YUMMERS! I got the baby size smoked salmon omelet and couldn’t finish it. It’s not huge like Beth’s Café, but still big. I made my own birthday cake, because I like it the way I like it and I’m not trusting anyone else with it today.

More fun to come!

What Was Your Name?

Today is a red letter day. I finally updated my Alaska frequent flyer account to include my married name. It's been only twenty-two and a half months since I got married and changed my name, so it really didn't take long at all. Now, the only thing with my maiden name on it is my passport. It expires in November anyway, so I'll have to get it updated then.

Last time I flew to Boise, I got the lecture about having my legal name on my boarding pass. Fortunately, the agent wasn't in too bad a mood and let me keep the boarding pass. However, with air traffic as it is, I didn't want to press my luck any more.

Here's to getting that one last detail of the name change taken care of!

Lucy's Eclectic Literature Club for July

For the month of July, we'll be reading Your Money and Your Man, by Michelle Singletary.

Here at last is the lowdown on how to manage your finances with the man in your life. Money is the #1 problem couples fight about, says beloved Washington Post financial columnist Michelle Singletary. Acknowledging that most fights about money are usually about something else-like feelings of fear or resentment-Singletary stresses the value of open dialogue. In her trademark no-holds-barred style, she shows us how to handle the entire range of financial issues couples face-from splitting the dinner bill when dating to planning for retirement together after years of marriage.

For August, we'll get into some easy Summer reading with How Nancy Drew Saved My Life, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted.

In her fourth novel, Baratz-Logsted, author of The Thin Pink Line (2003), offers the charming tale of a literature-loving nanny. At 23, Charlotte Bell has just had her heart broken by the married man she unwisely fell in love with. She decides to take another position, as nanny for the American ambassador in Iceland. Once she takes up residence in the large, creaky house and meets her imperious, forbidding employer, Edgar Rawlings, she can't help but feel like literature's most famous governess, Jane Eyre. But Charlotte turns to Nancy Drew (channeling the girl detective) for help investigating the more puzzling aspects of her situation, such as the silence surrounding Edgar's mysteriously absent wife and the strange laughter she hears coming from behind a closed door. To make matters worse, Charlotte is starting to fall for Edgar, whose engagement to an Icelandic ice queen seems imminent. Readers who appreciate classic love stories will enjoy the old-fashioned dialogue and Charlotte's fanciful imagination.

I think they'll both be interesting and fun, so I'm off to the back yard to get some reading in.

June Book Club Discussion -- The Painted Veil

I finished reading The Painted Veil and felt a little let down. My main disappointment is that I never could feel any emotion for Kitty. She is shallow and lacking in morals. Her philosophical journey is about half a mile from not caring for anyone but herself to believing she can raise her own daughter differently. I found her quite unsympathetic and, although her husband should have been a more sympathetic character, I never found him any more compelling. I love Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge, but found his detachment from the characters in The Painted Veil to deter me from finding the connection I was hoping for.

I did find one passage that stood out to me as profound. After watching the nun’s work and trying to understand what brings meaning to their lives, Kitty discusses their lives with Waddington. She wonders what happens if they’re wrong about a reward in the next life. Waddington’s response is beautiful:

I wonder. I wonder if it matters that what they have aimed at is illusion. Their lives are in themselves beautiful. I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.

Kitty is still young when the book ends, but hers will never be a beautiful life. She just can’t seem to figure it out. She is surrounded by people who can’t connect and really don’t even know what it is to truly love another person. I closed the book simply feeling sorry for the characters in the book.

I’m so blessed with relationships that bring so much beauty to my life that I can’t even imagine the empty life described in this book. It did leave me thinking how grateful I am to have loving parents that I enjoy returning to and who seem to enjoy me as well. I have a husband who loves me and I love him. That relationship brings more meaning to my live. And I have many more relationships with people I love and who love me.

What did you think about the book?