Radvent 12/14: Reading

_______________________________________________________

A DAY CAN SHIFT INTO A PROFOUND PLACE BY THE READING OF A

single perfect sentence, AT THE PERFECT TIME.  - SARK

_______________________________________________________

A quick snapshot of my favorite books:

Mrs. Mike

The Girls Guide to Hunting & Fishing

Sense & Sensibility

Eat, Pray, Love

Pride & Prejudice

I began "reading" when I was three years old. I use reading in the loosest of terms because I really had no idea what the letters on the pages meant. All I knew was that when my mom read the book, she would say certain words and certain times. I watched when she turned her head. I noticed when she turned the page. I heard the stories over and over until my baby brain, like a dry sponge, started soaking up all the things she was saying.

By the time I was three, you could pull any of my Little Golden Books off my bookshelf, and I could "read" to you, reciting the same words my mom said, shifting my eyes at the proper time and making sure to turn the page when we were supposed to move on to the next set. I was the coolest party trick on legs when it came to my parents' friends. While I don't remember the experience of fooling every last one of my parents' friends, I hear it was a riotous good time. I'll have to take their word on it. I was a little too engrossed in "The Poky Little Puppy" to notice.

I officially learned to read when I was in kindergarten. While the rest of the class was holed up with the other students in our grade for recess or a movie special, I would spend time with Mrs. Roth reading books in an empty classroom with one or two other students who were also learning to read. It was so exciting to put the letters and sounds we learned in class to use. Growing up in a house where PBS was a staple, I adored The Letter People and Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. To see and hear all those pieces of words and sounds and literature come together into a story that I was reading on my own? It was amazing. I can't think of a better gift than learning how to read. 

It was the early onset of nerdom.

It's a good thing that I'm at peace with my nerdiness. I embrace it. I found a kindred nerd spirit in my husband. Without our nerd link, I think I might be lost.

I have learned to so much through my reading. Whether textbooks for school or nonfiction for personal interest, I have never been let down by a book. Sure, there have been those books along the way that gave me pause mostly because of how poorly they were written, but I can usually always find something redeeming about a book. It may only be the dust jacket that I enjoy, but I'll enjoy something. There's just something about a book that makes my heart happy.

Last night, as I was sitting on the couch with Shannon, we started discussing traditions that we'd like to share with our children (when we have them). His suggestion? Reading them 'Twas the Night Before Christmas each year on Christmas Eve. Talk about a moment to make a woman mushy. Not only was he talking about babies we haven't yet had, he was talking about reading to them. Who does that?

I have to admit that I agreed it was a great idea. I must now rush out and buy a copy (or three) of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. I'd hate to be unable to find it when it matters most.

Today's Nerd Moment Sponsored by the Letter "G"

I'm a big Gleek.

Of all the episodes I've just been ridiculously giddy about in the last few weeks, I really liked the "Furt"episode. It was another character-centric episode instead of the gimmicky, "special guest star" episodes that were a bit of a trademark early in the season. I was glad for the change back. It was needed.

I also seriously (HEART) Bruno Mars's song "Marry You." Given that I'm a recent newlywed, I'm still in that blissful stage. Well, somewhat blissful. Shannon and I lived together well before we were married. As far as that changing, not much has. Sure, we're legally required to come home to one another at some point. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same as it was before. And I mean that in a good way, I promise.

Gleek on!

'Tis the Season

I'm going Christmas shopping.

For myself.

I think today, after all that I've been through (three individual 1-hour long meetings), that I deserve to treat myself to some window shopping and the possible purchase of a new winter coat at DOTS where all things are cheap.

I'm also in love with this cardigan even though I have enough cardigans to cardigan an entire family of ten. I'm wearing one now as a matter of fact. What girl can't use an extra cardigan, though? I mean, they're so versatile and multi-seasonal and age appropriate once you hit 30.

And festive? Yes. I also think they are festive.

A Homecoming of Sorts

I took a bit of a hiatus from Blogger for a few months.

It was intentional as I was starting a new blog, a new format, a new way of working within the digital writing world. You see, I wanted to focus exclusively on food since it's my passion and my stress reliever. I cook to release tension, go figure. Stress eating? Sometimes. Stress baking? Always. It's a good thing I like to give things away. Otherwise, the holidays would be even more of a nightmare. The point is, I thought it would be good to start things fresh in a new format.

What I realized is that I can't just write about food.

Of course, I enjoy writing about food and posting recipes for folks to explore. I like taking pictures of gooey cakes and sloppy kitchen counters. But, at the end of the day, I like a million things. I like the way the sun falls across couch in my living room. I like the way our new orange kitten purrs. I like daydreaming about painting the walls in a house I won't live in temporarily. All of these things are things I like and that I like to talk about.

I also like talking about the simple happiness in my life. I like talking about my husband. I like talking about our dog. I like talking about the Star Wars puzzle set I bought in the shiny collectors tin for $6 at Target. 

Frankly, I like to talk. I also like to write as if I'm talking. It's kind of what I do.

There are days when I don't want to write about what I made for dinner the night before because it really wasn't so good. There are days I'd rather write about how I met Maya Angelou and she was fabulous. Or maybe I'd like to write about how the wind was whipping my hair into my face when I was putting up Christmas lights and boy do I hate that because I said I would chop it all off post-wedding, but I still haven't done it.

So the idea of a food blog? Good. The productivity of said food blog? Not so good.

Which brings me back here to another incarnation of what I've already started. I'm going to do my best to pull some of those lovely posts and bring them here. Archive them. Share them. All the while, I'm going to be restarting what I should have just kept doing before. I'm going to write about my life - food, husband, work (in ambiguous ways that do not expose me for my day job), flyaway hair. All of it.

I called my food blog endeavor "A Little Something Sweet." I'm keeping that name here. Why? Because life is sweet. This is my little piece of sweetness, and I'd like to write about it, cupcakes to comb overs. Ponder that one for a while, will you?

Nothing to Do

I am in the midst of a full-blown ode to the awesomeness of finishing all of your household chores in one day. Today, I quite literally get to spend the entire day sitting on my couch and watching movies. The entire day.

I have not done this since....well, probably since the summer. Granted, this is my first week of vacation in what will be four weeks of vacation in the span of two months, but I'm wise enough to know that I won't be spending all that much time lazing around the house. The holidays are fast approaching, and it's a truth universally acknowledged in out household that the next four weekends are already booked solid by friends and family. To say that today is a brief respite in the middle of weeks and weeks of crazy is an understatement.

With all of that being said, I still want to fire up my mixer and make some cookies. I'm shaking my head at my own inability to fully enjoy a day on the couch without wondering what I could be doing if I wasn't busy doing nothing. In honor of this bit of ridiculous workaholism, I have made a list of things I could be doing at this very moment.

1. Discussing the latest Harry Potter film with my sister who lives in California
2. Making whoopie pies for my husband
3. Folding the piles of laundry that have accumulated in my basement
4. Surfing the interwebs
5. Compiling a Christmas list (which has already been requested by four people in my family and it's not even Thanksgiving)
6. Making a batch of seitan as we have gone back to being lacto-ovo vegetarians
7. Sealing the windows for the winter
8. Unpacking and sorting through my Christmas decorations
9. Attempting to find a location for the rice cooker, glass set, and KitchenAid Ice Cream attachment we received as wedding gifts
10. Sweeping because in a house with three pets and  no carpet, you have to sweep every day

Of course, I won't be doing any of these things today. Well, almost any of them. I might make some cookies, though. And while they're baking I'll sit happily on the couch reading my People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive issue while praying that the Green Lantern doesn't totally suck for Ryan Reynolds.

Beautiful You

I may be a bit late to the rodeo when it comes to this blog, but I wanted to share it nonetheless.

As a gal who works diligently to redefine her view of herself, I feel there's a valuable message to all women on Operation Beautiful's website. With that in mind, I might need to start spreading some love via Post-It note myself.

Check it out: http://operationbeautiful.com/

Happy Monday.

Business, Business, Business

My wedding took place more than a week ago, and yet I have still been off the radar. Sometimes I ask myself if I'm ever really on the radar. But that's neither here nor there, really.

The reality is that despite our ceremony being in the past, our reception is very much in the future. As is a week of programming at my place of employment followed by five days out-of-state for a conference. Both of those two items are ahead of said reception. The reality is that I'm lucky to have a spare minute to breathe, let alone blog. And I miss it.

The blogging. Not the breathing because I'm still putting in a good effort to maintain that portion of my day in healthy fashion.

To attempt to appease the blog gods, and, more likely, myself, I'm posting briefly today. I'm sharing a picture from my wedding day. The one picture anyone has seen thus far.



Enjoy and know that I will be back sometime soon. Hopefully sooner than later. Hopefully with a fresh outlook on blogging and something important in my pocket to share.

A Good Read

As I've stated numerous times before, I love to read about food. My obsession with cookbooks is a clear indication of how much I enjoy reading about food. I can (and will) spend hours in the cooking section of any bookstore leafing through pages of various cookbooks.

I find it comforting. It's like comfort food for your intellectual side.

Apparently, I also like reading about regrettable foods. Shannon picked up some cooking-related books for me during his most recent trip to the public library, and I nearly laughed out loud when I saw this one.


I might have been a bit hopeful that the recipes would be published with the photos of tabletop carnage. Alas, I was ultimately disappointed. It's a good thing the clever captions made up for the lack of recipes, then. I found the whole book just delightful from cover to cover.

There's something joyous in reliving the cooking nightmares of years past while simultaneously thanking your lucky stars that your mom never attempted to serve salmon pate. Although, my mom did often make "Beef Biscuit Roll."

Ask me about how that turned out sometime...