Tuesday, January 19, 2010

It's a rough life, baby!

It's 10:00 am. Allie and Roy both have full bellies from breakfast. I took Roy for a long walk. He got filthy from the melting snow, requiring a warm bath. Now, they are both snuggled down for the morning, Allie in her favorite chair and Roy on his dog bed. I got Allie before I was married to Chris. She is an old lady. She is spending more and more time in her chair. Often I pause to make sure she is still breathing. They are so sweet when they are sleeping.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Love to read, baby!

There is a really cool bookstore, Rainy Day Books in Fairway that hosts a lot of authors throughout the year. If you buy a book from Rainy Day Books written by the featured author you get 2 free tickets to hear the author speak and sign your book. Last week I went to see Jeannette Walls who wrote The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses. The Glass Castle is about Jeanette's childhood. She came from an extremely disfunctional family. Her father was an alcoholic and her mother... I can't even describe her mother, you just need to read the book if you haven't already. Jeanette really had it rough as a child but blossemed into a kind and beautiful human being, extremely forgiving, fantastic author and excellent speaker. What she went through is depressing but the way she tells the story, it is more uplifting than depressing. I love books that make you think and The Glass Castle did just that.

She also wrote Half Broke Horses. EXCELLENT BOOK! It is a real life novel about her grandmother who was born on a ranch in Arizona in the early 1900s. She was a character!
She road 500 miles ALL BY HERSELF at the age of 15 to her first job as a school teacher. It made me think of my grandmother, Nina who also was a character and taught in a one room schoolhouse. Got me thinking I definitly need to document our family history and possibly even try to write a real life novel of Nina's life or parts of her life.

Right now I'm reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I get to meet her next Wednesday, thanks to Rainy Day Books. Gretchen researched theories on happiness and applied it to her life for a year. It is a great book to read at the beginning of the year for help with setting New Year resolutions. Lots of good info and a fun read.

I loved Eat, Pray Love so I've started reading Elizabeth Gilbert's newest book, Committed. It's took me 30 pages to get into it but I'm really enjoying it now. She explores the idea of marriage in different cultures. So interesting.

My common theme with these books is they have all really made me think about life in a new way. They have helped me grow a little bit. I do believe you don't always find a book. Sometimes the book finds you. I've been found by all 4 of these books. Love them!