"Storm's A-Comin', Momma!"

"You close the windows, I'll hide under the bed!"

Beggin' Table

What I Did For Love

What I Did for Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips is the ultimate beach read. It's sweet, romantic, funny, and chock full of wink-wink moments for pop culture / celebrity gossip devotees like my friend G.O.

I'll try to tempt you into reading it for yourself: Georgie York is an erstwhile sitcom sweetheart who, after accepting a suspicious drink from a stranger in Las Vegas, wakes up married to her former co-star and arch-nemesis, Bramwell Shephard. Georgie and Bram decide to fool the public into believing in their sham marriage by making a series of carefully staged appearances all around Hollywood. Meanwhile, Georgie's ex-husband Lance Marks is making headlines and, um, babies with his screen-siren-turned-international-do-gooder wife, Jade Gentry. Gee, who might that couple represent?? My favorite passage in the book involves a description of Lance as a block of tofu that takes on the flavor of whichever woman he happens to be dating. It took me back to Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow's his-and-hers choppy haircuts. Good memories there. Anyway, Georgie and Bram are so wrapped up in maintaining their images that they don't realize the marriage is turning into the real thing. This book is excellent summertime fun!

Future Cookbook Cover Photo?

I recently prowled my pantry for any malingerers, and came across a bag of egg noodles that never fulfilled its original purpose: a tuna noodle casserole. So I decided to adapt Doug's recipe for creamy pesto sauce (my devoted readers may recall that it involves a jar of pesto blended with a crumbled log of goat cheese ... and that's about it!). I added a bag of baby spinach and a couple links of vegetarian sausage, and topped it with a parmesan cloud (how pretentious is that expression?). Luckily it was delicious, because it made about eight portions and I am loathe to waste even a bite of food. I hope you get a chance to try this one out - it is so easy and reheats really well. Side note: I Y parenthetical comments!

Congratulations to Evan...

... for being named Stanford University's Club Sports Athlete of the Year! An awards luncheon was held last Thursday, and by all accounts (okay, the one account I heard was his but I'm sure it's true) Evan's speech was well-received. This is an older picture of Evan on the road to glory:
Click here for more information about the other student athletes and most importantly for more information about Evan's achievements. I am really proud of you, bro!

Nick Hornby has let me down!

In an effort to read some less depressing books, my book group chose Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down for our latest selection. I've always considered myself a Nick Hornby fan. High Fidelity, great book. About a Boy, great movie, I assume the book is even better. Aren't they always? So A Long Way Down seemed like a sure thing. Not even the plot summary deterred us. It's about four profoundly unlikeable people who meet at the top of a 15-story building on New Year's Eve. Guess why they're on top of a tall building? Why, so they can jump off! But guess what - not only do they not jump, they all go out for breakfast, form a little club, make up a story about seeing an Angel (not David Boreanaz, the only thing that might have redeemed the storyline), get a little press exposure, then take a group vacation on the Canary Islands. Puh-leeze.

The book got a great review from the New York Times Book Review. Maybe the reviewer just didn't want to be blacklisted from the next Hornby movie premiere. Time Magazine describes the novel as "The Breakfast Club rewritten by Beckett," which is actually quite accurate but in no way sounds like a good book. The real question: will I read the last 100 pages?? And will I ever pick up another Nick Hornby book? Here's hoping that we pick a great book next, because we've had our share of duds. My money's on Holly's Inbox!

Note: All book cover images are from Follett Titlewave. Thank you, Follett!

Signature Pose, Part 2

Top models are versatile, too, so here's the other look that Mattie's famous for:
This pose coincides with the arrival of Pennsylvania's famous heat and humidity. Baby Fats spent a lot of time in this pose during her years in Texas. This photo captures a mid-yawn moment, but it only makes her look extra fierce! Look closely and you can see the indescribably precious freckles on her nose and kitty gums.

Signature Pose, Part 1

I know from watching many, many episodes of America's Next Top Model that all the fiercest models have a signature pose. So it's no surprise that Mattie LaMew, a potential top cat model, also has a signature pose, as seen here.This is the pose that Mattie usually adopts in between activities. I wonder if she picked it up from different dogs in her foster home? Oh, and by the way, these pictures surely were taken with the new digital camera, which is now operational but sadly not compatible with my home computer.

Is it just me or have I morphed into ...

Joyce Summers (played by fabulous actress Kristine Sutherland), mother of Buffy Summers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Some photographic evidence follows: a photo of my BFF Rae and I back in September, and a photo of Joyce. And another photo of me. I'll now open the floor for debate.

Week 9, Thing 21: Podcasts

My always-supportive brother Evan recommends that, if I have figured out podcasts, I must check out the April 20 episode of ESPN's "The B.S. Report." Apparently Bill Simmons (who?) and Adam Carolla (who?) break down Fast and Furious, the best movie of 2009 to date. In fact its only real competition is X-Men Origins. So it seemed like an opportune time to figure out podcasts, and it turned out to be really easy. I have actually listened to a few "Fresh Air" podcasts in the past, specifically interviews with Glen Campbell and the creative team behind Step Brothers. Before I reveal too much more embarrassing information, I'll mention that I went where few librarians have gone before (ESPN.com) and located the aforementioned "The B.S. Report." To have a listen click here and scroll down to April 20.

Week 8, Thing 19

Of all the Library 2.0 tools I've explored so far, LibraryThing is my hands down favorite. Rollyo and Technorati left me with a feeling of confusion mixed with "why would I need this?" But LibraryThing left me with a feeling of "I wish it was summer so I could explore this site all day." I especially love the widget feature - I think it really spruces up my blog! I want to add a similar widget to my school library's web page so I can showcase newly arrived titles ... definitely a summer project. I'm sort of obsessed with organizing items on my bookshelf (surprising, right?) and this gives me a whole new way to catalog my own stuff!

Digital Camera update: I picked up my digital camera on Sunday, but unfortunately it does not appear to be compatible with my home computer, which is getting a tad long in the tooth. The summer projects are really piling up ...

By the way, I'm really loving The Daily Coyote. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys nature writing, animals, and all things Wyoming.