Summer Reading

I'm sure it is no big secret to any of my blog readers but I love to read. And summer reading, when I can spend the day outside in my Adirondack chair or on my porch swing reading There really is nothing sweeter than that. My goal for this summer was a book a week, that has not happened but I have been making my way through some good books. Here's what I've accomplished so far.

The Waiting Place: Learning to Appreciate Life's Little Delays by Eileen Button. Now I know I am bias because Eileen happens to be on of my most treasured friends but her book is outstanding and this is a book that should be on everyone's nightstand, whether you read a chapter a night or fly through it as I did and then start over.

Room: A novel by Emma Don0ghue. I'll admit I downloaded this book to my Kindle on Christmas day started reading it and then got side tracked by other books. It is the story of 5 year old Jack who has lived with his ma in "room" his entire life. To Jack room is his world but to his ma it is where they are being kept prisoner. Once I finally took the time to sit down and read this one, it was a real page turner.

Others that I have completed:
The Pilots Wife by Anita Shreve
Prayers and Lies by Sherri Wood Emmons
The Sweet Relief of Missing Children by Sarah Braunstein

Still on my list for the summer:

Maine by Courtney Sullivan
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

If you are looking for me I'll be outside somewhere most likely with my nose in a book. So what are you reading? Comments please!

My Kind of Town

It was college graduation this weekend, I skipped it! I think in my 19 years of working for the college this is only the 2nd commencement that I have missed. I'm okay with that though. Instead of sitting through another commencement ceremony I was road tripping west to Chicago. I was hoping to be a part of one of Oprah's final episodes, but instead I settled for shopping trips to Crate and Barrel and IKEA neither which are located in my little city.

The real reason for the trip was to spend a few days with my brother, his girlfriend and my parents. I'm blogging about this now so that in a year I have a written reminder to never, ever take a 9 hour road trip with my parents again, EVER! They invited me along saying how much Matt and Kim wanted to see me and how we could all share driving responsibilities. Share driving responsibilities? Apparently sharing driving responsibilities to my parents means on a 9 hour trip my mom will drive 3 hours, my dad will drive for 27 minutes and I will drive the rest. So yes, I guess technically we shared driving responsibilities.

Other things that Chicago has that my city doesn't? Well these two.

My brother and his girlfriend, who I keep reminded him needs to be his wife. I'm pretty certain that it is going to happen, I just like to pressure him to make it happen soon. She does not seem to be too worried about though. They are in fact planning a future together. Our time at IKEA proved that, they are talking about what their next kitchen is going to look like.

Other things Chicago has? Well yes I have already mentioned Crate and Barrel and IKEA but also Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Costco and oh yeah a sweet little diner called the Honey Jam that has of all things on the menu white chocolate, raspberry waffles and pancakes and did I mention deep dish pizza? Yes, we shopped a lot and we ate a lot and we laughed a lot. And the weather there? It's a lot like the weather here but it seemed like the spring flowers there were a few days ahead of ours. I think I've mentioned before maybe once or twice how much I love spring. Look at these beauties.


And these. I think pink trees prove that God loves beauty and that he also has a sense of humor. I don't think I would have ever thought to create a pink tree. Both these trees are located on the grounds of the country club where my brother is a golf professional. He was extra excited this week because the day before we arrive he spent the day golfing with two players from the Chicago Blackhawks. They both sent him text messages afterwords saying what a great time they had with him. For a hockey fanatic this was huge, he referred to his new bff's several times while were there, and every time it made us all smile. Kind of the way pink trees make me smile.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I once read that Kirstie Alley spent as much on flowers as she had previously spent on her expensive drug habit. I don't have an expensive drug habit, well I don't have a drug habit but I have decided that having a few flowers throughout the house makes me a much happier person. And because spring has arrived I have been able to take advantage of picking a few blooms from my own garden. My hyacinths smell amazing, it's the little things that make me happy.

Oh and for me right now it is the most wonderful time of the year! Spring has arrived and so have the Stanley Cup playoffs. Hockey every night from now until June! It's hard not to be giddy with excitement. Of course I'm cheering for the home team, the Sabres and it would make me oh so happy if they could actually make it out of the first round. I like their chances this year, new owner with lots of enthusiasm. Let's Go Buffalo!

Adventures in the Kitchen part 4

If you have read my blog since it's inception you know that I was quite adamant that while plenty of great food blogs exist out there, this would not be one of them. And while I insisted that I wouldn't be blogging about my "expertise" in the kitchen, I lied. You can look back to June 2010 to see the original adventures in the kitchen.

While I may be pretty inept when it comes to cooking, I am a "little" better at baking but I could crush anyone when it comes to using the microwave. Imagine my surprise when I learned I could actually bake something in the microwave. This turned out so good that I couldn't resist the opportunity to pass it along. Did you know that you could "bake" brownies in the microwave? Now I know some of you are thinking, warming up a frozen pre-packaged is not baking but I'm not taking about those. I'm talking about baking brownies in a coffee mug.

Here's what you'll need.
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil

Mix all the dry ingredients and then spoon in an egg and then add the milk and the oil. Now you're ready to "bake" your brownie. Bake for approximately 3 minutes, if you have a powerful microwave like I do, you may only need to bake for 2 - 2 1/2 minutes. Enjoy!

Spring!

This picture has absolutely nothing do to with spring, except for the fact that it was for sale at the flower show I went to yesterday. The flower show was a bit of a disappointment, seems this year's theme "Rock the Garden" was more about rocks then it was about gardens. Lots of landscape companies highlighting all the ways they can create a fabulous backyard oasis using stonework. Truth is I'd rather see more flowers.

But isn't this piano the gaudiest thing you have ever seen? At the same time, it's hard to take your eyes off it. It does not go with the color scheme of my house at all, yet I want it in my living room. Looking at makes me smile and I think had I had this piano as a child I would have practiced more. Perhaps I would have been a concert pianist by now.

At any rate spring arrives here sometime tomorrow and I couldn't be happier. Spring is my absolute favorite season for a number of reason. Each day that we get closer and closer to spring I know that I can once again say good bye to winter. Some of my favorite flowers, hyacinths and tulips bloom in the spring. I can finally put away the heavy sweaters, boots and mittens. New life, iced lattes, Easter, NHL playoffs. What's not to love about Spring?

If You're Irish, Come into the Parlor

And this is where it all began. Well it probably began somewhere before here but this is the family homestead in County Galway, Ireland. My grandfather was born in this house and lived here till he came to the United States as a young adult.

I feel very fortunate that I have been able to travel twice to Ireland, once with my family and a second time with friends. My first trip to Ireland was for a friends wedding, she got married here.

Yes, that's right I have a friend who decided she was so special that she couldn't have just an ordinary wedding, she needed to get married in a castle and not just any castle but a castle in Ireland. It was the most spectacular wedding I have ever been to and I'm pretty sure that no other wedding I ever attend will measure up. This wedding and the two weeks we spent there are some of my most cherished memories.

The funniest part about my first trip to Ireland is that the day after spending a weekend in castle, we moved on to spend a few days with friends who live in Ireland. In the castle I had a bathtub the size of most people's bathrooms and a shower head the size of a small cafe table. Let's just say that I took my fair share of showers and baths while I was there. The friends that we stayed with had built a new home for themselves on their family property, we stayed in the original family cottage. My bedroom there? Well I could sit on the twin bed and basically touch all four walls, and the bathroom? My kitchen sink leaks more water than the shower in that cottage.

I don't normally consider myself to be high maintenance but it really is hard to go from being a princess to Cinderella.

Emails, books and other surprises

After 6 weeks off recuperating from surgery. Countless hours of sleep, lots of television and a few very good books. I returned to work yesterday.

I had 1,732 emails waiting for me. Oh and these. To distract me from the massive amounts of email.



And if you are looking for some good book suggestions may I suggest the following:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Good Thief
Flight to Heaven
Churched One Kids Journey toward God despite a Holy Mess