Month: July 2012

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Reading Round-Up: July 2012

Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for July, 2012…

Elegy for Eddie (Maisie Dobbs #9), by Jacqueline Winspear – Maisie’s final adventure to date (although there will surely be more coming!) weaves a tangled web.  A group of costermongers who knew Maisie as a child approach her to ask that she look into the death of Eddie Pettit, a “slow” man who had a gift with horses and who was a an important figure in Maisie’s childhood.  What Maisie learns is that Eddie was a pawn in the hands of forces he couldn’t understand, and that his death relates to the growing threats coming from Germany.  I was disappointed in Maisie during this novel – she was remarkably short-sighted, which is not something I expect from her, alienating most of her friends and her lover.  While she attained a measure of understanding  towards the end, she still has some personal growth to attend to.  But the mystery was the most fascinating and complex yet.

Betsy in Spite of Herself (Betsy-Tacy #6), by Maud Hart Lovelace – Betsy and Tacy are sophomores in high school and still going through growing pains.  In this installment, our heroine visits old friend Tib in Milwaulkee and decides to reinvent herself as dramatic, mysterious “Betsye,” which helps her to land the most coveted boyfriend in Deep Valley, but causes her to neglect her writing and pushes away her old friends at the same time.  Will “Betsye” ever realize that it’s better to be herself?

A Good American, by Alex George – I LOVED this family saga, which told the history of the twentieth century through the eyes of one immigrant family.  The Meisenheimers’ story begins in 1904 in Germany and ends in present day Beatrice, Missouri.  Along the way Frederick and Jette Meisenheimer and their progeny experience all the growing pains that America itself is experiencing, plus love, laughter, tragedy and every other emotion.  I was torn between wanting to read slowly to make it last and wanting to blaze through so I could find out what happened.  This is my new gold standard for family sagas, fully reviewed here.

I Am Forbidden, by Anouk Markovits – This novel takes the reader deep inside the Satmar, an insular sect of Hasidic Judaism, to focus on the lives of two sisters, Mila and Atara.  Mila is the adopted daughter of Yalman Stern, a leader in the Satmar community, and Atara is Stern’s biological daughter, only a year younger.  Even as the two sisters grow closer, their faith may tear them apart as Mila becomes more devout and Atara questions everything.  Much later in life, Mila is harboring a secret and only Atara may be able to help her.  I liked I Am Forbidden, since peeks inside unfamiliar religions are one of my literary weaknesses, but I wish the book had focused more on Atara, who disappeared halfway through the story and only reappeared briefly.

Village Diary (Fairacre #2), by Miss Read – I finally got back into the Fairacre books, and the second installment is just as charming as the first.  Miss Read receives a diary from a friend and proceeds to fill it in with her observations of village life, reflections on country schoolteaching, and sly, witty, slightly snarky commentary on her neighbors.  Such a fun read.

The Uninvited Guests, by Sadie Jones – I liked, but didn’t love, this country house drama.  Emerald Torrington is about to celebrate her 20th birthday, but the party is interrupted before it even begins with news of a terrible railway accident.  Soon a motley crew of survivors descends upon the Torrington home… and from there, things get really weird.  I wasn’t quite sure what to think about this book.  I had a hard time getting into it, even though it was engaging, because I was swamped at work and not getting home until late hours.  But I also just didn’t quite know how to respond to some of the bizarre twists.  It was well-written though, and probably would have been more engaging had I been less stressed when I opened it.

Truth and Beauty: A Friendship, by Ann Patchett – I really have enjoyed Ann Patchett’s fiction works and I’d been meaning to seek out this non-fiction memoir of her friendship with fellow writer Lucy Grealy for a long time.  It was beautifully written, but I found myself frustrated.  Ann and Lucy’s friendship never seemed to me to be a friendship of equals – it was always Ann taking care of Lucy, and Lucy suctioning all the attention and affection that not only Ann, but any of her other friends, had to give.  I found Lucy interesting at the beginning of the book, but exhausting by the end, and I don’t know how Ann put up with her for so long.  But still, a lovely tribute to a friendship that, however strange it may seem to those on the outside, did last two decades.

The Mommy Diet, by Allison Sweeney – I’ve been gradually reading this throughout pregnancy and have been trying to read along with the stage I’m currently in, but I finally decided to blaze through and finish it, and then just go back and revisit chapters as needed.  Allison is full of practical advice and encouragement for all three trimesters of pregnancy and for the recovery stages afterward, through nine months of mommyhood.  I’ll definitely be putting many of her tips into practice (as I’ve been trying faithfully to do up until now, anyway) for a healthy transition from pregnant lady to mom.  Recommended to any pregnant or mom friends.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting, by Heidi Murkoff (ed.) – I haven’t read every single word in this tome, but I’ve read every single word that applies to me at the moment, so I’m declaring it done.  (That seems to be the way with these gigantic pregnancy books.)  I will certainly revisit chapters that deal with experiences I have yet to have (like the remainder of pregnancy, labor and delivery, and the first few postpartum weeks, all of which are covered in detail).  So many people consider WTE the pregnancy Bible and it does seem to be.  It can be a little scary in parts, but in my opinion it’s better to be prepared, although I did skip the scariest parts since I can always read them later if I really need to.  WTE is full of information and doesn’t shy away from telling the good, the bad and the ugly of pregnancy.  I’d recommend it to pregnant friends with the caveat that it’s better to skip or at least lightly skim information that scares you and isn’t likely to apply to you anyway.

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July was a weird reading month for me.  I started off strong and blazed through a few books, then hit a major snag when a huge work project occupied all of my attention (including a few nights and weekends) in the latter half of the month.  Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t take me a week to finish a book like The Uninvited Guests (which was under 300 pages), but this month it did.  There are months like that – they happen.  I did have some highlights, though – most notably, A Good American, which I can already tell is going to be one of the best books I read this year.  I’m trying for more relaxation time in August, and hope to have plenty of good reading to report next month.

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Goodbye, Second Tri

17 weeks and ready to tell the world!

Tomorrow starts week 28 and my third trimester – hard to believe.  (Well, probably – some sources put the beginning of the third tri at 27 weeks even, some at 27 weeks and 3 days, and others at 28 weeks.  I’m taking the conservative estimate and declaring third tri at 28 weeks.  It’s good to be here!)  This pregnancy is just flying by.  It’s not over yet, and I’m beyond excited for the next steps, but I already know I’m really going to miss being pregnant.  Especially this trimester; so much has happened and I’ve felt incredibly blessed every single day.

So today, while I’m off traipsing around D.C. with my fabulous penpal, the gorgeous and brilliant Katie of Cakes, Tea and Dreams, I thought it would be fun to share a brief look back at the milestones, thoughts and feelings of my second trimester.

Week 14 – Yay!  First tri in the books, gangstas!  I’m feeling a lot less worried about miscarriage now and I’m starting to finally relax (a little bit) and let myself get excited about having a baby in October.

Week 15 – Headed off on a business trip and got to enjoy spending time with my work friends out of the office.  It still doesn’t totally feel real, but every day it dawns on me just a little bit more that after waiting a LONG time, I’m honest-to-goodness pregnant.

Week 16 – Doctor’s appointment – woohoo!  Hearing the baby’s heartbeat is my “new favorite hobby,” according to hubby.  It’s the most beautiful sound in the entire world.

Week 17 – Finally worked up the nerve to share my news with the world beyond immediate family and close friends – meaning the blog and far-flung friends via Facebook.  I’m overwhelmed by all of the people who are happy for hubby and me.

Week 18 – I think… maybe, just maybe… I might have felt a little bit of movement in there.  Is that you, baby?  It’s earlier than I expected (normal for first-time moms is somewhere between 18 and 22 weeks, but I assumed I’d be on the later side for some reason).

Week 19 – Yep, definitely feeling the baby move.  It’s faint and it only happens when I am sitting still and concentrating – if my attention is focused anywhere else I can’t feel the movements – but it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before and it’s unmistakeably baby.  And awesome.

Week 20 – ‘Nother doctor’s appointment, and this time my fabulous sister-in-law joined hubby and me.  I didn’t expect that anyone in our family would get to hear the baby’s adorable little heart beating, so being able to share it with my sister-in-law was incredibly special.

Week 21 – Biggest news of the pregnancy so far (after the positive test, that is) – baby-to-be is a GIRL!  And one of my first thoughts on getting the news – of course – was “Oh, yay, I can’t wait to read ANNE OF GREEN GABLES to her!”

Week 22 – Headed up to western New York to see my other sister-in-law graduate from high school, and got to share the TEAM PINK news with that side of the family in person.  There was cheering!  Baby girl has a lot of people anxious to meet her.  I enjoyed the cooler temperatures and relative lack of humidity, and of course we were so proud of my sister-in-law for her accomplishments.

Week 23 – Made a tiny bit of headway on clearing out the room that will become the nursery.  Visited with my bestie R, met (and approved) her boyfriend for the first time, and enjoyed plenty of cute baby kicks.  Maybe she’ll be a standout soccer player like her Aunt G?

Week 24 – Headed down to Texas to visit some wonderful friends there!  Had a fun time picking our friends’ brains about pregnancy and parenthood, and checked out a prenatal yoga class.  (Baby girl loved it – she told me with plenty of kicks during savasana.)  And when we got home, we enjoyed the fourth of July with lunch out, ice cream, books, and plenty of time spent daydreaming about the little miss.

Week 25 – Entertained R and her sister over the weekend, and then ordered a CRIB and dresser for Peanut!  The rest of the week was devoted to a massive, all-consuming project at work.  But I didn’t mind, because I was looking forward to…

Week 26 – NYC on my changeover day!  Hubby met up with his dad for a Yankees game and I played by myself for the day – that meant trips to the New York Public Library to visit Pooh and friends, and (obviously) shopping at the Strand.  A good kind of day.  Toting a baby bump around New York was a new experience, but I think Peanut enjoyed herself.  The rest of the week was devoted to that same massive work project that had me working overtime, but the little miss kept me entertained by playing and wiggling in there.

Week 27 – This week’s news: had another sonogram and it’s still a girl!  Yippee!  (Not that we would have been devastated if we’d heard “oops – it’s actually a boy” but as the doctor said, once you get into a particular frame of mind it’s hard to get out on it, and we’re 1,000% on board the girl train by now.)  After getting a second opinion I felt confident enough to buy her some girly nursery bedding.  Also, it’s starting to dawn on me that I’m growing an actual person.  Every so often I stop and think “Whoa, there’s really someone in there!”  That blows my mind, man.  So far it’s felt as though she was a figment of my imagination – but she isn’t, she’s real and she’s coming and she’s going to have her own little personality.  That’s wild.

What a whirlwind this trimester has been!  I’ve had so much fun.  And the third trimester holds the promise of even more fun – more kicks and wiggles, finishing the nursery, taking a babymoon, and finally welcoming our little girl into the world at the end of it.  I’m most excited for that last part, but I’m also trying to enjoy this time and take it all in before our lives change radically (for the better) with our new addition.

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SUITE FRANCAISE

Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky

Amazing… spectacular… breath-taking… monumental… no, I give up.  I just can’t think of enough superlatives to describe Suite Francaise.  Irene Nemirovsky’s final work is, even in its unfinished form, one of the most important books of the twentieth century.  I’d feel that way even if I didn’t know the author’s remarkable story, but having some context in which to place the book makes it that much more marvelous.

Irene Nemirovsky intended Suite Francaise to be a literary symphony composed of five novellas and modeled after Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.  Tragically, she was only able to complete two of her intended five parts – and those in rough draft form, although rarely have I met a more polished draft.  Before she was able to complete her masterwork, Nemirovsky, a Ukranian-born Jew living in France, was arrested by the Nazis and died in Auschwitz.  She wrote the first two sections of her work as she was living them – the first part, “Storm in June,” depicts the June 1940 Paris evacuation, in which Nemirovsky and her family took part.  The second novella, “Dolce,” concerns life in a small French village under Nazi occupation.  Both novellas start quietly and build up to dramatic conclusions.  The truly remarkable thing about “Suite Francaise” is that Nemirovsky “held a mirror up to France,” as the French prologue reads, showing life in wartime France with great empathy but without glossing over truth.  Many of the characters are unsympathetic, yes.  But that’s reality.  In a crisis, we’d all like to think that we’d be heroes and heroines, but the fact of the matter is that heroics are often cast aside in favor of the rather stronger self-preservation instinct.  Nemirovsky tells it like it is, but somehow without judging her characters.  And the reader understands that as much as we might want to judge Madame Pericand, Corte, Hubert or any of the other characters, odds are we’d behave in exactly the same way in their position.

Nemirovksy’s extraordinary empathy even extends to the German soldiers in “Dolce,” some of whom she portrays as cruel, but others of whom she depicts as young, talented, with their lives and potentials tragically wasted by a war they did not start and in which they are only doing a job.  The fact that Nemirovsky was able to find the grace to not judge German soldiers as a group and to, instead, portray them as individuals and not a collective, many-headed monster, is incredible.  In her position, hearing the rumors of concentration camps and struggling to hide my family, I certainly would not be so generous.  That’s what makes Suite Francaise so amazing – Irene Nemirovsky lived in the pages of her book, yet somehow remains above it all, dealing with her characters fairly, honestly, and kindly even when she is eviscerating them for their human failings.

The third part of the book helps to place Nemirovsky’s work in context with the times.  It presents her plans for the three remaining novellas, which she was never able to write, as well as her correspondence prior to her arrest and her husband’s correspondence in his attempt to have her returned to her family after she was stolen from them.  The book concludes with the prologue from the French edition, which explains the historical significance of the book and the story of its publication: Nemirovsky’s ten-year-old daughter took the manuscript with her into hiding and kept it for sixty-four years before she was able to bring herself to read it.  She believed it was a diary, but when she finally opened the book and realized it was an unfinished masterwork, she published it immediately.  As a result, we have a ten-year-old with extraordinary presence of mind to thank for preserving one of the most important pieces of French literature.  It’s tragic that this book ever had occasion to be written, but it is transcendent in its beauty.

(Image Source)

Get the book!  Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky (not an affiliate link)

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Building Baby’s Library, Part I: Picture Books

It should come as no surprise that my kid is going to have a substantial library from the day she is born.  I’ve already talked about my plans to be a Reading Mom, which include keeping up with my own reading as much as I can.  But babies get books too; at least in my house they do!  Here are some of the classic children’s books that will be part of the baby’s library from day one:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Goodnight Moon: This has always been one of my favorites.  I love the sweet, calming “goodnight” message.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by…

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?: I’m sure the baby will end up with this book because my mom just loves it.  Either I, or someone else, will definitely pick it up for her.

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Make Way for Ducklings: It’s a classic, and I think every kid should own this one.

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Blueberries for Sal: Another book I LOVED as a child.  And it makes me want to eat blueberries.

Tails by Matthew Van Fleet

Tails: This book is too new for me to have read it as a child, but I saw it at a baby shower and was charmed.  It’s going on baby’s shelf for sure.

The Mitten by Jan Brett

The Mitten: I’ve always thought this book was just gorgeous, and the story of a forest full of woodland creatures who crowd together into a dropped mitten to stay warm is a classic.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen…

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type: My college (yes, college) collective bargaining professor read my class this hilarious story of a group of farm animals who band together and form a union and then “negotiate” with their farmer over their working conditions.  I’m clearly not expecting baby to understand collective bargaining, but it’s an important part of what I do for a living and I want to share it with her.  Plus this book is freaking hysterical.

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

Madeline: In an old house in Paris, that was covered with vines… oh, how I love the Madeline books.  All of them.  You bet these will be in baby’s library.

Pride & Prejudice: A BabyLit Board Book by…

BabyLit Board Books: These darling books are charming.  I love the fun, bold illustrations, and of course I want to introduce the little miss to Lizzy Bennet and Jane Eyre from an early age.

Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French

Diary of a Wombat: I bought this for the three-year-old son of some friends and laughed myself silly in the bookstore as I flipped through it.  Hubby read it too and also found it hilarious.  And then he “demanded carrots.”

Of course, baby is going to have plenty of cloth and board books to start, since I know that when they’re that young books go straight into the mouth.  But I’m looking forward to sharing these gorgeous, cute and funny books with the baby and starting that love of reading early.

(Images from LibraryThing)

What were your favorite books as a child?  Any recommendations for picture books that I should get for the little one?

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In My Neighborhood

There’s no hiding.  If you’re new to the street, expect people to walk up and down in front of your house trying to unobtrusively peer into your windows while you wrangle moving boxes.

Related: when you move in, people you’ve never formally met drop by with cookies and a post-it with their phone number, in case of emergencies.

People nod in understanding when you tell them you love the way flowering trees look but you NEVER want one in your own yard.

If you jog past a yard sale, you will be expected to stop and shoot the breeze, no matter how sweaty and stanky you are.  If you choose to go home and shower instead, you must then immediately return to the yard sale and explain that you didn’t want to poison everyone with your malodorous post-exercise stench.

You only have to tell one person when you have big news.  They’ll spread the news for you.  (The morning after I told one neighbor that hubby and I are expecting, I was stopped by two other neighbors who immediately said, “We’re a small street and… well, you know… so of course we’ve all heard the news!  Congratulations!”)

If you hire someone to work in your yard or on the exterior of your house while you’re at work, expect at least three neighbors to spend the day watching your house and give you their performance evaluations when you get home.

Everyone tends their yards with care, even though some are better at it than others (read: everyone is better at it than brown-thumbed me… were it not for hubby, our house would have no curb appeal at all).  And if things get a bit overgrown, we feel guilty.  We know you have to look at it.

Your waving arm will get just as much of a workout as your legs will on your evening strolls.

It only takes a few jogs or bike rides to get people believing you’re some kind of supreme athlete.

If you move away, we’ll welcome someone new into your old house.  But you’re never forgotten and you are always missed.  And invited back to trick-or-treat on Halloween.

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Seasonal Fruit Parfait with Honey Vanilla Yogurt

HOLY YUM.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, let me tell you how this dessert came about.  I had R and her sister S in the house.  R was on her way back overseas for work (but she’s coming home for good soon!) and S stopped by for an overnight in part to see her sister and in part to break up a trip of her own.  Hubby, knowing what levels of silliness were likely to transpire (he’s spent time with me, R and S before) wisely decided to spend the day parked in front of a video game and ignoring us.  Meanwhile, we debated how we should spend the day we had together.  Yoga class?  Farmers market?  Long walk before it got too hot?  Beg hubby to make us lavender foot baths and take over the living room?  (That’s what R and I did on her last visit.  Hubby is a good sport.)

As appealing as that last one sounded, we decided to go to the farmers market and bring back ingredients for a fresh seasonal lunch, then cook it together.  R and S were in charge of lunch – they made a delicious heirloom tomato and purple basil salad with burrata (pasteurized – no worries) and fresh mushroom ravioli (bought at the market) with a sauce made from corn and tomatoes, sauteed and then simmered in a bit of broth and yogurt.  Divine.  And I was in charge of dessert.  While at the market we decided on a fruit parfait.  R wanted peach and blackberry, but the white nectarines at my favorite fruit and veg stand were so fantastic that S and I formed a voting bloc and outvoted her.  For the creamy element to the parfait, I whipped up a simple, sweet Greek yogurt cream and layered it with the diced nectarines and blackberries.  Perfect summer dessert, but not so decadent that it couldn’t double as a light (!) breakfast.  Dessert for breakfast?  That’s my favorite.

Seasonal Fruit Parfait with Honey Vanilla Yogurt

2 white nectarines or peaches
1 pint blackberries
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
seeds of one vanilla pod

  • Prepare the fruit: wash the berries and wash and chop the nectarines into bite-sized pieces approximately the same size as the berries.
  • Whisk together the yogurt, honey and vanilla bean seeds.
  • Layer parfaits: spoon yogurt on bottom, then add a few berries and nectarine pieces, spoon yogurt on top, and continue with more layers as desired.  Finish with a dollop of yogurt on top.

Nota Baker: You don’t have to use nectarines and blackberries here just because I’ve called for them.  Use whatever fruit is in season in your area.  I recommend a combination of two fruits, but in any event no more than three.

Yield: Serves 4 as a small dessert or 2 as a good-sized breakfast.

Source: Covered In Flour

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A GOOD AMERICAN

A Good American by Alex George

A Good American is my new gold standard for family sagas.  All family stories now have to live up to this book… and that’s going to be a tall order.

This is the story of the Meisenheimer family and their life in America.  A Good American begins not in America, but in Hanover, Germany in the early days of the 20th century, where Frederick Meisenheimer is secretly in love with a young woman, Jette.  Frederick wins Jette’s heart by hiding in the bushes as she goes about her weekly Sunday stroll in the park, serenading her with his clear tenor.  But unfortunately, as easy as it was for Frederick to win Jette’s love, it’s just that difficult – no, impossible – to get her disapproving family on board.  It’s not long before Jette is pregnant, and the young couple steals away to a new life in the still young United States.  When they can’t get a boat to New York, they head for New Orleans instead (what’s the difference?  they’re both New, as Jette points out) and travel north to Missouri.  Their journey ends abruptly in the small town of Beatrice, Missouri, where Jette goes into labor, and their family decamps in Beatrice for the long haul.  Frederick and Jette make their lives together in Missouri as Frederick tries to be what a helpful stranger encouraged him to be: a good American.  As their progeny grow up, America grows up with them.  There are friends, laughter, tragedy, frustration, love, and all the ties that bind a family together across the generations – including secrets, the biggest of which the book’s narrator, Frederick and Jette’s grandson James, finally unearths in a surprising twist.

I can’t say enough good things about A Good American.  It’s a book that made me well up and laugh in the same chapter – sometimes on the same page.  I was torn between wanting to read slowly and savor the lovely, atmospheric writing, and to feverishly turn pages so I would finally know everything that happened to the family.  Now that I’m done, I’m sorry it’s over.  In fact, that’s my only complaint: this book could have been twice as long and it still wouldn’t have been long enough for me.  I could have read it forever.  Five stars, and applause.

Get the book!  A Good American, by Alex George (not an affiliate link)

(Image Source)

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Preserving Vacation Memories

Unfortunately, vacations only last so long.  A week or two – more if you’re lucky – but at some point we all have to go back to reality.  I suppose that’s a good thing.  After all, if vacations lasted forever, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate them fully, now would we?  (Don’t answer that.)

When we get home, and get back into the swing of ordinary life, there is so much to do that thoughts of vacation often fly right out of our minds.  We have to take steps to keep those memories intact.  If you’re like me – camera-happy – and you’ve taken hundreds or even thousands of pictures over the course of your trip, organizing those photos and turning them into a keepsake can be a fabulous way to relive the vacation – and bonus, you’ll have them to look back on after every rainy day or crushing work deadline.

My favorite way to preserve my vacation pictures is in a hardbound photo book.  I make mine on Shutterfly, simply because I’ve been storing my pictures there for years and I find it to be one of the more user-friendly sites (at least, it seems to make sense in my brain). There are many other photo processing websites to explore, though – Kodak, Snapfish, MyPublisher and others all allow users to store and display their pictures in many ways.

I made a Shutterfly book after my trip to France in 2010 and was thrilled with the result.  The process was simple (and I imagine it’s much the same on other photo-processing sites).  First I uploaded the photos I wanted to use from my computer onto Shutterfly.  I then chose which pictures I wanted to go on each page of the book, as well as the front and back covers.  The site allowed me to play with the layout of each page until the pictures were set out exactly as I wanted them.  I was able to choose from several color themes for the book, each of which came with a number of background page options.

 

When the pages were laid out, I typed in my own custom captions for each page, describing the pictures and my experiences in detail.

I loved my France book so much that I made another one for my 2011 trip to England:

The books arrive a few weeks after you create them, and – I can’t speak for every photo site, but at least the Shutterfly versions – they’re gorgeous.  The covers are excellent quality and the pages are glossy and professionally printed.  I love to sit on my couch and flip through these books for hours, tasting the flaky croissants and cafe au lait from France or the scones and tea I had in England all over again.

Making books is my favorite way of preserving vacation memories, but there are others:

  • Blog about your trip!  Take your readers on the journey with you.
  • Make a video slideshow, and set it to music.  (My parents and brother do this.  It’s on my agenda to figure out how to do it with my own computer software.)
  • Keep a trip journal while you’re away, writing down your impressions as you go, and turn it into a scrapbook with ephemera you pick up at each stop.
  • Print your photos and hang them on your walls or display them around your house.
  • Make a traditional photo album with 4×6 prints.
  • Collect small souvenirs along the way and turn them into a shadowbox when you get home.  (I’d love to try this sometime!)

(Please note, this post has not been paid for or perked by Shutterfly.  Use whatever photo site you durn well please, or don’t use any of them.  I no curr.  That’s just who I use, and I like them.)

How do you preserve vacation memories when you get home?

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Evolution of a Blog

Since I finally loosened up and allowed my blog focus to change from strictly-food to books-travel-life-decorating-crafts-food-anything-and-everything, I’ve been having so much more fun with this space.  For a long time, I felt uninspired.  Blogging was a chore, when it should have been something I did for fun.  Coupled with some personal upheaval, that made for a very unhappy, dissatisfied blogger.  Letting myself relax a bit and write about what interested me, instead of trying to force myself into a “food blogger” mold that no longer fit me, has been the best thing I could have done for myself and this little blog.  It’s fun again, and it’s been that way for awhile.  And one thing I’ve promised myself is that I’ll always be open to my blog evolving further if I want/need it to – whether that means adding different types of posts, cutting out something that no longer interests me, or changing my posting days.  Along those lines, I’ve been  thinking about a couple of areas where the blog is going to be evolving in the near future, whether I like it (baby on the way) or not (the England recaps coming to an end – wish they could have gone on forever).

FRIDAY TRAVEL POSTS

As I’ve re-lived hubby’s and my England vacation from last fall (and had so much fun, by the way – thanks for joining me on the ride) I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do with the blog on Fridays now that I’ve finished posting my trip recaps.  My first inclination was to tell hubby that we must take another epic vacation IMMEDIATELY, so I would have something to recap.

Wouldn’t that be great?  Sadly, I don’t think my employers would be as thrilled as hubby would have been if I had floated that idea.

Okay, but seriously now, I was planning to just post on Fridays as I do on other days of the week – with a mixture of book reviews, literary thoughts, home decorating or crafting posts, or the occasional weekend recap.  But then, I thought, I don’t stop having fun just because I’m at home for most of the year.  Hubby and I do our fair share of hiking, museum visits, and fun days out.  And with all of the exciting changes coming our way in the future, we’re even more focused on getting our family time in – both now and when the Peanut makes her big entrance in October.

So I started thinking: why not reserve Friday posts for chronicling our fun adventures, whether those are in our own northern Virginia backyard, on weekend getaways, or over the course of longer vacations?  Fridays would be a great time to share a peek into some of the ways we enjoy each other’s company as a family of two (and eventually three), or with our extended families and friends.  I won’t be posting along these lines every Friday, necessarily, but I’d like to make our fun adventures a frequent Friday topic.

POSTS ON PREGNANCY AND MOMMYHOOD

Here’s one way the blog is not going to evolve: this is NOT going to be a mommy blog, or a pregnancy blog for that matter.  I have good reasons for keeping the volume of pregnancy posts down.  Some are personal.  On the public side, I have never intended to be a mommy blogger; I respect that blog community but I don’t see myself there.  And I like blogging about books and travel and this-n-that too much to give it up, let alone risk alienating readers who come here for literary chatter, recipes and other non-kid-focused fun.  Plus, book blogging is one of my (many) hobbies, and I firmly believe moms need hobbies of their own.

That said… my life is obviously changing in a big way, and I recognize that it would be unreasonable for me to expect that my blog will stay exactly the same when the rest of my world is being turned upside-down.  So talk about my pregnancy and, eventually, my kid is bound to creep in – for instance, I’ll DEFINITELY be sharing nursery-decor posts with you, since I talk about decorating the rest of my house.  And when the kid arrives, she will be taking a central part in our family adventures, which I’ve already said I plan to blog about regularly.  Finally, I would love to share some of the children’s books that hubby and I read with the Peanut with all of you.  I’ve always loved children’s literature and I’m looking forward to watching the Peanut grow as a reader, from board books to picture books and beyond.  So while I’ll still be sharing the grown-up books I read, I’m also planning to book blog for the Peanut.  (I might even do a  regular or semi-regular feature, but I’ll have to wait to meet the Peanut before I really figure out what form those posts will take.)

So while this isn’t going to be a pregnancy/mom blog, do expect the Peanut to pop up now and again, in family posts and in topics about kids’ books and the occasional kid-friendly home and travel posts I hope to write (when I’ve got enough experience for my tips to be worth something, that is).  And I’ll definitely share the big moments with you – like the big arrival.  But if that kind of stuff isn’t your bag, baby, rest assured that there will be no shortage of grown-up posts too; baby-focused posting will be sporadic around here.  That said…

RESURRECTING “HAPPY TRAILS”

If you’re my father-in-law, you probably remember that back in 2010 I started a “family blog” called “Happy Trails.”  (I say “if you’re my father-in-law” because I’m pretty sure he’s the only one who ever read it.)  The blog was extremely short-lived for a number of reasons, which I’m not going to get into right now.  I left it up, but I didn’t post anything after about September of 2010.

Well, until now… maybe.  I’m considering resurrecting “Happy Trails.”  The idea behind the blog was to document our lives and share the things our family and friends would be interested in reading about.  Well, with a baby on the way, I’ve got no shortage of material, and no shortage of people who want regular updates on the pregnancy (and will be even more anxious for updates after Peanut arrives, no doubt).  So I’m thinking about bringing “Happy Trails” back, either now or once we get into the swing of parenthood.

However.  And this is a big however.  With a baby on the way I’m concerned about privacy.  I use real names on “Happy Trails,” which I generally don’t do here unless the person in question has an online presence of their own volition.  I’m a lot freer with sharing details about my life and my family on “Happy Trails,” and as a result, I don’t want just anyone looking at it.  So I’ve privatized it.  That means that you can ONLY see “Happy Trails” if I’ve specifically invited you.  If I do bring back the blog, I’ll be sending invites to our family and close friends, and then I’ll make an announcement here that it’s up and running again.  If you see that announcement and you haven’t gotten an invitation, let me know and I’ll send you one if I know you.

What do I mean by “if I know you,” you wonder?  If you’re a friend – for example, one of my sorority sisters or other college friends who reads here – and you’d like to be included, send me an email or a Facebook message, or leave me a blog comment.  If you’re a blogging friend or a regular blog reader/commenter here, such that I would recognize your name and email address, leave me a blog comment saying you’d like an invite, and you’ll get one.  I promise I’m not trying to be mean or difficult, but if I’m going to blog about pregnancy and my family, I need to have a comfort level with the people who are reading the blog – and this is how I will get that comfort level.  I promise that, if I know who you are, you’re not going to be excluded (unless you’re the girl who stole my prom date, ‘cuz that’s just uncool).  I just want to make sure that I do actually know who you are, either because I actually have met you in person or  because we have a regular blog interaction.  I think that’s pretty liberal, and definitely fair.

POSTING SCHEDULE CHANGE

When I originally changed my blog format, like I said above, I promised myself that if it ever got to be too much to handle, I’d ease up.  For the past year, approximately, I’ve been blogging Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Thursday being food or recipe day.  As life has gotten busier, keeping to that schedule has become extremely challenging, especially on Thursdays.  There have been many weeks where I’ve been so busy that I haven’t developed a fun new recipe to share with you and I’ve had to fall back on old recipes pulled from my archives – which are fun to see again, but that’s not a sustainable way to food blog.  After agonizing over the situation, I’ve concluded that I just don’t have the time and energy, between a 50-hour-per-week job, a long commute, a house, a husband, a baby on the way, and other blogging priorities, to blog regularly about recipes right now, or to keep to a four-days-per-week posting schedule for that matter.

What does that mean?  It means that I’m going to change my posting days to Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the foreseeable future, and that there won’t be a specific day dedicated to posting a recipe.  I think three days per week is doable for me right now, without stressing me out unduly (after all, this is supposed to be fun).  And I’m not saying there will not be recipes on the blog anymore – there will be, when I have good ones to share.  (Which I will – in fact, look for a fun healthy dessert that doubles as a breakfast coming up next week.)  So if you’ve figured out my posting schedule, please keep checking back here, but make it Monday, Wednesday and Friday instead.  If things change again, of course I’ll let you know – but I think this is going to be the most I can do for awhile, what with a baby coming in October.  And I’m okay with that. 

So there you have it!  Those are the ways I see Covered In Flour continuing to evolve and reflect my life and my interests.  And I’m always open to suggestion, so if there’s a topic you’d like to see addressed here – or even just a book you think I should read – lemme know!  I can’t promise to take up every suggestion, but I’m definitely interested in your input.

by

Savoring Summer

I can be guilty of wishing time away.  I just love to look forward to things, so no sooner than one exciting event or milestone passes am I on to the next.  Right now I’m having a great deal of difficulty focusing on the here and now, since all I can think about is meeting our baby in October.  October, October, October!  When will it GET HERE ALREADY???

But the thing is, there’s a whole summer and early fall to get through before the little miss will be ready to come out and greet the world.  And it’s also the last few months hubby and I will have in the time B.C. (meaning “Before Children,” as my parents used to say).  I don’t want to wish that time away – I want to savor it and enjoy it and make the most of it.  So in that spirit, here’s what I’m looking forward to enjoying this summer:

~New York City!  Twice!  One day trip up while hubby meets up with his dad for a Yankees game and I entertain myself (I’m thinking NY Public Library and the Strand for sure), and then a babymoon, perhaps around the time of our anniversary.  We’ll see a Broadway show (but what to see? I’m torn between my old standby – “The Phantom of the Opera,” which I’ve seen at least five times – and something new, like maybe “Wicked”).  And there will be afternoon tea, breakfast at Sarabeth’s, more shopping at the Strand, wandering Central Park, dinners out…

~Browsing for used books at Second Story and The Book Bank, and carrying home a steal or twelve.

~A visit from the beautiful and talented Katie and her husband.  I can’t wait to show them around my favorite DC haunts, and to take a few days off work to play tourist.

~Tart yogurt with my coworkers, a welcome break on hot afternoons.

~Wandering the trails in Rock Creek Park and at Great Falls – once this current heat wave evaporates, that is.

~Grown-up dinners out with hubby.  We’ve made a pact to eat out at least once or twice every week this summer, which is something we don’t usually do.  But there’s not much time left before frequent dining out in nice restaurants will be a rarity, and goshdarnit, we’re taking advantage of this time.

~Summer reading.  Of course!  Sometimes that means a big chunkster, and sometimes it means lots of light fare.  This summer, I think it means revisiting my favorite childhood classics, like the Anne and Emily books by L.M. Montgomery, and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  And further denting of the TBR list, naturally.  And along with this one goes: having time to read, period.  I don’t know how much time I’ll have come fall, so I want to get in a few more lazy afternoons of lounging with a book in before the little miss shakes things up.

~Peanutty preparations.  We’ve got a nursery to get ready!  You all know what that means: SHOPPING.  I don’t love shopping for myself (well, sometimes I do – definitely for books) but shopping for adorable baby decor and tiny dresses?  I’m so there.  (Oh, it also means childbirth and infant care classes.  I’m excited about the infant care classes, but approaching the childbirth classes with considerable trepidation.)

~Welcoming R home from her faraway job.  I can’t wait until she’s safely back Stateside for good.

~Evening walks with hubby around our hilly neighborhood, where we hold hands and smell the fragrant summer blooms and carry on two separate conversations simultaneously.  (I babble about all things pregnancy and baby, and he critiques the neighbors’ lawns.)

~Visiting the farmers’ market regularly.  And eating delicious fresh fruit, as much as I can.  Especially cherries and peaches.  And watermelon.  And strawberries.

~Spotting fireflies in my backyard.  They’re my favorite bugs.  I can watch their little glowing butts for hours.

What are you planning to savor about summer?