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2013 Goals

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I do so love January.  I love fresh starts and making plans and taking on new challenges.  And when it comes to 2013, I’m especially excited.  2012 might have been a banner year for me, but there’s always room for new goals, right?  And this year I get to tackle those goals with a little sidekick who brings a whole new feeling of purpose to life.

I fell a little short on some of my 2012 goals (I’m especially embarrassed to have failed so spectacularly in my grand plans to plant a vegetable garden and paint the house), but that’s okay.  Goals should be a challenge (but an achievable challenge).  In that spirit, here are my goals for 2013.  I’m sticking with the same format of setting categories, but including a few small goals in each category instead of one big goal for each.

BLOG

1. Keep up a M, W, F posting schedule consistently all year – no blog breaks.
2. Stay informed about current events in the literary world, and post about them.
3. Shoot a new header that reflects the spirit of the blog.

HOME

1. Get the rest of the house painted (even if I have to hire professionals to do it).
2. Hang curtains!
3. Plant an herb garden, and don’t kill it this time.

FITNESS

1. Get back into road racing.
2. Get into a regular yoga practice.
3. Join Stroller Strides and attend regularly.

READING

1. Really, really read more books I already own.  I mean it this time.
2. Read at least one classic every month.
3. Explore more non-fiction.

LIFE/FAMILY

1. Seek out ways to be a better wife and mother, and practice them.
2. Practice gratitude even when life gets challenging.
3. Love my little Peanut wildly.

What are your goals for 2013?

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Reading Round-Up: December 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 December, 2012…

Village Affairs, by Miss Read (Fairacre #13) – Poor Miss Read goes through the ringer in this Fairacre installment.  Early on in the book, she learns of rumors that Fairacre School may be closing, and the children bussed to nearby Beech Green.  These rumors pop up occasionally but seem to have more force this time.  Soon enough, the villagers are up in arms about the idea of their beloved school closing and their cherished teacher being turned out of her home!  Meanwhile, school cleaner Mrs Pringle is on a diet (bad news for everyone) and her niece Minnie Pringle is going through marital difficulties.  To help Minnie out, Miss Read offers her an afternoon’s cleaning once a week, but immediately regrets the offer – as anyone who has journeyed through Fairacre knows, Minnie is more akin to a tornado than a cleaning lady.  How will Miss Read cope with all the stress?  With her trademark wit and good humor, of course!

The Kalahari Typing School for Men, by Alexander McCall Smith (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency #4) – I was into this series awhile back and then got sucked into Maisie Dobbs, and apparently I can only read one mystery series at a time, because Mma Ramotswe & co. got thrown aside in favor of Maisie and Billy.  But since finishing the Maisie series (or all the books that have been written in the series thus far) I have wanted to get back into this one and finally grabbed the next two installments during a library run.  Precious Ramotswe is back and in good form here.  As usual, Mma Ramotswe has many things on her mind – a new detective has set up a competing agency, touting his manliness as an essential ingredient in private investigations, Mma Makutsi is lonely and needs a man, and a new client has asked Mma Ramotswe to help him right some old wrongs.  One thing is for sure – Mma Ramotswe will sort out these messes as she always does, gracefully and with good humor.

The Full Cupboard of Life, by Alexander McCall Smith (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency #5) – Back to Botswana for the fifth No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency book, and Precious Ramotswe is as busy as ever.  Between investigating the suitors of a wealthy client and trying to help Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni get out of the latest trap set for him by Mma Potokwame, Mistress of the Orphan Farm (this time, a parachute jump for charity), Mma Ramotswe has her hands full.  But she has more than just work and the usual hijinks on her mind.  When will she ever become Mrs. J.L.B. Matekoni???  I love these novels, so full of sweetness and joy.

Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall #2) – A lawyer’s work is never done, is it?  Poor Thomas Cromwell.  In Wolf Hall, the first installment in a planned trilogy, Cromwell was working tirelessly to oust Katherine of Aragon and insert Anne Boleyn.  Now it’s three years later.  Anne has failed to produce a son and – a worse offense – she’s gotten skinny and shrewish.  And Henry has noticed a pretty, polite, and most important of all, quiet maiden named Jane Seymour.  Now Cromwell is again tasked with ousting a queen and placing a new family in power.  Boleyns out, Seymours in.  Like its predecessor, Bring Up the Bodies was meticulously researched, fastidiously written and monumentally engaging, and like its predecessor, it won the Man Booker Prize.  And well deserved it.  The Wolf Hall novels are going to be among the highlights of my reading year.

Village Christmas, by Miss Read (Fairacre #6) – Despite my best efforts to read in order, I’m a little off with the Fairacre books and am reading all three Christmas novels this month.  This is a short one, more of a novella, and Miss Read doesn’t even appear.  Instead, it focuses on the elderly Waters sisters and how they come to show Christmas goodwill to their new neighbors.  The Emery family are Londoners, with habits the Fairacre folk consider odd (wearing funny clothes, being excessively friendly, and the like), but when Mrs Emery goes into labor on Christmas morning, Mary and Margaret put aside their plans for a quiet holiday and learn a lesson about goodwill and loving their neighbors as themselves in the process.  Sweet holiday read.

The Christmas Mouse, by Miss Read (Fairacre #10) – Hmmm.  This was the first Miss Read book that I was decidedly cool on.  The book focuses on the Benson family near Caxley, one memorable Christmas Eve.  Mrs Benson and her widowed daughter Mary are preparing Christmas for Mary’s two young daughters when Mrs Benson discovers a mouse in her room.  She has a horror of mice and exiles herself to the parlor while Mary sets a trap.  That night after Mary has gone to bed, Mrs Benson receives another unexpected visitor – a young boy who has run away from his foster family.  If little Stephen expected tea and sympathy, he presented himself at the wrong house.  Instead, he gets bread and milk and a lecture on ingratitude, and is sent packing (to walk three miles in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve) as soon as the rain stops.  To me it seemed clear that he was yearning to feel truly part of a family and that he felt himself an outsider.  If he’d shown up at my door, he’d have gotten hugs, not lectures.

No Holly for Miss Quinn, by Miss Read (Fairacre #12) – Muuuuuuuuuch better!  Here was a Scrooge-like character who actually changes!  The introverted, solitude-loving Miss Quinn is planning a quiet Christmas holiday filled with decorating when she is suddenly pressed into sisterly service, having been called upon to watch over her brother’s three children while their mother is hospitalized.  Reluctant and disappointed at first, Miss Quinn throws herself into aunt duties and allows her two irrepressible nieces to sweep her along a tide of family fun and holiday joy, resulting in a thawing of Miss Quinn’s icy demeanor and a rejuvenated relationship with her brother.  Loved.

Skios, by Michael Frayn – You could tell the author is a playwright.  Not since Shakespeare have I read a farce in which so many people were confused about one another’s identities, or in which so much general hilarity resulted.  The cool, efficient Nikki Hook is preparing for the keynote speech at a cultural organization she effectively runs on the island of Skios, and is pleasantly suprised to find that the speaker isn’t the paunchy, balding, pompous man she expected but rather a rakish charmer.  Mere miles away, Nikki’s friend Georgie is preparing to cheat on her boyfriend with a rakish charmer and instead finds a paunchy, balding, pompous man who is supposed to be giving the keynote speech for a cultural organization… can you say oopsie?  I was laughing from beginning to end.

A Christmas Memory, One Christmas and The Thanksgiving Visitor, by Truman Capote – I’ve read In Cold Blood (four times) but never picked up any of Capote’s other works, so I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from these.  What I found were sweet, poignant semi-autobiographical tales of the holiday memories of Buddy, a young Alabama boy modeled on Capote.  In A Christmas Memory (my favorite of the bunch), Buddy and his best friend, his elderly cousin Miss Sook, make fruitcakes and Buddy ruminates on his love for Miss Sook.  In One Christmas, Buddy is shipped off to New Orleans to spend Christmas with his estranged father and suffers the loss of several of his childish illusions.  Finally, in The Thanksgiving Visitor, Miss Sook teaches Buddy an important lesson about friendship and forgiveness when she invites the school bully to take part in their holiday celebrations.  I got through this slender volume in a day and loved every minute.

The White Robin, by Miss Read (Fairacre #14) –  Another slim volume took me back to Fairacre, which has suddenly been graced with the presence of an albino robin.  The town is beside itself with excitement and the local ornithologist is much in demand.  But the white robin comes to an untimely end and the perpetrator is in the townsfolk’s midst.  Can they forgive and move on?  This one was the work of a day, and much of it read out loud to Peanut.  I liked the sweet, simple story of understanding and forgiveness, and the satisfying ending.

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, by Alexander McCall Smith (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency #6) – Mma Ramotswe is always busy, but in this installment of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books, she has a real problem on her hands.  Right when Mma Ramotswe should be settling in to enjoy life with her kind new husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, and their two adopted children, her first husband Note Makoti comes back and threatens to reveal a damaging secret from Mma Ramotswe’s past unless she pays him off.  Oh, and there’s more.  One of the apprentices has run away, the garage has a new employee with a past, Mma Makutsi has begun taking dance lessons, someone broke into Mma Ramotswe’s house and hid under the bed until he was almost crushed by her traditional build, and a mysterious pumpkin has appeared in her garden.  What is a private detective to do?  I think this was my favorite so far from this series.  Some real drama – Note is a bad, bad, evil person – kept me turning pages until the characters wrapped up one of their nice, neat endings.  This series gets better and better!

Betsy Was A Junior, by Maud Hart Lovelace (Betsy-Tacy #7) – Back to the Betsy-Tacy books.  As is the pattern with the high school books, the first chapter finds Betsy making all kinds of resolutions and promising to be serious about her writing.  And of course it all goes haywire.  Betsy’s sister Julia goes off to college and comes home with tales of sororities, inspiring Betsy to start her own sorority at Deep Valley High, the Okto Deltas.  But the Okto Deltas have the effect of branding Betsy and her friends as snobs, causing them to be excluded from school events, and even threatening to break up the Crowd.  In the end Betsy learns that sisterhoods must grow – they can’t be forced.  This was a sweet read and I love getting lost in the escapades of Betsy and her Crowd, although I didn’t agree with the “sororities = bad” message.  (I’m proud to be a sorority girl; I had a wonderful sorority experience.  My Alpha Phi sisters are some of my closest friends to this day and I will never regret getting to know them in college, nor will I ever forget the visits, flowers, messages of support and even boxes of diapers that so many Alpha Phis sent when hubby and I were deep in the NICU trenches.  But I do agree that sororities in high school are a terrible idea – high school girls are far too catty and juvenile to be trusted with Greek letters.)

Betsy and Joe, by Maud Hart Lovelace (Betsy-Tacy #8) – Finally, finally, Betsy gets to “go with” Joe Willard.  In fact, Betsy has two admirers – Joe, who she likes romantically, and Tony, who she was once keen on but who now inspires only sisterly feelings.  Tony’s attentions soon threaten to drive a wedge between Joe and Betsy, and Betsy can’t seem to find her way out of the predicament.  (I suppose it’s because this story took place in 1909-10 that Betsy couldn’t simply say to Tony, straight up, “Look, I’m flattered but I have feelings for someone else.  Friends?”)  But at least Betsy is a bit more serious about school this year, and she even foregoes the Easter Week parties when she realizes she needs a break.  Growth!  The other characters are growing up, too.  Julia is off studying music in Germany, Tib exercises her persuasive abilities, and Tacy, who Betsy and Tib had speculated would wind up a spinster, turns out to not need any help at all in the matrimonial department.  The end of the book – which culminates in Betsy’s, Joe’s and the Crowd’s graduation from high school – is satisfying and heartwarming.

Taft 2012, by Jason Heller – I saw this on a book blog and knew immediately that I’d love it, and I was right.  The premise is this: William Howard Taft, President of the United States, disappears in early 1913, on the morning of Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration and his departure from the Oval Office.  Taft, a political Rip van Winkle, spends the next ninety-nine years hibernating under the grass of the Ellipse until he awakens in 2011 and soon finds himself running for President again, much to his dismay.  Taft 2012 was warm, witty, and packed quite a bit of common sense – worthy of Taft himself.  I’d vote for him!  Highly recommend.

Betsy and the Great World, by Maud Hart Lovelace (Betsy-Tacy #9) – I think that Betsy and the Great World was my favorite of the Betsy-Tacy books.  In this book, Betsy departs for a Grand Tour of sorts, to learn to live in the world and gather material for her writing.  She stops for extended periods in Munich (where she befriends three Germans of very different circumstances and encounters some German soldiers outside a bathroom; Venice (where she is courted by a handsome Italian architect who almost makes her forget her ex-love, Joe Willard); and London (where she finds herself a Crowd of Brits and witnesses the beginning of World War I).  Betsy returns from her tour amidst gathering storm clouds of war, but with a joyful new future to anticipate.  This read was sweet and fun, as all the Betsy-Tacy books are, but also a bit chilling as you watched the beginnings of a disastrous war through Betsy’s eyes.

Betsy’s Wedding, by Maud Hart Lovelace (Betsy-Tacy #10) – Betsy has returned from Europe to find her old love, Joe, waiting for her and prepared to rekindle their romance.  They are engaged quickly and married even more quickly, and Betsy plunges into her new life as a wife.  She discovers that she is good at cleaning and at budgeting, but not so much at cooking or matchmaking.  I loved reading about Betsy’s wifely learning curve – especially during the only episode where her relationship with Joe is really tested (he invites his Aunt Ruth to stay with them for an extended period of time and Betsy must come to terms with the idea of sharing her newlywed nest with the closest thing to a mother-in-law she has – she rises to the task with grace).  Although Betsy’s Wedding ended with a joyful celebration, there is darkness ahead for the Crowd and friends as the men go off to war.  But I do believe that Joe comes home and that Betsy gets her baby Bettina one day.  I wouldn’t have it any other way!

A good end to 2012 – snuggling and reading on the couch for long stretches of the day with my sweet Peanut curled up in my arms.  What could be better?  I loved most of this month’s reads.  Some No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, some Fairacre, Bring Up the Bodies and some Betsy-Tacy, and more.  This was a happy month of reading.  Now to dreaming of pages to be turned in 2013…

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2012: A Year in Books

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When I was sixteen, I set a goal to read 50 books in a year.  They had to be books that I wasn’t reading anyway for a class assignment, books I’d never read before, and books that I would be proud to show to my favorite English teacher.  I kept a list all year and I recently came across it again – my mom saved it and slipped it into the back of my baby book, which she gave to me along with a blank one to fill in when Peanut was born.  Looking back over the list, it appears that I was on a major Agatha Christie kick that year.  But I also fit in Jane Eyre, Emma, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Walden, Wuthering Heights and Anna Karenina and a handful of Eugene O’Neill plays.  I had a major “thing” for Eugene O’Neill in high school.  Oh, and sixteen-year-old Jac also found time to read a book on college applications and a bio of my favorite band, R.E.M.  (Some things really haven’t changed.)  Looking back at my 1998 book list, I remembered what fun it was to go over my reading at the end of the year.  In fact, I think I’ve done something of the sort most years since.

This year I’ve managed to squeeze in plenty of reading time, even with some busy times at work, not to mention pregnancy and a NICU journey and a newborn.  Reading has always been my escape and my leisure.  So here’s 2012, by the numbers.

In 2012, I read 98 books (82 fiction and 16 non-fiction), and a total of 31,491 pages.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown:

Download Your Pie Chart

Download Your Pie Chart

Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper reading wrap-up post if I didn’t tell you my favorites, would it?  Here, in no particular order, are my top ten favorite books read in 2012:

Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel – I loved this 2009 Man Booker winner, which focused on the trials and tribulations of Thomas Cromwell as he bends the law to allow Henry VIII to divorce Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn.  Fascinating story (even though I knew how things ended, for Henry and Katherine and Anne, it was still interesting to read a version with Cromwell as the main character) and gorgeous prose.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain – As someone who has always tried to overcome my introverted tendencies (berating myself for being boring when I wanted to stay home with a book instead of go out and party, and always, always trying too hard to be bubbly and chatty) I loved reading about “mah people.”  Susan Cain explains how American society came to embrace an “extrovert ideal” and how introverts can capitalize on their own personalities to succeed professionally.  Fascinating mix of social science and cheerleading for those of us who’d rather recharge with some alone time than in a crowd.

Freddy and Fredericka, by Mark Helprin – I laughed my way through this royal farce.  A spoof Charles and Di are sent to re-conquer the United States for Great Britain.  Traveling incognito across America, they learn to love one another.  Silly, sweet, and just what I wanted to read after long days in the NICU.

Shine Shine Shine, by Lydia Netzer – I was captivated by this tale of a marriage of two outsiders.  Sunny and Maxon bonded over being different.  But when Sunny became pregnant, she decided she didn’t want to be different anymore.  Now Maxon, an astronaut, is stranded on a broken-down rocket and Sunny must decide if she wants to abandon her quest for conformity and save her marriage.  But will she be too late?  Loved the writing and I was glued to the story.

The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien – I’d been meaning to get around to this one for quite some time, and I finally did.  I loved the sweet, fun story of Bilbo Baggins and how he goes from being a stay-at-home hobbit to an adventurer.  One of these days I might even get out to see the movie, although I doubt it will bring me quite as much joy as the book did.

A Good American, by Alex George – Oh, my goodness.  I can’t stop gushing about this gorgeous book.  The story of an immigrant family over several generations (and about a century), it has become my gold standard by which I measure all future family sagas.  I laughed and I cried and I tweeted the author to tell him how much I enjoyed his work (and he tweeted me back!).

The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey – I love when I read a book for the characters and get swept away by gorgeous prose.  The Snow Child was everything a book should be – as crystal clear and evocative as a photograph, emotional, gripping, and beautiful.  Just a stunning, stunning book all around.

11/22/63, by Stephen King – My first Stephen King novel was so much fun.  I couldn’t put it down; I loved the descriptions of life in the 1950s as Jake/George learned to navigate a new decade and love again after his divorce.  And time travel novels are my weakness, so I knew I’d be a fan.

The Mapping of Love and Death, by Jacqueline Winspear – I read all the Maisie Dobbs mysteries this year, and this one was my favorite.  Maisie is a lovable, if sometimes exasperating, heroine, and her cases are always fraught with emotion and danger.  The Mapping of Love and Death was, in my opinion, the best book out of a really remarkable series.

Bring Up The Bodies, by Hilary Mantel – It’s not cheating to name two books from a trilogy to my top-ten-bests, because Bring Up The Bodies ALSO won a Man Booker.  So if the Man Booker awards committee can double up on the Hilary Mantel, so can I, amirite?  In this installment, Cromwell finds himself undoing all his previous work (in a sense) – after spending all of Wolf Hall trying to install Anne Boleyn on the throne, he spends all of Bring Up The Bodies trying to dislodge her and sub in Jane Seymour.  Again, I knew how it would turn out, but loved seeing how the events unfolded from Cromwell’s perspective.

All in all, I’m happy – but not thrilled – with my reading in 2012.  I’d like to have read more classics (I counted the Fairacre books as classics – since I think they are – and they inflated my totals) and more literary fiction, and a little less general fiction.  I got very swept up in hyped new releases this year (explaining my excesses at the library) and I wish I had spent more time reading through my TBR and the books I already had on my shelves.  Had I done that, there’d have been more classics on the list, for sure, and more literary fiction too.  But I enjoyed my reading immensely in 2012, and I think that qualifies as a success.

How was your 2012 reading?  What are your goals for 2013 reading?  (I’ll be sharing mine next week.)

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Very Inspired

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Hi, friends.  How did you ring in 2013?  I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season, and that you all have a joyful, healthy and inspiring 2013!

Oh, speaking of inspiring, guess what?!  The ever-gracious A.M.B. of The Misfortune of Knowing has nominated Covered In Flour for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award!  Now if that isn’t a way to begin 2013 – with some positive feedback from a blogger whose work I really enjoy and respect – then I don’t know what is.  A.M.B. says that she and I have a lot in common – we’re both 31-year-old attorneys, moms to preemies, and fans of the Cotswolds – and I couldn’t agree more.  But I’m really honored and flattered that she feels that we are alike, and that she finds my blog inspiring, because I always find her blog smart, well-written and thought-provoking.

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So, here are the Pirate Codes guidelines for the award: (1) say thanks and give a link to the blogger who nominated you; (2) post the award pic to your own blog; and (3) list seven little-known facts about yourself.  Of course, you don’t have to play along!  It’s all in good fun.

My Very Inspiring Nominees

I’d love to turn right around and re-nominate A.M.B., since I think her blog is one of the most inspiring out there.  Her posts about court cases relating to censorship and copyright issues are right after my lawyerly bookworm heart, her book reviews are always thoughtful (even when we don’t agree), and her little girls are dangerously adorable.  But since I’m pretty sure that re-nominating the blogger who gave you the award in the first place is cheating, here – in no specific order – are three other bloggers who have inspired me, both through their posts and through our interactions in the comments sections on their blogs and my own.

Cakes, Tea and Dreams – Katie writes about books, travel, love and family, life in Boston, spirituality and so much more.  Her blog is one of my absolute favorites to read, because she always speaks directly to my heart.  Beyond the blogs, we’ve had a (longhand, snail-mail) correspondence going for over a year now, and very few things bring a smile to my face the way seeing one of her letters in my mailbox does.  And she’s just as lovely and gracious in person as she is online and in letters – she and her wonderful husband Jeremiah visited D.C. this summer and stayed with hubby and me, and we all had a marvelous time.

Eagle-Eyed Editor – This blog is another one, like The Misfortune of Knowing, that I’m so glad to have found in 2012.  Whether the topic is literary bucket lists, favorite (and least favorite) words, funny church stories, or so much more, I am guaranteed to love every word.

The Girl Next Door – I love reading blogs about people in far-flung locations and learning about different lives, and The Girl Next Door is perfect for that.  She writes about life in Bangalore (with luscious pictures – I can’t get enough of her snaps of her incredible travels and of the flora and architecture closer to her home) and about books, food and family.  And she includes her own original poetry and short fiction.  Beautiful writing, thoughtful posts and great pictures – the makings of an outstanding blog!

Seven Little-Known Facts About Me

This is kind of difficult!  I’m not sure if I can come up with seven facts that I haven’t blogged about before, but that I don’t consider too private or personal to share.  But I’ll give it the old Hogwarts try.

1) When I was in high school, I had a “job” teaching piano lessons to little kids.  They’d come to my house for a half-hour lesson once a week and at the end of the year we had a recital with all of their parents.  I made cookies.

2) I have a weirdly good memory for things like song lyrics and lines from movies or TV shows.  I have memorized R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” and also Sir Mix-a-lot’s “Baby Got Back.”  (Yes, I have a diverse repertoire.)  And with minimal prompting I can pretty much recite every episode of “Friends.”

3) It drives me cahhhhh-razy when people mispronounce the word “nuclear.”  I don’t care what you say, “nuc-u-lar” is not “an acceptable alternative pronounciation” – no matter how many people mispronounce the word, it’s still a mispronunciation.  This is one of my pet peeves.

4) Jane Austen is my favorite author, but Jane Eyre is my favorite book.  I can’t explain.

5) I learned to tell my lefts from my rights based on a beauty mark I had on my left hand.  Then the beauty mark faded away, and I made wrong turns for several years.

6) I have big hiking ambitions.  Someday, probably when I retire (if I ever retire) I’d like to hike the entire South West Coast Path in England.  And I really, really want to become an Adirondack 46er.

7) I cherish a secret, back-burnered ambition to write a novel.  (Who doesn’t?)  But I’m thinking of actually giving it a real try.  I have the basic outlines of a plot, and lots of research to do (it’s a historical fiction plot).  Maybe in 2013?

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2012: Year In Review

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2012 is going to go down in history.  (My personal history, that is.)  As bad as 2011 was to me, that’s how good 2012 was.  I ended 2011 sad and discouraged.  I end 2012 bouyant and on top of the world, for one reason: this was the year I got my baby.  Oh, it wasn’t the easiest road – Peanut was a teeny little 31-week preemie who spent seven grueling weeks in the NICU.  But since I’ve spent the vast majority of 2012 being wildly happy, first to be pregnant and then to be a mom (especially after Peanut came home from the hospital), I’m calling this year the biggest WIN ever.

Oh, but I did have some goals that I set at the beginning of the year, and then revisited six months in with a progress report.  Now I’m ready to look back on the year and see how I did.  Here’re my grades…

BLOG

Goal: Clean up categories and redesign blog to look less like a strictly-food blog and more like the creative space I envision when I write here.

Grade: B+

Notes: I made time for almost all the blog clean-up I wanted.  I did reorganize the categories and the tag cloud, and I added a Goodreads widget, so the blog doesn’t look like a food blog anymore (since it’s not a food blog anymore).  I’d still like to shoot a new header, so maybe I’ll find the time to do that this coming year.

HOME

Goal: Finish painting!  And plant a gigantic vegetable garden.

Grade: F

Notes: I only painted one room: Peanut’s nursery.  Well, to be honest, hubby painted it while I watched.  And while it’s super cute in there, the rest of the house is desperately in need of some love.  The builder bland look is SO not my bag of chips.  I set a goal of painting the master bedroom purple before I turn 32, but as for the rest of the house, I’m seriously considering hiring someone.  Normally I’m very much against paying someone to do something that hubby and I could do ourselves.  But I think the time has come to admit that we’re just not going to do this and we need to call in a professional and just get the job DONE already.  And as for the garden, hubby kindly planted me one while I laid on the couch, having been knocked sideways by spring allergies and first trimester exhaustion.  But the northern Virginia sun done burned it all up.  Boo, sun.  I think our cauliflower is finally coming in, though, ten months after planting.  So…

FITNESS

Goal: I’d love to run another half marathon, if circumstances are right.

Grade: Incomplete.

Notes: When I wrote “if circumstances are right,” I secretly meant “if I continue to be irritatingly un-pregnant.”  I knew that 13.1 miles while preggers, which some women don’t blink at, was beyond my capability.  But I figured that another half mary would be a good distration as long as I wasn’t knocked up.  However.  The pregnancy gods finally smiled upon me and I spent the bulk of the year either pregnant, trucking to the NICU, or caring for a baby at home, so the half didn’t happen.  I’m not planning one for 2013, but maybe 2014.

READING

Goal: Plow through my to-read list and make some headway on reading the books I already own.

Grade: B

Notes: The main driving force behind this goal was a desire to save money and stop buying so durn many books.  I achieved that by going nuts at the library.  So I think I complied with the spirit of the goal.  And I did read a handful of books from my to-read list.  This one was a solid effort, although I can do better.  I have a lot of books that I actually own and would like to read, so I think I’m going to revisit this goal in 2013.

LIFE

Goal: Wake up smiling and live each day with exuberance.

Grade: A-

Notes: It helped that I spent most of this year enjoying an easy pregnancy and a mellow baby.  Aside from the seven depressing weeks in the NICU, I’ve had a wonderful year, which made it easy to smile most days (unlike 2011, when my facial expressions pretty much cycled between scowl, frown, and whimper).  I’m not sure I am at a point where I can smile even when life throws me tough circumstances – goodness knows I didn’t smile much between August 21st and October 11th this year – but at least I know I can appreciate the good when it comes.  I hope 2013 is as good to our family as 2012 was.  I’ll split my face from grinning.

BIG DREAM

In my post welcoming 2012, I mentioned that I had a big dream I was cherishing for the year, and that I’d tell you what it was if it came true.  Well, it came true.  I’m finally a mom, and motherhood is every bit as magical as I’d hoped it would be.  Peanut has lit up hubby’s and my life, and we’re so in love with her we can barely function.  And I promise no more secretive hinting – all my goals and dreams for 2013 will be out in the open!

How was your 2012?  Did you meet your goals?  Or did you fall a little short, but feel great anyway?  Share with me!  (Please.)

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2012 Book Superlatives

I had so much fun giving high school yearbook-style awards to my 2011 books that I thought it’d be a hoot to do a 2012 edition!  So here you have ’em, my 2012 Book Superlatives:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel…(Source)

Brainiest

My “smartest” book this year was One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  It’s definitely one of those “intellectual” books that people pretend to read to look smart at cocktail parties.  This one had been sitting on my TBR forever, but once I got around to finally reading it, I was blown away by the lovely prose and imagery.  Magical realism isn’t really my thing, but One Hundred Years of Solitude was beautiful.

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Best Looking: Young House Love, by Sherry and John Petersik

This idea book is chock full of eye candy!  Sherry and John of Young House Love fame share 243 never-before-seen projects (some big, some small) to give your home a spruce.  Everything is doable, even for DIY novices.  I can’t decide which project is my favorite… maybe the dresser gradient (I love ombre-style pieces).  Or the “stenciled” lace table runner, which looks ridiculously simple and which I am so totally going to do.  I spent a day flipping through the book and came away with tons of fantastic, simple ideas for personalizing my own space, and plenty of inspiration to get going and take on some home projects.

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Best Friends: The Betsy-Tacy Series, by Maud Hart Lovelace

Betsy, Tacy and Tib are best friends growing up in turn of the (last) century Minnesota.  From Betsy’s first meeting with Tacy, to the girls’ weddings and lives as married women, every moment is charming.  On the way they fall in love with the King of Spain, learn that different can be good when they visit Little Syria, create their own fun with a Crowd of friends in high school, and dream about boys and school success.  I loved reading about these friends’ lives in a simpler – but richer – time.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And…(Source)

Class Clown: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), by Mindy Kaling

Mindy is the slightly goofy, totally dorky BFF of my dreams.  This book explores memories of her childhood as a “timid chubster afraid of her own bike,” her college days and her breaking into the comedy scene, and adds musings on the exact perfect amount of fame, why Hollywood stylists hate size 8, and what type of men Mindy simply will not date.  No matter what the topic, Mindy had me in stitches.

Village School by Miss Read(Source)

Teacher’s Pet: The Chronicles of Faircare, by Miss Read

I might be cheating a bit here, but I’m naming an entire series (I haven’t finished it yet, but I’ve read the first fourteen books and I think that’s enough to get a feel for it).  Miss Read is the witty, wise, beloved head teacher of Fairacre School.  Her tales of life in a small English village in the 1950s are sweet without being saccharine, slyly funny, and even informative (not every book, but many, include commentary on rural education and socioeconomic issues of post-war England, but they’re presented in such a way that the reader never bogs down and hardly even notices she’s learning).

The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of…(Source)

Biggest Nerd: The Social Animal, by David Brooks

I like David Brooks’ writing, even though our politics are pretty wildly divergent.  The Social Animal was a fascinating look at 21st-century human life from cradle to grave through two “composite human” characters, Harold and Erica.  While it occasionally got a bit technical, for the most part it was social science that read like a novel.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a…(Source)

Most Creative: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente

The story of September, who is spirited off to Fairyland by a Green Wind, on the back of a Leopard, is full of charm and sweetness and creativity in abundance.  September believes that Fairyland will be a nice change from washing dishes while her mother is off at work, but soon finds that it is a troubled place under the thumb of an evil Marquess (nothing to be done; she has a hat).  This was a sweet, fun, extremely creative story.

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell(Source)

Most Opinionated: The Partly Cloudy Patriot, by Sarah Vowell

Sarah Vowell wins two years in a row!  With her essays on American history and culture, she makes learning – dare I say – FUN.  Last year I compared The Wordy Shipmates to that girl who always has her hand up in history class, but you should listen to her because she’s got good stuff to say.  The Partly Cloudy Patriot is much the same.

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness(Source)

Most Likely to End Up in Hollywood: Shadow of Night, by Deborah Harkness

It’s probably cheating, since I awarded this category to the first book in the All Souls Trilogy (A Discovery of Witches) last year, and this time I’m giving it to the second book in the trilogy.  But I still think this trilogy is going to get filmed eventually (after all, if Twilight was worthy…) and I maintain that Daniel Craig simply must play Matthew.

Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer(Source)

Biggest Loner: Shine Shine Shine, by Lydia Netzer

Maxon and Sunny aren’t exactly loners, since they have each other.  But they’re both definitely the weird kids with big backpacks (much as Sunny tries not to be).  Still, get to know them – they’ll reward you with a beautiful love story that’s about how we are all different, and how we are the same.

Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin(Source)

Cutest Couple: Freddy and Fredericka, by Mark Helprin

Prom King and Queen has to go to Mark Helprin’s royal couple, Frederick, Prince of Wales and Fredericka, Princess of Wales.  Freddy is stuffy, intellectual, terrible with the press, and completely hapless. Fredericka is blonde, vapid, and famously compassionate.  When they are dropped from a helicopter over New Jersey and told to prove their fitness for the throne by re-conquering the United States for Her Majesty the Queen Philippa, they learn to love one another in the process.  I laughed until I cried at these two heartwarming royal goofballs.

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Peanut’s First Christmas

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It wasn’t exactly what I had imagined, but Peanut’s first Christmas was pretty perfect.  We had been talking about going to my parents’ home in upstate New York for the holiday, but we decided to wait because there was a flu going around and we wanted Peanut to be a bit bigger and have had more shots before we took her on such a big trip.  It turned out to be the right decision, since several of my family members were sick and while I know they wouldn’t have gone near Peanut while they were under the weather, we still would have worried.  So we stayed home and celebrated a small, quiet Christmas – just the three of us – and it was just right.

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On Christmas Eve, hubby and I laid out the presents from Santa while Peanut snoozed in her swing.  (In future years we’ll be a lot more judicious about not doing this in front of her – and we’ll leave cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer – but there was really no need for that this year.  We just wanted to get the job done and get Peanut changed and fed and shuffled off to bed.)  She went down beautifully for me, but I couldn’t sleep all night – not excitement, I don’t think; I just couldn’t get comfortable.  Morning came too quickly.

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By daylight, Santa’s stack looked even more insane than when I piled everything up the night before.  I guess he went a little overboard!  Oh, well, is anyone really surprised?  It was bound to happen for Peanut’s first Christmas.  (And probably her second… and third… and what can I say?  Shopping for babies is fun.)  Peanut snoozed while hubby and I caffeinated, and then hubby gave her her 9:00 a.m. bottle and I changed her into her adorable Christmas morning outfit.  And the next thing we knew, it was time for Peanut and hubby to come downstairs while Mommy videotaped the big moment.

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Peanut was bemused, but she does love the lights on the Christmas tree.

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We set her up on her newborn lounger while she checked out all her festively wrapped gifts.  She was definitely interested.  Or is that look more “horrified” than interested?  Heh.  It’s a good thing I didn’t take her to sit on Santa’s lap this year.  I can only imagine the epic silliness that might have ensued.

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Daddy explained Santa to Peanut while Mommy got more tea.  We had a BIG stack to get through.

 

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I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but opening all those gifts was kind of exhausting.  I can’t wait until Peanut can rip wrapping paper herself.  She got plenty of clothes – since she’s almost grown out of her newborn clothes, I thought I’d let Santa outfit her with a 0-3 month wardrobe – and lots of books, because obviously Santa was going to bring plenty of books to this house.  He always does.

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And there were toys, too.  Plenty of toys.  Peanut even liked some of them.  (But she gave this pigeon – who, when you press his tummy, yells LET ME DRIVE THE BUSSSSSSSS! – a pretty dirty look.)  Midway through, I started thinking about making a trip to Target to get a hamper for the family room, to store some of these toys.  Peanut’s pink bins definitely won’t fit it all.

The rest of the day was relaxing.  Daddy played some video games, Mommy had a nice cup of tea and caught up on some Martha Stewart magazines, and we did lots of family snuggling on the couch while watching Downton Abbey (we’re trying to re-watch every episode thus far before series 3 starts airing in January).  And I found the time to roast a chicken (no sense doing a whole turkey for just us) and bake a meyer lemon cake for Christmas dinner.  It may not have been the big, loud family gathering I had in mind when I was pregnant and we were talking about holiday plans. But I had the two most important people in the world right next to me, and the most beautiful gift of all to cuddle with all day.

Merry, indeed.

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Merry and Bright

Merry (almost) Christmas, friends!  I hope that while your cider is mulling, your treats are baking and your lights are twinkling, you are getting some good quality time with your family and friends.  I’m probably buried under a pile of wrapping paper or running around making last-minute preparations for Peanut’s first Christmas as you read this.  ‘Tis the season!

I’ll be back on Wednesday with a Christmas recap, but for now, here’s a poem to bring some sparkle to your holiday, by (who else?) my favorite poet, e.e. cummings.

little tree

little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see     i will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark
and hug you safe and tight
just as your mother would
only don’t be afraid

look     the spangles
that sleep all the year in a dark box
dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine
the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads

put up your little arms
and i’ll give them all to you to hold
every finger shall have its ring
and there won’t be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you’re quite dressed
you’ll stand in the window for everyone to see
and how they’ll stare!
oh but you’ll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands
and looking up at our beautiful tree
we’ll dance and sing
“Noel Noel”

To all my friends: I hope your holiday season is merry and bright.
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Peanut: Four Months

Streeeeetch

Just doing my stretches. Nothing to see here.

WOW – I can’t believe I’m already writing Peanut’s four month update.  I feel like I just pressed “publish” on her three month update, and yet here we are.  Four months.  A third of a year.  Where is the time going?  Please excuse my mom sniffles.

Em n Em

Hi, pretty lady.
You don’t look like my mom, but you seem to have brought food, so I guess you can stay.

This has been a busy month for Peanut & co.  We’ve had an influx of houseguests – Grandma and Auntie Em for Thanksgiving, Aunt R soon after, followed immediately by Nana and Grand Dad, and finally Uncle Dan just last weekend.  And while we love visitors, and we love each of the people who dropped in this month, the flow of houseguests has left both Peanut and her parents exhausted, overstimulated, and in desperate need of some quiet time.  We have about two weeks now without guests, until the next installment of family comes after Christmas, and while I’m so looking forward to seeing them, I’m also glad to have ahead of me a stretch of days where it will just be Peanut and me, snuggling and reading on the couch.

Uncle Dan

Wait. This isn’t Daddy. Seriously, Mom, who is this guy?

Oh, yes.  About the snuggling and reading on the couch.  We’re still doing that, despite the pediatrician’s gentle suggestion that we really should be more disciplined about crib naps.  I have tried to be better about enforcing the crib for naptime, but Peanut really, really hates napping in her crib during the day, even though she’s perfectly happy to snuggle on Mommy anytime.  A big part of the problem with the crib is – as a friend suggested to me – you need to do a “delicate transfer” of baby to crib once baby has nodded off.  Well, that’s fine for tall people (like the friend who suggested it), but I’m very petite (a shade under five feet) and I just can’t execute.  Daddy is more successful because he can keep Peanut snuggled up to his chest while he leans over the crib and deposits her on the mattress before she even realizes what’s happened.  But Mommy has to “forklift” Peanut into the crib and she wakes up every. blinking. time.  So crib naps just aren’t happening that often for us.  But I’m okay with it, because my maternity leave is ticking away and I want to get in as many snuggles as I can before I have to return to the working world.

Santa is coming!

You said he brings presents? Presents? PRESENTS?!?!?!

In addition to hugs and snuggles, I’m storing up smiles.  Peanut is full of them lately – especially between 8:00 and 9:30 a.m.  She greets me with a big grin almost every morning and chats happily through her diaper change and bottle.  And she’s just so much fun in the morning – babbling and interacting with everything and everyone she sees – that she makes me forget how tired I am before my tea.

Oh noes, it's the Mamarazzi again.

Oh noes, it’s the Mamarazzi again.

Of course, hand in hand with those bubbly mornings goes the certainty that she’ll unravel later in the day.  She’s not colicky, thank goodness, but by around 5:30 p.m. she’s pretty much had it with the day and she gets progressively fussier until around 8:00, when she dozes off, usually on Mommy and with one little hand buried under the neckline of Mommy’s shirt.  (I guess she likes her hands to be warm?)  And thus ends most of our days.

Peanut at 4 Months:

Adjusted Age: 2 months
Weight: 8 lbs, 9 oz
Length: ~23 inches cooperative
Clothing Size: Newborn still, but she’s very close to growing out of it.  Santa will be bringing her plenty of 0-3 month size clothes, since she barely has any and she’ll be needing them soon.
Sleep: Lots to say on this front!  We’re still doing fairly well with putting Peanut down after her 9:00 p.m. bottle, although we had a temporary setback in that department.  I was stressed about something for a few days (unrelated to Peanut) and I think she sensed that I was tense and started acting out after her evening bottle as a result.  I definitely think babies can tell, and to paraphrase one article I read while in the thick of it, if you depended on someone else for your survival and they were upset about something, and you didn’t know what it was, wouldn’t you freak out?  When the source of my stress eased up a bit, the nighttime shenanigans eased up too, so I definitely think there was a connection there.  Let’s hope it doesn’t start up again, because I was a pretty tired Mommy for awhile.  Also on the topic of sleep, our pediatrician has told us that at four months we can start gently nudging Peanut toward sleeping through the night.  Huzzah!  We’ll start slowly, by allowing her to stretch out her middle of the night bottle (as in, we won’t wake her up to eat, but instead let her sleep until she wakes up and feels hungry; the ped thinks we’ll get an extra hour or so out of her right off the bat).  I don’t know that we’ll ever go the true “sleep training” route, since I’m more of an attachment parent.  But I am employing some sleep training techniques already; specifically, I’m trying to set up some rituals to signal to Peanut that it’s time to sleep.  When I go in for her 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. bottles I am very quiet and don’t chat or sing, unlike the daytime bottles, because I want her to learn that these are “quiet times.”  But before I put her down at each of those feedings, and for naps during the day, I sing “Hush Little Baby,” which we’ve designated as our “sleepytime” song.  I want Peanut to associate “Hush Little Baby” with cuddling up and going to sleep, so it’s reserved for those times; we sing other songs during the day.  Well – sorry to be so long-winded about sleep!  It’s been a big focus for us this month, though, and sure to remain that way for a few more months yet.
Likes: Still enjoying stroller walks and being carried around; loves to suck on her paci and her toys, especially a crab rattle that was part of a gift basket from my firm; enjoys staring at the pretty white lights on the Christmas tree; madly in love with her swing (still getting used to the bouncey seat, though).  And I wouldn’t call it a “like,” but she is finally beginning to tolerate baths without screaming – win!
Dislikes: Being weighed on her baby scale; tummy time (still) – although she’s pretty much given up on putting any effort into lifting her head, and now she just lays around licking her hand; wearing socks.
Milestones: Great head control while being held basically upright by Mommy or Daddy, although she can’t be bothered to practice during tummy time; lots of smiles and babbling, especially in the morning; rolled over again, for Mommy this time!
Quirks: Definitely a morning person!  She’s bubbly and chatty and oh-so-fun first thing in the morning, then gradually falls apart as the day wears on.  This isn’t surprising at all, since both Mommy and Daddy are morning people as well.  We’ll see how much Auntie Em enjoys it when she takes over baby care duties for us after I go back to work, though…

HA HA MOMMY UR SWADDLES R A JOKE LOL.

HA HA MOMMY UR SWADDLES R A JOKE LOL.

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Triple Ginger Fizz

triple ginger fizz

Sometimes I think I missed my calling.  Wouldn’t it be fun to design cocktails?  Swanky, gourmet, delicious cocktails?  I had this one in mind for Thanksgiving and thought about it for days.  I love ginger and it’s such a holiday flavor for me (although don’t get me wrong: I’ll eat ginger anything, any day of the year).  This cocktail came out just as I imagined it – sweet, slightly warming, fizzy and perfect for a holiday celebration.  We toasted to Peanut’s first Thanksgiving with it, and it’ll be on my Christmas menu too, and probably New Year’s.  It’s just that good.

Triple Ginger Fizz

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2″ ginger root, peeled
candied ginger pieces
ginger licqueur (such as Domaine Canton)
dry (Brut) sparkling wine (such as Champagne, Prosecco, Cava or Cremant de Bourgogne)

  • Prepare the simple syrup: heat sugar and water together with peeled ginger root until the sugar has completely dissolved in water.  Allow the syrup to cool completely as the ginger root steeps.  When syrup is fully cooled, remove and discard ginger root.  (Can be made ahead and refrigerated.)
  • Prepare four Champagne flutes with a few candied ginger pieces in the bottom.
  • Add ginger-infused syrup, dividing equally among four glasses.
  • Add ginger liqueur in equal part to the syrup.
  • Top with sparkling wine (fill glass to the brim – it’s a celebration!).

Source: Covered in Flour