Complete: 23. Go to a book signing

This past weekend I went to the Empire State Book Festival where there were many authors.  I went to some nice panels, mostly with YA authors, including Laurie Halse Anderson and keynote speaker Ann M. Martin.  I actually got a book signed for once.  I bought a book from the Lunch lady series: Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians.  I got the author, Jarrett Krosoczka, to sign it.  It was a really fun day!

March 2011 update

Progress this month:  still slowly getting back into doing this

21.  Read One False Note by Gordon Korman

22.  Read Handbook for Boys by Walter Dean Myers

29.  I created a bulletin board and participated at international night to promote the library

39.  Completed write or die 15 minutes

40.  Successful 3/4 weeks

49.  Justin's birthday dinner and movie

51.  I bought shoes for bridal shower or other wedding events at a local store in Albany

72.  One video for Justin's birthday

D is for Donnelly and F is for Ferris

I just finished listening to some good books.

The first is for my YA novel goal.  A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly.  I did not know at first that this was partially based on the true story of a murder case in Upstate New York.  It is the story of Mattie, a farm girl with big dreams of being a writer.  She lives with her father and sisters and is expected to help keep the farm running, especially now that her mother is dead.  She wants to go to college to learn to write, but between her father's objections and her growing feelings for a local boy, this seems like an unattainable dream.  As if that weren't enough, the dead body of a woman has just been brought to the hotel in which she works, and Mattie has evidence that the woman's death may not have been an accident.
I really enjoyed this story.  Mattie is a well developed and likable character.  It was also cool to hear the names of so many local towns in a book I was reading.

The second book is for my children's book list, although middle schoolers might like it too.  It is called Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris.  This is a funny, romantic tale about Christian, who grew up in the forest with his foster father, a troll named Ed.  He begins a long-distance friendship with Princess Marigold by using P-mail, mail delivered by pigeons.  Finally Chris decides to leave his sheltered forest life and go to the palace to get a job.  I loved this book.  The romance story was very touching, and the characters were very funny.  It had the elements of a fairy tale, with some more modern ideas and humor mixed in.

E is for Election

For my "E" movie I watched Election starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick.  The movie is about Tracy Flick, a straight-A ambitious student running for student council president.  She runs unopposed until her Teacher, Jim McAllister, encourages another student to oppose her.  The movie is hilarious, and Tracy Flick is an unforgettable character.  There are so many hilarious moments in this film, from Mr. McAllister's explanation democracy through the use of fruit, to Tammy Metzler's inspiring campaign speech declaring "Who cares about this stupid election?"  Very entertaining.

A is for Asher, and a new Gaiman novel

I've finished more books to add to my lists!

The first is another novel by Neil Gaiman for my adult novels goal.  I finally got around to reading American Gods.  It took me a while to get into this book.  At first I had no idea what was going on, and I wasn't sure if I liked the characters.  However, after a little while I finally really got into it and ended up loving the novel!  It tells the story of Shadow, who upon leaving jail is employed by the mysterious Wednesday.  He finds himself in the center of a nation-wide conflict between the old gods brought over by immigrants to America, and the new gods that many worship such as the media and technology.  The whole novel is very smart, and a great story.  It kept me surprised.  I didn't figure out the final revelation of the book until right before it was revealed, at about the same time Shadow figures it out.  I love when a book can make me gasp with surprise right up until the end.  Overall I liked Anansi Boys better for its story and characters, but American Gods was really fantastic.

My most recent YA novel is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.  I devoured this book because I was just dying to know what happened.  Clay goes home one day to find a set of 7 cassette tapes waiting for him.  They were recorded by Hannah, a girl from his school who killed herself two weeks previously.  She begins the tapes by saying that if you received the tapes, you are one of the reasons why she killed herself.  If that doesn't suck you in I don't know what will.  Clay spends the night listening to her story, walking all over town to various landmarks in her life.  While I sometimes got annoyed with her reasoning and tendency to blame, I think the character of Hannah was a strong narrator.  She takes the listener (and reader) on an interesting journey.  I strongly recommend this to anyone.

Final June Update

I made pretty good progress in June!

2.  Completed finding a geocache!

16. I only journaled 4/5 times this month.

22.  I recently finished reading Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and Harmless and Boy Meets Boy


32. Went to a Mets game to complete this goal.

33. Went to a Rob Thomas concert to complete this goal

35.  I recently decided on a bunch of shows to drop next tv season.  I still need to decide what new shows to try.

40.  I succeeded in being tv free once a week

42.  I made two new recipies.  One was Wine chicken with Shallots, which was delicious.  The other was Phyllo-wrapped chicken, which was also very good.

44.  I continued to cook at home once a week

49.  The night at the Mets game was our date night for the month

50.  I am considering my goal to move out of my parents' house in progress because Justin and I just signed the lease for our own apartment!  We will be fully moved in by August.

70.  So far I am up to a total of 10 days doing something outside this summer, which is a good start.

78.  I went to a park one time, so I may do this goal this summer.

92.  I finished week 5 of my sit ups, and did my exhaustion test.  I was able to do 83 sit-ups in one go!

W is for Winters, R is for Reinhardt

I've recently finished another YA novel.  This one is Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters.  I enjoyed this reworking of Austen's novel even better than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  I thought the changes were very clever.  It was funny to see how the English might adapt when the sea life surrounding their island becomes hostile.  It almost felt like a new story, but with characters I already know and love, and it was hilarious!

I also finished Harmless by Dana Reinhardt.  This novel tells the story of three girls who tell a terrible lie in order to get out of trouble over being at a party at a senior boy's house.  Instead of admitting to the truth, they create a story that one of them was attacked, leading to the arrest of an innocent man.  It is an interesting look at why people lie, and how good kids can end up doing bad things.

Some new completed goals!

I was busy getting goals completed in June, which makes me feel good about my list progress.

The first is goal number 2: Find a geocache.
This was actually much harder than I thought it would be.  That might be because I was using my dad's old handheld GPS which I had never used before, but I think it was really due to inexperience.  Justin and I attempted to find two caches at Roundtop park.  The first one got us completely lost, off the path, and in fear of poison ivy and ticks.  The second one was off of a path, and we actually found something!  I'm not sure it is the thing we were looking for, but I'm going to count this as a successful completion.

The second complete goal is goal number 33: Go to a Concert

My sister, parents and I saw Rob Thomas perform at golf tournament held in our town.  There were so many people there and it was a really great show.  I have never been a big fan of Rob Thomas.  I enjoy his music and think he has a good voice, but I've never gone out of my way to listen to him.  However, it is very different to see someone perform live.  He was energetic and you could tell he loved making music.  It was a really fun night.



Finally, I completed goal number 32:  Go to a sporting event.

Justin and I went to a Binghamton Mets baseball game last Tuesday.  It was two-for-Tuesday, so beer was cheaper.  There were also fireworks at the end.  Best of all, the Mets won!  There was a grand slam in the third inning that put them way ahead of the other team.

L is for Levithan

I just finished reading Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan.  I listened to it as an audio book.  My first impression was that the story was going to be annoying because the way it is read can be over the top sometimes.  However, once I settled in to the story and got to know the characters better I found it really enjoyable.  The story takes place in an idealized town where kids don't care about sexual or gender orientation.  The narrator is Paul, who has known he is gay since he was five.  The fact that he is gay is not the main point or a conflict in the book.  Rather, it is a story about him falling in love, and still struggling with feelings for a past boyfriend.  This is a refreshing read for teens that doesn't view being gay as being a problem.  After reading the whole book I will definitely recommend it to others.

Mid-June Update

16.  I have written in my journal 3 times so far this month, so I'm on track for that goal.


21.  I read The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood, and A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin


22.  I read Goose Girl by Shannon Hale


41.  Amy, Justin and I had a game night on Saturday.  It was a lot of fun, and we got to play lots of board games.


42. I cooked two new recipes so far.  The firs twas BBQ beef sandwiches, which I made in a crock pot.  They were smoky and tasty.  The second was Mexican lasagna.  It was really easy and tasted pretty good!


44.  I cooked at home on the 9th and 16th, although I missed one week.


61.  I got my second HPV vaccine shot.  Only one more to go!


66.  I'm just about ready to say this one is complete.  I have almost fully converted to Curly Girl.  I wash my hair differently, and dry it differently.  It has gotten much curlier.  So far this month I tried two of the recipes.  I used lemon and baking soda in recipes to clean my hair.  I'm just waiting to see if I can get a Deva style hair cut before I call this one complete.


70.  So far I have done something outside 6 times this month.


75.  I went to another local event: the Apalachin Field Days.  My dad and I worked in the balloon dart booth to benefit challenger baseball.


92.  I am on week 5 out of 6 of my sit ups plan.  I think I may have to repeat the last two weeks a few times before I am ready to do 200 sit ups though.


94.  I finished week 6/12 of my walking.


Finally:  I decided to get rid of goals 38.  Make a list of 100 things I want to see, and 39.  See 20 of them.  I took this goal from someone else's list, and it isn't really resonating with me.  I still am doing the other goal of making a list of things I want to learn about.  I will update when I have replacements for these goals.

L is for LeGuin and W is for Wood

I recently finished two books for my children's book goals. Both of these would be enjoyable for older readers as well, but I am counting them as children's because they would probably be enjoyed by older elementary readers.

The first is The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling.  The School Library Journal review said that this book is like a mix between Jane Eyre and Lemony Snicket, and I see what they mean.  Penelope has just graduated from a boarding school for intelligent orphans.  At the age of 15, she is ready to enter the world as a governess for a rich family.  She responds to an ad and gets a job as the governess to three children.  However, she only finds out after she is hired that these children were raised by wolves, and recently discovered living in the woods.  Penelope does her best to overcome this obstacle, determined to teach the children Latin and French, as well as how to dress and eat properly.  I really enjoyed this story and will eagerly await its sequel.  Not only is the story  entertaining, but it is accompanies by lovely illustrations of the children and their antics.

The next book I finished was A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin.  I can see why this has become a classic fantasy book.  The story is quite different from other fantasy series I have read, and is very interesting.  However, during this read I finally admitted to myself that I don't enjoy high fantasy as much as I have always thought I would.  However, for readers that enjoy it, this is one of the better books I have read.  I made the choice not to continue the series though, as I have recently struggled to get through other long high fantasy series (The Dark is Rising Sequence, and Lloyd Alexander's books, for example).

H is for Shannon Hale

I just listened to a great YA audio book of The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale.  I shouldn't have been surprised that I loved it, because I tend to love stories that are retellings of fairy tales.  This novel tells the fairy tale of the same name by the Brothers Grimm.  It is about Ani, a princess who is betrayed by her guard and closest friend and must become a Goose Girl in a far away land before she can reclaim who she really is.  The characters are very well drawn, as is the plot.  There is always a sense of danger around Ani, and the reader feels that her peaceful life as a goose girl could be ended at any moment.

T is for Tolkien

I finished reading The Hobbit for goal 21, to read 26 children's novels.

I was actually surprised how entertaining this story of a 50-something year old hobbit could be.  I don't think I loved it as much as other people have, but I thought it was entertaining to see Bilbo get himself out of various scrapes, and surprise himself with his courage and adventurous spirit.

Z is for Zusak, and P is for Peck

For goal 22 I have recently read two more YA novels.

The first is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  What can I say?  This book was amazing.  It tells the story of Liesel, who has come to live with  a foster family, the Hubermanns in the early days of Nazi Germany.  The story is told from the point of view of Death, who views the war and the persecution of Jews from a very interesting perspective.  Liesel copes with the difficulties of her life and the war through developing a love of words and reading.  I have not cried reading a book in years, but I was sobbing during this one.  I really recommend the audio book version, which I thought was extremely well done.

The second book I recently finished is The River Between Us by Richard Peck.  This is a fairly short novel about Tilly Pruitt, who lives on the Mississippi River with her family in a town that borders the Union and Confederate territories.  Her life is changed forever when two mysterious women from the south show up on a steamboat, one glamorous and ladylike, and the other darker, perhaps a slave.  Peck's novel shows the beginnings of the Civil War from a perspective that I have never seen before.  It was interesting from a historical point of view, as well as a well-told story about family, love and friendship.

(Late) End of May Update.

Progress since the last update:

Complete!
45. Go to 10 new restaurants.  I finished this when Justin and I were in Corning.  We went to Thali of India for lunch.  It was great.  I hadn't had Indian food in a few years and was really craving it.

In progress:

16.  I journaled 5 times this month

20.  I finished The Kite Runner and Their Eyes Were Watching God


21.  I finished The Hobbit


22.  I finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and The River Between Us by Richard Peck


37.  I watched my S movie: Signs


40.  I had a tv free night in all but one week of May

42.  I cooked Jerk Chicken with Asparagus and Cauliflower, which I took a picture of:

44.  I cooked at home 3/4 weeks because I didn't cook this week.

49.  For our date Justin spent a day in Corning, NY.  We went shopping at all the local shops and had fabulous Indian food.

51.  I shopped at a few local businesses in Corning, including buying something from Market Street Coffee and Tea

92.  I am restarting my sit-ups at week 3 because I lapsed a little bit and want to build my strength up more before continuing.

94.  I've completely stopped walking the past few weeks so I'll have to get back into it

Reading like crazy

I've recently finished two wonderful novels for goal number 20.

The first is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.  This novel is a heartbreaking and touching story of family, regret, and redemption.  It is told from the point of view of Amir, who witnesses a tragedy committed against his childhood friend without doing anything to stop it.  He has to live with this decision for the rest of his life.  This novel was hard to read at points, but ultimately was worth it for its realism and the emotion it stirs.

T

The next is Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. This was one of those books that I had heard of, but I still had no idea what it is about.  It tells the story of a woman, Janie, growing up black in the 1930s.  Although she is technically 3/4ths white, and gets a lot of attention for her looks, ultimately she is considered a black woman.  Not only is this a novel about black people living in this time and place, it is truly a feminist novel in some ways.  Janie is not satisfied to always be second to the men she marries throughout her life, although it takes her some time to come to the realization that she can have some power over her own life and love.

S is for Signs, and C is for Cabot

I finally saw the movie Signs last Friday, and I really enjoyed it.  All the actors did a great job, and even though I knew what ultimately defeats the aliens I was still freaked out.  Aliens in general tend to scare me so my heart was pounding during certain points of the movie.

For my YA novels goal, I've just finished reading Jinx by Meg Cabot.  I always love a good Meg Cabot novel.  They are full of kick-ass heroines and cute guys.  Jinx is about Jean Honeychurch, called Jinx because of her perpetual bad luck.  When she moves in with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in New York she begins an adventure that pits her against her cousin Tory, who is a practicing witch.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

I just finished listening to the audio book of Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.  I loved this book.  It was the first solo adult book of his I've read. I've only previously read The Graveyard Book and Good Omens which he wrote with Terry Pratchett.  This book is about Fat Charlie, who finds out that his father is the god Anansi.  After his father's death he meets the brother he didn't know he had, and goes on a long journey towards discovering the truth about himself and about family.  Gaiman has a wonderful style of writing, and I really enjoyed the reading of the book given in the audio book version.  I highly recommend it.

Mid-May Update

First of all, I got hired as a school library media specialist for the 2010-2011 school year!  That means I have completed goal number 24, which is huge to me!

Other progress:
16.  A little behind on journaling this month so far. I've only done it once.

20.  I finished listening to Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, which was amazing.  I'll write a review next.

37.  I've watched another movie, Reign Over Me, which I have already created a post for.

42.  I've really been on top of cooking new recipes.  I've already tried four more from my Rocco Dispirito book:
1. Baked Onion Rings
2. Healthy Sloppy Joes, which were really good, made with turkey but still tasted just like a sloppy joe
3. Really good sweet potato fries, which had a good spicy-sweet flavor
4.  Healthy Philly Cheese Steak, which I really enjoyed

44.  I have been cooking at home once a week, which lets me try new recipes.

51.  I visited two local businesses.  I bought my mom's mothers day present from Tom's in Binghamton, and some hand lotion and candy from East of the Sun West of the Moon in Owego

66.  I have gone through the Curly Girl Book and have started my conversion.  I'm not going to shampoo anymore and I'm trying out a new conditioner.  I have ordered towels especially designed for getting the right amount of water from curly hair, and I'm going to try some of the home remedies in the book soon.

92.  I just finished week 3 of the 200 sit-up challenge

94.  I just finished week 5 of my 12 week walking program

R is for Reign Over Me

Last night I watched Reign Over Me starring Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler.  I didn't really want to watch the movie because I thought it might be too depressing.  Adam Sandler's character, Charlie, lost his wife and three children in the 9/11 attacks because they were on one of the planes that crashed into the twin towers.  It had more funny moments than I anticipated, and was really more about Don Cheadle's character, who tries to help Charlie and in the process examines his own life and marriage.  Overall I thought it was trying to do too many things and went on too long, but there were definitely some great moments and stellar acting by those involved.