What I remember about my wedding:
My dad feeding the bridesmaids grapes with airplane noises. Grandpa tearing up at the bouquet charms. The bustles on the dress breaking every ten minutes (and the ensuing standing around with my skirt over my head). The absolute gorgeousness of the flowers. How difficult it was to sit down (and Kim giving me the tutorial on leaning back and squeezing my ribs). The moment my heart started beating faster--when we got in the elevator to go upstairs. The feel of my Dad's suit. Turning on Grandpa's mic. Grandpa moving around the order of the ceremony. Lexi screeching during the song. The groomsmen giving us scorecards on the kiss. Forgetting my flowers on the way back down the aisle. How long it felt it took to bustle the dress in the foyer. Saying hello and hugging everyone. Forgetting that Mueller was Mueller (sorry Mueller!). All of us being completely disorganized for the family photos. My skirt catching on the sidewalk in Downtown St. Charles. The hilarious pictures we got (especially the guys). Stealing Brian's aviator sunglasses. (I was SO cool) Stopping for Sonic. The cake being late. Feeding Lexi icing. Catching Mom crying during the father/daughter dance. Not being able to find B.J. to leave. Losing the marriage license. Uncle Charlie acting as a hilarious emcee. Rebecca falling down trying to catch the bride. Jones soda. Finding the marriage license.
Most of all, I want to remember the things that didn't go according to plan, because they are what made the day perfect. I had my best friends around me...people who came from all over the country to share in our happiness. I married my favorite person in the world and I am so grateful.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Dune
This is book #52 referenced in this post
The Plot: A child messiah leads a guerrilla war against the enemy clan who killed his father. Also, something about spice.
The Good: The descriptions of the Freman culture, and the concept of 'the spice'. The addition of lolcat memes are a plus.
The Bad: WTF actually are Paul's abilities?
The Verdict: 4/5 stars. One of the better space science fictions I've read, but it gets docked because I prefer my sci fi to focus more on characters and less on scenery.
Next Up: #19 The Time Traveller's Wife
Atonement
#50 from this post is complete.
I wanted to start off my reading endeavors with something lighter than Dickens and in stock at my local library.
The Plot: A girl accuses her sister's (secret) lover of trying to rape her cousin and is very sorry about it (eventually). She (maybe) tries to make ammends.
The Good: The concept behind the plot and the perspective through which it is explored is cleverly done. The twist in the epilogue is interesting, to say the least.
The Bad: The book loses momentum in the middle, as (ironically) the author seems to have far more connection with the portions narrated by his female characters.
The Verdict: A good book, but not a story that I imagine translates well into film. I won't be seeing the movie. 2.5/5 stars
Next up: Dune (#52) by Frank Herbert
I wanted to start off my reading endeavors with something lighter than Dickens and in stock at my local library.
The Plot: A girl accuses her sister's (secret) lover of trying to rape her cousin and is very sorry about it (eventually). She (maybe) tries to make ammends.
The Good: The concept behind the plot and the perspective through which it is explored is cleverly done. The twist in the epilogue is interesting, to say the least.
The Bad: The book loses momentum in the middle, as (ironically) the author seems to have far more connection with the portions narrated by his female characters.
The Verdict: A good book, but not a story that I imagine translates well into film. I won't be seeing the movie. 2.5/5 stars
Next up: Dune (#52) by Frank Herbert
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Done!
EDIT: This was taken with the camera on a Macbook Pro which reverses the image. It is in fact our left hands.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Ancedotal
About three weeks ago, I saw a sign on a Mexican restaurant, advertising their Cinco de Mayo party.
It said "Cinco de Mayo party -- May 1st and 2nd!"
It said "Cinco de Mayo party -- May 1st and 2nd!"
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Hot or Not 2
HOT: A morning latte when I have to wake up at 5:30.
NOT: The design of the lid that encourages spilling.
NOT: The design of the lid that encourages spilling.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
100 Books
Put an (X) next to the ones you've read and (N) next to the ones you haven't. (O) means you have the book but have not read it yet.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - X
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien - X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - X
6 The Bible - X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte -X
8 1984 - George Orwell -X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - N
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - N
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - X
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - X
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - X
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - N
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk - N
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - X
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger - N
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot - X
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - N
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - N
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens - N
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - N
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - N
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - O
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck - X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - N
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - N
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - X
34 Emma - Jane Austen - X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen - X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis - X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - N
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres - N
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - X
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne - X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - X
42 Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - O
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving - N
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - N
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy - N
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood - X
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding - X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - N
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel - X
52 Dune - Frank Herbert - N
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - N
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth - N
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - N
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - X
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon - X
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - N
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - N
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt - N
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold - X
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - X
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac - X
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - N
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding - N
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie - N
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - N
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - N
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - N
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson - N
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - O
76 The Inferno - Dante - X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - N
78 Germinal - Emile Zola - N
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray -X
80 Possession - AS Byatt - N
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - N
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker - N
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - N
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert - N
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry - N
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White - X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom - X
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton - N
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery [in french counts double] - N
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks - N
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams - N
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - N
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute - N
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - N
A few observations:
- You don't need to list the Complete Works of Shakespeare and Hamlet on the same list.
- Somebody loves Thomas Hardy to excess.
- If one must include Austen, one is sufficient.
- It follows from the previous that this list was compiled by a woman, and probably a single one.
- I am astoundingly remiss at reading the Russians.
- And apparently modern literature as well. My total score was 50/100.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - X
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien - X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - X
6 The Bible - X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte -X
8 1984 - George Orwell -X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - N
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - N
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - X
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - X
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - X
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - N
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk - N
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - X
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger - N
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot - X
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - N
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - N
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens - N
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - N
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - N
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - O
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck - X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - N
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - N
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - X
34 Emma - Jane Austen - X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen - X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis - X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - N
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres - N
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - X
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne - X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - X
42 Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - O
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving - N
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - N
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy - N
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood - X
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding - X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - N
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel - X
52 Dune - Frank Herbert - N
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - N
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth - N
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - N
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - X
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon - X
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - N
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - N
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt - N
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold - X
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - X
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac - X
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - N
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding - N
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie - N
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - N
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - N
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - N
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson - N
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - O
76 The Inferno - Dante - X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - N
78 Germinal - Emile Zola - N
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray -X
80 Possession - AS Byatt - N
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - N
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker - N
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - N
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert - N
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry - N
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White - X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom - X
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton - N
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery [in french counts double] - N
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks - N
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams - N
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - N
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute - N
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - N
A few observations:
- You don't need to list the Complete Works of Shakespeare and Hamlet on the same list.
- Somebody loves Thomas Hardy to excess.
- If one must include Austen, one is sufficient.
- It follows from the previous that this list was compiled by a woman, and probably a single one.
- I am astoundingly remiss at reading the Russians.
- And apparently modern literature as well. My total score was 50/100.
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