Read With Me

I realize I am terribly late in becoming immersed in this series, but I have recently
fallen completely in love with "The Hunger Games" trilogy.  I picked up the first book to
read on our long Thanksgiving holiday road trip and could barely put it down.  It was one
of those books that you carry with you everywhere, devouring every word, every page,
every chapter until, 8 hours later, you are done and rushing to buy the rest of the
series.  Believe the hype: "The Hunger Games" is THAT good.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the story revolves around a cruel and dark nation where
the government has complete control.  Once a year, a boy and girl from each of the
country's 12 districts is randomly picked to participate in a nationally televised fight to
the death.  The story's main character, Katniss, volunteers herself as tribute after
her younger sister is chosen.  I found myself completely immersed in Katniss's world:
her innate survival skills, her ability to emotionally detach herself despite being
incredibly sensitive and giving.  My stomach turned just imagining the emotion the
characters must have felt knowing they were entering the most dangerous
environment imaginable.

I finished the entire series in only a few days, staying up way past my bedtime with
a flashlight, reliving my 12 year old self.  If you haven't read these books yet, GO!  Buy
them!  Light a fire, put on your most comfortable pajamas, and settle in for an emotional
ride.  This series holds a special spot on my bookshelf.

Coffee Talk: The Answers Part 3

A few more of your questions answered, as told through my rambling answers
and a few photos here and there...

6.  Who are your favorite musicians/bands?  What are your 
favorite books? ~ Deanna from Delirious Rhapsody

Music has always been such a big part of my life: from my early childhood, dancing with
my brother to my mother's amazing record collection, to singing in my brother's high
school rock band, "Dysfunctional Family Tree", to sitting on the decks of the ship
while serving in the Navy, listening to Shawn play the guitar and singing our favorite
love songs together.  Our house is always filled with music, either live or blasting
on the stereo.

I was fortunate enough to be a teenager during the 90's grunge era, rocking my Doc
Martens and flannel shirt and devoting my entire heart and soul to the notion that I
would someday be Mrs. Eddie Vedder.  The spirit of that time was ground breaking:
keep your bubble gum pop music and empty lyrics, we're pissed off and we're going to
scream about it!  Kurt Cobain gave us an anthem and Chris Cornell taught us how to use
it.  If you don't know who these people are, it's probably because you had the unfortunate
fate of having to idolize Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys, so sad.

My favorite type of music is rock, but my taste spans a pretty large spectrum.  I love
indie and folk, grunge and punk, my Southern roots tie me hard to the blues.  I don't
like anything that involves an auto-tuner and overproduced drum machines.  Give
me a guitar, original lyrics, and something to pump my fist to.  Going to shows, seeing
our favorite bands live: it's our passion.  Festivals and rock shows, small clubs and open
mic nights.  We enjoy family jam sessions and sing-a-longs under the stars with
friends.  We've acquired quite an array of musical instruments over the years and
love gathering in a circle, allowing the inspiration and tribal funk to flow.  

Here's an example of what you might hear playing at our house,
a few favorites old and new...

  And reading, oh how I love to read!  My mother didn't allow us to watch very much
TV when we were little: instead encouraging us to play music, sending me to dance
class, weekly trips to the library where I devoured every book I could get my hands on.
She gave us the gift of imagination, showed us the magic that exists when you loose
yourself in a piece of literature, in a beautiful song.  It's something I hope to pass on
to my children as well.

I get obsessed with reading series.  It all started with Anne Rice back in junior high:
I read through her entire vampire series and LOVED it.  I love series that create a
whole other world, developing characters and places and pulling you in, making you
want to know more and more.  Some of my other favorites are the Sookie Stackhouse
series, Philipa Gregory's historical fiction novels about the Tudor dynasty, Harry Potter,
and The Twilight books. I also love biographies and a good love story every now and
then.  Basically, I just love to read and try to make time for a good book whenever
I can squeeze it in...

7.  As a current Med/Surg nurse looking for something new on the 
nursing frontier, I was curious as to how you like home health nursing! 
What made you decide to pursue that change in your career? 
~ Alyssa from The Lovely Things in Life 

Nursing truly is an amazing career: we have so many options of what we can do, places
we can go, different patient populations to work with.  The freedom and endless
possibilities are what drew me to nursing in the first place.  I love the fact that my career
can change with my lifestyle.  I was a Med-Surg nurse for several years and loved it.  I
loved the adrenaline rush of caring for critically ill patients, the fast pace, and the
interesting array of situations my job put me in.  But then, we had our second child and
my life got a little more full.  I suddenly started to dread going to work, the thought of
being away from home for 12 hours began to seem daunting.  I could feel me heart
breaking more and more each week.

I made the decision to find a new job that would provide hours more conducive to raising
my daughters and spending time with my husband.  After making a million lists of pros
and cons, networking my butt off, and praying for the right opportunity, I was offered
a job with a local, fast growing home health company.  So far, I LOVE it!  The hours
are amazing: I work from 8 am until 2-3 pm Monday-Friday, no nights, no holidays,
no weekends.  I am able to get Isabelle off to school and I am home when she gets off
the school bus everyday.  I only have to miss one feeding with my little Brees.  I have
dinner on the table every night and every weekend off.  My patients are adorable and
the nature of the job is bringing out different skills in my nursing repertoire that I
haven't honed in on thus far: being a home health nurse requires a lot of assessment skills
and putting the whole picture together.  It's incredibly rewarding to walk into a home,
assess the situation holistically, and then make critical thinking decisions to improve
the problems that have been contributing to a patient's illness.  I like the fact that I am
on my own, making my own schedule and responsible for my day and my patients.
The ability to be autonomous is amazing and it is forcing me to grow in my
knowledge base.

The only down side I see so far is using my car for work.  While I am reimbursed by
my company for mileage, the wear and tear on my vehicle will eventually catch up.
But really, what more could you want than cruising around in your own car all day,
listening to your favorite tunes, taking care of people in need?  No boss breathing down
your neck, no catty office politics?  My company views me as an educated individual
capable of performing my work to the highest standard, therefore there's no
micro-managing.  Just a nurse on the open highway!  Shawn and I thought long and
hard about what was best for our family, our sanity, and our finances.  God really
blessed us with this job because it truly has benefited all of those aspects.  For now, this
job is perfect for our lifestyle and where I am in my career.  And when our needs
change and this job no longer suits us, I'll set off in search of something else that
does.  Nursing equals job security and, in this day and age, that in itself
is a blessing!!

Good luck with your journey, Alyssa!!

Read With Me

I can NOT tell you how excited I was to receive my pre-ordered copy of the latest book in
the Sookie Stackhouse series last month!  Yes, I am one of those women who read
books about fictional vampires.  I have also been known to stand in line for the
movie adaptations for hours at a time just to see the midnight premiers!  It is no secret
that I have very eclectic taste when it comes to books and movies.  I will go from a
biography about Joseph Stalin to a historical fiction novel about Queen Mary Tudor
to a romance triangle between a teenage girl, a vampire, and a werewolf.  But that is
why I love to read so much: I can transport myself to whatever world I chose,
however realistic, however fantastical and dreamy.  And this month, it was all about
Sookie and her paranormal adventures!  If you haven't read these books, I
SERIOUSLY recommend them!  The Sookie Stackhouse series is the basis for the HBO
show "True Blood" (another obsession of mine) and is much more "adult" than the
Twilight series.  Sookie is a telepathic waitress living in small town Louisiana.  This
series revolves around a world where vampires and werewolves are not only real, but
coexist with regular humans.  What results is an endless supply of drama and dark
humor.  The latest book in the series, "Dead Reckoning", by Charlaine Harris,
did not disappoint!

      As the 11th installment in the series, this book picks up just as werewolves have
"come out" to the world.  Sam's bar is attacked and catches on fire and suspicion falls on
the anti-shape shifters in the community.  Sookie's fairy relatives, Claude and Dermot,
are staying with her after being separated from the fairy world.  Bill Compton confesses
that he is still deeply in love with her and her bond with Eric endures a few twists and
turns.  As with the other books in this series, there are A LOT of plot twists,
character developments, and uncovered truths in this novel.  Some of the elements
revealed in this book were questionable according to the time line of the story but
would probably go unnoticed by most readers.  I just so happen to be a super nerd.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this story, but was disappointed by the current state of
Sookie and Eric's relationship.  I am a HUGE Eric fan.  If you haven't read this series yet,
DO!  It's the perfect summer easy reading and the best guilty pleasure.  We all need a
little vampire action in our lives, in my personal dork fest opinion.

Also, if you haven't jumped on the "True Blood" bandwagon yet, you are seriously
missing out!  Just make sure you put the kids to bed first:)

{You really haven't lived until you've spent 3 hours waiting in line for a movie,
fighting off hormonal pre-teens and middle-aged divorcees, all in the name of
the undead...}

Read With Me

Before moving to Switzerland for a new teaching position, my dear friend, Ellen, gifted 

me the next selection on my summer reading list.  The book is called"Suite Francaise" 

by Irene Nemirovsky and I am so excited to share this lovely work with you.  

"Suite Francaise" is actually two novellas in one: the first part focuses on the German
invasion of France in the early 1940's during WWII and the second centers around
the beginning of their occupation.  Nemirovsky, a French writer of Ukranian Jewish
origin, intended the book to be a five part series but was captured by Nazis and sent
to a concentration camp before finishing.  This historical novel/personal account was
written to depict daily life during a tumultuous time.  Despite her grim circumstances
and almost certain fate, Nemirovsky remains almost cheerful, creating a feminine quality
to a violent setting.  She develops her characters beautifully, showing a raw side of
humanity where people who otherwise would not have interacted due to their class
and culture, are suddenly forced to become one and coexist for survival.  The book
humanizes the characters in a way that makes you forget the political undertones, making
it a refreshing take on a well-known story.

Personally, I am a big fan of historical fiction.  That being said, I do not think that this
book is for everyone.  It is rather slow at the beginning and I found myself having to
put it down quite often and then revisiting it later.  The author tends to spend a lot of
time on arcs that never really develop which is sometimes frustrating and left me
wanting more.  Overall, I enjoyed the book and will probably pick up the first two books
of the "series".  If you interested in a different take on Jewish life during WWII, give
this novel a chance.  It is worth your time, regardless of the slow pace.

Read With Me

My sweet friend just sent me this amazing book and I MUST share it with you!!

The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking by Kate Payne

This book is filled with practical, cost efficient advice on how to be a modern day domestic goddess.  It includes party planning ideas, gardening tips, and cooking essentials.  There's a fabulous section devoted to making your home your own personal space, a comfortable yet efficient environment that is all your own.  I love this book because it teaches the everyday woman to live sensibly while also protecting the environment.  Kate gives great ideas for reducing and reusing items in your home or thrift store finds I had never previously thought of.

I bought these antique Mason jars at a local estate sale.  They remind me so much of my grandmother and those long summers we used to spend together in her kitchen, canning homegrown vegetables and jams.  The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking inspired me to pull these beauties out and use them as canisters for my cooking spices.  They are perfect storage containers at a great price and are also pleasing to the eye.  

This book is such a great resource to have in your home, as well as an interesting read.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Read With Me

As I mentioned earlier, one of my goals for summer is to comprise a reading list and finish it before school starts again.  I just completed the first book on my quickly evolving list: "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen.  I LOVED this book, though it was not what I originally expected.  I was anticipating a love story after watching the lovely Robert Pattinson in the book's movie adaptation commercials.  It was so much more than that, though.  It is a true coming of age story, following the life of Jacob, a 23 year old boy who is days away from finishing his veterinary degree at Cornell University.  After his parent's are tragically killed in a car accident, Jacob finds that they were in serious debt and have left him with nothing.  Distraught with grief, he leaves school and finds himself on a wild ride, literally, on board a circus train.  Jacob soon finds himself serving as the circus veterinarian and learning a whole new world of travel, deception, and, of course, love.

I loved reading about Jacob's relationship with the animals.  They are very prominent characters in the novel, especially Rosie the Elephant.  I also really identified with the hardships experienced by the characters related to daily life during the Great Depression.  And of course, his love for Marlena.   He is so young and pure and his love for her reflects that innocence, making their feelings that much more genuine.

I would definitely recommend this book to all of you lovelies and am excited to now watch the movie.  It starts off a bit slow but the author does an amazing job of taking her time and fully developing the characters.

Next up: "Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky

Happy reading!!