Peppered Thought – The Spice of Life

In this series of posts, called “Books I Cherish,” I wax poetic on a certain story, book, or even author who has touched my life in a profound/silly/profoundly silly way. As everyone’s experience is different, my views will differ with the “critics” and others views.

My well-thumbed and cherished copy.

Entre Nous: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl by Debra Ollivier

Today I learned that 42% of people who graduate from college never read another book. That is pretty mind-blowing to me.

Rereading this once or twice a year is always enlightening. I love reading it and renewing a sense of being a lady and being a badass.

What I have learned through this book:

+Only keep things that you adore and bring you joy. If someone gives you something you aren’t in love with, set it free. Give it to someone you know will enjoy it, or donate it to the salvation army or like place. Don’t sell it. But the fact is, things you don’t like are taking up valuable place for something you could enjoy.

+Also, holding back…in general. The author notes that it took her two years of being friends with a Frenchwoman for her to open up to her. I like the idea of not spilling over-information to everyone you meet. Not everyone is special enough to enjoy your company and life stories. Curate what you want to share.

+Lastly, all the notes on food in here are fantastic. Enjoying a meal with friends is a whole experience beyond just food or just friends. Choosing your food, not constantly thinking about calories but being mindful of your food, oh, it’s all good!

What is a non-fiction book you can reread every year?

Background info: my year to-do goal list.

Well, I didn’t get everything done I wanted to. But I did get a few things done just by having fun. The best part about my unaccomplished things? I am just going to turn them into a summer fun list!

LIST:

1. Another tattoo, or a beautiful touch-up of my existing ones

2. Get down to ideal weight (including some killer muscles!) I lost 18 pounds, felt good, and gained 5 back. Whoops. Gotta step up the healthy choices for bathing suit weather!

3. Make a vlog

4. Start a photo-folio

5. Begin writing my screenplay

6. Help out at a women’s shelter

7. Successfully grow a garden I managed to keep some annuals alive despite the ridiculous amount of spring heat we have had. I think I have gained enough confidence back that I might actually try some bulbs this fall!

8. Sew my own dress I made skirts, and I like to think that counts.

9. Babysit How could I not cross this one off with this adorable face?!

Photobooth Memories at work (not pictured: 2 more photobooth friends!)

10. Take pictures in photobooths with all my closest friends (though maybe not all at once) I didn’t get all of them, but I got a lot of memorable ones!

11. Do something for my mom she has been putting off doing herself

12. Having a significant amount of clutter released from my house and into the wild

13. Stay in a historic hotel

14. Have a girls night out

15. Road trip! Flagstaff, a couple of trips to Prescott, Disneyland! Definitely feel good about crossing this one off!

16. Have written a short story everyday for at least 3 months

17. Get all my craft hurricanes sorted and organized

18. Bake at least 3 new desserts and 3 new dinners Margarita Bundt cakes, Jerk Chicken, a totally different chocolate chip cookie recipe, cinnamon muffins that could be breakfast or dessert, whoopee pies, Chipotle-style lime rice and chicken (i helped make that with The Beau!)…I need to work on my dinner-making skills a bit still.

19. Photograph lightning

20. Watch a meteor shower

21. Bike to a destination (work, gym, store) Have biked to the library, grocery store (in winter!), to downtown holiday stuff, to buy flowers, to the post office, even to dinner the other day!

22. Not get into debt over Christmas I think the best way to do this is buy presents during the year. I in no way have that forethought, but it always seems like a great idea.

23. Visit friends in another city

That apple was straight Snow White evil. Photo by my cousin Ari.

24. Visit and help my grandma with yardwork and cleaning My cousin and I cleaned her fridge. I believe the oldest thing we found was 2005. I commented that some of our cousins weren’t even born when someone shoved that into my nana’s fridge. So odd.

25. Get my car running in tip-top shape (mostly) by myself

26. Shoot a short movie

photo via

27. Read a classic I have never read before I have re-read several of my favorites this year (Flight to the Mushroom Planet, The Outsiders) but a classic I had never read before was Red Harvest. Holy Cow I felt like my whole life had been a sham because I hadn’t read this!

Kind of strange writing this end-of-month tally while tomorrow will be my week in review, but whatevs…

Books I Read:

How Did You Get This Number? by Sloane Crosley. So, so good. A+.

Month by Month Gardening in the Deserts of Arizona. I found a couple of new plants to try out, but I probably should have got this and made notes back in October. B-

Donations to Charity:

Red Cross Japan. Bien sur. Another great place to donate? DonorsChoose.org. The Beau donated to this not only because he love to help education and learning, but also, to see/hear Stephen Colbert sing “Friday” with The Roots. Everyone wins.

Budget Analysis:

meh. I used my sister’s baby shower as a reason to go to joann’s and michale’s and I went a bit nuts. I have been saving up for a sweet new area rug though, and The Beau gave me the OK to purchase an awesome rug I hope is as awesome as it looks online…

Movies:

The Keep. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. So awesome and even coping with the frustrations of being a Wolfman, Lon Chaney is adorable and awesome.

Thinking back on this last year alone, I realized that by steering clear of big chain bookstores and going to the library for my books, I have saved a lot of money on reading. So for fun, I thought of some books off the top of my head, looked up their prices on Amazon and added up my savings.

American Rose audiobook $32

Why We Suck $11

I Drink For a Reason $9

My Custom Van $11

Kiss Kiss $16

Bedwtter Sarah Silverman $20

I Am the New Black $20

Wettest County in the World $10

St. Lucy’s $10

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake $14

Waking Up in the Land of Glitter $9 (although I will probably buy several copies as gifts)

There’s a Slight Chance I Might Be Going to Hell $11

Autobiography of a Fat Bride $11

These are just the books off the top of my head, and added up the library has saved me $184! That’s a whole lotta whiskey and truffles!

Granted, a lot of these I wouldn’t have bought if I had to pay for them. Also, some of these I would have been really upset if I had bought them because they weren’t particularly good. This should have been a Valentine post because Library, you’re my true love!

The big event of my week was going to Goodwill and finding some truly perfect items.

I was there for hours and unwittingly bought a LOT of mustard/saffron items.

wore a dress I found for a dollar,

I almost bought this diary just to read all these adorable notes.

photo credit

Also, I started listening to the audiobook of American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Time of Gypsy Rose Lee. Yes, I love to read, but sometimes the audiobook adds a little something extra. The woman who reads the book does Gypsy’s voice like she has been practicing forever on it.

Books I Read:

Rather than try to put succinctly enough so you’ll read it, I decided to just put links to the reviews I wrote on goodreads. Right here on the blog I can just put a yay, nay, or may.

Margaret Bourke-White. Super Yay.

St. Lucy’s School for Girls Raised by Wolves. May.

Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. Yay.

Starting Lye in Wait. First couple pages?

Cloudspotter’s Book. Yay.

So I didn’t read as many books this month. I’m not sure how I feel about this. But I do feel that I need to step up my game here.

Donations to Charity:

I made a donation to PBS. You should too. Big Bird can’t live off handout birdseed.

Technically I didn’t donate anything but time for this one, but I wrote letters to my representatives asking them to support the National Endowment for the Arts. Because why the eff not? I sat down and printed off some letters, and for the cost of 3 stamps I sent off some good karma and hey, maybe some aid will read them and think about it for a while.

I renewed my rec center pass, went to an awesome diner, celebrated the World Cup and Bastille Day, all within a week of each other. Last July rocked.

Budget Analysis:

Well, I did my taxes last month, and so I received a big ol’ check from Uncle Sam. Well, not too big. Big enough that I am breathing a sigh of relief because without it, a swell vacation this year would have been non-existent.

I also am in the process of switching my auto insurance. I did a little shopping around online and found out that I am paying more or less double what I should be. Which floored me. I was so enraged with my insurance I contemplated marching to my agent’s office and spitting on him. But instead, I’m going to save my money with another company, and save my spit for, well, the ground, that doesn’t press charges.