Book catch up

It's been awhile since my last book post, so here's a quick run down of what I've been reading:

The Dark Labyrinth by Lawrence Durrell - I really enjoyed this one. The novel is very much character driven rather than plot driven. We meet and explore the histories of a diverse group of people drawn together by a vacation to the island of Crete...where disaster awaits. A book sale find I was very happy with!

The Society of S by Susan Hubbard - Readable but not great - its a twist on vampire lore. Unexceptional and I can see why it was on the sale rack at Borders. If you are into vampires, give it a go as light summer reading. If you aren't into vampires don't bother.

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant - This was really great. Sad, but well written and I was drawn through the text. As with Labyrinth, the tale is a collection of character's personal histories all drawn together by the locale - Dogtown. For those against any type of supernatural happenings in their reading, this one would be my recommendation for you - its straight up historical fiction.

Anthem by Ayn Rand - This was a short read that I accomplished in the park this evening - I think it took about an hour and a half. Interesting but not my favorite - its in the 1984 genre. It also gets preachy at the end. I'm all for individualism and wouldn't want to live in a world with a collective "we" like in the book - but it is interesting to think about. Is giving up a self worth ending war, inequality, and strife? Do the benefits of security outweigh the monotony and seeming meaninglessness of the lifestyle described in the book? Pluses and minuses on both sides of the equation.

I've also been reading Mythology by Edith Hamilton - learning about Greek Gods etc.

That's it for now, ta!

Meme

Ms. Doublegknits posted this and told us readers to consider ourselves tagged - so here are my answers.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

Lets see - 10 years ago was 1998 so I was in the summer between high school and middle school. I recall nothing specific about this summer. Ooo...wait, later in the summer would be my first experience with marching band - the show was a couple of Chuck Mangione songs - I can still hum the theme of one of them. :-)

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

Well, the day is almost over so for the rest of the evening my to do list will be

1. go home
2. make dinner
3. hang out with T
4. surf the internet
5. go to bed


3) Snacks I enjoy

Oh man, snacks are awesome - chips and salsa, ice cream, cookies, saltines, cheese, hummus

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. not work a regular job
2. buy a house - preferably on some kind of waterfront
3. support museums
4. travel everywhere
5. Take all kinds of music/art/design/whatever seems interesting at the moment classes

5) Places I have lived:

South Windsor, CT
Ithaca, NY

I have not moved much.

6) Jobs I have had:

Sandwich Maker - Blimpies
Sales Associate - Linens and Things
Sales Associate - Sears
File Runner - Curtis 1000
Dining Hall Wench - Ithaca College
Technology & Writing Consultant - IC
Research Dept intern - National Geographic
Development intern - PRI
Development Operations Manager & Membership Coordinator - PRI

Consider yourself tagged.

the Ander-Berry Wedding

So, last weekend (June 21) a group of us PRI peeps caravaned off to Canandaigua, NY to celebrate the mariage of Scarlet Lily and her beau. I was feeling a little anxious because of work and all on my way out, but the simply gorgeous surroundings soon put me at ease and let me relax. The setting really was lovely.

The view from our condo - just lake forever, we were right on the water. I wanted to stay for the rest of the summer, but they made us checkout on sunday! I arrived Friday afternoon, having left work early and spent some time chilling with Ben watching Lost Boys before the rest of the crew showed up. We had a lovely "welcome" party at the hotel later in the evening with the engaged couple.

Then Saturday, after a somewhat late rise, we headed out to Canadaigua center to tour some fancy gardens. It was a lovely day until just about an hour and a half before the wedding when we all watched a great big thunder storm work its way down the lake. Luckily it was short lived and the wedding was saved! Everyone looked lovely including the bride:

They were both so smiley - a great couple! I'm so glad I got to go and share the day with them. Here is a view from the wedding location - I think I might steal it when I get married!

Good food, good drinks, great dancing! Here is Alicia and my first pic with Mrs. Berry!

tonight

Sushi, plum wine, and kung fu panda = the perfect evening

seriously, the movie is hilarious - go see it and laugh

Short

Hair

Alright readers, its time for me to have a haircut, but how short to go???? Here are a few pics I'm considering as inspiration for a cut - lemme know what you think.

The last haircut I really liked on myself -

A.

Some mediumy short looks:

B.

C.

Some uber short looks:

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

Thoughts? Opinions? What do you think I can pull off?

Weddings, Beaches, Knives, and Books

Hi all! So, I'll be doing a bit of a recap of the week past because I've not been updating much. For those of you anxiously awaiting pictures, there will be some! Where to begin...

Memorial day weekend was spent with some of my favorite people in the world at the wedding of my highschool friend, Gavin, up in New Hampshire. I got to spend the whole weekend with Sarah, Steph, Travis and EMILY!!! It was so great to see all of them, especially E. because she had literally dropped off the face of the Earth for a few years. Now she's back home in CT and it was absolutely fab to have her back as part of the crew. Here's a pic of us ladies at the reception site. It was really pretty, but there were these awful flies...I still have spots from their bites!

The bride is allergic to gluten and I think maybe also to dairy so they had a gluten free, dairy free cake - here it is:

It didn't really taste like cake....

The following day, we went to the beach where I managed not to get sunburned - I have no idea how but am thankful.

So much fun! Can't wait to see all my ladies again for our outing to Europe this summer! We are also considering some kind of rent a house somewhere cool like Cape Cod for a week next summer :-)



After a fab weekend, it was back to reality at work where I now have a new boss. He seems pretty chill - I am interested to see how things shape up as the weeks progress. He has already told me that I am never allowed to leave because I know all kinds of small details and where everything is and how to use everything... I told him that I just resigned my lease, so he has me for at least a year. After that, we'll see....maybe Boston where the high school crew seems to be migrating?



This week also marked some geeked-outness with T in the form of some medieval thrown weapons and archery practice. I was pretty awful at throwing the hatchets and the archery, but it was tons of fun. Here are some pics for ya!







Yesterday T. and I went off the visit the Corning Museum of Glass. It was pretty cool - the modern and the ancient glass was the most interesting...but there was soooooo much! Halfway through the exhibits, we were both pretty much over it and kind of breezed through the rest so we could see the Hot Glass show and check out the gift shop. Def worth a go, especially because its only $5 for those of us who live within the right zip codes. Most annoying thing of the day - being constantly run over by people giving tours to groups of foreigners. It was way too crowded with all the bus tours!! I forgot my camera, so no pics from the trip :-(

In book news, finally finished Njal's saga and breezed through a trashy romance, Noble Intentions, and am now reading the Dark Labyrinth. This is suitably long. I'll try to update a bit more often to keep the length down!