I got my read on in September!

So apparently, I decided I needed to read a lot of books this month. And most of them were re-reads. Actually, the majority of them were. So here goes!

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. This is a Newberry Medal winning book. For those of you who don't know much about children's literature, that's a big stinking deal. I'm just saying. This book is about an Eskimo girl named Julie/Miyax. She is orphaned, and when her aunt dies, she agrees to marry a fellow Eskimo boy in order to go back to the village of her childhood. As they are both 13, it's merely a marriage in words, not deeds. Until Daniel, her husband, is teased by his schoolmates. Rather than be raped by her boy-husband, Miyax leaves and runs away toward San Fransisco to find her pen pal. Along the way, she becomes part of a wolf pack. She is torn between the old ways and the new ways and eventually must make a choice between the two.

Tik Tok of Oz and The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Books eight and nine in the Oz series. I'm not really sure why some of these books have the names they have. Tik Tok wasn't the main character of the book, contrary to the title's implication. This one has the Nome King, who formerly tried to conquer Oz, ousted because he's such an evil man. We also have another little girl from our world who ends up in Oz. My favorite part? Toto, now living in Oz, can talk! Same goes for the ninth book- the Scarecrow doesn't come onto the scene until much later in the book. In this one, Cap'n Bill and Trot find their way to Oz from our world. Long story short- they have lots of adventures in a whole new part of Oz and eventually come to live in the Emerald City with all of the favorite characters who live there!

Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne's House of Dreams, Anne of Ingleside, Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside by LM Montgomery. All of these (yep, the entire series is listed right here) were re-reads for me. I have been obsessed with Anne for as long as I can remember. Please refer to one of my prior blog entries about this obsession. Anyway, for those of you who have read the Anne of Green Gables series, you probably know how amazing these books are. For those of you who haven't read them, you are seriously missing out. SERIOUSLY. Anne's story begins in 1878, when Anne is 11 years old. The story ends with the end of World War 1. By the end of the series, Anne's children are more the focus. But Anne is still always present, always Anne. Throughout the years, Anne went from a desperate for love orphan to a beloved wife and mother. She became a teacher, she went to college, she became a principal, she married the love of her life (despite thinking she had fallen in love with her "ideal man"), she became "Mrs. Dr. Blythe," she gave birth to seven children (and sadly buried the first). She lost loved ones, made new friends, had new adventures and throughout it all, never seemed to lose her lust for life. Something she was able to pass on to her children. If only all of us had Anne's love of living. Maybe I need to rethink my life a little bit!

Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea by LM Montgomery. These are collections of short stories and yet another re-read for me. All of them take place in the Avonlea community and its surrounding towns. Some of them have Anne Shirley as a minor character. Some are from Anne's perspective. Some don't mention Anne at all. But all of them have that same wonderful Anne of Green Gables feeling that Montgomery does so well. The stories are quick and easy to read. Sweet without being saccharine. Feel good stories that you just want to read over and over again. I know this because I have read them over and over again.

Kilmeny of the Orchard by LM Montgomery. Yep- this month was clearly LM Montgomery month!! This is a beautiful love story about a young man who decides to help out a friend by teaching for him in a small town, and the lovely girl he loves. She is born unable to speak because her proud mother refused to speak and forgive her own father for hurtful words he said to her. A stain on her birth and a very proud family made her a girl who was a mystery to the town she grew up in. But this young man shows her what true love is. And eventually she is able to speak. Even though this story is very different than the Anne stories, there is something in the way Montgomery writes that is so appealing. She really might be my all-time favorite author!!

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. This was my book club book for the month. It's about the twin sons of a surgeon and a nun. Yes, I said nun. They are orphaned at birth by the death of their mother and the abandonment of their father. They are raised in a hospital in Ethiopia by the other two surgeons who had worked with their father. Originally inseparable, something happens that creates a distance between the brothers. Both become surgeons- one trained with a medical degree, the other not officially a doctor but a famous surgeon nonetheless. Eventually, circumstances bring the brothers back together and brings their father back into their lives. The book was long. And at first kind of difficult to get into. But eventually, I found the story to be amazing. Even though it was a work of fiction, some of the events actually did happen (although not in the same time and/or way the story described). Which was kind of cool to learn.

Forrest Gump by Winston Groom. It was not what I expected. The movie was drastically different from the book. The biggest difference? Forrest is a 6'6", 250+ pound machine! Tom Hanks is a good actor, but he's not THAT good. Forrest also had some other adventures that aren't in the movie (he was an astronaut, a chess grand master, a "rassler," and a Senatorial candidate) His mom doesn't really play much of a role in the book. Bubba was a football teammate from Alabama, in addition to being a war buddy. He doesn't save Lt. Dan's life (but they do join forces after the war). He and Jenny frequently live together throughout the time they know each other (and that does imply a sexual relationship). Jenny does have a son, who is Forrest's child, but she marries someone else and doesn't die of AIDS. None of these differences really bothered me. The only thing I truly didn't like? The book was written the same way Forrest speaks. No proper English here. Just good ole Southern talk. Which is very difficult to read!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Last week, we officially entered in my favorite season- fall. It's my favorite season for a myriad of reasons. I love the weather (well, not the current crap we are having, I mean the REAL fall weather). I love Halloween. I love Thanksgiving. I love my birthday (hint, hint- it's October 10. And I am a sucker for prezzies!!). But one of the things I love the most? The fall TV schedule!

This year, my TV schedule is pretty packed. It's filled with old favorites and some new ones as well. I've also already gotten rid of some new TV shows that kind of sucked. So here's what I'm watching (and a little personal opinion on how they are panning out).

First up is scripted shows- drama division.
1- Desperate Housewives. It's the final season, so I'm expecting big things from season. We've already got a murder and memories of what led Mary Alice to commit suicide. So it should be good stuff!
2- Pan Am. There's only been one show so far. But it seems pretty good. I read an article about the real Pan Am stewardesses. And they said that other than the exact shade of blue of the uniforms and the fact that their hair couldn't touch their shoulders, everything is pretty spot on. It kind of makes me wish I had lived back then and could have been a stewardess. Lord knows I wouldn't want to be one nowadays- people are rude and travel seems to have become a right rather than a privilege.
3- Gossip Girl. The first new episode was last night. I have read all of the Gossip Girl novels. They are a lot of fun. And the show is nothing like them anymore. Honestly, the show veered away from the books long ago. At first, it bothered me. Now I love the show so much that I don't care! And any show with Ed Westwick is a show I'm going to watch!!
4- Hart of Dixie. This is a new show starring the adorable Rachel Bilson. She's a cardiothorasic surgeon who moves to Alabama to get experience as a GP. It's cute. I'm going to give it another week before I decide if it's officially on my list of what to watch.
5- The Playboy Club. I decided to watch this because of the scandalous Eddie Cibrian. Turns out it's a pretty good show. Week one, we had a murder and a Bunny who is in a sham marriage in order for both she and her husband to hide their sexual preferences (which obviously aren't each other!).
6- Revenge. Omg! Best new show of the year for me!! It's already got intrigue enough to keep me interested for the whole season and we are only one episode in!
7- Grey's Anatomy. I'm so excited about this show returning this week and can't wait to see what's in store for Derek and Meredith this season.
8- American Horror Story. It hasn't started yet. So I know nothing about it. But it looks really good and I'm excited about it starting.

Next up- scripted shows- sitcom division
1- How I Met Your Mother. This is one of my favorite sitcoms of all time. My only complaint? Who is the mother?! Let us know already!
2- 2 Broke Girls. This is a new one. I liked it. But I didn't love it. So it could go. Or stay.
3- Glee. Enough said. It makes me GLEE-ful. I know, bad. But the show is so amazing!!
4- New Girl. It's my favorite new sitcom. It's cute. It's quirky. It's a winner.
5- Up All Night. It's on the chopping block. It's fun, but not great.
6- Suburgatory. First episode is tomorrow. Yay!!
7- Modern Family. Second favorite returning sitcom. Hysterically funny. Cameron and Tyler are my favorite characters. I am not a big fan of new Lily though....
8- Happy Endings. Okay, maybe this is my second favorite returning sitcom. I am so excited that it got picked up again. So funny!

Third up- reality shows
1- Sister Wives. I love me some polygamists. Yep- I said it. These polygamists are great fun. They have now moved to Vegas and are hoping to continue raising the 17 (or however many) kids in the Mormon religion. Heaven help them!!
2- Real Housewives of New Jersey. I think these Housewives are my favorites. No one can top Caroline Manzo as far as I am concerned. Teresa (and her disgusting husband) have officially gotten on my nerves though.
3- Kendra. Loved her on Girls Next Door. Love her as a wife and mom.
4- Dancing with the Stars. I LOVE this show. Every time I watch it, all I want to do is learn to ballroom dance. With Maks. Yum.
5- Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. These women are nut balls. But wow! Last year, I hated Camille Grammer. Don't mind her so much this year. It might be because I feel a little bit sorry for her after what her husband did to her. Or maybe because she's toned it down a bit. But either way, I'm glad she's on the show.
6- Gene Simmons Family Jewels. It starts back next week. With Shannon Tweed's answer to Gene's proposal. As the wedding is planned for next month, I'm going to assume the answer was yes.
7- Teen Mom. The show is over, except for the reunions. I have watched these girls (not the Teen Mom 2 girls though) since they were 16 and Pregnant. Still love Catelynn and Tyler. The only two who seem moderately mature, probably because of their decision to give their child up for adoption. Maci has gotten on my nerves. She is pressuring her boyfriend to marry her so she can have more children because, at 19, she's getting old. She's crazy. If Farrah were my child, I would smack the crap out of her. She is so disrespectful. And finally, Amber. She hits her boyfriend. Honestly, the only one of the babies that I don't feel sorry for is the one who was put up for adoption!
8- The Rachel Zoe Project. I miss Brad. But the show is literally bananas!
9- America's Next Top Model. This season is All Stars. But some of these girls aren't really All Stars- I think they are just the girls who didn't have anything else going on right now. It's kind of on the chopping block as well.
10- Project Runway. The designers are very weird this year. But very interesting all at the same time. I can't wait to see who's going to win it.
11- Jersey Shore. Snooki makes me embarrassed to be an American. She is beyond embarrassing this year. She has a boyfriend who she claims to love, but she still acts like single Snooki. Of course, one of the roommates makes a point. Her boyfriend knew who he was dating when he started dating her. It was just wishful thinking that she might calm down.

Last up- shows I've already taken out of rotation
1- Ringer. This is the new Sarah Michelle Gellar. I've gotta say- I expected better. I just had no interest in this show after getting mid-way through the second episode. Sad, but true.
2- The Secret Circle. A show about teen aged witches. Blah blah blah. It only got one episode as well before I axed it as well. Sorry CW. You are striking out.

Anyway, that's my rundown of shows this fall. I mean, let's face facts. After reading, TV watching is clearly my other favorite activity!!

---------October 8, 2011------------

Up All Night and 2 Broke Girls have been removed from my TiVo list. And American Horror Story was so crazy, I'm not sure if it will last more than one or two more viewings!

Hair dryer woes....

A few weeks ago, I was happily getting ready for work one day. Well, happily might be an overstatement, but I was getting ready. I started drying my hair and all of a sudden, only cold air was blowing out of my hairdryer. "Crap, I must have hit the cold air button," I thought. Nope- my hair dryer was broken. And FYI- hair does not dry with cold air. After a few futile minutes, I learned that lesson. Luckily, I have a travel hair dryer, so I didn't have to go to work a wet head.

Later that week, I decided to bite the bullet and get a new hair dryer. So away to Target I went. Holy crap! There are a lot of hair dryers. I quickly decided against the $100+ Chi one. A leeeeetle too expensive for me. I tend to gravitate towards the $20 ones. There were some really cool hair dryers though. Pink ones, ones with patterns, all sorts of fun stuff. I ended up choosing a deep pink one from Remington. I am a Conair girl, but decided to branch out. To quote Julia Roberts, big mistake, HUGE.

The pink monster is heavy as lead. My arm is actually tired after the few minutes it takes to dry my hair. Yes, I said few minutes. 3, tops. The pink monster is also the most powerful hair dryer I have ever encountered. One would think that would be a good thing- hair would dry faster. Drying my hair any faster has never really been an issue for me. I just don't like the fact that my nicely combed wet hair is completely tangled by the time I finish drying it, thanks to the high powered monster.

Needless to say, I'm kind of stuck with the pink monster now. But next time, I'm going to hold each and every hair dryer that's on display before I pick one. Lighter is better. And I'm going back to Conair. They have yet to fail me!

I'm so glad I'm Jane of Columbia, rather than Jane of No place in particular.....

I have always been a huge Anne of Green Gables fan. And when I say huge, I mean HUGE!! I've read all of the books in the series more times than I can count (and am re-reading them as we speak). I've also seen the movie quite a few times. By the time I was in middle school, Anne and I were already fast friends (or kindred spirits as she would say). So when summer vacation rolled around and my parents decided on Maine, my little mommy thought to herself, "Maine, that's right next to Canada. Prince Edward Island is part of Canada. Let's add a trip to PEI to the trip.". Just as an FYI- it was about 500 miles away. Not quite so "right next to," but whatever.

So off we went to PEI. And a better vacation I have never had! We went to Green Gables. I was actually offered a job due to how much I knew about the series. Sadly, I was too young. And didn't speak either French or Japanese fluently. Maybe I missed my true calling back there. I certainly still know more about Anne than about most other things. I got to see the Lake of Shining Waters and stroll through the Haunted Woods. I got to visit everything I'd ever wanted to see in Anne's world. And it thrilled me to my very fingertips!

By the time I had become an Anne fan, the first Anne movie had been made. While it wasn't exactly like the book (when is a movie ever exactly like the book?), it was so close that I was in raptures watching it. Megan Follows is unparalleled in her portrayal of Anne Shirley. A second Anne movie was also filmed. While it wasn't as faithful to the books as the first had been, it did a pretty good job of combining several of the books as best it could and certainly still captured the spirit of Anne. I own the first movie and hadn't watched it recently. So I decided to do so. Then I Netflix'd the second movie. Imagine my surprise to discover that in 2000, a third Anne movie was made (Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story) and in 2008, a fourth movie was made (Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning). So I promptly Netflix'd both of them as well. The third movie has the same actors reprising their roles during WW1. Which is the last book in the series, when Anne's sons (not Anne and Gilbert) go off to war. While Megan Follows can still do no wrong as Anne, the movie itself was miserable. They introduced characters not in any of the books and story lines that would have made LM Montgomery cringe. They even had Anne and Gilbert move to New York City briefly, before they were married, so that Gilbert could work at Bellevue Hospital for a while. In the 1900's, that wouldn't have happened, even if they were living in separate apartments. No woman, unmarried, would have moved with a man. Anne got involved in espionage in France during the war. Gilbert was a POW. Needless to say, I was bitterly disappointed.

Then movie four arrived. After 30 minutes, I was already "in the depths of despair," as Anne would say. Anne is now a widow because Gilbert was killed during WW2. Now, Anne of Green Gables takes place in 1878, when Anne is eleven. Which means that by WW2, Anne would be in her VERY late seventies. The movie has her in her late forties at best. This movie was beyond disappointing. It completely changes Anne's history and back story. It changes everything about who Anne is. It doesn't even capture the spirit of Anne, especially guilty of this is the actress who plays the older version of Anne. It took every bit of my will power to actually finish the movie. And as far as I am concerned, this movie no longer exists. There were 2 Anne of Green Gables movies. And you will never be able to convince me otherwise! Sadly, it's 2+ hours of my life I'll never get back. But if nothing else, I'm completely enjoying rereading the Anne books. I'd forgotten how much I truly love them. They might have to be a yearly reread!

Life in the fast lane (it's where I prefer to drive)

I ran into an old friend today who hadn't seen my new car. In fact, he thought I was still in a car I haven't owned in over 4 years. But it made me start thinking about all of my cars.

I grew up with parents who will drive a car into the ground. Only when it becomes unsafe is a car no longer a part of our family. We also name cars, but that's a whole other thing. In my entire life, my mother has had 3 cars and my father has had 4 (the most recent one being my old car). That's 33 years and a total of 7 cars here people! So I always thought I would be the exact same way. Wrong!

I got my first car, a grey-blue 1989 Honda Accord, for my 16th birthday. It was a complete surprise! I drove that car for nearly 4 years. Then, I got the Green Machine, a green 1995 Ford Explorer, during my sophomore year of college. Nothing was wrong with my Honda, other than it was small and I was driving to and from college. So my parents felt safer with me in an SUV. The Green Machine had many adventures and did a lot of tailgating. It was a great car and I loved it. In 2005 (I think), I finally got the car of my dreams- a silver Toyota Solara convertible. I named her Olivia. I have always wanted a convertible and figured, what better time in my life than when I had no responsibilities?! I had Olivia until I went to work at my new job, at which point she went to my father. I think he's changed her name, but I'm not sure to what. My new job came with a car. So my new car was a black Mercedes SLK350. It was a hard-top convertible (yes, another convertible). I named her Samantha. She was adorable, fun, sporty. But apparently, I thought she was also a submarine. One afternoon, after a flash rainstorm, I was driving to dinner. I saw a large puddle ahead of me, but didn't realize it was deep AND wide. In tiny Samantha went, and out she never came. I flooded the engine and she was never able to drive again. Next up, the black Mercedes E500. Black Betty, later to be known as Christine. I've gone through the saga of Christine before, so we won't rehash that. Suffice it to say, Christine needed to be gone from my life. And so she was. My new (hey- she's only a year old- that's still new) car is Fiona, a 2010 silver Toyota Highlander. After Olivia, Fiona's been my favorite car of all time. She is beautiful. She is functional. She's a winner! But let's look at this- I've been driving for a little over half my life now and I have had 6 cars. Yes, 6 cars!! That's almost as many as my parents have had TOTAL in double the time! I'm a little embarrassed at how many cars I've driven. But I have faith that Fiona will be it for me. Until death do us part. Her death, hopefully.....