These Are Some of My Favorite Things

♥ While I am preparing to move in the next few months; the idea of purging unnecessary clutter is not only appealing from a packing perspective, but also having a more orderly home. This book seems to get rave reviews; and  friend gave it a personal recommendation. 

♥ I bought this in a hurry as I realized I had zero entertainment for my flight back to DC. So far, I actually really enjoy it. 

♥ I want one of these for myself, and like 10 more to give as gifts at Christmas. 

♥ The fun read on one of my favorite clothing store's site may be there to tell me I am going to make more money and therefore should buy more clothes!

♥ Amen that fall seems to be right around the corner (according to online shopping) and longer sleeves seems to be in full-swing. Hallelujah!

♥ I can't handle this news. I will forever, and always be just a 208 gal. 

♥ For the price, this is a great deal. Especially if you are like me and refuse to ski in the East. 

Comfort For Your Head and Heart

I have been on a bit of a book bender these days. It started when I was home for Christmas and I actually had down time where I didn't feel the need to drown myself in trash TV. I recently just finished all the books I had gotten around Christmas and I was in need of something new and preferably for the ipad since I was recently on a plane for 12ish hours making a round-trip visit to the Best Coast for some skiing.

As much as I love my ipad and reading on it...I get nostalgic and sometimes miss the feeling of a book. More than the book....I miss bookstores.

When I first moved to DC and Alex and I were tres poor, we used to spend our Saturdays camped out in a Barnes & Noble reading books for essentially free (we did purchase coffee to offset our shameful reading of books we never bought). While it was pretty stressful to not even be able to afford a book, I loved those Saturdays. I loved having no where else to be, and I loved feeling comfort in reading.

So to find my next book I wandered into a small bookstore in Spokane and did my usual assessment of the book covers to see if anything caught my eye. A few books caught my eye, but one really stood out as I looked over the stacks of new books.

I picked it up. Flipped through the cover and first pages thinking "could be a cute read", put it down and moved on. I later went back to snap a photo to remind myself I should look into it. 

A few days later I read some reviews on amazon and quickly got the hint that this was a MUST read book. I purchased it minutes before boarding my flight home and I read the entire way back.

I am hooked. Cheryl's words of advice are calm, rational, compassionate, heart-felt, re-relatable, heartwarming, eye-opening and a million other things that just fill you with goodness. I turn page after page and I realize how brutally spot on she is, and how so many of her responses, while not directly applicable to the deep questions of my life, have nuggets of truth that really hit home. I have laughed, I have cried, I have cringed, I have re-read certain letters just to soak in all of the beauty they contain. Simply put--it is a beautifully written compilation of advice letters that you will find comfort and inpiration in. So what I am saying is...go buy this. Read it. Love it. 

Couple this with a cup of my current favorite tea (since I can't afford this ), Yogi Egyptian Licorice, and I am set for a snuggly evening of feel-goodness.

Does anyone else get sad when a really good book ends? I try to have my next read lined up so I don't focus too much on the end of a good book. Any of you have some reading recommendations to help me through what will undoubtedly be a very sad finishing of this book?

Book Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

This movie was one that I saw the preview for and was really excited to go see. After talking to people who had read the book I knew that is one of those movies that wasn't go to be nearly as good as the book and I should read the book before I saw the movie. Two weekends ago I picked up a copy at B&N and headed to my favorite coffee/pastry place in Alexandria right now called Buzz and snuggled into one of their comfy couches with a chai and blazed through the first quarter of the book. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of days that I can just sit around and read, so it took me until today to finish the book.

I must say...I loved it. Any book that causes me to tear up a bit is a goodie. Will say I had some difficulty knowing when and where the time traveler was, since the book is constantly switching between real time and time travel. But the story line was excellent and the ideas behind time travel are interesting and keep it from being a full on romance novel.