Boy, I sure wanna go! I just got an email that Camp Mighty begins this weekend in Palm Springs.
What is Camp Mighty?
Camp Mighty is a weekend retreat for people who like projects, and are
willing to put a little of that energy into themselves. All of us want
to be great at something. Camp Mighty will help you figure out what.
Here’s a video of Maggie Mason, founder of Camp Mighty
I’m really bummed I can’t go this year because this weekend is our traditional pre-Thanksgiving dinner at my Mom’s house. I would love to cross off some things on my List. I also missed out booking a room at The Ace hotel in October and I really, really want to go with my BFF Aimee.
Herein lies the rub. My Bestie works ALL-THE-FRICKING-TIME! She is annoyingly hard working, responsible and now she has her eye on the prize. She is moving out of her Shangri-la fancy pants apartment in Venice to a much more affordable cute place on the Eastside *YAY, closer to me* today. She’s making the sacrifice so she can get my her dream car.
So, she is working extra shifts and saving all her dough to get her car in December. Aimee doesn’t have a Life List written out, but she’s mentally crossing off goals all the time. This year she was pretty busy getting her sleeve done, had a boudoir photo shoot, making her apartment ridiculously cute *Charlotte Ronson is her inspiration* and being a personal ATM machine to her 17 year old son, Holden. I am trying to convince her to start blogging since she did such a fantastic job guest blogging for me, but as I said before, she works all day and night. I just can’t imagine going to the amazing Camp Mighty without my BFF. So I’m making it official,
“Aimee, will you please go to Camp Mighty with me next November?“
We haven’t had a girl’s only vacation since Holden was 12 when we drove to Stanford. We can have a kick ass road trip in your fancy new ride and I’ll be the DJ *I know how much you love 80’s metal* I’ll help you write your Life List, we’ll ride Vespas and we’ll wear fabulous space outfits.
Let’s do this girl!!! PS Of course she said yes, but we may postpone until 2016 for super secret reasons *I promise to reveal in the future*
I’m the head of the Craft committee for Liv’s school’s Winter Solstice on December 8th. This morning we had a meeting to go over what we were crafting and assign who would do what. We are going to have 4 tables with 2 craft each. I’m contributing pom pom ornaments.
I love a colorful, fat pom pom. They are super easy to make and I bought these pom pom makers to help the toddlers wrap them. The only thing I need to supervise is cutting. I’m so excited for the Winter Solstice, we went last year and Liv had a blast. I’m also helping with the other crafts all day. I am so excited, last year I was a prospective parent and now I’m participating. Crazy how fast my life has changed in 2 1/2 years.
Please forgive my Sunday afternoon case of the lazies. It’s such lovely weather and I’ve got a full tummy. I’m so sleepy from a fun filled day so I’m not feeling so chatty.
We started our day with video chatting with our favorite niece & nephew, Evelyn & Dion from Paraguay. They only have 9 months left with the Peace Corps. and I know how fast 9 months can go by. Then we went to brunch at Cindy’s. I had an idea to get together with my friends on a monthly basis and we’ll try a new restaurant each time. Cindy’s was my choice for our first Breakfast Club.
“Saturday, March 24,1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois, 60062.
Dear Mr. Vernon, We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole
Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did
*was* wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling
you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to
see us – in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You
see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal.
Correct? That’s the way we saw each other at 7:00 this morning. We were
brainwashed.”
Always cheesing for the camera
We checked out a really nice open house in Atwater Village after breakfast. The house is small but cute. My biggest disappointment was the faux fireplace and it’s the first house on the street so there’s an alley next to it. However there is a huge wall so you would never hear any noise from the cars driving by. The price was excellent, there’s no doubt it will sell quickly.
I drool for pools!!
Antz must have also been inspired by this pool because he decided that today was the day we get Liv a pet fish. We bought the aquarium but the guy at the Pet store said we should wait a day before adding the fish. We’re picking up a couple of goldfish friends tomorrow.
*Update* Yesterday Antz brought home our new pets. Olivia has named them Dory & Nemo *although I call them Fred & Ethel* So far so great, they survived the night and Lola hasn’t noticed them, yet!
So now that Liv is watching The Goonies with Antz in the other room. I’m going to sneak a little nap before I get started on my crafting for Liv’s Winter Solstice.
OH! I forgot to post a photo of our garage. Antz straightened it up and made it cute again after weeks of neglect.
It’s been awhile since I posted a guide. Now that Liv is an official toddler, it’s a good time to share my must-haves for any soon to be parents of a non-stop talking, hyper ball of never-ending energy, not quite fully potty training toddlers. So here it is.
As I said before. Nothing beats the quality and style of Oeuf Classic furniture set. There will come a time when your little bitty bebe will begin to pull themselves up in their crib. First you will spazz out because you can’t believe they are already trying to stand. Then you will panic because your crib suddenly becomes a death trap and you worry your bebe will bump their precious head on the crib. I would observe Olivia trying to crawl her long legs over the side of her crib attempting to escape with my heart in my throat. She never made it over but she would come dangerously close. Last February, it was finally time for the crib to convert to a toddler bed.
We love her toddler bed. It’s aesthetically pleasing and keeps her from rolling out. Comfy for Liv and plenty of room for all her pals.
So when is it potty time? It depends on your kid. While we were at the hotel in San Diego for Liv’s first birthday, she wandered in the bathroom and told us she had to go potty and we helped her out of her diaper and she did her business. From then on, she was using her potty pretty regularly. It helped she started so soon since her preschool requires they are potty trained. So far, so good. She had one accident on her first day of school but no more since. Her school has bathrooms in every classroom with toddler sized amenities. At home we use the Boon potty/step bench.
Liv is happy with it and it’s much easier to clean than I anticipated. I use bleach spray for #2s *sorry, gross*. I no longer stock it with toilet paper after Liv emptied the entire roll more than once. This is an item that may require more trial and error. Some kids use the toilet seat attachment which is great for traveling but Liv prefers to sit on her own potty. It’s served us well but I may have to buy a seat attachment for when we are out and about. Although how do parents carry this guy, I wonder? I have heard of a foldable one. So far I just hold her up over the toilet when we are must use a public restroom. I stopped carrying a diaper bag for a long time now so I am back to a smaller purse. Seems pretty bulky to tote around.
My next must have is the infamous sippy cup. I have tested quite a few and I found this guy to be our favorite. It doesn’t leak, easy to clean and Liv can hold it easy peasy. I bought mine at Whole Foods.
Of course Liv’s first sippy cup was a novelty personalized cup.
Totally impractical, only holds like 3 ounces and tough to clean. This is the most important element to consider when buying a cup. Liquids like milk and orange juice are absolutely rank if you don’t rinse them immediately. I still have to remind Antz certain cups like Liv’s dinosaurs are water only because they are hard to clean the built in straw even with these guys.
I’m no expert in this field, we still use a plethora of different sippy cups and also regular kid cups. Liv was about 15 months when she started using her Brobee cup, but 16 months before she could drink with without spilling.
P.S. Anything cute with a character on it will fade from millions of washings. There is no Brobee left on her cup. Soap will eat everything kid-related.
Speaking of eats, your dryer will eat all your kids socks. No use tying them together or paper clips won’t save them. I’ve tried binder clips and only ended up burning myself when taking them out of the dryer. Bite the bullet and buy socks in bulk, and deal with the fact that you will lose 2 out of 3 of them. Liv rocks these and now only has orange, red, and black left. I think one green sock is in the backseat of Antz car.
So while we’re discussing footwear, here’s my faves for the wee feet.
See Kai Run. One of the best brands for little growing *faster than I can afford* feet. One of the most important factors for me in shoes is how easy are they to put on and take off *those with toddlers know how traumatizing putting shoes on can be* Liv can put these on unassisted and they don’t get that dirty. Ugh, I can’t stand dirty shoes on kids, it totally grosses me out. I just bought these cute pair for Liv but I bought one size larger so she probably won’t wear them till next year.
Similar to See Kai Run is Livie & Luca. They are rad! I get the most compliments on these guys *and that skirt too*.
I would buy more of these shoes but their website is always sold out of her size. I was lucky to find this pair on sale at Kumquat *one of my fave shops* They are pricey but I don’t do cheap shoes. I think growing feet need the right support and comfort.
So you want affordable, adorable and charitable? Toms are your best bet. If Liv’s feet didn’t grow so fast, I’d buy a pair in every color. I get sad with every pair she outgrows. These are so versatile, I’m buying the same color once she outgrows this pair.
Lastly, I adore Saltwater sandals. They are a must have if you have a daughter *I have a pair for myself*. Liv is on her 3rd pair but they are sooo worth it. They are her “dress shoes” and the tan color has worked well as a neutral shade. Sadly, they didn’t have Liv’s size in tan so this time I got red which I think will be lovely. I love how they fit and can be dressy or casual. Can you believe she has gone up 2 shoe sizes since her birthday?
I’ll post another guide for holiday toys and goodies soon. Did I mention I’m heading the craft committee for Liv’s preschool Winter Solstice? I plan on making these pom pom ornaments. I love her school so much!
I spent years with my nose stuck in a book in my preteen days. Granted, they weren’t classics but mostly Sweet Valley High, Babysitters Club and Judy Blume novels but I would read an entire book a day. Even at a young age, I would sneak books from my Mom’s secret shelves in the back of the top kitchen cabinets. I would read Stephen King in the middle of the night with a flashlight, too terrified to sleep. I also read Dante’s Inferno and Fahrenheit 451 not fully understanding most of it but still intrigued. My love of reading has feigned these days. I’m so busy *poor excuse* and when I do get a minute to myself, I’m usually catching up my magazines or watching a Netflix dvd I’ve had for weeks. The point is, I want Olivia to share a love for books. She has several books that are her favorite *Charlotte’s Web, Star Wars ABC’s & a pop-up book Godmommy Leslie bought her from Alaska about sea creatures* but she isn’t so keen on sitting still long enough to get through me reading her more than 5 pages. So I’m going to set the example, I would like to complete this list by the time Liv can read on her own. Most of these I read in 7th and 8th grade but I can say I didn’t appreciate them so much while having to write essays on them in English class.
250 Book Challenge
1984 by George Orwell
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain *half finished* Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
The Art of Fiction by Henry James
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Babe by Dick King-Smith
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Beloved by Toni Morrison
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney
The Bhagava Gita
The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis,
Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy
Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel
A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner
Candide by Voltaire The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman Christine by Stephen King
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
The Collected Short Stories by Eudora Welty
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty
A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Complete Novels by Dawn Powell
The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton
Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père
Cousin Bette by Honor’e de Balzac
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
The Crucible by Arthur Miller Cujo by Stephen King
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Daisy Miller by Henry James
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens The Da Vinci -Code by Dan Brown
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Deenie by Judy Blume
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx
The Divine Comedy by Dante
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
Don Quijote by Cervantes
Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
Eloise by Kay Thompson
Emily the Strange by Roger Reger
Emma by Jane Austen
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Ethics by Spinoza
Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Extravagance by Gary Krist Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore
The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan
Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1 of The Lord of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce
Fletch by Gregory McDonald
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg
Gidget by Fredrick Kohner
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
The Gospel According to Judy Bloom
The Graduate by Charles Webb
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Group by Mary McCarthy
Hamlet by William Shakespeare Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry *I read this book when I was 11, I have a weird fascination with murder*
Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare
Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare
Henry V by William Shakespeare
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
How the Light Gets in by M. J. Hyland
Howl by Allen Gingsburg
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo The Iliad by Homer
I’m with the Band by Pamela des Barres
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy
It Takes a Village by Hillary Clinton Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence
The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway
The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Love Story by Erich Segal
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Manticore by Robertson Davies
Marathon Man by William Goldman
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken
The Merry Wives of Windsro by William Shakespeare
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Miracle Worker by William Gibson Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin
Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor
A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman
Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret
A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh
My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken
My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen
New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Night by Elie Wiesel
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan
Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell
Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Old School by Tobias Wolff
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan
Oracle Night by Paul Auster
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Othello by Shakespeare
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
Out of Africa by Isac Dineson
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche
The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Property by Valerie Martin
Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Quattrocento by James Mckean
A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman
The Return of the King: The Lord of the Rings Book 3 by J. R. R. Tolkien (TBR) – read
R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton
Rita Hayworth by Stephen King
Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert
Roman Fever by Edith Wharton Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Several Biographies of Winston Churchill
Sexus by Henry Miller
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Shane by Jack Shaefer The Shining by Stephen King
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton
Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers
Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore
The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos
The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
Songbook by Nick Hornby
The Sonnets by William Shakespeare
Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams
Stuart Little by E. B. White
Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett
Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
Time and Again by Jack Finney
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee *my favorite book*
The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Trial by Franz Kafka
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Unless by Carol Shields
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker
What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Geez, I have a ton of reading to do. It’s sad that I’ve seen more movie adaptations of these books than read them. My friend Story has probably read 95% of this list. I blame blogs *mostly dlisted*, they suck out a great deal of my time. Please feel free to pass this list along but please, remember the first rule of Book Club.
Yesterday Antz and I went to the Head of school presentation for her French dream school. I felt like an empty glass being poured with inspiration lemonade. Wait…that was a weird analogy, well I was super inspired. The head of school, Elizabeth, is brilliant. She wasn’t selling me on the school, she sold me on Liv’s education, her development, and her future. I was ready to enroll her that day but I have to hold my horses. The school starts enrollment a year before kindergarten but I’m pretty sure we won’t enroll her there that early. I really love her current preschool so we’re applying this year for kindergarten 2015. When we were there we saw a few parents from Liv’s preschool, but their kids are 2 years older than Liv. We spoke to the admissions director and she told us the earlier we register, the greater our chances of getting accepted. One downfall is many of the parents are French, which is a huge advantage to those students however Elizabeth reassured us that it will not affect Liv’s fluency. All the students are taught at the same learning degree and it’s an immersion curriculum, so don’t think of it like your 9th grade French class. I am so excited! This school has everything I imaged for Olivia. The campus is gorgeous, it feels like a boarding school on 6 acres. All my worry about not speaking French was for nothing, the school has an online program that parents utilize along with their kids for learning French. I was concerned with the International Baccalaureate program and heavy academic curriculum, Liv would end up with 6 hours of studying in 2nd grade. One of the parents asked if the school was fun. Elizabeth told us, the students never have more than an hour of homework starting in 6th grade because they spend so much time studying in class, they just use home for reading or research for the following day. The school has a strong philosophy of balancing school, home and extra curricular activities. This school is pretty identical to Rushmore. I can imagine Olivia wearing a beret and founding the Beekeepers society.
Later that day we went to Kaia’s Royalty 3rd Birthday Party. Liv went as a fair maid.
Princess Posers *Liv on her cell is hilarious!*
Princess “Di” Mia
Birthday girl and her BFF Bianca
Liv somehow mistook Princess with Warrior and went to town with this sword
Bianca was so cute, sweeping like Cinderella
Pin the heart on the Princess crown
Liv spent most of the party playing with Kaia’s vanity. She LOVES playing makeup
Antz drew caricatures of everyone.
Liv’s magnificent fro
We had a wonderful weekend. Did you catch Louis CK on SNL? Best sketch ever!!
Antz won best costume at his job three times!! Way to go Jake the Dog!
Godmommy Leslie
Mia and lovely Kaia
I had a duet with Adele
Cutest B-mo ever!
We had yummy Chipotle for dinner. Everything was $2 if you came in costume. We submitted this photo of us and the managers for their Boorito costume contest, vote here!
Terry & Morgan asked us to join them trick or treating on Hill Drive in Eagle Rock. It started out as a quiet, calm evening but by nightfall, there must have been 5,000 people on that street. Every other house had decorations and tons of candy. Liv over filled her pumpkin bucket, we had to stop trick or treating. I love their awesome handmade Ghostbusters costumes!!
Kieran is adorable as Slimer!
Antz holding his prize loot
This house wins for creepiest mannequin.
American Horror Story: Asylum *I watched the first season, mixed reviews, it’s interesting enough to watch but the plot is over twisted and the characters are morons. Jessica Lange saves that show*
Thanks for the religious pamplets…said no kid ever!
I was so stoked to see other Adventure Time costumes. Liv wanted this Cake doll *looks like I’ll be making one for her soon*
Fionna, Cake and Beemo
Our costumes were quite popular, we posed for photos with a bunch of people.
We had a lumpin’ awesome Halloween!! I’m exhausted but excited about Liv’s French school presentation this Saturday.
Trunk or Treat was rad! We were the second car to arrive at Liv’s school at 8 am. Antz decorated my trunk and everyone loved it!! At first Liv didn’t want to wear her costume but a quick candy bribe got it on pronto.
My animated candy bowl was a hit. Half the kids loved it and the other half were terrified of it!
I really liked this kid’s Aquabats costume
YAY BEEMO!
Olivia’s most incredible teacher!
The owner/director of Liv’s school. She’s lumpin’ awesome!
More photos to come…Happy Halloween Boils & Ghouls!
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