Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Books, Bargains, and More....

Today Bry and I were driving out to Fashion Place Mall when I saw that Border's Bookstore was closing their store and having a 40% - 50% discount sale. I squealed with joy and pulled into the parking lot. I am a book junky and have been reading as early as I can remember. I started collecting books when I was about four years old and would memorize the words page by page and create new stories for the characters in the book, recreating my own story. By kindergarten I was full speed ahead and reading fluently .


One of my favorite things to do is to go to Barnes and Noble and spend hours browsing through different books. I like everything from trashy Chelsea Handler reads, to cookbooks, to fiction, to autobiographies, and those nutty self help psychological books.


I have books at my home in New York shoved into hallway closets, bins under my bed, and shelves in the bathroom. I have a few tubs filled with books in my current basement, and I continue to buy and read more.


My issue with books is that I think they have feelings. Today I was feeling bad for the books that were still on the shelves waiting for someone to buy them and appreciate them. I feel bad if I don't finish a book because I think it's feelings will be hurt. I fall in love with the characters of novels and find myself thinking of them throughout the day and missing them when the book is finished. (There is one book I haven't finished reading - "Eat, Pray, and Love." I tried and tried to get through this book but couldn't stand the main character and her whiny disposition. I even tried to watch the movie, which by the way, I never watch a movie before reading a book, and I couldn't even get through the movie).


Today I could have spent HOURS in Borders but with limited time, and other things to do, I had to browse quickly. I had a huge stack of books in my hands and kept justifying my adoption of these books by their 50% discount. I ended up purchasing five books today for a total of about $85.00.

One book that I purchased today is "Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man," by Steve Harvey. I started reading this book out loud to Bryant in the car as we ran from errand to errand and even over dinner, asking him "Is this true? What would you say, think, and feel?" automatically violating the book. According to Steve Men are SIMPLE. One of my main draws to "Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man," is that I have a few single friends that are dating and meeting guys, and friends going through serious breakups. And myself, who has once been there. I have also been intrigued by the processes of the opposite sex, and now I have it all written out for me. From THE MAN, himself. A book I've read before which is similar to this is "He's Just Not That Into You." A movie was made about this book and I didn't care too much for it, but then again, I rarely, I care for movies made from books, especially well written ones.
I have read TONS of books, but a few books that stand out in my mind are "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns," by Khaled Hosseni. I so bad wanted these to books to be real. For the longest time I refused to watch "The Kite Runner" when it came out on video but caved when I heard raving reviews from friends. I HATED it. The movie left out several major parts that the book portrayed. The depth of the movie was certainly not what your imagination was allowed to explore by reading the book. Other books that I really enjoyed were "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue" by Emily Giffin. I also enjoyed "A Million LittlePieces" by James Frey but automatically disliked it after I found out that James Frey lied in the book to make it more "sell able to the public." Oprah had him on her show twice. Once to talk about how great the book was, the commend him on his experience and courage to write about it. Then again, to call him out on his bullshit. I couldn't believe how fast I had fallen in love with James Frey to find out that the fish he caught was inches bigger than the original fish that was caught. I read several Mark Twain books in College because Mark Twain wrote his books in a study located on the college campus that I attended.
Most of the books I read, I find out about through other avid readers. I have my geeky book junky friends that I will call when I am in need of a good escape. Several of my colleagues are also big readers, and you have to love the Oprah Book Club. I should join a book club - maybe a new hobby to explore???
And please, if you have anything good to recommend, do so. And if you ever need to borrow a book or a good recommend, I may have something up my sleeve.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

A Scar Has Been Born....



I am quickly coming up on the age of thirty. Lately, I have started to realize and see how the aging process is surely, but slowly, happening to me. I am noticing things that actually matter. One being that I have little lines around my eyes, I'm over weight, I can't see as well as I used to without the help of contacts, and I have these "interesting" looking moles on places of my body.



Being thirty years old you all the sudden realize that you aren't as young as you once were and that you don't have all the time in the world to fix these things that are happening to your body. Suddenly you start to care about your health and preserving you youth for as long as possible.



Recenlty, I've started to diet - A word I hate. I have never had to diet but here I am watching, monitoring, and constantly fighting with myself about what I should and should not eat. On top of that I am trying like the gym again. There was a time, back in my naturally skinny, atheletic years, where going to the gym was fun, and eating italian food and sweets before bed, didn't matter. There actually was a time when a size 4 jean was too big and my ass was so small that I was called pancake ass. This was not too long ago. But now here I am, looking a little heavy, and where I simply, just don't feel as good. Now going to the gym is a chore, because I have to. For the first time in my life, I bought a scale. A dreaded scale that seems to be my enemy then my friend.



Squinting had also become a fine habit on mine. People used to comment on how I looked like I was glaring. Low and behold, I was not glaring, I was walking around 24/7 squinting because I could not see more than 100 feet in front of me. It would take me seconds longer to recognize people because I had to zoom in on their faces. So here we have it, because of squinting I now have these fine lines around my eyes and now I want Botox.



Moles. This word is weird. MOLE. MOLE. MOLE. I was at the doctors office a few weeks ago and while I was there I decided that I would show him these moles that have been concerning to me. I decided it was time to bite the bullet and just face it. And here you have it, a two inch scar on the back of my calf from having pre-cancerous cells removed because of this mole that has been following me around for the past 29 years. Damn you mole!



The interesting thing about myself and this damn mole, is the fact that I am not fair skinned. I do not burn easy and have a naturally olive skin. I'm pretty sure this mole got all moley on me because of tanning. I'm not an obsessive tanner, but I will confess that I like tanning. I like that fifteen minutes of relaxation in a nice warm place, after a busy day. I also like the way it makes me look. When I'm tan, I feel good. And you know what they say, brown fat looks better than white fat :)



Moving forward, I have to stay out of the tanning beds, use more sun screen, stop eating carbs and eat more vegetables, and get used to putting contacts in every morning. Now that I'm shy of thirty, I actually care and I understand that your youth is not forever. On the flip side, I am lucky to have an olive tone to my skin, to have nice skin that is acne free and that allows me to be mostly make-up free, to have almost straight teeth that have never needed braces, and a muscler frame that shows once I shed that "baby fat" that loves me so much :) So with the bad, there is a lot of good in which I am grateful for.