GO BLUE!!!

I just got the pictures last week, so I guess that I am a little behind on blogging about this. But you'll see how giddy I look in a just a second...

On March 12th, the Michigan Senate honored Pittsburgh Steeler Lamar Woodley, a former UM football player. In addition to his family, his high school and college coaches came also, including Lloyd Carr. Being the die-hard UM Football fan that I am, here are my pictures...

Just in case you're wondering, the pin I'm wearing reads "I'd Rather Be in Ann Arbor". Trust me, it's hard being a Wolverine in Spartan country!

Goals for the week ahead...

I think there are a lot of them, and I'll probably only accomplish half, but oh well!

First, for the menu:

Monday:
Lunch: Chef Boyardee (you're sensing a pattern, right?)
Dinner: Hot Dogs and chips

Tuesday:
Lunch: Chef Boyardee
Dinner: Sushi with the girls!

Wednesday:
Lunch: PB&J (been kinda craving it for awhile!), chips, applesauce
Dinner: Asian Fried Rice (at home)

Thursday:
Lunch: Leftover Asian Fried Rice
Dinner: Fish sticks and fries

Friday:
Lunch: Breakfast Burrito (ok, breakfast and lunch!)
Dinner: Out - Reno's West

My other goal is to get on the exercise bike for a minimum of 30 minutes each night this week.

And last, but not least, I will finish the book Eclipse this week...

The Believers

I just finished reading this book last night. The follow up to Heller's "What Was She Thinking?", "The Believers" had me hooked from the beginning. Following the Litvinoff family through a tragedy, the book introduces us to characters that, like in her previous novel, the reader doesn't necessarily like much.

Each character has their own problems to deal with, and their own personality flaws. Joel, the patriarch, is a famous attorney. Audrey, his wife, is a fiery personality who is very hard to like. Rosa, one daughter, is having a crisis with religion. Karla, the other daughter, is having a crisis with marriage. Lenny, the son is having a crisis with drugs.

The story centers around the way they all deal with their issues after Joel suffers from a stroke. The family is quite dysfunctional, but intriguing.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and would recommend it to others.

Why am I still up?

It just dawned on me that it's almost 11pm, and I haven't even remotely gotten ready for bed yet (unless you count putting on PJ's the minute I walked in the door).

I've eaten dinner, been hanging out with the dog, and surfing the internet. Granted, I've only been home a short time, but I'm not exactly being productive - I could at least be reading instead of surfing online, but here I am, in the living room, with basketball on (I think that's really my problem).

Of course, when my alarm goes off in the morning, I will not be thrilled at all. In fact, I'll probably be angry that I have to get up out of my warm, comfy bed.

Ok, I've decided it's time to go to that warm, comfy bed instead of just talking about it - more to come this weekend!!!

Elbow Love

Wow, wow. I have really, really, really dry elbows. It's always a challenge for me to get them soft enough that I can keep them that way!

I just received this in the mail the other day from Bonghi Natura's shop. My elbows love it! My nose loves it! It has helped my skin so much!

I'm looking forward to future purchases from this shop. There are many things that I'm sure smell fantastic!!!

Book reviews

I am not good at reviewing books. I can tell you if I liked it, didn't like it, hated a character, liked the story, but when I read other people's book reviews (or reviews about anything!), it seems as if they're so...deep. Mine are just so superficial in comparison.

Does anyone have ideas for how to make my reviews better? I'm not really a great writer, but I love reading and want to share what I think with y'all!

Books to read

So, I made the mistake of reading the email I got yesterday from NPR Book Reviews. It unfortunately helped me add MORE books to my TBR list. Like I needed to add anything new...



First up - Captain Freedom: A Superhero's Quest for Truth Justice and the Celebrity He So Richly Deserves by G. Xavier Robillard. I think being fresh off seeing Watchmen is what attracted me to this book. I've also been watching Smallville quite a bit recently.

Second was Happens Every Day: An All-Too-True Story by Isabel Gillies. I'm not sure why this seems intriguing to me, but I think the story seems like it might be very raw.

And finally, The Believers by Zoe Heller. I enjoyed What Was She Thinking? though I haven't seen the movie, Notes on a Scandal. This sounds like an interesting story, and I just got a copy from the library today...

Which makes me giggle, because when I went to pick up my holds at the library today, I only had three of the four on the shelf. I asked at the desk, and pretty much before the person helping me asked for my card, the guy working at the next desk was handing her my book. Sigh, so much for anonymity! I guess I'm in there so much, they know me! I will miss the South Lansing library when I move to the west side of Lansing in a couple of months!

You're closed?

Today while I was getting ready for work, I realized that I was running out of clothes to wear...and the dirty clothes pile was getting larger! I didn't have time to stop at the bank before I headed to work, so I figured I'd just stop sometime today.

Well, it turns out that EVERY branch of my bank closes at 4:30pm...yup, that's 4:30pm. Before the 5pm that I usually leave work. So, before I left work, I figured out where I could go before they closed - NuUnion Credit Union.

This made me start thinking - why am I still with a bank? They can't even be open while I'm NOT at work! But, while I'm thinking of switching from my bank to a credit union, I have to keep in mind lots of factors, including my paycheck and auto payments.

Any opinions?

Watchmen

This past weekend, Eric and I went to see Watchmen at the IMAX with a couple of friends. I have not read the book, but really want to. However, this was one of those times when I didn't quite feel like I had to read the book, and really wanted to see the movie. I even took a nap before we went, since we went to the 9:40 movie and we knew it was 160 minutes.

The movie had me hooked from the beginning. The music used in the opening montage was perfect. The storyline made the moviegoer think. There were so many small details that I noticed, and probably a lot more that I didn't notice. I had a lot of moments where I thought "What if this really had happened?"

I enjoyed this entire movie. I didn't feel like it dragged at any part, and literally wanted to see it again after it finished (at 12:30am no less!). I would highly recommend it to everyone. I have the book requested from the library and am looking forward to reading it!

Weekend Update

Friday seems like it was so long ago, yet the weekend passed so quickly!

After work on Friday, I met a couple of friends at Happy Hour at Art's Bar in Lansing. We had a great turnout eventually, and live entertainment from one of our Lansing Jaycee members. It was a lot of fun, and I was there for most of the night. Then I went home and finished my book. Woo hoo!

Saturday was the Michigan Jaycees Model Legislature here at the Capitol in Lansing. I was the Majority Floor Leader for the day, and whew!! What a busy day! After we were done, I went home, went to dinner with Eric, and then came back to take a nap. Yup, a nap at 7pm...because we were planning on seeing Watchmen on the IMAX screen at the 9:40 showing! I LOVED the movie...I'm hoping to do a post on it soon.

Then slept in on Sunday, watched Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and slept some more in the afternoon. It was quite the lazy Sunday!

Now I feel like I'm playing catch up at work on this Monday...

Ah, moving

So, in November, I extended my lease for 6 months. The idea was that by May, I would be ready to move into a new place in Lansing with the other half. Despite the best laid plans, it dawned on me a few weeks ago when I received a letter about my lease renewal that we weren't ready yet! AHHHH!!!

My lease is up at the end of May, but they need to know by the end of March if I'm leaving. So, in the next couple of weeks, I will hopefully know where I'm moving to! I'm going on Monday to check a place out on the West side of Lansing (in the 917!) Of course, any place that I look at has to be dog friendly!

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with moving or not, but the last week or so, I've been purging things around my apartment. You wouldn't believe how much crap I have in a one bedroom apartment. Ok, well, maybe if you saw it, you'd believe it. I feel like I've put so much in the garbage, but it still doesn't look like I've gotten rid of anything!

I'm starting to go through my clothes to see what I can take to Goodwill (that size 4? It's gone!) I have piles of magazines to take to the recycling center. I have more books than I know what to do with (no, I'm not getting rid of them, sorry!)

I think part of my packrat tendencies comes from my childhood - my mom vacuumed every day, nothing could be out of place, and I think that now that I can live the way I want to, I don't have the time to clean that much, and I don't want to be like her in that respect!

But now that I've started cleaning, I'm determined to have less stuff to move from one place to another!

The floodgates have opened...

So, of course after I post the other day about having nothing to write about, and I thought of two things on my way to work this morning:

1) I stopped at the gas station to get something to drink this morning, and I've noticed the last few times I've been there that signs have been posted warning people about the increase in cost for cigarettes. The woman in line in front of me purchased a pack for $6.94!!!! I know I'm not the best person to keep a budget but wow...I just imagine how much people that smoke spend on their habit, and how they should do everything in their power to quit. I know it's NOT the easiest thing to do - my dad did it in the 80's, but between the health benefits of quitting and the cost, you'd think that would make people more apt to quit!

I also have to say that I don't particularly feel bad for people that are complaining about the cost increase. While the government may be looking for increased revenues, one of the things I would hope would come out of it is fewer smokers, therefore saving the government more in the long run on health care.

2) I've slowly been in the process of purging my office and my apartment. Last night, I got rid of two bags worth of junk from my car. These bags ended up in my apartment when I thought I was going to trade in my car in January 2008, and have been sitting there since. It's a long slow process, but I think if I purge things from my apartment now, it'll make it much easier when I have to move again. And it makes my apartment less cluttered!

Random thoughts, I know, but they both came to mind!

Writer's Block

In the last few days, I've wanted to write something - really. But I could never think of what to write about. There's just been so much going on that I can't seem to focus on one thing.

Which brings me to having a case of writer's block. I really WANT to write about something...but I can't think of anything other than I would rather be home, and reading or doing something else.

I think maybe I'm just in a rut with the yucky weather outside in Michigan.

What do you do to get out of ruts?

Lamb

I finished this book on Sunday night, but I'm just getting around to blogging about it.



Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

I have to say, I was quite entertained. I'm not really sure what I expected from this book, but from what my friends had told me about Christopher Moore is that he is funny.

I'm not sure if I would have found it funnier if I knew more about the Bible and the stories (I have hardly any knowledge of it...), but I found myself glad that I wasn't reading it in public most of the time, because I would start giggling.

There were many parts that got me thinking about how Joshua learned from all the world's religions (Buddhism, Confucious, etc.) and how all of these religions have the same overarching theme. I was also quite entertained at the amount of bacon references that were made throughout the book.

I would highly recommend this to everyone - I'm looking forward to reading more of Mr. Moore's work! 4/5

Big Brothers Big Sisters

It's that time of year again...Bowl for Kids' Sake to support Big Brothers Big Sisters!!!

I am participating again this year to help the Michigan Capital Region Big Brothers Big Sisters raise money to provide mentoring services in Mid-Michigan. I was a Big Sister in Muskegon for four years, and love this organization.

If you feel so inclined, please donate ANY sum to my cause!

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=300918&supId=211283414

I'm looking forward to exceeding my goal! I'm bowling on Friday, May 8th. Help a great cause!

Reading Habits

For those of you that know me pretty well, I'm usually a fairly avid reader. I read a good amount of books last year, and was pretty confident I would read quite a bit this year.

Well, I honestly have not been doing well. I haven't even finished a book this year yet. I'm hoping that I will finish the one that I am reading today, but wow, this is just so unlike me. Somehow, I have to find the time to read more. Recently, I've only been reading right before bed, whereas I'm usually reading after work, while watching TV, etc.

I'm thinking maybe I need to set a goal of books to read like I did last year - any suggestions?