-
Oatmeal Carmelitas!
Some time back in the ’90s, I was the only female on an otherwise all-male trade execution desk for a major brokerage firm. I liked to bake but didn’t have roommates for a time, and I sure didn’t need to eat all that sugary goodness on my own, so I routinely brought my bounty into work to share. Basically, I was the desk mom. One day my boss, who was divorced, was bemoaning how much he missed a dessert his ex-wife would make. He would do ANYTHING to get another helping of this wonderful dessert. He said he would buy me cookbooks if I would only make this dessert. I’m slightly…
-
What I’m Reading Wednesday: It Started With a Breakup
Today’s picks for What I’m Reading Wednesday have one thing in common – they both center around a young woman who has just broken off her engagement – one the dumper, one the dumpee – and what direction their lives take afterwards. They are two very different characters in personality (one independent and driven, one dependent and searching for purpose) and life circumstance (one scraping by, one a reluctant socialite) but both women are surrounded by colorful supporting characters and find their strengths and happiness in the end (of course!) So let’s get started with What I’m Reading Wednesday! First on my list is Creature Comforts by Trisha Ashley. This…
-
On Swimsuit Shopping and other Mortifications
My new neighborhood is rife with the activity of new pools being built and existing pools being serviced, signs that summer is approaching. Which, in turn, means I will have to put on a swim suit. Confession #1: I hate swim suit shopping. I would rather walk barefoot through a pit of Legos while listening to Kenny G songs played by tone-deaf 6th grade beginner band clarinets than shop for swimsuits. Confession #2: I have been wearing the same two swimsuits since about 2009, the year after my daughter was born. In that time, I have gained weight, and lost it, gained again and lost again. If you look at…
-
On Bullying: the Ultimate Solution
I confess that what I’ve written today was not what I sat down to write. See, I sat down to write a funny story about this one time I went swimsuit shopping. But I can’t write it. Not today. My heart is full of sadness, anger, disappointment and frustration. Since the start of the year there have been three suicides in our metro area. Three teens, no longer on this earth. Three teens so pained that the only escape they thought they could find was to end their lives. I didn’t know these three boys. I can’t imagine the torment they faced to get them to the decision that they…
-
What I’m Reading Wednesday – The Dead Key
The days are getting longer and the weather is gorgeous here, so I’m enjoying this brief lull before mosquito season kicks by reading on the patio. My pick for this week’s edition of “What I’m Reading Wednesday” is the 2014 Grand Prize and Mystery & Thriller Fiction winner of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel award, D.M. Pulley’s The Dead Key. The Dead Key is the story of two women involved with behind-the-scenes dealings of the First Bank of Cleveland, separated by 20 years. The store vacillates between 16-year old bank secretary Beatrice Baker in 1978 and civil engineer Iris Latch, who in 1998 is freed from her tedious desk job to survey the now defunct…
-
What I’m Reading Wednesday: A Hope Remembered
Guess what day it is? It’s What I’m Reading Wednesday! This week I’m talking about A Hope Remembered, the third book in Stacy Henrie’s “Of Love and War” series. I loved this book so I’m thrilled to be participating in her release week blitz – and not just because it means I had the chance to do a Q&A with her! But first, the book: The final chapter in the “of Love and War” trilogy, A Hope Remembered is the story of Nora Lewis. Heartbroken over the loss of her fiancé in the Great War and the death of her parents, the inheritance of a sheep farm in England seems like the opportunity a new start.…
-
Urban Adventure Questing in San Antonio
Every city has its big attractions and in the rush to see everything you might miss out on some of the hidden gems. We recently discovered a great number of interesting details as we explored San Antonio via Urban Adventure Quest. An Urban Adventure Quest is a bit like a small-scale version of “The Amazing Race” – without the dangerous bits and the questionable foods. It is a smart-phone based scavenger hunt through one of more than 30 popular cities. It is timed, but that’s ok – the only price to win is bragging rights and a wonderful day out exploring (and brainstorming) with family, so you can complete it at any…
-
What I’m Reading Wednesday: Dead Wake
I’ve been reading quite a bit of narrative non-fiction of late, and my book choice for “What I’m Reading Wednesday” does not disappoint. In the way that Erik Larson’s other books have entertained as much as educated, I have found his newest release Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania to be a page-turner and an eye-opener. His telling has plenty of detail and brings the story to life. Did I know the story of the Lusitania? I thought I did, but this book proved that I had a back-cover summary of the events in contrast to the complex reality. The Lusitania was a ship in the British Cunard line that made…
-
Glass Half Empty
I sometimes wonder if it is the curse of the first-born child to be cautious and a worrier, because as first time parents we tend to hover and be over-protective (where the second child is the adventurous free-spirit, because either we’ve gained confidence or we’re too worn out to care.) When my kiddo shows signs of anxiousness about something, I have to wonder how much is nature and how much is nurture – although, either way, it would come down to me anyway. That said, we do our best to control the things that might cause unnecessary anxiety for a child with a very active imagination and a glass half…
-
What I’m Reading Wednesday – Stories With A Touch of Magic
For having been on a vacation last week that entailed very little sitting, I’ve been tearing through a fantastic list of books on my Kindle. This week, I want to share two books that are perfect escapes. Since I first read Sarah Addison Allen’s The Sugar Queen I’ve been a fan, and I have been eagerly awaiting her most recent book, First Frost. . First Frost is a story of two magical sisters, Claire and Sydney Waverley, their equally magical daughters (Mariah and Bay), a temperamental house and a cantankerous apple tree. Sarah Addison Allen returns to Bascom, NC to pick up the story of the Waverley sisters ten years after we last…
