BEST BOOKS TO READ WHILE TRAVELING

Ever since I got my very grown up tablet contraption (Galaxy Note) last month, I have been addicted to reading. It's just like my days of youth when I would read a book a day. Granted, they were mostly fluff books like The Babysitter's Club...

Nowadays, I love checking out digital books from our local library and have read 13 since December. I did a lot of traveling so the books I chose were speedy ones that take very little effort to breeze through. So if you're into a little YA fantasy, some really terrible romances, and a series about a teen girl who transforms into a cougar (classy, right?), read on:

Totally Worth Reading: The books below were legit, fabulous, thought-provoking, and/or worthy of future re-readings.
1. Wonder - One of the best young adult books I've read in a long time. Woven narrative told by a boy with "jarring facial anomalies" and several people in his life (sister, friends, etc.). At the end of the day, this is a meditation on kindness. Beautifully written. Put this at the top of your list.
2. The Happiness Project - Little late to this party, but I liked this book. I want to clean all my closest now, too.
3. The Wednesday Wars - A teenage boy has to stay after school every Wednesday afternoon with a teacher who, like, totally hates him. Shakespeare plays a big role in his after school lessons. An interesting perspective, as the story takes place during the Vietnam War.
4. Omnivore's Dilemma - Again, late to the party. Definite food for thought.
5. The Giver - Yep, still one of my favorites. This book has aged well and moved me to tears in a way I wasn't expecting. I loved reading this from an adult's perspective.

Magic + History YA: I kind of love this Michael Scott series about brother/sister twins who discover they are super powerful. Weaves in historical figures with mythical figures (such as The Morrigan, sphinx, centaurs, etc.) which turn out to be real. Tagline: "Some legends are true." Wonderfully quick and addictive.
6. The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flammel
7. The Magician

Paranormal Teen: The first two books are part of Kelley Armstrong's terrible (by which I mean awesome) Darkness Rising trilogy. While the name of the trilogy should be enough to get you reading, here's a one sentence recap: Group of teens discover they have paranormal abilities; main girl turns into a mountain lion; dramatic love triangles and escapes ensue. Exit Strategy is pretty bad - aimed for adult audiences, it's about a cop-turned-assassin and her adventures with other assassins. Oh My Gods is about about a girl who has to attend school on a Greek island. The catch: all the students are decedents of Greek gods.
8. The Gathering
9. The Calling
10. Exit Strategy
11. Oh My Gods

Romance: There is a special spot in my heart for British romances about neurotic 20-somethings. Case in point, I will repeatedly read anything by Sophie Kinsella (Shopaholic fame) or Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones).  But I have to admit my first foray into non-British romances was a complete let down. Nora Roberts' Bridal Quartet series was really, really awful. And yes, I actually read 2 out of the 4. Don't judge. Let that be enough. I beg you, please don't subject yourself to these books. Seriously. Terrible.

All of this begs the question: what have you been reading? Any recommendations? Spill!

Currently Reading
Moon Over Manifest
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
The Phantom Tollbooth
Happier At Home (sequel to The Happiness Project)

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We Went to Hell in A Handbasket

And I mean that quite literally. Hell, Michigan--AKA, "Michigan's Hysterical Town," lies due north of Ann Arbor. With just four establishments, Hell is teensy. But it makes up for its diminutive size by capitalizing on its name. The city's website, for instance, is called Go To Hell (dot com). A real barrel of laughs, am I right? But wait, there's more: its Post Office/Pizza Parlor sportingly calls itself "Hell in A Handbasket" and has an alarming array of Hell, MI parphanalia, my favorite being the postcard that says "Get over it, Hell froze over!" and a photo of Hell's town sign in the dead of winter decked out in icicles. More hellacious stuff: Hell's ice cream joint goes by "Screamers." The pub, A Dam Site, features a broad assortment of burgers--"made in Hell," naturally. I got the Holy Mess. It was very worth it. But the real kicker is for a mere $100 you can be named Hell's Mayor for the day. I know what Warren is getting for his birthday next year...

The great part about Hell is that it is located in an incredibly charming area. Bucolic farms pepper the landscape, along with quaint stone bridges and tree-lined streets. We stumbled across Jenny's Farm Stand and couldn't resist getting a dozen piping hot pumpkin donuts. I tried to offer some to a few kids who came in but they avoided eye contact while shaking their heads and scurrying away. I suppose I can't blame them. Like Meatloaf, my favorite leather-clad 80s anti-hero, I had just been to Hell and back. 

Unrelated to Hell, we have just been soaking up this fall. Keeping the tradition alive, we had some friends over for a caramel apple party. It was my first time making legit caramel and I have to say, though I was terrified every step of the way that it would not work, it totally did and I will never go back to unwrapping those caramel candies. 

Our friend Janice had a slammin' karaoke/birthday/costume party and we were reunited with some dear friends from Iowa and Utah. Warren and I sang a Taylor Swift duet. It was magical. 

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We Fall For Fall

 

October has treated us well so far. Our ward fall festival was a blast (loved our friends who channeled the Chaplins). Defending our chili title for the second year running, our luscious brisket chili managed a win in the mild division. Warren has been told on several occasions (including his student evaluations) that he looks like Mitchell from Modern Family. As a nod to our favorite show and one of the funniest episodes, Warren decided to capitalize on his ginger-ness. So the most important question of this Halloween season is Who Wore It Better? Mitchell, or Warren? You be the judge! The muscle-y Spidey suits were sold out, much to Warren's dismay.... Oh, and I was Medusa. Gotta love dollar store neon snakes.

Thank you for all your road trip tunes! Such great company for our trip back to Saugatuck. Seriously, this town's adorable downtown can rival Traverse City for the second most charming small town in America. Watch you back, TC, Saugatuck is coming for you. We tried to find a ghost town but our efforts were thwarted. Luckily, the leaves looked gorgeous and we got a Michigan oven mitt (despite my utter hatred of the Michigan hand thing) so it turned out okay. We also stopped by Holland, which is known for its Dutch town and tulip festival. We will definitely be going back in the spring!

We also got to hang out with some Dearborn friends who flew the coop to Muskegon. Every year they host the MSU/Michigan game. Every year it is a house divided--half their friends rooting for Michigan (maybe more than half :) and some stalwarts holding out for MSU. Since I've been watching Friday Night Lights pretty religiously for the past two weeks, watching this game was actually kind of fun. Turns out if you watch 2.5 seasons of a show that has about 5 minutes of football per episode, you'll pick up one or two of the ground rules! Thanks, FNL, for everything. We hope to squeeze in another road trip before the snow sets in but this little trip was just what we needed. What have been your October highlights thus far? 

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Your Favorite Road Trip Songs?

 

I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles. As with most teenage populations, there was a general consensus in our 'burb that you were pretty much nothing without a car. Like Lloyd Dobler's Malibu in Say Anything, a car was your castle. This is why turning 16 was awesome. Forget Super Sweet Sixteen parties, I finally got my hands on my family's 1989 Buick Royale. So what if I had to turn it on with a screwdriver that I stored under my seat? A car was a car was a car.

Once my friends and I got our licenses, it was a straight shot south on the 101 to Sunset Boulevard where we spent pretty much every weekend rifling through records at Amoeba before going to a show. Though the shows were always awesome--this is where I saw Joe Strummer (of The Clash) and basically every angsty emo band in existence*--I loved the drive into the city. My friends and I sang very loudly and very off key to sparkly 80s Madonna and a lot of Tom Petty. Music, after all, is what makes driving amazing. It's where you can listen to terrible music without being judged. In the car, guilty pleasures reign supreme. No one judged that dude from Office Space when he listened to hardcore rap on his commute even though he was a nerdy white guy. Because we've all been there.

This is all to say that I need your help. Big time. Warren and I are going on a road trip on Saturday and are in dire need of some new tunes. This is where you come in: please, give me some of your driving songs, guilty pleasure or not. Here's one of my favorites:

Also, I did an interview with Land of Gazillion Adoptees. Check it out here!

*Dashboard Confessional, anyone? Saves the Day? What about the Get Up Kids? Aw, such adorable angst!

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Top 5 Things to Do Around Lake St. Clair

About every two weeks or so I make plans for a big move. I generally set my eye on realistic locales such as Sao Paulo or, more recently, Barcelona. Somewhere warm, with a beach, and great seafood. To sate my current bout of wanderlust, I took Warren on a day trip around Lake St. Clair for his birthday. Lake St. Clair is adorable for many reasons but I really love its underdog rally to become the Next Great Lake. For a lake the approximate size of a postage stamp (compared with Lake Superior), this plan takes gumption. I admire that. And it has a point: the lake allows tons of ships to pass from Lake Huron to Lake Eerie and is consequently one of the busiest waterways in the entire world. It's also super pretty. And super close. Here's a peek at our itinerary, should you also need to escape your everyday life--if only for a few hours.

1. Russell Street Deli in Eastern Market. There was no line, shockingly, and we tucked into massive omelets and fresh squeezed orange juice with lightning speed

2. The Edsel Ford House. Lucky for us, the Seven Dwarves and a slew of other Grimm characters were out and about taking in the lovely autumn day. Michigan sure knows how to do fall, I'll give it that. 

Warren loved feeling like a giant in Josephine's playhouse/home of the Seven Dwarves. And yes, this "playhouse" was bigger than our actual house. 

The Edsel Ford House is modeled after the great estates of Cotswald, England, which was fun to see after reading about a million bad romance novels that take place in that region. It happened to be freezing the day we visited, but we braved a tour of the grounds and learned that the gardener fell into the pool while cleaning it the day before. Bless his heart. 

3. Ferry to Harsen's Island, i.e.: my coup de grace! While the entire day's plans were a surprise to Warren, this was by far the best and coolest one. Sure, the ferry takes about two minutes but it is awesome.

4. Schoolhouse Grille. The whole island is filled with charming marshy landscapes and summer homes. While there's not much for visitors to do, the island does have a delicious restaurant in a former schoolhouse. Get "The Farmhand" and you will not be disappointed! Then drive to the island's southernmost tip to watch a bunch of crazy people don wetsuits and brave the frigid water. 

5. Morley Candy Factory. Home of Michigan's famed Sanders hot fudge sauce! This place does not mess around. On weekdays you can watch the factory in action. 

It's the kind of place that would make Lucy and Ethel proud.

And that's how it's done--happy birthday, Warren! Sorry I didn't make you a ten pound cake again...but you made up for it by making 6 pans of cinnamon rolls. 

 

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6 Reasons to Love or Loathe Mondays: A graph

Much to my dismay, I never wake up on Monday mornings feeling like P Diddy (Ke$ha LIES, people); in fact, every Monday in recent memory I have woken up feeling like my life will never be happy again. Because I have to go to work. Once I get to work, I usually query Trish with encouraging gchats such as:

me: why does monday always have to be so hard?

To which she is obliged to give me the cold, hard truth:

Patricia: because life is hard.  and cruel.  and then we die.

Today has been a particularly hard Monday because I stayed up all night reading Heaven is Here (thanks a lot, Julie :) and I can't breathe through my nose due to a head cold. So not only have I become a creepy mouth-breather, but I am also at work. On a Monday. It's been rough, needless to say. Upon Trish's request, I created a graph that charted out my emotional highs and lows of the morning:

Why I love Monday: 1) I ate leftover garlic pumpkin knots (happy as a hedgehog) 2) I drowned my sorrows in Hulu and 3) I pilfered chocolate from my desk stash. However, each high was punctuated by the terrible low of the stone cold fact that it is, irrevocably, Monday. These lows were supposed to be depicted by Arrested Development animated gifs that did not animate in my graph (yet another Monday Low on my Roller Coaster of Emotions). Why I loathe Monday: 1) It is Monday 2) I am sick and 3) It is Monday, I am sick, and one day everyone is going to die.

To have the full saturation of my Monday Blues, check them out here:

9:31 Gif
9:39 Gif
9:45 Gif

I have been awfully productive today, as you can see. How do you get through Mondays? Because there has got to be a better way!

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A Song For Autumn

Friends, it is officially autumn and I have a gallon of hot cider to prove it (topped with Cool Whip's amazing cinnamon awesomeness, naturally). So to celebrate, here's one of my favorite front stoop moments of all time, recorded on the first day of autumn 3 years ago. The mastermind behind this group Ingrid Michaelson sing-a-long is my favorite pal, Trish. She is so obsessed with fall that she has an annual party just to welcome the season in style, which I totally approve. What is your favorite part about fall? Freshly sharpened pencils? Sweaters? Pumpkin-flavored everything? All of the above (YES!)?

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