Archive for February, 2013

Book Review: The Hiding Place

Thursday, February 28th, 2013

Have you ever read a book that starts weird, gets really good for a few pages and then somehow ends and you’re not sure what even happened?  Meet that book:

I was really excited to read this book.  When I picked it up at a used book store and read the back cover I was immediately drawn in.  The fact that it was a national bestseller and award finalist  upped my excitement level that much more.  Once you read the description you’ll see why this book sparked my interest:

“Set in a Maltese immigrant community in Cardiff, Wales, and peopled with sharp-edged, luminously drawn characters, The Hiding Place is the story of Frankie Gauci, his wife, Mary, and their six daughters. With her “unusual gift for letting her characters’ interior lives come forth” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution), Azzopardi chronicles Frankie’s unforgivable betrayal: gambling away his family’s livelihood and eventually the family itself. The Gaucis’ story is seen through the eyes of Dolores, the youngest daughter and the embodiment of bad luck in her father’s estimation, condemned to bear the mark of a family that is rapidly singeing at the edges. Dolores presents an unsparing portrayal of the fear and hopelessness of childhood amid grim poverty and neglect, of children growing up without safety nets and on sunken foundations. Sustained by a tightrope tension and a stark, youthful wisdom, The Hiding Place conjures the coarse sensuality of life among the docks, the smoky cafes and bars, the crumbling homes and gambling rooms of Tiger Bay. “Astonishing and iridescent” (The Times, London).

Sounds good right? I really love novels about family drama so I figured I would love this.  The book started pretty slow and with six different sisters, a mom, dad and all the dad’s gangster friends I pretty much had no idea who was who the entire book. Pair that with the fact that it was told from the point of view of super young (think 4 or 5) daughter it was hard to understand what was going on.  When I finally did get a grip on the story it started to get really good-for a few chapters.

I can honestly say I don’t know what this book was about and I don’t really know what happened.  When I finished it, I couldn’t summarize in my head the story or point of it all. What I do remember is constantly having to flip back pages and reread to see if I could remotely figure out what was going on.  This book took be 2 weeks to finish-which for me, is a long time. It was a super slow read and when I finally finished it I just felt so…unsatisfied.

I went onto Amazon to read the reviews and it seemed that readers either LOVED the book or didn’t understand a word of it.  I can see how people would love the story though-it’s well written and you can tell someone extremely talented and intelligent wrote it, but I honestly think I can’t even review the book because I feel  like I didn’t even read it…

Another bummer of a book!

That’s all the nonsense I have for now!

What are you currently reading??

A Very Muddy Race Season

Wednesday, February 27th, 2013

It’s no surprise that I’m sort of in love with Muddy Monk races.  As I’ve mentioned before, being injured and not able to run more than 3-4 miles blows-which means that when I do actually run those couple miles, I want them to be FUN. I don’t care about time, I could care less if I PR, I just want to have a good time with my peeps and refuel with a drink or two post-race.

And that my friends is why I love Muddy Monk races.  They bring together running (trail running which is even more fun), friends, beer, music and a good time-every race.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve been thinking about sneaking in a couple 5K’s this year to see how fast my gorilla legs can take me but then I think about how I don’t want to put that pressure on myself. Why does it matter if I break 24 minutes? How will that affect my life in any way except for maybe some personal “hellz yea.”  What I tend to remember are experiences where I have a blast, not ones where I put a ton of pressure on myself and then freak out, and then maybe accomplish the goal I set out for myself. I’m just not that kinda person.

I am however the kind of person that loves running through the woods while catching up with a friend (and maybe in a Conehead costume) and hanging out for the post-race party. Again, why I love Muddy Monk.

So my race calendar this year (which doesn’t account for much since I do need some stupid surgery and all to really run) pretty much consists of Muddy Monk races. And I couldn’t be more siked. My race goals for 2013 are to have as much fun as possible, drink a lot of post-race beers and hang out in the woods with my friendies (how creepy does that all sound?).

My race season kicks off next Saturday, March 9, with PUNK THE MONK and I plan on kicking Art’s bootay. And maybe Punk’n him Ashton Kutcher style in the process….I wonder how he feels about tiny little top hats… There’s still some spots left so come out and have a blast with us!

So cheers to a fun 2013 race season! Hope to see you on the trails!

And I of course am hoping I see my race doppleganger out there too!

What are your race/workout goals for 2013?

Question For Ya {5}…

Tuesday, February 26th, 2013

I take a lot of showers. I’m not type A about much (read: anything) except for my hygiene  If I sweat even one drop, I have to shower (in the summertime I’ve been known to shower 4 times a day…).  The mere thought of getting into bed at night without showering grosses me out…I have all the nastiness from the day on me! (And for all of you wondering if I wash my hair each time that would be a no, the hair I stick to washing  just once a day.)

As you can imagine when you take as many showers as I do, a lot of thinking happens in there.  I would say that 90% of all my blog posts begin in the shower, whether it be just an idea or coming up with actual sentences.  I also just think about a lot in the ole shower-my family, friends, ideas for activities, recipes, outfits to wear etc. etc.  I think my friends have stopped getting creeped out when I say “so I was thinking about you in the shower today.”  It’s not a creep thing for me,  it’s just where I do most of my thinking.

So my question for you this week is:

Where do you do most of your thinking?

Project Declutter: Step 2

Monday, February 25th, 2013

GUESS WHAT?! I actually made some progress in organizing my crazy clutter-filled apartment!  Did your jaw drop? It should because me being motivated to organize my life is not something that should be taken lightly-It never happens.

But alas I made some progress in my kitchen!  Now, what you are about to see might be disturbing to you. Once you see these horrifying pictures I am about to show you, there’s no going back.  Sierra, stop reading now if you would like to prevent that heart-attack.

Here we go…

Cabinet #1:  Pasta, canned goods and tupperware.

As you can imagine, I cannot tell you the amount of times I’ve gone crazy and freaked out over some piece of tupperware falling on me when I open this cabinet.  Everything is so stuffed in there that whenever I go to the grocery store I think I need chicken broth when I actually don’t- I found 7 cans of the stuff hidden behind all that mess.

AFTER:

Though it still may look crazy cluttered, it’s organized, trust me.  We have pastas on the left, soup on the right, cooking crap (canned tomatoes, chicken broth, etc.) to the right and spices I use on a regular basis on the second shelf AND all the tupperare is organized on the top shelf.

Cabinet #2: Snacks.

How terrifying is that? I found so much old junk in there it was a little ridiculous.  I’m not sure who keeps buying 5 Hour Enegery’s because PartyDog and I have never even had one but I somehow found 3 in that mess.  I also found some empty tea boxes and some really old and stale pita chips…

AFTER:

(I’m not sure why that picture is so blurry. Instead of being a good blogger and retaking it, I just went with it. Sorry..sorta.)

SO MUCH BETTER! I can actually SEE what is in my cabinet. Please also note that my opened backs now have chip clips on them. I have been meaning to buy chip clips since PartyDog and I moved into together…4 years ago…and I just now got some.  I feel like an adult now.

Cabinet #3: Spices and baking crap.

Another SEE HOW MUCH WE CAN FIT in there cabinet.  I was honestly pretty grossed out when I was cleaning this one. Somehow honey had spilled over the bottom of each shelf and everything was just so…sticky.  Thankfully we have shelf liners in there so I could just scrub it off and threw them back in nice and clean.

AFTER:

Though this still looks nuts, it’s organized (for my tastes). Spices on the left, fancy olive oils and vinegars on the right (I’m a bit obsessed with them), baking junk on the second shelf and misc. junk on the top shelf. The best part is NO MORE STICKY!

Cabinet #4:  Cooking/bakeware.

Another cabinet that constantly gets cursed at for things falling all over me whenever it’s opened.  And don’t even ask me to try and get out any of those baking dishes without offering me a bottle of wine first.

AFTER:

A big sigh of relief happens whenever I open that cabinet now. Most of the things I use on a regular basis (pasta bowls, salad spinner, Ninja and colander are on the bottom shelf.  Baking dishes and mixing bowls on the middle and entertaining stuff on top.  I can’t get over how much more room I have in that cabinet that I originally thought!

Cabinet #5: Pots and pans.

This is a bottom cabinet which means that whenever I actually need one of these items, I typically have to spend about 4 minutes sitting on the floor attempting to find the pan I’m looking for.  Naturally, it’s always fallen somewhere in the wayyyyy back.

AFTER:

Everything I use on a regular basis is right up front where I can easily reach it. My trusty dutch oven it’s it very own spot but I’ve stacked the other pots/pans I use regularly.  That cabinet goes back pretty far on the left side so there’s a few more things back there that I hardly ever use.

I realize they all still look pretty cluttered but for me, it’s VERY organized! I have a lot of stuff and I love to cook so everything I own in these cabinets gets put to some good use.

Now, I plan on never taking anything out of them in fear of them returning to the nightmare they were before….

I have a feeling I’ll be cursing a lot less these days.

That’s all the nonsense I have for now!

How organized are your kitchen cabinets??