2008 Reading List

Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born – Stephen King – ?? January 08
River-Horse – William Least Heat Moon – 26 January 08
Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer – Chuck Thompson – 31 January 2008
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life – Barbara Kingsolver – 10 February 2008
The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade – Ann Fessler – 26 February 2008
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century – Alex Ross – 22 April 2008
Not a Box – Antoinette Portis – 23 April 2008
On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town – Susan Hermann Loomis – 2 May 2008
Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally – Alisa Smith – 14 May 2008
Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces: A Layering System for Big Results in Small Gardens and Containers – Patricia Lanza – 14 May 2008
The Farm to Table Cookbook: The Art of Eating Locally – Ivy Manning – 24 May 2008
Disobedience: A Novel – Jane Hamilton – 30 May 2008
The Invention of Everything Else – Samatha Hunt – 8 June 2008
Walking the Wrack Line: On Tidal Shifts and What Remains – Barbara Hurd – 12 June 2008
Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia – Chris Stewart – 13 June 2008
Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets – Deborah Madison – 6 July 2008
Midsummer – Marcelle Clements – 7 July 2008
The Virgin’s Lover – Phillippa Gregory – 13 July 2008
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things – William McDonough – 20 July 2008
The Queen of Fats: Why Omega-3s Were Removed from the Western Diet and What We Can Do to Replace Them – Susan Allport – 27 July 2008
The Seas: A Novel – Samantha Hunt – 3 August 2008

To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf – 3 August 2008
Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America’s Soul – Karen Abbott – 6 August 2008
It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff – Peter Walsh – 12 August 2008
The Queen’s Fool: A Novel – Phillippa Gregory – 23 August 2008
Serving Up the Harvest: Celebrating the Goodness of Fresh Vegetables – Andrea Chesman – ?? September 2008
Real Food: What to Eat and Why – Nina Planck – 18 September 2008
How to Find the Work You Love – Laurence Boldt – 24 September 2008
(Not That You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions – Steve Almond – 9 October 2008
The Partly Cloudy Patriot – Sarah Vowell – 15 October 2008
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto – Michael Pollan – 23 October 2008
Subversive Cross Stitch – Julie Jackson – 29 October 2008
American Nerd: The Story of My People – Benjamin Nugent – 3 November 2008
52 Projects: Random Acts of Everyday Creativity – Jeffrey Yamaguchi – 5 November 2008
The Experts’ Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do – Samantha Ettus – 15 November 2008
The Experts’ Guide to Life at Home – Samantha Ettus – 7 December 2008
Among Other Things, I’ve Taken Up Smoking: A Novel – Aoibheann Sweeney – 21 December 2008
Watchmen – Alan Moore – 25 December 2008

2008 Resolutions Resolved

1. Read two books for pleasure each month.

I finished 38 books this year – not always 2 per month, but sometimes more than 2 – and did a reasonably good job posting about them on Good Reads.

2. See 12 movies in the theatre.

We saw maybe 6? 7?  Quantum of Solace, WALL-E, Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Iron-Man, Atonement, There Will Be Blood, and Michael Clayton. It seems like there was a lot that I wanted to see this year, but we just didn’t get there.

3. Take a trip west of the Mississippi (and also west of Iowa).

Conference presentations took me to Denver and Monterey, a work meeting took me to San Francisco, and we just got back from almost a week in San Diego and Carlsbad with my family (pictures coming soon!).

4. Go to Bonnaroo or Coachella.

We had a quality time with Mark and Mike at Bonnaroo, and are hoping to go again this year.

5. Put $5,000 in savings by the end of the year (sub item: and leave it there).

Um, no.

6. Finish Couch to 5K and run a 5K.

In June I ran the Kelley Cares 5K. I’m really proud that I’ve kept up with running, and actually enjoy it!

7. Continue weight training and do an unassisted pull up.

Yes on the first part, no on the second. I’m hoping to start weight training with a coworker after the holidays – I’m pretty good at staying motivated, but having someone else with me will help.

8. Finish my CAS.

I was on track to finish, but came up 1 credit hour short, and so have extended it into the spring. I’m taking my last class via LEEP, and will be defending my thesis in March.

9. Get published.

Nope, but I think we’re going to be included in the ACRL conference proceedings, and we have an article in peer review. Fingers crossed that this’ll happen in the next year.

10. Find a church.

We’ve been sporadically attending services at Del Ray United Methodist Church, which we both really like.

11. Reconsider therapy and/or medication.

After a few sessions with the Employer Assistance Program therapist, I gave up on that, but have had pretty good luck with medication. I went back to my doctor for evaluation recently – we upped the dosage slightly, which I think will help.

12. Beat SB at Zooloretto or Alhambra.

Done and done – at least in Zooloretto.

13. Finish 2007’s Bond-watching resolution.

Still working on it – currently, in fact!

14. Bring a new friend into our family.

We adopted Miss Mina Miyo aka Mina Tiger Pig on my birthday. She’s been a fantastically funny little friend, and we’re so glad to have her.

2009 Resolutions

  1. Build up an emergency fund to cover my half of 3 months’ worth of the household budget (approx $4500).
  2. Pay off laptop loan to SB.
  3. Finish my CAS.
  4. Get published (something, anything).
  5. Start eating beef again. (after almost 13 years!)
  6. Run a 10K (or two 5Ks).
  7. Do an unassisted pull-up.
  8. Make one craft project per month.
  9. Take a trip with SB.
  10. Reduce magazine subscriptions to 5 or fewer.
  11. For the third year running – complete my Bond resolution!

Tonight Shane and I will ring in the new year with a four course prix-fixe dinner at Bastille, then maybe drinks at Rustico? or maybe Prosecco on our own couch while the ball drops.  Happy 2009, friends!

Fairytale of New York

epitaph:

The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale of New York (via WarioTBH)

I feel like I post this every year, but it never loses its magic. My internet connection might be sporadic the next few days as I’m heading up to Canada, so I thought I’d better post this now.

Happy holidays, all.

You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can’t make it all alone
I’ve built my dreams around you

This is a pretty good representation of how I’m feeling these days – a little tired, a little out of sorts, a little reflective, a little grey.  I met with my doctor to discuss my medication on Monday – we’re upping the (still quite low) dosage to see if that helps with the blues until the abundance of natural light comes back in a few months.  For years my dad has experienced SAD-type symptoms – I don’t recall that my mental or emotional state has been so affected, but the last couple of winters have been hard, so I’m willing to consider that my disrupted circadian rhythms might have something to do with it.

How do you combat the winter blues?