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WATER FOR ELEPHANTS 
The first time I heard of
Water For Elephants
was on a beach in Connecticut. We were there for Jake's cousin's wedding and David was running around the beach.
I saw this woman reading the book and got it confused with another one and when I realized my mistake, I asked her
how it was. She said she was liking it, but didn't seem enthusiastic enough for me to want to place it on my library queue.
A few weeks ago, I was at Kepler's and saw the book again. I decided I wanted to give it a try. I got it from the library three weeks ago and it's been sitting around, waiting to be read. Despite being on vacation, I haven't read much at all in the last three weeks and I was getting worried that something was wrong with me. Turns out nothing was wrong with me, and everything was wrong with the books I was trying to read. I picked this book up since it was due back in two days and I wanted to at least check it out. And, man, am I glad I did. I read it in two days and loved loved LOVED it. I can't even tell you why. I fell into the story immediately and enjoyed every single minute of it. Despite the unusual setting, this is a timeless story and fantastic writing. Highly recommended.  DAVID AND FRANKLIN  When my friend Nicole and her 3.5 year old, Franklin, met us at the mall, I had no idea Franklin and David were going to hit it off this well. The ran around and played for hours. They climbed trees, they chased each other, they tickled each other, they danced together, and they even hugged! It was the most amazing thing to watch and brought tears to my eyes. I loved seeing David have such a good friend and laughing out loud with him. Such a pity they don't live closer to us. PHOTOS FROM PACIFIC BEACH IV  PHOTOS FROM PACIFIC BEACH III  PHOTOS FROM PACIFIC BEACH II  PHOTOS FROM PACIFIC BEACH I  THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MY ORDINARY LIFE  I loved the idea and wanted to do it too but I found the layout format too confining. For some letters, I had way more than 3 items and for others I had none. So when I saw this container I thought it was the perfect idea. This way, I can put 8 under one letter and none under others if I want. I also included a sample page I made so you can see the kind of stuff that would go in it. 
GENTLE  We saw this beautiful cat on our walk in the neighborhood today and you were excited beyond words. You watched it from afar and shrieked with joy. Even the cat could tell that you were having a lot of fun so it didn’t run away. David, I love that you love animals as much as I do and that you’re so kind and gentle around them. THE LOVE OF READING Every night, after we put David in his crib (yes, he is still in a crib and he will be until he learns to climb out of it!), I read him a book. Last week, we started reading the Cat in the Hat and it has quickly become his favorite book. As soon as Jake puts him down, he starts chanting "Cat, Hat, cat, hat!" until I show up with the book. Then we both sit down and I read. Tonight, I switched to another Dr. Seuss book and when we finished he said, "More Cat in Hat" and so we read another and then he said "more" and I said "No more tonight my love, we'll read more tomorrow." I so hope he is like that for the rest of his life. If I am able to pass on my love of reading to David, it will be one of the best presents I could ever give him. PEONY IN LOVE 
I absolutely loved Snowflower and the Secret Fan so I was thrilled when I heard about Peony In Love
I couldn't wait to read more of Lisa See. Yet, it turns out the book is terrible. I mean it was so bad that I put it down 5 times. I told myself that I had to get to page 100 before I made a final decision and then at page 101, I gave up. It was bad and
it got exponentially worse. What a shame it is to see an author, who can obviously do ten times better, write such a mediocre (actually it isn't even mediocre) book.
ON CHESIL BEACH 
I've been a fan of Ian McEwan for a few years now and I absolutely loved his previous book, _Saturday_, so when I saw he had a new one, I couldn't
wait to pick it up. On Chesil Beach is a tiny book
and I read the whole thing in an hour. While the last 5 pages were fantastic, I can't say that for the rest of the book. It was bleh. It went on and on and about
something I didn't care too much to read about. I didn't care about the characters enough to care. It was sweet, elegant and a fast read but it was definitely not up to his potential.
BOOKENDS  I had never read a novel by Jane Green before I
picked up Bookends
I picked it up because one of the staff members at Kepler's recommended it and I dream of starting a book store and so reading a book about that seemed a lot of fun. While
she is a really quick read, I wouldn't qualify her as pure chicklit. She's a bit better than that. Her writing is relatively good. Her characters are 2.5 dimensional. I can
definitely see myself reading more of her, especially when I need a mental downtime.
AFTER DARK  I have been a huge Murakami fan since I found out about him.
Last year, I went through a phase where I read a bunch of his books back to back. So it should come as no surprise that I wanted to read
After Hours
as soon as it came out. While the book was good and a little weird, it didn't measure up to typical Murakami at all. He is normally so incredibly fantastical and his
stories are so involved, so amazing, so mind-blowing that you cannot put the book down. This was an easy read but it wasn't nearly as amazing as most of the other books by him. Yet, I cannot wait for the next one.
DOT DEAD 
I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Dot Dead.
I brought it with me along a plane ride and finished that same night. I couldn't put it down. It wasn't the best-written book I read but it was certainly enjoyable and sort of surprising at parts. A great book to read on the plane.
It's a shame I missed him when he visited Google.
TWELVE TIMES BLESSED AND A THEORY OF RELATIVITY 
I have read Mitchard before but I must say, Twelve
Times Blessed was one of the worst written books I've ever read. The
character is not believable. She is annoying and the whole story is
flawed in so many ways that I don't even know where to begin. To be
fair, I did get strongly affected by the story
and felt deep love for my husband who I swore to appreciate more. I
spose one cannot ask for much more from a book. 
Having said all of that, I also read A
Theory of Relativity and I absolutely loved it. Much more realistic,
more interesting. The characters were easier to relate to. The story was
still a bit more melodramatic than I would have liked it to be, which is
annoying cause it didn't need that extra drama. It was a beautiful
enough story as is.
GRACE EVENTUALLY  I absolutely adore, adore, adore Anne Lamott. So it's no surprise that when she came out with a new book, I grabbed Grace Eventually: Thoughts on Faith immediately.
I have to admit that this wasn't one of my very favorites of her, but I still loved it. I swallowed it up and felt an inner peace that only she manages to instill in me. I am definitely not a religious person but I still loved her book. Maybe cause I do have faith. Or maybe cause Anne's a fantastic writer.
THE IMPERFECT SHOT  I take so many photos of you that it’s not hard to find a pretty picture each time I want to write down a memory. But sometimes, the memory is so magical that I am living it instead of capturing it and at those times I depend on others to snap that quick photo. Two weeks ago, you started pre-school. Twice a week, for three hours a day, you actually say good-bye to Mommy and Daddy and go play with your teachers and classmates. Normally commemorating this event is exactly what a photographer Mommy should do. But I was so emotional that I completely forgot to take photos, so at the last minute I scrambled to snap a few quick little ones of you running to class and just being excited in general. And then Daddy said I should have a photo with you. He grabbed the camera and snapped as quickly as he could. You were already too excited to stop and so the photo came out a blur. But I don’t mind. Sometimes the best photos aren’t the technically perfect ones. Sometimes the blur shows the excitement and joy much more clearly. Sometimes it’s about the moment and the memory and not about perfection. I LOVE YOU - LSS ROUND ONE  8 transparencies: I cut three circles of 5,4, and 2.5 inches. I stitched the first one, and put a rubon across the seam of the other two, connected all three with 3 clear buttons and wrote i love you, a word on each layer. I tried to show the detail on the bottom so you could see it upclose. So my 8 items are: 3 circles 3 buttons 1 more circle where the date is written 1 on top of the photo by My Mind's Eye Journaling Reads: Today I came home early from work, so I was able to take you to MyGym’s open playtime. Normally, you’re in a funky mood and play for a short while and then get bored. But today, we had a blast. We played, we laughed, and then we laughed some more. At one point, you kept running over to me and knocking me over. And then you ran over and gave me a big hug and said, “I love you.” I had a hard pregnancy. I threw up eight times a day for six months. I was so nauseous that I worked in bed the whole time. When you were born, you refused to sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time, even when you were six months old. I still haven’t lost the weight I gained during the pregnancy. You regularly make messes all over the house and sometimes I find a half-eaten apple weeks later, hidden behind some furniture or appliance. There are many moments in the day when you try my patience. But all of these hard times are for this one moment. For the tight hug. For the tiny kiss. And for those three little words, uttered unprompted. They make everything worthwhile. I love you, too, my son. I love you with all my heart. MR. CHARMING  Still catching up on the two I missed while I was in San Diego. Here's the journaling: Little David, you’re such a two-year-old. You cause a tremendous amount of mischief all day long. You break our CDs, take the tape out of out cassettes so that they are irreparable. You break all the crayons and then write all over the walls with them. You draw on the car window. You put your stickers on Mommy’s computer. You hide your food all over the house and dump your apple on the floor when you’re done with it. You refuse to sit in your chair and spill your drink all over the table. When I ask you to do something, you look at me like you’re in deep suffering. You beg, you yell, you rebel in every way you can. But if I keep refusing, that’s when you pull out the big guns: you look at me with those big, blue eyes and give me one of those special smiles that you know melts my heart. That’s when I can no longer fight with you. I just give up and hug you really tight. Well, Mr. Charming, I don’t know how much longer you’re going to be able to get away with those cute faces, so enjoy it while you can. CRAYONS  AIRPLANE  We have a lot of planes flying over our backyard. Not as many as we used to when we lived right by Miramar in San Diego, but still, it seems each time we play in the backyard, there’s a plane flying by. In the beginning, you completely ignored them, and then you started noticing and pointing each time we saw one. Now, you’ve totally gotten into them. You hear them first and bring your hand to your ear and say “Sound! Airplane!” Then, you know to look up and find the plane. Once you see it, you start pursing your lips and try to imitate the sound the planes make. Spit flies out of your mouth as you say, “Pffffffttttt.,” and it makes me laugh each time. Every little boy loves airplanes and you, my son, are no exception. I can’t wait until you’re old enough to build a little model airplane with your Daddy. He has always loved airplanes and is already planning all the events he will tale you to. I can only imagine all the fun you two will have. WORKING HARD  Since Daddy takes care of you during the week, I try to spend most of my weekend moments with you. A few weeks ago, I had to do a photo shoot for a client and when I came home from the shoot, Daddy went out running. Normally I'd sit and play with you, but I wanted to get the photos processed before our trip to New York, so I wanted to try something new. I pulled your high chair next to my desk and got the box of crayons with paper for you, so you could draw while I worked. We sat that way for hours, you doing your creative work, and me doing mine. We must have been too engrossed in what we were doing because neither one of us heard daddy come back from his run. When he saw how much fun we were having, he grabbed the camera and snapped a few shots of our special moment. David, I have this dream that as you grow older, we'll be able to create together much more often. I am so thrilled that you like crayons and drawing as much as you do. I can't wait to introduce you to my scrapbooking stuff and see all the wonderful art you'll make. Only a few more years and we'll be sitting side by side, working on our layouts, sharing ideas, and enjoying every little moment of it. I can't wait. NO BED  Your least favorite time of the day is when you know we're getting you ready for bed. Even if you're in the best mood, once I tell you to come with me, you immediately get upset and say, "No. No. No bed." You whine, you cry, you resist, but eventually you always break down and come along with us to the bedroom. As Daddy puts your pajamas on, you're still full of sadness at how unfair the world is. It's only when I give you the toothbrush that your mood starts to change. Even though you momentarily get upset when we leave your room, within seconds you're bouncing around your crib like a happy bunny. We laugh as we watch you through the camera. Just another example of the everyday joy you bring to our life, David. HUNTING FOR TREASURE  LOOK AT ME  “Look at me!” I say this sentence maybe thirty times a day. When you were little, I could snap tons of photos of you and there was nothing you could do about it. As you grew older, you were always complacent and allowed me to indulge myself. But in the last few weeks, you’ve mastered the art of selective hearing. When I catch you doing something cute or funny, I run to grab my camera and, in the most upbeat tone I can muster up, I say, “David, look at Mommy.” And you ignore me. Either you don’t look up at all or you say, “No picture.” I should take this as a sign that you’ve had enough, but I don’t want to. My memory is really bad and these stages in your life are so fleeting, so momentous that I can’t resist capturing them. I want to freeze them forever so I can remember. I crave the permanence of a photograph. So instead of giving up, I enlist the help of your dad. “Call him,” I say each time we’re out together and I am trying to get you to cooperate. “Call his name. No not there, come behind me and then call so he’s looking up to me.” I know he must think I am crazy, but he cooperates. Your Daddy is the very best, ever. Little David, soon even Daddy won’t be able to fool you and before you know it, I will have to give the camera a break. But, until then, I will snap, snap, snap. PROUD  A few weeks ago, we were invited to a party that a friend of mine hosted. It was during the day so I asked her if I could bring you along. She told me there would be no other kids but if I wanted, I was welcome to bring you. Thanks to work, I get to spend so little time with you that leaving you at home wasn’t an option. So off to the party we went. As soon as we got there, you got settled on the couch and started to play with everything they had. You watched some Blue's Clues, you played with their chess set, their poker set, their mini disco lights, their Simpsons toys. You were quiet, sweet, and happy. You were so cute that several of the guests spent a good chunk of their time with you. As always I was amazed at how easy it is to take you wherever we go. How we rarely have to worry about you acting out. How you don't seem to mind being among a room full of adults. I am so proud of you. MAD  Your way of displaying your anger changes regularly. You used to put your head against the wall and cry. Then you threw stuff off the tables. After that you started hitting. And now, you go to this little corner of the living room where there's a wall just your size, you sit on the floor and make all sorts of angry faces while you say a lot of words we can't decipher. Every now and then you say, "I'm mad" or "no way!" The faces you make and the way you sit there is so cute that I can't resist smiling. Within minutes, I come to give you a big hug and a kiss. And then you're smiling again. At least until the next time you have a fit. BLUE EYES  They say blue eyes are recessive. If you have a Mommy with brown eyes and a Daddy with blue eyes, the chance that you'll end up having blue eyes is less than 15 %. So when we had you and you were born with beautiful blue eyes, I knew not to keep my hopes up. All babies are born with blue eyes, and so were you. Most babies' eye color changes in a few months. Yours kept staying blue. One month passed, and then two, three, four. Yours were still blue. I couldn't believe my luck. Was I really going to have a blue-eyed boy? Your grandma kept checking each time she called, "Are they still blue?" she'd ask. "Yes," I'd respond incredulously. We kept telling each other that they could still change after six months. When six months came and went, we said, "It could be up to a year." And here we are. Two and a half years. Your eyes still blue. Piercing blue. There's no chance they're changing now. They're here to stay. I can't believe a dark eyed brunette like me ended up with a blond, blue-eyed little boy. FACES YOU MAKE - MINIBOOK               MARK TWAIN QUOTES  FAVORITE PHOTOS - MINIBOOK  HAT  MY PASSIONS  US - THE MINIBOOK            Reclaiming a Song A few years ago, I wrote about how music gets intertwined with memories. There are thousands of songs that within seconds transport me a certain time, location, and emotion. Once a song is infused with a certain feeling, it's pretty much impossible for me to disassociate it ever again. But not fully impossible. There's a Dixie Chicks song that I used to love. I was listening to it on continuous repeat for a few weeks. It just turned out that I also had some things happening in my life that were less than ideal and beyond my control at the same time. So, pretty quickly, this song got entangled with the situation and got associated with very sad and frustrating feelings. Months passed and I still could never listen to this song without reliving the events of that time and I quickly started avoiding the song. Which really bummed me out since it was a fantastic song with amazing lyrics that would have otherwise made me feel stronger and inspired. Last night, on my way home, the song came up on my ipod and, to my surprise, instead of the typical resentment, I felt the sense of strength and empowerment I had felt before the song had gotten associated with the sad events. I had finally completely given up my resentment and finally moved on so it allowed me the space to reclaim the song that I loved. What a great way to feel the power of closure. |
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