the maze runner

last year, as my friend matt and i road tripped north carolina and virginia, we listened to 'the maze runner' by james dashner.

i had heard about the book at comic-con the prior month, and it seemed to have a huge following.  i knew that it was being turned into a movie and the synopsis was right up my alley, so i thought the road trip would be a great time to try it out.

unfortunately, it was TERRIBLE.  i mean, really, really bad.  maybe it was just the audio book and narrator, but i've heard similar poor reviews from 'readers' since.  i was a little baffled at how this book had developed any following at all, but, from what i've heard since, it seems that it's a less than great introduction to what builds into a great series.  i have my doubts.

nonetheless, it's bad-ness became a bit of a bonding experience and the jokes continue to this day. whrrrr. click. click. click.  (if you've read it, you'll understand)

when the movie's opening day was finally set, matt and i knew we had to go check it out.   i mean, we had already committed 10 miserable hours to the thing, might as well add a couple more.

me, trying to take a pretty photo of a delicious
looking crepe.  matt, trying to mess it up.
this round goes to him.

imagine our surprise when it was pretty good!  in fact we both quite enjoyed it.  the writing was far better suited to a visual portrayal than to words on paper.  seeing what had been described in the book (pretty poorly in some cases) finally made the story and characters interesting.  it was well cast, and there were a few really tense moments (even though i knew what was coming). watching it with matt, my partner in literary pain, was exquisite.

following the movie, we headed to a favorite of matt's - a local mexican place with the most amazing carne asada.  interestingly enough, the meat always reminds me of the best steak-and-cheese sandwich i ever had.  one of these days, i'm just going to buy some meat, take it home, throw it on a sub roll with some mayonnaise and grilled onions and pretend i'm eating trio's again!

we made quick work of dinner so that we still had time for dessert at a mutual favorite, la creperie.  it goes without saying that the chocolate - chocolate- strawberry crepe was divine, and a perfect way to end the evening.

books and movies and music

most of you will know that i read a lot. sometimes 'actual' reading, and sometimes audio books.  in fact, i've developed an audio book addiction, as it significantly helps pass the one-hour-each-way commute to work.

my latest audio book was 'the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society', and i absolutely loved it.  i'm not sure that i would have taken to it as quickly in traditional book form, but the audio book format, and the different readers, entranced me from the first words.

i know (based on your goodreads shelves) that many of you have already read the book, but for those of you who haven't, let me see if i can convince you that you should.

the book consists solely of correspondence between the characters in post- wwII britain. every character description and plot narrative unfolded within the context of these letters, and you spend the entire book feeling like an eavesdropper or voyeur, and loving every minute of it.

fiction about this time period often feels dismal and sad, and while i'm not averse to serious subjects, i prefer to finish a book not wanting to kill myself.  this book tackled subjects of sacrifice and loss, and circumstances i hope i never find myself in, in powerful and moving ways, without leaving me depressed and disheartened.  instead, as i neared the conclusion, i found myself wanting to find out how it all ended while simultaneously never wanting it to end!   and, of course, i found myself wanting to book the next flight to guernsey.

i won't go into the details of the plot, as you can read it for yourself, but suffice it to say that in my opinion, it has everything a good book should have...including british accents.

in addition to my 'reading', it's been a busy movie week!  while in dallas, i absconded to a local theater in my off time to see 'secretariat', and i think it's fairly obvious that the movie appealed greatly to the horse-loving cow-girl in me.

my only fear had been that the 70's setting (and wardrobes) would be a distraction (not a fan), but it turned out to be a non-issue.  i was reminded just how much i enjoy diane lane, john malkovich's portrayal of secretariat's trainer was laugh-out-loud funny, and yeah, i cried like a baby.  just something about the power, intelligence, and sheer magnificence of an animal like that, tickles my weepy bone.

on friday a few of us from the ward got together to see 'the social network.'  the reviews were good and the movie was as well.  my roommate and i were surprised that we were the only girls in the group, but also not complaining.  and, since our original show time preference was sold out, we had some time to kill before the next showing.  since i'm on the road so much, there are so many people in my ward that i don't know very well, and the wait time gave me a chance remedy that.

i was a little embarrassed when i asked one of the guys in the group how he knew one of the other guys.  his response was 'from the ward,' and i followed up with 'oh, how long have you been in the ward?'  turns out, he's been in the ward for a year, and yes, i am a shmuck. ah well, just another reason i'm glad to be home for awhile!

i wrapped up movie week on saturday afternoon when my roommate and i took advantage of the drizzly day to lose ourselves in a little josh duhamel.  i've actually been looking forward to 'life as we know it' for some time, and i'm glad to say that i wasn't disappointed.

i mean, it's a chick flick, so you pretty much know what you're going to get.  and while it was fairly stereotypical, i also appreciated that there were some deeper layers and truly tender moments relating to unexpected parenthood.  it, unlike most chick flicks, is on my 'to buy' list.

last but not least, i'll just mention that at both movies this weekend, in a trailer for a new reese witherspoon/owen wilson movie,  there was a song i adored and had to look up later.  turns out, i loved almost every itunes clip from the album and immediately downloaded it. if i ever get around to posting a new playlist (i'm sorry about that. really!) brendan james will definitely be on it.  in the meantime, check him out for yourself.  my favorites are 'the lucky ones' and 'the fall' (video below).  it will take more time to be sure, but (dare i say it?) there may be a joshua radin dethroning in the future.

today, this came:

i know, i know. i am way behind this trend, but i spent the last year waiting for the ipad, then deciding i wanted to wait for a second generation ipad so they could work out the kinks from that first run.  and when a stinking good deal on the kindle crossed my path, i decided it was worth it, even if i only use it for six months before buying an ipad:)

what makes this purchase so exciting is the decreased weight in my carry-ons and luggage.  and trust me, that's really exciting.

and not only that, but thanks to tamara's suggestion, i can now finish reading 

which is teaching me that i'm pretty much doing everything wrong when it comes to dating.  oddly enough, that's remarkably refreshing!

bibliophile waxes erratic*

thanks to the significant amounts of airport time, flight time, and drive time i've had recently, several books have made their way from my 'to read' shelf, to my 'currently reading' shelf to my 'read' shelf. note: this is both figurative (this is what i've titled my goodreads.com shelves) and literal (this is also how i organize my physical books). i will comment on a few of the highlights for your enlightenment.

outliers - malcolm gladwell
i am no lover of non-fiction books. however, one author has consistently found his way through the wall of my fiction obsession, first with the tipping point, then blink. some of you may have read them (and if not, why not?), and outliers is his lastest venture.

what appeals to me about the author's topics is that they are interesting! (really, i don't ask for much!) blink, for instance, is a book that examines perceptions and biases. how quickly they form, how often we are unaware of our own and those formed about us... there is a great passage in blink about the relationship between height and power, which you can actually read an excerpt of here. trust me, it's interesting.

outliers deals with the topic of success--however not in the way, say, a stephen covey would address the subject. instead he deconstructs recognizable successes -- bill gates, the beatles, the canadian hockey league — and pinpoints the various contributing factors to those successes. by and large the success factors boil down to timing and opportunity, not talent or intelligence. one of the early discussions in the book - that of the canadian hockey team - literally dropped my jaw. it all seemed so simple and yet also had me thinking 'what the heck?!' i enjoyed it immensely as it allows me to blame all my failures on circumstances out of my control :)

hunger games - suzanne collins

this is another book outside my 'norm' - i guess that's the advantage of having a lot of time where i'm forced to sit around and wait...or voluntarily spend days worth of hours in a moving vehicle. i've come to trust trish's literary taste as being very similar to my own, and when i saw her recommend on goodreads, i decided to give it a shot.

i loved loved loved this book. the best description i can think to give it is, lord of the flies, in the future, with girls. but that doesn't even really come close to covering it. it pulled me in and never let me go. and with only a couple of complaints. it was a bit predictable in places, but overall i really liked the nuances of the story. the other complaint was more major...until it wasn't.

when the book ended, i was in shock. it was the worst book ending i'd read in a very long time, and i was seriously peeved. then i found out that there is a second book on it's way and i felt much better about my life. i still think it would have been nice if the author had wrapped it up a bit more cleanly, instead of leaving the gaping wound to fester until september 1st, but at least that wasn't it. i do have a great fear that this is on it's way to a trilogy and i will be equally as peeved after book 2, but i guess i'm going to risk it, because i want to see what happens next!

city of bones, ashes, (and probably glass) - cassandra clare

very much 'in' my norm, a youth fantasy vampire tale, sort of. i'd probably describe it as more closely resembling the golden compass than twilight, although there is a developing love story, which, at the moment admittedly, has gotten a little creepy (i've finished the second, about to start the third). actually, now that i think about it, more buffy the vampire slayer, although to be clear, not a lot of vampire action going on. it's a fun easy read with all the requisite monsters and demon hunting, in which i still feel attached to the characters. i'm excited that my computer is back from apple repair waiting for me at home so i can upload the last book:)

the crowning glory of calla lily ponder - rebecca wells

from the author of the divine secrets of the ya - ya sisterhood...which always makes me a little skeptical. there aren't many writers whose words can keep me entertained indefinitely, and the more prolific an author becomes, the more i know at some point they will break my heart.

this recommend came from an old high school friend, and since southern lit wrapped it's polite little tentacles around me my freshman year of college, i have a hard time turning a blind eye to a recommend falling in this genre. i'm glad i didn't read the reviews first, or i would have been talked out of it, feeling sure that this would be the heartbreak moment. but THAT would have been a terrible shame. this would have to rank at the top of my last 10 reads.

i LOVE the voice of the south. i don't necessarily love personally spending a week in july in new orleans, but i do love reading about it. and i understand. when wells describes the landscape of louisiana - geographically, climatologically, and demographically - i get it, and that draws me in to the story. the reviews, which i read after, were in large part terrible - in one case even citing the author's battle with lyme disease as the probable cause for this disaster of a book. and i honestly don't know what they are talking about. this was a read i just fell into. i don't know why, but i can't get this analogy of lazy rivers (found at various water parks across the country) out of my head.

it took me a little bit of time to settle in to the tube, get comfortable, and force myself to relax. but only a little bit. next thing i knew i was head back, arms out, butt in the water, completely unaware of anything happening outside my little circle of silence. and by the time the ride came to an end, i was wishing the ride guy (i'm sure that is the technically correct term, if not the politically correct one) would let me just stay on and go around again.

*i will be using this as my tagline in the near future. don't even think about stealing it;)

wow. that was lame.

having a fabulous time on vacation with many pictures and stories to come. the only black mark so far is the sleep i gave up reading the latest literary travesty. not that i'm bitter.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 1 of 5 stars

what a colossal waste of time and space this book is. if it weren't for the success of the first three, this book never would have seen the light of day because no one in their right mind would publish this craap. i enjoyed the first three and had literally zero expectations for this one, other than i hoped jacob ended up with someone other than bella, because he deserves better.

to be honest, i am surprised to see so many of my otherwise intelligent friends raving about this book. i've said all along that i don't think sm is a good writer, nor do i love her heroine, but yet, somehow i could not stop reading 1-3 and enjoying them despite myself. this however, broke the mold.

View all my reviews.

the beach problem

living in such close proximity to the california coast, and being the proud owner of a lovely little cruiser, who, it should be said, receives compliments and praise wherever she rolls, i find that on most weekends, some portion of my time is spent at the beach.

usually this time falls between morning errands and evening activities, and though it is a place of relaxation, i find that i am incapable of being completely idle. the obvious solution to what i refer to as 'the beach problem' is to tote a fabulous book along with my oversized towel, underused sunscreen, camera, and the snacks du jour.

but i've found that reading away my time results in strange tan lines (or burn lines, as the case may be), and stretching out on my stomach, propping myself up on elbows is more exercise than should be allowed on that golden stretch of sand.

so what to do?

about a week ago, i hit upon the answer--and why it took me so long, i can't say.

books on tape! though these days, it is more appropriate to refer to them as 'books on ipod'.

last year before the great california road trip, i signed up on a site that would give me discounts on downloads, and from time to time, a free one. so i waded through my 'to read' list, and selected three books; goose girl, a youth fantasy, austenland, another book by the same author, with an obvious pride & predjudice theme, and eat, pray, love.

and that is how i managed to 'read' three books in the last week. i have mixed feelings about 'reading' books this way. there aren't many things that give me as much pleasure as turning the page of a really great book, taking the highlighter out of my mouth, or from behind my ear to mark a really on-point quote, somehow taken directly from my mind and thoughts.

but, i genuinely enjoy driving with this 'background music', and of course, it was the perfect beach solution.

so i plowed through goose girl (loved it!) and austenland (liked it), and moved on to eat, pray, love. i was immediately drawn in by the author, reading her own words, telling her own story, as if i had sat down with a friend over a cup of tea and was listening to the recounting of the last year of her life.

i wasn't five chapters in, however, before it became painfully obvious that i was not going to be able to just listen. so, i did something strange and i bought the book. i kept it in my car, and when i heard a quote i loved, i would find the passage at my next stopping point, and highlight it, folding the corner of the page as i usually do to indicate that 'right here. there are words of wisdom here.'

so this is how i 'read' eat, pray, love. since i finished the three downloaded books in an amount of time that only allowed for one beach afternoon, it didn't exactly solve my beach problem.

but i have been nourished and entertained, and with a modicum of discipline, and careful selection, this could become my favorite new hobby. or almost favorite. going to the beach will reign supreme.

to see which gems of thought jumped out at me, check out my quotes page.

vegas baby: a blog in three parts

act 3:

scene - my room, huntington beach, ca, time irrelevant

so. the host. i dug it. better than i thought i would. body snatching aside, i thought the premise was fairly unique (although i'm not a big sci-fi reader, so i could be wrong), and it was far better written than the twilight series. don't hate. i couldn't put them down either. but that was DESPITE being poorly written, and my distaste for bella. what can i say? i'm a vampire fiction lover. and then there was jacob....

i digress. i'm curious, did anyone else find it ironic that this 'adult' novel of meyer's was more suited (as in 'cleaner') to the teenage girl target market, than the books written for the demographic?

vegas baby: a blog in three parts

act 1:

scene - las vegas convention center, icsc, 162 f street, 12:54pm

four hours and six minutes until i can officially close up shop here at the show. the tumbleweeds keep rolling past my booth and the pigeons have flown in to reclaim their territory (yeah, not kidding on the latter).

the good news is, i survived. i survived arriving at the airport to learn that i was only allowed one bag and not two (finally, not watching the news bites me in the behind). i survived the flight delayed due to ‘mechanical’ problems. i survived 109 degree temperatures. i survived manning a trade show booth for the first time in my life. i survived the questions i didn’t have answers for. i survived the intense amount of pain in my quads, developed by the equivalent of doing squats 8 hours a day for three days straight. up down. up down. up down.

and i also managed to finish ‘the host’ (more on this at another time), see an amazing show, meet a lot of great people, spend quality time with my boss, not lose a dime, and enjoy the bathtub in my room. twice. every day. quads and all…

ironically, i’m kind of a first timer at this. don’t get me wrong, i’ve worked on too many trade shows for my liking. but this is the first time i have taken it from booth conceptualization to onsite show management. i’ve coordinated drayage and shipping and electrical and carpet. but i’ve never led the design process and the marketing, and i have most certainly never been the ‘face’ of the company. even with eleven years in, there is still something new, and that is exciting.

i still can’t say i like trade shows any better than i did. but, i do like to do different things, face new challenges, and expand the repertoire. there isn’t a lot i haven’t done in this industry. i’ve “thrown” chairs. i’ve pulled air walls. i’ve conducted site searches. i’ve learned how to negotiate contracts. i’ve learned how to work with operations staff earning minimum wage, and executive staff earning more than i’ll make in my lifetime. short of sales (and my desire for ‘something different’ does not reach that far), there is no single part of the industry that i haven’t been involved in at some time.

i love what i do. i always have. and i’ve been lucky and blessed. i’ve spent 95% of my career working at good companies, with and for good people. i don’t know how many can truly say that. for a long time, i felt the need to justify that i never finished my degree. at 20 years old, and only part way through my schooling, i was offered a choice. finish school to earn a degree that would help me get a job i really wanted, or take the job offered to me, that i really wanted.

unfortunately, i couldn’t do both. the travel required by the job i was being offered would preclude any formal education, and in those days, there were no such thing as online degrees. maybe i should be more embarrassed by this, but for me, it was a no brainer. and never once have i regretted that decision.

that’s not to say i haven’t had to explain it a few-hundred times over the years—particularly to potential employers. but in the end, it didn’t matter. i never felt that it prevented me from being offered a job, and a few years ago, employers stopped asking. every once in a blue moon, it will still come up. but with 11 years in, it’s certainly not deterring me.

i don’t typically think of a profession as a ‘calling’, but there is no doubt in my mind that there was some divine guidance in mine. and with every good experience i have, good company, good co-workers, good boss..it is reaffirmed.

this particular show was the first time shauna and i have traveled together, and it only furthered my respect and appreciation of her as both boss and colleague. though i will stand by my initial assessment of her from my interviewing days—that i’ve never met someone so hard to read—it’s for completely different reasons than i would have guessed. i think as a culture we are trained on a very subtle level to distrust. so many hidden agendas, so much spin, so many walls. what you see is not what you get, and if it seems to good to be true, it probably is…right?

well, not so with shauna—at least, her hidden agendas aren’t hidden, her spin isn’t spun, and are walls are pretty easy to hop over. even though i am much the same way, it still can be slightly jarring at first. it took a little time to realize that it’s not so much that she was ever hard to read, but more that i assumed that that the façade was just that, a façade. perhaps true, but perhaps not the whole story.

i don’t mean to imply that she has no depth, or that she can’t hold her tongue when necessary, but, i know that when she tells me something it’s because it’s true. she is direct, she is decisive, and she is fair. she trusts people to do their jobs and only steps in to guide when direction or course correction is actually needed.

as such, she has earned my loyalty too, and her respect matters to me. beyond that though, this trip gave me the chance to see that i also genuinely enjoy her as a person, not just as a boss.

there have been many people who have shown generosity to me over the years, in a variety of ways. i am always profoundly grateful, and always a bit surprised. maybe because i know that at heart, i’m selfish and i have to work not to be, it always amazes me that there are people who at the very core of their beings are selfless. selflessness is a trait i haven’t mastered, but i have seen it time and time again in people i’ve been fortunate enough to know.

it presents itself in many ways, but on this trip, it presented itself in the form of tickets. tickets to cirque du soleil ‘love’.

- intermission -

in support of jan

i never, never, let me repeat, never, respond to blog tags. buy my cute cousin jan has made a recent blog debut, and as such, i will acquiesce one time, and one time only. :)

many of you have seen/blogged this one before, but...

1. pick up the nearest book
2. turn to page 123
3. find the 5th sentence
4. post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people

this quote coming to you live from the book currently at the top of my to read/sort of reading pile; 'the historian', by elizabeth kostova:

my father paused here and drew from his camera bag two waterproof jackets, one for each of us.

anyone else find the reference to camera 'equipment' ironic. okay, maybe not, but i did.

bibliophile

in my freshman year of college, i took a course in contemporary fiction. one of the short stories we read was entitled 'the handsomest drowned man in the world,' and was my introduction to gabriel garcia marquez.

with quotes like this (below), i was an instant fan.

Even though they were looking at him, there was no room for him in their imagination... they also knew that everything would be different from then on, that their houses would have wider doors, higher ceilings, and stronger floors so that no one in the future would dare whisper, ‘the big blob finally died, too bad the handsome fool has finally died,’ because they were going to paint their house fronts gay colors to make Esteban's memory eternal, and they were going to break their backs digging for springs among the stones, and planting flowers on the cliffs so that in future years at dawn, the passengers on the great liners would awaken, suffocated by the smell of gardens on the high seas, and the captain would have to come down from the bridge in his dress uniform, with his astrolabe, his pole star, and his row of war medals, and pointing to the promontory of roses on the horizon, he would say in fourteen languages, ‘look there, where the wind is so peaceful now that it’s gone to sleep beneath the beds, over there, where the sun’s so bright that the sunflowers don’t know which way to turn, yes, over there, that’s Esteban’s village.

i loved the images marquez was able to create...the story stepped out of the confines of paper pages and took root in my imagination. and i was off to the book store for more of his work, most notably 100 years of solitude and love in the time of cholera. these books have been in my possession for nearly 13 years now, and i have read neither.

the other night, i saw a trailer for the movie version of 'love', and i had to consider why it was that i had not yet read the book. ultimately, i decided that it was out of fear.

my favorite book of all-time is les miserables, and after reading it, i got my hands on every piece of hugo's work i could find. invariably i was disappointed. and not just disappointed, but nearly devastated. i could not understand how an author could pen a novel so clearly divinely inspired, only to have his other works fall so short in my mind. there are those that will disagree with my feelings about his other works, the hunchback of notre dame foremost among them, but for me they were sick jests.

unbeknownst to me, i believe, that that created an irrational fear of being let down. i had so loved the handsomest drowned man, and could not put myself through that same disappointment if his other works did not measure up. so they got shelved.

usually i am working on three or four books at a time, and have the 'top 5 books to complete' with me. this has been number 5 for as long as i can remember, and as such, it was close by. when i saw the trailer, i knew it had to be made a priority, as i simply don't believe in seeing a movie before reading the book, unless i have no intentions of ever reading the book.

i've made it a few chapters in, and so far, there is no disappointment looming. in fact, i find that same imagery and storytelling mastery is just as present has it was in that short story read long ago, and i can't wait to finish!

in other book news...the geek blogs (namely engadget and gizmodo) are all abuzz with posts about amazon's new 'kindle' digital book reader. the reader will allow you to wirelessly download from amazon to read (ultimately) any book you can imagine wanting, including those hard to get and out of print books.

i typically like to be on the front edge of new technology, but in this case, i find myself torn. the advantages are unquestionably great. first, that ability to easily access books that are hard to find is amazing. and, since i am someone who typically travels with 6 or 7 books, my luggage and my arms would certainly thank me.

on the other hand, there is something about holding a book..breaking the spine, dog earring those memorable pages, or whipping out the highlighter/pen, that is immensely gratifying. that tactile sensation that fosters a perfect read, is not something that can easily be replaced by a digital tablet. so the question is, do the benefits outweigh the sacrifices? i know there are some fellow bibliophiles reading, and i'm curious about your thoughts...do share...

(ps aaron-i really am still working on 'clash')

california

more details will come next week regarding the quick trip to california. the short story is this... jesse flew home on monday. i flew to california on tuesday. we had picked up our copies of harry potter on saturday (aaron, your feelings are noted..no need to slam me), knowing i would have plenty of travel time. this was the only book i packed, as i was challenged by and succeeded in checking NO bags.

for those that have traveled with me, you will know how significant this is. but, i had two layovers, and was certain any checked bags would not arrive with me. i couldn't take the risk, so i packed only a small rollerboard and a backpack. no room for an extra book...which frankly, i wouldn't have considered anyway, as it had never occurred to me that i would finish so quickly. but, i did.

***spoiler alert***

i knew snape wasn't bad! and i'm shocked that the trio all survived.

***spoiler concluded***

overall, i enjoyed the book, but wasn't sure what i would read on the return trip. nonetheless, that was way down on the list of things to stress about.

i arrived at john wayne airport, and was met by cousin-in-law, jenny.

on the way to tustin, jenny got a call from the neighbor saying that drew had poked himself in the eye (no, 'it's all fun and games until...' jokes) and had a visible scratch on his cornea. when we arrived, jenny contacted the advice nurse, and eventually it was determined that mick would take him to the walk-in.

mick and drew were joined by brad, while jenny and 9 year old rachel (or as i like to call her...'mini me') caught up on life and enjoyed girl time.



i spent wednesday morning with rachel, who is entirely too intelligent for her age, and when jenny made it home from work, i headed out for a mani/pedi. i was short on time, but felt that this was a necessity before my afternoon appointments. when i called to find out if they could fit me in, i asked if it would be possible to do both at the same time, since we don't really do that here (pedicure first, manicure second--i have no idea why) and had to laugh at myself when i arrived and saw that the salon was setup solely for that purpose. they did an excellent job, quickly, and cheaply, and it was back to the donahoos to change for the afternoon.



my meetings went well, although i was suffering from a powerful and sudden migraine. despite the challenge, i felt good about my presentation.

after a successful pit stop in aliso viejo (more details next week), i headed back to mick and jenny's to change, take some migraine medicine, throw on my glasses, and throw up, before heading out to meet jesse, who made the hour and a half-ish drive to treat me to a very nice and much appreciated dinner in santa monica.



i'm not sure which of the above (or a combination of the three) helped, but my migraine dissipated as quickly as it had come (hours after it's onset of course--but that is far better than days!), allowing me to thoroughly enjoy the company (and food) at dinner.

though i had no thursday obligations, i knew that jesse had to work, so i tried to send him home at a reasonable hour. i sort of succeeded.

thursday was travel day. jenny saved the day by providing a book for the trip home.

ironically, i had been hearing about this book from anne, and had been mildly curious. in the end, i had mixed feelings about it. i will likely go on to book 2, but not until i've finished a couple of other books on the night stand.

whatever the result, i consider the trip a happy success. i was able to spend time with people i care about, and hopefully make some headway in other areas as well.

as a sidenote, the 'odd' photos in this post are courtesy of rachel and 'photo booth' on my mac.

to give you a better sense of rachel, let me share the most memorable of our interactions:

me: i need to get my nails done tomorrow
rachel: (within 10 minutes, puts down a printout of a google map showing the nearest nail salons) here you go!

rachel: (scrolling through the ring tones on my phone and encountering justin timberlake's 'sexy back'--anne's ring tone). hmmm. this is kind of inappropriate.

rachel: have you put your makeup on?
me: no. i don't usually wear makeup.
rachel: well you don't need to. you're really pretty.

is there any wonder why i love this girl?!