Category: Fun

What I’m Reading: Coming to My Senses

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One of the first memoirs I read was the first of Ruth Reichl’s three, Tender at the Bone. I was immediately entranced and quickly inhaled her other two, Comfort Me With Apples and Garlic and Sapphires, followed by her 2014 novel Delicious! Reichl went on to be an incredibly important figure in food media, and her memoirs were written through that lens; we already knew where the story ended so she was showing us how she got there. The recent memoir of another important figure in the food world, Alice Waters’s Coming to My Senses, was also very interesting, but in a very different way.

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What I’m Reading: On Writing

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When I decided to get more serious about writing a novel, Jeff had the brilliant suggestion that I read Stephen King’s On Writing. I’m not a big Stephen King fan—horror isn’t my thing—but I had heard of On Writing from an episode of the podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour. They did an episode about Stephen King and devoted a surprisingly small amount of time to his commercial fiction, instead spending time talking about this book.  If I remember correctly, one of the panelists even said that he thought On Writing was King’s best work. So I picked up a copy, grabbed a highlighter and eagerly dug in. Continue reading →

Sun, Seals and Sea Views in Monterey, California

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Jeff’s sister has lived in Monterey, California for a few years now, but we were never able to make it out for a visit. Between school for him, work for me and work for her, it was tough to coordinate everyone’s schedules. So after we moved here and I started working from home, we knew we had to get a visit on the books, and this month we finally took a trip west.  This was my first time in California and I felt truly awestruck by it all—the scenery, the wildlife, even the weather. It was an amazing trip. Continue reading →

If You Haven’t Seen The Greatest Showman, Go Watch It Immediately

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Last week, I finally had the pleasure of watching The Greatest Showman. It had been a long time coming—I’d been planning to watch it on the plane to Portland last month, and it was available, but to my chagrin Alaska Airlines is too technologically advanced for my electronic devices and I wasn’t able to watch it. Then finally, we rented it on Amazon Prime. And let me tell you, it surpassed my incredibly high expectations. If you haven’t seen this movie, please go find it right now. It’s amazing. Continue reading →

Take Me Out to Camden Yards

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Having grown up in Massachusetts, I’m a huge Boston sports fan. Which has certainly been fun, given all the success our teams have had over the last 15 years. Baseball is Jeff’s favorite sport, so I’ve definitely gotten more into it in the past 5 years, and we went to our share of Red Sox games when they came to Yankee Stadium while we were living in Hoboken. Thankfully, our current proximity to Baltimore means we’re still living in the AL East, so for our birthdays last weekend we headed up to Camden Yards and took in a game there. Continue reading →

What I’m Reading: The Book Thief

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I know that The Book Thief by Markus Zusak isn’t a new book; it was first published in 2005 and went on to become a New York Times Bestseller and win numerous awards. I picked up this special anniversary edition from work a few years ago because I thought it would look nice on my bookcase. I had every intention to read it, but I just wasn’t sure when. Well, I finally got around to it and I must say, it is truly an incredible book. Continue reading →

Two Days in Portland, Oregon

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This was the second part of our whirlwind of travel: after arriving back home late Sunday night, I squeezed in a Zumba class Monday morning before heading to the airport again Monday afternoon for a flight to Portland, Oregon. Previously, I had never traveled further west than Utah, so when we found out that Jeff needed to go to Portland for a few days for work, I jumped at the chance to go along. Ahh, the perks of being freelance. So here are my thoughts and experiences from two days in Portland. Continue reading →