Giggly Girl

Apparently I am making this a monthly blog. I just haven't had time in the last two months to either read, or stray from my hectic work schedule. Amidst all the economic turmoil, I'm trying to stay as current & valuable as possible. I finally finished a major grant application and celebrated by dancing in front of my boss' office. He did eventually ask later, but I appreciate the fact that he accepts that I would normally do that kind of stuff and is okay with it. Now, it's onto CDBG & green(er) grants.

In book news, I finally finished The Count of Monte Cristo!!! Jimmny Christmas, it.was.worth.it. Lots of characters to keep straight but the way it all intertwines is genius. I have already put other Dumas books on my to-read list. I just need a break from the super long period pieces. To break it up a little, I read Murder on the Orient Express, one of Agatha Christie's top Poirot stories. I do understand that it was written in a different time, but the racial stereotypes were very exaggerated. The plot & eventual solution was so crazy. Christie is definitely a master of her craft & her books are great for a little light mystery.

Now I am a couple of chapters into The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. It is on the list of 1001 books to read before you die, and appears to be a recommended favorite. From what I gather, a family of missionaries go into the african jungle to live for a year. We'll see how this shapes up, it's a little churchy for me yet, but not to

Love how I ended this in the middle of a sentence. More in the next post.

Running Update #1 & Dairy Queen (the book)

Last night's run was tougher than Monday's. I ran my first mile in the same time (14:15) but ended up running the whole circuit about 45 seconds faster (28:26). I forgot my headphones at work and didn't have a spare. I had to strain to hear the music they pipe in and none of it was remotely motivational. While I do choose to run on equipment where I can see the TV with music videos playing, I swear if I ever have to hear any Jonas Brothers song ever again I will stab out my ear drums with the closest sharp utensil. It.is.so.terrible.

Reading a YA book called Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. I am enjoying the Midwestern take on things and it is very interesting hearing about the average life on a farm. Generally though, I am somewhat irritated by the female narrator's teen angst and can only take so much of the whiny, "oh my life is so awful but I will be sarcastic and snarky so my complaints won't seem so annoying to the reader". I am also incredulous about her idea to join as a player on the local high school football team. Adding to this is the idea of her training (and maybe dating) the QB of the rival football team. If a young adult novel can't be far-fetched, what can these days? Some review said this book rivals Twilight but I have yet to find that an accurate statement.

The un-reading

I've been super busy between working through hectic lunches and working up a sweat at the gym, I have been neglecting my reading. I am happy to announce that I am now over halfway done with Gone With the Wind. While it is enjoyable, I feel like I have been reading it since before I was born (I began it in late March...yeah). I won a book on Goodreads called In the Kitchen by Monica Ali. Despite its neat-sounding description on the book jacket, it is too boring to read and therefore I will not be describing it further.

Since my reading habit has taken a slide into a bottomless well, I can talk about my get-healthy efforts. I am working my way through the Couch to 5K running program. I've always wanted to be able to run without feeling like I have a baby alien in my side or going to spew blood from my lungs. This is a good start because it is a solid, tested program that people use to slowly build their way into running. I will benefit from cardio, no doubt, but also the heart & lung-healthiness of the whole thing. I'm on week 4, day 2 tonight, meaning I will run 3 minutes, 90 second walk, 5 minute run, 2.5 minute walk, repeat once. Pretty simple, but I am happy because two and 1/2 weeks ago I was having trouble running 90 seconds let alone four times that amount now. I find it incredible what our bodies are capable of and that makes me feel better when I am running a tough one.

I want to keep track also of how fast I am running my miles, so Monday, I ran/walked my first mile in 14:15. Mile #2 pulled in at 29:48. If I do even a little better than the last day, I feel pretty good about it. No particular goal yet, just to get a little faster and not feel like I want to die afterward.

Vegas in T-minus 8 days. I shall be gorging myself with Mesa Grill and delicious French crepes (ooh lala) before we know it... I'll probably bring a new trip journal, just because snark is always most fun on vacation. Plans are a massage & fitness day at the Paris, lots of food, walking, and trying for a run on the Strip in early morning. We'll see if all my vegas dreams come true...(and the daydreaming harp music plays on).

Oh Where oh Where has thisinquiringmind Gone?

Where can she be? That is the song that anyone who reads this could have been singing for the last month and a half. Anyway, I've got new pursuits on the horizon: Working Out. Yep that's right ladies and gents, the husband and I joined a gym a couple of weeks back. While I don't find the locker room clean enough for me to shower without shoes, the rest of it is pretty nice. After my muscles were rendered incapacitated post "team fitness" class, I had my doubts, but the classes are pretty motivational. They are also really full. I have never been in a gym class with over 75 people, wingspan room only- this Dance Jam class was crazy. I am beginning the "Couch to 5K" program today. I guess it's a step-by-step method of building running endurance- it's like it was designed for me.
Today's plan:
5 minute warm up walk, intervals of 90 seconds walking, 60 seconds running for a period of 20 minutes.
I will also be doing 2-3 lifting exercises. I get soooo bored lifting but it needs to be done, since I haven't done it yet in two weeks of gym membership [blushes].

In book news, I've been slogging through Gone With the Wind for the last three weeks. I figured that reading a 1000 page book would be a breeze, however I am just hitting the 350 page mark. I've read at least a chapter everyday but there is just so much detail that it's taking forever. This is not to say that I'm not enjoying it, because I am, it's just not an easy read.

I polished off a Sarah Dessen book called Keeping the Moon, about a teen who was fat and finds friends who build up her confidence and ultimately change her into a different person. While elements of this story were fun, I just couldn't relate to almost any of the characters, therefore I enjoyed Dessen's later work more.

I am departing for Las Vegas in less than 27 days and it will be glorious. In addition to undoing all of the great things I'll have accomplished with my body in the next few weeks, I will be spending money on lots of fun things. My must-do's are eating at a couple of specific restaurants, doing a little shopping, going to the pool once in my new bikini, and surprisingly, I want to treat myself to a day at the spa and fitness center there.

When we come back from our trip, we will then be out looking for a house to buy. Hopefully we can officially be homeowners prior to the year-end incentive to purchase. An even bigger "hopefully" on my part would be to move while there is still no snow in sight. Scraping snow & ice off of my car last year went quickly to the top of my "hate" list and I would like to avoid it if at all possible. Plus, how awesome would it be to move in 17 degree weather?! (So awesome that I won't be participating it- that's how awesome.) So we've narrowed down the area to four different villages, all of which are connected and about 30 minutes from work. Here's to wishing for a nice affordable place with little to nothing wrong with it.

Finally, my job responsibilities changed at the beginning of April and I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to learn a new position (hence no real new entries here). While I enjoy what I'm doing now even more, it's been crazy. An update to that whole wilderness-store-cultural-potluck-gift-card debacle: After wandering the giant store for an hour considering everything from dog toys to bicycle helmets, I spent it yesterday on fudge to share at work and beef jerky for the husband. I'm so awesome.

Always wanting more

What I would really like to do today is set myself in my living room and read for hours. Possibly follow that with a nice crisp walk without my dog dragging me and killing my legs. Then, I would hop back into my chair after an awesome PB&J and read some more. This is what I would do if I lived in an alternate universe. Instead, today I am at work, summarizing housing statistics, writing letters to people who have violated code, and answering lots of phone call questions about zoning. Super fun. On my way here, I realized that the truck I passed did not have a tailgate but did have a board in its place, spraypainted with the following: " Chebrolet". At the point of not having the back gate on your car, is it necessary to attempt to put their logo back up on that rusty, mangy-looking vehicle if you are not familiar with the English spelling of said brand? I think not.

I finished Watchen by Moore and I wasn't crazy about it. I liked the flow of it because of the pictures and the fact that it already had filled in the descriptives with the images, but the story itself was not a favorite of mine. It isn't an epic fail, and I'm glad I read it, but again, not my fav.

I am almost through The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. It's actually very good. It is considered Young Adult, but the writing is not dumbed-down and feels very realistic. I can only hope that it does not get churned out in theatres with someone like Mandy Moore in the teen lead (ironically, I realize, two Sarah Dessen novels were the basis for the movie How to Deal). The depth of the characters is real and you cannot help but feel a twinge of high school nostalgia for the memory of your own crushes by way of the heartthrob/tortured-artist Wes. I would not hesitate to pick up another of Dessen's novels and would recommend this particular book to anyone from twelve years old into adulthood. It just captures you.

Probably the next book (and probable final book of March & my 50 book challenge) is I Am the Messenger by Marcus Zusack. He wrote The Book Thief, also recommended. I've only read a chapter or two but the characters and the narrating voice from the young man is pretty hilarious and very similar to what I'd expect the inside of a 20 year-old boy's head to sound like. More on that later.

Look Out for UFD's (Unstrapped-Flying-Dressers)

I decided yesterday was a great day to use my hour and a half of comp time so I left work in the late afternoon. My buggy puppy required a new bag of food, and we get a discount after spending a trillion dollars at this animal feed store, so I set off on the highway in pursuit. I am safely cruising within reasonable speeds, and this pick up with random bedroom items almost side-swipes my driver's side. Why he had difficulty staying out of two feet of my lane, I have no idea. Perhaps it was the desk chair with the frantic wheel/windmill-action that distracted them.

I slow down to avoid said pick up truck. A minute later, a drawer comes flying through the air and I have to swerve into the lane on my left to avoid it. Sorry old crummy van coming up behind me! Seriously dangerous. I see the truck weave back into my lane ahead. I am anticipating my exit, so I move all the way to the right. Just before the exit, traffic slows. This is normal, considering it is almost rush hour and it is Chicagoland on a weekday. Another few hundred feet and I see masses of reds and yellows, and whites splayed all over the four lane highway. Splintered wood and shattered fragments of dresser being avoided as cautiously as possible by all highway drivers. I couldn't help but laugh because it was just a ridiculous sight to see, but noting my drawer near-miss, I couldn't help but wonder how the drivers who almost got crushed by a flying dresser avoided major crashes. I didn't see an accident, so I assume things were alright for most. It was just nuts.

I had to swing by my husband's work afterward to do yet another errand. In regaling him with this tale, much arm flailing and face scrunching occured along with a whine about how I wanted to kill everyone on the road. Outside of his office it must have looked like we were fighting between hugs. I already apologized for yelling about his whistling the NCAA tournament song repeatedly, but that is another story.

I finished The Nine: The Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin. I started it last year and never made it through before I renewed it and still didn't read it. I am so glad I picked it back up. I concede, I was a bit of a constitutional law geek in college, but that doesn't mean this reads like a textbook. Personal details about each Supreme Court Justice from the Rehnquist Court & new justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts were shared. Some of the personal stories were hilarious to me, and I had to recite them to my (mostly but politely) un-interested co-workers. The history of the court appointments by the recent presidents and the case history came with the story and flowed through. It is inconceivable how anyone can sit by and not realize how important many of the decisions made by the judicial system are to us and our daily lives. Granted, some people don't even realize that we have a judicial branch in government, but I digress. This is my glowing review for a book that wraps up human nature, American history, and lots of true drama into one little convenient package. Read it and be informed.

I am one-half a book away from claiming my fifth-place victory in the Winter Book Challenge. I had to re-read a book with "Love" in the title, because I didn't find a book with a place in the title. (I've abandoned A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, sadly. It was too dull for me to get through.) My choice is Random Acts of Heroic Love - by Danny Scheinmann. It's relatively sad but beautifully written and my head is constantly full of pictures. Without giving anything away, one character wakes up in Ecuador to find his girlfriend died in a crash they were in. He is struggling to become whole again but remembers her constantly. The other character is re-telling his past experience fighting in WWI. There is supposed to be a connection between the two men and the very different time periods but I have no idea what it is yet. Like I said- the language envelopes and wraps you up in the story. I'm going out on a limb and saying, I like this.

Off to make a police report about our stolen mail. Again, another story. I secretly hope that whichever kid is stealing our movies shows up with our stolen baseball tickets at the game. Surprise! We are notifying the police when we get home and you're going to jail for a felony crime! Sorry about your high school graduation- you probably weren't going to make it anyway...

Not too much happening here

The BBC put out a list of 100 books and claims that the average person has read six of the selections, modern and classic. I went through my list and found 33 books read, and another 21 I currently have on my TBR list. Apparently it was determined to be false statistically, but I wouldn't count that too far from the truth. Many people don't read and it makes me sad.

In other news, I want to pass out at my desk because I am so tired. The time changed back to “steal-an-hour-from-you-time” so I can’t fall asleep an hour earlier than I am used to, yet have to get up an hour earlier. I also stupidly pulled a muscle in my back/side/under my lung by picking up my dog this morning. I cannot breathe in deeply without a wincing pain. It sucks.

I finished Brida, by Paul Cohelo. It was supposed to be a girl’s search for more by way of learning magic, but it wasn’t really magic, just a lot of communing with nature, which some people would say is the real thing anyway. It was not my favorite, but written well. I would rate this a "meh".

I am also working my way through Count of Monte Cristo, which I love more with each page. Also reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (slow at this time) and The Nine – awesome book about the Rehnquist Supreme Court. I will talk more about those later I expect. This is your fearless leader, signing off.