My One Beauty

I can't really think about haircuts without thinking of Amy, from Little Women, saying to Jo, "Oh, Jo, your one beauty!" when Jo comes back from having cut off her hair to pay for a train ticket so Marmee can go take care of her wounded husband.

Anyway . . .

Might I preface this story by saying that a bad haircut is only funny quite a bit after the fact? That is, enough after the fact that your hair has grown back in again.

Right around the time we moved back to Texas, another girl moved here and she cut hair. And I needed someone to cut my hair. She did a fantastic job and I went back again.

And then she had a baby and it'd been a while since I'd gotten my haircut and I figured she wasn't cutting hair for a while and one of my friends had said that she'd really liked this new little salon about two seconds from my house and also it was only $12.95. 

(That ominous music is the sound of my cheapness coming to stab me in the back).

I decided I'd give it a shot because a) personal recommendation, b) regular stylist busy with a three week old baby and c) cheap! (Did I mention cheap?).

I took in this picture to give the stylist an idea of what I was going for. She suggested going slightly shorter with the bangs just so they weren't quite so "in your eyes" which sounded reasonable to me.

She turned the chair around so I was facing away from the mirror and got to work (this should have been a hint - if she won't let you watch her cut your hair, maybe this would be an excellent time to fake appendicitis and flee).

And then, when she turned the chair back toward the mirror, ten minutes later, I had the sneaking suspicion my bangs weren't exactly even.

This suspicion was confirmed when she spent five minutes fussing with them and finally said (AND I QUOTE WITH ABSOLUTELY NO EXAGGERATION), "Well, if you flat iron this side and curl the other half, they should be even."

. . . .

Yes. She really said that. 


And then, like the enormous pushover that I am, I said it all looked fine, paid (I even tipped her a couple bucks. I am such an idiot) and went on my way.

My bangs on one side were WAY too short. I cried and made friends with my bobby pins.

I wrote an honest (read: brutal) review on Yelp and wished that would make my hair grow faster.

Even Bart, who generally is extremely careful about making haircut comments admitted that it looked pretty lousy.

(Later in the evening, Bart asked me, "Did the woman who cut your hair have short hair?" I told him she did. "Did she have weird hair?" I admitted that, actually, yes, she did. "Did she dress nicely or was she kind of a slob or dumpy?" And once again, I had to agree that, in fact, he'd just perfectly described the woman who cut my hair.

"You . . . might want to keep an eye on that kind of thing next time you get your hair cut," he advised).

The next day at church, I saw the husband of my regular stylist and he mentioned that, while she wasn't up to a full schedule again, she was doing a few cuts here and there and would have certainly squeezed me in if I'd called. I resisted the urge to collapse on the floor in sobs.

Then he suggested that I go get a refund.

And you know what? I did. I felt a little better.

Now it's been three weeks and while if you look closely you can tell how uneven and poorly cut my hair is, it's not so bad you'd notice right off the bat.

I think.

Forgotten by Cat Patrick

I love a book with a great premise that makes me think, "How clever was that?" Where things are really quite well-thought out and the whole idea is solid. I felt like Delirium did that quite nicely. Delirium is on a large scale, though, and it doesn't have to be a grandiose new world for me to love it. It can be just a small twist like Half Magic (one of my all-time favorite books from my childhood) or Ella Enchanted.

Forgotten. . . didn't quite work that way. The premise of this book fell apart the minute I paid any attention to it. And that's unfortunate.

The concept is that London's memory functions backward. She wakes up every morning forgetting the past, but she remembers the future (so, for instance, she recognizes her mother, not because she remembers her from the days or weeks or years before, but because she can see her in her life in the future).

She writes herself notes every night so she can review them in the morning, reminding herself of interactions she had the previous day and ensuring she doesn't re-wear the same clothes (seriously, I think that might be the least of your problems).

Things get more weird when she meets this new guy who she has no future memory of at all. How is it possible that she won't even see him one more time at school?

And then she begins having these bizarre visions/memories that she has no context for.

It's all very complicated.

I told Bart about the book over lunch, and he proceeded to ask me tons of questions about how it worked and holes he saw in the theory (Bart is really good at the "poking-holes-in-theories" thing). Later, when I finished the book, we spent an embarrassing amount of time talking about how ludicrous the idea was.

While I was reading it, I could kind of gloss over how it didn't work very well, but the minute I closed the book, all I could think about were the issues.  They were practically punching me in the face.

Take, for example, the notes she writes herself. After a couple of years, you would spend ALL your time reviewing notes just to keep your head above water. Not to mention that, in a relationship (which is exactly where London finds herself), you could not cram fast enough to try and fake 6 months worth of time together in a single afternoon.

And how could you possibly get through school? There is no way my memory of the future would be enough to get me through tests I couldn't study for. 

There are so many other problems with this premise that I can't rant on about without completely ruining the story, but suffice it to say, there are many. Also, perhaps I should get a life instead of picking a fake scenario to pieces. Nah, I'll get a life tomorrow. 

My problems with the logistics of the story aside, the plot itself seemed to move quite slowly for a book that had so much going on. Every time she remet her boyfriend, there was the another "oh my heavens, he is SO gorgeous" paragraph.

And. . .and. . . and. . . it just didn't work for me. I wanted to like it. I thought I would like it. I just didn't.

Copy received from publisher

Eleven Months

Little Magoo,

You're closing the gap to one year so fast!

This month your skill set has just exploded. You clap and wave and stick out your tongue on demand. And, your dad's favorite, if we say, "what the hey?" to you, you shrug your shoulders and hold your little arms up in a I-have-no-idea gesture.

You've started standing unassisted as well, and have even taken a few steps here and there, but no real walking yet. We can wait a little while more, especially since you don't really own any shoes and I'll have to remedy that once you're toddling around.

This week you figured out the pointing concept. A few months ago, we hung five photos of you in your bedroom and now every time we're in there, you point at them, not happy until we've picked you up and let you look closely at them. I can't blame you - where else can you find such a beautiful baby? And we're running through bananas like they're going out of style, since we keep them on the counter and you can see them from your high chair. You can't stop pointing at them!

Also, you can't smile anymore without wrinkling your nose. Everywhere we go, people comment on it. Sometimes, if you have your pacifier in, it's hard to tell you're smiling and people think you're giving them the evil eye. It's pretty darling, though, and I'll be sad when you outgrow it.

Three weeks ago, I started taking you to storytime at the library and you love it. And when they bring out the toys for the last ten minutes? You forget I even exist and crawl over to the bins and start pulling toys out as fast as you can. It messes with your nap a little bit, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make because you really have a good time and it's nice to get out of the house.

Speaking of getting out of the house, there is a dog park nearby and most mornings, before it gets too hot, we walk down there and stand up against the gate, so you can watch the dogs run around. You love the dogs and will quietly watch them for ten or fifteen minutes until I make the executive decision to leave because my legs don't want to stand up anymore. 

By the way, I'm sorry about your hair. It's at an awkward stage and I have no idea what to do about that. I apologize that you have to go out in public looking semi-homeless most days. I promise to braid it or put it in pigtails when it's long enough to do something with.

I never would have believed children as young as you could have such strong personalities, such obvious opinions about things, and be so clear about what they want. You've proved me wrong, and I'm happy to be wrong.

Love,
Mama

 

"What the hey?", the wrinkly nose, and homeless hair all in one photo

Red Wagon by Renata Liwska

At Christmas, my mom mentioned to me that the childrens' books she gravitates toward are the sweet books, rather than silly or weird. I thought of the books she loved to read to us - Amanda Pig, Bread and Jam for Frances, Blueberries for Sal, Little House on the Prairie - and realized she was very self-aware.

Red Wagon is one I think my mom would like. It is sweet.

You may recognize the illustrations as similar to the ones in The Loud Book and The Quiet Book, but this is the first book that Renata Liwska has written herself, and it is darling.

In it, Lucy (a little fox (I love books with animal characters, especially when they wear clothes or have hair bows)), gets a new red wagon, and she desperately wants to play with it.

Her mother suggests she uses the wagon to go to the market to pick up vegetables for dinner (apparently these are not carnivorous foxes). Lucy thinks this sounds suspiciously like a chore, but she goes anyway.

At first everything goes smoothly, with a few of her friends joining her on the trip, but then it starts to rain.

And with that rain, the images start to veer away from the text. The text continues to describe her dragging the wagon through the rain, then arriving at the market, gathering vegetables, picking the vegetables up when the wagon overturns, etc, but the images show Lucy's wagon transforming into a pirate ship, a covered wagon, a construction vehicle, and more, as she makes the journey, imagining it into a great adventure.

I love the discrepancies between the very sweet and simple storyline and the gorgeous, imaginative illustrations that show how Lucy is viewing her own trip.

It's the perfect balance between the sweetness my mom likes in a book and the cleverness I crave from a picture book.


Copy checked out from my local library

Some Days

Yesterday, it was blazing hot outside, and Ella was grumpy, and I was having one of those afternoons where you just want to lie on the floor and stare at the ceiling.

Which meant that for dinner we had these Banana Pancakes:

via

spread with this. . .

And miraculously, everyone was happy again.

(In my defense, I left the chocolate chips out of the pancakes and I used all wheat flour. So, you know, practically health food). 

Thursdays

(I know. . .what business do I have putting up a post called "Thursdays" when it is so obviously Monday?)

This year, with Bart's job a little more relaxed during the summer months and only one small child, we are determined to live it up this summer. BBQs, mini-road trips, swimming, going out to eat, vacation, etc.

One of the things we've done the last couple weeks are Thursday date nights.

It started by accident because I had bought one of those Living Social deals for movie tickets and it was about to expire. It was expiring on a Monday and Fandango only had tickets available through Thursday so. . .we had to go to a movie on Thursday.

Happily, some of our close friends live in our same apartment complex and the wife was working out of town that week. So we invited the husband over for dinner, put Ella to bed before we left, and he stayed at our place, watching a movie and eating cookies.

Meanwhile, we gallivanted off. Besides the movie tickets, we also had a $10 gift certificate to Baskin Robbins (which I'd gotten for free through Morgan's Deals, thanks to a bunch of coupon codes that they kept sending out).

Since we forfeited any of the $10 we didn't spend, I got a triple scoop. And. .. these were not small scoops; each one was about the size of a tennis ball. Bart was extremely impressed by the way I managed to put away the entire thing. I may look like a light-weight, but 3+ years of working at Cold Stone in high school has given me mega ice-cream-eating muscles.

And then it was off to see X-Men. Even though it was just recently out, thanks to a Thursday night showing, we arrived a few minutes late and had no trouble finding a seat (don't you love that when you arrive "late" to a movie, you still watch 12 minutes worth of previews?).

It was such a delightful evening that the next Thursday Bart came home for lunch and said, "So. . . what are we seeing tonight?" We invited ANOTHER couple who lives in our apartment complex to dinner, put the baby to bed, and then sped off to the dollar theater to see Source Code (with a quick stop at Sonic for a large hot fudge and banana milkshake to share).

It's such a nice way to kick off the weekend and with so many theaters near us, we don't end up being gone WAY too late.

When Landen and Adam move here later this summer, we may well end up inviting them over for dinner every Thursday night and then, when they aren't paying attention, dashing out the door, leaving them here with Ella.

I wonder how many weeks it will take them to catch on. . .

Me. . . Jane by Patrick McDonnell

I love biography picture books in theory, but I find many of them pretty lousy. They're either so text-heavy that they can hardly be considered for the picture book crowd or the illustrations are terrible or they are mega-cheesy.

Me. . .Jane, however, is fantastic. It's garnered numerous starred reviews from the professional review sources and I think it deserves every one of them.

The story details Jane Goodall's early life and fascination with animals (particularly chimps). The text is very brief and to the point - it's short enough that I can read it to Ella without her losing interest.

And the illustrations. Oh, they are so sweet and friendly and beautiful. The images themselves are as noteworthy as the topic and when the two are combined, it's a killer duo.

This one is worth picking up.

Advance F&G picked up at TLA

How to Pick a Book for Bookclub

One of the main reasons I have avoided bookclubs in the past is that I live in fear of choosing a book to make other people read.

Which means that, for me, step #1 for selecting a bookclub book is STRESS LIKE MAD. Preferably for weeks.

Currently, I belong to two bookclubs. For one of them, I chose Wait Til Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I'd read it in 2006 for my sports history class at BYU (a much more difficult class than you might guess) and had really enjoyed it.

Frankly, that bookclub was easier to select a book for - it's a fairly serious book group, with a lot of discussion and there is no hesitancy to pick substantial books. And everyone reads them. Last night, we met and discussed The Warmth of Other Suns, which, clocking in at 640 pages of non-fiction, is not something you breeze through the afternoon of bookclub. All eleven women had read it carefully, and we discussed it for nearly three hours.

So, you know, for that bookclub, it's easier to pick a book.

The other bookclub, though . . .whew. I have debated for months what book to choose.

First off, we have a big span of what people like. Some members of the group want fluff reading (and, if you know me, you know I am not opposed to fluff reading), while other members are pretty openly critical of anything fluffy we read. So that makes it difficult to pick something that will keep everyone happy.

And if people aren't interested in the book that's chosen, they simply don't read it. When someone chose My Antonia a few months ago, I was the only person who read it. The. Only. One. (Even the person who picked it didn't reread it).

Also, many of the people in that group have a Kindle, so picking something that doesn't have a Kindle edition means you're going to lose a lot of the group right there (which disqualified one of my early possibilities of Cheaper by the Dozen).

I contemplated choosing The Wednesday Wars but I am so deeply attached to that book that I truly didn't think I could stand it if half the group didn't read it and the other half thought it was dumb. I just. . . couldn't.

And I might have picked something like Outliers or What the Dog Saw, but the group read non-fiction titles the last two months, so I wanted to move away from that for the sake of diversity.

So, finally, after way too much deliberation, I picked The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. It's funny, it's clever, it's fiction, it's an easy read (even more necessary since it's summer), and I love it, but if people don't like it, I can deal (do I sound like a delicate emotional flower or what?).

I enjoy both groups for different reasons, but whoa boy,  picking a book for this second group took at least 3 months off my life.

Am I the only one with the kind of mental instability over bookclub books? (Also, did this give you zero help in choosing a book for your own bookclub, or what? I am nothing if not unhelpful).

Keep Your Bumbo

Lots of blogging moms post lists of products they absolutely love for their baby. Bethany has a terrific series on her favorite things, and Jenna recently did a lengthy list too.

My own list is very short.

In fact, it's one item.

When we got pregnant I really didn't care to spend hours researching the best stroller or carseat or crib or bedding or swing or sling or bouncer or bottle warmer or . . . wow, I am staring down hours of my life I've saved by not delving into crazy research.

Our stroller/carseat combo decision was made when some church friends offered us one for $20. Who cared what the brand was or where the cupholders were located? Best of all, I didn't feel sick to my stomach after reading six million conflicting reviews (I am very very bad at buying things online because the reviews make me decide that, nevermind, we don't actually need to buy anything after all since making do is preferable to making a decision because what if I hate whatever we buy?).

So, yes, don't ask for my opinion on things for a baby, because I really have no opinions.

Except that I do not wish to live without a sound machine. Frankly, I don't even have an opinion about which brand of sound machine. I simply bought the one Ralphie had because I trust her judgement and it was $20. Also it runs on batteries or with a plug. And it's small and flat and slips easily into a purse. And it doesn't look hideous on her bookcase.


We do not leave home without this thing. We've had loud parties in our living room, which bumps up to Ella's room and she hasn't made a peep. I firmly believe it helps her recognize it's time for bed, regardless of where we are or what contraption we are putting her in to sleep.

When the cord somehow got partially severed while I was out of town, Bart raced out and bought another sound machine just in case one of our other cords didn't work for it (happily, the monitor cord worked like a charm, so the new sound machine is still safe in its box, ready to be returned).

And of course, like all baby items, it probably will be completely worthless for your child, even though I think it's the best thing ever.

I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Sometimes, when I'm doing a tremendous amount of reading, I start to feel like every book is the same (like the fact that in the last two months I unintentionally read five books dealing with teen pregnancy).

So, when a book is completely different from other books I've read and pulls me in with excellent characters. . . well, I'm sold.

I'll Be There is really about the characters. You've got your main characters, but there also some sections that explore, even if only for a pargraph or two, characters that most books wouldn't even bother with. You find out what the motel's cleaning lady is thinking, why the biker doing an early morning solo ride is worried about the character he meets up with, what the ER doctor thinks about his co-workers, and on and on.

It could be confusing, but it works seamlessly with the story and it enriches the world of the book more than I can say. It feels like a real community, full of real people. I loved every second of it.

The main characters are Sam, Riddle and Emily - they're the ones the story centers around and the other characters are the ones they meet in one way or another (or that they don't meet, but whose actions affect their lives in some way).

Sam and Riddle are brothers - their father took them away from their mother some ten years earlier and they've been on the run ever since. They'll settle down for a few months until the dad's petty (and occasionally not so petty) crimes get too close to catching up with him and then they'll be off - gone to a new town. They never attend school and the boys have pretty much learned to fend for themselves.

Sam spends most of his time looking after Riddle who, it appears, is somewhat mentally slow. He doesn't talk and seems to live in his own little world. What he does know, though, is that sticking with Sam is the most important thing.

And then, in one town they take up residence in, Sam wanders into church (he likes attending various churches in the different towns they've lived in, although he hangs back, coming late and leaving early, mainly just enjoying the music). In this church, Emily is singing a solo. She has virtually no musical talent and she's so nervous after her solo that she runs outside and throws up. Sam follows her out and is quite nice to her and she's taken by his kindness and, lets be honest, his good looks.

But over the next few days, she can't find any sign of him - he doesn't appear to go to their school and no one else knows who he is. And then, quite accident, they meet again and a little romance is sparked.

It doesn't take Emily long to realize he's hiding something, although she's not sure what. He claims to be homeschooled and his mother clearly isn't in the picture and he's reluctant to talk about his father. And there is the little brother.

Before long, worried about this new relationship, Emily's family gets involved and they don't know quite what to make of these brothers either.

You can bet that Sam's dangerous father notices that something is going on too, and his intentions are far less pure than Emily's parents are.

It's hard to do this book justice because there is a lot going on, but it's so well-conceived that it's easy to follow the plot and the many characters. And I couldn't quite tell where it was going to go, which I found delightful.

Occasionally, I cynically think that books that are really "all about the characters" means that the plot itself is kind of non-existent, but this one had a lot of adventure - I could see this appealing to guys as well (although, with the romance angle, it's probably more likely to be a girl book). 

The pacing is interesting, because the set up made me think most of it would be about the relationship, but less than halfway through the book, things took a turn I hadn't really expected and the second half of the book was completely different from what I might have predicted.

There was one character that I felt went a little off the rails toward the end - his plot line just became too ludicrous, which was unfortunate.

But other than that? It was an astoundingly enjoyable read. 

Copy sent by publisher

Vegetarian Recipe #1: Tomato Pie

Perhaps you are wondering what this abomination is.

The answer is: something you should make for dinner tonight.

On Wednesday, I had big plans to make something else for dinner. And then Rhi pinned this recipe on Pinterest and I suddenly went a completely different direction because tomatoes! basil! mayo! pie crust! caramelized onions! You're pretty much just described the most perfect meal I can imagine.

And it was pretty much the best decision of my life. We scarfed them down at dinner and then were happy to have the leftovers (which reheat beautifully) for lunch yesterday.

That list of ten new vegetarian recipes that I was working toward this year? This recipe has shot to the top.

I especially love it because it is hearty enough for dinner, but has such a fantastic summer flavor to it and is a great way to use all the produce that is currently in season. 

Also, I haven't made a pie crust in. . . years, actually, but I just can't stomach the amount of trans fat in store-bought crust anymore, so I finally braved making my own. This whole-wheat one from Perry's Plate is really tasty and also EASY. She has a very thorough, step-by-step recipe for it that you should check out if you're a nervous pie maker (I followed very carefully for a bit and then gained some confidence and winged it. Seemed to turn out fine). I will be using this crust recipe from now on - it's flaky, easy, and less likely to kill me.

Tomato Pie
adapted from Simply Recipes and Perry's Plate

Makes one nine inch pie or 6-8 individual servings, depending on the size of your dishes

Pie Crust

•  2 TB ice water
• 1 small egg (or half an egg)
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour)
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 6 T butter, frozen

Filling

• 1/2 yellow onion, 
• 4 tomatoes, cut in half, squeezed to remove excess juice and roughly chopped, to yield approximately 3 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 cup sliced basil (about 8 leaves)
• 2 cups grated cheese (combination of any two you'd like - I did mozzarella and cheddar)
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon (or more to taste) hot sauce
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat oven to 375.

Drizzle about 1 Tb olive oil in a heavy bottomed frying pan and warm over medium/low-heat. While it gets hot, slice the onion thinly. Add to pan and let cook, stirring every couple of minutes to keep from burning.

While the onions cook, make your pie crust (easy, I promise!).

Fill a glass with water and stick a couple of ice cubes in it. Whisk together flour and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Grate frozen butter into bowl. Take the ice water and measure out 2 TB into a measuring cup or glass. Crack the egg into the measured ice water and whisk together.  Using your fingers, break up the butter if it clumps together to thoroughly combine everything. Pour in the egg-water mixture and stir with a hefty spoon (or use your fingers). Add a tablespoon or two of water if it seems dry (I needed close to another 2 TB).

Gather all the dough into one lump if you're doing one pie and into six to eight pieces if you're doing individual servings. Sprinkle flour on wax or parchment paper or the counter and place your dough ball in the center, flattening it like a disk. Start rolling it out, working from the center to the outsides, until it's round(ish).

Press into the individual dishes or the regular pie dish. 

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges just barely start to turn brown.

While those bake, assemble everything else. 

Squeeze as much moisture as you can out of the chopped tomatoes (I dumped mine in a colander and pressed them with my potato masher).

In a medium bowl, mix together the grated cheese, mayonnaise, hot sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Combine well.

Remove pie crust(s) from the oven and lower oven heat to 350. 

Divide cooked onion evenly among the pie dishes (or dump them all in your single pie crust). 

Add in the chopped tomatoes (should be fairly full when you've got these in). 

Sprinkle with chopped basil.

Spread cheese mixture over the top of each dish.

Place in oven (you might want to put them on a baking sheet in case the cheese bubbles over). 

Bake until browned and bubbly, anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes.

Die of happiness. 

Wonder if your baby will notice if you feed her bananas while you inhale the entire (fine TWO entire) serving.

Perfect Square by Michael Hall

Perfect Square is such a clever, simple book. I am always on the lookout for books that bridge the gap between board books and full-on, lengthy-text picture books (Ella isn't really ready to sit through many readings of, say, One Morning in Maine).

The book starts out with a square, perfect with four equal sides and four perfect corners. But then, on Monday, it is cut up and holes are poked into it. Not to be deterred, the square rearranges itself into a fountain (the holes look like bubbling water - it is really cool).

Each successive day, the square is a different color and is un-squared another way (smashed, torn, crumpled, etc). And each day the square rearranges itself into a new object, each one clever and fun to look at.

On Sunday, the square is just a square again, but now he's unwilling to stay just the same old thing and he takes it upon himself to re-imagine himself once again.

The squares and the resulting shapes have the same collage-y look as some of Eric Carle's books, but these are a little crisper and less free-form than Carle's are.

The large images, sharp colors, shapes, and brief text make this a perfect book for a small child; it will definitely be on my list of books to give as a gift (pair it with one of those Tangram games and you have a present that could entertain children of many ages).

This one is getting some early Caldecott Buzz and while I would be a smidge disappointed if it took the gold (somehow it doesn't quite have what I'm looking for as the best book of the year), I'd be thrilled to see it get an Honor. 


Copy checked out from my local library

My Sister Came to Austin and All You Got Were 10,000 Pictures

Last week, my sister Merrick and her husband, Philip, and their baby came to visit for six days. It was delightful.

I think we did a pretty good mix of hanging around and relaxing (read: babies got naps), and getting out and having fun.

While it snowed back in Utah, we braved the 100 degree weather at the splash pad. Ella was not sure what she thought about it.

But eventually she stopped clinging to me and figured out that this was like the bathtub on steroids.

Every so often, the Peanut would come by and acknowledge Ella's existence. She's not nearly as mobile as he is.

Ella especially loved Uncle Philip. I think he liked that she would sit still for him.

A little trip to the library.

And, of course, the eating of BBQ. This place was new to us and quite tasty. A nice change of pace from the ever-popular Rudy's.

After four years of Austin living, I finally made the long-awaited trip to Flip Happy Crepes. Oh my word, it was delicious. Merrick chose the most wisely with a ham and Gruyere.

Ella didn't approve of my goat cheese and spinach crepe.

I made it up to her by letting her play with Merrick's water bottle

And then a stop at the Blanton Art Museum on UT's campus.

On Friday, we went to Zilker Park and played on the playground (Ella tried to eat rocks)

 Stuck our feet in Barton Springs

and rode the Zilker Zephyr.

 

Ella considered joining their family, but eventually decided against it. 

 

We finished the afternoon with a delicious taco lunch. Ella gave it two enthusiastic arms up.

 

And finally, to finish our week of complete gluttony, we went to Kerbey Lane Cafe for breakfast on Saturday before they caught their flight home.

It was nice for one day to have the apartment back to ourselves and eat vegetarian meals and have Ella not sleeping in our closet. Then that day was over and I was ready for them to come back. We have way too many restaurants we haven't tried!

The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly

The Little Women Letters is an absolutely delightful modern spin-off of the original Little Women stories, with Jo's great-great-granddaughter finding the letters she wrote to her sisters before her marriage. Reading this made me happy. 

I love Little Women. My parents went to see the Winona Ryder/Christian Bale version when I was nine and my mom came home and said as soon as I'd read the book, she'd take me to see it. A week or two later, I was a fan for life.

I have read and reread the three books in the March family series and I love them all.

Three days before we moved away from Massachusetts, my mom and I, with two week old Ella in tow, visited Orchard House in Concord.

So, it's not hard to sell me on a Little Women book. And this one was such a delightfully fun one.

The story takes place in London in the present day, following three sisters.

Emma is the oldest, planning a wedding to her sweet and quiet fiance, Matthew. Sophie is the youngest, pursuing (not particularly successfully) an acting career. And Lulu is in the middle, a brilliant student, but uninterested in pursuing an academic career and frankly, not at all sure what she wants to do with her life at all. The constant pestering from her family and friends isn't helping matters either.

Then, in the attic of her parents' home, she discovers a stash of old letters from her great-great-grandmother, Jo March (yes, this book works under the assumption that Jo was a real person, rather than a fictionalized version of Louisa May Alcott).

And in these letters, Lulu finds some comfort that her prickly nature and decidedly different personality than her sisters might not be such a bad thing after all. Perhaps she's come by it naturally.

This book does a phenomenal job balancing the letters from the past with the life of the girls in the present. I didn't feel like it relied too heavily on either one. If you're a Little Women fan, you'll enjoy the letters and probably want to reread the books as it reminds you of many of the fantastic bits. If you've never read the original books, I think you won't be lost or feel like you're missing anything.

The sisters are all very different (like the sisters in Little Women) but without making any of them the villain. They all have their own strengths and faults. They bicker, but they love each other.

And the mother in this book is as different as you can imagine someone being from Marmee, and yet she is so loving and wonderful all the same. When Emma buys an enormously expensive pair of shoes for her wedding and then admits to her mother how guilty she feels about the cost, her mother's reaction almost moved me to tears (it also convinced me to send this book to my mom).

The dialogue is really what makes the book fantastic - it's sparkling and funny and sweet and honest. And, like Little Women, it has a fairly enormous cast of characters, nearly all of which are well-developed.

And. . . one more similarity to the source material: the book does have an overarching narrative, but it's loose with the bulk of the book made up of small stories in the lives of the characters. It's not about racing to the end of the book to find out what happens, rather it's about losing yourself in the story.

I can't remember the last time I read a book that I got so much pure enjoyment from. I just loved this book.


Advance Copy picked up at Book Bloggers Convention

The BEA Loot (or Why Bart Fears He'll Never See Our Kitchen Counter Again)

On Thursday afternoon, the UPS man knocked on my door and practically collapsed under the weight of my BEA box.

And then it was like Christmas in my living room, as I pulled out book after book.

Should you happen to be curious, here's a list of what came back from New York (and what is currently sitting on my kitchen counter):

I've bolded books I'm particularly excited about and also noted the books I've already finished

Adult Non-fiction

The Bonne Femme Cookbook by Wini Moranville
Welcome to Your Child's Brain by Sandra Aamondt and Sam Wang
The Smart Pop Preview 2011
Our Best Bites Cookbook: Mormon Moms in the Kitchen





Adult Fiction

Pure by Julianna Baggott
The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch
The Maid by Kimberly Cutter
The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly (already read and really enjoyed this one - review coming later this week)







Young Adult Fiction:

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan
The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker
Crossed by Ally Condie (read this one on the plane home; the list of people borrowing it is already very long)
Following Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci
Rock On by Denise Vega
Wintertown by Stephen Emond
The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle
The Rivals by Daisy Whitney
Abandon by Meg Cabot

Shelter by Harlan Coben
Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber
A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
After Obsession by Carrie Jones and Steven E Wedel
Between by Jessica Warman
Bunheads by Sophie Flack
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey
Legend by Marie Lu
Shut Out by Kody Keplinger
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman (read this one over the weekend; weird and sad, but I kind of loved it)
Strings Attached by Judy Blundell
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach
The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler (read this one on the plane too. Great premise, a little light on plot)
Fracture by Megan Miranda
Open Wounds by Joseph Lunievicz
How to Rock Braces and Glasses by Meg Haston
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Sirenz by Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman
Pretty Bad Things by C.J. Skuse
The Vampire Stalker by Allison Van Diepen
iBoy by Kevin Brooks
The Daughters Take the Stage by Joanna Philbin
Brooklyn Burning by Steve Brezenoff
Little Women and Me by Lauren Baratz-Logsted


Middle Grade Fiction:
Dumpling Days by Grace Lin
Around the World by Matt Phelan
The Secret Prince by Violet Haberdasher
Liesl and Po by Lauren Oliver
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby
The Bridge to Never Land by Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry
Ivy and the Meanstalk by Dawn Lairamore
The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty
The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann
The Chronicles of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg (Merrick took this one home with her, but I can't WAIT to read it)

Picture Books:
Dinosaur v. the Potty by Bob Shea
Dinosaur v. the Library by Bob Shea

Clearly, I'm going to be a bit busy for the rest of the summer.

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet

I feel particular love for A River of Words because it was my nomination when we did mock-Caldecotts in my grad school picture book seminar and then, just a month later, it did indeed pick up a Caldecott Honor. You can imagine I feel compelled to mention this fact to anyone I tell about this book.

A River of Words is a picture book biography of poet William Carlos Williams and it brilliantly combines the narrative of his life with his poetry (I am a huge fan of his poetry to begin with and this book is a lovely introduction to it). I can't imagine a more lovely book for elementary-age children as far as poetry and poets go.

The text isn't too wordy and the poems themselves are woven into the images. I think William Carlos Williams' poetry is so accessible to children anyway, so this book can really appeal to its target audience.

I love Melissa Sweet's illustrations, especially. They are so vibrant and colorful. This one is done in collage and it just gorgeous.

This is one of those picture books I want to own. I love knowing about the life of famous poets and also being introduced to their most famous works and this does both.

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In non-picture book reading news, my review of the thoroughly delightful A Discovery of Witches went up today at the BlogHer bookclub. It's a really fun way to kick off your summer reading.