I *Heart* Books!

Oh, how I love, love, love to read! I live for those summer days when I can lay out at the pool and finish a book every two days. (However, I think I will skip the second degree burn this year!) While I spend a good bit of time reading professional literature, what I live for is that 3o minutes before sleep where I get back into whatever I have been reading for fun. And I love to talk about it (I really need to be in a book club!)! I read The Help last fall, which is probably now one of my favorite books and have started this year with Cleaving (by Julie Powell who wrote Julie and Julia - this one is about how she has an affair after the success of the blog and becomes a butcher - fascinating) and The Piano Teacher (staying in bed on MLK day until 11 am just so I could finish). Now I'm reading The Girl Next Door. Next up in the book basket - some yummy non-fiction: Finding It (Valerie Bertinelli - I read her first book and liked it - a lot.) and Bringing Home the Birkin - (who doesn't love to read about handbags that cost more than what I make in a year??). Happy Reading!

On the Bright Side

Typically, January is my least favorite month of the year. The anticipation of Christmas and the holidays is over, any remaining lights on houses now just make me feel melancholy. It's back to being a responsible calorie counter and gym-goer, and it feels like spring is no where in sight. It's a little rainy and dark this morning. The Ravens have officially ended the season with a sad loss last night to Indy - which we missed since we were enjoying one of Ross's Christmas presents - Brad Sherwood and Colin Mochrie (both from Whose Line is it Anyway?) at the Lyric - and so we decided it was much more fun to laugh for two and a half hours than watch a sad defeat. I have a mountain of laundry and school work to catch up on, but am procrastinating, instead making cinnamon muffins (oh, the house smells SO good right now!) and watching the DVR'ed premier of Project Runway. Then I am going to snuggle down and continue reading The Piano Teacher (how did I miss this book last year??). Maybe January isn't so bad after all...