Summer Reading Book List

I went through my GoodReads to-read list and picked out items that I own but haven’t read to read this summer. I have to double up at the end to fit in all the titles. Here’s the list:

#1 (5.24 – 5.30) – finish these books… Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin, Something Blue by Emily Giffin, Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox, Q & A by Vikas Swarup

#2 (5.31 – 6.6) – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

#3 (6.7 – 6.13) – Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

#4 (6.14 – 6.20) – Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

#5 (6.21 – 6.27) – The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

#6 (6.28 – 7.4) – 1984 by George Orwell

#7 (7.5 – 7.11) – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

#8 (7.12 – 7.18) – The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

#9 (7.19 – 7.25) – The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

#10 (7.26 – 8.1) – Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

#11 (8.2 – 8.8) – A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

#12, #13 (8.9 – 8.15) – Election by Tom Perotta, A Mighty Heart by Mariane Pearl

#14, #15 (8.16 – 8.22) – The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll

My Summer Reading Challenge

The library I work at, like most public libraries, hosts a program for kids during the summer to encourage them to read. Since I’m technically too old to participate, I thought I’d challenge myself  right here on my blog. In our program, the kids have the option to meet one of two goals: read 500 pages or 15 books. Since I won’t be reading 10 page books, I should probably lean toward the goal of 15 books. That means I’ll need to read quickly because, starting next week, I’ll only have 13 weeks until I go back to school (aww, man!). The first week (which may include the rest of the current week… I’m a cheater) I will use to try and finish the 4 or 5 books I’m reading. Terrible. I’ll try to figure out a *tentative* lineup of summer reading material and post it here.

Now I’m off to Cancun Fiesta Fresh to get some guacamole for dinner… chips too, don’t worry. Yummy!

My Thursday Night

If my motivation doesn’t flee me come 5:30pm, here are the plans for tonight:

a run around the neighborhood (maybe with a doggie friend)

making and eating black bean soup for dinner

3 hours of Lost season finale awesomeness!! so excited!

I’ve really been a flip-flopper on this whole exercise thing. Some days I think I want to be a runner, others I want to work out just enough to be fit and that’s all. But the more I think about it, I want to be an athlete. Even if I never join a team or play an organized sport, I want to feel like I’m an athlete. I don’t want to be afraid to play a game. Over the weekend, I joined Cody and his brothers (albeit briefly) for a backyard game of homerun derby. Granted they were tennis balls and Stefan was lobbing them a bit, I knocked two of them about 2 backyards away. And it felt good. I liked feeling like I could keep up with them. I want to feel that all the time.

30 Day Shred – Day 1

And so begins yet another attempt to whip myself into shape.

I bought this DVD about 6 weeks ago. I did the “easy” workout once, and I was sore for 4 or 5 days. That’s how out of shape I am, and how promising this DVD seems. I haven’t worked out today, but since it’s only a 20 minute workout, I’m going to try to do it when I get home (around 9pm). If I can do this DVD at least 3-4 times a week, if not every day, I think it could really help me.

As far as diet is concerned… baby steps. All of these changes need to be lifestyle changes, not temporary changes for weight loss. And I don’t think I can stick to anything drastic for any extended period of time (nor would I want to). I’m going to gradually incorporate more fruits and vegetables and decrease the amount of processed food I eat and sugary drinks I drink. Today wasn’t great on the food front, but I’ll give it another go tomorrow.

I have a hard time being social and making friends, and I think at least part of that problem stems from being uncomfortable in my own skin and not liking the way my body has changed over the last 5 years or so. I am also very aware of how unhealthy it is for me to be carrying this extra weight, especially in my midsection. I need to get healthy so I can enjoy my friends and family for a long time.

If I can quit Facebook for over 40 days, I would think I would have the willpower to do a 20 minute workout each day for 30 days. We shall see…

Day Away from the Library – Part II

I finished working on my tasks around 6:34pm. Here’s how the list went:

1. do a major cleaning job on the bathroom
 I had to spend a lot of time cleaning the shower and tub… it was not clean. The bathroom is pretty clean, but could still use a really good deap clean sometime soon.

2. do laundry… clothes, towels, sheets
 Our comfy bed with nice, clean sheets. I didn’t get around to washing towels or clothes, but I’ll be home alone tomorrow night.

3. bake a loaf of bread
 It looks and smells like bread, but I haven’t tasted it yet. It took a lot of time, so I don’t know that I’ll do this everytime we need bread, but it’s nice to know I’m capable (at least, I am so far. I’ll know for sure at the taste test).

4. bake some cookies (ginger or chocolate chips?) — After all the time it took to make the bread, I just didn’t have it in me to make the cookies. Maybe sometime tomorrow night.

5. do dishes
 Nice clean sink! No dishes to wash! Hooray!

6. visit One More Cup
 Good coffee and excellent cheese herb biscuits. It’s nice to have a neighborhood coffee place where I know people and that uses good, local ingredients.

7. finish reading Always Looking Up (Michael J. Fox) — I didn’t get a chance to read today. I thought about taking my book to the coffee shop, but I wouldn’t have been able to read anyway… I spent the whole time chatting with some friends that work there, as well as one of the owners.

Day Away from the Library

It’s my turn to work a weekend at the library. Fortunately, when I have to work a Saturday, I get Friday off. So I’m at home right now, in my pajamas, watching Cody clean his filthy bike and listen to NBA Playoffs coverage on SportsCenter. I’m hoping to accomplish some things today, since the weather and Cody’s work schedule nixed my plans to go to the zoo. Here’s today’s to-do list… I’m hoping to update later with what actually got done.

1. do a major cleaning job on the bathroom
2. do laundry… clothes, towels, sheets
3. bake a loaf of bread
4. bake some cookies (ginger or chocolate chips?)
5. do dishes
6. visit One More Cup
7. finish reading Always Looking Up (Michael J. Fox)

It’s currently 9:37am. If I get started soon, I might actually complete the list. Here we go…