Into the Wild

A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor — such is my idea of happiness.

From "Family Happiness" by Leo Tolstoy

It doesn't happen very often these days that a Hollywood movie makes me stop and think but such was the case after seeing "Into the Wild" tonight. A. and I had a good discussion after the movie and it seems like we both took something different away from the movie. Was Chris McCandless selfish or searching for something that was missing in his life or both? This movie was beautiful and sad and thought-provoking and I highly recommend it.

I'm loving...

... these mid-century modern arch chairs from Jennifer Delonge's Fresh Vintage collection. If only I had $1000 and some floor space to spare.

**As seen on Design*Sponge

NaBloPoMo

So it's National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo for short) and since I have been so bad with posting lately, I think I'm going to try and give it a shot. I don't have any one specific theme for posts so things may be all over the place. Perhaps it will be a word I've come across that I like or don't know the meaning for, perhaps it will be a photo I've taken, maybe a video I like or a repost of something I've seen on Facebook if I'm lazy (which is a definitely possibility).

Today, I give you a word I came across in a Maclean's article that I wanted to look up:

concomitant
adj.
Occurring or existing concurrently; attendant

I've been bad

It's been so long since I posted that I'm having a hard time coming up with something to write.

I had a fairly busy summer which included having gallbladder surgery and buying a brand new Mazda 3 with A. We also went on our first solo camping trip together, attended the wedding of some good friends and saw a lot of great films at the film fest. Now we are looking forward to going to Calgary in December for my cousins wedding and Christmas!

Until I can come up with something more to write I will list the books I have read since my last update.

9. The Coffee Trader by David Liss

10. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (a reread)

11. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (reread)

12. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (reread)

13. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella (reread)

14. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb (reread)

15. Summer Sisters by Judy Blume (reread)

16. Bookends by Jane Green (reread)

17. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

18. Mr. Maybe by Jane Green (reread)

19. Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam

20. First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

21. Night by Elie Wiesel

22. The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson

23. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

24. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

25. Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart Mclean

26. Atonement by Ian McEwan

The dub dub

For those of you that don't know (which is probably a small number since I've been broadcasting it), I joined Weight Watchers on May 3. So far it's been going fairly well and I've lost 8.4lbs which means I'm almost half-way to my 10% goal! People have been talking about goals lately so I thought it would be a good idea to get mine written down. Besides, public humiliation is always a good motivator! :)

• Control high blood sugar - don't want to take medication!
  
• Feel good about myself again and finally believe A. when he tells me I'm beautiful.
  
• Be able to buy clothes that I want and not worry if a store will have my size.
  
• Be generally more healthy.
  
• Tone mid-section.
  

I've been sticking to the plan pretty strictly (aside from this past weekend - oh, the wine...) so hopefully I don't fall off in a spectacular fashion! Here's to watching the numbers get smaller and smaller!

*****

I finished reading Alice Munro's Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage a while ago and I really enjoyed it. It's the first of Munro's books I've read (shocking, I know) and it won't be the last. The stories were interesting and entertaining and it always makes the reading fun when you recognize the places she's describing. A definite recommendation!

Oops

Well, it's been quite a while since I last posted and a lot has gone on, most of which I can't remember details of.

I've been reading slowly but I was able to add a book to the tally. A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon is Haddon's sophomore effort and was just as enjoyable as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. I don't remember my initial impressions of the book but it was hard to put it down.

*****

We bought two new Ikea bookshelves and some throw pillows for the couch - I'll add pictures once I get them onto the new computer we bought yesterday. We also got a sweet 22" LCD monitor.

Edit: Here are some pictures of our Ikea bookshelves and pillows from Pier 1.




*****

Several weekends ago we decided to get out of the city so we drove down to Leavenworth, WA, a gorgeous Bavarian village in central Washington. It's surrounded by mountains and rivers, has fantastic German food, and Andrew said it took him right back to Germany. It's a 4 hour drive on a twisty two-lane highway, but it was definitely worth it.



*****

We also finally went up to Whistler last weekend with my Mom and Gary. The village was nice and we went up the gondola and chair lift which was amazing, but I have to admit, I think I like Banff better.