February 23, 2008

For the holiday weekend last week I finally went back out to California and...had a wonderful time. I haven't been back since graduation, so almost three years. And it was cold here, so I've been itching to go somewhere warm. While there, I stayed with my friend and former roommate, and we did some of the "touristy" things, she showed me some things in Redlands I hadn't seen, then we went to Laguna Beach for an afternoon and also toured around Riverside and visited Back to the Grind, the coffeehouse we used to go study at.

I have pictures up here. It took me nearly all morning to edit down from about 115 pictures to what I have now (a lot less). I'll also post some more stories here. I would write more, but I need to go and study Italian. I skipped class the week before last flying out to California, and last week I discovered that I'm now a little behind with almost two weeks without study. Oops.

currently reading: The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan and The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory.
currently listening to: NPR

12:46pm

January 13, 2008

So we're in 2008 already. Can I ask where 2007 went? I saw a really great movie last night, and highly recommend seeing Atonement. I have more about my thoughts posted on it here, and will also post about the book when I get a chance to read it.

The first thirteen days of 2008 have been pretty good so far. I spent the first week of January still in Dallas and then the second week was pretty busy back in DC. I have to admit, I'm looking forward to this year. I think it'll be a good year. So far I've gotten in quite a bit of writing, which is always a good thing. And starting next week I'm taking Italian classes and I'm really looking forward to those.

currently reading: Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
currently listening to: Incubus

11:20am

October 8, 2007

My friend and I spent yesterday up in Maryland at Assateague Island to see the wild horses. We'd both read Misty of Chincoteague when we were little, and somehow that came up in conversation about a month or so ago. I have to admit that during the past two years I've lived here, I hadn't thought of going to the islands. I'd read the book when I was little and had always wanted to make the trip, but it was a little too far from where we spent our vacations in Virginia. And then I grew up, went to school and focused on other things.

But I had an awesome time. As soon as we crossed the bridge onto the island we saw two horses ambling along the side of the road. We hiked through the woods, which was nice, and then across the beach, which...wasn't so nice. Hiking in sand is a lot of work, especially when it's hot out. But...it was all worth it. Because as we were about to head back to the highway to go home, we stopped on one more side road and got caught in a very mini traffic jam. Wondering what the hold up was, I looked out and there were more horses.

So we parked, and, being the expert trackers we were, followed the horses and took a lot of pictures.

If you're ever in the greater DC area, I highly recommend visiting Assateague. It was wonderful and I'm so stoked that we went. I'll have more of a recap here.

currently reading: Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich
currently listening to: Poem by Delerium.

10:02pm

September 30, 2007

Yesterday I spent time down on the mall for the 2007 National Book Festival, which was awesome. I heard four authors speak, two in fiction & fantasy and two in mystery & thriller. The four I heard, in this order, were Joyce Carol Oates, David Ignatius, Daniel Silva and Jodi Picoult.

Jodie Picoult is one of my favorite writers, because she writes very well and addresses very difficult topics. But her writing is very real, you could see her endings and plots actually happening and unfolding that way. Take My Sister's Keeper, for instance. I, like many other people, was a little upset with the ending, but it was really the only way it could end. As she said yesterday, you knew from the beginning that it wasn't going to be a happy ending.

Daniel Silva was a writer I'd heard of and seen at the bookstores, but I haven't read. I think I will though. He was very engaging and had some good stories and his character sounded very intriguing: an Israeli spy/art restorer and I think there were a few other things thrown in there as well.

I won't delve much further, I'll do that here. I've got pictures up, along with Florida pictures finally.

currently reading: Testimony: France in the Twenty-first Century by Nicolas Sarkozy
currently listening to: Festival Overture of 1812 by Tchaikovsky

10:08am

September 09, 2007

In August I went to Montana for a week to visit my Dad, and then I spent a long weekend in Florida for my Uncle's wedding (Congratulations!).  Then the very next weekend (this weekend) I had a wonderful three day weekend due to Labor Day which gave me the time to post pictures from these jet-setting experiences.

As of now, I have the Montana pictures up. I'm still working on the Florida pictures, but those should be up soon. I've also been doing quite a bit of reading this summer, with a small stack of to-read books that sound really interesting. So...I'll be redoing my reviews section. Check that out before I erase those and post new reviews.

One final thing, I've also updated my other, more professional, site. I'm going to try to do more to keep both of these updated. I hope to have a long weekend trip to New York sometime this fall, but most likely sometime after Thanksgiving.

currently reading: Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ringby Alexander Rose
currently listening to: Chimera by Delerium

10:43 am