La Lucci

All My Life: A Memoir by Susan Lucci was ok. Obviously it was ghost written, although the ghost writer didn't get much mention. Over all, it was a nice read. Wasn't very gripping or anything, it took me weeks to finish reading it on and off. Basically it follows Susan Lucci's life from her birth to now, and her career on soap operas. It was a pretty good read though, very interesting to read. Not for planes though it doesn't capture your attention enough for an airplane. Nor a long car ride or the beach. It is the kind of book you get at the library and keep in your car or bring with you to read as your dog runs around the park.

What Does This Have to do With A Hedgehog????

I absolutely loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. It was so wonderfully constructed and intricate. I really don't want to spoil any of the plot line, because it was literally that good. But I will tell you this, I was astounded by Barbery's writing. It was phenomenal. To write something this well, IN FRENCH and then have it transfer so well into English is astounding. The insight onto the human psyche is unparalleled. Basically, if you don't read this novel, you are really missing out. It was that amazing. Not to over play it but really, go to your local library and get a copy of The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

God that was loud!

So on one of the last days of summer vacation, my mom, myself and my little sister went and shot guns. Yes you read that right, we went to a shooting range. And it was probably one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done. My mom actually had a shooting range at the summer camp she use to go to as a girl, so she was pretty good at it, but I hadn't seen a gun in real life before that day. Which is surprising considering where I live and all. First we had to call my dad to make sure he was ok with it. We got him at work and apparently his students were really confused by the conversation.

Anyway, we got the whole gun safety talk and my mom went in first to figure out how this whole range thing worked before she let me and my sister go in. We watched her through bullet proof glass. Now the gun we rented from the store was just your basic hand gun. It wasn't all that loud and the kickback wasn't awful. Basically it was an amazing first time gun. Then another guy started shooting in the lane next to us. I don't know what kind of gun he had but it was startlingly loud, had gigantic shells, and a laser pointer. Basically it was a hardcore pro gun. And it startled the heck out of my mom.

Anyway after she shot some, I did. And it was such a weird feeling! It was actually really relaxing and distressing once I was done. Thank god my little sister was scared of the idea of shooting, that was a nice calming thought. Afterwards we went to Dot's and got root beer floats. All in all, a great way to go into the school year.

This is my dream gun. Just imagine it with a beautiful wooden handle.

Isn't that an amazing image! 

Heat Wave, its a tropical heat wave

Heat Wave by Nancy Thayer is a book I chose, like most books from the library, at random and from mostly aesthetic expressions. I don't think I even read the inside flap. You know the old saying, don't judge a book by its cover. Well I have found that the more experienced a reader, the better you can judge books by a glance. That doesn't mean you don't have a few flops every once and a while. When I first started reading Heat Wave I thought it would be one of those flops. The writing had the characteristics of someone without much experience, although the author has 4 other titles accredited to her, and although the plot was believable, a lot of the places didn't have much explanation, and as the writer is a Nantucket native, that is to be expected. And although I would have liked to see a little more trial and error and struggle on the main characters part, the plot did take a totally unexpected turn at the end, redeeming the book slightly in my eyes. So I'd recommend it as a totally light fluffy beach read because its incredibly easy to get absorbed in. I stayed up until one in the morning finishing it. But I would not give it as a gift nor buy it because lets be honest there are far better books worth owning. So if you wish to read Heat Wave by Nancy Thayer, get it at the library.

Its a good thing I don't have braces

Tonight, I cooked chicken kiev and fresh corn pudding cockaigne from Joy of Cooking. And let me tell you, those are two labor intensive dishes that pay off in the long run. I cooked the corn pudding first, because it has to bake for an hour. The first part of the recipe was two cups of corn, cut from the cob. Now that doesn't sound to bad, all of my friends with braces do it every time we are served corn on the cob. Looks incredibly easy, right? Wrong. I think I spent a half an hour struggling with two and a half cobs of corn, trying to get the kernels off. Most of the corn got off the board and the bits I could save I did. But more times then not the corn got into some of the oddest places. I found one piece today on the counter behind where I was slicing. As you can imagine I got pretty frustrated, and started to talk to the corn, which greatly amused my friend Andrew, as he watched from my computer. Luckily after the laborious process of cutting, the rest of the recipe was quite easy. Just some light mixing, measuring, and dolloping and whoop into the oven she goes, and I sat back to enjoy the wonderful smells wafting from the oven.

After a short walk, I came back to cook chicken kiev. I tackled kiev a few years ago, and from my memory it was quite easy. My memory served for the most part, however I had forgotten how long it took to prepare. In the end I gained my stride and after sending my father to the store to grab some more eggs, made a wonderful kiev that my whole family enjoyed. As for the corn pudding, well we devoured the entire thing that night, and the next day I made another out of the remaining corn which was finished before my dad came home from work. Success, I think so.

Look at that

Its heart stopping, southern good 

The Orchid Affair

On a trip to the library this summer, I stumbled upon a book called The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig. Just by the title, I picked up the book not knowing anything its about nor knowing that it was a part of a series. I picked it up not knowing what it was about nor that it was a part of a larger series. Not knowing any of this, I took it out of this gigantic pile of library books I have in my room to bring on a trip to Carmel. I started reading it on the air plane and fell in love. The book takes place in both modern times and post revolution France. It starts off with Eloise and Colin, going to Paris for Colin's mothers birthday. It the switches back in time to Laura Grey, a governess and government spy. I am under the impression that Eloise and Colin's story goes through all of the books in the series, however their plot line seemed pretty superfluous reading The Orchid Affair as a stand alone novel. I would highly recommend this novel, but I'd recommend reading it in order with the rest of the series, because it does make sense as just a stand alone novel, it would be more enjoyable with the rest of the series backing it up.

The Plaidy Lady

I first stumbled upon Jean Plaidy at a JCC used book sale. The title first caught my eye, it being on Katherine of Aragon. By this point in my life I was already a very huge Tudor fan, and any chance to try a new author was a great prospect. Plus the bargain hunter in me loved that it was three books in a collected space for on $3.50. What I didn't know was the secret phenomenon I had just stumbled upon. Years later, on a school trip to Swannee, I found a bunch of paper back Plaidys and picked one up for the bus ride home, falling in love with her all over again. When I got home, I did my research and found that Jean Plaidy was actually a pseudonym for Eleanor Hibbert , a woman who had in a lifetime of 86 years had published about 130 books. And so here begins my challenge, to read all of the books published under the pseudonym Jean Plaidy, about 101 books. It should be quite an interesting.

Gestap-I mean Gazpacho

Today was the start of attempting the monumental task of cooking my way through our old and abused copy of the Joy of Cooking. My family is leaving town for a few days, and so we had a lot of veggies that needed to be cooked into something. My mother suggested Gazpacho. Now, I have little experience in the realm of cold soups, but being adventurous decided to give it a try. After consulted the well loved copy of Joy of Cooking, I made sure we had enough ingredients and went on my day. After running errands and cleaning, I started to cook. While talking to my friend Jake, I chopped, poured, blended, and splattered my way towards the final goal, and the result, although filled with the very sharp taste of onion, was quite satisfying.

Well, there it is! Not to good looking but not to bad tasting.

Just keep going!

Although it took me longer then I expected to read Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran, I quite enjoyed it. Although slow and sometime painfully historically inaccurate, having the perseverance to finish this novel pays off when you see how fiction marries fact in the end of this long, and sometimes complicated book about Marie Tussaud, the French Revolution, and its aftermath. Although I highly doubt the historical accuracy of Madame Tussaud as a strictly pleasure read it was quite enjoyable.

Reading 100 books in a year

One of the first goals I am trying to complete is to read 100 books from this August to next. One day I hope to try to read a book a day for a year, but I think trying to read 100 books in a year is a good warm up challenge. I have already read two. The first was One Day by David Nicolls. One Day follows the lives of two friends Emma and Dexter on July 15th of every year for about 20 years. It was an amusing novel, although as it got towards the end I would have to reread pages to figure out if some of his sentences were symbolic or real. The second was Not Afraid of Life Bristol Palins memoir. I read it in about a day, and honestly enjoyed it. Reading her memoir brought some perspective into the other side of the story, a story I had not really researched much. All in all I would recommend both.

Opening Post

Hello All,
This is the first of what I hope will be many of my new blog. Living My Life is pretty much the recording of me completing my bucket list. The projects will be big and small, and although I can not guarantee posting frequently, I can promise that every time there is an update you will be the first to hear about it. If any one reading this has a bucket list, please send it to me. I'd love to see what your goals are.