First there was www.fidgetyknitting.blogspot.com, then I bounced over to www.fidgetyknitting.mu.nu, next up I went to here, fidgetyknitting.wordpress.com. But now I am back and on (though not fully migrated or “decorated”) to www.fidgetyknitting.com

Go see and follow whatever of me there is over there

How do you find your voice when you don’t speak…

How do you move forward when you barely can get yourself out of bed…

I guess you start where you are, if this is what you want. One word tap at a time not looking forward, backward or making excuses (to or against) and you just do. Even if you tap from bed So I am starting with where I recently was… Rhinebeck!

Rhinebeck this year was a bit of a let down, and that was all my fault. I learned the rough lesson that one of my good friends from grad school is extremely self-absorbed and not trust worthy or thankful. But her being inconsiderate and flaking at the last moment didn’t mean I should flake on my preferences. It was fucking gorgeous. And I didn’t want to be around her anyways, yarn people would be better!

So I drove up through the GORGEOUS Hudson Valley pissed (excepting the moment where scanning radio stations I came upon FLASHDANCE and sang out loud with the windows open not caring I was alone). Only I got to the fairgrounds still irritated, feeling lonely. A veritable Little Miss Crabbypants as I wasn’t going to get to see Scout, I realised on the drive up that I hadn’t gotten Ann’s contact info so had no way to find her either, and I didn’t know if I would be able to track down Claudia and Silvia. I had no one to hang with and look at all the gorgeous leaves. I also had JUST missed the Punkin Chuckin… Yes that would be pity party of one called to her table. But walking around I ran into Kate (we both did double takes as well we aren’t supposed to “randomly” run into each other on *this* continent). And then Buckaroo decided to come out and play (what like we didn’t know I have multiple personalities ) so I went straight to the animal stalls with my camera. I decided to stop wallowing in my one person pity party and try to make the best of things (one day I HAVE to learn how to use the camera cause the burning hot it is annoying the hell out of me!).

This wasn’t hurt by the fact that shortly thereafter I got a big fluffy pretzel with garlic and cheese. And then I got a text from Claudia and Silvia. YAY!!! Not all was lost. I was not going to be alone in the sea of knitting friends. I love my favorite redheaded sisters and I WAS going to get to see them And next time I AM going to remember to take a picture of all three of us!! We chatted, I got to see a ribbon winning photo (as well as print- which I think I might try printing some of my photos thanks to Miss Inspiration herself). I even heard about the Hello Kitty yarn

And then they had to start the drive home, so I went on my way to go wander the yarn barns to see if I could eke out a purchase. While I couldn’t buy much yarn (when your travel costs bump 100%, your shopping budget goes poof!) I did get yarn. While last year I was entranced by Brooks Farms I saw nothing that pulled me in that I could tie to a project. And right now… nothing comes into this house without a project. But I did fall in love with one booth. Botanical Shades. And I got two yarns that I think I am going to really like (one is likely to become a Gretel. I saw a girl wearing on all day and DUDE I soooooo want it- I even finally bought the damn pattern; the other I might be getting more and make it into a sweater ).

So there was my Rhinebeck. Rhinebeck of leaves and lambies… Until next year!

Umm wow so where did August go? And can I get some of it back please… Understatement to say that I have had lots going on lately. But I do promise to try and get on top of things, I have some socks to show anyways.

Purchase (10/101)

1. Treat myself to a massage or a facial once a year
2. Buy a Lomo camera
   
3. Buy one piece of art
4. Buy fresh flowers for my room once a month for a year
   
5. Buy a new “professional” set of luggage
6. Buy one piece of investment furniture (so I bought a room of furniture. I dont know if I’d call it investment furniture, but it is simple/classic enough (west elm narrow leg 4 drawer dresser, bed frame and a very nice mattress) that unless I have to get rid of everything I should have it for a good long while)
7. Get a subscription to National Geographic Traveller, New Yorker, Economist
8. Buy an antique map of Paris and frame it
9. Buy a new DSLR upgrade (ummm yeah I got a nice little present for myself from work and so yeah I kinda own a new toy now!)
10. Find and buy one pair of killer jeans

Health (15/101)

1. Run/Participate in a 5k, 10k, and half marathon
2. Participate in an olympic distance triathalon
3. 30 day trial… bikram yoga 3 times a week (went once this last month. I need to get it together but will be gone half of this month…)
4. Visit a nutritionist/naturopath
5. Do a master body cleansing/fast/colonic

Travel (31/101)

1. Rent a beach house for a getaway
2. Go surfing in Costa Rica or Hawaii
3. Visit 3 national parks (i.e. Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon, Muir Woods, Yosemite, Moab, The Arches, Grand Tetons)
4. Take a working vacation at a winery in the south of France
5. Play in the tulips in Netherlands and Skagit Valley
6. Visit 10 friends
7. Rent a convertible and go on a road trip
8. Do an Ashram in India or Bali
9. Camp out in Wadi Rum
10. Climb up Macchu Picchu
11. Visit a buddhist temple in a buddhist country
12. Watch an opera at La Scala and a ballet at Opera Garnier
13. See the northern lights in Iceland
14. Go to Ireland
15. Go on a crazy Thelma Louise girls trip
16. Stay in a luxurious 5 star hotel

Finance (42/101)

1. Work to better credit score (by 50-100 points)
2. Contribute at least 50% of max out to my Roth IRA annually (approx. $2000-2500) (done 2007, on track to 75-100% max out for 2008)
3. Create, maintain and track my budget for one year (not much change- still need to finish out the medical reimbursement requests, shipping reimbursements should be sent soon… and while not budgeting have lived within the paycheck limitations though I have had MASSIVE tranfusion flows going through me this month and am still working to rebalance all the accounts)
4. Pay off all credit cards and maintain zero balances (all balances can be paid off with savings if need be)
5. Save $5 for 1001 days (I am hoping I will catch up this month, but also have grad school savings to set aside for)
6. Do my taxes annually (2007 done)
7. Invest in retirement and net worth (10% of income)
8. Pay off 50% of remaining student loans (as of now I have paid 10% off, but may need to revise as overpaying on such low interest rate may not be the smartest part of the equation)
9. Invest in socially responsible mutual funds (2% of income)
10. Get a major credit card: use and pay of in full monthly
11. Save $10000 towards a major investment (purchase of property etc)

Learning (53/101)

1. Take a photography course on light and flash
2. Learn how to fly the trapeze
3. Take an intensive Spanish language course in Spain
4. Get my a scuba diving certification
5. Learn how to drive a Vespa
6. Take a wine tasting course
7. Learn how to dye yarn
8. Learn more about buddhism
9. Research travel photography and writing
10. Take skiing lessons in the alps
11. Learn 5 Photoshop tricks

Reading (59/101)

1. Go to 3 book readings
2. Read 6 classics and 5 works pre- 1950 (one down 5 to go for classics)
3. Read a banned book, a booker book, a pulitzer prize book
4. Read the Tao Te Ching
5. Read 3 biographies per year (one down two to go 2008)
6. Enter all my books into Library Thing
   

Creativity (69/101)

1. Design my blog (working with a friend to finalise what the Etsy person didn’t deliver on)
2. Do a photographic travel/documentary project (this month I will be in Ghana and giving this my first try, it wont be well planned so I am just hoping to get my feet wet and learn enough, but it is in the “right” direction)
3. Knit three sweaters for myself (Sweater #1 to be finished… Sweater #2 Bought the yarn)
4. Document all my yarn stash (might be one of this month’s photographic projects…once I can figure out a “light box” thing)
5. Print 10 of my photos for framing and hanging (doing a test printing of photos I like this month!)
6. Keep a film and book list
7. Sell 5 photos
8. Participate in Sunday scribbles
9. Go to the cinema once a month (saw Vicky Christina Barcelona )
10. Make a quotes book

Gastronomy (74/101)

1. Go berry picking
2. Eat at 12 new restaurants- one three star
3. Try one new recipe a month
4. Throw a dinner party for 8 friends
5. Try 6 new foods and 6 foods I “dont like” (3 more to go! on the “dont like” tally; 6 on the new foods)

Career (77/101)

1. Take GRE Course and Exam (1350 score goal) (Slowly but surely, I am trying to force myself to do the prep work… sigh. Must set a date here soon thinking mid October)
2. Apply to 10 PhD programmes
3. Work on creating a career path

Do (101/101)

1. Go galopping on a horse out in the free range
2. Participate in some volunteer/public service project (maybe dealing with sexual health or at a soup kitchen)
3. Go canoeing in Central Park
4. Watch one classic movie per month (Watched Hud this month)
5. Go to a live music festival
6. Go to Shakespeare in the Park
7. Meditate for 5 minutes 3 times a week
8. Purge my wardrobe (of at least 30%) (hmmm well I got rid of some and then some in storage… but I still need to weed more Since I just bought a dresser yesterday, some more of this will be happening over the next 2 weeks)
   
9. Attend a meditation retreat (5+ days)
10. Go snowshoeing
11. Get rid of 101 things
12. Consolidate and reduce my storage needs and use
13. Go to the HCB museum in Paris
14. Reduce my carbon footprint (by 10-20%)
15. Donate “one meal out” per month to a Food Bank
16. Spend 5 minutes daily in total silence and inactivity for a month
17. Visit my grandmother and father’s graves and take flowers
18. Go to an outdoor movie
19. Live in a new city in 1001 days
20. Hang my mirror, shelves and frames
21. Trace my Irish geneology
22. See a broadway play
23. Preserve my family photos
24. Go to a museum once every other month (Tenement Museum this month… promise )

I know working with others is hard. Not all of us like to play in the sandbox together, but when we have to there are a few rules of engagement. And they don’t involve banging Sally on the head with your shovel and then running to snake the swing out from under Kate. You should have learned that a long time ago… Also I know that meetings are the bane of our existence. But since you hold this bureacratic bullshite meeting at least once a quarter there are no more excuses, you should have already learned from the mistakes. So it is time someone went over a few simple facts with you.

First… If you are going to ask people at the last minute to cover your ass for inane shit, you’d best step up to the plate. It is not hard nor is it confusing. For once it is simple. If you ask me to come and help you get a meeting ready at 7:30am (when I rarely grace my office before 10am) you damn well better start by picking up your phone when I call and being there too. That is a basic form of respect. Also FYI it does not take 2.5 hours to put out folders, water and name cards. I’m just sayin.

Second… For the record in case you forgot, I work on Policy. Yes with a capital P. And don’t think I am playing hierarchical here like you are (who sits on which side of the Deputy Secretary Generale I don’t care… throw your temper tantrum elsewhere). I don’t think any work is beneath me, hell I have an assistant from hell that does nothing, so I do her job too. An assistant who I now thanks to the immature joys of working for an international organisation can say I am sending to Khartoum. You don’t like your assistant, send her to Sudan (for the record she is from the region and happy to go)… but it is saying a lot that NEITHER of your TWO assistants are there doing anything. And maybe before panicking and rounding up FOUR substantive consultants to do what is a ONE person 30 minute job… you should stop and think if you want to expend that kind of capital. Also learn to count!

See people round here think I am some kind of a miracle worker when we have to work to do in the Ivory Tower. Nope… I am just friendly and not beneath bribing people or whatever else it takes to get shit done. Also I am VERY VERY thankful to anyone who helps bail my ass out when the Arc springs a leak… Which has happened on more than one occasion. Hell in May I had the hull full choppered in half and thanks to being smart and the power of Vodka I kept the frigging boat afloat. Just like during prayers at the family table, you need to give thanks here too. Let’s be clear though, I don’t mean a half assed email saying thanks afterwards. I mean if it is 7:30am on a fecking Friday… BE THERE WITH FUCKING COFFEE. It is a gesture that opens doors.

As a matter of fact after this last go round with the bullshit I can now clearly say that I will feel no guilt next time round, cause there are always more Steering Meetings (we are steering more shit around than anyone knows what to do with I tell you). I will be the first to say No. HELL TO THE NOES. I am going to sleep in so that when 3pm sneaks around and I have yoga at 7pm I am not dreading the end of my week cause dude… ALL I WANT IS A NAP. And your head on a platter, so I can hand you your smacked ass.

Purchase (10/101)

1. Treat myself to a massage or a facial once a year
2. Buy a Lomo camera (I got a Holga instead… But a friend says he has found one for me, maybe one day soon )
   
3. Buy one piece of art
4. Buy fresh flowers for my room once a month for a year (so I bought them for my office last month…)
   
5. Buy a new “professional” set of luggage
6. Buy one piece of investment furniture
7. Get a subscription to National Geographic Traveller, New Yorker, Economist
8. Buy an antique map of Paris and frame it
9. Buy a new DSLR upgrade (wish this were purchased… but GRE and life plan called the budget over it. Sigh hopefully before the end of the year for tax deduction!)
10. Find and buy one pair of killer jeans

Health (15/101)

1. Run/Participate in a 5k, 10k, and half marathon
2. Participate in an olympic distance triathalon
3. 30 day trial… bikram yoga 3 times a week (I was going 2x a week there for a while. Things got hairy. I start back again tomorrow)
4. Visit a nutritionist/naturopath
5. Do a master body cleansing/fast/colonic

Travel (31/101)

1. Rent a beach house for a getaway
2. Go surfing in Costa Rica or Hawaii
3. Visit 3 national parks (i.e. Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon, Muir Woods, Yosemite, Moab, The Arches, Grand Tetons)
4. Take a working vacation at a winery in the south of France
5. Play in the tulips in Netherlands and Skagit Valley
6. Visit 10 friends (I visited friends in SF and Seattle so I am going to say I am now down to 7 more friends to find and visit )
7. Rent a convertible and go on a road trip
8. Do an Ashram in India or Bali
9. Camp out in Wadi Rum
10. Climb up Macchu Picchu
11. Visit a buddhist temple in a buddhist country
12. Watch an opera at La Scala and a ballet at Opera Garnier
13. See the northern lights in Iceland
14. Go to Ireland
15. Go on a crazy Thelma Louise girls trip
16. Stay in a luxurious 5 star hotel

Finance (42/101)

1. Work to better credit score (by 50-100 points)
2. Contribute at least 50% of max out to my Roth IRA annually (approx. $2000-2500)
3. Create, maintain and track my budget for one year (need to finish out the medical reimbursement requests, shipping reimbursements should be sent soon… and while not budgeting have lived within the paycheck limitations and am still working to rebalance all the accounts, moving apartments and new furniture have set things a bit off)
4. Pay off all credit cards and maintain zero balances (all balances can be paid off with savings if need be)
5. Save $5 for 1001 days (Very Bad… need to catch this up! Will try to recuperate half of what I need to this month)
6. Do my taxes annually (need to fix the state one… ASAP!)
7. Invest in retirement and net worth (10% of income)
8. Pay off 50% of remaining student loans (Perkins Loan is now Paid OFF!)
9. Invest in socially responsible mutual funds (2% of income)
10. Get a major credit card: use and pay of in full monthly (I bit the bullet… I have a major credit card, I use it, and it makes me twitch)
11. Save $10000 towards a major investment (purchase of property etc)

Learning (53/101)

1. Take a photography course on light and flash
2. Learn how to fly the trapeze (this IS what I did on my 31st birthday! and it freaking ROCKED)
3. Take an intensive Spanish language course in Spain
4. Get my a scuba diving certification
5. Learn how to drive a Vespa
6. Take a wine tasting course
7. Learn how to dye yarn
8. Learn more about buddhism
9. Research travel photography and writing
10. Take skiing lessons in the alps
11. Learn 5 Photoshop tricks (I learned one… Photomerge, now to use it )

Reading (59/101)

1. Go to 3 book readings
2. Read 6 classics and 5 works pre- 1950 (Read Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth)
3. Read a banned book, a booker book, a pulitzer prize book
4. Read the Tao Te Ching
5. Read 3 biographies per year (bought Jane Goodall for the next one)
6. Enter all my books into Library Thing
   

Creativity (69/101)

1. Design my blog (working with a friend to finalise what the Etsy person didn’t deliver on)
2. Do a photographic travel/documentary project
3. Knit three sweaters for myself (Sweater #1 to be finished… Sweater #2 Bought the yarn)
4. Document all my yarn stash (might be one of this month’s photographic projects…)
5. Print 10 of my photos for framing and hanging (doing a test printing of photos I like this month!)
6. Keep a film and book list
7. Sell 5 photos
8. Participate in Sunday scribbles
9. Go to the cinema once a month (Went more than once… cant remember everything but I have gone to see The Dark Knight, Kung-fu Panda, The Counterfeiters, The Indiana Jones movie)
10. Make a quotes book

Gastronomy (74/101)

1. Go berry picking (went lavender picking… ok not the same and yes I want to do this at the end of the month… now to find people’s and a place )
2. Eat at 12 new restaurants- one three star (I have now eaten at a Ruth’s Chris, but the best was the Slanted Door in SF- good people, awesome drinks and killer food, I dream of that place)
3. Try one new recipe a month
4. Throw a dinner party for 8 friends
5. Try 6 new foods and 6 foods I “dont like” (I tried sushi- yellowfin Tuna I believe it was. not like what I remembered other sushi as, not my exact cup of tea but I could eat it just fine too. 3 more to go!)

Career (77/101)

1. Take GRE Course and Exam (1350 score goal) (I took the GRE Strategies Course. I am now trying to force myself to do the prep work… sigh. must set a date here soon)
2. Apply to 10 PhD programmes
3. Work on creating a career path

Do (101/101)

1. Go galopping on a horse out in the free range
2. Participate in some volunteer/public service project (maybe dealing with sexual health or at a soup kitchen)
3. Go canoeing in Central Park (Check did that around my birthday with visiting friends!)
4. Watch one classic movie per month
5. Go to a live music festival
6. Go to Shakespeare in the Park
7. Meditate for 5 minutes 3 times a week
8. Purge my wardrobe (of at least 30%) (hmmm well I got rid of some and then some in storage… but I still need to weed more )
   
9. Attend a meditation retreat (5+ days)
10. Go snowshoeing
11. Get rid of 101 things
12. Consolidate and reduce my storage needs and use (I have closed out the Paris unit, and reduced out of the Seattle unit enough to fit some furniture from my mom if I have to- good me!)
13. Go to the HCB museum in Paris
14. Reduce my carbon footprint (by 10-20%)
15. Donate “one meal out” per month to a Food Bank
16. Spend 5 minutes daily in total silence and inactivity for a month
17. Visit my grandmother and father’s graves and take flowers
18. Go to an outdoor movie
19. Live in a new city in 1001 days
20. Hang my mirror, shelves and frames (have moved so not all needs to be hung but will see…)
21. Trace my Irish geneology
22. See a broadway play
23. Preserve my family photos
24. Go to a museum once every other month (Tenement Museum this month… promise )

1. What was I doing ten years ago:

A newly minted 21 year old… I had recently moved back to Seattle and was back at UW for my junior year of college, after a semester long joy ride to hell I decided to take. Silly girl I was back then I was in summer school diving back into what really interested me oblivious to much else. I was working at a pool teaching swim lessons and enjoying my first summer living on Greenlake (a place that will always hold a dear place in my heart) and trying to figure out how to live life.

2. What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:

- Check DMV renewal requirements
- Organise the photos on the hard drive
- Cosmetics shop at Nordys
- Relax
- Start to look at my GRE books…

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Nuts, string cheese, pretzel chips, red licorice, fruit leather, baby carrots, edamame, and so much more. I am a muncher…

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

After purchasing/building a house for myself and those I love, as well as a vacation house… I would buy me a new DSLR and set of pro-lenses, put most into savings (I am boring and fiscally responsible like that), set aside enough to do my PhD, travel a whole hell of a lot with the killer photos to prove it and create a charitable foundation to help fund development and women. Then I’d probably volunteer whatever time I had left. Oh and I might do a bit of shopping

5. Places I have lived:

Scottsdale, AZ; North Platte, NE; Lexington, Kentucky; Seattle, WA; Grado, Italy; Chapel Hill, NC; Firenza/Siena, Italy; Paris, France; New York, NY.

6. Jobs I’ve had:

Lifeguard/Swim Instructor/Water Aerobics Instructor; Personal Trainer, Victoria’s Secret Stock and Visual Display Store Manager, Administrative Assistant, Marketing Specialist/Manager, Graduate Student, Attache aux Cabinet, Research Assistant, and Project Officer.

Tag… your it

- Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
- Using only the first page, pick an image.
- Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? K
2. What is your favorite food? Milk
3. What high school did you go to? Shadow Mountain
4. What is your favorite color? Green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Eddie Izzard
6. Favorite drink? Gin and Tonic
7. Dream vacation? Maldives
8. Favorite dessert? (Abuela’s) Arroz con Leche
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Professor
10. What do you love most in life? Serendipity
11. One Word to describe you? Unscripted
12. Your flickr name? Stinkerbell1

Et voila!

Photo Credits:
1. Bubbles. 2. More milk 3. Shadow Mountain 4. Forest Green 5. Eddie Izzard IV 6. 1888 Gin and Tonic 7. MALDIVES… the sunny side of life 23 8. arroz con leche 9. Little Professor Hand-held Calculator 10. performative rhizome serendipity . . 11. unscripted love 12. Untitled

Well she did. Then I distrusted it until there were keys in my hand and checks in theirs. And I think I might have won the roulette on this go round. Distinctly unlike me, I am feeling very positive about what is to come and enjoying things (even though this month will be a bit rough as I have a working holiday in Seattle, friends in town,  a move, and another round of contract renewals). But one thing I definitely know in all of this is that even though my independant self *HATES* asking for anyone else’s “help,” I believe in the power of all your good thoughts (not to mention that with little to consider this a blog about, some of you guys still come round and that alone makes me smile)

So for that… I thank you immensely. And promise to post again soon (I have 101 in 1001 to update if nothing else) Also I give sincere apologies for the lack of a beaujolais photo, it has been packed already… but if it helps this is what I did on my birthday, which was going on around the same time 31 is looking like it could be a good year!

But here are my vageuties… I finally made a decision for myself, one that I have needed to make for a long time but resisted as I hate change, only sacrificing myself is no longer really appealing to me. So I went with it, felt good about it and my change, was looking forward to it. Then the rug was pulled out from underneath me on it. And I feel crappy and looped. Trying not to full on pity party and wonder why cant things go positively for me, or why cant it just be resolved. There is one other wee option, short of starting over again from scratch and hoping for the best.

So if anyone out there sees this… and can spare a positive thought… I will be eternally grateful and promise that the next post will have at least a photo of yarn (in my moment of thinking that things were coming together and my impending birthday… I bought myself some Beaujolais, not the wine but a yarn named after it and I LOVE the colour!!)

When I was a kid it was hard to find me without my nose in a book. But by the time I got through undergrad and then grad school, the idea of reading… well it was strapped on to the notion of work. So for a while there I stopped reading for fun. Then I realised that there was so little I had read of the classics, I LOVED being in the UVillage Barnes and Noble and damn don’t I want to be a well rounded person?? So I fell back in love with books and have commited more money to the Amazon Gods than any river can carry. As a matter of fact of the 350 lbs of things I shipped to myself from Paris, 275 of them… Books/Papers. Now I know I commit heresy, but I read not knit on my subway rides- and that is where most of my reading takes place. My commute takes me 45 minutes door to door (with my morning muffin stop) each way and it is a rare occasion that I am to be found without a book on my person (cause you never know how long you are going to be in transit, especially if you live on the L train like I do…). Currently in rotation is The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton. And you know what, it indeed does make me happy to read the book.

So I thought I should repost my top ten favorite reads, and a list of reading. So here goes…

A selection of my favorites (not necessarily including everything) from my library thing (which I totally love!)

1. The Zahir (Paolo Coehlo) Brilliant man anything by him is worth the time.
2. Fountain Head (Ayn Rand- lots to read but love to read it!)
3. How Proust Can Change Your Life (Alain de Botton) This book and this author changed my life and has had me pulled into all his books!
4. Cod (Mark Kurlansy) any of the “food” as more than food books from Mark Kurlansy are worth reading and so damn interesting
5. Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami) Liked it enough to get Norwegian Wood which I wizzed through too
6. Lemon Tree (Sandy Tolan) An incredible book on a conflict that has been tearing a region apart for longer than I care to think… a region that has a special place in my heart
7. The Mandarins (Simone de Beauvoir) great to read about when I was living there, but it is still nice when you arent there.
8. Me Talk Pretty One Day (Dave Sedaris) I adore this man. Got to meet and have drinks with him. He makes me laugh inordinately.
9. I Am A Stranger Here Myself (Bill Bryson) Anything by the man is worth it! He often makes me laugh out loud and as a recent “re”patriate from the expatriate life this one totally touches me.
10. Stretching Lessons (Sue Bender) Whenever I feel myself a bit adrift or torn apart a bit… this book brings me a bit back together.

My Summer Time Reading is FUN-da-mental list (a list that will probably carry on into other seasons )

1. Anna Karenina
2. Life of Pi
3. Great Expectations
4. Foucault’s Pendulum
5. The Grapes of Wrath
6. Les Misérables
7. A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
8. Dubliners
9. Eats, Shoots & Leaves
10. Lolita
11. Persuasion
12. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
13. The House of Mirth