Catching up....

I feel like I'm always trying to get caught up on here! I guess I am in summer mode now. Also, I got an iPhone (early birthday present from my in-laws, thanks!) and I've been obsessed with trying to move my CD collection into iTunes. So far I'm on the Bs. I've got a long way to go but it's also been fun digging out some of my oldies but goodies again.

Anyway, onto the updates...

Grandma and Grandpa were in town last week so the boys were in seventh heaven with the extra attention and 2 extra playmates. One of the highlights was seeing Cars 2 and discovering that one of the characters is named Miles Axlerod. We were fortunate enough to see the movie at a special screening sponsored by our State Farm agent. State Farm Insurance is one of the movies sponsors so they hosted a special screening for their customers. We arrived at the movie theater and our agent handed us a goody bag with Cars 2 t-shirts for both kids, stickers, pencils, and other fun stuff.

Henry had golf lessons last week and enjoyed that, and we also wrapped up swimming lessons. I have pictures of all of this on my camera but have yet to get them out of there. The music transfer and the new Scrabble app on my phone are sucking up all of my time. What can I say, I lead a exciting life over here.

I've read a ton of good books lately and of course I keep forgetting to write them down, so here's a partial list of what I can remember:

History of a Suicide: My Sister's Unfinished Life by Jill Bialosky This book was a deconstruction of the years and events leading up to the author's sister's suicide in her early 20s. It was heart-breaking but not in an exploitative way - I got the feeling the author really wanted to understand why her sister committed suicide and in her personal investigation of her sister's life she also weaves in research in the field of suicide and interviews with experts, and the result is a personal yet very informative book.

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner I like pretty much everything Weiner has written, and this one is no different. If you like her other stuff, you'll like this. A quick read.

Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust by Diana Henriques I've been fascinated by Madoff since his arrest in 2008, and this book is a good biography/expose on the events leading up to his arrest. A little technical when she talks about the details of trading but I just skipped over those parts and got to the juicy stuff.

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman I adore Ayelet Waldman because she is just so freaking smart. This book is told from the perspective of the "Other Woman" - but she doesn't make her into some sort of hero. Loved it.

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain I skipped around a bit, but if you like his humor on his travel show, you'll love the book.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein I don't have girls, but if I did, I would have liked this book more. At first I thought it was going to be a slam on princess culture, but it's not - the author's daughter is princess-obsessed herself so that prompted the author to look into the marketing behind all this pink, pink, pink. A little dry but you could skip around if needed and still get something out of the book.