Here are the highlights for October:

I got to see a couple of live shows: Diane Birch (she is a great new singer/songwriter that I love.  She came to Bham and played a very short set at a new bar in town) and Kings of Leon (Scott, Megs and I enjoyed the hell out of this show!  They were awesome and so was the opening band, White Lies) . October also featured the last big party in our house: Halloween.  It was a blast.  We had old and new friends all stop by to see us and the house off.  Megs and I are going to our separate ways (and no, there are no negative or hard feelings between us.  We are still really close and will remain that way).

November will be even more hectic for me.  My travels for work are picking up tremendously this month.  I will leaving for Chicago this Friday and I will only be home 1 day and then I will go back to Chicago until the 22nd.  The one day that I am coming home in the middle is going to be one of the greatest days of my life.  I am finally going to see Bruce Springsteen in concert.  For those of you that know absolutely nothing about me: I love Bruce Springsteen so much!  I found tickets at a GREAT price and just on a whim, I bought them!  Blanki and I are going to have the time of our lives in Nashville that night!

As soon as I get back from Chicago, I will start moving (literally that day). It is going to be tough, but I have to get out of this house that week (the week of Thanksgiving).  This has been a great house to spend the last 2 years. I have met and become good friends with so many people here and I love that Megs, Jess and I decided to rent this house!

The one thing in the world that I have not had time to do lately is read.  I have the biggest stack of books that I want to read so badly right now and it kills me not to be able to stop and just pick one up.  With that said, I probably should not be sitting here blogging, but hey I had to catch you all up on me!

I will be back to tell you more later about how November pans out with me and Chicago and BRUCE!

bye for now.

The book is about David’s son, Nic, and Nic’s addiction to Meth and alcohol, but that only skims the surface.

David and Nic’s mother divorced when Nic was very young and David gets custody during the school year and he is with his mother during the summer and on holidays.  David is a really “cool dad”.  He shares everything.  He is very involved and active with Nic his entire childhood.  He does all the things that he should/needs to do for Nic to have as “normal” a life as he can.  Nic is highly intelligent, top of his class, and all those good things.  Nic’s drug use began with marijuana when he was in junior high school, but (like most parents would), David reprimands Nic and thinks that things are alright.

Well, it was not alright.  Throughout the book, Nic’s addictions progress into so much more.  That is the where the bulk of the story takes us.  It is how David and the entire family have to cope with Nic’s stints in rehab, Nic’s relapses, Nic’s betrayal, etc.   Every time that Nic relapses, David does absolutely everything that a person can do for their son.  Every time that it happens, David tries to stay strong and use “Tough Love”, but ultimately he gives in and helps his son.  Who wouldn’t, really?  Who knows if this will be the stint that makes him better?

David becomes obsessed with his son’s addiction.  Why did this happen?  Was it the divorce? Was it the fact that David shared stories of his drug use when he was younger?  It is quite a journey.  I found myself often mad at Nic and sad for David and his family (his 2nd wife and their 2 kids that love their big brother more than anything in the world).  There are movies/books/trails/parks, etc that always will and do remind him of his son when he least expects it.

Most people that know me, know that my favorite line to quote is Jackson Browne’s “Don’t confront me with my failures, I have not forgotten them”.  Well, on page 230, David thinks about when he saw a movie where that song was played and he quotes that exact line!  I already loved the book, but when I read that I really connected to David on another level.

Needless to say, I loved it.  It was a very inspirational and emotional read, but well worth it.  I will not tell you how it ends, in case you want to read it.  I have told you a lot here, but I didn’t even scratch the surface.  Trust me.

bye for now.

Also, somehow I got a Facebook account.  I say somehow, but we all know that I was the one that clicked “go” (which I am still a little shocked at myself).  I am not on it  a lot, but when I am it seems like time flies.  I think that is because I am still trying to learn about it and all of it features.  I am open to all suggestions and advice on what I need to make my “wall” (not sure if that is what the whole application is called) the best.

I finished my book this week so I will have a report soon for you.   I will get better next week about posting (I took some vacation days next week and I will have some time to sit down and actually post some good stuff).  If you do need a good blog to read in the interim, check out my sister’s blog (it the one labeled “Blanki” in the right sidebar).  It is her first blog and I have to say that it makes me laugh A LOT and is quite inspiring.

Also, the cooking experiments have not ceased. I have a great recipe for something that I plan to cook this weekend if I stay caught up on my project.  I will definitely let you all know how that goes (good or bad).

life is short.  turn the music up!

bye for now.

I then remember that I bought our old roommate a waffle iron for Christmas 2 years ago that is still here in the box (never opened).  I think about it for about 5 minutes and then I decide to wipe the dust off of the box and tear it open.  At this point,  I am still going to use the Bisquick, but instead of skillet pancakes, I will make instant waffles.  I open the instruction manual (becuase of course I have NEVER used or seen a waffle iron used up close) and discover that they have recipes in it.  I look at the basic blueberry waffle recipe and decide right then that i am going to make the darn things from scratch.  Who needs Bisquick?

Round 2 of cooking goes pretty well (in my opinion).  Made from scratch waffles are easy and quasi-quick. No biggie.  I did get a little over-zealous toward the end and when i was adding the blueberries to the waffle iron, I decide to toss some banana slices on, too.  Banana/Blueberry waffles sounded good, too.  Well, small snag in that plan.  The bananas did not sink into the batter very well and when I went open the lid, the whole banana peices were melted and stuck to the lid rather than baked into the waffles.  Now I know.  This cookin’ from scratch business is not too bad (so far).

I will let you know how round 3 goes. bye for now.

Earlier this week, my roommate got free passes to the preview of the movie “Julie and Julia” that comes out in August.  It is based on the book of the same name by Julie Powell.  Julie is stuck in a dead end job and a rut in her life.  She loves to cook and she decides to take Julia Child’s cookbook “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and cook 524 recipes in 365 days.  She starts a blog for the whole process and it rejuvenates her life completely.  The movie was stunning.  It splits between Julie’s project and Julia’s adventure actually writing the cookbook.  Julia Child is portrayed by Meryl Streep and Julie by Amy Adams.  Meryl Streep was amazing as Julia Child!  I give it 2 thumbs up.  It is probably classified a “chick flick”, but there were a good amount of men in the audience that seemed to be enjoying it.  Check it out.

Then, today we decided to go see the matinee showing of the newest Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  I blogged  recently about how I excited I was about it’s release.  It was worth the wait!  I might go out on a limb and say that it was one of my favorites of the Harry Potter movies.  It was great.  I am might be wearing rose colored glasses, because I love the whole series so much, but I think that even if you are not an avid HP fan, you can enjoy this movie, too.  It has some sad stuff going on, but I also found myself laughing quite a bit.  Give it chance.  I think that you will enjoy it, too.

Well, I hope that this post has helped you lean towards these movies if you want to get out of the house to see a flick.

bye for now

In the beginning, the experience was going really well.  The filling turned out AMAZING.  I was pumped.  Then, it came to the dough (which from now on I will refer to as the bane of my existence).  I was moving right along:  adding a cup of this, a dash of that and so forth.  When it came time to knead the dough and form it, it went downhill!  It was sticky and uncooperative!  I finally decided that it was too warm and I stuck in the freezer thinking that maybe if I cooled it down, it would act right.  After a few minutes, I put flour on my hands, the board and the dough.  It helped my sticky problem enough to form something near what it was supposed to be (at least enough for me to drape it on the filling and be done with it).

Well, the creation is in the oven now.  We will have to see how it turns out, but I am not expecting too much.  This will definitely NOT be the last time that I bake.  I will get this down (hopefully soon).