rhymes with tao

Book and Booze Reviews: Amateur Angel by Karri Thompson

2012-08-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

Goodreads.com Synopsis: Only 18-years-old, Ashley is no ordinary teenager. Not only is she dead, but upon her death, she mistakenly enters the wrong line in the afterlife, a line meant for trained, guardian angels. With a pair of wings on her back, Ashley is sent to Los Angeles to replace another angel whose "assignment" was none-other-than Cannon Michaels, a current member of the band Sendher, the sexiest man alive, and Ashley's celebrity crush in life.

While exposed to Cannon's selfish, judgmental behavior and his reckless, rock-and-roll lifestyle, Ashley is far from meeting the requirements of a true guardian angel. She misses her family and friends. Will she ever be able to accept her own death? What will she do when she jeopardizes her position as an angel and Cannon's physical safety by falling in love with him?

Review: Amateur Angel is a quick, easy read with an uplifting (but confusing!) ending. Ashley, our amateur angel, shows well-paced character development over the course of the novel and the story is set up to engage the reader. Woven tightly throughout are the threads of hope, acceptance, and love.

There were a few trouble spots in the novel that soured my perception of the overall work, mostly relating to Ashley's physical interest in Cannon Michaels. While I understand the intent of the author--to show that Ashley is still a very, very green guardian with a strong attraction to her ward--the execution came off feeling a little ... porn-y. Some of the descriptions concerning Cannon's physique were overkill; it was uncomfortable to read about the size of his manhood in a Christian-based novel aimed at a 14- to 18-year-old audience. Perhaps the descriptions would have worked in a chick lit novel, but they were a little much for YA.

Overall, I thought that the author had a good grip on her story, bringing us from beginning to end with few derailments. The minor bumps in the story are that--minor. There were a few spelling and grammar errors and the aforementioned gratuitous descriptions, but these only slow the novel down, not stop it. If you're looking for an easy read with a hopeful (but fictional!) glimpse into the afterlife, pick up a copy of Amateur Angel today.

I give it: 3 out of 5 books (a good read for when you need something to read)

About the Author: Karri Thompson grew up in San Diego County and attended San Diego State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in English, a master’s degree in education, and her teaching credential. She is currently a high-school English teacher in the East County of San Diego where she lives with her husband, their son, and two dogs. When she's not teaching, grading papers, or attending
her son’s soccer games, she novels, her greatest passion. Read more at Karri Thompson's website.

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Where's My Tribe?

2012-08-21T01:28:00.000-04:00

{ Image source: Julian Fong on Flickr }

It's a little past midnight and once again, I can't sleep.

I've been having this problem lately--either I can't go to sleep, I wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake for hours, or I wake up at OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S WHATEVER TIME IT IS o'clock. Apparently, these are called "onset," "middle," and "terminal" insomnia, respectively. If I could pick one and stick with it, I might be fine, but since it seems to change EVERY DAMN NIGHT, well, I'm generally tired.

For the past few years, I've been blaming it the fact that I am naturally a night owl and the kids, bless them, are not. Now, I'm not so sure--they've learned to let Mama alone in the mornings and go watch TV until she rolls her ass out of bed. Some days, this doesn't happen until (gasp!) 9:00am because they've gotten so good at being quiet and entertaining themselves until I can get my caffeine drip going.

The culprit tonight was that I made the mistake of browsing over to Michael Ellsberg's blog. One link led to another until I realized that I was back at The Blog of Tim Ferriss (damn, that guy is everywhere!) reading what is tantamount to an excerpt from The Education of Millionaires. I remember being stricken when I read this information the first time through, but this time, it got me thinking.

The part that stood out to me, specifically, was Step 3: Learn the Basics of Good Networking. I didn't watch the video (mainly because my husband was already trying to go to sleep), but I did click through to the article on Forbes.com outlining how to build your community of bas-asses (referred to there as "social economy"). In it, Ellsberg summarizes his method of building his community. It's earth-shattering, truly: spend time helping other people without expecting anything in return.

Come ON. This nugget of wisdom has been passed down through the ages. Every Abrahamic religion has some form of it in its holy book, and I would venture to say that most other known and unknown religions have a form of it too. And yet, this is insightful and genius. If you want shit from people, give it to them first!

I used to be really, really good at this. I mean, I greased skids and palms like it was nobody's business to get things done quickly, efficiently, and painlessly. To this day, people still call me up and ask me if I know someone who knows someone who can do something because they need an expert. And truthfully, I generally do know someone. Or, at least, someone who knows someone.

Unfortunately for me, my life has changed a lot in the past eight years, and I don't know people anymore. Of course, yes, I know people, but I don't know the people I need to know to make things happen in my bubble. I made a major shift from the single life and military service to stay-at-home mommy-hood and freelance journalism with a dash of struggling novelist. In the realm in which I would like to succeed, I don't know anyone.

I know that my community, my tribe, can be built. I do it every time I take my kids to the mosquito-infested toddler playground. I do it every time I go to a conference. (You know, like that ONE TIME that I went.) But right now, I'm straddling this line between domestic goddess and burgeoning author, and my best bet is to build my community online, through social media.

Can I tell you a secret? I hate social media.

It's not so much that I hate it, per se, I just hate that there's a record of who you are and who you were. I hate that people that you purposely tried to forget can come back and pluck you out of the ether. I hate that as much as you try to forge a way forward, there's always someone around to drag you back.

One of the things that I've personally struggled with is that I come from a math-and-science background and have had military training. In both instances, people are not creative. They are logical and follow formulae, whether they work or not. (Which, I suppose, makes them illogical?) Now that I'm working my way into the creative realm, people are just ... freer. They're more willing to dream, to take risks, to lay it all out on the line, even if it's bordering on the ludicrous. And when I try to follow that path, there's always the voice in my head screaming, "What are you doing? Why are you spending your time pounding keys when you should be in a lab or vault somewhere?" There is also the other, just as insistent, question of, "How can you expect to be a good mother when you used to [fill in the blank--use your imagination]?!"

Most of it is just me, I think--they're my fears, my insecurities, my battles. But they're still there, and they often cause me to want to wipe what I've done and start over.

That's where I am right now, again. I want to wipe my blog, my social footprint, everything, and start over. I already deleted my Facebook page, and I'm seriously considering doing the same with Twitter. I want to start up again, slowly, and work my way back along the path of my choosing.

Of course, starting over means that I have to start over. No friends, no followers, no pictures, nothing. But I have to wonder if it's worth it if it means that I can truly be who I am today, not who I was ten years ago. If it means that I can build my tribe the right way.

Food for thought. Care to weigh in?

Freeing Your Time

2012-08-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

{ Image source: gfpeck on Flickr }

I was sitting in my kitchen this morning, finishing the dregs of my coffee and thinking about my day when I realized something spectacular: I only have one thing that I absolutely must do today.

For the first time since before college started (read: OVER A DECADE), I don't feel rushed. I don't feel like I have to go do anything. I don't have a weight pressing on my shoulders and my chest, pushing me to go, go, go, go, GO until I collapse from exhaustion at the end of the day.

I attribute this change to embracing the Tim Ferriss Method of time management--or, rather, the lack of time management. Time, in this case, is not to be managed. Every little crap thing that takes up your time needs to be managed and eliminated.

As I mentioned in this post, I spent part of my summer reading his best-seller The 4-Hour Workweek. I've been focusing mostly on elimination--eliminating email, draining interactions, useless junk in our house, etc. This is in line with what we've been wanting to do since before we got married, but just never really figured out how to do it. It's as if this how-to guide not only gave us a path, but gave us permission.

Initially, giving up living in my inbox was hard. Some days, it still is, especially when my husband asks me to check something that applies to both of us but was sent only to me. But I put up a really nice autoresponder, which not only has gotten fabulous feedback, but it's trained my friends to call or text me if it's really important or they want a response within 12-24 hours. I also unsubscribed from most direct email lists, keeping only the ones that I truly am interested in, read on a regular basis, or have to keep in order to maintain organization membership.

Eliminating our useless junk in the basement is time consuming, but by breaking the task up into bite-sized pieces, I've been whipping through it. It took me four days to go through one old record box, but I reduced the amount of unnecessary paper by 75%. In ONE box! I have two more to go, but I'm pretty sure that I can fit everything into one box, thus reducing our load by 67% or more. I've also managed to sell off several items that we just taking up space, thus earning money that is going straight into the Harry Potter jar. The kids, by the way, are thrilled with this plan--since beginning the Great Purge, we've more than tripled the amount of money we have in the jar. We also have some items that aren't exactly appropriate to be sold or donated, so we've just been giving them away. It's amazing what people will do when they see the word "free" in a listing on Craigslist.

Back to this morning: in glancing over my list of things to do, I realized that the only thing I had to do was go to the grocery store. I did my meal planning last night, but we already have so many of the ingredients that it took me less than 15 minutes to complete the list. This list, by the way, usually takes me an hour. There are about half the number of items that I usually purchase; it's going to cost the same amount, but only because I have to purchase a few supplements to compensate for cutting dairy out of my diet. And since everything else can be done this afternoon while my toddler is sleeping, I really only have to watch and/or entertain my kids for the rest of the morning.

Do I have other things to do? Of course. Are they necessary to do today? Not in the slightest. I may want to check my email though ...

*****
Recommended Reading and Related Posts:
A Summer of Introspection at Rhymes With Tao
The Harry Potter Project: And So It Begins at Rhymes With Tao
How to Check E-mail Twice a Day ... Or Once Every 10 Days at The Blog of Tim Ferriss

How to Win $100,000

2012-08-19T21:29:00.000-04:00

{ Image source: Hakan Dalhstrom on Flickr }

Start with $100,000 of your own money. Don't have that much to blow? Then start with however much you have and put it all on black.

If you're lucky, the Gods of Gambling will shine on you and the ball will land on black. If not, then you learned a very valuable lesson.

I learned this last March when my husband and I attended his company's casino night. We were all given $100,000 in play (read: fake) money to gamble away the evening, and he mistakenly put all of our cash on black. He won, and we were $100,000 richer.

Do you have any get-rich-quick stories?

*****
Related Reading and Recommended Posts:
The First of Many on Rhymes With Tao
"The Start-up's Secret Weapon: Contests" or "How to Turn $100K into $12,000,000" at The Blog of Tim Ferriss

Lynn's Year of Awesome: Run a 5K

2012-08-14T13:20:00.000-04:00

[Author's note: I wrote this back in April or May, but never published it because I couldn't find the accompanying picture. Obviously, I still can't find it, but I wanted to share it anyway. Maybe I'll add that picture in someday ... ]

Over the past year, I've attempted some pretty ridiculous things. And by "attempt," I mean "wrote them down and tried really hard at first but then gave up because the weather got cold and I hibernate in winter."

Anyway, one of those things on that list was "run a 5K." My reasoning was that although I hate running, not being able to run much farther than a mile was really bugging me. So I set the goal at 5K (3.2 miles, for those not in the know) and started training as soon as the weather rose above freezing.

[Updated 8/14/12: So a 5K is actually 3.1 miles, not 3.2. I guess I'm not in the know.]

This past weekend, I participated in the We're Looking for Trouble 5K. If you scroll WAY down, you can see that I came in 179th overall, 23rd in my age group, at 37:01 (which is a mistake, mind you ... I came in at 37 minutes even). This comes out to a 11:54 mile time ... which is almost two minutes faster than what I calculated on my taper run on Wednesday. Seriously. My taper run was a 13:46 mile, or a 42:46 5K time.

I woke up at 4am, nervous as sh*t. I tried to go back to sleep, but I just couldn't make myself do it. So after 2 hours of tossing and turning (and waking up my husband), the alarm went off and I popped out of bed.

I could barely eat. I had a few sips of water, but I wasn't really interested. So I just got into my clothes, woke up the kids, and loaded everyone into the car.

The race site is about an hour from where we live, in the middle of Maryland's Amish country. (Side note: Maryland has an Amish country?!) When we turned off the main road, one of the first sights we saw was the horse and buggy caution sign. Honestly, I thought it was a joke, but not even five minutes later, a man in a straw hat rolls by in his carriage. And they continued to roll by as the day wore on.

We were really, really early. Like, the fifth car in the parking area, before the volunteers had even set up early. So we sat in the car, listened to music, fed the kids, and waited. And waited. And waited.

When the registration booth finally opened, I was off like a shot to get my packet. It wasn't anything fancy, just my t-shirt, my bib, and some information on the Mediation Center, but I had my bib! With safety pins! That I could use to pin my bib to my shirt!

Yeah, that happened.

After picking up the packet, all that was left to do was wait. The kids ran around, I stretched, my husband tried to stay awake. The crowd started to swell, the lines for the toilets got really long, and as the appointed start time got closer, I got more and more nervous.

I shouldn't have been. When they called for runners, I headed for some people that looked like they ran about as fast as I did (slow), struck up a conversation (one was training for the Disney Half Marathon in January, one was checking something off his bucket list), and made sure that my music was already on. The race coordinators said,"Go!" And I went. Slowly, at first, then faster, then settling into a good pace.

The course was gorgeous. As I already said, we were in Amish country, but I didn't realize how RURAL this course was. We ran past fields beginning to sprout, old American Foursquare houses with blossoming trees in the front yards, and abandoned farmhouses. But I had 3G connectivity, and therefore my Ke$ha station on Pandora, so I was happy.

The last mile was a little tough. My left instep was beginning to hurt, then my left knee, and then my left hip. I could feel myself running off-balance, but the goal was to finish the race WITHOUT walking, so I kept going. Before I knew it, I was at the final curve. I didn't see my family at first, but then there they were, waiting for me at the finish line. I got a little burst of adrenaline and pushed it out with a smile.

I did it. Not fast, not well, but as far as I'm concerned, I can hang up my running shoes.

Or not. Racing is kind of fun.

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A Summer of Introspection

2012-08-13T10:02:00.000-04:00

{ Image source: Jon Wick on Flickr }

I must start this post with an apology: I'm sorry I dropped off the face of the earth over the summer.

I wish I could blame it all on the unexpected and time-consuming events of the last two months (as listed in my last post), but it's not totally true. I've been undergoing a change in attitude about and expectation for my life, and I've spent a lot of time marinating in my own thought juices.

So here's what happened: through a long chain of events and book recommendations, I stumbled across The 4-Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferriss. If you haven't heard of him or read his work, he is the premier advocate and practitioner of Lifestyle Design (LD). Lifestyle Design, in this case, means maximizing one's income and time to experience everything that this world has to offer in terms of food, entertainment, and learning.

In reading his book, I realized that we may have a decent income that supports us well, but we have a definite poverty of time. I'm always running from one appointment to the next, and my husband is barely home in time to kiss the kids goodnight. The last vacation I took was sans Hubs, which is less "vacation" and more "corral the kids to avoid embarrassment and legal action." I became a full-on Ferriss convert about halfway through reading the book and started preaching, "Screw traditional working hours, we're going to travel the world!"

Once my enthusiasm and naivete wore off a little, I went back and took real stock of our lives. We're not at a point where we can truly screw traditional working hours and travel the world. Truth be told, I don't want to become total vagabonds. I don't want to divest ourselves of all of our worldly goods (or even put them in extended storage) and backpack through Southeast Asia. I just want to be able to spend fun time together as a family, travel without worrying about landlords or school, and enjoy the short time that we have on this earth.

I'm not totally sure how to make this happen, yet, but I do know that we have to extricate ourselves from the burdens that we bear. That's what I've been doing in my time off. In addition to thinking long and hard about what we truly want from and for our lives, we've been eliminating the useless chatter and clutter. That means checking my email only once a day, throwing out or selling stuff we're not using or don't need, and, yes, blogging less often. Part of my introspection includes trying to determine what is worth writing and what is better kept to myself.

Do I know the answers to that yet? No, I don't. I understand that I need a bit of an overhaul on El Blog, but I'm not entirely sure how to proceed. I do know that I don't want to waste my time or yours in writing drivel that you don't want to read, but beyond that, who knows?

While I spend more time thinking about myself, I encourage you to explore my archives, in which I write about myself. (Yes, blogging is awesome for the self-centered.) I'm going to continue my introspection and forge a way forward. I am also going on a writing retreat (yay!) and buying a house (YAY!), two events that will consume a crazy amount of time. Until then, my friends ...

Psst! I'm Still Here, Kind Of

2012-07-19T21:17:00.002-04:00

Hey there, party people.

I know. I've been gone for a long, long time--almost six weeks!--with only one measly book excerpt in the meantime. Truthfully, the only reason I'm even blogging right now is because I was scheduled to post a book review, but I got bumped and ... you know, I don't know what happened. I'm so tired.

Let me bullet-list it for you:

- We got caught up in those East Coast storms that knocked out power for over half a million people. We were part of that 800,000+ poor souls without power, and were for six days
- Oh, did I mention there was a heat wave at the same time? We had to move into a hotel because my two-year-old kept breaking out into a nasty, painful, disgusting heat rash
- As it turns out, the power company (*cough* liars *cough*) had no record of us being without power, despite the fact that we called them every day for a status update and to report our outage
- I currently hate our insurance company. Loyal member for over 20 years, and they blow me off. Gar
- The day the power came back on, we had four house guests for five days. Three of those traveled from Europe to see us
- Before our guests even left, my husband left for a week for work. This was also the week that I was already overbooked. On the upside, I now have babysitters!
- My husband's flight was delayed due to weather, which meant that I had to beg, plead, and pay my babysitter time and a half to get her to stay until he came home

Yeah, I've been busy. This summer has really been exhausting, overwhelming, and too damn busy. With any luck, things will calm down in a week or so. Until then, y'all enjoy yourselves and try not to get sunburned. Or pelted with hail. And keep your power.

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All the Doors to Hollywood and How to Open Them

2012-07-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

Hey there! After my extended absence, of course I'm going to come at you with an excerpt from the newly-released All the Doors to Hollywood and How to Open Them, by Anne M. Strick, as part of a Young Adult Novel Reader tour. Of course.

A former Congressional speech writer and journalist, Anne M. Strick has spent over 20 years in the movie industry and has worked with greats such as Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and James Earl Jones. Now, she shares the secrets of the many different career fields that make up the movie industry.

From All the Doors to Hollywood and How to Open Them:

What does a movie publicist do?

“A lot of things”, says publicist LEONARD MORPURGO. “Basically, I blow the film’s horn. As a Unit Publicist, I bring television and print media to the set. I get photos of the movie’s stars in magazines and newspapers, get stories about them on television, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. As the print world disappears, these outlets become increasingly important. I soothe nervous actors, calm bristly egos, buffer the often competing interests and suspicions of stars, directors, producers, and studios. And I write.”

What do you write?

“I do press releases, biographies of the stars, the director, the producer, for the press-kit - and a synopsis of the movie’s plot, all so that journalists and critics have a background for their articles. And I record for the ages those gossipy bits that everyone loves - those that are publishable!” The work is intense, exhausting, and very frequently a great deal of fun. “The publicist has a ringside seat at most of the aspects of movie-making and promoting, as well asn an upfront look at all the personalities and dramas involved.” Travel to far-off locations is often part of the job “and there, you really see the stars up close!”

What qualifies the publicist?

“A degree and/or experience in journalism, communications, or marketing helps. But the publicist may be simply a literate human being with imagination, drive, and a significant degree of organization and diplomatic skills.” The Studio Publicist, Morpurgo explains, “unlike the freelance Unit Publicist who works film to film, is a full-time studio employee.” Among other duties, the Studio Publicist sets up film-screenings for press and television reporters, creates web-sites for films, and corrals those all-important celebrities to appear at premieres. “Which of course further publicizes both the movie and the celebrity.”

Who are some of these publicists, how did they start, and what stories do they tell?

Leonard Morpurgo began his career as a journalist in England, and soon landed a job as a press release writer for a British film distribution company. “I was promoted to ‘press officer’ (publicity director) after my boss was found lying in a drunken stupor on his living room floor. Since then, I’ve had a close-up seat at all kinds of small dramas and comedies. Once I was working as a Unit Publicist on a movie starring Gene Hackman and another well-known actor - Target. The two stars didn’t get on too well. After four months shooting in Paris, Hamburg, and Corpus Christi, Texas, I’d still failed to get the two men grinning chummily together for the obligatory ‘best buddies’ photo. It was near wrap. I had only two days left. I was desperate. ‘How can I do it?’” Hackman demanded. “‘I don’t like him!’ ‘Gene, you’re an actor. A great actor. Act.’” They got the shot. Then there was the movie Leaving Las Vegas with Nicholas Cage. “Cage portrayed an alcoholic - he actually had a ‘drinking coach’ to teach him how! Nicholas was doing magnificently until, for a climactic scene, his coach insisted he hang one on for real. Cage agreed. From the moment he got out of bed the next morning until the start of shooting that afternoon, he drank. On the first scene, a dash through a Casino, he knocked over a waitress. He was supposed to do that. In the second scene, he knocked over a blackjack table, broke it, and cut his hand. He was not supposed to do that! But it hadn’t been a total loss. That was the movie he got an Oscar for!”

To snag a copy of All the Doors to Hollywood and How to Open Them, by Anne M. Strick, visit her website at www.alltheroadstohollywood.com or Amazon.com.

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Bookshelf Poetry 003: Haiku Week!

2012-06-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome back to the Bookshelf Poetry Challenge! After a week off for Memorial Day in the U.S., we're back and ready to try adding form to our spine poems.

This week, we'll try a haiku. Since the form is ... well, apparently it isn't definitive, try to stick to the 5-7-5 (syllables) that we all learned in elementary school. If you can fit in a nature reference and/or caesura, go for it, but don't feel obligated.

As always, stick to your bookshelf and leave a link to your poem in the Mister Linky box at the bottom of the post.

the experiment:
dare to repair a wrinkle ...
in time, good to great

The Books:

The Experiment, John Darnton
Dare to Repair: A Do-It-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home, Julie Sussman and Stephanie Glakas-Tenet
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't, Jim Collins

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Book and Booze Reviews: Louis Roederer Brut Premier

2012-06-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

{ Image source: Champmarket.com via Pinterest }

I can't lie, I have no idea how to review champagne.

I can do wine, I can tell you how to make your own coffee liqueur, I can even talk vodkas, but champers? I'm clued out.

I can tell you, however, that this champagne is delish. I received a bottle as one of the three (six?) birthday presents from my parents, and we decided to have some on Memorial Day as a pre-dinner cocktail. And by "some," I mean that we drank the whole bottle.

How could we not? Being Memorial Day, it was warm and humid, and we needed something refreshing to cool us down. This hit the spot--the bubbly was dry and crisp, with hints of apple. (And maybe pear?) I suppose that the producer of Cristal won't get it wrong.

The Brut Premier is a multi-vintage champagne upon which Louis Roederer built his empire. It's the flagship wine for the company and remains their best-selling and most popular product. It's in Wine Spectator's Top 100 wines for 2009 and earned 91 points from Wine Enthusiast. As for me?

I give it: 5 out of 5 bottles (i.e. go buy it with a quickness)

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Brevity of Time, Immediacy of Pleasure

2012-05-31T09:00:00.000-04:00

{ Image source: La Petit Poulailler on Flickr }

Some days, it feels like life is overwhelming. There's always something to do, somewhere to go, someone to see. On those days I have to ask myself, "Why are we doing this?"

Why indeed.

In recent months, my husband and I have talked about throwing in the corporate towel, moving to a remote island, and raising chickens and livestock. We always come up with reasons why we can't do this, primarily having to do with our kids' education and general standard of living. We would probably have to homeschool (or at least home-supplement), their extracurriculars would be severely truncated, and we wouldn't have the access to Target, Starbucks, and IKEA that I so desperately love.

We also wouldn't have to deal with traffic, the God-awful commute that my husband has to make twice daily, increasingly high taxes (unless we stay in the mid-Atlantic region or move to Hawaii), neighborhood density, and the Corporate Game that makes us both want to slit our wrists (metaphorically, of course). We could work to live, not live to work. It's an intoxicating thought.

The truth is that we're probably not going to pull a complete 180 and go live on a capitalist commune in north Texas. My husband probably isn't going to give his job the Big Finger and leave burn marks in the parking lot as he pulls out, tires squealing. We're probably going to stay in the area at least until the kids are finished with high school, hopefully in a slightly larger house in the same or a similar neighborhood.

Just because we're not giving our lives the overhaul that I wish we could doesn't mean that we can't enjoy the little, simple, immediate pleasures in life. We don't have to have the fastest car or the biggest house; we can be happy with a good piece of cheese or a delicious bottle of wine.

I recently read Debra Ollivier's What French Women Know About Love, Sex, and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind. One of the lines that stood out to me was Michele Fitoussi's summary of the French woman: "French women have a keen sense of the brevity of time and the immediacy of pleasure."

I want that. I want to enjoy what I like and not worry about the stuff that I don't. I don't want to waste my time, money, and energy on stuff that ultimately does not matter to me.

So, I am. In moderation and graduation, of course, but I'm taking time to enjoy the little things that I so truly enjoy and not giving a damn about everything else. I'm not going to worry about keeping my house in magazine-spread order, meticulously planning every aspect of my day, even keeping a schedule for my writing and blogging. This will take time, as I have an enormous place in my heart for lists, but I've gone without them for the past two days and haven't forgotten anything important. I have read books, decluttered my closet, and found places for those pictures that I haven't hung yet, however, and I'm happier with that progress than I am about getting the dishes done or cleaning my room.

For the record, I've also had five spectacular meals in the last day and a half, and I've lost 2 pounds. These meals included bread, real butter, strong coffee, cured meats, and Brie, so take that for what it's worth.

If you had the option to work to live, not live to work, what would you do?

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The (R)Evolution of a Blog

2012-05-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

{ Image source: Tony Foster on Flickr }

Ver·sa·tile
Adjective. Capable of or adapted for turning easily from one to another of various tasks, fields of endeavor, etc.: a versatile writer (from Dictionary.com)

When I started blogging in 2004, my posts were one-dimensional, sad snippets of a life that I didn't particularly want to live. I was in my early twenties, single, and working 14-hour days at an ill-fitting job in a foreign country. To say that I was Not Happy would be an understatement. (Don't get me wrong, I have some amazing memories of that period of my life, but if I had to do it over again, I would decline.)

I stopped blogging for about eight months for personal reasons, but after that break, the keyboard lured me back with her siren song. I started with a clean slate and once again began blogging about the events in my life. These were happier--I was dating my now-husband, I had a job I enjoyed, I lived in a fun, large, clean, American place, and I was close to the beach. Not that this aspect of life didn't have its challenges, but they seemed to be easier to handle.

That was five years ago, and I've consistently blogged since then. My topics have changed--I spent about two years blogging about blending a family and adopting a child, I spent another two years blogging about family, travel, homemaking, and crafts, and now, we have Rhymes With Tao, a savory blend of the personal and the professional with pinches of Other Stuff.

It's these pinches of Other Stuff that I believe garnered the Versatile Blogger award from Muddy Kinzer. She is the proprietress of the always-entertaining Muddying the Waters and a fellow writer that I met through Robert Lee Brewer's April Platform Challenge. A self-described "Mom Plus," Muddy is a beautiful writer of women's literature and personal essays. Her flair for evoking the senses is unparalleled, and I would be jealous if I didn't appreciate the lessons that she constantly teaches me.

The rules of the Versatile Blogger award are such:

Thank the person that gave you the award and leave a link to their blog. (Thank you, Muddy!)
Select 15 blogs or bloggers that you either have recently discovered or follow regularly as Versatile Blogger recipients.
Tell the person that nominated you 7 things about yourself.
Don't forget to put the Versatile Blogger image on your site!

My nominees for the Versatile Blogger award:

As always, Angela Noelle at Tomorrow is Another Day. She is my oldest blog friend (and now a real-life friend, thanks to a flight itinerary that put her through BWI two weeks ago!) and has made the evolution of similiarly young, miserable career girl to world-traveling mommy-to-be with grace and humor.
Karen Bee at Quirks and Smirks. Karen and I have been real-life friends since ... 2005 or 2006. We met because her sister was my boss, and we ended up living in the same metro area from 2007-2009. She is now in the process of reinventing herself, partly through her 101 thing in 1001 days.
Ivy at Unscripted Life. Ivy was part of the April Platform Challenge as well, and she amazes me with her abilities as an attentive mother, a shrewd business woman, and a gifted writer.
Lara Britt at Writing Space. She spearheaded the #MNINB April Platform Challengers website and is doing a beautiful job of organizing people and evolving the site as both a place to gather and as a showcase for the group's talents and professional services. She is also a mother and an avid volunteer, making her contributions all the more impressive!
Monique Liddle at Bends in the Road. Monique is one of the two moderators of our book discussion group. Despite struggles with multiple sclerosis, trigeminal neuralgia, and diabetes, she maintains an active blogging and writing life. She refuses to let her health keep her from living fully.
Magpie Days. Magpie Days' author is a poet, academic, wife, mother, ex-pat, adventurer, and all manner of things that make her versatile. I particularly enjoy her essays on being an American in Switzerland.
CERN Wife. CERN Wife is just what she sounds like: the wife to a physicist working at CERN. She is also an anthropologist, world traveler, writer, and mother. She doesn't post very often, but when she does, her work is concise, informative, and beautifully written.
Krysta at Domestic for Dummies. Krysta started blogging in order to chronicle her attempts to make her home more, well, domestic. Then she up moved to Charleston and switched jobs. The courage that it takes to shed an old life in favor of a better one is awe-inspiring.
De Jackson at WhimsyGizmo. At first glance, all you see on De's blog is poetry. I urge you to look a little deeper and see the variety of topics, forms, and prompts she tackles on a several-times-daily basis. The utter definition of versatility, no?
Lauri Meyers at Your Imagination is the Limit. Lauri often makes me chuckle with her observations on child-rearing and attempting to get published. I like that she was in corporate finance and decided to pull a big "errrk!" to become a children's author.
Mona AlvaradoFrazier at Latina Pen. Every time I read her blog, I find out something new about Mona. She was a corrections officer, is a breast cancer survivor, writer, traveler, mother, and many, many things that I'm sure to learn about in the months and years to come. This is a woman to keep your eye on.
Aly at Breathe Gently. I first stumbled upon Aly through Angela's blog about two years ago. In that time, she's moved from London back to her native Australia, gotten married, continued to work with (or against, depending on the day) her PCOS, and started fertility treatments. Her writing is poignant and draws you into her world.
Linda G. Hatton at the whatnot shop. Linda is another example of a truly versatile blogger: she is the editor at Mouse Tales Press, a former actress, a mother, a former private investigator, a playwright, a novelist ... the list goes on.
Bolton Carley at Bolton Carley's Writing for Adults Who Can Take It. Bolton writes her blog under the premise of giving tough-love lectures to people who need to sack up. And I love it. Her writing is concise and humorous, and I often walk (click?) away giggling at something she said.
Emily McGee at One Trailing Spouse. One Trailing Spouse is the newest addition to my list of blogs to read, and I'm so glad that I caught on when I did! She and her husband are frequent, extreme travelers, hardly a surprise when they met in Vanuatu. They're off to Kenya soon, and I can't wait to follow the adventure!

Instead of telling only Muddy seven things about me, I believe that I'll just share them with all of you here:

Last year in Vegas, I discovered that I really, really like playing Black Jack. Thus, I have to leave the table when I've roughly quadrupled my money or I'll sit there kicking back watery cocktails until I lose the rest of my playing budget.
On a related note, I put myself on a budget while gambling and consider it an entertainment expense. This method is not recommended for people with gambling addictions.
My wine of choice is pinot noir.
I now have a list of forty things I would like to do before I turn 40. This is not to be confused with the twelve things I wanted to do in the last year of my twenties.
While living in St. Petersburg, I spent rainy days in the Hermitage Museum. This was due in part to not wanting to get wet.
I keep my dish soap in an absinthe bottle, mostly for the effect it has on visitors.
I recently bought press-on nails specifically for a trip to the Jersey Shore.

Congratulations to these Versatile Bloggers!

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Repea-pea-pea-pea-peat

2012-05-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

I wish everyday could be my birthday.

I woke up with coffee and manapua--a Hawaiian steamed bun filled with seasoned pork--in bed and my almost-two-year-old jumping on me and saying, "Happy burpday, Mommy!"

The morning was relaxing: I received phone calls from friends and my brother, the girls watched cartoons, and one of my preschooler's friends came over to collect her for a two-hour playdate, leaving me free to go to the library and hang with my toddler. She was sleepy, though, so I put her down early and enjoyed a delicious hour of near-silence.

My husband came home early to pick up our eight-year-old from school and get dinner ready, leaving me free to ... well, do whatever I wanted. Which was play around on the Internet, catch up on Glee, and receive more phone calls.

We sat down to my favorite meal--steak, my mom's macaroni and cheese, and broccoli--and topped off the meal with an adorable cake that the kids helped frost.

And then the topper? They got me the bracelet that I wanted.

And some pretty yellow flowers.

I know that every day can't be my birthday; if it was, I wouldn't appreciate all of the nice things that my family did for me. It's so nice to be taken care of instead of caring for everyone else, though, that I wish I could hit "repeat" at least once before getting back to the grind.

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The Big THREE-OH

2012-05-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

{ Lynn, West Berlin, East Germany, 1982 }

A year ago today, I made a list of stuff that I was going to do during the last year of my twenties. The plan was to spend one month on each of the twelve tasks and to complete the list before, well, today.

A year later, I have to ask myself, "WTF was I thinking?"

Some of these goals required a considerable time investment. Others required a monetary investment that we were just not able to make. If you look at it objectively, I failed, big time.

But, like I said in my guest post at Unscripted Life on Saturday, I didn't fail. I changed this year. I became a better person. I accomplished things that I couldn't have even dreamed of a year ago. This year was awesome.

I lost thirty pounds. I got published. I got a job. I went to Delaware, Vegas, and Hawaii. I ran my first race and finished a Level 5 floor routine. I got shit done.

This doesn't really cover how I did on the tasks themselves. Shall we examine them?

1. Do a Level 5 floor routine. I can't believe that I did this one. I started in adult classes in January (when I realized that I needed to get cracking or it was NOT going to happen), and faithfully went as long as my health and pocketbook held out. Lo and behold, on May 21, I completed the damn Level 5 floor routine. We celebrated with wine in the parking lot afterwards.

2. See 5 new places of national or international historical or commercial significance. I managed to get to one new place, the U.S. Naval Academy. And it's gorgeous. See?

{ Houses across the bay from USNA }

I also went to the 'Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii this year, but I'm not totally sure if that counts. It's culturally important for sure, and it does have an impact on our nation ... okay, I'm counting it. I made it to two places of national or international significance.

3. Whistle through 2 fingers. I spent a month trying to figure out how to do this, and for the life of me, I could not get my stupid lips to form the right way. So you know what? Screw it. I can yell louder than I can whistle anyway.

4. Get a piece "audition ready" on the oboe. I almost did this. For three weeks, I played three times a week for an hour at a time. But nine hours does not make you audition-ready after not playing regularly since 2000.

5. Play roulette in Vegas. Done, done, and DONE. I put $20 on 29 black ... and promptly lost it. So I went to the blackjack table and quadrupled my remaining $20.

6. Run a 5K. Also done, done, and DONE. I ran a random 5K at the end of March, and came in 179th overall. What's up now?

7. Travel to 5 new states. If only. We went to Delaware in September and made plans to go to Boston in March (with stops in Connecticut and Rhode Island and a possible side trip to New Hampshire). Then a family friend moved his wedding date up and we had to divert our travel funds. It was worth it, though--the wedding was fun, the bride was gorgeous, and the couple is very, very happy. We were glad to do it. (But I still want to go to Boston.)

8. Refinish 2 chairs. I made it about 7/8 of the way through the first chair and called it quits. I'm a little disappointed with this one, because I really did want those chairs. However, we moved shortly after I started this project, and the new chairs didn't really go with our new decor. If only I had made the goal "refinish a piece of furniture." Maybe then I would have tackled the girls' chifferobe.

9. Learn to play the piano. Ha. Ha ha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Okay, now that that's out of my system, no, I did not learn how to do this. My piano repertoire still consists of "Heart and Soul." Interestingly, I'm okay with this.

10. Take a hot air balloon ride. This is my favorite so far, even though it hasn't happened yet. I started to plan it, and we ran into successive problems of high winds and childcare. Then winter happened, and we couldn't go anyway. This year, during my quest to get published, I pitched an idea to a magazine about hot air ballooning. They want it. So this is on hold until they finish drawing up my contract. But it's happening.

11. Decorate a cake nicely. I did this one! I took a class in July and learned the basics of decorating a cake nicely. Now, I haven't totally proved that I can do it--humidity is a beeyotch, I tell you--but I've gotten much better. And practice makes perfect, yo. (Read about it here.)

12. Be in a play, commercial, or other dramatic production. Sadly, this is one that I actually tried to do and just couldn't make happen. I had grand plans--be an extra in a show filming locally, audition for community theater, take an acting class--but I just couldn't find the time and money to do it. Not with everything else going on this year. So, perhaps later in life, when I can leave the kids alone for a while, or at least trust them with a babysitter for more than just a morning or afternoon.

So that's it. My twenties are over. I'm officially in my 30s. And I'm glad to be here. The only question that remains is what kind of list to make next. Forty Before 40? 101 (Things) in 1001 (Days)? This upcoming year? I don't know yet. But I'm going to take a few days off to think about it (and celebrate!) and be back next week with an answer.

Until then, my friends.

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On Writing: Solutions to the Research Problem

2012-05-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

{ Image source: Daniel Catt on Flickr }

A few weeks ago, I was having problems with conducting research beyond what I could do at my local library with popular non-fiction books. I'm happy to say that the problem is solved! Or, I have some solutions.

The first is courtesy of a fellow writer friend, Twitter handle @magpiedays. She wrote:

Are you familiar with JSTOR? One-stop shopping for academic research. I used it all the time as a grad student and I think they might have opened up access so you no longer need to be affiliated with a university to gain at least limited access. I'm not sure what an individual account might cost, but worth looking into...
It's at www.jstor.org.

Until that moment, no, I was not familiar with JSTOR. As it turns out, limited-use accounts are free (free! FREE!), and I was able to get the abstract to one of the articles I needed. Not the whole article, unfortunately, but enough to suffice for citation purposes.

The second solution comes from both trial and error and a helpful hint from Monique Liddle at Bends in the Road. She wrote:

Another option is to check out the main branch of your local library and tell them what you need in terms of resources. Again, they may be able to get a copy of the resource for a small fee or free (it depends).

She was right. I submitted a request through our Ask a Librarian program through my local library, and they were able to get the article within a day. (For free!) The book I needed took a little bit longer, especially because it went to the wrong branch, but I picked it up yesterday. They charge a nominal fee that the patron sets, making it an affordable option. (And cheaper than gas to go out to the university.)

I'm so thrilled to have these new resources at hand; it's going to make writing articles much easier. Now it's just a matter of buckling down and doing the work ...

Are there any other research methods that you use? What are they? I'm still taking recommendations.

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Bookshelf Poetry Challenge 002

2012-05-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

If you're just joining us for the Bookshelf Poetry Challenge, welcome! The BPC sprung from an idea from Brain Pickings found on Pinterest and grew from there. Last week, we had 12 participants. Won't you join us this week?

For this week, the form is the same as last: free form, open topic. The rules are the same as well: only use books from your bookshelf. (No library books allowed.) Once you've created your poem, leave us a link in the Mister Linky box and a note in the comments section!

"The Toddler Years," by Lynn Daue

What to expect
the toddler years:
chaos,
unholy war,
fear and trembling.
The days are just packed
where the wild things are.
The next thing on my list?
Baby proof.

(In case you're wondering, I stole the idea of lining up the poem's lines with the alignment on the book spines from De Jackson at WhimsyGizmo. I liked the way hers looked so much that I had to try it out!)

The Books

What to Expect the Toddler Years, Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi Murkoff, Sandee Hathaway B.S.N.
Chaos: Making a New Science, James Gleick
Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, John L. Esposito
Fear and Trembling, Soren Kierkegaard
The Days are Just Packed, Bill Watterson
Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
The Next Thing on My List, Jill Smolinski
Baby Proof, Emily Giffin

Next week, we'll take a break for Memorial Day in the U.S. The week after that, however, be prepared to bring your best haiku!

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Life, Unscripted

2012-05-19T12:00:00.000-04:00

I'm guest blogging at UnscriptedLife.com today about the last year of my twenties. While you'll get a full report here within the next week or so (hey, I have four more days to finish things), go check it out now.

Need some incentive? Here's an excerpt:

I learned a lot about myself and my priorities this year. I confirmed that I don't like running and will therefore not race anytime soon; however, if it's for a charity or something to do with friends, I know now that I can do it. It's probably time to let go of my oboe—as much as I enjoy playing it, playing it well requires a time commitment that I simply cannot make at the present time. Travel is still a passion, and I can't wait to have the freedom to do more of it.

For the rest of the post, go visit Ivy at UnscriptedLife.com.

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Book and Booze Reviews: The Mother-Daughter Book Club

2012-05-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

I've been on a bit of a young adult (YA) literature kick recently, I think because I'm in the process of doing some rather dry, heavy research for an article I'm writing. For pleasure reading, I want something lighter and more fun.

Enter The Mother-Daughter Book Club, by Heather Vogel Frederick.

I found this series while browsing the juvenile literature section of our local library for the last book of The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins. The fourth book of the series, Pies and Prejudice, was on display, and I was so tickled by the title that I had to pick it up. (As with all of my YA reads, I chose it under the guise of previewing it for my eight-year-old.) I read it in less than a day, and I was hooked. I had to go back to the beginning to find out how this club and these characters got started.

I wasn't disappointed. The Mother-Daughter Book Club is about, you guessed it, a book club for mothers and daughters. It's set in Concord, Massachusetts, and is comprised of four mother-daughter pairs: Emma and Phoebe Hawthorne, club bookworm and town librarian; Jessica and Shannon Delaney, animal lover and soap star; Megan and Lily Wong, Concord's fashionista and crunchy do-gooder; and Cassidy and Clementine Sloane, Girl Jock and former supermodel.

After being roped into the book club by their mothers, the girls set out to read Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. Over the course of the year, their lives unfold eerily similarly to the lives of the March girls, from boy trouble to dealing with queen bee Becca Chadwick and her battle ax mother Calliope. Each of the daughters find a literary companion in the March sisters, and use the lessons they learn from the novel to solve problems in their own lives.

The Mother-Daughter Book Club is a light, engaging read appropriate for girls 10-14 or for lovers of YA literature. It aptly shows that art reflects life, and that there's more to books than just words strung together.

I give this: 4 out of 5 books.

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Bookshelf Poetry Challenge 001: The Opener

2012-05-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

I wish I could lie and say that the Bookshelf Poetry Challenge was my idea, but it's not. I saw a pin on Pinterest and was so intrigued by the idea of forming free verse based on book titles that I had to give it a shot. And then I posed the idea to a few others, and they wanted to give it a shot, and things kind of took off from there. So now, we're doing a series.

For the BPC, the rules are very simple: create a poem based on book from your bookshelf. The topic is open, the form is open, the only restriction is that the books must come from your own shelf. In addition to creating some amazing poetry, you may also find something new to read!

Once you've created your poem, take a picture and upload it to your website, blog, Facebook page, Instagram, whatever, and then leave the link in the Mister Linky box at the bottom of this post.

And now, my short poem about adultery:

The other woman 'tis
stepping on the cracks beyond good and evil.
The day awaits a very easy death
That others may live.

The books:

The Other Woman, Jane Green
'Tis, Frank McCourt
Stepping on the Cracks, Mary Downing Hahn
Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche
The Day Awaits, Notre Dame Press
A Very Easy Death, Simone de Beauvoir
That Others May Live, Jack Brehm and Pete Nelson

UPDATE: I found the post from Brain Pickings that inspired this series. They have curated four volumes thus far; be sweet and visit the other three: "Get Smarter," "New York," and "Music."

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On Writing: The Problem of Research

2012-05-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

{ Original image from Christopher John. Remixed by Lynn Daue }
{ Used under License CC BY 2.0 }

I started research for one of my articles this past week, and I ran into the problem of doing academic-level research.

Because I originally got the idea for this article from reading the pop-anthropology book Manthropology, by Peter McAllister, I started my research there. I spent about two hours going through the chapter that was my inspiration, making notes and marking every original source that he used in his research. Upon finishing, I started to look for the original sources.

That's when I ran into trouble, as well I should have: McAllister used sources to which I don't have access. They're all academic-level sources, either published theses or pieces in academic journals.

I'm not entirely sure how to gain access to these sources. The University of Maryland has a Community Borrowers program for which I'm eligible, but I'm not sure if I need to join the program simply to poke around and make a few photocopies. Our local library has an Ask a Librarian program, through which I can gain access to materials that I normally wouldn't, but I haven't looked into the program fully enough to know how to use it.

For me (and, I'm sure, for many people), there's also the issue of time. I can't drag my kids to the library to do research, and I'm not positive that I want to hire a babysitter for the time I would need to go out to College Park, learn my way around, and get home. Plus, everyone has been sick lately, ranging from snotty noses to mid-grade fevers, and it's really been hindering my progress.

How do you overcome the pitfalls of research? I'm taking any and all tips.

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Book and Booze Reviews: Homemade Kahlua

2012-05-04T09:23:00.000-04:00

{Image source: Merve Coskun on Pinterest }

Holy amazeballs, I'm never buying Kahlua again. I'm going to make my own from now on.

I stumbled upon The Cupcake Project last week while looking for recipes for Homemade Irish Cream. I found one there, as well as a recipe for Homemade Kahlua.

I guess it's technically "homemade coffee liqueur," as Kahlua is the brand name, but it doesn't matter in the slightest. What matters is that THIS STUFF IS AMAZING. I take back what I said about Pimm's being the most amazing liquor ever. This is. (BTW, how many times can I say "amazing" in one post?)

Anyway. It's a Saturday afternoon, my husband is away on work, and it's raining outside. What else was I going to be besides make my own booze?

I modified the original recipe to accommodate for the fact that I don't need 1.5 liters of coffee liqueur. I only needed 750ml, so I cut everything in half. (Ish.)

Homemade Coffee Liqueur (modified from this recipe at The Cupcake Project)

Ingredients

3 cups brewed coffee (I used Starbucks' Breakfast Blend)
1/2 pound light brown sugar
250ml vodka (I used Finlandia)
4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Brew coffee. Stir in brown sugar and let cool.
Pour vanilla extract, vodka, and coffee mixture into a clean bottle. Shake to mix.
Serve over ice or in a mixed drink.

I tested out a small dram of this on its own, and again, HOLY AMAZEBALLS. It's sweet, it's smooth, and it's not overpowering. I'm not exactly sure how to store it; logic tells me that it should be okay in the bar as long as it is tightly sealed, but it's been in the refrigerator for almost a week now and is delightful. I'm not going to mess with that works.

This recipe actually made about 1 L of liqueur, so I ended up with one slightly less alcoholic bottle. I suppose the downside of making your own is that you don't know the exact alcohol percentage, but that's a downside I'm willing to take.

I give this: five of five bottles. (Like stars, but not.)

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Danke fuer die Liebster

2012-05-03T10:52:00.000-04:00

Since rearranging my posting schedule, I've decided to only post on RWT on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (and some Saturdays, if life warrants it). But I have to throw in a special Thursday post as a THANK YOU to Sarah Negovetich for bestowing the Liebster award on me! I received it for my "awesome work in the MNINB [April Platform] Challenge."

Do I still get it if I didn't technically do everything and just rode the coattails of previously accomplishing some of the tasks?

The Liebster is a pay-it-forward kind of award, meaning that once you receive the award, you pass it on to others. The rules are as follows:

Thank the person that gave you the award in a post on your own site
Nominate up to five blogs with less than 200 followers
Let the nominees know they've won by leaving a comment on one of their posts
Add the Liebster image below so all your readers know that you are generally awesome

So without further ado, here are my nominees:

Quirks and Smirks, by Karen Bee, for chronicling an honest representation of her fascinating life and current job search through both words and pictures
Tomorrow is Another Day, by Angela Noelle, for being a part of my Internet life since we were both very, very green lieutenants in the Air Force and hating life (and being an amazing writer, of course!)
CERN Wife, by Karen Lee Pliskin, for writing beautiful essays and living an exciting life.
Creative Idea Gal, by Amanda Socci, for being free with her faith and having an engaging, personable writing style
Misk Cooks, by Misky, for her amazing photography, excellent recipes, and beautiful poetry.

Go visit these amazing women!

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Book and Booze Reviews: The Hump Day Diaries

2012-04-27T11:24:00.000-04:00

NOTE: THIS POST MAY NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK OR CHILDREN UNDER EIGHTEEN. FAIR WARNING.

Mary McCarthy, author of the top-ranked humor blog PajamasandCoffee.com, makes her publishing debut with a bang in The Hump Day Diaries, a collection of titillating reviews of sex toys, erotica, and other adult pleasure products.

McCarthy, a married mother of four, was a sex toy neophyte until Eden Fantasys asked her to review sex toys for them. Since then, she has fucked a duck, cloned a dick, put her ten-year-old Rabbit on deck, and generally dipped all ten toes (and all ten fingers, and her husband's penis) into the adult and erotica industries, all with belly-shaking humor.

Particular stand-out posts from the compilation are "Clone a Willy," "The Slut Paddle," and "Party in Your Panties." Runners-up are "Fuck a Duck," "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "Jersey Whores," and "Great Sex for Moms."

"Clone a Willy" was my favorite post for the mere fact that her husband was a willing participant, complete with (moderately safe for work) pictures. McCarthy leads the reader through the cloning process, from warming the water to a perfect 98 degrees to methods of, um, prepping the model. Although she writes about the product from the standpoint of a humorist, her assessment of the kit makes the reader want to go out and buy one, even if it's just for shits and giggles.

Overall, The Hump Day Diaries was an entertaining read. There were some parts that I felt fell into the category of oversharing, particularly near the end, but if you can blow by the personal and embrace the humorous, you're in for an evening of laughs.

I give it: 3.5 of 5 books (Like stars, but not.)

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Pimm's: You're Doing It Wrong Right

2012-04-17T18:29:00.001-04:00

{ Image Source: seriouseats.com via Maeva on Pinterest }

Pimm's is the most amazing alcohol ever. Why didn't I know this?

Tonight, I wanted an alcoholic drink, but we're out of wine AND beer. (Why, I don't know. They're ever-present in our house.) So I went rummaging around in the bar, found the unopened bottle of Pimm's and said to myself, "Hey, why not?"

Why not, indeed. This stuff is amazing. I can't even describe what it tastes like. It just tastes like Pimm's.

I didn't have any ginger ale or lemon-lime soda in the house, so I used tonic water. Not technically a Pimm's Cup, but we'll take it.

Of course, I found out AFTER I mixed my drink that I was supposed to use a tall glass, put in just 1.5 oz, and fill the rest of the glass with the soda. Nope, I went with a short glass, a double shot, and only about a 1:1 ratio of Pimm's to tonic water.

Pimm's. I'm doing it wrong, but it's delicious anyway.

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Thursday 13: New Tweeps!

2012-04-12T11:21:00.000-04:00

If you've been following Rhymes With Tao for the last week and a half, then you know that I've been participating in the April Platform Challenge hosted at My Name is Not Bob. Over the course of the challenge (and through some random chances), I've started following some really great writers on Twitter. It's nice to be part of another supportive writing community; when writing isn't a lonely endeavor, it's a discouraging one, and sometimes you just need a little push from your fellow creatives.

Without further ado, some wonderful new people on Twitter:

1. @Kevin__Hanrahan
2. @AnnHovsepian
3. @BethStilborn
4. @EBPike
5. @CharmaineElizab
6. @KAnnWilliamson
7. @Mindbla
8. @crazypoeticlife
9. @MuddyKinzer
10. @artistiCate
11. @bookerluv75
12. @ckswarriorqueen
13. @chriscleave

For more amazing, dedicated writers, see the full list. And don't forget to connect with me on Twitter at @lynndaue.

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Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
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