Inside Our Book Club

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Besides the great book discussions we have during our book clubs each month, I always take home a sheet of notes filled with even more book titles or films to check out, plus all kinds of exciting and useful info that I've learned from the ladies in our club. 

Last Sunday, inside our book club:

• Risotto is worth all the hassle of stirring, or whatever kind of love you have to add, because it tastes amazing every single time I eat it. 
• A recommendation to watch Tiny Furniture after chatting about the show Girls (Lena Denham and her mother star in the movie).
• I'm a little scared, but I hear I need to read some Agatha Christie.
• Lip stains vs lipstick.  Lip stain wins.
• 10 pages into White Teeth and heard it's worth a read. 
• Another YA trilogy that I will be reading of course.

Can't say enough how much I love this group of women. 

Gentlmen of the Road

 
Tickets purchased!

See you soon(ish), Oklahoma.  I'm so proud. 

Sadly, I didn't see any of the Real Housewives

I finally made it to Beaver Creek this weekend, a pretty swanky resort in Colorado, that I've been excited about visiting ever since I heard you get free chocolate chip cookies at 3 o'clock.  It was a beautiful day too, clear skies and fresh snow, you can't complain about that.

I made a 6 or 7 year old friend on the first ski lift.  She was wearing head-to-toe pink, which I loved, and had little flower pedals on the bottom of her ski poles.  Pretty much the cutest thing I saw all day.  We started chatting and she told me about the kid adventure areas, marked with a smilie face on the map, so my goal was to seek those out later in the day.  I mean, she really talked them up.

...and they were my favorite runs.  We skied through teepee's and deserted "cities" and long tunnels, all over moguls through the trees in which I laughed and laughed as I sloppily bumped along.  I realized quickly she was probably a much better skiier than I am!

And before we knew it, it was 3pm.  That's cookie time.

Pure enjoyment, can't you tell?

I ended the day standing in the middle of the Ritz Carlton, looking for any celebrities.  I took about 10 steps inside the massive lodge and fell, legs flailing in the air, right on my booty.  It was awesome.  And by awesome, I mean really embarrassing.  I was sad Camille Grammer and her housewife friends were not around because I know they would have helped me off the floor and my debut on Bravo would have been a classy one, obviously.

A Winter Playlist

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The Depth of Winter

Heavy Feet - Local Natives

You and I - Wilco 

Stubborn Love - The Lumineers

 Even If We Try - Night Beds
So Within - Seryn
Say Anything - Tristan Prettyman 

When You Come Back Down - Nickel Creek
Tamer Animals - Other Lives 

Hello My Old Heart - The Oh Hello's

Listen on Spotify:

The Coffee Shop Effect

There aren't too many things I love more than spending an afternoon in a coffee shop. 

I can't pinpoint exactly what makes my heart so happy; perhaps it's the combination of coffee aromas, quiet chatter, people immersed in books and newspapers, the lightening and artwork on the walls, and the quality of conversation when you're with a friend (it just seems better). 

Almost anyone can drink a cup of joe at home, but instead they make their way to a coffee shop, just like I did, to enjoy the experience of it all.  

Crafting at work is fun!

A co-worker and I were all about the handmade gifts for Christmas last year.  Once we realized the mutual love of crafting and sewing, we found a project online we both liked and set aside time at lunch for a week to get crafty.

We really wanted to recreate the Bina Brianca Wrap, it's worn a thousand different ways and seemed pretty simple to make. 

After a bit of Pinterest research, we found a couple DIY tutorials and set out to Joann's for fabric to start our project. 

We worked for 3 days, ironing, pinning, sewing, wrapping...

And no matter how we attempted to wrap up in our new creation, it just wasn't working out.  It was too short here, or not long enough there.  Honestly we had no idea where we went wrong.  We laughed, a lot, and finally finished up the project saying sometimes-DIY-isn't-as-easy-as-it-looks!  Or a close runner-up, make-easier-to-understand-tutorials-Pinterest-lovers! 

 

Mostly this post goes to show that sometimes projects don't turn out the way you hoped for, but the preparation, especially done with friends, is a fun time no matter what.