Book Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

For all you grown-ups out there...I got to read an ARC of Rainbow Rowell's forthcoming novel, Attachments, due out in April from Dutton. First of all, how can you not like something written by someone named Rainbow? Second of all, this is a true romantic comedy, but with depth, non-cookie-cutter characters, and a fun 1999/2000 setting. The premise: sweet guy hired to basically spy on a newspaper's employees by reading their e-mail, sweet guy keeps getting flagged messages from two female friends who work at the paper, sweet guy falls in love with one of the girls but how in the world is he going to tell her? Lincoln's side of the story is told in straight narrative; Beth's is only revealed through her e-mails. It's a unique format, and (Rainbow!)Rowell totally pulls it off. My only caution is that one of Lincoln's friends swears a lot, but he's not a major part of the plot so it's not that often. (Plus, the profanity truly suits his character, and sets up a nice juxtaposition between his character and Lincoln's.) And, to top it all off, Haven Kimmel blurbed the book -- so if you don't want to take my word for it, take hers. It's a definitely delightful read by Rainbow Rowell. (Okay, sorry, couldn't resist the alliteration there.)

New Year's Resolutions

I've never been one for New Year's resolutions, but this year I have a few. My life has changed so much in the last year and a half that I find myself needing to make some changes of my own to adjust to my new normal.

First, I am resolving to exercise at least 4-5 times a week, as I did pre-baby. I'm starting small: 20-minute workouts from two DVDs, Tracy Mallett's Get Your Body Back and The Firm's Calorie Explosion. We'll see how that goes! I have at least 20 pounds to lose, courtesy of the adorable baby you see to your left.

My other resolution is to plan/shop ahead so I can make a healthy dinner most nights of the week. I've enlisted the help of Relish. I purchased a 6-month subscription through Mamapedia for $17 and have planned one week's meals so far. Tonight I made crispy baked fish and coleslaw in less than 30 minutes, and it was pretty good. We'll see how the rest of the recipes are, but it really helps to have a list to choose from, and an automatically-generated shopping list!

Wow, as I read back over this, I realize that my New Year's resolutions are boring and predictable. But I guess a girl has to start somewhere.

How about you? Do you make New Year's resolutions?

Whether you do or not, Happy New Year, a little late!

Merry Christmas!

In the words of Sara Groves...

"May your hearts be full of gladness,
And the peace that covers sadness.
May your joy be overflowing
And your many blessings growing.
May you find the time you long for
With the people that you love.
May you have yourself a merry Christmas now!"

Evan Fall 2010

Click here to view this photo book larger

Christmas Cards

Okay, so you are probably all way ahead of me -- in fact, I've already gotten a few in the mail -- but I'm just now getting around to ordering Christmas cards. I was going to skip them this year, because of the effort required, but since I have an adorable baby to highlight in this year's card, I guess I'd better get to ordering. I will be getting them from Shutterfly -- here's the card I like best (although I could change my mind -- they have over 800 to choose from this year!). I get all my photo stuff from Shutterfly. I did my wedding albums and baby albums with them, as well as wedding photos (including a very cool collage), and I've used them for cute photo thank-you notes (featuring Evan, of course) and photo stickers. I find the site easy to use, they're always sending out good coupon codes, and their turn-around is really fast. Okay, commercial over -- back to your regularly scheduled programming. :o)

What's your favorite photo site? Do share!

Christmas Favorites

I refuse to put up my Christmas tree until the day after Thanksgiving, and I am completely annoyed by the retail world's insistence on hauling out the Christmas- (er, holiday-) themed merchandise as soon as the Halloween candy is on markdown, but it's never too early to line up your Christmas reading! So I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

Katherine Paterson, a two-time Newbery winner and a fellow King College alum, is also the wife of a Presbyterian pastor, and Angels and Other Strangers is a collection of stories she wrote over the years to be shared at the Christmas Eve service. Definitely not your run-of-the-mill (read: sappy) Christmas stories, each one explores what the incarnation means to us fallen humans. Also see her second collection, A Midnight Clear.

I am Christmas by Nancy White Carlstrom, a picture book with beautiful oil paintings by Lori McElrath-Eslick, is sadly out-of-print, but it's worth tracking down a copy. The simple, brief text is profound, using the different names of Jesus to illuminate the Christmas story. The conclusion always makes me tear up: "I am beginning, I am end/the message foretold/scratched in sand/ etched in gold -- / I am the story, I am the song." Definitely not just for kids.

A sweet picture book to share with kids is Christmas Cookies by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, charmingly illustrated by Jane Dyer. A holiday-themed entry in the Cookies series, it defines Christmas terms like "celebrate" and "hope" in relation to cookie baking. It's sure to be at a Borders (or independent bookstore) near you.

A new picture book I'm anxious to get my hands on is Christmas is Here, with words from the King James Bible and illustrations by Lauren Castillo. It got excellent reviews and reportedly connects a modern family with what happened in Bethlehem all those centuries ago.

What are your favorite Christmas books? Anything you read year after year? I'm looking forward to starting Christmas book traditions with Evan!

Coupon Clippin'

My favorite sport is saving money. (Those of you who know me well know that athletics are not my thing.) I come by it naturally; my grandpa Stadtmiller was a coupon clipper and often got paid to buy things! Having a baby is obviously expensive (actually, the actual giving birth was free; since I almost died, insurance covered 100% instead of 80% of the cost -- looking on the bright side here), but I'm saving money by doing things like cloth diapering and buying store-brand (organic) formula. (Oh, and by not decorating a nursery since we actually don't HAVE a nursery...)

But lately I've been doing even more than cutting out (and printing out) coupons and checking the Kroger ad. I've discovered a number of blogs that find the bargains for me. My favorite is Money Saving Mom (thanks, Amy O.!), but I also like Passionate Penny Pincher and Saving Naturally. I also print a lot of coupons from Coupons.com and Target.

By doing all this I feel less guilty about the fact that I am a Starbucks Gold Card Member.

What are your favorite penny-pinching tricks?