September 2011 | Kate's Point of View

Days 27 and 28 of My 30 Days of Fun

On September 30, 2011

On vacation my mom lent me The Disappeared by Kim Echlin. It’s about the genocides in Cambodia, which I didn’t realize when I started reading it. A lot of the storyline is taking place in Phnom Phen, which is somewhere I’ve been. It’s so surreal to be reading about a place thousands of miles away and to know you’ve been to the place being referenced.

Over lunch the other day I was talking with a co-worker about her recent trip to Paris. I love talking about travel. Love it. I’m not one of those people who is all gaga for Paris but I love it in the way I love any town in another place. It’s fun to be in other cultures. It ignited my travel bug. This year Wonder Boy gets to pick our travel destination. He better get on it because I’m getting antsy!

Yesterday I had fun at lunchtime watching co-workers watch what I was eating. I had instant Kraft macaroni and cheese and some vegetarian chicken nuggets. Everyone with a child under the age of five was like, “Seriously?” But it was delicious.

The Breaking Dawn: Part 1 Soundtrack

By Kate

On September 29, 2011

In rock

I make no secret of my ~~love of~~ obsession with the The Features, a band out of Nashville. And I’m not too proud to admit that I read the Twilight books and have seen the movies. Two days ago the lineup for the soundtrack of Breaking Dawn: Part 1 was announced on Twitter, two months before the movie comes out. I was pretty much ecstatic to see that The Features have a track on the album.

It’s a little hard to read, but this is how the soundtrack for Breaking Dawn: Part 1 lines up:

The Joy Formidable: Endtapes
Angus and Julia Stone: Love Will Take Youu
Bruno Mars: It Will Rain
Sleeping At Last: Turning Page
The Features: From Now On
Christina Perri: A Thousand Years
Theophilus London: Neighbors
The Belle Brigade: I Didn’t Mean It
Noisettes: Sister Rosetta (2011 Version)
Cider Sky: Northern Lights
Iron and Wine: Flightless Bird, American Mouth (Wedding Version)
Imperial Mammoth: Requiem on Water
Aqualung and Lucy Schwartz: Cold
Mia Maestro: Llovera
Carter Burwell: Love Death Birth

I am super excited for more people to get introduced to Features!

Check out the trailer for Breaking Dawn: Part 1. (Wonder Boy – close your browser! You will consider this is a spoiler.)

Proposals and Oreos

By Kate

On September 28, 2011

In family / friends

Last night Wonder Boy and I spent time with Chaos and Loving It and her boys, our nephews. It was a night of fun (my 26th) for sure. They are all about to set out on a great adventure to California. I am jealous but also sad about the long distance relationship I have to maintain. See, I found out last night that my youngest nephew and I are getting married! I think the age difference could be a problem (he’s two-years-old), but I’m willing to let that go.

Lest you think I forgot about day 25 of fun, fear not! Monday was such a Monday. Coming back from vacation can be such a beast. But I survived the work day and then headed over to the gym. The whole time I was working out, all I could think about was a milkshake. Seriously, my old gym closing might have been for the best. That place was right by a McDonald’s and for some reason, when I work out all I want afterwards is some dairy. Anyway… on Monday I was obsessed with milkshakes but had no place nearby to get one. So my craving shifted and when I went home I completely canceled out the working and sweating by eating (lots of ) Oreos. And they were delicious.

Review of The Paris Wife

By Kate

On September 26, 2011

In books, reviews

I have a new review online at BookGeeks of The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain.

It’s a pretty well-known fact Ernest Hemingway was intimately familiar with alcohol. Travel just about anywhere in the world and you’ll find a bar with a sign reading “Hemingway Sat Here.” Some other commonly known facts about the American author include his fame for writing some memorable novels, winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, reputation as a ladies’ man, involvement in an expatriate art movement in Paris during the 1920s and, later in life, committing suicide.

These facts do not tell the true story of the man. Paula McLain gives us a much better glimpse in The Paris Wife: A Novel by focusing on Hemingway’s relationship with his first wife, Hadley Richardson.

Read the full review on BookGeeks.

Day 24 in My 30 Days of Fun

By Kate

On September 25, 2011

In uncategorized

Today I hung out with three people under the age of 6 for a few hours. I am exhausted! I don’t know how stay at home moms do it, but kudos. We went on two bike rides (I followed on foot while carrying a six-month-old), played hide and seek, had a hoola hoop contest and made funny faces for the camera.