My Everest

Back in August I mentioned that I had made two "new years resolutions", one of which was to read two books a month. I've actually been doing surprisingly well with this; a whole lot better than my 'one new recipe a week' goal. After I finished my first book of October on October 3rd, I decided it was time for a challenge.

I had long ago abandoned Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series after it took me 6 months to finish The Fiery Cross, Book 5 of the historic series. So on October 4th I continued the saga with Book 6, A Breathe of Snow and Ashes; a 1158 page novel set in the years directly preceding the American Revolution.

1158 pages. Of teeny tiny itsby bitsy print. And I don't get a break at the start of a new chapter either. Nope, new chapters start a few lines down on the same page as the last chapter. So when I say 1158 pages, I mean it- Bible style.

I figured out that to finish this book by Halloween, I will have to read 45 pages a day. Due to the small print, this roughly averages out to an hour a day of reading. Currently I am only about 60 pages behind, but being as though we're coming off of a rainy reading filled weekend, that's not a good sign. But I am determined to finish by October 31st (says the girl who gave up on The Pillars of the Earth on about page 1137). It will be a long, difficult, and time consuming journey, but I believe that am up to the task (unless there is something better on TV). As Joey Tribiani would say, this is my Everest.
Reading Log:

August: Molokai by Alan Brennert and The Secret Daughter by Shilpu Somaya Gowda

September: Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, Room by Emma Donoghue* and Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

October: Never Let Me Go* by Kazuo Ishiguro and A Breath of Snow And Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

* indicates books that you should read immediately.

Celebrity Look Alike

The other day my husband bestowed upon me the highest compliment in the land. While watching The Other Woman starring Natalie Portman, he turned to me and said "She kind of looks like you". Now while my delusional ego will admit that there is a slight resemblance in our eyes, I'm pretty sure my husband's association came more from the fact that her hair in that particular scene looked like this:

While Natalie can easily pull off what I refer to as 'rat's nest', it's not always the most flattering look on me. Let's be honest, this girl can pull of any hair (or lack there of) style.

I am not so fortunate.

(Me, doing my best Natalie impersonation.)

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

NEEDTOBREATHE

I have a new favorite band. I'm not sure how I went so long without discovering NEEDTOBREATHE, but I am mourning for the time I've spent without them in my life. I'm making up for lost time by listening to them over and over in my usual compulsive way. However, I am showing some restraint by only buying one album at a time in order to prevent myself from becoming so sick of them by November that I have to remove them from my i-pod enitrely (RIP Grand Magnolias).

If you are out of the music loop like I am, NEEDTOBREATHE reminds me of a cross between Kings of Leon and Ray Lamontagne, with a little Tom Petty/Maroon 5/Gavin DeGraw swagger thrown in. They have that distinctly southern rock vibe that sounds great live in college town venues. Or riding in your car on a crisp fall day with the windows rolled down. Or through your headphones, during an energizing sunrise run.

Take a leap of faith and download their music. Trust me on this one.

"Days, they force you down under those covers,
Lazy mornings, they multiply
Glory's waiting right outside your window
wake up from your slumber, Baby open up your eyes" -NEEDTOBREATHE, "Slumber"

How to save a drowning iphone

It was the perfect Saturday. Cooler morning temperatures led to a perfect run followed by perfect laying out weather. I enjoyed a good hour of reading on the dock of Lake Conroe before scoring big on a new fall wardrobe at Old Navy during an unbelievable sale. On Saturday night, LSU scored 47 points in their win against West Virginia, solidifying their argument that they should be ranked #1 in the nation. What more could I ask for from a day other than an invigorating run, reading a cheesy book under the shade of a floppy hat, a good sale, and a Tiger stomping?

Of course, I’ve lived with my luck long enough to know that such a wonderful trend could not last. My run Sunday was hot and muggy and there was no time for laying out in the morning, since we had to be on our way back to Houston at 9:30 AM. In my rush to get ready/pack up the car, the most tragic thing happened. While blow-drying my hair, I heard something plop into the toilet. Figuring my mascara had rolled off the counter; I casually glanced over and to my horror, saw my i-phone sitting in the bottom of a watery grave.

After quickly retrieving it from the toilet I promptly yelled for my husband’s assistance. His two instructions to me were 1) do not turn it off, and 2) store it in a cool dry place for a few hours. I operated under this assumption for the next 3 hours until my i-phone finally shut itself off.

After it flatlined, I consulted the internet about what the best course of action is when your i-phone is on suicide watch for trying to off itself in the toilet. Basically, Google instructed me to do exactly the opposite of what my husband had said.

So, if your i-phone ever leaps 2 feet from the bathroom counter into the toilet, DO NOT keep it on and DO NOT store it in a cool, dry place. Instead you need to, 1) Turn it off 2) put it in a bag of rice, and 3) keep it in a very hot place in order to evaporate the water quickly. I took these steps about 5 hours after the drowning incident, and apparently I was about 5 hours too late. My i-phone has now been cooking in the hot Texas sun for 2 days now, but still shows no signs of life. Perhaps if I had only acted sooner to save my dear friend, he’d still be checking my email today.

And though I am completely devastated at the loss of my beloved phone, I’m really glad I found a way to blame this whole thing on Jonathan.

Good evening, Evangeline Rose...

I’m suffering from a bout of baby fever. I’m sure it will pass quickly, but for now all I can do is obsessively fantasize about a little sweet bebe in my arms. Please bear with me as I name my hypothetical future children, which I am known to do from time to time.

Today I want to talk about Evangeline. This is Jonathan’s favorite girl name on the planet (good taste, right?). I love the name Evangeline for all of the things my own name is not: she’s feminine, beautiful, literary, southern, musical, and more than anything, she's just darn fancy. Unlike my name which is all tom-boy, no fuss, down-to-earth, beer drinking, plain ole Laine (which fits me to a T). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a tragic epic love poem (and I love me some poetry) “Evangeline”, about lover’s separated when the Acadians in Canada moved down to South Louisiana. Many names in the area reference this character, which warms my heart since this is where I was born and raised. I grew up visiting Evangeline Parish, and going to concerts at Evangeline Downs.

My fellow home-town boy, Marc Broussard, wrote the most beautiful song called ‘Evangeline Rose” about his own daughter. I cry every time I hear it, thinking of Jonathan dancing with our future daughter on her wedding day.

The name is even referenced in the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog, which is also set in Cajun country. Ray, a firefly, is in love with Evangeline, who he believes to be another firefly, but is actually a star. Evangeline is also the name of a dormitory on the LSU campus, where my husband and I met.

And then there is Evangeline Lily, the epitome of natural beauty.

I’ll admit it, I’m a LOST fan (or was until the finale ruined it). One of my favorite memories of Jonathan and I's early dating days was watching Season 1 of LOST on the pull out bed in his living room. Evangeline Lily totally boosted my confidence in my own dark curly hair, green eyes, and freckles.
Evangeline has so much going for her, but there are some drawbacks. The most important is that I have this sinking feeling we aren’t the only one’s digging Evangeline and she’s about to explode up the popularity charts. One thing I love about my name is how it is familiar but rare. Even though my married name is extremely popular, I’m still probably one of a kind. With a common last name, we definitely have to be careful that our kids don’t share the exact name, first and last, with anyone in their circle. Jonathan seriously runs into this problem a lot. Right now, Evangeline sits at #239 on the US popularity charts, which is still comfortably obscure. However, it’s on the upward trend, jumping 96 places in just one year. The chart below shows the steep rise in popularity.
Another hesitation is pronunciation. I’ve heard the last syllable pronounced three different ways which are all completely legitimate. In south Louisiana we pronounce the ending as ‘lynn’; whereas I’ve also heard ‘lean’ (as in Evangeline Lily and Ray’s love interest in the Princess and the Frog) and ‘line’. Whereas in South Louisiana, the - lynn ending is intuitive, chances are that it won’t be where our children grow up. Name mispronunciation is something that has plagued me my whole life, and I don’t want to pass that along to a child.

And then there are the nicknames. While Jonathan and I agree on the full name Evangeline, nicknames are a different story. It seems natural that a lengthy name like Evangeline would be shortened to Eve, Evie, or Eva. I think those are gorgeous names, but I don’t prefer them to Evangeline in full. In fact, if I were to shorten Evangeline at all, I’d probably call her Annie, Vanna, or maybe Jelly. Jonathan would rather call her Evan. As a girl with a name more commonly used for boys, I tend to balk at this trend. Unfortunately, I think nicknames develop more organically, and as parents we don’t really have a choice in the matter. Surely, she would have a nickname, but I can’t fool myself into thinking I’d have any control over that. After all, I grew up with a kid we called exclusively called Miguel, despite his mother’s insistence that his name was Shawn. I know how these things work.

To summarize, Evangeline is a beautiful, ultra- feminine name with great literal and sentimental meaning to us. We are a little wary of her potential popularity boost and the fact that she may not wear well internationally.

Sorry this was so long winded. Told ya, I’ve got the baby fever something serious right now. I think it might be contagious. I’m getting the feeling that Jonathan is coming down with it too. We’ve never had baby fever at the same time before. This could get dangerous.

Moloka'i

Everyone has their quirks. Two of mine are that I am compulsive and that I’m a hypochondriac. What I mean by compulsive is that any time I develop a new interest; I obsessively oversaturate myself with this subject until I’m satisfied. For instance, I can’t just watch a regular season of TV. I have to wait until the season is available on DVD so that I can watch it all at once, and sometimes over and over again. What I mean by hypochondriac is that I immediately begin to display symptoms of whatever illness is being described to me. This is extremely unfortunate due to my recent compulsion involving historical novels.

We have a trip to Maui planned for January 2012 so I am compulsively learning everything I can about Hawaii. Recently, my neuroses combined to form the perfect storm while reading Moloka’i by Alan Brennert, a historical novel about a 20th century leper colony housed on the Hawaiian Island. Due to other recent historical reads, I’ve experienced/imagined symptoms of scurvy, stomach ulcers and lice but leprosy was a whole new experience for me. In fact, just reflecting on it, my whole body is starting to itch (even though the book taught me that the sores don’t actually itch due to severe nerve damage).

Despite my side effects, it was a good read, one that has given me some lesser known insight into Hawaii. I’m sure that Jonathan is glad that I’ve resolved to read 2 novels a month, meaning my leprosy complaints only lasted for two weeks this time.

Bad news for him- my current read involves a woman going through early menopause.

Admitting your faults is the first step on the road to recovery. More bad news for Jonathan: I’ve added this novel to my que.