Update on Running

     So that whole running thing I was talking about? It went away. Not totally, but definitely has been on the back burner. Between working two jobs and figuring out my senior year schedule, I am TIRED. My friend Shannon and I did manage to go on a two hour walk last week and I went on another one by myself, and I ended up waitressing for a total of 19.5 hours this weekend unexpectedly (was only expecting maybe 10 or 12 hours...), so that's something I suppose. Shannon and I are walking again tonight, too.

     Last week, when we went walking we went on a new route along the Charles River. It was so beautiful out and the paths along the river were really cool, I didn't know they were even there! Then we discovered that Boston was basically burning down. Not seriously, but there was a huge fire downtown and as we walked by we got to see the smoke clouds. Then we got to walk through said smoke clouds. And then we got to cough. My dad texted me saying the smoke was toxic right as we were walking through it, so the was certainly a pleasant experience. It ended up not being toxic, just gross. A transformer had blown downtown in a parking garage and there was a MAJOR blackout. Most of downtown Boston was without power for a day or two. I was right on the edge of the power outage so luckily I still had it.

Here is a picture of lovely, smoke filled Boston:

Poor city. But it has recovered nicely, and we have since been rewarded with beautiful weather. :) And drunk St. Patty's day celebrators, but that's another story.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Monday night I was able to get free tickets for my friend Shannon and myself to an early screening of Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor’s new romantic comedy, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.” It’s always fun to go to these screenings (we used to get some passes from the promoter’s at the restaurant I work at because we’re close to a movie theater) because they make sure it’s a full house, and the press is usually there writing reviews for the papers.

This movie was good! I was a little surprised. If I hadn’t gotten the passes, it’s one of those movies that probably would have just slipped under my radar, but I’m so glad we went! Emily Blunt is of course fantastic in everything that she does, and this is no different. She plays a fund manager for a Sheik from Yemen who wants to build his own salmon fishery in the desert of Yemen. Ewan McGregor plays an awkward fish scientist who is assigned to the project. It’s a beautifully done movie, with gorgeous shots of Scotland and “Yemen” (which is actually Morocco in the film). It was a fun, new way to see a relationship progress, rather than the awful romantic comedies that are out these days (I mean you, “I Don’t Know How She Does It”).

The coolest thing about this screening is that Emily Blunt was actually there after the movie to do a Q & A session with a reporter from the Boston Globe. I took some pictures and video, but we were pretty far back in the theater and apparently my iPhone doesn’t zoom well. Who knew.

Emily, adorable as she is, also brought her husband, John Krasinski’s parents with her to the screening. How cute is that.

Anyway, I definitely recommend this movie. It was funny, smart with beautiful scenery and a rather unorthodox storyline. Worth watching – See it! 

Confessions of a Literary Addict

                  I have a confession. Granted, a blog is mostly someone’s confessions, but that is beside the point. Anyway, I’m a huge bookworm. Like massive. I’ve read every single Nancy Drew book ever written. In fact, I have the complete series boxed up in my Dad’s attic to take when I have a place to live that is more than 20 square feet. I owned the full series by around age 14. My parents would take me to Annie’s Book Stop during the summer when we camped at Lake Winnipesaukee (Yes, I do still need to google how to spell that). I could usually get books for $1, so I completed the series pretty quickly. I also somehow managed to talk my mom into buying me the complete Boxcar Children’s series from those fun scholastic book things in elementary school. Those are also all boxed up waiting to head to my future library of a house. We would go up to New Hampshire on Friday night, and by Sunday afternoon on the way home I would usually have read 3 books. I could (and can still) read extremely fast, and still tell you conversations people had in the books. Books are my happy place.

                 A little background:  After three semesters of being a Business major, I found my brain was melting far too quickly and thought I should make a change. Since my love of books runs so deep, I decided on English Literature. Ahhh that was such a good idea. I also got to keep business as a minor because I already almost completed a minor with my regular classes. Just Finance left. Should be a good time…

Anyway, so with being an English Major and the idea that I would like to work in Editorial in my brain, I started stalking publishing houses websites looking at their open job listings for when I graduated. I stalked Random House, Hachette, Penguin Group and National Geographic like it was my job. Then one day one of them had 5 summer internships posted. They were paid internships! I had to submit my resume (to every internship they offered), which had just been all fancied up because I had finished my first co-op. Long story short, I got accepted into the Support Services department (because I didn’t read the editorial description fully and it was the only one that required a cover letter. Damn. Read things, kids, read them thoroughly) and had an amazing summer internship with a major publishing house. The point of this is that with working at a publishing house, even as an intern, there are books EVERYWHERE. And you get to take them home.

So, even my apartment looks like a library. I have a bookshelf where each shelf is 2 books deep, sometimes more if they are mass market paperbacks. Then the overflow goes onto another bookcase which is horizontal because my TV is on top of it. I’m surrounded. And I love it.

BUT the point of this whole business is that I’m going to share my thoughts on some of my favorite books and ones I end up reading as well as some movies. To start off, I want to give a little review of Sarah Addison Allen’s “Garden Spell.” Which is one of my favorite books of all time.

My books are well loved.

This book is pure magic. Literally! Claire Waverley is a young, introverted woman, who has this house with a magic tree (bear with me, I promise it’s fantastic and not the least bit childish). Anything grown around the tree has magical qualities that make the person who ingests the plants act in certain ways. Claire takes advantage of this and opens a successful catering business. An example of how the tree works is dandelion quiche: dandelion encourages faithfulness and when used in food, promotes faithfulness in the eater. Claire’s sisters Sydney comes back into her life in Bascom, North Carolina with her daughter. The "Waverley magic" is present in each member of the family in some way. This book is beautifully written and gives the reader hope that small miracles do exist in everyday life. Read it. Please. And love it as much as I do. I have actually bought lavender recently and want to try Claire’s lavender bread recipe which is said to raise spirits and prevent bad decisions from fatigue or depression. ;)