Life lately...

READ

Just finished reading Watch Me, a follow up to A Story Lately Told.  As Mindy said, "I can't believe Jack is O.K. with this book." To which Anjelica responded "of course Jack is okay with it - It's a love letter."  Ugh, love her.

Next up, Purity for Babes and Books.

LISTENING
I'm really digging You Must Remember This specifically their season on the infamous Manson murders. Which is timely because Anjelica mentioned the Roman Polanski scandal in her memoir. After every episode I dive deep into Wikipedia to read up on all the crazy stuff surrounding that lunatic. It's fascinating and so sad.

Random Facts: Anjela Lansbury's daughter was once a member of his "family".
Charles Manson is only 5'2".
Beach Boy Dennis Wilson was affiliated with the cult for a long time. This took me down a Beach Boy bender where I discovered that Dennis' cousin, Mike Love is brothers with Stan Love who is the father of Kevin Love - currently playing basketball for Cleveland.
After mentioning my current obsession to my mom she mentioned that my aunt knew one of the women in the Manson family!!!
It's so good and scary... highly suggest!

TRAVELING
I'm going to Austin this weekend with Mr. Louisville.  He's working which means I get to play!  I've already made reservations at Parkside for a date night but I've been looking up all kinds of fun things to do and see in a new to me city. Timeline to come!

CHEERING
I went to a Louisville football game with M and a Bengals game with Ley.  Wins for both!

xo.

Read, Watch, Eat: Volume 2

Read
I pre-ordered Lena Dunham's book, Not That Kind of Girl, and I'm liking it.  Like, not love.  I haven't devoured it like I thought I would but her essays are interesting.  Very much like her tv show, GIRLS, I can't stop but it's nothing I'd re-watch or re-read.

Watch
I don't subscribe to any cable service, I'm a Netflix and Hulu gal.  So, I'm throwing things back to one of my favorite tv shows of all time. Gilmore Girls!  I'm currently on a casual binge of the entire series.  It is so witty and fun!  The best part about watching it for the second time through (aside from no commercials!) is discovering some guest stars.

Like Jon Hamm.  Helllloooo, Mad Men!  Another series that I've watched twice.

And Nick Offerman aka RON SWANSON of Parks and Rec fame.

Eat
I hit up Kenwood with my sister and her bebe today and we stopped by Maggiano's for lunch.  This was the first time going somewhere nice to eat with Charlotte.  It was... different. Bebe was great but it was a tiny bit hectic. Related: I tipped 30%.

Gratuitous pic of Bebe and me!

Anyway, we restrained ourselves today but we love love love their fried zucchini.  It's so good! I make a version for myself in the summer when fresh zucchini is aplenty so yeah, it's a favorite.  So, I was excited to try Trader Joe's Zucchini Fries.  Verdict: I was impressed!  I kept them in the oven a bit longer to ensure optimal crisp and ate them with my favorite go-to marinara. I'll be adding it to my TJ list!

Read, Watch, Eat: Volume 1

A new blog series.  Read, Watch, Eat!

Read
Although my Bitchin' Book Club is still alive (Divergent, The Book Theif, Someone Knows My Name and The Rosie Project were the latest reads) I definitely read more on my own.  Recently, I picked up Where'd You Go, Bernadette and I was so pleased!  I'd snagged it in the airport on my way home from Portland and nearly finished the whole thing save for the last few chapters. I couldn't put it down.  Light, funny, smart, cheeky. I highly recommend it!

Watch
I gave up cable a little over a year ago so I'm always looking for something good on Hulu, Netflix or Amazon Prime.  I'd heard a glowing review on NPR last week about a new show streaming on Amazon Prime.  Transparent. The show is about a 70 year old father of 3 grown children (with messy lives of their own) who comes out as trans. It was just so good.  I devoured all 10 episodes (only about 30 minutes a pop) in a few days. 

Eat
It's the season for all things pumpkin.  Personally, I'm a big fan!  I've made pumpkin muffins 3 times already.
1. A triple batch for co-workers.
2. A batch and a half for brunch at a friend's during MPMF weekend.
3. A batch to take to my favorite new moms(and see baby Shep!!) with a few leftover for Mr. Louisville.
You know it's a Smitten Kitchen recipe.  My favorite food blog, like, ever.
BAKING NOTE:  My bake time is more like 20-25 minutes. If they go too long, they'll dry out so I suggest checking them sooner rather than later.

Bitchin' Book Club

I started a book club back in the spring of 2009.  Unfortunately, the exact start date is questionable but it was around the same time as our Bitchin' Bowling League.  Anyway, the book club has been going strong ever since!
One thing I regret every time we meet, yet I still don't do it, is not keeping a journal of every book we've read, who attended, what was served, etc.
At our last meeting we were able to list most of the books we've read. Surely we are missing a few since we are heading into our 5th year and we've met nearly every single month!

Drowning Ruth
Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Whistling in the Dark
Water for Elephants
Unaccustomed Earth
Interpreter of Maladies
The Shadow of the Wind
City of Thieves
The Night Circus
Cutting for Stone
The Good Earth
A Reliable Wife
The Forgotten Garden
Alice I Have Been
Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Lonesome Dove
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Thirteenth Tale
Gone Girl
The Help
A Year of Living Biblically
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Fault in Our Stars
One Hundred Years of Solitude 
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
Little Bee
The Great Gatsby
Life of Pi
Come Closer
The Light Between the Oceans
A Hundred Summers
The Round House
Tell the Wolves I'm Home
We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves
Defending Jacob
The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club
Object of Beauty
Thousand Splendid Suns
The Lost Years
Same Kind of Different as Me
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Taft 2012
The Shadow of Your Smile
Hunting and Gathering
Love the One You're With
The Orphan Master's Son

This year, in an effort to keep the attendance and reading rate higher we are going to meet less often, maybe every 6-8 weeks instead of every month.  We've also hooked up with the Covington Public Library and rented their book club kits.  Basically, we all got a copy of our next book, The Book Thief, with some questions all ready for us.  This will help as well since we've all had trouble getting the book in time.

So, ladies,(and Eli!) from this list could you comment on what your favorite book has been?  Also, any book that I've missed! We can report back to the library so they'll add kits with some books based on what we've liked the best.
And here's to another year of the Bitchin' Book Club!

Out with Summer, in with Autumn!

I've been aching to catch up on my blog but a bum computer made that impossible.  I finally got it fixed (thanks Blair Technology Group!) so I'm back.  Until I get back in the swing of things, let's play catch up, shall we?  Everyone loves a good summer re-cap!

I traveled to Chicago for my 20th and 21st Phish shows with my buddies.  I got to see Dr. Stamates, shop on Michigan Ave., have an amazing brunch at Flo, eat a traditional Chicago dog at Portillos.

 Myself, Kyle and Jay at Phish

I also traveled to Houston, Texas to visit the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center.  I had a fantastic time learning from their team and got to do a few cool things in my free time like visit the Menil Exhibit, Museum of Contemporary Art and the Houston Fine Art Museum.  I also ate my weight in Tex-Mex!

Menil Park in Houston, Texas.

This summer I spent as much time as I could at the Bluegrass Swim Club with my mom.  It's our favorite thing to do.  On the weekend, during the week... every damn day if we could!  Because of all the time I spent poolside I got a lot of reading done!  Valley of the Dolls, Joyland, A Hundred Summers, The Good Earth, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, State of Wonder, and the newest in the Flavia de Luce series.  I can't even remember all the books I read this summer but I also devoured many issues of Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone for good measure.

I also celebrated my Grandmother's 85th birthday!

I went down to Louisville a few times this summer and went to my first L'ville football game!

Finally, as it is with every year, I ended my summer at Midpoint Music Festival.  I've written about it before but this was my 4th year attending and it was a fantastic time, as always! My highlites were probably the Kansas Bible Co. and Sol Cat.  I don't even have the energy to remember all the bands I saw over the course of 3 nights but I already can't wait to do it again.

Katie, myself, Brittany, Julie on Thursday night of MPMF.

A keytar solo closing out my second night.

What did you do this summer?  Whatever it entailed I hope you had as much fun as I did!