lecture

I read books on my vacation. I'm a huge bookworm, so I appreciate the time vacations give me to sit and enjoy a book. The first book I read on my Jamaican vacation was called The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch.

Incredible, incredible nonfiction book. About a man who signed up to do a lecture at the college he taught at called a "last lecture" -- where professors were instructed to speak as though they were giving the last lecture they'd ever give on earth. A few months after he signed up, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He got up on that stage for his lecture knowing he was going to die, and what he chose to do and say was powerful. Plus, he's hilarious.

So if you're looking for something good to read -- The Last Lecture comes highly recommended.

I came up with an idea for my advertising project while reading this book -- more on that later -- but I just think it's so cool how inspiration for one thing can come from something completely and totally unrelated.

clothbound

It's getting to be the time of year where I'll have to renew my magazine subscriptions. Right now I get Allure, Glamour, and Lucky, plus one photoshop and one photography magazine. So I'm trying to filter through those three fashion magazines and figure out which ones I really want to renew. Up until I got my last Lucky, I was figuring that would be the one. And then, as I was flipping through the latest issue, I dog-earred about 20 pages and figured maybe I do like that magazine quite a bit. It's all shopping and style. Clothes and accessories and fun stuff. I love it.

One of the things I dog-earred in this issue was those books. They're clothbound classics from Borders.com -- Jane Eyre, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights. I'm going to start collecting them. They're $20 a piece, which is more than I like to pay for a book, but I can't wait to have a home where I can display these beauties! Decor and reading entertainment, all in one! And no better books to be clothbound than the timeless classics.

darcy

Phil and I just watched Pride and Prejudice. No, I did not force him. In fact, he sort of chose it. He said he wanted to watch one of my movies, knowing they're all chick flicks. And I threw out some possibilities from this mess of chick flicks, and he picked Pride and Predjudice.

And proceeded to very politely try not to laugh as I sighed with every word that came out of Darcy's mouth. Oh, the language. I've always loved the movie You've Got Mail, and they talk about Pride and Prejudice in that one, and how Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks's characters both get swept up in the language of the book. I do too. Both in the book and the movie. The movie's almost better because then I hear it all with the English accents, and oh the English accents! It makes the witty lines so much better. It's not even just about the old English way it's written, but about what they're really saying. The writing is fantastic.

Both Pride and Predjudice(in book or movie form) and You've Got Mail come highly recommended.

book

I just finished a book. Never the Bride.

Now, admittedly, I'm a bit of a cheesy girl who likes her sappy love stories from time to time. So I was all excited to fall into a light hearted little book about someone falling in love 27 Dresses style.

Was it ever not what I expected. The beginning was the same...with the main character going on a series of hopeless dates, crushing on her best friend, and wanting love more than anything. But then God shows up. For real. God shows up, in the flesh. And at first I was all, okay, this is weird. But as it went on...it shows both how God wants to romance us...wants us to continually fall in love with Him, and shows how He knows what He's doing, and we're best off when we relinquish our pens to Him and let Him write our life story.

Oh boy, do I need that reminder sometimes. I know so much of how I want my life to go, what I'm working for and what I want to become of it...but that doesn't mean it's God's plan. And I really should let God have the pen in my life...and let Him take the lead. Letting Him bring me where He knows I should be is what I want...I want what He wants for me because I know it's best. But letting go of that pen...letting go and finding out what God wants for me even when it's not what I want...that's the hard part.

book

I'm reading the most excellent book.

Belong To Me, by Marisa de los Santos. The story involves a quirky, eccentric woman named Cornelia and her husband, who fits with her like a glove. The why she describes their relationship is one of my favorite parts. They've just moved to the suburbs, and their new neighbor, Piper, is the ultimate suburbia housewife. Things like using specific stainless steel cleaner on stainless steel appliances and the way a paper towel feels matter to her, when Cornelia couldn't give a hoot about such things. Cornelia doesn't much care for Piper, but feels for her when she brings over medical records for Teo, Cornelia's husband who happens to be a doctor, to review. The medical records are for a friend of Piper's who's cancer is too advanced for much hope. Cornelia also meets a woman named Lake who also just moved to relocate and give her exceptionally bright son the opportunity to go to an accelerated school, where they place you in a 'grade' by your abilities, not your age.

The book just before this one, Love Walked In, was about Cornelia loving for a little girl who stumbled into her care, and about how she came to realize she was in love with Teo. That one was much more light hearted than this one so far, but both are written so well. The way the author writes Cornelia is so fun and smart. She's a quirky character, that's for sure, but she's brilliant.

If you're looking for a good book, either of Marisa de los Santos's books are wonderful choices.