Water For Elephants

Recently I finished reading a book called: 'Water For Elephants'

It was such an interesting read. It's about 350 pages long, but it's a fast, easy read. The author, Sara Gruen, wrote a page turner. She chronicles what it's like to be involved in a circus during the Great Depression. Growing up I attended a few circuses at the Barnstable County Fairgrounds and even in Siljansnäs, Sweden when visiting my grandparents, but I often wondered what it would be like to travel with a circus.

She writes about a young Polish man who jumps aboard a moving train to escape a painful life circumstance; the train he jumped belongs to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. He attended Cornell, but he left in the middle of his final exams in his fourth year. Call it happenstance, he ditched school and jumped upon a circus train in need of a vet. Benzini Brothers didn't care about his diploma, they were satisfied to say they had a "vet" as part of their circus. During a lonely time in his life, Jacob finds companionship and rivalry. He meets Marlena, the beautiful and show-stopping equestrian performer, however she is married to August, the charming but moody animal trainer. Another person Jacob ends up befriending is the circus dwarf who is forced to share a "train car" with him. He is the circus vet, he ends up caring for Rosie, the "stupid" elephant who was a ray of hope for the second rate circus.

It was such a refreshing and fun book to read. Opens your eyes to what circus life may have been like almost 70+ years ago... Recommend.

Books...

After I graduated college, I started reading books again...

What? You think I didn't read in college? Well, I did read in college; however I was unable to read as many books as I wanted for "pleasure". Sure, I read hundreds of pages about micro-economics, macro-economics, muscles, anatomy & physiology, accounting, capitalism, international econ, business law, exercise science, history, German, English literature, but most of the books I read were to ensure I passed my classes, not for fun.

During my junior year of college, I spent a semester in Sweden. One of the classes I took was an English Lit class. It was one of my favorite classes I took in college... sometimes I wonder if I should have majored in English because of my love for reading... Anyway, we read many classics, most I hadn't read before. It was such a treat to read books for fun, and it was also homework.

After college, I created a list of books I had read each year and a list of books I wanted to read. Not long after I started dating Caleb, spending time with him became a priority and reading was again put on the "back burner".

It was actually Caleb who inspired me to pick up my habit again. At the beginning of the year (January 2009), he set a goal to read a book every two weeks; twenty-six books in year. I was proud of him and at the same time jealous of him. I thought it was great that he wanted to read and set a reading goal. Many of the books he chose were thought-provoking interesting reads which prompted interesting conversation in the car and at the dinner table. In July, he was counting the books he read this year, it was almost triple the number of books I had read. He inspired me, now I was determined to get back to reading.

My first book was The Shack. I started it in January and finished it in July. You may think, 'Six months to read a book?' Well, I read most of it, wanted to know the ending, read the ending, and then didn't want to read the middle... In July I forced myself to finish reading the book and it was quite satisfying to finish and start the next book.

The next book I picked up was one I got for Christmas 2008, Infidel. After that, I was hooked. I joined a book club and was even more inspired. So far I have read more books in the second half of 2009 than in the first half!

Here's a list of books I've read so far...

The Shack

Infidel

Three Cups of Tea

Love the One You’re With

Something Borrowed

Something Blue

Guernsey Literary Society

Water for Elephants

Babyproof

The Help

The Millionaire Next Door

Raving Fans

...twelve books; which equals one book a month. We all know that it was more like two or three books a month, since I started in July. Hopefully I can read a few more books before the year's over, maybe bump it to fourteen or fifteen.

I am now inspired to read 26-52 books next year and I am working on a "To Read" list. Once it's finished, I'll post it on this blog... I may even write a few books reviews... in the event people want ideas on what books to read and what books may be a waste of time... ;)

when the heart waits...

Recently I decided to make a few changes... nothing huge, just small steps.
Last Saturday morning I woke up early to finish writing my "goals" for the next 3 years. It's a long list of over 100 goals, but there are small and large goals. 3 years is over 1000 days, so I have a few seasons to complete some of them (which includes paying down debt, saving for miscellaneous items and overseas travels - both missions & visiting family/friends). After I finished writing my goals I decided to make small daily changes to ensure they are completed.

1) Read more
2) Wake up earlier
3) Go to bed earlier
4) Be more productive at work: go early, take a lunch and end on time

Regarding #4 - i have a tendency to stay at my desk ALL day without taking any breaks and often feeling unproductive - the past 2 days i have done the above and feel MUCH more productive and at peace w/my work.

Check out this blog: Zen Habits | Simple Productivity
The author has some interesting takes on goals, less = more and life in general.

Note: If I am brave enough, I MAY post the goals here... in the meantime, you'll have to just be curious...

Well, yesterday I picked up a book I started reading 2 years ago called "When The Heart Waits". It's a thick book, not in pages, but in the reading. There's a lot in each page. It's written by the same author who wrote "The Secret Life of Bees" which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

The author is going through a midlife crisis and doesn't know where she's headed. Now, I'm not 40, I'm not going through a midlife crisis and I know where I'm headed, at least right now, however she spoke to me through her writing. She writes about praying.

Often, we pray words, words, words and we do not allow our heart to be still and wait. It is said that praying is like a conversation with God. If we are the only one talking, how is God able to converse with us? Of course, God "speaks" in many different ways to different people. In my own experience, it's a "gut" feel. If something feels "right" in my gut, I know it's from God. Believe me, I've tested it more than a few times... ;)

Back to Sue Monk Kidd, the author; and her thoughts on prayer. The Greek word for rest is hesychia. It's a term that also came to mean praying (When the Heart Waits, 137). Does God want us to rest in prayer? When we are rested, are we relaxed? When we are relaxed, are we open to what God wants to speak to us? Have you prayed in rest lately? Have you prayed and waited for God to answer? Have you really waited? These are questions based on spending a few minutes buried in the book. In our instant gratification and rush rush society where we want things done yesterday, we send a text message if we get voicemail and facebook someone because it's faster than email, it goes against our grain to wait. It's HARD to wait. Maybe I should re-think how I pray. Maybe I should take a few moments and wait before starting in on my many "prayer" words, maybe I should take a few moments AFTER my "prayer" words to hear God, to "go with my gut"...

Happy New Year 2006!

Gott Nytt År 2006!

Hopefully the new year finds everyone doing well.

My new year has been wonderful! My mom, dad, brother Phil and I went to Sunday River to enjoy a few days of skiing and snowboarding. It was great to be able to be outside, in the snow, skiing/boarding down the mountain. We met up with some family friends from "the old neighborhood" which made for good times on the mountain.
The bed & breakfast we stayed at, Victoria Inn, turned out to be a "bad egg"... hahaha - check out the link, looks are deceiving, I will say no more! All worked out, the skiing was great for December, the people we hung out with were fun... what more could you ask for? (Besides a luxury mountainside house...)
The first day on the slopes was great. The prediction for rain turned out to be nothing more than that... it was a beautiful day, no lines, and lots of skiing.
The second day, New Year's Eve, was even more fun. Excited to snowboard instead of ski, I jumped out of bed in the morning and hurried to get dressed. After breakfast we headed to the mountain. The whole day was great, and snowboarding was a great diversion from skiing.



Unfortunately, tragedy reigned. My mom was run over by a snowmobile. Well, I was in the ski shop checking out new boots - 10 years after my last pair, it's time, while my mom was being plowed over by the snowmobile. Luckily for me, I found a sweet pair in my favorite color.


What? You want to know about the snowmobile accident?! My mom is the best! She took it all in stride, but her BRAND NEW BOOTS were broken and her BRAND NEW SKIS had a crack. Bummer. End of story.
No, just kidding. Sunday River was AWESOME in handling the situation. They were real kind and my mom ended up with new boots and her skis fixed (the crack wasn't bad). To ensure that we would ski Sunday River once again, they gave us 8 complimentary lift tickets! :) Talk about customer service. Now the standard is set if someone else is run over by a snowmobile.
Honestly, I don't mean to take this lightly. My mom is ok and there were no major injuries despite the fact the 2 men had to physically LIFT the snowmobile off of my mom. All's well, ends well... ;)
New Year's Eve we went to a great Japanese/Korean restaurant on Main Street in Bethel, Maine. A whole group of us went and ate till we could eat no more, the good thing about Japanese and Korean food, unlike Chinese food, is that you don't feel uncomfortable after eating it. You feel satisified, with a feeling that what you ate was healthy, which it is.
New Year's Day.
Cruising the mountain in my skis and NEW boots I felt great. We had lots of people to ski with and challengingly, wonderful, fast runs! The end of the day came too quickly.
All in all, a wonderful weekend and a great new year.











New Year Resolution
Ski more
Snowboard more