Curiouser and Curiouser

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, was a book club pick...last summer. I was out of town for the meeting, so even though I had purchased a copy, I didn't bother reading it until a few weeks ago.

The story is about Christopher Boone, an autistic teenage boy, living in England. After his neighbor's pet dog, Wellington, is murdered and he is wrongfully accused, Christopher decides that he wants to do some detective work to find out who committed this terrible act. While he is a shy boy, who doesn't like strangers and hates being touched, he goes about interviewing his neighbors in hopes that he can solve the crime. But in doing so, he unravels a mystery having to do with his own family and ends up setting out on an adventure that challenges him in all sorts of ways.


While this won't go on my list of favoites, I did enjoy this book. To me, it wasn't so much about the story itself, it was more about how it was told through an autistic teenager's mind. It's a good reminder that not everyone sees the world through the same set of eyes.

Surf City Half

Last year when I started running, I really didn't think a half marathon was in my near future. Well, I was wrong. After signing up and dropping out of a half marathon in LA back in October due to being sick, a friend mentioned that she was going to run the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach on Super Bowl Sunday. I decided to sign up, especially once I found out my company would reimburse me for half of the fee. 

 7am, starting line.

While I didn't get as much training in as I would have liked and I unfortunately got the flu a week and a half prior to the race, I was determined to cross that finish line. And sure enough, I did. My time wasn't great (about 3 hours, 30 minutes), as I ended up having to walk the entirety of the last 4 or 5 miles due to issues with my knee (which I now know is ilotibial band syndrome), but I was able to cross the finish line and accomplished my first half marathon.

I have since bought a band that will hopefully help alleviate my ITBS and am thinking about signing up for another half. It's a lot more fun than I ever thought it would be.

Exhausted, but accomplished. With swollen hands and my cool finisher's medal.

Blizzard x Vegas

 1. The living/dining area in our room. 2. Spankings at Hofbräuhaus. 3. Ready to party (H&M dress). 4. Dancing at Rain. 5. Daylight view from our room. 6. Happy Year of the Rabbit! 7. Outside the casino (H&M blazer, Quiksilver Women's top, Gap Jeans, Kors by Michael Kors flats).

We flew out to Vegas earlier this month to celebrate Blizzard Entertainment's launch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and Starcraft II. I was recovering from the flu, but I still managed to have a awesome time. 

We stayed at Palms Place, upgraded our room to pretty much a palace, took limos everywhere and partied at Rain and XS in the same night. I even left almost $200 up. Amazing!

Never Let Me Go

I'm not sure when I first heard Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go. I may have read a review somewhere or saw a preview for the movie and thought I should check out the book. Regardless, I put it on my Amazon wishlist at some point and then when ordering some other items not too long ago, I decided to purchase it.

The story revolves around three main characters Kathy, Ruth and Tommy and is told from Kathy's point of view as a 31-year old women. You learn that the 3 were lifelong friends that grew up together at a prestigious boarding school in England. There is something different about the students at this school though, something that they learn about slowly as they continue their education. It's hard to say too much without giving away the secret of what makes these students different, but this is an interesting story about life-long friendships, love and loss.

I really enjoyed reading this book and found it hard to put down. The secrets of what makes the school and students so unique are slowly given to you, like they are to the students, although I did have an inkling of what was happening. In the end you do learn what makes the students so special and why they are treated so differently, but the real world implications are never touched upon, which makes me think this novel would be a good pick for a book club discussion.

Find it Never Let Me Go at your local library or order it from Amazon.

December Photo Diary

To start off the month, we went to the Ken Block Gymkhana Grid Invitational.

Then we got dressed up (Alexander Wang dress) for the hubby's work holiday party,

for our friends' holiday loft party in Long Beach (any excuse to wear my (faux) fur (from Express) makes me happy),

for my holiday work party (H&M dress),

 and for a champagne party (random dress from Macy's).

 Then it was off to NY for Christmas with the family....

and to enjoy(?) a surprise blizzard! 2+ feet of snow in under 24 hours was a bit of a shock, I showed up so ill-prepared that I had a borrow a coat from the family closet.

But we still made it into NYC for an afternoon and wandered around the MET for a few hours.

And finally, back to CA to spend NYE with friends.

Shoe Lust

  

I've been finding myself wanting a pair of pastel shoes lately. These two are topping my current wish list.

Messeca Coraline  

Jeffrey Campbell Foxy

images via Sole Struck

Book Worm

I really love to read. This isn't anything new, growing up, I used to drive my parents nuts by devouring any book I could get my hands on in a couple of days, which meant many trips to the bookstore and library.

Over the last year or so when I was wasn't working, I was able to put a lot more time catching up on the books I have been meaning to read, as well as picking up some new things. The book club that I am apart of, Tequila Mockingbird, also forces me to spend more time reading even when my schedule gets crazy.

Well due to this, and the fact that I know a lot of my friends enjoy reading as well, I have decided that I am going to try to write reviews of everything I read going forward. I've already read 2 books this month, which I plan of writing about soon.

Also, if we aren't already friends on Goodreads, feel free to add me!

Time Flies

I'm amazed that we're almost already a month into 2011! We have done so much awesome stuff the last few months that I want to share...back in November....

 We went to see Mayer Hawthorne in Hollywood,

 then the next night, we went to barrel aged tasting at the Lost Abbey.

The following night, after recovering from the delicious beer, we went to see Usher.

 The weekend after that, we went to Disneyland...

 and had dinner at the exclusive Club 33.

 After dinner, we went drunk driving (don't worry, it was just on Autopia)...

and enjoyed the lights on It's a Small World.

 A few days later, I baked up a few pies...

and celebrated Thanksgiving with some of my favorite people.