Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

Hello friends! Take a minute to link up below! For those of you who are new, Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts is simply just that- make a list of whatever has been on your mind this week, bookish and not so bookish!

1. I have to admit to being really excited to starting on the second year of my Question a Day book (and the first year of Cook's Line a Day). I'm excited to go back and see what life was like a year ago.

2. Tuesday night was my first New Year's Eve sober in... a long time. We never do much, but there are usually a few cocktails involved. Instead we got ice cream, played Scrabble, and watched a ton of The League episodes.

3. Speaking of doing things sober, we went to Vegas last weekend for a super quick trip. We drove up with the dogs Saturday morning and then spent the evening on the strip walking around, making an impromptu stop at Serendipity III (I had my first Frozzzzen Hot Chocolate- it was so good I could give two fucks about touristy the place is), and, the highlight of the evening, dinner at Thomas Keller's Bouchon in The Venetian. I had the French gnocchi and then this wonderful brownie dish for dessert. It was definitely one of the best meals I've ever had in my whole little life- completely worth the bill. Sunday we visited with my husband's best friend and girlfriend and then decided to drive back that evening instead of wait until morning.  Oh, and as a side note, I think Vegas is one of the tackiest cities in the world. But I do appreciate the fact that they still don't charge for parking (and have some amazing restaurants).

4. My husband and I had a serious talk this morning... about what type of music the dogs would listen to if they had an actual choice. Chomsky would definitely listen to gangster rap- probably Tupac. And Cordie would be more of a Sarah Maclachlan/Lillith Fair sort of "get in touch with your anxious emotions" listener.

[It's not my fault I always look stoned]

 

5. We saw American Hustle on New Years Eve (before the Scrabble playing and ice cream eating) and it was really good! Jennifer Lawrence was great and Christian Bale was gross (the comb-over was seriously intense).

6. I need to get back into cooking new recipes again; the last few weeks have been so hectic that while I'm still cooking 4-5 times a week, it's just the normal tried and true dishes. I hate feeling boring in the  bedroom kitchen. I've gotten a few new cookbooks lately and every food blogger I read is posting best-of lists, so  have plenty of resources for some creativity.

7. I've been reading The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson and I must say it's much better than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Granted the writing isn't anything amazing, but the story itself is a lot more interesting to me than the first book.

8. Does anyone have any genius ideas about getting dog hair off stairs? My dust buster is dying a slow painful death, the vacuum is too cumbersome to drag up step-by-step, and I really don't want a runner right now. There has to be some sort of incredible secret I don't know about, right?

9. I've been furiously working at finishing my 2013 photobook on Mixbook over vacation in hopes they'll offer a good deal on printing it (because if they don't it's going to end up costing nearly $100 with all the extra pages). It's been so much fun looking at what I did each month- I have so many great friends and have made an effort to take advantage of different things in my area this year. I'll write more about my "method" when I finish.

10. Ever wonder what your spirit animal was? Take this quiz! Mine is a tiny turtle riding a skateboard.

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