Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

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ETA: I'm using this for The Broke and the Bookish's Top Ten Tuesday on 7/12; it's a "ten fact about yourself" sort of deal, so I thought my weekly post (with Linky! Play along on Wednesdays!) would work. Thanks for stopping by! 

1. Our Fourth of July weekend was pretty great. There were walks, a lot of pool time, a minor league baseball game with fireworks, and so much food. 

2. I finished two books today- Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett and and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists. Both hit home in different ways and I'll hopefully get some posts up on both soon before all the thoughts and opinions and emotions I have swirling around in my brain are gone. 

3. If I am being completely honest, I have to admit that I am surprised I have not given into Snapchat yet, since I was staunchly against MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, blogging, and Instagram, yet found my way to all of those. 

4. I love my tailor. She's this older Polish lady that is incredibly reassuring and fixes everything I take to her brilliantly. I wonder if she'll be my therapist too. Strangely I feel the same way about the plumber and the pool guy. 

5. So I wrote about a pedicure-related incident awhile ago, and today it was surprisingly made right (basically, about two months ago I went in and the pedicurist accidentally took a chunk out of my toe that ended up taking about six weeks to heal). I mentioned it in passing when I went back today (it was a different technician), just so she wouldn't do anything to that toe. She asked for details and I brushed it off, glossing over what had happened but that it had finally gotten back to normal and that I know accidents happen. When I went to pay they didn't let me! I was so surprised (and tipped accordingly). I guess so often I'm used to having low expectations when it comes to these sorts of things that it was just a nice little treat (Orchard Nails in Corona, for any local people). 

6. While I was in Tahoe a few weeks ago I was sitting on the patio waiting for my colleagues to join me for dinner reading The Girls when a fairly graphic sex scene came up. Here I was, surrounded by teachers drinking the free wine and beer at cocktail hour discussing test scores, curriculum, and innovative educational practices and I'm reading about a fourteen-year old being taken advantage by a cult leader. Then, today, I was reading Imagine Me Gone at the nail salon and the scene where Alex has his first very passionate, intimate sexual encounter with his soon-to-be-boyfriend came up. The juxtaposition between what we are reading and our own personal setting is so interesting, when looked at, and isn't just isolated to sex.  Nonetheless, reading sexual material in nonsexual environment is both sort of awkward and fun, in a rebellious sort of way.

7. My students are receiving their AP and IB test scores this week and the "thank you for helping me pass" emails are always nice to read. My AP Language scores for my sophomores were a tad higher than I thought they'd be and the IB ones are still trickling in, but so far so good. I hate that I feel  at all validated by test scores, and I am lucky to work at a site that neither penalizes or congratulates teachers based on them, but it's nice to see the kids be successful and to know that I'm at least headed in the right direction with my teaching. Plus, the kids get college credit and when universities are so impacted and tuition so costly, every little bit helps.

8. On the audiobook front, I just finished The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (co-authoring seems hard for fiction, by the way) and began AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller today. The Royal We was light, fluffy, and entertaining- perfect for driving. 

9. Since coming back from Tahoe I really want to plan a longer, bigger trip for the three of us, or even just Sawyer and I if Scott doesn't want to go, or can't (he hates flying very much and his job can be demanding). I've been fantasizing about a long weekend in Portland or even somewhere like Denver. I just want to go. Plus I think Sawyer could handle two or so hours in a plane at this point, provided there were plenty of snacks and Zootopia on the iPad. This summer is probably too close to ending to make it possible now, but maybe later in the fall.

10. Hey, how about that Gilmore Girls subscription box? I must admit to setting an alert on my phone to sign up for the September one. $30 is a bit much to commit to the whole year, but I think one would be fun.