Dance Break: LMFAO

Dance Break is back!!

Still thinking about my favorite LMFAO song, Yes.  I went ahead and skipped the crazy intro for you!

A Little Life

Just finished A Little Life and I’m not sure what to say about it. First, my face looked the the man on the cover’s face while reading most of this book.  It was HEAVY.  If you are a squeamish this book may not be for you, there were more than a few times where I would suck in my breath and start speed reading to get to the next page.  It was HEARTBREAKING.  So many times it looked like things were on the upswing and then Yanagihara would bluntly bring you back down which something that we just terrible.  But it was also BREATHTAKING.  I mean, I am not a person that usually reads 820 paged books, but I couldn’t put this one down.  There were times that I would read a sentence so striking that I would sit dumbly, staring out of a coffee shop window, thinking about what I just read.  I would definitely put this on a short list of my favorite books of all time, right up there with House of the Spirits and True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, but I don’t know if I would ever read it again like I have with the others.  I mean, this book made me cry in a coffee shop!  I am not explaining this well, here is what it says on the jacket:

When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they’re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever. 

I was drawn to it because I love a good epic story.  I love it when authors go deep into not only the characters’ lives but the lives of the people around them.  It’s one of the reasons why I love Allende so much!  This book is just so beautiful and sad and inspiring and depressing at the same time.  Ugh.  I don’t know what else to say, I just finished it yesterday so maybe I will write more when I am done processing but I just wanted to tell you to read it as soon as I had a copy to loan out!  Let me know if you want it!

Hot Books-Cosmopolitan Magazine

Here’s what the Cosmo woman is reading:

You Will Know Me looks good (Not at the library yet)!  Just in time for the summer Olympics!

Speaking of Cosmo, there a write up about Helen Gurley Brown that looks pretty juicy in Vanity Fair.  That’s on deck for some weekend reading!

Oh!  And have you listened to The Lit Up Show?  Great podcast from an editor at Cosmopolitan!   They talk about books, culture, politics and other classy things.  I see you Cosmo! Not just for 17 year old girls who know too much anymore, huh?

WKND: BKLYN

Here are some pictures of a recent weekend I spent with some of my very best friends in my old stomping grounds, Brooklyn, New York.  I had a big list of all of these New York City things I wanted to do, go to the MET and the main library, walk through Central Park, etc.  But for this trip, I loved hanging out with my best friend Mary, visiting friends and their adorable babies, and chatting over “Peruvian french fries” (that’s french fries with cut up hot dogs) with Morrell (I wish I had pictures of that one!)

Here are some pictures of my favorite spots:

 

1. Sarah and Mary at The Meatball Shop.  Mary and I chilled at her place until “brunch” became a solid “lunch” and I wanted meatballs. Meatballs were the go-to hot food of 2011, which was the last time I lived in Williamsburg so I still thought it was cool and my friends humored me!   While Mary and I were waiting we spotted Law and Order goddess Kelli Giddish!  I didn’t have the courage to ask her what her problem was with Olivia in the last few episodes and she looked pretty hungry for meatballs so we left her alone. 
2. Bowling at Gutter.  A perfect afternoon activity.  We had to wait awhile for a spot at one of their six alleys but we passed the time splitting a pitcher at a bar that looks like a place my grandpa would have loved in Buffalo.  Bowling is always fun, you never see people bummed out at a bowling alley.
   

   img from explore bklyn

    

3. Karaoke at Beats.  This was a new spot for us, usually we would trek to the Lower East Side or even Koreatown for a karaoke room.  So when Mary heard about a new spot in Brooklyn, we jumped at a chance to stay on our side of the East River.  Beats is very new, clean, and classy.  We had a lot of fun, I only have two complaints. One is that it is yet another spot that does not have Yes by LMFAO, whhhyyyy??  It’s their best song!  It also closed at midnight, we could have gone way later.  But maybe Beats was just doing us a favor, knowing that we had to get up for an early brunch!
4. Brunch with Malaika and Deanna (and Mary!) at Sisters.  My first time at this place and I liked it a lot.  I tried out their savory french toast and I’m hooked!  Now you can have sweet and savory for brunch!  I took this lesson home and have been eating a waffle with a fried egg on top for breakfast.
5. Did not have pictures of my walk with Sarah through Greenpoint with a stop at Ovenly but that was a highlight as well.  There is so much to see in Greenpoint, which was not totally the case when I lived there!

Such a great time in NYC, I’m sure I will come back soon!

Dance Break: M.I.L.F. $

I cannot tell you how excited I am for Fergie’s upcoming album, Double Duchess!!  Her first single, M.I.L.F. (Mom’s I love to follow) $ is peak pop culture and Fergie’s squad (Kim K, Ciara, CHRISSY TEIGEN) kills T. Swift’s  Just Saying.

Also, NSFW!

Summer Reads

This time, ripped from Redbook Magazine:

I’ve been seeing The Girls by Emma Cline around a lot lately.  Looks like it is about a Charles Manson-esque cult. If it is anything like that or The Path on Hulu I am on board!

DC: Bonus tracks

Here are some more pictures and moments from the trip!

1 & 2: We had all of our dinners on Campbell Ave. in Arlington, VA. There is a row of great restaurants there.  We had some farm to table realness at Copperwood Tavern and some killer margaritas at Guapo’s.

3: Campbell Ave. was a great hang during the day too, we went to Peete’s Coffee and Tea in the morning to read each day.

4. The Capital building.  We didn’t go in, but we walked by and I took a quick picture. This one is nice because the trees are blocking the gross scaffolding.

5. The National Portrait Gallery sits right at the beginning of DC’s Chinatown, which is home to cool shops and a lot of great happy hour options!

6. The docents are the true heroes of DC.  Chuck was my guide at the Library of Congress.  And I say he was mine because we became BFFs once he found out I was an actual librarian!

Also, I wanted to give a shout out to our hotel, Best Western Pentagon.  It was cheap, cozy and clean, it had free wifi, parking, and breakfast. And it had Bravo, which is a must.  And the breakfast was a real breakfast too!  There was also a free shuttle that took us to and from the Metro. So if you go to DC, I recommend it!

DC Day 2: Museums and Mother Ships

Once you get to DC, your days can be pretty cheap because there are 17 free museums in the city.  And these are museums that you can get lost in for days.  We picked two: the National Gallery of Art and the National Portrait Gallery.

That National Gallery of Art is big big big! We got there at the end of the first day actually.  We waited around to take the tour but the tour guide had such a quiet voice that we slipped out and hung out with the 17th century Dutch art for awhile.  There were so many paintings that you see in art books there that it is like spotting celebrities.  I hit a wall when we got to the French Impressionists which was too bad.  We made promises that we’d go back the next day but, alas.  Too much to see!

Frommer’s gave us a good tip.  The National Portrait Gallery is open “late” as far as museums go.  While most close at around 5, this one is open till seven, so you can save it for last and not worry about being rushed.  Two of my favorites were a painting of Toni Morrison that was so realistic I could have sworn it was a photograph, and the iconic painting of the four female Supreme Court Justices, both current and retired.  And speaking of SCOTUS:

We went there!!  Some highlights: the movie you can watch about the Supreme Court.  All of the portraits of former justices, AND RUNNING INTO JUSTICE KAGAN!! We were walking up the stairs, we took a wrong turn and there she was with her clerks.  She looked over, and Trent and I froze with out mouths open and then she smiled and kept it moving.  Which was probably the right choice.  Trent beat me to the FB announcement:

 

We also visited my mothership, the Library of Congress.

I. Just Can’t.  First of all, the LOC is the most beautiful building I’ve even been in.  Inside and out, it was breathtaking:

Trust, I took a TON of pictures and Trent took a lot too (which were way better and I am using them here!).  Best believe there will be some power points created for my middle school classes, they are going to love it!

DC Day One: Monuments and Memorials

 

Photos (Clockwise): Me and Eleanor at the Roosevelt Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, inside the Jefferson Memorial, a view of the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial, outside of the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II memorial.  Pictures by Trent!

The first day of our DC trip was devoted to the memorials.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm but with a breeze that kept us from collapsing.  I am glad I have been taking regular walks this summer because we spent most of the day moving.  We started with the Washington Monument which is so big that it seems unreal when you get up close to it, as if it was actually made out of cardboard and you could knock it over with a kick.

I had a travel guide in my purse that I took out to read fun facts whenever we reached a new memorial, my favorite guide was from Frommers:

It was easy to read, with interesting notes and a lot of good advice.  Like, when to go to the Portrait Gallery (more on that later) and great suggestions for walking tours.  And while it wasn’t the smallest guide to carry around, it fit easily in my small purse.  It also had two maps, a big one to pull out when you really didn’t know where you were going and a more discrete one to double check the train routes without looking like a total tourist.

Some moments from the monuments:

• The Korean War memorial was very beautifully done.  The Vietnam War memorial is very moving as well, so much so that I didn’t feel right taking pictures.  But go check out the Korean War memorial. The statues of the solders walking through landscaping that looks like waves works really well.
• The Lincoln and Jefferson memorials are just huge. I felt small standing inside of them, and maybe that was the point.  Fun Fact alert: The story goes that FDR was such a fan of Jefferson that when the memorial was built, he had all the trees cut down between it and the White House so FDR could see it every morning.  If you stand in front of Jefferson’s statue, you can see the White House still.  And that was as close as I got to the White House during our trip.
• Water is a key element to FDR’s memorial because of his connection to water throughout his life.  From his creation of Warm Springs to the Tennessee Valley Authority , FDR believed in the healing power of water.  So it is fitting that his memorial is filled with flowing water, pools, and mini waterfalls.
• The Tidal Basin is a great place to take a break, buy a hot dog or an Italian ice and watch people try to move around in paddle boats!

Tomorrow: Museums, SCOTUS, AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS!!