These are a few of my favorite things...

These are a few of my favorite things...
you can use them even when the dog doesn't bite, a bee doesn't sting, or when you're feeling glad....


Simon's Cat website:  a must if you have ever owned a cat or known a cat.  It's done by a British cartoonist who started posting on YouTube and it grew from there.

Red Butte Garden:  a non computer related link, but an oasis on the foothills of Salt Lake City.  If you go and explore, pay attention when you're on the Floral Walk area, my mom volunteers and takes care of that area.

The Argyle Sweater:  If you were/are a fan of 'The Far Side' cartoons, this is right up your alley.

UtahDealDiva:  an amazing resource for saving money, not just at the grocery store.  Plus, lately she has been posting recipes!

BalletWest :  I have never been a ballet dancer, but I have always appreciated what they are able to accomplish with music and movement.  BalletWest has really stepped up their game lately, and if you were lucky enough to go to Emeralds/Paquita/Petite Mort performance, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Zumba:  My latest exercise craze.  I attend a great place on 7th East that is very reasonable in price.  I'm possibly the whitest girl dancing Latin, but I have fun and always work up a sweat.

So, if you're bored on the web, try some of the sites
and if you call and I'm not home, chances are I'm out at one of the places above.

Enjoy.
Melissa

p.s.
I've figured out how to link to websites, so if you click on the highlighted areas, you'll be taken to the websites.

Traveling to Africa and losing sleep....

I traveled to Africa last week....
no not on an airplane, but thru the words of a book.

I went to Rwanda right as the genocide was about to erupt in 1994.  A few pages was all it took for me to get transported to another time and country.  A few hundred more changed me and gave me a greater understanding of the world around me.  How you may ask, a book by the name of  'Running the Rift' by Naomi Benaron.

All I had to do was give up a little sleep.  I read a lot.  I mean A LOT.  My yearly book totals are always over one hundred.  The problem, I generally give up sleep to read them.  I read to settle my mind before I go to bed, but if a book hooks me, I am unable to put it down until I know the whole story.

When I am stressed, I read.
When I am happy, I read.
When I am busy, I read.
When I am relaxed, I read.

The only thing that changes are the genres that I read.  When I'm stressed, I read what I affectionately call 'slut books', you know the ones...  You can figure out the couple in the first 5 pages and know at the end of the book, they will live happily every after.  Life solved in under 300 pages.  Don't you wish it was like that in real life?  Problems solved in a couple of hours.  When I'm busy, I tend to read authors I've read before, due to the fact that I know their style and what I'm in for.  The rest of the time, I'll tackle new authors, biographies and non fiction.  The thing to remember, I always have a book to read.

2011 was somewhat of a disappointment in books for me.  I only had a couple of books that I HAD to tell people about. 

'The Night Circus' by Erin Morgenstern
'Violets of March' by Sarah Jio  (a first time author, which makes it all the more amazing, because this book is PERFECT)


2012 has been a different story.  I have already found books, that I will reread again and again.  So, I thought I would pass them on to you with a brief summary.

'Sarah's Key' by Tatiana de Rosnay:  A heartbreaking tale that starts in Paris in World War II.  It gives a haunting tale of a young Jewish girl that went thru a part of history that I never knew about.

'Last Letter from your Lover' by JoJo Moyes:  An unexpected love story and will leave you with your jaw dropped at the end.

'A Summer in Europe' by Marilyn Brandt:  A story of finding yourself again or for the first time, plus you travel all over Europe in it.

This post is running a little long, so I think I'll stop here and periodically do this again.  Talk about books.  My inner librarian seemed to enjoy it.

Melissa