This weekend I finished No Touch Monkey! And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late! by Ayun(pronounced Ann) Halliday. There were a couple of laugh out loud moments but most of my time was spent shaking my head at the messes this woman found. Her method of travel is not my preferred method. While I also love taking part in authentic cultural experiences, I've never really had a penchant for sleeping in doorways and train stations to save money. Also, I've never slept in a hostel. Eponymous horror movie notwithstanding, I've felt the money spent on a hotel room was worth it for a sense of security and privacy.
Also, apparently I have a thing with hygeine. I'm sure there are women out there that culturally choose to not shave body parts (see, French and Eastern European women), but for Ayun this seemed to be some badge of honor. I had fleeting glimpses of her touring Europe and Southeast Asia meeting people and showing her pits. I am not this kind of person. In fact I've spent the last few months getting little laser shocks in my pits in a effort to NEVER shave again but still be slick and bare. If anyone is interested in doing this, wait for a groupon because it can be expensive but it is less painful than a waxing AND you don't have to let it grow out to get treatment. I highly recommend it!
Anyway as it is 2012, and everyone has lists, here are the things I learned after reading No Touch Monkey!
1. You should not take pictures of women working in the Red Light District in Amsterdam. This story made me think of CeCe and her travels there, though I personally don't have this on my travel list. I do have friends who I can see dragging me there though.
2. Malaria is nasty. Ask for tough drugs if you go to subsaharan Africa!
3. Massages offered by strange men are not a good idea. Though to be honest I already knew this!
4. Volunteering in countries where the UN has shipped everyone out for their safety is really not recommended.
5. Taking drugs in foreign countries leads to flying beds and talking ceiling fans. Actually now that I think about it taking drugs anywhere probably leads to this. It's why I avoid drugs. I'm not a licensed bed pilot.
If reading about these stories sounds interesting to you, email me on my profile or leave a message here and I'll ship it out FOR FREE to the first person who asks :) I love seeing all the new people come to my blog! Welcome!!!
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Monday, February 27, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
A month in review
If anyone knows where January went could you have her give me a call? She left and I totally didn't notice! Despite the fact that January took off before I could say goodbye, this year is looking good! I'm on track to complete everything on my resolutions list!!
First off I need to Organize my bucket list! (which is actually on my bucket list but I won't count it for my 12 :) ) DONE! I even posted two sections this month as well.
1. Books to Read (from 1001 Books to Read Before You Die):
Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut 01/03/12
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré 01-13-12
Choke – Chuck Palahniuk 01/08/12
Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel 01/05/12
Less than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis 01/27/12
Rabbit, Run – John Updike 01/31/12
2. Movies to Watch (from the list of movies that won Best Picture):
1971 - "The French Connection" 01/12/12
8. Plant a vegetable garden, Can't be crossed off yet as nothing got planted. BUT we did create the garden, hauling wheelbarrow loads of dirt from the farm so that Craig can smell "home" when we wants.
9. Donate platelets once a month for a year. Contribute to a microloan at kiva.org This change is chronicled here.
10. Spend 3 months getting my body in optimum shape STARTING TODAY! Cannot be crossed off, but one month down. I have worked out at least 5 hours each week. I plan to work out more when I get back from the cruise, and some day I will actually start watching what I'm eating too!
February is a short and sweet month and I plan to do a lot of reading and some movie watching. I have Slumdog Millionaire on Tivo too now. Who wants to watch this and Hurt Locker with me this month???
1. Books to Read (from 1001 Books to Read Before You Die):
2. Movies to Watch (from the list of movies that won Best Picture):
19
8. Plant a vegetable garden, Can't be crossed off yet as nothing got planted. BUT we did create the garden, hauling wheelbarrow loads of dirt from the farm so that Craig can smell "home" when we wants.
10. Spend 3 months getting my body in optimum shape STARTING TODAY! Cannot be crossed off, but one month down. I have worked out at least 5 hours each week. I plan to work out more when I get back from the cruise, and some day I will actually start watching what I'm eating too!
February is a short and sweet month and I plan to do a lot of reading and some movie watching. I have Slumdog Millionaire on Tivo too now. Who wants to watch this and Hurt Locker with me this month???
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Book Club with Wine or Wine Club with Books?
I'm not really sure if we are morphing into a Wine Club with Books but initially we had intended to have a book club that would allow us to read books we wouldn't ordinarily read on our own. So far we've read Wicked (and hated it) and The Magician's Assistant (and didn't hate it) and next month we read A Long Way Gone (and hope to at least like it)
The place:
Bin 555 in San Antonio, Texas a Jason Dady restaurant with tapas and wine selections. Everything we tried was fantastic. Not a place for a budget but an excellent beautiful place for a book club!
The people:
Not everyone because my cousin was recovering from wisdom teeth removal, and others had alternate engagements.
The wines:
A fantastic mix to try a variety of wines. I'm loving the flights.
The food:
We were so busy eating,I forgot to take pictures. Cindy reminded me before I licked the cheese plate clean, to get a pic of the food.
The socks:
Lessons learned at today's book club....avoid men nicknamed Horse, we all enjoy plot over character development, we have no shame in sharing personal information with waiters.
Oh and Stacy likes to look up freakish body parts on her phone.
The place:
Bin 555 in San Antonio, Texas a Jason Dady restaurant with tapas and wine selections. Everything we tried was fantastic. Not a place for a budget but an excellent beautiful place for a book club!
The people:
Not everyone because my cousin was recovering from wisdom teeth removal, and others had alternate engagements.
The wines:
A fantastic mix to try a variety of wines. I'm loving the flights.
The food:
We were so busy eating,I forgot to take pictures. Cindy reminded me before I licked the cheese plate clean, to get a pic of the food.
The socks:
Lessons learned at today's book club....avoid men nicknamed Horse, we all enjoy plot over character development, we have no shame in sharing personal information with waiters.
Oh and Stacy likes to look up freakish body parts on her phone.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Miami the base and the sunset glow
Hot Property (Book 1) and Hot Schemes (Book 4) in the Molly Dewitt series by Sherryl Woods.
I have to start by saying if I had known that the books would stop right in the middle and never end I would NEVER have picked them up (even if they were $1 each at a UBS) It's like I have to sneeze and just can't get it out. I can ONLY imagine what it was like for the poor followers in 1994 (which can I say YOWZER was 16 years ago!!!!)
Southern Florida is a character in her own right in these books. From Miami to Key Biscayne it is apparent that Woods lives in the area (and I'm not talking Tiger). Several of the locations she lists are real (like the cafe mentioned in the article linked). It's funny how after reading the books my knowledge of Miami suddenly clicked. The sun, the hot people, the beach. Television shows and songs came rolling to me as I read the books. From Golden Girls to Miami Vice to CSI:Miami there is a reason this location is picked for a setting. It's vibrant and mulitcultural and alive.
Living in south Texas is an multi-cultural experience of its own, but reading these books made me want to visit to compare and contrast the differences. The interaction of cultures and blending of society to form their own unique brand of life in the 305. The books definitely made me want to visit Miami but less for the beach and more for the culture. I wish I had a friend who had family in the area to show me all the REAL places. I'd definitely add this to my places to see in America column (minus Craig who had a bad experience there). Cruises do leave from Miami's port so maybe some day I'l combine a trip.
I glossed over a lot of the story line because
a) it never ends and I didn't want to get emotionally attached to the characters
b) reading about Miami was more fun than the sexual angst anyway.
Overall, I'd recommend Miami but not the books!
Miami, Will Smith
Calle Ocho, Pitbull
I have to start by saying if I had known that the books would stop right in the middle and never end I would NEVER have picked them up (even if they were $1 each at a UBS) It's like I have to sneeze and just can't get it out. I can ONLY imagine what it was like for the poor followers in 1994 (which can I say YOWZER was 16 years ago!!!!)
Southern Florida is a character in her own right in these books. From Miami to Key Biscayne it is apparent that Woods lives in the area (and I'm not talking Tiger). Several of the locations she lists are real (like the cafe mentioned in the article linked). It's funny how after reading the books my knowledge of Miami suddenly clicked. The sun, the hot people, the beach. Television shows and songs came rolling to me as I read the books. From Golden Girls to Miami Vice to CSI:Miami there is a reason this location is picked for a setting. It's vibrant and mulitcultural and alive.
Living in south Texas is an multi-cultural experience of its own, but reading these books made me want to visit to compare and contrast the differences. The interaction of cultures and blending of society to form their own unique brand of life in the 305. The books definitely made me want to visit Miami but less for the beach and more for the culture. I wish I had a friend who had family in the area to show me all the REAL places. I'd definitely add this to my places to see in America column (minus Craig who had a bad experience there). Cruises do leave from Miami's port so maybe some day I'l combine a trip.
I glossed over a lot of the story line because
a) it never ends and I didn't want to get emotionally attached to the characters
b) reading about Miami was more fun than the sexual angst anyway.
Overall, I'd recommend Miami but not the books!
Miami, Will Smith
Calle Ocho, Pitbull
Monday, December 28, 2009
New Year's Resolutions for me (and T---tma)
I am actually proud of myself for sticking with this blog for the last few months. I haven't told anyone about it...well that's not true. I tell people about it, I just don't tell them WHERE it is :) So in itself this blog has been an accomplishment for me. It's a way to show myself that I can in fact stick with something if I set my mind to it.
So with that in mind I decided I want to make a few New Year's Resolutions that pertain to both my personal life and this blog.
1. I want to be in more travel pictures. This past year I have very VERY few pictures of me because I run from cameras like they spew flames with every snap because I don't like the way I look. And whose fault is that really? In August to prepare myself for our yearly Labor Day couples vacation, I lost 12 pounds with the Biggest Lost 30 day Jumpstart. I LOVED the food, but it's a lot of work. And really what in life isn't? So to achieve this goal, I resolve to use the new Biggest Loser cookbooks to cook healthy meals and lose 50 pounds by the August Berlin/Prague trip. To keep myself on track, I will post here the best food I loved and/or the most troubling dishes. I will NOT be posting a monthly weight update. However EVERY trip I take will have pictures of me and hopefully the differences each month will be noticeable.
In 1997 when I went to Europe the first time with my friend Carrie, she told me that EVERY picture had to have one of us in it. I juxtapose this with the last pictures I take and would love a happy medium. I have some great pictures of scenery marred only by a travel bedraggled woman with bed head (from sleeping on trains) that I really wish we would have taken without us in them. There has to be a happy medium.
2. I want to track what I read. In 2008 I resolved to track EVERY book I read. It was over 200 books. I read. A lot. And that was fun but not what I want to do again. I read about a bookstore in New York that groups books according to location. Supposedly you can email them a location and they will send you a list of books that you can buy from them that uses that location as a setting. Well I emailed and as of now I haven't heard back, but I can only imagine their puffed out inbox after being featured in a premier travel magazine. This led me to thinking that I want to do that here. I want to track everything I read based on location. I will list the labels on the blog so that anyone can link to a series of books based on the label for any location that I have read.
CAVEAT: I will not be listing all of the historical romances that I read like crazy because seven hundred London books set in the 1820s really isn't THAT informative for anyone who wants to read.
3. I want to spend less on crap. This pertains to T---tma because I have a tendency to buy any seemingly homemade crapola from any old native when I travel. Yesterday at breakfast I pulled out a bread basket made from Provencal material.
and told my husband that I wasn't going to buy any more souvenirs that I knew I wouldn't use. I wanted more like the breadbasket (or hell even a a coffee mug) and less of the jade (very very costly) elephant I got in Paris. WTH was I thinking? I mean who else doesn't immediately think of Paris when they see a Jade elephant???
Strangely enough that very day on the way to my inlaws I was reading a magazine article about the UNsouvenir. The author's main purpose was to buy items that the LOCALS use. I'm not going this far really. I just want to buy items that *I* will use. Like the candy dish from Mount Vernon I use to hold my jewelry
4. Learn something new I commit to this every year. But as I'm travelling to Czech Republic and Germany I'd like to learn enough conversational German to get by and quite a bit more Czech. We even get a Czech paper through our life insurance so I will have practice!
I think that's enough for this year. I've decided to go for the full marathon this year if I get chosen for Nike Women's Marathon again so I will have to start walking like mad very very very soon (like today). I turn 36 this year and with respect to my family's life expectancy half of my life is over. I want to really enjoy the second half!
So with that in mind I decided I want to make a few New Year's Resolutions that pertain to both my personal life and this blog.
1. I want to be in more travel pictures. This past year I have very VERY few pictures of me because I run from cameras like they spew flames with every snap because I don't like the way I look. And whose fault is that really? In August to prepare myself for our yearly Labor Day couples vacation, I lost 12 pounds with the Biggest Lost 30 day Jumpstart. I LOVED the food, but it's a lot of work. And really what in life isn't? So to achieve this goal, I resolve to use the new Biggest Loser cookbooks to cook healthy meals and lose 50 pounds by the August Berlin/Prague trip. To keep myself on track, I will post here the best food I loved and/or the most troubling dishes. I will NOT be posting a monthly weight update. However EVERY trip I take will have pictures of me and hopefully the differences each month will be noticeable.
In 1997 when I went to Europe the first time with my friend Carrie, she told me that EVERY picture had to have one of us in it. I juxtapose this with the last pictures I take and would love a happy medium. I have some great pictures of scenery marred only by a travel bedraggled woman with bed head (from sleeping on trains) that I really wish we would have taken without us in them. There has to be a happy medium.
2. I want to track what I read. In 2008 I resolved to track EVERY book I read. It was over 200 books. I read. A lot. And that was fun but not what I want to do again. I read about a bookstore in New York that groups books according to location. Supposedly you can email them a location and they will send you a list of books that you can buy from them that uses that location as a setting. Well I emailed and as of now I haven't heard back, but I can only imagine their puffed out inbox after being featured in a premier travel magazine. This led me to thinking that I want to do that here. I want to track everything I read based on location. I will list the labels on the blog so that anyone can link to a series of books based on the label for any location that I have read.
CAVEAT: I will not be listing all of the historical romances that I read like crazy because seven hundred London books set in the 1820s really isn't THAT informative for anyone who wants to read.
3. I want to spend less on crap. This pertains to T---tma because I have a tendency to buy any seemingly homemade crapola from any old native when I travel. Yesterday at breakfast I pulled out a bread basket made from Provencal material.
and told my husband that I wasn't going to buy any more souvenirs that I knew I wouldn't use. I wanted more like the breadbasket (or hell even a a coffee mug) and less of the jade (very very costly) elephant I got in Paris. WTH was I thinking? I mean who else doesn't immediately think of Paris when they see a Jade elephant???
Strangely enough that very day on the way to my inlaws I was reading a magazine article about the UNsouvenir. The author's main purpose was to buy items that the LOCALS use. I'm not going this far really. I just want to buy items that *I* will use. Like the candy dish from Mount Vernon I use to hold my jewelry
4. Learn something new I commit to this every year. But as I'm travelling to Czech Republic and Germany I'd like to learn enough conversational German to get by and quite a bit more Czech. We even get a Czech paper through our life insurance so I will have practice!
I think that's enough for this year. I've decided to go for the full marathon this year if I get chosen for Nike Women's Marathon again so I will have to start walking like mad very very very soon (like today). I turn 36 this year and with respect to my family's life expectancy half of my life is over. I want to really enjoy the second half!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Las Vegas---the City of Love (in an elevator)
Read the article published by Los Angeles Times.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-harlequin-books29-2009nov29,0,5491411.story
"And the heroines it depicted lived out female professional -- not necessarily sexual -- fantasies long before they became reality."
This was posted on a message board I frequent so Tracy and I went to see the display at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. What was really cool is that last year I volunteered to be my daughter's cheer coach (I know don't fall out of your chairs) and the head coach is a romance author who writes under the name of Kimberly Raye.
The display was very interesting really. About the history of Harlequin (it was originally a male/female publisher of mystery type books until the owners wife said hey I think Romance is the way to go!!!)
Here is the hotel:
The display (which was a bit hidden and hard to find :)
Kim's book on display:
How glad I am the covers have gome from this:
to this!!!
Next up tomorrow....RODEO! Long Live Cowboys!!!
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-harlequin-books29-2009nov29,0,5491411.story
"And the heroines it depicted lived out female professional -- not necessarily sexual -- fantasies long before they became reality."
This was posted on a message board I frequent so Tracy and I went to see the display at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. What was really cool is that last year I volunteered to be my daughter's cheer coach (I know don't fall out of your chairs) and the head coach is a romance author who writes under the name of Kimberly Raye.
The display was very interesting really. About the history of Harlequin (it was originally a male/female publisher of mystery type books until the owners wife said hey I think Romance is the way to go!!!)
Here is the hotel:
The display (which was a bit hidden and hard to find :)
Kim's book on display:
How glad I am the covers have gome from this:
to this!!!
Next up tomorrow....RODEO! Long Live Cowboys!!!
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