My Aspiration List

Now that Olivia is flourishing in her French school and we have taken our dream vacation, I'm ready to set some new goals for myself for the new year. I have a long list of rad things I'd like to accomplish but it always seems like there are dumb obstacles like money, poor timing, or being afraid of failure. I am no longer going to make excuses for not reaching for my goals.

My Aspiration List
Practicing / French every Thursday with my tutor Fanny and the art of PATIENCE!
Mastering / icing a cake and being on time
Eating / more fresh fruit, less fast food and I really want to eat at Ba restaurant
Drinking / spa water, no more soda for me
Learning / to listen more than I speak, drive a stick shift and to stop procrastinating
Trying / to make my big, amazing dream come true next year (fingers crossed!)
Playing / Nintendo Wii with Olivia
Finishing / all the projects I start and Liv's baby book (ahem, stop procrastinating!!)
Reading / Not That Kind of Girl and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
Watching / American Horror Story: Freakshow, Broad City and this Banksy documentary
Listening / Sia's Chandelier and Phantogram
Remembering / to water our plants

our fig fiddle plant is doing so well

Wearing / white dresses, my new shoes and French braids in my hair
Cooking / everything in my crock pot
Working / on getting Olivia more modeling jobs and joining Pop Physique
Traveling / our next road trip to Portland and hopefully we'll visit Evelyn & Dion in New York
Wanting / to say yes to new things, color my hair and to get Invisalign braces
Shopping / for new bedroom curtains, this print and a new camera (bought one on sale last week!)

On Thanksgiving we participated in a secret confetti fight

What are your goals/dreams/aspirations? You have any big New Year plans? I have a huge one but I going to wait to share it. Bonne Chance!

Laptop still broken

50 Things About Me.

1. I am an only child
2. My Mom is also an only child
3. My three year old daughter is an only child
4. I won the Showcase Showdown on the Price is Right when I was 19



5. I won a trip to Venice, Italy, living room furniture and $1,000
6. I have been with my husband for 17 years
7. We have been happily married for 11 years
8. My first job was a camp counselor
9. I was a girl scout for 5 years
10. I prefer being hot to being cold
11. My favorite color is pink
12. I adore freckles
13. I am addicted to instagram
14. and Pinterest
15. I was a child model
16. Bjork is my favorite singer
17. I have seen her live 5 times
18. I went to Paris just to see her live
19. I snuck into her after party after a concert and partied with her
20. I am a celebrity stalker
21. I have met Bjork, Jodie Foster, Spike Lee, Kevin Spacey, Jessica Alba, *I grew up knowing Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood*, *used to play kickball with Mena Suvari*, Jeff Goldblum, Alan Cumming, Tori Spelling, and more D-list celebs to name, *I live in LA* PS Tony Kanal from No Doubt most adorable daughter goes to Liv's preschool but I pretend I have no idea who he is. Coco and Liv are homies.
22. I love maps and geography
23. I wish I was a world ambassador
24. I can not stand car air conditioning
25. I was wearing my Hot dog on a Stick uniform when I got my drivers license at age 16
26. I am obsessed with Marina Abramovic
27. My favorite movie is The Shining
28. I have a cat named Lola
29. She is named after Dolores Haze from Lolita
30. I love to swim
31. I hate to exercise
32. I wish I had better grammar and a stronger vocabulary
33. I love making lists
34. I love eating ice
35. Jason Schwartzman is my celebrity crush
36. My favorite directors are Stanley Kubrick, Wes Anderson, PT Anderson and Quentin Tarintino
37. I was almost named Ira
38. I desperately want to learn how to speak French
39. Are you bored yet?
40. Planning and throwing a party is my idea of fun
41. I love balloons, flowers, desserts and pretty handwriting
42. I want a pen pal
43. My favorite song *of the moment* is École Buissonnière by Jean Constantin
44. I believe in life after death
45. Halloween is my favorite holiday
46. I am superstitious
47. I have been trying to get my daughter an agent for the last three years
48. I think popular sports are dumb and pointless
49. I hate raw onions
50. I’m going make more of these about me lists

#my life #list #50thingsabout me #hello I'm awesome

I took this from my tumblr. Liv was featured on Children with Swag *whatever that is* 

30 Day Photo Challenge

I feel like I've been slacking in taking quality photos lately. I don't know if  it's from my phone being dropped a million times by Liv but my photos don't come out as crisp or bright as I'd like. I am going to start using my Nikon SLR camera more often.

I'm going to challenge myself to take 30 days of photos with a different theme every day of August. I will follow this list.

These are pretty easy, I'll have to make my own bokeh lens and play around with the settings a lot but I'm excited for this project. Feel free to join me, I'd love to have someone else to play along with.

Antz Birthday Weekend Wrap Up

We have been on a sabbatical for the past four days. My lovely husband turned 38 and we celebrated and hiked the desert hills.

Don't worry folks, he doesn't have a mohawk, this photo was taken years ago

His old fridge in his office at work needed replacing so we bought him a bigger version for keeping his favorite drinks *Diet peach Snapple* cold.

I love his butt birthday card *I'm butt #3*

We had a delish home cooked birthday feast.

Thank God for air conditioning since it was super hot. My Mom, Liv and I got in the hot tub which even though it was 80 degrees, felt great. Liv is learning how to blow bubbles in the water now. So that's as close to a pool as I got.

All my outdoor fun plans *beach, picnic at the Silverlake meadow* went out the window when it was close to 100 degrees. Antz was stationed under the air conditioning vents. We managed to take Liv to the movies. I had to snap this photo of the adorable little Mike Wazowski *don't worry, I was sitting in the last row and turned my brightness all the way down, nothing irritates me more than when someone is on their bright phone during a movie*

I noticed by the thousands of photos of this exact same image on Instagram, I'm not the only one who had this idea. Monsters University was really good, I highly recommend it. I also bought The Great & Powerful Oz on DVD for Liv. We took her to see it at the movies and even though I was concerned it would be too scary for her, she LOVED it. Antz even made her a paper version of Glinda's crown and wand *after she begged us to buy her one everyday*

*I'm not even joking, she wears her Cinderella dress and glass slippers all day, every day!*

Antz and I saw World War Z last week and it was entertaining. There are parts, particularly the ending that will disappoint, but anything with Brad Pitt keeps my attention *I like his greybeard stoner face*

I was hoping to have a BBQ for the 4th of July but now we don't think it's gonna happen. We took our cat Lola to the vet and she had an unexplainable accident that ended up with her getting stitches on her leg. Now she is on two medications that we have to give her 4 times a day. If you have ever given meds to a cat orally, you'll know how miserable we all are. Seeing her limp around the house is sadders but we have to keep her inside until she heals so she cries to go out all the time. It sucks, my poor Lola in her cone of shame.

I haven't been so happy happy either, I have been working on Liv's 3rd scrapbook on Shutterfly. Her first 2 books were a breeze to make but for some weird reason when I used the editing tools on Firefox *which is my preferred browser* it kept crashing. So I open it in Safari, it works but I can't upload photos from my Instagram account, d'oh! So let's just say, I am having a hard time finishing it. Then I have 550 photos to edit and of course I want to use every single one of them but the book has only 45 pages and I'm trying to condense. You guys know how I'm all about quantity and not so consistent with quality!

Well, since I'm on nurse duty this week, I may not be able to blog often. Just know I'm here, thinking of completing my Summer Bucket List.

1. As always, Beach days!!
2. Last year we didn't make it to a concert at the Hollywood bowl, so I'm super stoked to see Björk at the Bowl June 11th!! *Björk was AMAZING!!*
   
3. Attend Liv's school Summer Masquerade Serenade *We had a wonderful time*
   
   
   
4. Grill this!!     

Rosemary and beef kebabs

    5.  Have a family BBQ *Possibly Maybe soon?*
    6.  Braid my hair *Done.

Before


After, Very Fancy!

        7. Go to Disneyland *for Liv's 3rd Birthday*

         8.  Have dinner at Knotts Berry Farm.  *I love their biscuits with Knott's jam*
         9.  Attend Tom & Jess's beach wedding in July.

        10. Attend the Renegade Craft Fair *one of my favorite summer events*
        11. Have a friends BBQ *and make a signature cocktail*
        12. Cook at least 5 recipes from my Pinterest board *and use my new crock pot*
        13. Take Olivia to see Monster's University
        14. Stage an intervention for Amanduh Bynes *we're all concerned*
        15. Buy this adorable sun hat for me, a Mexican dress for Olivia and Antz could use
              new sunglasses too!

Kate Spade Hello Sunshine raffia sun hat *it's sold out at Nordstrom :(

      16.  Go bike riding on the Strand

      Bonus: Swim/tan as often as possible!!

Summer Bucket List 2013

Memorial day weekend kicks off summer season for me. Even though we didn't do much
but nap, watch the telly *Behind the Candelabra was fantastic* we did have a rad time having a playdate with Kieran & Finn, celebrating Charlotte's 3rd birthday and hanging out with Antz Mom and sister Clinnie. Antz even fired up his new grill!

I almost died from cuteness when she held baby brother Finn. I can't believe he's 5 months already!

It's time to find a swingset for Liv so she doesn't have to play on our tree stumps during playdates!

Holding hands at the comic book store Thank You

I hope they stay homies for life!

Liv went to Charlotte's birthday party at Travel Town.

We picked up some new chairs and a new umbrella for the patio and Antz put together his new Stok grill.

Links & white corn

Our Summer Bucket List

1. As always, Beach days!! We don't go as much as I'd like but I have the worst luck because when we do, it's usually so windy it's too cold or the beaches we've been to are full of rocks. This year I'm heading north in search of the perfect beach *hidden away from the crowds*
2. Last year we didn't make it to a concert at the Hollywood bowl, so I'm super stoked to see Björk at the Bowl June 11th!!
3. Attend Liv's school Summer Masquerade Serenade *Antz made the poster*
   
   
   
4. Grill this!!     

Rosemary and beef kebabs

    5.  Have a family BBQ *Besides our Moms and Antz sister, no one has seen the new kitchen*
    6.  Braid my hair *I usually braid my own hair when we travel so I don't have to pack my flatiron or deal with hours of blow drying and then straightening my wig.* It's much easier to have braids over the summer, just wash and let them air dry, but it takes me about 3 days to finish them and very sore hands.

With Aimee in London

Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy

Lately my wig has been awful, I need to run to Drybar!!

        7. Go to Disneyland *for Liv's 3rd Birthday* I can't believe the last time we went was almost a year ago!

         8.  Have dinner at Knotts Berry Farm.  *I love their biscuits and Knott's jam*
         9.  Attend Tom & Jess's beach wedding

        10.  Attend the Renegade Craft Fair *one of my favorite summer events*
        11. Have a friends BBQ *and make a signature cocktail*
        12. Cook at least 5 recipes from my Pinterest board *and use my new crock pot*
        13. Take Olivia to see Monster's University
        14. Stage an intervention for Amanduh Bynes *we're all concerned*
        15. Buy this adorable sun hat for me, a Mexican dress for Olivia and Antz could use
new sunglasses too!

Kate Spade Hello Sunshine raffia sun hat

      16.  Go bike riding on the Strand

      Bonus: Swim/tan as often as possible!!

Any summer plans lovelies? Share them with me. I feel like we do the same thing every year. If I had the funds, I'd love to rent a beach house for a week or buy a backyard play set for Liv, similar to this one.

Monkey Mansion outdoor Playhouse

 Sheesh, Did you see that price tag??!!

A - Z of Elizabeth

This is what happens when SNL is a re-run.



A. Age: trente-six
B. Bed size: queen, which is ridiculous for humans of our stature
C. Chore that you hate: used to be washing dishes before we got our plumbing fixed, now it's cleaning the toilet, cleaning the litterbox and cleaning Liv's potty - anything poop related.
D. Dogs: none at the moment, when Liv turns 5 or 6, we'll look into adopting. *I want a pug, Antz wants a bulldog
E. Essential start to your day: pee, brush my teeths, saying good morning to Liv in French, and turning off our house alarm system
F. Favorite color: green, pink and turquoise
G. Gold or Silver: either but lately I LOVE GOLD!!

H. Height: five foot ten *I'm a giant*
I. Instruments you play: merely for fun, I play a little piany and a mean kazoo
J. Job title: Liv's unpaid nanny and former hair stylist
K. Kids: Light of my life, Olivia Lily

L. Live: Hipster Highland Park, California
M. Mother’s name: Bobbye Jean
N. Nicknames: Liz *which I find to be boring* Aimee calls me Lizzie, my Mom has called me Bethye since I was born. Antz and I have a secret nickname for each other.
O. Overnight hospital stays:  Luckily only 2 nights when I gave birth to our daughter
P. Pet peeves: The phrase "At the end of the day," when people leave the light on in rooms they aren't using, Vaguebookers, panhandlers in Los Angeles, how annoyingly poor my grammar is
Q. Quote from a movie: "Constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating." Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and "Oh, please, tell me, Elizabeth, how exactly does one suck a fuck?" Jake Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko
R. Right or left handed: Righty tighty!
S. Siblings: none!!
T. Tattoos: none, but maybe when I turn 69?
U. Underwear: I'mma keep it real, I don't wear thongs unless it's necessary, I adore my girl shorts in black. Totally comfy and never gives me wedgies!!
V. Vegetable you hate: ALL OF THEM!! I particularly loathe raw onions
W. What makes you run late: procrastination, hair snafus and constantly having to run back upstairs to grab something I forgot
X. X-Rays you’ve had: recently I had my back x-rayed. Is that the proper past tense for x-ray?
Y. Yummy food that you make: spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread and a mean grilled cheese sandwich. When our new kitchen is finished, I vow to cook more often *and plan to take a cooking class*
Z. Zoo animal: Polar bears make me extreme happy. I also could watch elephants forever

I found this post on Our City Lights. Diana has much more interesting answers. 

Book Club

First rule of Book Club....READ BOOKS!!!

I spent years with my nose stuck in a book in my preteen days. Granted, they weren't classics but mostly Sweet Valley High, Babysitters Club and Judy Blume novels but I would read an entire book a day. Even at a young age, I would sneak books from my Mom's secret shelves in the back of the top kitchen cabinets. I would read Stephen King in the middle of the night with a flashlight, too terrified to sleep. I also read Dante's Inferno and Fahrenheit 451 not fully understanding most of it but still intrigued. My love of reading has feigned these days. I'm so busy *poor excuse* and when I do get a minute to myself, I'm usually catching up my magazines or watching a Netflix dvd I've had for weeks. The point is, I want Olivia to share a love for books. She has several books that are her favorite *Charlotte's Web, Star Wars ABC's & a pop-up book Godmommy Leslie bought her from Alaska about sea creatures* but she isn't so keen on sitting still long enough to get through me reading her more than 5 pages. So I'm going to set the example, I would like to complete this list by the time Liv can read on her own. Most of these I read in 7th and 8th grade but I can say I didn't appreciate them so much while having to write essays on them in English class.

250 Book Challenge

1984 by George Orwell
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain *half finished*
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
The Art of Fiction by Henry James
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Babe by Dick King-Smith
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney
The Bhagava Gita
The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy
Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel
A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner
Candide by Voltaire
The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman
Christine by Stephen King
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
The Collected Short Stories by Eudora Welty
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty
A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Complete Novels by Dawn Powell
The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton
Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père
Cousin Bette by Honor’e de Balzac
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Cujo by Stephen King
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Daisy Miller by Henry James
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Da Vinci -Code by Dan Brown 
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Deenie by Judy Blume
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx
The Divine Comedy by Dante
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
Don Quijote by Cervantes
Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
Eloise by Kay Thompson
Emily the Strange by Roger Reger
Emma by Jane Austen 
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Ethics by Spinoza
Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Extravagance by Gary Krist
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore
The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan
Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1 of The Lord of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien 
Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce
Fletch by Gregory McDonald
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg
Gidget by Fredrick Kohner
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
The Gospel According to Judy Bloom
The Graduate by Charles Webb
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Group by Mary McCarthy
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry  *I read this book when I was 11, I have a weird fascination with murder*
Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare
Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare
Henry V by William Shakespeare
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
How the Light Gets in by M. J. Hyland
Howl by Allen Gingsburg
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
The Iliad by Homer
I’m with the Band by Pamela des Barres
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy
It Takes a Village by Hillary Clinton
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence
The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway
The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Love Story by Erich Segal
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Manticore by Robertson Davies
Marathon Man by William Goldman
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken
The Merry Wives of Windsro by William Shakespeare
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin
Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor
A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman
Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret
A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh
My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken
My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen
New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Night by Elie Wiesel
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan
Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell
Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Old School by Tobias Wolff
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan
Oracle Night by Paul Auster
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Othello by Shakespeare
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
Out of Africa by Isac Dineson
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche
The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Property by Valerie Martin
Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Quattrocento by James Mckean
A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers 
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman
The Return of the King: The Lord of the Rings Book 3 by J. R. R. Tolkien (TBR) – read
R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton
Rita Hayworth by Stephen King
Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert
Roman Fever by Edith Wharton
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Several Biographies of Winston Churchill
Sexus by Henry Miller
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Shane by Jack Shaefer
The Shining by Stephen King
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton
Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers
Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore
The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos
The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
Songbook by Nick Hornby
The Sonnets by William Shakespeare
Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams
Stuart Little by E. B. White
Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett
Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
Time and Again by Jack Finney
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee  *my favorite book*
The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Trial by Franz Kafka
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Unless by Carol Shields
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker
What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion


Geez, I have a ton of reading to do. It's sad that I've seen more movie adaptations of these books than read them. My friend Story has probably read 95% of this list. I blame blogs *mostly dlisted*, they suck out a great deal of my time. Please feel free to pass this list along but please, remember the first rule of Book Club.


Happy Reading!

Beach Volleyball

We played beach volleyball today and I am sore and starving so while I pour my glass of Moscato wine, please enjoy these photos Antz snapped since I completely forgot to take any pictures. *so unlike me, huh?

 Summer has just one week left, so here's a look at the status of my Summer Bucket List.

1. New patio furniture/re-seed the backyard grass *make it pretty again*
2. Celebrate Antz birthday in style *DONE*
3. Attend a concert at the Hollywood Bowl
4. Beach Day *DONE*
5. Sprinkles Ice Cream
6. Attend Liv's Pre-school Summer Serenade

7. Weekly Farmer's Market
8. Attend Carlos & Stephanie's baby shower *DONE*
9. See Brave at the El Capitan Theater *DONE*
10. Make cornbread from scratch *DONE*
11. Scooter playdate with Kieran *DONE*
12. Ride the ferris wheel at Balboa boardwalk
13. Road Trip! *DONE*
14. Go to the Los Angeles Public Library *and ride Angel's Flight*
15. Summer BBQ *DONE*
16. Attend a Bonfire
I had to include a photo of my BFF who has the stomach of a sumo wrestler!!! She does not fuck around when it's sushi time!!!