another list and other things

60 books up to this point:

The Family, Jeff Sharlet
The Film Club, David Gilmour
Righteous, Lauren Sandler
Death in a Prarie House, William Drennan
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortonson and David Oliver Relin
In Tongues of the Dead, Brad Kelln
Manhunt, James Swanson
The Heroines, Eileen Favorite
Che’s Afterlife, Michael Casey
Slam, Nick Hornby
Things I’ve Learned From Women Who’ve Dumped Me
Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffenegger
The Hardest Questions Aren’t On The Test, Nathan
Brain Rules, John Medina
Team of Rivals, Doris Kerns Goodwin
Offbeat Bride, Ariel Meadow Stallings
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
Shakespeare Wrote For Money, Nick Hornby

I just finished book 18, which means I'm three books ahead of schedule of 5 per month. I really enjoyed Team of Rivals and provided a lot of details about what made Lincoln a great president. He was very gracious in dealing with people, even when they didn't deserve it. At the time, some would say to a fault, but usual it meant that people were very loyal to Lincoln when he needed it. Her Fearful Symmetry got a lot of press as Niffenegger's second novel after The Time Traveler's Wife, but I wasn't as grabbed by it as her first novel. It was an interesting concept, but I couldn't like her main characters. They were too whiny, too unbelievable. It was interesting, but I wouldn't read it again. The Heroines was also kind of annoying.

There haven't really been any fiction books this year that really grabbed me... Hopefully something good will come along soon. I've got Food Rules by Michael Pollen at the library for me right now with some others requested. I've been waiting for Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna for months now, along with The Magicians (Grossman), Juliet, Naked (Hornby), and The Abstinence Teacher (Perrotta).

As you can tell from book number 16, there may or may not be a wedding in my future. Well, there will be weddings (5 so far this summer. Seriously?) but I suppose my own is in the works. That's right, another one bites the dust. I mean... whoo hoo marriage? Marriage!

Ok, kidding. I'm pretty psyched about it. The engagement was in talks for awhile but then I kind of jumped the gun and proposed to him on the fly. I ambushed him at the door with a loaf of his grandmother's zucchini bread and asked him before he could get both his boots off.

The big bash will be next year sometime, either spring or fall. Yeah, we've got some concrete details down for sure. We've got to save up some money to get things in motion, but I also think it would be helpful to get an idea of how much we need to save also. Which means a guest list, an idea of where things will be, etc.

I don't know if you know this, but I'm a little bit Type A. Ok, more than a little bit. I'm a Type A in Type B clothes. I've slowly begun to realize it in the past few years, but it shouldn't have been any surprise... I mean, I wrote an 80 page paper in college for fun, went to grad school, organized massive community events on a weekly/monthly basis, serve as president of the leadership team where I currently work, etc. Andrew is considerably less Type A than I am, which is nice but I don't want to feel like I'm running things. I feel like my own personality type will feed into the myths about weddings and "brides" that I despise.

I really hate gender stereotyping and the wedding industry is plagued with it in the worst way. Example: We got our fingers sized at a jewelry store so we could order our rings online. I asked all the questions and did the majority of the talking, but upon leaving, the salesperson shook Andrew's hand and not mine because, of course, he's going to be bankrolling the ridiculous diamond bling (These are our rings, btw. No diamonds).

So while most people expect the lady to plan most or all of the wedding (and go crazy about it), I want ours to be planned with equal input and effort and a fair division of labor. This is where my Type A-ness will be difficult because at times I feel like if I don't do something myself, it won't be done right. Generally, not just in relation to this. Andrew's opinion is important to me so I don't want to steamroll him, but that's my general nature. He knows this already, so it's not like it's a surprise. We'll just have to be careful in navigating it.

I'm intriqued and appalled by the wedding industry in general but I feel like it's watching sausages being made. Except at the end you don't have sausages but a marriage. Maybe? Did that metaphor work? Cross out marriage and put wedding. Marriage will be good, wedding will be the sausage. Except I generally like weddings because there are open bars and dancing. Fine, no sausage metaphor.

I just sneezed 4 times in a row. Allergies? No!

Maybe I'll get my hair cut this afternoon. I've been needing it. I think I last got it cut in November.

Official training for the Belling begins next week. It'll be nice to have some kind of structure to my workouts.

Maybe I'll make something different for dinner tonight. Stop by the grocery store after the proposed haircut?

Time to go blow my nose. Bacher out.