“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” –Stephen King
Category Archives: On Writing
Part of My Happiness Project Fulfilled
Hey everyone. I know I have been a very absent blogger in the past few weeks. It’s been a whirlwind of wedding joy.
But I just needed to check in and let you know that I fulfilled a goal that I set out for myself in 2011 and in 2012. And that was to become a Weddingbee! I was just accepted yesterday, and I’m on Cloud Nine about it. I know this blog suffered a lot to become a bee, and I just want to let you all know that it was not in vain.
I will be posting more regularly on this blog once we get back from Costa Rica. I will be sharing our travel adventures and the books I have read recently. Blogging has been such a great experience thus far, and I want to continue to write as much as I can.
I know that not all of you are interested in wedding talk, which is why I try to keep them separate, but if you are interested in following an abbreviated version of my wedding planning journey on the Bee, I will be introduced today as Miss Genie! Every time I think about my intro to the Hive tomorrow, I want to pinch myself.
Happy. Healthy. 2012 Update #1
Oh, my! My year has already been a whirlwind, and I can’t believe that two months have passed. And, I don’t believe the next ten will slow down, and definitely not the next four, for sure. But I thought it would be good to pop in with an update of my 2012 resolutions. Become more … Keep reading
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!
I’m sure you all have noticed that the blog has changed up a bit. Most notably, I purchased my domain name of ayestria.com. So, if you follow me in your Google Reader or on Blog Lovin’, you’ll have to change the URL to http://ayestria.com to keep reading my posts! Also, I decided that since my … Keep reading
Year in Review
I am back from my holiday hiatus. I have spent a lot of time eating, reading, and spending time with family and friends. However, the eve of the new year is upon us, and it is only fitting that this post be a moment of reflection and sentiment on another year passed. Nearly a year … Keep reading
What’s that you say? Freshly Pressed?
*Written on Friday evening, after a whirlwind day of reading and processing all of your great comments! Today was a big day for me. My post about giraffes was Freshly Pressed! I didn’t know it had been FP’d until my inbox was flooded with a long list of WordPress emails. My first thought was that … Keep reading
Globetrotting, “Cookery-bookery,” and Smiles All the Way
I just finished My Life in France by Julia Child and her great nephew, Alex Prud’homme.
FYI, they used that image for homemade Valentine’s Day cards to their friends! This was way before Shutterfly, people. How cute are they?
It took a while to read this book, mostly because I took a break to read The Weird Sisters in the middle of it. But I loved it. If you loved the movie version of Julie and Julia, I’m guessing you loved it for the Meryl Streep/Julia Child parts. Um, duh. Amy Adams is great, but her character is not Julia Child, and therefore, is not as fun.
The best part of reading this book was realizing that the fabulous Ms. Streep was not making up that character at all. Julia was like that, in her life, in her writing. Her passion and zest for life was so apparent in this book. The book mostly follows the writing of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, much like the film does. Except that the writing of this book took something like 10 years, and the journey only began in France. The movie severely condenses the story to fit into France only.
Anywho, back to the book. Julia really just tried everything. Paul was a supportive husband, an artist, photographer, and great lover of food and wine. Their love for each other seeps out of everywhere. Paul helped Julia every step of the way. And Julia moved wherever Paul needed to be for his thankless job. She made accommodations to work on her book from everywhere. And they made the best of every situation. They lived a life so different from my original idea of post-World War II life. I found out through my Cold War class that the suburban life was actually unavailable to most Americans immediately after WWII.
But what really gets me is that they lived a lifestyle so different from the one I think I will live, not because I don’t want to, but because we can’t do everything. While I would love to live abroad for a year or two, between school and prospective child-rearing, it’s just not in the life plan. But it’s fun to read about people who did, and continue to do. Carrie in Boston, AKA Weddingbee’s Mrs. Octopus, recently talked about having to make life choices. I was right in the middle of reading MLIF, and she perfectly summed up how I was feeling.
“Life itself is the proper binge”- Julia Child
Julia Child is so fascinating to me. She was an optimist and lived life to the fullest. She took advantage of every opportunity, and became one of the most famous chefs in American history. Have you heard of the James Beard Award? (That’s right, Top Chef fans, I’m talking to you!) She was buddies with James Beard! She called him Jim, and people called them Gigi when they were cooking together. She was legit, and she just started cooking so that she could enjoy the food around her. Look what that turned into! She lived to be almost 92. I have no doubt her happiness for life kept her alive that long.
“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”- Julia Child
A Bore No More!
Oh, what a joy it is to be busy! But also what a sadness it is that it affords me too little time to read and write as much as I would like. It also has allowed me to reflect back on my writing. I am a work in progress, of course. The last few book reviews I’ve done have definitely sounded like essay-ish book reports desperately trying to talk about the books without giving anything away. Maybe I should read this book next?
Is boring an adjective or a verb in this sentence?
After reading the last couple of books, I think have to be honest with myself and read books that I like and can talk about how they affected me the way I used to write. I don’t want to be boring. I would like to think that I am very thoughtful in the process of choosing the books I read. I try to choose books that I have a connection to. So, I will make more of an effort to not sound like an analytic English major, and more like your book club friend. I will be honest and sometimes be funny. (Not guaranteed. My sense of humor is a little different.)
I’m going to have fun with it again. I love reading and I love talking about books. That’s what I’m going to do. OK, then. See you next time when I talk about how I really felt about The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown.
I’m Going to Participate, Too!
So, today is Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday, a day to indulge before 40 days of self-discipline. Pretty similar to Ramadan. I’m not Catholic. But I think I could do with some spiritual cleansing. And really, I don’t think you have to give up anything. I would like to think that we can take up a discipline to enforce a good habit for beyond the Lenten season. With all that being said, I have come up with some realistic goals for myself.
1. Work on a puzzle, such as a crossword or Sudoku every morning. My hope is that I get used to spending at least an hour away from a computer screen every morning, and allow myself to exercise my brain instead of checking my Facebook.
2. Read or hand-write every evening for at least an hour before bed. Again, this is to end my day away from a computer or television screen. This will also help with more private and open self reflection.
3. Start Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown. I’ve never tried yoga before. It would be a real exercise for me (mentally and physically), I think.
These are my goals. I’ve read a lot recently about spending time away from screens. We have been taken over by having the Internet accessible in so many ways. I just need to step away from that and worry less about who is reading my blogs, what wedding inspirations I can work with, and what everyone else is doing. I will not ward off the Internet entirely, but m hope is that I will be much more productive with what I choose to do because my time will be limited significantly. Either that or I will have to wake up much earlier and go to bed much later!
Life’s Curveballs
Loving myself is often a challenge. I like to think I pamper myself and take care of myself, but spiritually and emotionally, I have been drowning.
This all became apparent on Saturday night when a little tiff with my fiancee ended with me literally sobbing for an hour. And I’m talking full force ugly cry with sound effects that should not (and possibly can’t) be repeated. It was awful, and it had nothing to do with E. He tried valiantly to comfort me and hep me work out a plan and listen to everything that was tumbling out of my mouth at ridiculous speed garbled by the crying sounds. I do not recommend holding this all in to anyone. And it was hard to realize and come to terms with my “depression,” of sorts.
You see, everyone, I think this comes down to pride. I am frustrated and sad and unable to understand why I am not a desirable candidate for a job. I have always been a go-getter, a person that works to get to the top. A person that doesn’t typically fail. I came to terms with failure in college, and I am understanding of that. But its hard to think of a very expensive education not being put to use. It’s hard to think that I look bad on paper. I must really look bad on paper. And on top of that, I also don’t really know what I want to do. And I think that’s the hardest part. Can I invest myself so fully into something I may not love forever just to be doing something? This is my honest dilemma.
I have so much to be thankful for that it becomes really hard to tell anyone these things, so I am coming clean. I am thankful for the love in my life, for my family, friends, and for the everyday comforts that surround me. I am thankful for my great education. And I am thankful for being able to write daily in a public forum. But, I want more. Is that bad? I want to be appreciated for my talents, and I want to be a better contributor to my family, my fiancee, and to society. So today, I begin to make things happen. I begin to study, to write more, to research and to figure out what I should do. And I stop moping and holding in all this frustration. I will keep going and taking the steps I need to take, and I will practice patience. Life will get better. I will be better, and in the end I will love myself wholly for everything I tried to do.
Thanks for sticking with me for yet another emotional breakdown. I appreciate it.
