Chicken in the WHAT?

Ugh, I've neglected my blog for over a week and have much to write about.  School's out, Mother Nature has finally figured out it's summer, we celebrated a birthday, and we went on an amazing River Cruise around Chicago. 

May 24 is a special day in our household (Scott's birthday), and it was made even more special by the fact that our good friend Melisa celebrated her book launch on a Chicago river cruise.  After six years of research, she finally released her travel guide for families of tweens and teens.  After reading the book, I think that any age can appreciate the book.


The title of the book, Chicken in the Car and the Car Won't Go, is from an old folk poem? song? that starts out like this:  Chicken in the car and the car won't go; that's how you spell Chicago.  According to Melisa, her mom used to recite that to her and her sister when they were children.

Melisa wrote the book and it was a total family affair.  Her sister Julie took the author picture and her older son did the graphic work on the cover. 

Melisa's sister Julie, photographer extraordinaire

Our boys from left:  Nick, Melisa's younger son, her older son

My family and I drove up to the suburbs to meet them at their house to follow them into the city and to help carry things onto the boat.  I thought that since it was late afternoon the traffic wouldn't be very congested.  I'm naive.  Scott did a great job staying right with them, though, which can be nerve wracking when you're in city traffic.  It's a good thing he was driving.  He knows how to keep his cool, especially when you have three teen aged boys and one wife talking constantly.  ;)

driving into the city

We found a parking garage very close to the pizza place where we were to get the food for the cruise.  We met Jim, Melisa and Julie (Melisa's mom was waiting at the pier with the various accoutrement).  Scott was to go with Jim to pick up the pizza, but Melisa warned him that he shouldn't be around the bad karma in that vehicle on his birthday.  So, Jim, one of their boys, and Julie got the pizza and the rest of us walked to the pier.  I'm not going to lie, it got a bit hairy as we were taking wrong turns and having a bit of difficulty finding our way there. 

finally at the pier with a view of the Chicago flag, Illinois flag, and the US flag

 BUT, in the end, it was all good, we made it in plenty of time and as soon as the boat pulled in, we were able to board and set things up.

A few important people in Melisa's life were unable to come, including her father who was stuck in TN dealing with issues at his hotel, but she made a special extension of her name tag to honor them.


We enjoyed Chicago style deep dish pizza, along with other Chicago based specialities.

We cruised around Navy Pier...

and up and down the river and had amazing views of the city...





We had a fabulous time on the boat.  After the cruise, we loaded their SUV and were set to meet them at their house (because we had their boys with us!)  Hmmm, this is where it got interesting.  It was cold for May.  I had on sandals (bad idea) and no jacket.  Chicago is windy (duh) and we were walking all over the place trying to find that stupid parking garage.  We knew the intersection where it was located, the trick was to find one of the streets of the intersection.  Finally, I decided that we needed to go into a restaurant to get directions.  Sound familiar?  And, as luck would have it, we were 2 blocks from one of the streets and then another 2 blocks from that intersection.  YAY!

We got the boys home around 11:30ish and then drove the 1 1/2 hours back down here to Farm Country.  It was a wonderful day, and words can't describe how happy, proud, excited we are for our friend!

Melisa, you rock!

My Natural Highs

One of my hobbies is reading.  I read magazines (mainly cooking mags), books, and blogs.  One of the blogs I read daily is Jodie's It's ALL Good in Mommyhood.  She had a post up about things that give her a 'natural high' and it started the wheels turning in my head about the things that give me a natural high.  As you can see from yesterday's vlog, it doesn't take much to make me laugh, even at myself.  I'm a pretty happy person most of the time. 

Here is my list:  taking long walks with Scott, talking to the boy on the phone, spending quality time with my little family of three, date nights, the beach, spending time with my sister, Disney World, getting hugs from my students, feeling like a rockstar when they yell, "Mrs C!" when I get to school, having girl time with friends, planning a holiday meal, preparing for Christmas, surprising the boy on Christmas morning, puppies, hugs from my mom, bonding with my other mother, book club, planning vacations, reality tv ;), blogging, Andy Cohen (how much fun would it be to hang out with him?), hugs from my nieces, visiting Amish country with my mom, seeing the man our boy is becoming, quiet time with Scott.

This list could go on and on.  Life is great.  What are some of your natural highs?

Two Great Books....

I've mentioned before that I enjoy reading.  Sometimes I like to read fluff, but most of the time, I like to read something that has substance to it.  I belong to a book club with some wonderful women and we all take turn choosing a book each month.  March was my turn to choose and I chose One Thousand White Women:  The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus.  One of the things that completely fascinated me about this book is the fact that it was written by a man, but in a woman's voice.  Click on the link and you can read the synopsis of the book.  It's a beautiful piece of historical fiction and I highly recommend it. 

Saturday, I started (and finished!) the book Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez.  This book was about the relationship between the slave owners and their enslaved black mistresses.  Click on the link to read the full synopsis for this book also.  It's a fascinating, and heart-breaking read. 

Do you have any good books that you would recommend? 

My First Review!

I have a friend who has been blogging for years. She now has 2 blogs because she also does product reviews for companies. She's been given cars to drive for a few days, food products to test, household products, etc. I think it's fun that she gets to do that. I think it's a great idea because she's a 'normal' person who I trust to give an honest opinion. So, when she told me that her friend from high school wrote a book and asked if I wanted to do a review on my blog, I jumped at the chance!

I received this in the mail yesterday....

It's called The Traveling Tea Ladies: Death in Dallas by Melanie O'Hare-Salyers. Cute cover, right? I turned to the title page inside the book and to my surprise, Melanie had autographed the book for me. She wrote, "Until our next cup of tea, Melanie." How sweet!

The back of the book describes this group of women as "Charlie's Angels meet Steel Magnolias." I was intrigued by the group of friends and the fact that there are actual recipes in the back of the book. My mom, sister, and I have been to a tea room in my sister's small town and we really enjoyed the experience. Since then, we've been dreaming of having high tea at the Grand Floridian in Walt Disney World. One of these days! After reading about Melanie's real life tea room, Miss Melanie's Tea Room in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, I think it's a must see for my mom, sister, and me 'one of these days.'

I sat down to start the book yesterday afternoon. I didn't intend to read the entire book in one evening, but after dealing with the dental office billing department and waiting all afternoon/early evening for them to return my call (I even missed my book club because I was waiting for their non-existent return call), this book was a fun diversion. I put it down long enough to cook dinner, and then again to watch The Biggest Loser. I then picked it back up and stayed up until I finished it. It was that good!

I love the way Salyers describes the personality of each woman in the book. Another thing I really liked was the food she described and the styles that each woman wore. I am not a trend setter and wouldn't be accused of being 'fashion forward', but it was fun to read about the fashions that each woman wore in the story. Each day in the book, Salyers described what each woman was wearing. Fun! The recipes in the back of the book sound delicious and I will definitely try some of them since I love to cook and bake. The recipes include peanut butter pie, key lime pie, fried green tomatoes, Tennessee corn fritters, chocolate chip scones, among others.

Don't let the sub title fool you. This isn't a dark book. This is a light, fun read that I had a difficult time putting down. It was definitely a page turner! The girls travel to Dallas for Amelia's 20th college reunion at SMU. They come face-to-face with Amelia's old sorority friends, former fiancee, and her old nemesis. Without giving any of the details and ruining the ending, the weekend getaway lasts longer than they anticipated because one of Amelia's old friends was murdered. That's where the mystery comes in and the four friends are on a mission to find the real killer!

I'm looking forward to the next book that comes out in 2011 called The Traveling Tea Ladies: Death in Dixie! You can visit her websites www.Smokymountaincoffee-herb-tea.com and www.TheTeaAcademy.com for more information and some great shopping!

I will definitely be sharing this book with my tea loving mom and sister! Thanks for the opportunity to read and review your book, Melanie!

xoxo

Looking for a Good Book?

I just finished On Gold Mountain by Lisa See. Her books are wonderful! This book is the true story of her great-great grandfather's journey to America (Gold Mountain) to work on the railroad, and her great grandfather's journey to American to look for his father. However, Fong See decides to stay and his father returns home to China. The book follows Fong See's life on Gold Mountain, his struggles, his triumphs, his loyalty to his Chinese family.




Another great book by Lisa See is Snowflower and the Secret Fan. This was the first book of hers that I read. Set in 19th century China, it tells the story of the Chinese women, how they had their feet bound and lived in seclusion for most of their lives. Another very fascinating story that gives us a small peek into the Chinese culture.



**I am not being compensated in any way or promoting these books. I just want to share my love of books and to give some suggestions for books that I enjoy. :)

Do you have any great suggestions to share?

Book Club

I joined a book club a few months ago. I should say that I re-joined the book club because I was a member a few years ago, but dropped out because I was busy being a mom, Scout leader, etc. Now, I'm not so busy. This month's selection was Under this Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell.

This is a very good book, but very depressing. I'm hoping the book that's chosen tonight is a bit lighter.

After school today, my friend Becky and I were having a conversation about book club. It went something like this:
Becky: So, what was your book for this month?

Me: Under this Unbroken Sky by Shandi somethingorother

Becky: Was it good?

Me: yeah, but it was depressing

Becky: So, what do you do at book club? Ask one another comprehension questions about the book?

Me: haha No, we sit and say what we liked about it, what we didn't like about it and then we eat.

Becky: So, book club is really a code word for getting together with friends and eating.

Me: And your point is?


Have you read any good books lately?