the.book.chat What should we read?

As always, my book chat prompt is brought to you by Jessica @ SweetGreenTangerine. 
   Every Thursday.
   Check it out.

This week she asks:

What book should we read?

Good question - when in doubt, pick up a travel book.

   Do Something.

   Go Somewhere.
   Always.

If you are visiting an establishment & you have the chance to have the owners sign your book, I suggest you do so! 

Its all about the memories.

Look at all those glorious tabs. So many places marked, so few actually visited. 
Next on the list: Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico. Then Carlsbad Caverns National Park, also in New Mexico. 
We may technically live in Texas right now, but we rarely ever explore Texas. New Mexico is right down I-10 and we much prefer to head that direction.  Everywhere I want to explore in Texas is minimum of 500 miles away. I'm tempted to hop on a plane for a two hour flight to Austin... All in due time I suppose.

Up to Tuesday ::: Wish of a Lifetime

What am I up to on this fine Tuesday in the Southwest?  Scouring Pinterest, of course. In my mindless pinning, I came across a little info about a blog dedicated to making senior wishes come true.     Ok, has your heart melted yet?     Mine totally did.

This one is for a man, Tom, who can no longer travel due to the end stages of COPD. From a novice traveler to a senior traveler, sending him a postcard is the least I could do.  

Our postcard to Tom went out yesterday. While putting the red flag up on the mailbox, my son wasn't sure why we were sending a stranger a postcard. At that time, it dawned on me. We haven't been practicing our R.A.K's anymore. This is something I need to remedy and fast. This week a postcard to a stranger, next week... who knows, but we will find something to do. 

The Book Chat in Audio

Audio Books & I have a love hate relationship.  Some are fantastic. Some completely suck.



Its summer time, which for us means that it is also travel time! I often use the time spent in route to a new destination as a chance to catch up on a little light 'reading' if you will. Well, less reading and more popping in the ear buds and drowning out the 52000 questions my kids ask per hour. 

In less than two weeks the minions and I are off to St. Louis, then out to rural Missouri for two weeks. During the flight I am excited to listen to the one and only, The Bloggess herself, Jenny Lawson- reading her new memoir Let's Pretend This Never Happened.  
 

I am totally stoked about listening to this and surely laughing my ass off most of the flight! Ah, inappropriate humor just warms my heart all up like a gooey marshmallow.


In the past, I have listened to The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eat Pray Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert, American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot by Craig Ferguson and all of The Hunger Games. 

The Hunger Games were after I read the books & told my hubs to check them out. He rarely has time to sit and read anything so he just puts it on his iPod and goes on about his day listening to them while working in his office. He just loves audio books & seems to not care if others in the car have indeed already read the books. 

Next on his list is A Song of Fire and Ice by R.R. Martin (The Game of Thrones)


My absolute favorite thus far has to be American on Purpose! How can you not adore Craig Ferguson and his cute Scottish accent?! So funny, so honest, so real. His honesty is both hilarious and saddening.


My least favorite has been Eat Pray Love. This could be because of the incredibly long boring car ride then topping it off with an incredibly whinny self indulged story that really wasn't all that great, entertaining, or enlightening. It kinda just sucked. Please don't hate me for saying that. 

Who's that knocking at my door...

Sweet Green Tangerine - say what-what! It had been a YEAR! A year, people! since our families last saw each other. A YEAR! and the last time we did see each other, it was on I-10 at a truck stop McD's while she was traveling East & us moving West.

Luckily, her folks live about 7 hrs from our current place of residency. ROAD TRIP! It was like these kids had never been apart. They picked back up with their friendships right where they left off back in Georgia.

 

and they were even nice/cooperative enough to let the 'grown ups' do a little antiquing/thrifting big Texas style.

Needless to say, the kids had a fantastic visit! and so did the adults :)

I'd say our friendship is build on pretty solid ground.

Ice Cream & Beer. Now that's living.

 

To Be Continued.

and no-one else...

Q: If you could go on a long weekend trip away, sans spouse & kids, where would you go? 

For me, I would love to go to Portland, Oregon.  I would love to get a room in Portland, alone, and just stroll the streets, people watch, window shop, read, relax, write, and enjoy all the oddities around. Yep. That would be my go to place. Someday.

Where would you go? To a tropical setting somewhere while the waves beating against the shore? A European adventure?  Or the hustle and bustle of New York City? Or a little tiny no name country cabin away from it all?

 

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