my sister is a punk

if you have been reading My Savvy Boys for a while, you will know that i do not, in fact, find my sister to be a punk. 
as i've written about before, we welch girls must stick together. 
i am actually 15 kinds of excited because katie (forever known to me as "Katie Mae" due to a gift of a nickname bestowed upon her in 2001 by bernie) will be coming out to Ohio for a visit this year.
katie mae lives in kauai.
suffice it to say that neither of us manage the 6 hour time difference very well for phone calls. 
those are a basically minor miracle. 
but an in-person visit? 
that's a flat out act of (insert higher being, or whatever you see fit, here).

anyway, today katie mae sent me an email.
we were in the middle of a group project at work, so i didn't get to peek at it until later in the day. 
she did a photo shoot for a painting this week. 
here were a few pictures she sent me. . .

 

these are the reason i called my sister a punk. 

she is naturally beautiful (inside and out), has a lovely olive tone (with or without living in kauai), and these are the photos of her that exist on this earth when someone pulls out a camera and says, "just act like yourself."

alternately, i am pasty. 

and allergic to so many plants, i would have also been splotchy if attempting the same photo shoot. 

it's a good look.  

add a bug flying in my eye. 

because that would happen, too.

and, in my life, this is the kind of photo you can find me tagged in on Facebook.

because, apparently, this is what "just act like yourself" looks like for me:

neat.

(not actually a) Fail Photo of Me #54

did you really think i was going to post a tragic picture of myself?
if you did, you are just silly.
i have far too many to choose from to spend my time on that. . .
if you really wanted a fail photo, here you go:

(this was legitimately how anth smiled for a while there. . . thankfully this sorted itself out eventually.)

anyway.
now you have a Friday Fail Photo.
bonus prize: you get a story, too.
here's how it goes:

recently, i walked in to the Kroger near benny's day care.
i grabbed a few items, including a bottle of wine.
at the register, the cashier asked to see my ID.
he glanced at the date on the card, and instantly exclaimed, "OH MY GOD!"
it was a visceral response.
i thought maybe a spider had crawled onto his hand from the way he was looking at it.
(don't ask. it's just the first thing that came to mind at 5:46 in Kroger.)

he then looked up at me to share, "you TOTALLY don't look as OLD as you ARE."
um.
...thanks?
perhaps?
yes.
i am going to choose to perceive that as a compliment and not a testament to false advertising on my part.

mental note: raise boys not to give backhanded compliments.
or fronthanded insults?
i'm not sure.
just raise more savvy boys.
wait.
not MORE savvy boys.
2 is enough.
just savvier boys.
don't want to start any rumors...

a little more homework to do

hello again.
i'm back.
and, while this is all usually about the antic's of the Savvy boys, today i'm feeling a bit more reflective.


i mentioned last week that i was at a conference in Tampa, Florida.
specifically, i was at ACPA's Donna M. Bourassa Mid-Level Management Institute.
i also mentioned that it was giving me a lot to "chew on."
and, oh, did it ever.
as in, my mental jaw is tired.

as in, i really knew my brain was done when i found myself standing in the tram between terminals at the Atlanta airport, pondering the content of the airport tram announcements.
the tram voice had announced, "you are about to arrive at terminal D as in David," and i wondered if all the Davids out there found this rather annoying.
or, perhaps, validating.
as in, that name was the very essence of "D."
as we pulled up at E, the tram man announced, "you are arriving at terminal E, as in Echo."
and i wondered, why not make it more fun?
as in, "you are arriving at terminal, E as in Egads!"or, "you are arriving at terminal E, as in Eek!"
or, even, "you are arriving at terminal E, as in E-I-E-I-O."
that one would really make people pay attention.
then i wondered who got to sit around a table and make the decision about which word would be used to announce each terminal.
and who, like me, might have offered some sassy suggestions to spice things up.
and then, i realized that i had had all of these thoughts between terminals D and E, and that they really weren't very far apart.
it was clearly time to let my brain turn off for a bit.

anyway.
i had expected the institute to be full of good content on our professional work.
and it was.
but, when they opened Day One with this TED Talk by Brene Brown, i knew i was there for a bigger reason.
ever since my friend and colleague, Sus, pointed me to explore the work of Brene Brown, i have been a diligent reader of her work and blog.
but i had never seen her speak.
i encourage you to take 20 minutes to watch it. if you like it, check out her site and blog at www.ordinarycourage.com

our five days were spent doing some meaningful, challenging, and ultimately, highly rewarding work centering on connecting the heart and the mind.
yes, we covered things like strategic initiatives, politics, and power.
but, we also used up most of my reserve of cutely packaged tissues.
and we laughed even more.


we were able to have a few of our days on the USF campus, in the Marshall Center, their absolutely gorgeous student union.
if you look really hard, you can see me over there on the left.
 
we were each placed in a mentor group with one of the MMI faculty.
these lovely people made up Mentor Group 4.
they learned quite a bit about me this week and asked me some very pointed and insightful questions, all shepherded by the lovely and loving woman on the left, Patty.
so, a giant thank you to all of these beautiful people.
who remind me that we all have a little more homework to do.
(shameless plug of my eternally loved Off The Lake students. best wishes with callbacks this week!)

so, i am back in columbus. 
with a lot of new ideas and a bit more clarity. 
and an even longer reading list than usual.
speaking of homework. . .
(and because i clearly can't do a whole post without at least referencing the boys)
. . .i'll come back and tell you a story about this little gem tomorrow:

3285 Days of Us

it's our Savvyversary!

(too much? i love smooshing words together!)

(which my friend brandon would remind me is a "portmanteu.")

anyway!

it's our 9 year anniversay!

yay!

last year i rolled out a new page for our anniversary, all about our story. 

wholesome. 

this year, bern and i will be off celebrating in town. 

doing something crazy called "eating food while it is still warm."

and "watching a movie that is not PG, and during which i can hear the dialogue."

specifically, we are going to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. 

we are all sappy like that. 

(actually, we are. but my sweet husband really loves me and knows how much i've been waiting for this too come out after plowing through the books. bless his heart.)

i guess it's better than the year we saw P.S. I Love You for v-day, not knowing it was not entirely a feel-good movie. 

oops. 

anyway, so that bern and i can enjoy the day together, i am putting up a very early post!

a very Happy Anniversary to my sweet boy. 

who, when the reverend for our wedding made a reference to him choosing me of "all the women in the world," recalls thinking a quick string of thoughts about the fact that he really hadn't been searching in that wide a pool. 

but with him being from Ohio and me from California, we feel we have a good portion of the continental US covered. :) 

in celebration, i am finally adding a new page to the site. 

our family photos from 2011. 

here's a sneak peek below!

the dropsies

ok.
so i just wrote, once again, about my Craft Starting Disorder last week.
and now, i have a new one to claim.
i have The Dropsies.
more specifically, the Distraction Induced Dropsies.
whenever i am trying to manage 14 things at once, and thinking about a 15th, and happen to be carrying anything, i drop it.

this week, i had an epic moment of dropsiness.
i was driving from the north side of campus to park in the Ohio Union Garage on south campus.
i had my iphone in my coat pocket.
when i went to get out of the car, i did the awkward maneuver that only people-who-carry-unnecessarily-large-bags will completely understand.
i did the weird heft-the-bag-over-the-steering-wheel-while-tipping-sideways maneuver.
except, apparently, i tipped a little too far.
and my cell phone fell out of my coat pocket.
a whopping 1.5 feet.
but, as is generally my luck, it hit at the perfect angle to shatter the screen of the phone like a damaged windshield.
randomly, i was headed to a meeting in bernie's building, so i stopped over there first.
to walk into his office with a pout-lip and my phone held out in front of me.
i have to say, i have a patient husband.
if i was me i would have been frustrated with me.
he just called the Apple store to see what our insurance would cover.
meanwhile, i put a post-it on the phone with the information.
and when i went to move it, it came off with several shards of glass stuck to the sticky part.
brilliant.

anyway.
bern swapped out my phone for a new one and helped me restore the information.
i realized that i had lost some data today at work.
when i had another attack of the Dropsies.
this episode came on after i walked down the hallway to get a cup of water, headed back to my office, set the cup on my desk, and promptly knocked it over.
all over.
i thought i would take this photo to demonstrate exactly how much of the water i managed to spill:

note the small sip i managed to preserve.

anyway, when i went to take this photo, i realized that i lost all of my photos from November 22nd on.
so, no fun photos to share from my trip to Madison.
and, no photo of anth's recent holiday-related craft i was going to post about tonight.
because i will have to retake it.
and tell the story another day.
i tell myself that i remember being (at least slightly) more competent at life before i was distracted by kids.
but to be honest, my memory is shot these days, too.

seek and you shall find. . . my blog

when i first started blogging, i got a kick out of tracking the hits on the site on Google Analytics.
this was only entertaining for so long, and i have since basically stopped.
in order to drive up hits i would have to have a different blog entirely.
or offer incentives.
and i'm thinking that the only offer i have right now is "leave a comment to get one of my extra 10 xmas cards i ordered so i could get the bulk price."
and that is not nearly as exciting as the fun prizes available on the blogs i follow.

so i stopped looking.
except for one little feature that is built into the Blogger site that i love to check on occasion.
this would be the "Traffic Sources" page.
it basically shows me from where most folks are linking to the blog (Facebook, etc.).
but, the best part is that it shows me what keywords people have used in search engines that brought them to My Savvy Boys.
i like to check these every few weeks.
i gain absolutely nothing from these other than entertainment.
and, after quite a long week and no energy to post something useful, i thought i would share them with you.

these are from the last month.
in an effort to not be completely lazy, i have categorized them for you. . .

Things that make sense:

My savvy boys

My savvy boys blog

Benny bern

People who didn’t get what they wanted, though i've mentioned the topic:

Boogie board beach Kauai

Holidays exhausting

Geothermal wells on ohio state campus

Face art boys

Boys buzz haircuts hairstyles

Zhi karaface

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

An ipod made out of perler beads

Overalls in the 90s

Atreyu neverending story

Snowsuit wearing

Things that are shaped like a square

Ice rink border

My kids don’t look like me (so sorry to the person who was searching this one in earnest)

Beyblade top spinning

overacting

People who didn’t get what they wanted, but I find entertaining:

Boys are confusing songs (i like to believe they were making a mixed tape)

Frankie and bennys big balloons for anyone to play with

Boys are like analogies (i could offer a few about my boys. . .)

Searches I find concerning/wish did not relate to my site

Legal forms of torture

Boys creepers.com

“playing with matches”
(i was tempted to add frankie and the big balloons here as well.)

Most popular search other than something that included “my savvy boys:

Karaface

so, there you have it, friends.
these the things in life that make me giggle.

joyOUS!

i randomly mention friends here and there on my blog.
my old college roommate, fellow res life community programmer, current creative writing faculty member and fellow mom, joy, is one of them.
she shows up here, in this post about anthony suggesting i'm a senior citizen.
or this one, about my bookaholicism.
and there are plenty of others as well.
well, to me she is joyOUS!
i am krysTYNE!
these are both pronounced as they are spelled.
and they are best delivered loudly from more than 15 feet apart.
in college, we took many of the same courses as English majors.
and, we had a few faculty members, our Dante professor in particular, who would mix us up in class.
now, joy and I did have a freakish tendency to wear similar outfits to class.
and we both had a ill-formed love of overalls.
and plaid.
but I would generally think the fact that she was blonde and I a brunette would be a good identifier.

here is a picture of us outside of our Newport Beach apartment.
yes, i know, rough life. 

here is a postcard with our beach house in it. 
i was fresh out of college, working for Verizon Wireless, and living with joy and three other English and Theatre majors. 
so many stories. :) 
we lived in the top floor in front of the ones with the little people in the rental buggy.
to put it in perspective, joy and i are sitting on the wall that they are driving past in the picture above this one. 
i fell asleep at night with my window open, listening to the ocean. 
i love it there.  
i specifically remember floating out in the ocean once with joy, on boogie boards, and having a discussion about how lucky we were. 
how few people on this planet of ours were able to live on the coast like this. 
in summary, it was a good year. 

sadly, the last time i saw joy in person was at her 2004 wedding.
during the Ohio State v. Michigan football game.
(yes, bern loves me enough to travel to Mississippi and miss the game.)
clearly, the wedding was not the sad part.
unless you consider being the 5-month pregnant bridesmaid sad.
but i didn’t.
she was the nice kind of bride who told us to go find a black dress that wasn’t too short or too long.

oh the belly those flowers were hiding. 
let it be known, i can actually say that I have re-worn that bridesmaid dress.
this was the only maternity one i owned through both pregnancies.
anyway.
i am not good at keeping in touch with people after they are out of my direct line of sight.
it does not come naturally to me.
joy is one of the very few people on that rather short list.

recently, joy and i were emailing/facebooking and i suggested she start a blog.
a few of my favorite people have blogs, and whenever they post, i feel like i talked to them that day.
yes, i know.
i didn’t REALLY talk to them.
and largely, this is exactly what we encourage students NOT to do.
to, in fact, go out and talk to people face to face.
but, often, the day is filled with work, then a frantic attempt to make it to daycare on time, followed by Krystyne Attempts to Make A Wholesome Dinner That Is Neither Kraft Mac n' Cheese nor Chicken Nuggets, followed by baths, followed by reading, followed by cleaning, etc.
at the end of a long day when I just couldn’t call, these little blog snippets give me a 30 second peek into my friends’ heads.
or their failed attempt at no-baking something.

now, I don’t usually specifically share their blogs, or devote an entire post to them.
but this one is extra special to me.
like i said, joy and i were English majors together and RAs and all of that undergrad goodness.
i went on and made my career in helping people deal with their lives as they happen in the residential setting.
joy made one of helping people learn how to put their lives on paper.
joy is a writer.
i find this infinitely cool and something to be respected.
typically, when she has finished something or has it published, she zaps it my way or points me to the online journal hosting it.
and, without fail, i stop what i am doing to read her recent essay.
as in, last night, she sent me a message to say she had her blog up and running and that i should check it out.
and, in the middle of painting my nails, i put down the brush and read through her shiny new essay that is up on the blog.
(i have a smudge on my right pinky nail as evidence.)
usually, after I read her essays, I forward them to my mom, a few friends, and a few colleagues who appreciate her writing as well.

but why save them up just for me?
to check them out, simply visit her site. now.
yeah, that’s right.
if you actually clicked on that link, you would see that the name of her blog is Joyous In Hell.
it comes back to Dante, as she explains here.
(she also shares her thoughts on us being confused by faculty in this post as well. haha.)
it's like i'm famous. but then, totally not.
to be honest, a lot of her writing is what some would consider dark.
i just consider it genuine.
but, yes, there is plenty of humor in there as well.
i kind of picture us as the equivalent to Meredith and Christina on Grey’s Anatomy.
willing to be “dark and twisty.”
sans the scrubs, medical knowledge, and variety of other differences that probably don't need to be named.
(but, we did both meet at work, and work with our husbands. so . . . there's that.)
her newest essay is about her “jesus year.”
but, there are also many of her other essays that i love up there as well.
particularly, there are a few regarding her recent neighbor and pageant girl. these are some of my favorites.

now that bern is done with school, it is on my very short list of Things That Must Happen Sooner Rather Than Later to make a trip to see joy.
and her little girl who has grown up on my fridge but I have never met in person.
particularly because we have decided that this sweet girl is betrothed to my son.
but, we haven’t really landed on which one.
and i kind of feel like she should at least have her choice between the two.

(for those interested in the usual mysavvyboys antics, come back tomorrow. you might just get to see the love note that anth received last week that enforces my choice to pair the boys with joy's kids now.)
 (disclaimer: no, i am not serious and make no assumptions to the type of relationships anth and benny wish to pursue.)

(or, you might get to hear about the WORLD's MOST INAPPROPRIATE statement i made to anthony regarding my friend's daughter. in front of my friend. and her daughter.)
(i'm having an awesome week.)

it's official. i'm decrepit.

that's right friends. 
today it became fact. 
i'm old. 
or at least i'm "old" compared to the people i work with most. 
how did i finally accept this reality? 
thanks for asking . . . 

this is the first week of Resident Advisor training at OSU. 
today, the morning topics centered on mental health and front line response. 
but the morning began with a festive little spirit contest in which each hall was asked to have a mascot. 
(my personal winner was the Secret Service Agent from BP. he stayed in character in an impressive way.)
the morning also began with a rather stellar maneuver on my part. 
this was the one where i try to kneel on one of those fold-down chairs in a lecture hall and talk to the person behind me, and i put my knees too far back, causing the chair to fold back up, and i fall forward and practically land in the lap of the person i'm talking to.
you know, that one. 
it's a classic, really. 
the person i almost fell on was Beth Peters. 
one of the full-time staff members i supervise as of this summer.
i felt it was a good maneuver  to help boost her level of confidence in my leadership, and overall, abilities.
so i made sure to do it in front of her entire RA staff.
FYI- this scenario is not at all relevant to today's post. 
it's just that, sometimes, i feel like a good portion of my life has been an audition for America's Funniest Home Videos that someone forgot to record. 
so i share it now with you.

anyway. 
i went and found something solid to sit on and we listened to the staff from the campus counseling center.
at the end, we broke out into small group sessions.
on her way by, Beth stopped to tell me that she liked my scarf that i was wearing.
that it was, "mommy chic."
my instant reaction?
a pouty lip.
you see, beth meant this as a compliment.
(thanks, beth)
but what two immediate thoughts went through my mind?

1. the only fashion image that corresponds to a maternal role is MOM JEANS.
this is never a good thing.
2. oh my gosh. i have become so "old" that when i wear something cute, it is an accomplishment. 

so clearly, there was only one way to deal with the situation.
approach Beth during lunch at the commons and take the following picture. 

super-classy residential dining establishment reenactment.
the soft serve is behind us.
photo credit: Tyler Palsgrove. on my phone. under duress.

i am going to choose to believe that most mom's aren't hanging out in an Atlas Shrugged shirt, and give myself two points for not acting too much like i've given up quite yet.

also, i felt much better when i went back and noted her behavior in her performance review.

disclaimers:

i heart beth.

no, beth did not actually give me a complex.

(i work with enough young people to feel youthful via osmosis.)

no, i did not note this "incident" in her evaluation.

yes, i do always know where the soft serve is. 

a teenage dream come true

i was completely in love with Bret Michaels in jr high.
(well, actually, there was a very real boy who i sometimes held hands with under the table in pre-algebra who i thought was pretty dreamy, too. when we slow danced together at whatever semi-formal dance it is happens in 8th grade, my "friends" came out to the dance floor and took pictures of us from about 3 feet away. with flash. things were so subtle and nuanced back then.)
but, suffice it say, my bedroom walls were plastered with pictures of bret michaels and sebastian bach in 7th and 8th grade.

my best friend, Lynn, and i, throughout most of our early friendship, had polarized stances on our favorite bands.
i loved Poison, and she loved Motley Crue.
then we moved on.
she loved Metallica and i leaned more toward Guns N' Roses.
this later evolved into Danzig v Type O Negative.
(yes, i know that calling this "evolution" is using loose terminology.)
eventually, we wandered into goth and found more mutually agreeable things like The Sisters of Mercy.

but, back in the beginning, our dedication to Poison and Motley Crue was strong.
unfortuately, our bands did not mix.
quite frankly, "the crue" looked down on my beloved poison.
here is an article on the bands' feud.
but, our love of going to concerts was also very strong. i have some good stories. just not for this blog.
anyway.
we would have loved to see them tour together, but we knew it was simply not going to happen.

until i was recently stopped by Ziya and Myka's dad in the daycare parking lot while picking up ben on a thursday afternoon.
he works at our large event center on campus.
and had extra tickets to THE POISON AND MOTLEY CRUE SHOW that friday night.
the next night.
did bern and i want to join he and his wife?
my brain literally went through about 83 thoughts in the 2 seconds i had before it is socially acceptable to respond to the person in front of you.
they included, but were not limited to, the following:
Oh my goodness, i didn't even know they were touring.
wait, what?
they're touring?
together?
i have to call Lynn!
i haven't called Lynn in a long time.
god i stink at long distance friendship.
do bern and i want to go to this show?
of course!
wait.
bern probably doesn't care about this show at all. he skipped this genre.
but he loves me and will humor me.
but, OH MY GOD, we are leaving for california on saturday.
as in, two days. 
and i work tomorrow.
and i have to pack the boys and i for an 11 day trip.
including the beach.
shoot, i still need to get anth the goggles he wants.
and floaties for ben.
maybe hit the travel section at Target.
and do the laundry.
oh poop. (that one is edited for the light of heart.)
i CAN'T go to this show.
why, god? why?

. . . and so on.
i mean, it is hard to capture it all because it happened so fast, but literally, my mind was racing.
and because i actually did have to work with bern to get our lives in order to leave for a big trip, i told Mike i couldn't do it.
it may have broken my 8th grade heart a little bit.

but, yesterday, i got a call from bernie on my way in to work.
"hey, krys. i think Mike might have left something here for you."
"why?"
"because there is an adult sized Poison/Motley Crue shirt in ben's mailbox."
"SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!"
(anth, who was riding with me, reminded me that this was a not nice word. i apologized.)

and then i got off the phone.
and proceeded to explain the fued between the two bands, and that Auntie Lynn and i used to love both of them and thought they were never going to perform together, but that they had, and i missed it, but that Ziya's dad gave me a shirt with BOTH bands on it.
the moral of the story i was trying to convey to anth while wondering if the tee had logos or pictures of the band members on it?
you never know who will surprise you.
even glam/metal bands can provide you with totally Disneyish, When You Wish Upon A Star moments.
and even your dorkiest dreams can come true.
you just might have to wait 22 years.
anth was essentially nonplussed, and responded with, "i bet it will be a really cute top, mom."
clearly, he didn't get the message.
but, in this context, it is a pretty cute "top."

thanks, mike!!!

my name is krystyne, and i'm a bookaholic

recently, i owned up to having CSD.
Craft Starting Disorder. 
in really looking around my home, i have to admit i have another problem.
icriabisdwts.
I Can't Read It All, But I Sure Do Want To Syndrome. 


i mean, seriously.
i love a good book.
mainly fiction, but these days i've been piling up a hefty load of non-fiction as well.
normally the queue is long, but manageable.
right now the literal amount of books in my house that i am excited to read totals.....42.
seriously.
i find this more than slightly funny.
if you have read The Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy, you will know why.
if not, here.


now, about 9 of these books came home from a conference that my husband went to in the spring where authors pedal their wares in the hopes that your university will pick their book for your annual book program.
so don't judge those.
unless you want to judge the fact that i apparently will read anything that enters my home. 
then i guess i don't have much of a defense. 


but the other 33? how did they come to stack up in little piles throughout my home?
some were gifts.
some i asked for for my birthday or christmas.
and some i acquired when the local Borders went out of business.
that and an Atlas Shrugged t-shirt. 
either way, it's ridiculous.
not that i don't want to have all of these books.
i'm more than happy to surround my kids with these and let them see us actually sit down and read them.
i love that my boys love to read.


what's ridiculous is my approach to them.
i, plain and simply, can't freaking decide where to start or how to focus.
my friends know that i have perfected the art of delayed gratification when it comes to some things.
if i get a purse i've been coveting (usually Fossil) for, say, V-day, i am able to tuck it in view in the closet and debut it in June.
i am perfectly content to know that i have something to look forward to using in the summer.
but books? no. 
i just can't do it.
i walk by them and they taunt me. 
literally. 
ok, not literally. but almost. 


i've had 3 books that played the trump card recently.
i chose to read the two books associated with the ACUHO-I conference i attended in New Orleans.
Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers, was the Book Club Book and was a fascinating breeze of a documentary.
Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses was not so much of a breeze, but a good text.
the 3rd book is Outcasts United by Warren St. John. this one is the annual Buckeye Book Community book that all the incoming first year students at Ohio State will be reading.
the office where Bern works, First Year Experience, hosts this book program and i always enjoy the perk of participating the copy provided by my department. 'tis a good read. 
so, these 3 books put me into delayed gratification mode.
but, these are the books that i was either reading before these three were issued, or have snuck my way into in the meantime...


Bossypants by Tina Fey - this was a b-day gift from kelly. fellow book and tina fey lover.
i simply couldn't help reading this one. 
if you are someone who likes to read, and you have a sense of humor, then: 
1. we should really hang out, and
2. read the back cover of the book. it includes reviews such as
    - "Totally worth it." -The Trees. 
so clearly i had to start reading this one. 
Nurture Shock - on the current culture of parenting. i was sucked in at Barnes and Noble. 
this and Bossypants are the books on my nightstand. it's like a Freakonomics about kids. 
Harry Potter 3 - anth and i are sorely behind on our project. the project was me reading the books out loud to him, 10 pages at a time, at bedtime.  though the delay was for a good detour. anth has instead been reading the appropriate level book to us at night before bed. (i did not include a link for this book. if you need a reference to what Harry Potter is, you are beyond my help.)
Tarnished: True Tales of Innocence Lost - my dear friend and college roommie has her essay Baptism in this one. clearly, couldn't wait to start that one. eternally proud. you should buy it and read it. (you're welcome, joy.)
Gifts of Imperfection as you may have noted, i am not perfect. this book is about embracing that fact and setting more realistic expectations. 
Leadership and Self Deception this is one bern enjoyed during his MBA program. i tend to trust his judgment so i'm giving it a whirl.
Resonant Leadership this one was recommended to me by my colleague Lance Ginn, and i've finally resurfaced it and plunked into it. i'm clearly on a bit of a leadership kick. i've been doing the same job for a while. it's fun to consider a new spin. 
Taking Flight... by Kelly Rae Roberts - loved her art. then her blog. now her book. this is a good one for those thinking about making a business of their craftiness.
Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson - i am trying to, but i don't. (photography. not that kind of exposure. sheesh.)


these ones i have my eye on next:
House Rules by Jodi Picoult - her usual brilliance. this time on Asperger's syndrome.
Driving With Dead People: A Memior by Monica Holloway - another casualty of Barnes and Noble meandering. it sounds super cheery.
An Exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken - i read an excerpt from this in Oprah Magazine. the cover describes it as "this is the happiest story in the world with the saddest ending." an expecting mom loses her baby in the 9th month. it sounds heartwrenching but was well written so i grabbed it when i saw it at Borders. 
The Art of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein - everyone tells me it's amazing. 
i also really want to read The Help, One Day, and The Hunger Games. but i don't own those and i am living in a library at this point, so those will have to wait.

also, because this blog is usually about small children, i try not to be too crass. 

but, recently, my friend kelly who is a bit more bold about these things posted about a genius, book related, bumper sticker she saw on her blog.

i have decided that linking to swear words is acceptable. 

when hilarious. 

(clearly i should heed the "a" portion of this bumper sticker's advice.)

oh yeah. . .
the boys. 
how a blog about my two boys' antics just became a host to my reading list, i'm not quite sure. 
um. oops. 
currently, benny loves Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Spider, a la kelly. 
anth has been reading through The Adventures of Frog and Toad from Phil and a collection of Berenstain Bears stories we grabbed him, as well as a few of my favorite childhood books that my mom sent home with me last week.
there. 
now this post is clearly all about the boys. 
i feel much better. 


oh, and did i mention that i took three books to California for vacation and instead read my mom's copy of Second Glance by Jodi Picoult while i was there?
and that i recently downloaded three free iBooks?
and that i just started trying to make a book of the first year of mysavvyboys posts on blurb? 
i'm a mess.
and the cycle continues. 

there are worse vices.