Month August 2012

Another thing on my list!

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Goals for 2012

Towards the bottom of my list is “write – letters.”  So when I read about the website moreloveletters.com, I signed up for their email updates right away.  Their premise is that the world needs more love letters – handwritten letters written to encourage or lift up people who need them.  They collect the handwritten missives and then mail bundles of letters to new college students, people who give and give to others and then find themselves to be in need of support or anyone who is nominated to be a recipient of a bundle.

I’m planning to participate by simply writing brief and uplifting notes including favorite quotes.  I’m not too artsy so I won’t be getting out the glitter guns or making paper origami to mail to a lucky recipient, but I love getting personal mail so  I figure the beauty of the writing won’t matter.

My first quote, a favorite today, is from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

What would you include in an uplifting handwritten love letter to a stranger?

A perforated Penny Red with letters in four co...

A perforated Penny Red with letters in four corners and plate 148, therefore printed 1871 or later. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Ferragosto Food Memories

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Delicious Italian Moscato for Drinks on the Dock!

Ferragosto 2012 is a beautiful memory!  It was hard to leave on Friday, as the sky was blue, that sun was warm and the air was cool… perfect for basking!  So bask I did… and when I got home I was exhausted!  All that sunshine wears a person out!

I mostly took pictures of the deliciousness that we all prepared… from the first bottle of bubbly (pictured above, which will definitely be purchased again! So delicious!), to …

Chunks of chicken with pesto pasta salad – oh my! Grilled peaches and homemade lemon sorbet not pictured (we ate them too fast to photograph!).

Antipasto platter for supper

Build-your-own-breakfast – always add chocolate (in the form of zucchini bread!)

 

Eggs in pepper shells – delicious!

 

Creamy cheesy and cucumber sandwiches on the softest pumpernickel!

Margaritas with beautiful garnishes!

More bubbly before the day ends…

I know I took pictures of people, too, but the food and drink were so delicious that we had to capture every bit!

But the most priceless thing about Ferragosto is the quiet time and the laugh out loud  moments, the serious talks and the silliness.  It was great to have people there all week – it just meant that I didn’t get as much reading done as I did last year when I was there alone!

Life is good.

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Ready for Ferragosto!

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Close to what I’ll be doing!

From my first Ferragosto invitation:

What is Ferragosto, you ask?  Ferragosto is an Italian holiday celebrated on August 15.  Originally, it was related to a celebration of the middle of the summer and the end of hard labor in the fields.  In later times, the Roman Catholics adopted this date as the Holy Day of Obligation to commemorate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Before the Catholics, however, this holiday was celebrated in the Roman Empire to honor the gods – in particular Diana – and the cycle of fertility and ripening.  And that’s where it gets its name – “Feriae Augusti” = Festival of Augustus. 

In present days, Ferragosto is mainly a short holiday when Italians take brief vacations.  The holiday often coincides with the Perseid meteor showers which must be viewed in the pre-dawn hours.  

I am not Italian, going to Italy, or wanting to celebrate my fertility and ripeness!  But I do want to have a “holiday” time with friends and family! 

Monday night I am heading out for my 3rd annual Ferragosto vacation.  My suitcase is filled with sweats and swimming suits.  One decent outfit in case I want to be seen in public.  And cute pajamas.

Groceries include Italian wine and moscato, cheeses and crackers, fruit and cookies and bread.  Italian grapefruit soda and salami.  Others will bring tomatoes, peppers and salad.  We’ll see if we get around to grilling chicken or if it will just be tomatoes and zucchini and peaches on the grill.  🙂

Also packing magazines, books, and movies (Italian and non-Italian chick-flicks); the iPad is loaded with Italian music and my favorite Italian movie. The sunscreen and nail polish will be tossed in for discretionary use.

Looking forward to being at the end of the dock, hanging with beautiful friends and family, and being lazy on the water.  Good talks, good food and drinks, good times…

Come and join!

Maybe you’ll want to join me next year – put it on your calendars!  August 14-19, 2013!  I already put in for vacation!

Wherever you are, have a Buon Ferragosto!

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Happiness is… my own domain name?

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According to the Secret Society of Happy People today is the 13th Annual Happiness Happens Day.  August is Happiness Happens Month.  Or something.  But I’m all about Happiness, so I’ll buy in to anything that may make others think about happiness and what makes them happy and how to make others happy.  🙂

So for today, here’s what’s making me happy:

  • My own domain name.  Yes, I dropped the .wordpress.com and am now simply walkietalkiebookclub.com.  For $18 per year, why not?  Makes me feel legitimate or something.  I’ll check with my email subscribers to see if they still receive the email, but otherwise you’ll have to bookmark the very first website that I ever owned!
  • I got 7 hours of sleep today!  I worked overnight and was sooooooo tired this morning. I almost dozed off TWICE at work.  I fell asleep shortly after 7 and woke up at 10 and was worried… but next thing I knew it was after 2!  Yay! Bring on night two!
  • Planning and preparing for Ferragosto!  I’ll blog more about Ferragosto later this week…
  • Planning things, in general, makes me happy.  Right now I’m planning events for Cosmo Girls and my townhome community, another trip to NYC for my birthday, concerts (Jeremy Messersmith and Glen Hansard in September and Bruce Springsteen in November!), a Door County B&B stay with my fellow trivia contest winner in October, and maybe a spring adventure!  I seriously have a piece of paper by my computer with my upcoming days off listed and possible events to check into.  (I want to get to 4Daughters Winery!)

    He doesn’t look so happy!

  • The UPS brought my latest purchases from B&N yesterday, including a frame with the quote by Victor Borga, ” Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” I can’t wait to put a fun picture in there! Other purchases included the When Harry Met Sally DVD (where did mine go???) and the book “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed for Marissa (I’m sure I’ll read it sometime, too!).

Well, that’s a snippet.  I’m sure I’ll think of more.  I love the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast and they end every show with “What’s Making You Happy this Week.”  I’ll try to do more of that!  SO much to be happy about…

What’s making you happy this week?

Off to get ready for work!

 

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Another great read-along hosted by Wallace at Unputdownables! Glad I can “play along”!

Unputdownables

Welcome to the The Importance of Being Earnest read-a-long! We’re reading this book through August. You can see the reading schedule and guidelines on the Starting Post Page.

Week One: Read Act One

Discussion:

How do I start? I put a sticky note or two (or three) on almost every page, so apparently that method of keeping track of what I like isn’t going to work for this book. Can I just say that so far — I LOVE Oscar Wilde? I’ve seen two of his plays acted out, but never read anything by him. I already knew he made funny stories, but I wasn’t sure how much was the actors’ performances and how much was the writing. Now I’m tempted to say that it would take a pretty terrible actor to make Wilde’s work unamusing.

Favorite character: Algernon (aka Algy). Brilliant. So funny, just the kind of biting…

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