The Manny

No doubt by now you've heard all about The Manny. The book ,the video, the author. As typical with things like this, it becomes a comment passed at a dinner party or an idea passed at a business meeting and before you know it, there's a book, a video, a NYTimes article , a mention in Talk of the Town. I haven't read the book although, I do plan to when it comes out in papaerback (more on this later). This concept, however, harkened me back to my own youth. As a child growing up in Connecticut, we had a slew of babysitters. Typically high school girls, whom at the time I thought were in their 30s, who would spend Saturday nights watching over me & my younger brother. We watched movies, ate Cool Ranch Doritos (my mother's attempt to assuage separation anxiety) and played stupid games. Sometimes we would do "girl things" like paint our toenails (there was the nail polish incident on my bright pink rug) or make an egg & oatmeal face mask. I know my brother abhored these moments and usually retreated to the den with the Atari joystick. Then Evan showed up. He was the high school aged son of my mother's friend. He was dark haired, handsome (in a 50s kind of way), a member of the Varsity swim team and he was not into painting nails or face masks. But, boy did he & my brother have a great time. They high-fived over a high score in Pac Man, double-overed in laughter at Goonies and Evan even managed to figure out how David's Capsela worked and got moving in the bathtub. Now, I've always thought my mother was ahead of her time. But all this recent talk about The Manny really made me think she might have been the originator of The Manny. Nice work, Mom.

Travel

I love to travel. Weekend travel is fun. But I really like the 7-10 day trip to another country. CityCrab and I always plan 1 international trip a year. Last year it was Manchester, UK for a friend's wedding and Italy (Florence, Bellagio & Milan). This year it is London (to see same friend) and Paris. We're leaving early Sept for 11 days. This weekend starts the planning. In all honesty, it should have alreay been happening but we've got lots going on. So, it starts with a trip to the bookstore for travel books, a visit to the library for a French-English CD (to brush up - I actually speak French fairly well) and a search for the 2007 trip folder where I've been collecting articles all year long. We prefer the insider's approach. The last thing I want to do in any foreign country is eat at a McDonald's or the TGIFriday's Times Sqaure equivalent. I like to discover off the beaten path. Go where the locals go. So, if you've got ideas, tips or city favorites, please send them along.

Sunday Styles

Every Sunday I reserve an hour to entrench myself in The New York Times, Sunday Edition. I'm a creature of habit: front page first, then the obituaturies (i know but I am convinced that someday knowledge I gleen from her will win me a million dollars), then I glance at the front page of each subsequent section for anything interesting that I want to come back. Then it's off to the meat of the Sunday Times experience: The Styles Section This I read cover to cover starting on page 1. I read the article, go to it's correpsonding page then anchor back to the first page. Now I think about it, I read the printed piece like I would the webpage. Turning pages instead of clicking. Of course, the best part is the Weddings & Celebrations section. As a self proclaimed W&C expert (I've been reading since I was in high school), I could blog about this for pages & pages. But I will only comment on one item today. I have noticed that over time, the ages of the newlyweds have grown. Of course, there are a fair amount of kids in their 20s but there are increasingly those into their upper 30s and 50s. For some reason, the 40s seem to allude love. As someone on the other side of 30, this is comforting. It's nice to know that people can still find love at any age. And, that The Times is out there to advertise it.

Bookstore Excursion

Yesterday was the perfect day to hit the bookstore. The weather was gloomy and I was craving some new reads. I am in the middle of a book but know that it will soon be finished and I'll need to move on. So, I set out for the bookstore. Borders is my destination of choice. In New York, I was a loyal Barnes & Noble shopper (disclosure: CityCrab used to work there and the 30% discount didn't hurt) however, since moving to Charlotte and discovering Borders, I'm a convert. As a marketer, I think Borders has got it down: weekly coupons, a free loyalty program where you earn dollars, clear and concise email communications and, one of my favorite aspects: buy 2, get the third free. So, I scour the weekly email for 3 reads I want. Often, I end up compromising on a third read just to get the discount (I know, a marketer's dream!) My current book is the third from my last excursion so I needed to stock up on 3 more. When I got the Borders yesterday, I ran straight to the "Buy 2" only to find out that they have swithced the promotion to Buy 3, get the 4th free. Admittedly, smart. But as a consumer I was perplexed but only for a second. I am an avid reader and have always felt that any money spent on a book is a good investment. So, I indulged in 4. Here's my new reading list:

Suite Francaise , by Irene Nemirovsky- this is an amazing story of a novelist who died in the Holocaust but this novel had remained hidden for years until it was discovered by her family not too long ago. Also, I am headed to Paris in the Fall and always like to read topical books.

Swapping Lives by Jane Green - everyone needs a little chicklit in their life and Jane Green happens to excel in this area. This is about 2 women (one a Londoner, the other a Connecticut surburbanite) who trade lives. I am also headed to London in the Fall.

The Namesake by Jhumpha Lahiri - I've wanted to read this for ahwile and have decided to put off seeing the move until I do so. About an Indian-American boy who despises his name. I got this from a movie review - I am sure there's more to it and you can expect that I will blog about it.

Otherwise Known as Sheila The Great by Judy Blume - an odd choice, no? Firstly, this is one of my all time favorite books by one of my all time favorite writers. I'm pretty sure Judy Blume hooked me and reading and writing. I bought this for my 10 year old niece. It seems to me that children today are not exposed to the classics of my youth: Ramona Quimby, There's a Bat in Bunk Five (Paula Danziger), Judy Blume. So, I am doing my part to bring these back.


Right now I am in the middle of Intuition by Allegra Goodman. It is science focused which is really out of my realm but I am doing my best to tap into my inner science geek and am enjoying it. I'm inspired, though, by the list of books I've got waiting for me.

Also, if you've got a Borders in your area, sign up for their club, Border Rewards. Now, I've done my part as a marketer.

The Occasional Knitter

I love knitting. I'm not very good at it but I love it. There's something exciting about being a quarter of the way through a project and see that it is coming together. I consider myself occasional because I don't do it often. I'll go in spurts. But the truth is, I have lots of yarn, lots of needles, lots of patterns and lots of ideas. Not a lot of time. Since it is Independence Day today and I have the day off, I am going to try to knit my day away. Right now, I am working on a felted laptop case. I should be motivated to finish it since my laptop has been banging around in my shoulder bag for over a year. Hopefully, I'll be posting the picture here soon. Oh, and, Happy Birthday America!