multitasking inside my head

I don’t need to remind anyone, that women multi-task on a second to second basis. While sitting at their desks at work, shuffling paper, their multitasking inside their heads. From what to make for dinner, to coordinating how the week would unfold. Children, homework, housework, husbands, get togethers, doctor’s appointments, grocery list, project deadlines, laundry, meetings, telephone calls and even vacation planning.

So, for this week, these are the thoughts going through my head:

Adding the finishing touches on my book to publish

Putting together the menu for Easter Sunday breakfast for family

Delivering Tulips to my mother for Easter

Coordinating a destination wedding family reunion

Organizing new bedding, mattress and furniture delivery

Finding the perfect dress for two Summer destination weddings

    

 

reading recommends – book, nook and kindle

I can’t believe this. I have stayed away from reading recommends because I was trying to delay the inevitable. But more and more, people are switching over to the nook, kindle and every other gadget out there as their choice for reading  materials.

I get the craze, but I am sad to see the paperbacks and hardbacks slowly disappear along with mom and pop bookstores.  It was nice to stop staring at a computer screen for a few hours and be able to curl up on a bed or a couch and read an actual “book” but these are the times and those are our choices and although I am having a difficult time accepting it, I know eventually I will become a minority with the way I feel about it.

Anyway, here are some interesting books I discovered while shuffling through the gadget category. Let me know if you have read any of them and what you think or if you would consider reading any of them sometime in the near future.

best books written about paris or are they?

In reviewing the Guardian UK the other day, I came across an article with their list of top 10 books written about Paris. Of course, you know that immediately grabbed my interest, so I decided to share their suggestions in my blog and ask my readers for their opinion.

Are the suggested books the best books written about Paris? Has anyone read any of the books and what you thought about it? if the listed books are truly not the best, please feel free to make a recommendation.

for the writer at heart – a desk and a chair

My Temporary Choice

I once read that small studio apartments are the most inspirational places for the writer at heart, and after thinking about it long and hard, I realized how true that was, even throughout history. Most well known writers, lived in studios, sometimes in Paris, while they wrote their books.

So, as I transition from my past life to the new one, I too have chosen to stay in a studio apartment for a bit in order to, let’s just say, realign my life and get focused on what I want to accomplish from it.  Besides, big houses and too many rooms are not a place for the artistic minded individuals (in my opinion)

In line with  the topic I have decided to write about in this entry, I decided to search for  photos of a desk and chair ensemble, to see what actually came to mind when I looked at them. What do you think? Enjoy the photos and have a wonderful weekend.

My Goal Choice

A Nice Choice

A Simple Choice

Not My Choice

A Business Choice

A screenplay writers choice

An Event Planners Choice

A Busy Moms choice

A Crafty Womans Choice

recommended reads and e-books for springtime

I haven’t bought books for a while because I am toying with the idea of  ”e-booking” – but only for the novels and nothing else (Just in case you are wondering – cookbooks, photography and travel books, collectables I still want in hardcover form).

I don’t know, I am not sold on it yet, the e-booking thing, but either way I have made my list of books to read and recommend (above) for Springtime.

I would love to hear from those who have read the above books or if they recommend others.

wishful thinking for fall

Last days of summer and the first of fall, depending on which calendar you look at. It could be September 22 or 23rd but either way, it’s here, so quickly I must add and based on my mood these day, along with probably millions of other people, the transition is not a pleasant one.

As I contemplate transitioning to a new career, experiencing a new life perhaps and the desire to relocate to another city, I continue to ponder over this photograph and wonder how wonderful  it would be to live in Paris for while…

Either way, Happy Fall everyone.

books i added to my to-read list

Here is a list of books I saw at Barnes and Nobles which I added to my to-read list for 2010.

1. Good To A Fault by Marina Endicott

2. Purge by Sofi Oksanen

3. A Happy Marriage by Rafael Iglesias

4. Lonely: A Memoir by Emily White

I would love to hear from anyone who has read any of the books. Are they a good read or not.

1001 gardens to visit before i die

I don’t know if you have noticed but in most museum stores, there is a book perfectly displayed, titled 1001 Gardens You Must Visit Before You Die.  Although I hate the words visit and die in the same sentence and normally don’t really look at such books, but because I am a garden phonetic, I actually flipped through the book when I was in the Getty Museum (Center) bookstore couple of weeks ago.

From the 1001 gardens listed in the book, I have visited perhaps two or three thus far, and although I would love to make a point to see a hundred of the gardens in the book, I know I am not really going to get a chance to do so, for one reason or another and mostly because some of them are in countries I don’t really plan to visit in my lifetime.

So, I would love to  hear from anyone and everyone who has had the wonderful opportunity to visit any of the famous gardens around the world listed in the book, whether in Japan or Mexico or New York and Vancouver, just so I understand if the gardens are truly as amazing as the ones I have seen.

eminem says “can’t you hear the sincerity in my voice when i talk”

Yes I admit, I am a fan of EMINEM and do listen to what he has to say more so than most rappers but the latest song from him with Rihanna, which has been holding steady at no 1 spot for two weeks in a row is probably the most troublesome. It sounds beautiful, especially when Rihanna chimes in, but if a man wrote a song about me or even spoke the words as detailed in the lyrics, I would join the witness protection plan and get the **** out of dodge. But the tune is pretty, for that thank you EMINEM

a pretty woman moment no doubt

I had experienced 4th of July fireworks along the cost in Los Angeles about three years ago and it was amazing (minus the traffic jams afterword of course), so I decided since I needed to be in Los Angeles the week of July 4th this year, I could go a day earlier and experience the fireworks along the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) once more.

Three years ago, we parked around Malibu near Pepperdine University and waited in the cold for hours until the fireworks kicked off around 9p.m., so I decided this time I would park the car along the PCH and walk over to the beach and hang out until sunset and then sit in my car to watch the fireworks in order to avoid being cold. I parked my car somewhere between Getty Museum and a winding street leading up to Bel Air. Without second guessing myself I walked down the sand toward the ocean and began walking along the sand while enjoying the views.

Within minutes a security guard ran over to me and told me I had to get off the beach as it was private property and I had no business being there. I looked around in shock and followed his instructions on how to get off the newly cleaned sand area immediately. He pointed to a sign and then told me I had to walk on the other side of the sign where the water was dirty or walk back and walk along PCH behind the building next to the uncoming cars. Apparently I had stumbled upon The Bel Bay Club without knowing and had no business being there. I was told I was part of the public beach area humanoids only.  Of course as a result of the chaos, the privileged folk adorning the clean, private beaches pulled down their sunglasses and gazed at me as if I were an alien from another planet.  I felt diseased and for the first time in my life, I experienced discrimination.

When I crossed over to the other side of the sign, after hiding my face and running through the sink holes and dirty water, I sat on the beach and looked over to the privileged side for the longest time wondering what makes for such behavior.   Did these so called special beings even know who I was and what my net worth was? Perhaps I was one of them in disguise or maybe based on my shape and features I could have very well been a human being just like them? Oh wait maybe not?

Anyway, I shook off all the disgust I felt inside and focused on the ocean for the longest time until one of them happened to walk over to “our” side to make a private phone call (perhaps to her lover) I pointed to the sign and told her to move back to  her area as she was invading the public access beach with her presence.

In the (altered) words of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, when she goes back to the shop on Rodeo Drive after being turned down for shopping there: “Big mistake, you have made a big mistake Bel Air Bay  Club”