Books; part two

Remember how last Friday I said

I'd post more reading recommendations the following day?

Silly me.

I meant the following week.

Here we go.

Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd.

This is a fun read.

Definitely a book that allows you to escape your own reality

if but for that one hour before bed.

Pattie has led an incredibly fascinating life.

You know the Eric Clapton song, Wonderful Tonight...

of course you do.

He wrote it for her.

just a little ditty while he was waiting for her to finish getting ready.

You know, no big deal.

Oh and before she was with him,

she was married to George Harrison, the beatle.

again, no big deal.

I like Eric Clapton.

He was once in a band with a drummer named Ginger.

Ginger was a lush.

That's how we came to even consider the name Ginger.

Beautiful, huh?

A drunk drummer.

Anyway. The Beatles... Eh.

Not a huge fan.

The Rolling Stones are more my style.

But oh my goodness, was the Beatle life

a crazy, ever evolving, fascinating life?

And she had front row streets.

And she gives you the meaty stuff.

I hate it when autobiographies are safe.

Safe equals BORING.

This book is not boring.

The End.

2. Catcher in The Rye by JD Salinger

Recently we had friends over for dinner.

I made flank steak with a lime marinade.

Billy Joel's recipe.

It. was. Gooood.

What does that have to do with the cost of tea in China?

Or the cost of tea and china.

Nothing.

I just wanted to give myself a shout out.

Great Marinade Alexis!

Hey thanks.

Anyway.

My friend's husband says over dinner

"You know what book I did not like at all? Catcher in the Rye."

Whaaaaaaaaa?!

Them are fighten words boy.

Then he goes on to say Holden is fake.

And he hates how he calls everyone phonies.

Meanwhile, I'm counting backwards from ten

because I dont want to go loco at my own dinner party.

I say in my slightly quieter, monotone voice

(the one I use when I dont want to come off as too strong)

Actually I completely disagree.

I get a wee bit attached to books,

so Holden Caulfield might as well be my brother

JD Salinger my dad.

that's how personally offended I was.

Then I decided due to the high probability of me

pulling a new jersey house-wife and flipping the table over

in the heat of debate, I better just squash it.

So he made his point,

I made mine and then quickly ended it with...

Let's agree to disagree.

My opinion was/is... I have never came across such a perfect

fictional protagonist as Holden Caulfield.

And I get him. I feel like I am him.

He gets pretty serious at times

but then he'll start talking about horsing around

and I am laughing out loud.

That's pretty awesome when a book makes you crack up.

And I know the phonies he's talking about.

And my heart bleeds when he talks about

being the catcher in the rye.

(my heart bleeds?)

I think I was a child in the rye...

And Holden caught me...

and stopped me from being a phoney.

No. Seriously.

I know it sounds melodramatic.

What can I say?

I'm not doing this book justice.

I just think it is perfection.

Will you read it and tell me how you feel about it?

Thanks.

Oh and PS...

Dear David (the Holden hater),

You're wrong.

But youre a kind and fun guy.

So we can still be friends.

Cordially, Alexis.

Please share with me your picks.

Thank you friends.

Have a lovely weekend.

What have I done?

What have I done?

to deserve this piece of Heaven?

Beauty

I am sitting here crying.

I can't stop.

It feels like someone is stepping on my chest.

All for good.

I came across this picture from our trip to Mt. Shasta

and I cannot even began to express all the emotions that it pulled from me.

My sweet Great Grandmother, Estelle. Ginger's namesake.

She's incredible. I promise.

I'm sorry you probably will not know her.

My great grand-father left behind a letter to be read after he died.

He said to his children,

She is one in a million.

I hope to be a wife and mother esteemed so highly.

I love how she's looking at Ginger.

With such a natural peace.

I love that Ginger is in my mom's arms.

I love that they are in the kitchen in which I feel most at home.

I love that Ginger is looking out the window.

I love that out the window is a perfect view of Mt. Shasta.

I love that above her head hangs my wedding bouquet.

I love that she gets to be a part of this very important part of my life.

Of my personal make- up.

I love that this is now part of her life.

I am so grateful.

I am grateful for my religion.

for my testimony.

Grateful to know that Ginger will know Grammie.

Whether it's here on earth

or in Heaven.

Grateful to feel that peace in my heart.

and grateful for this great legacy of love and kindness my Grammie will leave for me.

Life-Ruiner

For the first 3 months of Ginger's life

all I could talk about was baby crap.

I'd be talking about breast-feeding or something

and at the same time be thinking...

Oh my gosh, Alexis, shut up

you are boring the hell out of this person.

I kind of feel like my blog is falling

down that deep dark boring hole.

And Im sorry.

but this is pretty much Ginger's baby book.

So here goes another entry.

I'll call this...

The Baby Gate Tragedy.

She thinks, I'd like to go downstairs now.

I'll just open this gate and be on my way.

(note, the latch is up, but thanks to baby proofing- she still has to lift the gate and pull at the same time to open that sucker, and believe you me...if that happened, the title of this would be; My daughter- the genius)

What the what?!?!

This is baloney,

keeping a girl all locked up like this.

I'll just reach up and

push that button and I'll be on my way.

Why?!?!?!?! Whyyyyyyyyyy?

Woe is me!

Why isn't the button pushing working!

Okay. think Ginger...

maybe if I squeeze my head through here..

Nope, that didn't work.

Hey, there's mom. I'll just stare at her

until she opens it.

And that's when I say,

No, sweetheart. We don't need to go downstairs right now.

Wha?!?! You're ruining me life!!

Well shoot.

I thought I'd have to do a lot more

to ruin my daughter's life.

Like tell her she can't date until she's 16.

Sunshine

This is a post specifically made for the purpose

of sharing the same photos from our

Saturday date in the sunshine

that I have already shared via twitter and facebook.

I can't help myself.

When my older brother was Ginger's age

He and my mother spent the summer in Acapulco.

There are the most amazing pictures

of the two of them pool side.

I can't look at them without smiling.

You can just see how content Ray is,

and how in love my mom is.

These Pictures are so reminiscent of that.

I almost want to label them

Our summer in Mexico

to make them a tad bit more awesome for Ginger

when she's older.

I was using hipstamatic app again

and decided to use the Kaimal Mark lens

instead of the John S lens

I usually favor.

I think they turned out so cool.

That photo was the first one I took

and I just about died when I saw it.

I've probably looked at it 27 times already.

Ginger must have forgotten her secret plan.

Remember, the one we talked about earlier...

when she decides to turn the charm off

if a picture is being taken of her.

Because goodness gracious did she work it for the camera.

Case in point...

Oh, hello gorgeous daddy and daughter moment.

I even like that Casey's hair is messed up because it

gives it even more retro-ness.

It reminds me of Leonardo DiCaprio's hair in Revolutionary Road.

But mostly I love the love that's captured.

And then the lovely child layed her head on her dada's chest.

And I died all over again.

This picture makes me want to slow down.

And enjoy the simpleness of joy.

What a doll.

Unfortunately she used up all her camera cooperativeness

because Sunday we attempted to take a few family shots

And she was so angry.

How dare we try to take pictures of her!

Reading Recommendations

Great reads are hard to come by.

Im very finicky and impatient.

Most books I love grab me fast.

If Im not head over heels after 100 pages,

chances are... I wont finish.

but When I do find a great read...

That story becomes a life lesson.

The Author...An unrequited friend.

You know who agrees with me?

Matilda.

Ever read Ronald Dahl?

Vhere are Zeeeeeeeee Cheeldrun?

That one was a Witches reference.

Sometimes I like to talk like the Grand High Witch.

I'm not sure what that says about me.

This lovely lady asked me to make a list

of recommendations.

I am obliging because

One. She asked and I like her.

Two. Because Im hoping when you (if you) leave a comment

it will be accompanied with your own recommendation.

Here's a couple of current favorites.

I'm too afraid to commit to a top 10 list...

so I'll just post a couple at a time

that I really, really love.

1.Open by Andre Agassi

Oh my gosh. This book.

This. Fascinating. Story.

If someone were to disagree with me on this pick...

I don't know if we could remain friends.

This book is everything an autobiography should be.

And at the end... All you want to do is fight that much harder

for your dreams.

I haphazardly picked up this book at the bookstore.

I loved the cover.

That photo of him is so honest.

I read the first page and I was hooked.

Then I drove home and was grateful for all the red lights I hit

because it let me read another sentence.

It is so authentic.

The transition he makes from boy to teen to young adult to a more, complete adult

is the real story.

It's not a book about him, the athlete.

It's about him as a human being.

If this was fiction... he'd be the most superb protagonist.

Flawed; in the the most perfect way.

2.The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Law, Have Mercy.

This is an exceptional read.

This book was a total accident.

I picked it up and just like before... read that first page

and bought it.

Five pages into it... I stopped and looked at Casey

and said, ever so eloquently,

Holy Crap, this book is SO good!

And then I repeated that sentence

every other page.

This author's character development is probably the best

Iv'e come by, with the exception of Holden Caulfield.

Okay here's the thing with fictional writing...

(because I am clearly an expert here)

I liked the Twilight series...

I really did...

It's just so poorly written.

I'm sorry! Don't send viruses!

The characters are so weak.

I couldn't figure out if I loved Bella or wanted to smack her,

she just got so dang whiney.

and the Cullen family... It's like, I get it already...

Alice is sweet as sugar and the other one (cant remember her name)

is a gorgeous B word.

Way too literal.

Sorry that was a tangent.

Back to the Help... it's hard to believe these are fictional characters.

The author just knows them so well.

It's a book based in Mississippi 1962.

I couldn't even attempt to give you a synopsis.

Im so bad at summing things up...

Like you didn't already know that.

here's one from Borders.com

In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another.

Sounds good, huh?

It is! It grabs you from the first page

and the pace is like a dead sprint to the end.

No lull. No boring parts that make you want to skip

forward.

My friend Lisa said it inspired her to be a better mother.

Me too.

There's this part where one of the maids wants

the little girl she looks after (and loves like her own)

to understand beauty is on the inside

and to take pride and confidence in that kind

instead of the outward appearance.

So she reiterates to her over and over again.

That she is a smart girl.

And a kind girl.

I love that.

I always used to tell Ginger, Youre so pretty.

Now I say, just like Aibileen did...

You are a smart Ginger.

You are a kind Ginger.

You are a beauty-full Ginger.

Read this book. It's lovely.

And you'll catch yourself smiling

many times.

I'll post some more tomorrow.

probably.

Ransom

What I love about Ginger...

is that she sends ransom notes to her Grammy

when she knows I need a break.

What I love about Grammy...

Is that she's game for a good ransom.

Photo Shmoto

Let's talk about photography.

And my relationship with it.

Firstly.

I'm just going to say it.

What is with the weird competitiveness that comes along with it?

Does anyone else feel it?

I have to keep checking myself from being sucked in.

My competitive nature wants desperately to join the "Who's the better Photographer?" club.

But the scriptures tell me that is called... Being Prideful.

Do you like how I just dropped some of my righteousness on the Treese Blog?

What do you mean contradictive?

The truth is...

I got a camera.

And I fell madly in love.

Truly, It's like a boyfriend.

And when you fall for him...

There's ten other girls

like, "Oh no you Di N't just try to take my man."

accompanied with a finger snap and head roll.

I feel like I always have to add a disclosure...

"I have no idea what I'm doing."

because if I dont, what if someone out there thinks I think I'm good?

What if they think I consider myself part of the aforementioned club,

therefore suggesting I'm in the running for being better?

When in reality I am still trying figure out that effing triangle...

ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed.

Freaking ISO... It's still not sinking in.

Secondly.

I'm an instant gratification girl for sure.

So you can imagine why every time I download my photos

and see them large in all their imperfect glory...

I want to sit down with my camera and have a talk.

Maybe we should take a break. It's just not working out right now.

It's not you. It's me. No, seriously. I mean, youre cute and all...

But I love him too much!

The above picture...

SEVEN times to figure out my settings.

Thats seven pictures of a metal angel hanging from a tree branch.

I know. I know. It takes time and practice.

I just didn't know it also takes one billion, trillion bad photos.

I hope my ego can handle that.

I just needed to dump this information somewhere.

that's what blogs are for, right?

I'm sure you've all heard of Pioneer Woman...

And then there's Miz Booshay... the photography guru

who ends her tutorials with this...

"Encourage One Another"

How perfect.

Thank you Miz Booshay. I like your heart.

Mt. Shasta

See... She still won't look at the camera.

I don't blame her for not looking this time;

considering Grammie (mom) just splashed pond water in her face.

Lucky for Grammie she's too young

to be bothered and disgusted by that.

In fact, she rather enjoyed it.

But when you mother four kids...

I suppose you learn some stuff.