Snapshot from Along the Broken Road: August 2012

A photo of me:

I love that Nichole took this of me!

1) Candle scents this month:
French Vanilla. Juicy Peach. Black Cherry. Pineapple Cilantro. Midnight Oasis. Seaside Holiday. Pink Sands. Vanilla Lime.

2) What I am reading this month:
I finished The Help (Kathryn Stockett). Wow. What a powerfully written book. I am going to leave it at that, for now. I am still working my way slowly through Knuckler: My Life with Baseball's Most Confounding Pitch (Tim Wakefield with Tony Massarotti), just savoring it as I go. This has been a challenging year to be a Sox fan and I am appreciating the opportunity to feel good about *something* related to my team. I needed a couple of light, fun "airplane reads" for my trip to San Francisco. One was the first book in a series, Million Dollar Baby (Amy Patricia Meade), and its Depression Era light-hearted mystery feel was exactly right. I will be seeking out the subsequent books in this series for sure. I really enjoyed the writing, the plot, and the characters. I also checked out a Mary Higgins Clark I hadn't read before--I'll Walk Alone wasn't a bad book, but, having read many of her other books, this wasn't Clark's best by any means. I started The Murderer's Daughters (Randy Susan Meyers), but I only got about 85% of it finished before it was due back to the library, so I will have to re-borrow it to finish. I am currently working on another cozy mystery, the first book in another series, called Homicide in Hardcover (Kate Carlisle).

3) Top three songs I was drawn to:
"Overwhelmed" by Tim McMorris. "Hold On" by Michael Buble. "The Nearness of You," by Norah Jones.

4) Movies I saw:
Not a single one. I've been torturing myself with abysmal Red Sox baseball, cleaning out the remaining television shows on the DVR in preparation for the new season approaching, and watching more Boston Legal on DVD.

5) Favorite tv moments of the month:
Felix Hernandez pitching a perfect game against Tampa Bay.

6) Something yummy I made:
Nothing worth noting. We really need to get back to trying some new recipes again. Dinner menu ruts are no fun.

7) Restaurants where I ate:
Alioto's (Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco). Hyde Street Seafood (San Francisco). Left Bank Brasserie (San Jose, CA). First Crush (San Francisco). butterfly (Pier 33-Alcatraz Landing, San Francisco). House of Banquet (traditional dim sum, Richmond District, San Francisco). Olive Garden.

8) Five things I am loving this month:
1. Ice cream sandwiches.
2. Cool weather in San Francisco.
3. Ghirardelli chocolate (which doesn't top See's but it's a very pleasant runner-up).
4. My basil is growing like crazy! Big news for a girl with a Wanted poster in the plant world, for the notorious Black Thumb Murders.
5. A Friday trip to Animal Kingdom on August 31. My plan worked to perfection: out-of-state tourists are low when kids first go back to school, and while I knew the locals would be out in droves for the Labor Day weekend, on Friday, kids were still in school and adults were working, but *I* had a coupon (won at our last company Christmas party) for Friday off to make a four-day holiday weekend. Score! Light (for Disney) crowds and a bonus day off from work!

9) A goal I had for this month:
Buy wedding rings - mission accomplished!

10) This month I looked forward to:
Vacation in San Francisco with Nichole and Daniel.

11) Something I want to be thankful for this month:
Being disciplined enough to have a savings account. While it's no fun to make a withdrawal, after working so hard to build it up, it is very nice to not stress about where the money will come from to put a new transmission into T's truck. The balance may dip a little, but we'll build it back up again.

12) A photo I took this month:

That photo above of me? This is what I was seeing. (Ok, that was a really fun way to pair those photos...says the photo geek.)