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Jan
10
The Sunday Salon 1.10.10
2010 at 12pm Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
Oh, lazy Sunday, my old friend, how I’ve missed you! I mean, the holidays were great and all, but man,I am partied out, and there’s nothing quite like a day on the couch in my PJs to recover. I’ve had my coffee, I’m snuggled up with the hound, and I’m watching Teen Mom on MTV. Mindless drivel after a few very busy weeks? Yes, please.
So what have I been up to? Well, in true boring-old-married-people style, hubby and I rang in the new year by going out to the movies with some friends (saw The Blind Side, which was warm and fuzzy and a little bland for my taste), packing for a trip, and barely making it to midnight. We got up bright and early on New Year’s Day (who does that?) to drive up to Baltimore for the wedding of some good friends of ours. We kicked off the festivities with a New Year’s Day brunch at Miss Shirley’s in downtown Baltimore, where I had the most delicious, decadent pumpkin cream cheese french toast. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend it.
After brunch, Bob and I walked to the National Aquarium in Baltimore’s inner harbor, where we had a rockin’ good time seeing a dolphin show and enjoying their fantastic exhibits. You need about three hours to see everything properly, and it was time well spent, even if there was an abundance of children whose parents weren’t keeping them under control. I suppose that’s what we get for going on a national holiday, but it was well worth it.
By the time we checked into the hotel, we were zonked, so it was room service for dinner (in bed, no less) and a quiet evening…..until about 10:30pm, when the people in the room next to use decided to have a party with about twenty other people in the room and refused to respond to our repeated requests that they tone it down a bit. So we ended up moving to a new room around 1am, not falling asleep until 2, and being pretty miserable. But Saturday was restful, and the wedding was beautiful, and we had a wonderful time.
Upon our return, I finally sat down to make my list of the best reads of 2009, then I got down to the business of reacquainting myself with the real world. In between, I managed to review Homer & Langley by E. L. Doctorow, create a page dedicated to my year of reading deliberately, and host a mini-challenge for this weekend’s ongoing Bloggiesta.
I also finally finished reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, which I loved and can’t wait to discuss with Nicole during my That’s How I Blog interview this Tuesday, January 12th, at 8pm. I hope you’ll join us!
I’ll be spending this lazy Sunday with Elizabeth Kostova’s forthcoming The Swan Thieves, for which I hope to have a review by its publication date on Tuesday. I’m about 160 pages into it (out of 565) and am enjoying it quite a bit. I should be able to make some good progress on it today if I can just stay awake!
What are you up to today?
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I love that aquarium. I’ve only been to it once, but it was fantastic. Makes me wish at times I still lived in Baltimore, to go again!
Your trip sounds great, in spite of lousy neighbors at the motel. I’m on page 326 of The Swan Thieves and I’m really enjoying it too!
Eager to hear what you think about The Swan Thieves — heard the author speak at SIBA back in September. Good luck with the read.
I’m still doing bloggiesta today. I have a feeling I won’t be finished for a few weeks! Too bad about the hotel room. At least you were able to rest after that.
On another note, is it easy to change your blog’s header? I’m thinking about changing to this theme.
sounds like a fun trip, party-animals next door notwithstanding. Aren’t lazy days great? I’m working on Bloggiesta stuff (I’ve already completed your mini-challenge
)
Is the National Aquarium near the boardwalk and that mall-type place that’s all restaurants? I think I went there back in sixth grade. That was 13 years ago but I have really good memories of it, especially the all-you-can-eat seafood buffet where I had crab legs for the first time.
Have you read Kostova’s The Historian?
Yep, it’s near a mall-ish place, and there are a lot of restaurants nearby, so I imagine it’s the same one you visited. I have read The Historian, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. This new one seems, so far, to have avoided some of the problems with pacing that it had, which is making for quite a great read.
I didn’t have a hard time changing the header—as long as you’ve saved the file you want to import for the custom header, it’s very simple.
Thanks for dropping by Susan! I read LOOKING FOR SALVATION with my book club earlier this year and found it very enjoyable. And I envy that you’ve seen Kostova speak. She’s going to be at Politics & Prose in DC next Saturday, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it up. So far, the book is delightful.
Yay for lazy Sundays! It sounds you had a fabulous New Year’s Day. I really need to finish my review of The Swan Thieves. Elizabeth Kostova is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers.
Awww…I want to have room service in bed. I want to lay around on Sunday in my PJs! It is so damn cold down here in Florida, I don’t want to do anything. But alas, this is not going to happen maybe for another 10 years or more. Anyway, very excited to hear you on Blog Talk Radio. I may not listen to it live, but I will listen. I loved The Little Stranger, so much that I am now officially a Sarah Waters fangirl. I also REALLY need to read The Swan Thieves.
Our weather was super nice today. I spent much of it on the patio with a book. My kind of day. Then I had yummy Chinese food for dinner and now I am just catching up on my blog reading. I have tomorrow off (furlough) so more reading for me AND the kids will be in school so I’m going to be a happy, happy gal.
Sounds like you had a wonderful trip, despite the party next door! I really like the idea of “reading deliberately” too – a great theme for your year.
It sounds like you had a great New Year’s! You’re not the only one who was up bright and early – my husband and I ran a 5K that day.
I loved The Historian and am really looking forward to Swan Thieves, although it will probably be February before I have time to read it.
The Little Stranger was one of my favorite books of 2009 so I’ll be interested to listen to your conversation with Nicole tonight.
“We got up bright and early on New Year’s Day (who does that?)”
People with small children do that. I was up at 6:00 am on New Year’s Day. Enjoy this time of your life in case kids ever enter the picture!!!