This weekend I tried to relax.
Friday night. While the other youth were out parading the streets in what I know to be their third Halloween costume of the season, I was at home throwing bath salts into hot water and filling champagne flutes with sparkling water.
Don’t judge me.
I find that I usually GO GO GO until I can’t go anymore. And then I crash. And then I NEED to live a life resembling that of my 80-year-old grandfather for at least 24 to 48 hours.
It was break time.
I’m not surprised I hit a wall.
In the past 7 days, I have: attended a three day Indian wedding in a different state, drove 4 hours to take a friend out for her birthday, hosted a friend from London, took said friend to a 12-course/8-bottles of wine dinner (it wasn’t just us 2), attended a little breakfast meeting, went to the Opera (I know I know boohoo my life is hard) and did Halloween justice. OH and I took care of that whole full-time job situation.
So yeah. Not shockingly, I told my family, friends and that boy I’m dating that I will be MIA on Friday. And should they need to keep tabs on me, they can feel free to call the NSA. Or my doorman.
The bath salts did wonders. So did the 6 hours of Law and Order SVU.
At some point, around 3AM, after I had watched the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie, Xenon: Girl of the 21st Century some On-Demand film, I got a bit restless.
And I didn’t feel like going to bed yet.
So I paced. And found myself in front of my small bookshelf and thought about its contents and what it said about me. And what someone who didn’t know me would think.
I’ve spent some time this weekend mauling this thought over and I’ve decided to publish a list of the books currently sitting on my top shelf.
In order:
- The Catcher in The Rye – J. D. Salinger (we didn’t read this in school – my brother gave it to me and told me I HAD TO read it because it was the BEST book ever. On the fence. Still.)
- Landing It: My Life On and Off The Ice – Scott Hamilton
- A Skating Life: My Story – Dorothy Hamill
- Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons – Lorna Landvik (this title makes me giggle)
- The History Of Love – Nicole Krauss (an incredible book – be prepared to cry your soul out)
- What I Know Now About Success: Letters From Extraordinary Women To Their Younger Selves – bunch of women
- I Was Told There’d Be Cake, essays by Sloan Crosley
- Rich Boy – Sharon Pomerantz (a book club book we read)
- The Girls From Ames: A Story of Women and a 40 Year Friendship – Jeffrey Zaslow (another book club book. We actually spoke to the author during our meeting by phone. He sadly and shockingly died in a car accident last year)
- 501 Spanish verbs (I mean obviously)
- I Hate Everyone… Starting With Me – Joan Rivers (one of my first posts during which Joan signed this for me)
- The Way To Make Wine: How To Craft Superb Table Wines At Home – Sheridan Warrick (because everyone has to have something like this book at home)
- The Big Book Of Juices – and Natalie Savona (because people need to know I don’t sit around and just make wine at home)
- The Idiots Guide To Amazing Sex – Sari Locker (a gift! From a friend. During college. I swear)
- The Wharton MBA Case Interview Study Guide Volume One (I did not go to Wharton and now that I think about it, I wish I had done a much better job studying this puppy during senior year job recruiting)
- Something Blue – Emily Giffin
- Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell
- For One More Day – Mitch Albom (his books will make you cry and look within yourself. They are awesome. And Albom is from my home state)
- Confessions Of A Shopaholic – Sophie Kinsella
- 1000 Places To See Before You Die – Patricia Schultz
- Made in Russia: unsung icons of Soviet design – Michael Idov (a book I bought for my grandma before she passed away last year. I was hoping it would allow her to reminisce about the things she was surrounded by for most of her life in Ukraine/The Soviet Union)
- Conditioning For Figure Skating – Carl M. Poe (I’ve been meaning to do everything this book says since I was 16 I think)
- If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons On Your Pigtails And Other Lessons I Learned From My Mom – Barbara Corcoran (pure inspiration. Corcoran ended up building a real estate business worth in the many many millions. She started with nothing and her life lessons are Awesome. A recommendation from my dad)
- Heartburn – Nora Ephron
- Nora Ephron – Nora Ephron
- I Remember Nothing – Nora Ephron
- I Feel Bad About My Neck – Nora Ephron
I’m probably obsessed with classic gems like When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle (all Nora Ephron’s). I probably love to laugh. I probably think introspection is worth quite a bit of my time. As is learning from those who have more wisdom and life experience.
I found this to be a more personal exercise than I expected.
Feel free to use these as recommendations also – I would recommend everything on this list.
Especially 501 Spanish Verbs.
Awesome.
