The story of a pumpkin named Sonic

When I went home at Thanksgiving, Dad had bought us each a pumpkin. When I got home from my last work trip, R decided that we should carve a Sonic the Hedgehog pumpkin. Neither of us are really known for our artistic skills, but I was able to free-hand a fairly decent Sonic, based on something from the web (of course!).

R contemplating what to cut.. Tools for this project included a highlighter, several slotted screwdrivers and an exacto knife.

 End day one - Sonic is cut out.

Start day two - the necessary addition of the SEGA logo. We actually used a 'stencil' for this.. we tried free-handing the night before, but it didn't look very well, and then got washed off with the juice from the pumpkin.

Sega! All lit up .. notice the air holes in the back, too ;)

Finished product. We're both pretty impressed at how it turned out! :)

Books!

I got a bit bored updating every book with what Amazon says and stuff.. so, for the last few weeks, this is what I've read:

• My Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor. About a neuroscientist who had a stroke. Interesting, but really, she should stick to science and not writing. Her "style" of writing left a lot to be desired.. at least from me.
  
• The Skystone - Jack Whyte. I'm not sure how I've never read Whyte's books before, but seriously, they are amazing. Thanks to Mom for lending them to me! This is the first of nine and they are well-written, long, and they definitely leave you wanting more.

• The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I enjoyed this because it was a full length novel instead of the short stories that I'd read previously.

• Innocence - Kathleen Tessaro. Another chick-lit. It was definitely not as good as the first one of Tessaro's books that I read, and I wouldn't bother to read another.

• The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls. K lent this to me - gotta love friends that share books. She lent me three that I'd never heard of. I can't believe this book is true. That's basically all I can say. It was well-written as well.

• The Singing Sword - Jack Whyte. Book two. Still so good.

• Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay. This book was also from K. It was about France during the war. There's definitely some history here that I didn't know about. Well-written again. I really enjoyed the two different characters and how their stories were laced together.

• The Eagles' Brood - Jack Whyte. Book three.

• Room -Emma Donoghue. The last from K. This one took a bit to get into, but once I understood how it was being written, it was really good. 

Well, that's all for now. I think I'll stick to updates like this.. maybe a bit more frequently though.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

From Amazon: "This splendid collection of mysteries carries readers back to a gas-lit era, when literature's greatest detective team lived on Baker Street. A dozen of Holmes and Watson's best-known cases include "The Speckled Band," "The Red-Headed League," The Five Orange Pips," "The Copper Beeches," and "A Scandal in Bohemia."

Not a very exciting description.. This book was 12 short stories. I thought they might be a bit dull, but I really enjoyed them. They reminded me of Agatha Christie, but short, sweet and deceiving. I'm currently reading The Hound of the Baskervilles, which is a full length novel about these two characters. I'd recommend this book, because it was quick to read, but very well written.

The Debutante

The Debutante - Kathleen Tessaro

From Amazon: "A gifted artist, Cate has come to London from New York to escape her recent past. Working for her aunt's auction house, she is sent down to Devon to value the contents of Endsleigh House, the once gracious but now crumbling estate of a former socialite. There, hidden in the back of a dusty bookshelf, Cate discovers an old shoebox. Inside is a strange assortment of objects: an exquisite pair of dancing shoes circa 1930; a diamond brooch; a photograph of a young sailor; a dance card; and a pearl and emerald Tiffanys bracelet."

I really enjoyed this book. It was a pretty light read, but there was enough twists, turns and mystery to keep me reading. I'd recommend it to someone who just needed a fairly quick read.

The Art of Eating In

The Art of Eating In - How I learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove - Cathy Erway

From Amazon: "Named one of Publishers Weekly's most exciting cookbook deals, Cathy Erway's timely memoir of quitting restaurants cold turkey speaks to a new era of conscientious eating. An underpaid, twentysomething executive assistant in New York City, she was struggling to make ends meet when she decided to embark on a Walden-esque retreat from the high-priced eateries that drained her wallet. "The Art of Eating In" reports on the delectable results of her twenty-four-month experiment, with thirty original recipes included. What began as a way to save money left Erway with a new appreciation for the simple pleasure of sharing a meal with friends at home, a trove of original recipes, and a greater awareness of take-out food waste and whether her ingredients were ethically grown. She also explored the antirestaurant underground of supper clubs and cook-offs, and immersed herself in an array of alternative eating lifestyles from freeganism to picking tasty greens in the park. "The Art of Eating In" is a personal journey that transforms the reader as it transformed the writer, about the joy of getting back in the kitchen and turning something seemingly ordinary into something completely extraordinary."

I really enjoyed reading about Cathy's foray into not eating out in New York. I actually cannot imagine eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.. or even just lunch and dinner every day! Her tales of various cooking experiments and contests were very interesting. I also enjoyed that her book had plenty (well, thirty, apparently) recipes. I wrote down a few of them to try before I returned the book.

I wish I could find more books about what I'm interested in for work (ie, plants). I seem to read a ton about food...

The list - update

Now that I've turned 23, I have less than 2 years to finish the rest of the list. Here's a quick update of where I am. 

1. Start a blog, and update weekly (not sure when I can cross this off though?) I have 2 now, so I figure this is done.
2. Get my Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh award
3. Go skydiving or bungee jumping.
4. Go to Nicaragua or Ecuador (or anywhere international) to volunteer.
5. Hike the West Coast Trail
6. Get married. (Part way there! Less than 10 months to go)
7. Take a cooking class.
8. Get a dog. (I really hope this becomes possible.)
9. Take a photography course. (I have a groupon for one, so sometime in the fall with my sister!)
10. Go to NYC.
11. Get a drastic haircut.
12. Learn Italian (because two other Latin languages are just not enough) (I started this already)
13. Go skinny dipping. No idea why I've never done this.
14. Be comfortable with my body in a bikini.
15. Become a BIT, or preferably, an RPBio.  (As of the beginning of July, I'm a BIT!)
16. Read a Jane Austen book (preferably Sense and Sensibility ;) ) (Took six months or something...)
17. Learn how to decorate cakes/take a cake decorating class. (This fall?)
18. Hike to the Lions.
19. Canoe/kayak the Bowron Lakes chain.
20. Go to a spa (this probably doesn't seem like much.. but it's me).
21. Sell some of my photos (I'm trying, I really am.. )  Counting this as done - I got a photo in a book, and two copies of it.
22. Start dragonboating again.
23. Go on a trip with the group (Disneyland?)
24. Try a yoga class.
25. Buy a Mac. (This isn't happening. I can't justify the cost of a Mac compared to a new PC laptop)
26. Do a chinup (R's suggestion)

Looks like I've still got a lot of work to do in the next two years... 

The Jade Peony

The Jade Peony - Wayson Choy

From Amazon: "Wayson Choy's The Jade Peony is about growing up in Vancouver's early Chinatown. The book, which began as a much anthologized short story almost twenty years ago, is divided into three sections, each narrated by a different child from the same family: Jook-Liang, the "useless" female, whose main interests are going to movies, tap dancing, and imitating Shirley Temple; the adopted orphan Jung-Sum, the second oldest brother, who discover he's gay; and Sek-Lung, the youngest brother and the only one in the family born in Canada."

I read this book during an owl survey. I liked the way that it was written from three different children, and their struggles growing up in Vancouver during the war. It was quick to read but had a good story. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in a different perspective of Vancouver in the '30's and '40's.