10 books

It's nearly half way through the year, and I'm nearly half way to my goal of 20 books in 2014. 

Here are my first 10:

1. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by: Ransom Riggs

Basically, a teenage boy must solve the mystery left to him by his grandfather on his deathbed. The author uses creepy vintage photos as inspiration for this quirky and imaginative story. This young adult novel is the first book in a series, so don't be surprised when it ends abruptly, like I was. It's a quick and fun read. Perfect for a beach afternoon.

2. Gone Girl, by: Gillian Flynn

I've already read Gone Girl, but to stay awake during a long drive on our honeymoon, I decided to reread it out loud to Ryan. First of all, it was fun to read together, second of all, it's a fairly entertaining book. It has twists and turns galore, although Ryan was able to see it all coming. I have to say, it starts out a lot stronger than it ends. Read it before the movie is released this October.

3.  The Language of Flowers, by: Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Set in San Francisco, Victoria enters the world as an adult after a life spent in foster care. She deals with a grievous past mistake, learns to move on, and to love for the first time. I enjoyed this book, but the other members of my book club felt differently, finding it trite and unrealistic. 

4. Me Before You, by: Jojo Moyes

After losing her job, Louisa takes up a new position as caregiver to a paraplegic. Louisa's new position results in self discovery and the realization that she is selling herself short. It took a few pages to get into, but once I was there, I couldn't put this book down. As you can imagine, it's a tear jerker, you have been warned.

5. The Storyteller, by Jodi Picoult

The Storyteller flashes between present day and WWII. Sage, a shy baker, befriends Josef, a former Nazi. The pieces fall into place as we hear the stories of Sage, Josef, Sage's grandmother, and a fictional tale by The Storyteller. This was the kind of book that I wanted to cancel plans for. I just couldn't stop reading.

6. The House Girl, by: Tara Conklin

The House Girl has so many glowing reviews on Amazon. I wanted to like this book, but I just thought it was terrible. I actually had to walk away from it for a bit, and only finished this mess of a novel because I had nothing else to read. If Tim Gunn were to comment on this book, he would call it an "overworked and tortured mess." Conklin could deliver an engaging story of the Underground Railroad, but instead she offers up a book rife with unlikeable characters and page after page of superfluous details. In one word: meh.

7. The Aviator's Wife, by: Melanie Benjamin

The Aviator's Wife will leave you wondering, "was Charles Lindbergh the biggest horses's ass of all time?" Anne Morrow, an aviatrix in her time, is completely glossed over as she lives in the shadow of her hero husband. I'm definitely a fan of historical fiction, and love filling in the gaps on wikipedia, or doing image searches on Google as I go. It's a good, well written read.

8: The End of Wasp Season, by: Denise Mina

There's a rich guy who commits suicide, there's a call girl who is brutally murdered, there are some boarding school brats, there's some down on their luck folks in Glasgow, there's a pregnant cop, and it's all connected. It was an ok story, and the author truly wraps up every loose end, but I just didn't care about any of the characters. No one was likable and there was no one to root for. When I finished, I thought, "what was the point of that?"

9: Tell the Wolves I'm Home, by: Carol Rifka Brunt

June is a nerdy teenager with few social skills. When June's uncle loses his battle with AIDS in the early 80s, she must learn to face a world without the one person that she felt truly understood her. It's a moving tale that focuses on an unlikely friendship.

10. Hollow City, by: Ransom Riggs

I'm working my way through this one right now. Hollow City is the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. So far, it's a thrilling page turner. The writing isn't the most sophisticated, but sometimes it's nice to have a quick and easy read that requires very little thinking. Plus, I love that he creatively uses the vintage photos to propel the story.

Happy reading!

the future of hiking

The future of hiking has arrived and it's name is Google.  

Gone are the days when you venture to a trail without knowing exactly what to visually expect.  Google is working on a new project, Google Trekker, which will allow hikers to view a trail from Google Maps, much like street view. The catch is, street view relies on cars to capture visual information, which obviously does not work for single track nature trails. Not to worry, the brains behind Google quickly solved this problem by strapping an enormous 360° camera to the back of an uncomfortable backpack and eliciting the help of Google staff, park partners, and volunteers around the world.  I mean, who wouldn't want to lend Google a helping hand. I for one, would. . . and did.  

The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy is working with Google to map trails in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Ryan has mapped several trails, but I wanted a chance as well. We headed out to Fort Mason for my training, then loaded the beast into our borrowed car, and made the schlep across town to Fort Funston.  

It was a glorious Saturday, which meant the park was a total zoo, and we were the main attraction. We walked slowly around the trails, capturing every nook and cranny on film, as people chatted with us, jumped into the shots, took our photos, or wanted their photo taken with the camera. Although some people knew immediately what was up, others were a bit more out of the loop, wondering if we were working for Yahoo!, or had a telescope, or even a jet pack. Come on people, Yahoo!?

Awesome or nerdy? You be the judge.  

Get excited for trail views of Fort Funston, taken by your's truly, in the next three to five months.

gray and green

Ryan and his partner, Jereme, are in the process of getting a new company off the ground. Trailhead Labs, a business that helps people connect with nature, is currently housed in a very white, very boring, and very empty office. It was my mission to bring some interest, and more importantly color, to their new headquarters.

Our first step was painting an accent wall. We chose the color Dover Gray. 

With accent wall checked off the list, it was time to head to Ikea. The trick is to get there right when it opens on Saturday morning. That said, our goal was one hour, and we were really there for three. It always seems to take longer than I think.

Nothing easy or graceful about setting up Ikea furniture

Ryan wanted nods to nature, so we decided to bring some green into the office as a pop of color. It's not finished, but it's definitely an improvement. 

Looking forward to more hints of green, adding more natural elements, and hanging art highlighting human use of natural spaces. Excited to get Trailhead Labs off the ground in style.

time to get cozy

Being cozy is pretty much my favorite thing in the world. With showers finally in the forecast, it's time to get good and cozy. Is there anything better than drinking tea and reading a book or grabbing a cocktail with a friend, all while enjoying a good thunderstorm? Here are a few cozy rainy day options. 

Grab a book at Browser Books on Fillmore then head to The Grove for a chai by the fire and some serious reading time. 

Books and drinks at Borderlands on Valencia. 

Samovar Tea Lounge has three locations and all have yummy bone-warming tea and a cozy atmosphere.

Warm yourself with a cocktail by the fire at the Rickhouse in the Financial District. 

Manhattans combined with the dimly lit ambiance of Two Sisters Bar and Books will surely warm you to the core.

It's hard to get to, but Liverpool Lil's near Lombard Gates has lots of nooks and crannies to cozy away in with a book or a friend. 

Bloodhound in SOMA has mason jars, plank walls, arty lightbulbs, and allows dogs. Doesn't get much cozier than that.

If you fancy a drink and a movie while being super cozy, hit up the Sundance Kabuki Theatre in Japan Town. 

And, if you need to be literal, get a drink at the Kozy Kar on Polk. It's a kitchy bar with a 70s motif complete with waterbed van and vintage commercials playing on a loop. 

my new green thumb

This weekend I headed to the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show down in San Mateo. I really didn't know what to expect, but what I found were lots of hurried suburbanites planning out their dream gardens. Since I have no outdoor space, I decided to bring a little green into our home.

Normally I have a black thumb when it comes to house plants. I can see them wilting as they cross the threshold of our home.  But, I figured I should be able to manage a few succulents, the easiest of all plants. 

I picked up five new plants, then swung by Cliff's and grabbed a cute wooden bowl as their new home. Here's hoping I can keep these little guys alive.

Succulents: $16.75

Dark Wooden Bowl: $10.00

Light Wooden Bowl: Handmade by my dad

Mason Jar: Free
Rocks: Left over from my fish owning days

Total: $26.75

library love

I've been doing  a lot of reading on my iPad lately, and at $10 a pop, book cost can really add up. Ryan had a great idea to see what the library offered in terms of electronic books.

In order to get everything set up, you have to make a trip to your local branch. I gathered up my iPad and walked the six blocks down to the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Branch. The librarians were very helpful. It turns out that renting books on the iPad is not as simple as it should be. I had to download five different apps in order to get started. Once everything is downloaded, information logged in, it is a breeze. Just search and click check out, then the book is yours for the next 21 days. Three days before the due date, the app will theoretically give you a warning, at which point it is possible to renew. Although, I never got this notice, and my book was deleted. Nuts. 

To get started, you need the following apps, in addition to a library card:

OverDrive

axisReader

Adobe Reader

Blio

Kindle

Yes, you really do need all of these. OverDrive is the library's search engine. The other apps are needed for the actual reading.

Ryan and I also used the library to check out The Sopranos.

Clearly the library is amazing.

(Photo via sfpl.org)