Book Review - 30 Things...

Call it cliche but in commemoration of turning 30, when I saw this book, yes I wanted to read it. Now one thing I didn't do was pay for it, which I really don't think for the price is worth it ($9.50 for the e-book or $13 for the hardcover). Although you wouldn't have thought it was a highly sought after book I did have to wait a couple months to check this out and it wound up coming to me a month after my 30th birthday not that I needed to read it on my birthday.

Book Title: 30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She's 30 by Pamela Redmond Satran, the Editors of Glamour

Book Summary (from Amazon): Featuring advice, wisdom, and observations from an array of prominent and beloved women, 30 Things is an essential guide (and perfect gift) for women on the brink of thirty—and for those who are already there!

Fifteen years ago, Glamour published a list of distinctive yet universally true must-haves and must-knows for women on the cusp of and beyond the age of thirty titled, “30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She’s 30.” It became a phenomenon.

Originally penned by Glamour columnist Pamela Redmond Satran, The List found a second life when women began to forward it to one another online, millions of times. It became a viral sensation, misattributed to everyone from Maya Angelou to Hillary Clinton—but there’s only one original list, and it stands the test of time. Quirky and profound, The List defines the absolute must-haves (#11: “A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra”) and must-knows (#1: “How to fall in love without losing yourself”) for grown-up female happiness.

Now, Glamour magazine has gathered together its editors and an incredible group of notable women to expand on each of the items on The List in wise, thoughtful, and intimate essays. Kathy Griffin meditates on knowing when to try harder and when to walk away. Lisa Ling explores the idea that your childhood may not have been perfect, but it’s over, and Lauren Conrad shares what she has learned about what she would and wouldn’t do for money or love. Other personal insights come from Maya Angelou, Rachel Zoe, Taylor Swift, Katie Couric, Portia de Rossi, Kelly Corrigan, ZZ Packer, Bobbi Brown, Padma Lakshmi, Angie Harmon, and many more.

Along with essays based on The List, writers share their feelings about what the milestone of turning thirty meant to them. 30 Things is the one book women of all ages will turn to for timely and timeless wisdom.

Book Review: For what it is I thought it was a quick, fun, enjoyable read. I read the whole book in two short sittings, maybe about 2 hours total, an hour on each section, if that. It was a compilation of short little stories (esssays) from various celebraties on their experiences with turning 30 and how it related to the different items on the list. I personally did not learn anything from this book, but I also wasn't looking for some insightful meaning of life type of discovery. I thought there were a couple cute little stories from women on their life experiences. There were some good stories, or tibits from some respectable women from Suzi Orman who wrote a chapter on finances to Maya Angelou. I def wouldn't put Lauren Conrad or Taylor Swift in that category but there were some good stories in there. My parting words on this one would be if you have two hours you want to pass the time reading some short stories on other women as they turned 30 and you can get a free copy of the book from the library then I say go for it. And as the list on, I have to say so far I agree that life begins at 30!

As for the list itself that each chapter is based on here it is:


By 30, you should have:

1. One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you’ve come.
2. A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in your family.
3. Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour.
4. A purse, a suitcase, and an umbrella you’re not ashamed to be seen carrying.
5. A youth you’re content to move beyond.
6. A past juicy enough that you’re looking forward to retelling it in your old age.
7. The realization that you are actually going to have an old age—and some money set aside to help fund it.
8. An email address, a voice mailbox, and a bank account—all of which nobody has access to but you. 
9. A résumé that is not even the slightest bit padded. 
10. One friend who always makes you laugh and one who lets you cry. 
11. A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra. 
12. Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it. 
13. The belief that you deserve it. 
14. A skin-care regimen, an exercise routine, and a plan for dealing with those few facets of life that don’t get better after 30. 
15. A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship, and all those other facets of life that do get better.

By 30, you should know:

1. How to fall in love without losing yourself. 
2. How you feel about having kids. 
3. How to quit a job, break up with a man, and confront a friend with-out ruining the friendship. 
4. When to try harder and when to walk away. 
5. How to kiss in a way that communicates perfectly what you would and wouldn’t like to happen next. 
6. The names of the secretary of state, your great-grandmothers, and the best tailor in town. 
7. How to live alone, even if you don’t like to. 
8. Where to go—be it your best friend’s kitchen table or a yoga mat—when your soul needs soothing. 
9. That you can’t change the length of your legs, the width of your hips, or the nature of your parents. 
10. That your childhood may not have been perfect, but it’s over.
11. What you would and wouldn’t do for money or love. 
12. That nobody gets away with smoking, drinking, doing drugs, or not flossing for very long. 
13. Who you can trust, who you can’t, and why you shouldn’t take it personally. 
14. Not to apologize for something that isn’t your fault. 
15. Why they say life begins at 30!

My Time Capsule

At the end of my birthday night it was time to open my time capsule. I'm pretty sure it was in the 5th grade that we had to put together a small time capsule in class that we would then open on our 30th birthdays. This thing has been sitting in my parents attic for the last 20 years collecting plenty of dust. I waited for the day to finally take it down. Not going to lie I did not assemble the best time capsule, it was kind of disappointing actually, I put some of the strangest things in it.

After many glasses of wine later I had a grand old time opening the random box of crap junk. Some of the more useless items that I put in was a plethora of Kids Newsweek type magazines. It wasn't like one or two, or of something that was a particularly big news event that year. I put in like 30 of these weekly additions. I also put in like 2 notebooks with like 5 pages each filled out. Also on the random list was a Christmas stocking with the words let it snow written on it,  some random children's books, a barbie "poster" along with a barbie doll that clearly was not my favorite judging by her hair our outfit. There was also McDonalds happy meal toys, a troll doll, some random pin, oh there was "Belle" earrings from Beauty & the Beast.

The "best" items in there had to be a paper mache thing that I had made of a "dogfish" - don't ask. A fake spider that we used to chase Matthew around the house with. And a charm necklace when I was really little, but that was about it. I wish I could say there was something in there really exciting or worth saving but there wasn't. Lesson learned for when I help our kids make their own time capsule one day not to put 50,000 newsweek magazines....

Rocky One Year Later

Last year at this time our poor Rocky was recovering from his major surgery. I just remember it was so sad when we picked him up and he was definitely in so much pain and not himself at all. It took him at least 2 weeks before he started showing any signs of life again and then we went through months of rehab with him. And then we were told the rehab wasn't helping and to stop.

For a long while we didn't know if he would ever fully recover and be weight bearing on that leg again.  Slowly but surely he did begin to make progress. Everyone noticed a big difference. I'd say he's probably about 90% back to normal now. I wouldn't say that he's 100% as we notice that sometimes he doesn't lean on it. And recently when Mike and I were walking on him, he was definitely hobbling a bit which was not his usual.


But in the end he had to have the surgery and he's a 100x better than if he didn't have the surgery. And he's come a long way! Mike did call the surgeon this week to see about bringing him back in again for a recheck to see what he thinks about his progress a year later, so we'll see what the official diagnosis is. No matter he's worth every single penny and more that we spent on him, for all of the happiness that he brings to us both every single day! We love that little guy to pieces!!!

Finally some Rocky randomness shots from my Phone! 

 Rocky got his license!!!

Christmas Eve 2012

Catching up on a couple more Christmas pictures. We try to divide up our Holidays amongst the two families. It was a little bit different this year since I hosted Christmas at our house, but for Christmas Eve we went to my cousin's house. We've tended to do Christmas Eve in Long Island with my family and then Christmas Day in Jersey with Mike's family. This year we had two brand new editions to the festivities  little Zoe & Harry! These two little cutie pies were the hit of the evening. But clearly even Harry ate too much and was passed out, as was Mike after Christmas Dinner! I do love our Christmas Eve dinner, it's quite the feast and always includes my Aunts famous Swedish Meatballs, I look forward to those guys all year long! 

Christmas in NY

Christmas in NY is one of my favorite parts about living in the tri-state area. I love Christmas time in the city, there is just something about it. This year we were invited to a Holiday party at a colleague of Mike's apartment in the city. Him and his partner have a beautiful apartment right in the midtown area, close to Columbus Circle. After some traffic, and waiting on trains we finally arrived at the party and it was wonderful! We had so much fun catching up with everyone!

When it was time to go home around 9:30, I convinced Mike, without too much arm twisting, he agreed to go check out the tree for our annual pilgrimage. It wasn't too far of a walk from the apartment,  and we got to walk past some of my favorite city highlights, from Radio City to the "Giant Christmas Balls & Lights."Even better was that it was a pretty mild night in the city and it really wasn't too cold, guess we can blame that on global warming.

We made our way over to the tree and got in a decent spot and managed to get a picture taken. We actually didn't have the camera with us and just used our phones to take all the pictures this year. I was so happy to get a nice picture of us in front of the tree. I think it was clutch being able to go on a random weeknight around 10 pm to avoid all the crows, because let me tell you that is never fun. This way also leads to a happy and smiling Mike as well! I think this is my favorite tree picture yet!!!

My absolutle favorite part - Our Annual Tree Picture! <3 p="p">

Book Review - The Light Between Oceans

For my birthday I was lucky enough to get a gift card to Barnes & Noble! Our dear family friend Barbra knows me well, and knows how much I love to read! Since I also just got my Samsung Galaxy Note, I wanted to try out reading a book on my new note, which worked out perfectly since it came loaded with the Barnes & Noble Nook app. So for my first read I decided to purchase a book I stumbled on that was highly rated and looked interesting.

In terms of reading on the Galaxy Note versus my Kindle, I def prefer my kindle. It was much easier on my eyes than it was on the note. Even with adjusting the brightness I still found it like reading a computer screen versus the kindle which feels much more like a book. The draw back to my kindle is the lack of light, even with the light on the case, it's not perfect. I'm interested to see the new kindle paperwhite and how that compares. It may warrant an upgrade!

Book Title: The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman

Book Summary (from Amazon): After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss.

Book Review: I found the first 100-200 pages to be a bit slow, while it was interesting there wasn't a great deal that happened that really drew me into the book however it kept me interested enough to continue reading. The third part of the book was where things really picked up and that was def the best part of the book. For that alone I think it was worth the read. I think it was easy to feel the pain that each of the characters were going through as a result of the decisions they made and how they have to come to live with them. Overall I would recommend the book, I did enjoy it, and found myself wanting to read on to see the final outcome of the story.

More Party Pictures!

I was so blessed to have so many wonderful family and friends come to my 30th Birthday Party! Because I have so many great pictures with everyone I thought I would post some pictures from the party separately. This is just a small sampling of all the great people that came to the party and helped me to celebrate. Second to our wedding, we had so many of our family and friends all in one place! I still can't believe how many were there! Although at first we thought it was going to be a bit tight, it all worked out in the end and everyone hopefully had a fantastic time celebrating and drinking lots of wine and eating lots of cheese, among the many things we had that night!