off to alaska...

{Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake by Ansel Adams}

I'm off to Alaska tomorrow to spend a week with my family on an Alaskan cruise! My parents started a tradition that when you graduate from high school you get to pick the destination for the family trip that year... and this year my little brother chose Alaska! I'll be back next week with lots of photos and stories!

*I just picked up the Hunger Games series to read on the trip... I'm excited to see what all the fuss is about!

animal, vegetable, miracle

I absolutely adored this book. The story follows the life of the Kingsolver family as they attempt to spend a year growing their own food or procuring it locally from neighboring farms. Thanks to Barbara Kingsolver, I'm daydreaming of sweet summer squash and raising my own Bourbon Red turkeys. Definitely a must read if you're interested in the local food movement. Below, is one of my favorite quotes from the book...

"Here I stand in the consecrated presence of all they have wished for me, and cooked for me. Right here, canning tomatoes with Camille, making egg bread with Lily. Come back, I find myself begging every memory. Come back for a potholder hug."

eat pray love

I am ridiculously excited to see this movie. It contains all my favorite things... food, travel and Javier Bardem.

*Have you read the book? Check it out before you see the movie, it's amazing.

downtown chic

{images found here and here}

I am obsessed with Bravo's new show 9 By Design. The series gives you a peek inside the lives of genius designers Robert and Courtney Novogratz and their family of seven children! How they manage to be so cool and stylish with all those kids running around is seriously beyond me... They just released a new home decor book called Downtown Chic and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

*I told Kiwi if we ever win the lottery we are totally hiring them to renovate our next house. Hey, a girl can dream right?

i heart used book sales

{heaven}

There are few things I love more than the annual VNSA used book sale... An entire warehouse chock-full of all my favorite titles, all for less than a dollar. It's pretty much my idea of heaven. The diehards line up the night before so they can have first pick of the goods. It's pretty intense.

Sadly, Kiwi and I won't be able to attend this year because we're going to be out of town. If you happen to be in the Phoenix area this weekend can I bribe you to pick up a stack of books for me? Pretty please?

i'm moving to paris...

and going to culinary school... in my dreams. but seriously, after you read this book you'll want to do the very same. did she go to just any culinary school you ask? no, she packed up her entire life and went to le cordon bleu. pretty darn inspiring. i'm signing up... who's with me?

* the best part? this book is non-fiction, she really did it folks.

(i promise to cool it with the food posts soon... wedding dilemma coming up tomorrow)

the time traveler's wife

"We laugh and laugh, and nothing can ever be sad, no one can be lost, or dead, or far away: right now we are here, and nothing can mar our perfection, or steal the joy of this perfect moment." - The Time Traveler's Wife

*please read this amazing book before the movie comes out... you won't be sorry.

pay it forward

i was chatting with a sweet patient at work yesterday about the book she was reading... i loved the movie. it was so beautifully shot, the lighting is stunning. kate winslet manages to be severe and beautiful at the same time. but, i always like the books best. at the end of her appointment she had finished reading and gifted me with the book. i will be sure to pass it on to a fellow book lover. she made my day. i heart my job, our patients and books.