February Wrap-up

Because I haven't been reading as much as I wanted lately (although I'm still plugging through Jodi Picoult's Vanishing Acts) I thought I'd just give you a brief update on the busy life of Katie. In random fashion, too! Hope you are able to follow me, I'm feeling a bit all over the place.

I can't believe it's almost been a year at my current job. It's gone through phases of enjoyment and overwhelming and I'm settling into a routine...if that's possible for how fast-paced it is. Don't get me wrong, I really like it, but sometimes I don't know if I'm coming or going! Which brings me to my current feeling. It's Bike Week. I'm neutral on the subject really, because I'm not a biker, but it's exciting too because it's great people watching!

My women's league soccer season starts again on Tuesday - I'm super-excited! I've been playing with most of these ladies for a year now and it's so much fun to get out there for a few hours each week and break a sweat while chatting and looking after everyone's kids. I love having that outlet after work.

We're heading to a birthday party tonight and the weather couldn't be more perfect! It's currently in the 70s, with the sun shining and a nice breeze..and it's supposed to be near 80 later today. People, this is why I moved to Florida!!

I saw my reading buddy Kay the other day (hi Kay!) and she lent me 4 more books - I know what you're thinking! I am already really far behind. I know, I know. I moved these to the top of the pile. And I know Kay and her family are getting ready to move, so I'm hoping I can plow through these books before she makes it through the 5 I lent her. :) These are the books in case you were wondering:

• The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik
• The Godmother by Carrie Adams
• Mother Warriors by Jenny McCarthy
• Time of My Life by Allison Winn Scotch

Hoping I can fit in a workout today with all I need to catch-up on around the house. My friend Laura is in town from Texas so I'll be spending some time with her this weekend as well. What are you up to this weekend? I'd love to hear your plans!

Just started reading Sizzle Says a couple weeks ago, and she went and played this game. Ten things she loves starting with the letter R. Wanting to play along, I commented and she gave me the letter B. Here we go.

10 things I love that start with the letter B -

1. Books. Duh. This is the first thing I thought of when she gave me this letter. I hoard them. I recently admitted on my other blog that I have at least 50 books on my shelves that I haven't read yet. And that was underestimating for sure.

2. Blogging. Another obvious one. I have 2 blogs, this one dedicated to books and my general love for reading, and another one that focuses more on daily happenings. They both started out of my love for writing, but they've both been a way to keep in touch with family and friends who live in Michigan.

3. Booze. Kidding! Well, sorta. I do love me some wine, although in small quantities. And I love a good margarita - I drink these mostly when I'm in Key Largo. And vanilla vodka and diet is my staple for a night at dinner with friends. (I swear I'm not an alcoholic!)

4. Black. I love wearing black because it's so slimming and goes well with most colors. I wear black shoes to work almost everyday, and I just got black glasses because they match everything.

5. Bagels. I've really cut back on my bagel consumption because hello - too many carbs! but I still love them. I've resorted to buying the bags of mini-bagels so I don't feel so bad eating them. My favorite kind is everything with that garlic + chive sour cream. So good!

6. Boots. I don't get to wear them nearly enough now that I live in Florida, but when I lived in Michigan, I lived in boots for a good 6 months out of the year. My favorite pair of fuzzy green American Eagle boots are still at my mom's house. I come from the country, so yes, I even had cowboy boots at one time.

7. Brownies. (Can you tell I'm hungry?!) I would like to experiment more with baking, but in the mean time, my brownies always turn out quite lovely :)

8. Best buds. I miss my 2 favorite Michigan gals bunches, and I love that whenever we talk we just pick up where we left off. I understand that people change and grow as time goes on, but the 2 of them will be my lifelong buds.

9. Beaches. Not the movie but the place. I grew up about 45 minutes from Lake Michigan, which was wonderful in the summer, but not so great when you could only head that way 3 months out of the year. Now that I live 15 minutes from the beach, and head to Key Largo multiple times throughout the year, I can surely say that I'm a beach girl. I don't even have to be in the water, just reading on the sand suits me just fine!

10. Boys. As in my 2 boys. My boyfriend Kevin and our dog Jak.

Lisa played along the other day as well; she had the letter D. If you've played be sure to leave a comment + link to your blog!

Sunday Salon

8:00 am

I finished reading Justice Deferred by Len Williams this week. A coworker loaned me this book so I felt compelled to finish it fast in part, but the truth is, it was a good read! Unfortunately I already gave the book back to her, and I'm still trying to collect my thoughts on it.

I am about 70 pages into Jodi Picoult's Vanishing Acts. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of her new book, Handle With Care, which hits the shelves on March 3. I love that she writes the book with alternating views from the characters - it's really good story telling this way, and we the readers are informed before the other characters.

In other reading news, I picked up Curtis Sittenfeld's The American Wife. I'd been eyeing it at Target for awhile and I had a Barnes & Noble coupon so...there we have it. I'm such a sucker for coupons! I think I'm so drawn to the book because it's about politics, and I seem to be becoming more interested in politics the older I get.

Today I'll be reading more of Vanishing Acts, as well as catching up on my business reading. I've been digging through my boyfriend's old copies of Harvard Business Review and trying to learn more about change in the workplace and leadership. And of course, tonight I'll be tuning into the Oscars and rooting for Slumdog Millionaire, which I just saw last night and it was absolutely amazing!

Happy reading to all :)

Busy.

You've probably noticed I've been off line for over a week now - due to several things. First, there was the Daytona 500 on Sunday which so desperately called my name (not really, I just had the first opportunity I've ever had to go, and since I live here now, it's kinda nice to take advantage of the opportunity). Then there was my plan to get fit and so I started exercising more (I actually did read while on the bike; reviews to come) and there was this thing called my job. And some changes in responsibility. And some after hours events.

And as you all know by now, I can't keep up with it all, so unfortunately I had no energy left at the end of the day to blog. I'll be back soon.

NUTS! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success - Kevin & Jackie Freiberg

From the back:

"Twenty-five years ago, Herb Kelleher reinvented air travel when he founded Southwest Airlines, where the planes are painted like killer whales, a typical company maxim is "Hire people with a sense of humor," and in-flight meals are never served - just sixty million bags of peanuts a year. By sidestepping "reengineering," "total quality management," and other management philosophies and employing its own brand of business success, Kelleher's airline has turned a profit for twenty-four consecutive years and seen its stock soar 300 percent since 1990.

Today, Southwest is the safest airline in the world and ranks number one in the industry for service, on-time performance, and lowest employee turnover rate; and Fortune magazine has twice ranked Southwest one of the ten best companies to work for in America. How do they do it?

With unlimited access to the people and inside documents of Southwest Airlines, authors Kevin and Jackie Freiberg share the secretss behind the greatests success story in commercial aviation. Read it and discover how to transfer Southwest inspiration to your own business and personal life."

I purchased this book awhile back because I was interested in their business model. While it was written in 1996 and it claimed Southwest to be the most successful airline in America, I do this it's still true, but I imagine much more could've been said about the airline industry since 9/11. I'd be interested to know what a more recent addition of this book would look like.

I did like this book, which was compiled based on many, many interviews, publications and stories written about Southwest. They do truly have an awesome business model, one that rocks, especially by today's standards. (Is it just me or is customer service seriously lacking these days?)

I dog-eared I don't know how many pages with quotes and business ideas that I liked and wanted to remember. I'll share a few of those with you - maybe some of you book bloggers out there are also interested in business reading :)

p. 27 "The warrior mentality, the very fight to survive, is truly what created our culture." (I couldn't have picked a better time to read this quote, what with the economy and all.)

p.34 "...Most of us had no idea that we couldn't do this, so we just did it." Reinventing the wheel. You do what you have to in order to survive.

p. 61 "...history shows that those who forget their purpose and step outside their niche have a tendency to fail."

p. 63 "Success in a nutshell: 1. Live within your budget. 2. Manage in good times for bad times. 3. Deline your own targets. Don't settle for conventional standards; create your own. 4. Keep things simple. Streamline your systems and your life. 5. Bigger isn't always better. Don't confuse market share with profitability. 6. At the peak of success, look for things you can do even better. 7. Be humbe: success is hardly ever at your own doing and rarely irreversible." (I believe in all these things! Sometimes I don't abide by these rules but when I'm reading and they hit me smack upside the head, it's just because I need to be reminded.)

p. 111 "Success in a nutshell: 1. Think like an owner - about your job and your life. Owners focus on results regardless of who's watching. 2. Don't act like a victim. Believe you can make a difference in everything you do. 3. Put your turst in others. It tells them they are trustworthy and they will act accordingly. 4. Show your people what you think they're worth. 5. Negotiate with an abundance mentality. 6. Make your organizational and personal mission, vision, and values clear - then hold the reins loosely. 7. Practice the Golden Rule. Do what you expect and want others to do."

p. 113 "People who are curious listen more attentively, ask more questions, and display a genuine interest in what others know. They suspend judgment until they have a firm grasp on the issues they are trying to understand. They listen to gain information, not to validate or confirm their own ideas."

p. 141 "Ask yourself how you can do it before you ask others how it's been done." (I try to do this at work all the time. Most of the entire office has been at my employer for more than 10 years, and they all have their own ways of accomplishing tasks. Since I know none of these ways, I'm constantly trying to figure out my own ways before I have to ask.)

p. 164 " Leaders create cultures, but cultures, in turn, create their next generations of leaders." (I love this quote; probably because I am surrounded by leadership through work, and partly because I'm always observing the cultures of other workplaces.)

p. 177 "To deny our need to celebrate is to deny a part of what it means to be human."

There is so much of this book that is genuinely good, and can be applied to personal life and not just business life. I think if we all take a little bit of advice in our personal lives, our business lives will grow.

The Sunday Salon

9:32 am

I will be finishing NUTS! later today; it's definitely taken me longer than I would have liked, but I didn't have as much reading time this week as I thought I would. I got caught up with work projects, a city commission meeting and a wedding this week, and I also spent some time behind the camera which excites me.

One thing I have done this week is read a lot of news. Things like Facebook turns 5 - but can it survive?, an interesting article about autism, and that darn cover story in People magazine about Jessica Simpson. I know this has nothing to do with books, but I for one am incredibly sick of people calling celebrities fat when they may have gained a few pounds. Fat? Jessica Simpson? How about NO. If I had to guess, she's a size smaller than me, or perhaps my size, and I'm a women's size 6. Since when is that fat?! She looks pretty good to me!

Image: People magazine

Anyway, back to books. I bought a few really low-priced books on Amazon a couple weeks ago, and all of them made it into my home this week. Here's what I got:

Success: Advice for achieving your goals from remarkably accomplished people (Image: Barnes + Noble)

Life on the refrigerator door by Alice Kuipers (Image: Barnes + Noble)

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink. (Image: Barnes + Noble) I've been reading a lot about the creative class, and since I work in business development, I'm really curious about this book. It discusses how creative types and those others who are predominently right-brained will be the future of America. Not sure I believe it, but curious nonetheless.

I am off to stock up on fruits + veggies at the farmer's market and back home to read. Happy reading Saloners!

The Long Walk Home - Will North

You know how when you read a book and you try your hardest to visualize the setting? You know, make yourself a part of the picture? And there are some books that are just so easy to visualize because the author gives such detailed descriptions?

This is one of those books! I loved it because I felt like I was really in the Welsh countryside! (It didn't hurt that the cover of the book really hooked me to begin with.) This book is so greatly detailed, from the setting in the countryside (farm country is what I call it) to the feelings of the characters. And what feelings they were!

Image from Barnes + Noble.

Fiona runs a gorgeous, thriving Bed & Breakfast and cares for her ill husband, who tries to continue managing the family's farm until he is no longer physically able to do so. (Something else happens assists in this but I'm not a big fan of spoilers in my posts.) Fiona is a great caretaker and always receives the greatest compliments from guests, but she just feels so lonely. She no longer feels passion in her marriage, does not have much to look forward to, and misses her daughter who is away at university. So when a handsome American stumbles upon the B&B, she takes to him immediately and her passion is ignited.

Fiona and Alec begin an affair before long (in the matter of days!) and she learns the truth about Alec, that he is also seeking passion again after losing his wife to cancer, and that he is in the countryside to climb a mountain and spread her ashes. (To bring her "home.") The closer they get, the less clear Fiona is about her life and where her husband belongs in it. When tragedy strikes, the affair stops because both Fiona and Alec realize that her commitment is still to her husband.

But of course, true love finds its way home and readers get a happy ending after all.

In the afterword, North describes his meaning of home and where he got the inspiration for the novel. It is true in part, as the idea of "coming home" came from a personal experience when the author spent three-and-a-half months walking 1,400 miles through southern England:

Along the way, I had one or two little epiphanies. You know how magazine articles and self-help books, not to mention Zen masters, tell you that the secret to happiness is to "live in the present"? Well, I don't know about you, but this has always been mystifying to me. But about a week into my walk I realized that "the present" had always seemed to me to be the briefest moment between grief about the past and anxiety about the future. But when you have no fixed itinerary, and no place you have to be at the end of the day, you live - from the instant you open your eyes in the morning to that blissful second when you close them at night - in the shimmering present.

The story was obvious - an affair, a wrestle with vows, a tragedy, etc., but I didn't feel like I understood the book until I read North's explanation at the end. It really tied all the references together, to bring meaning to "coming home."

Great book, beautiful details. Highly recommend it.

Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan

I started this book awhile back as it was available as a free e-book from Oprah's website, and I have to say that it has really made me think. I mean, really think. About things beyond money and investing for retirement. It has stirred up several emotions, and I think that's why it took me more than 2 weeks to finish the book.

I have to say that I love Suze Orman's straightforward talk. She might come across as harsh, but she's honest. It's hard not to hear her. Her opening analogy of today's economic crisis is that we are in the ICU right now, but in time we'll make a full recovery. I have to hope that she's right.

Suze made it clear that we need to focus on long-term financial plans. There is no making rash decisions right now regarding the short term, such as taking money out of a 401(k). She's absolutely correct in that we Americans need to take action this year. The economy is like a train wreck, and I'd rather be taking action that sitting back and watching it crash (that's my analogy.)
Much of what she says in response to one topic or situation can be applied to many other areas in life. For example, a hypothetical situation she discussed was not being able to sleep at night because someone is too scared about the future, worried about their retirement, etc. And her answer was that we must focus on what is in our control. We are all facing so much instability right now, but there's no way I could lose sleep everynight because I'd really be a walking disaster. So instead, I've tried my hardest to take out the emotions and to just focus on what it is that I can control. Seems like an easy and obvious concept, but it's certainly tested me.

How have I taken control? For one thing, I recently set up an account with ING Direct/Sharebuilder and am now investing a (small) amount of my income into stocks. And yes, I know what's happening on Wall Street lately, but I am young enough to bounce back. I'm looking at the long-term. I also just changed car insurance companies, and am now saving $30 a month on car insurance. I recently signed up for vision insurance at work because I knew I needed an eye exam (it's been over 11 years - no judging!) and saved over $200 on my new glasses. I am going to be utilizing our local farmer's market now instead of stocking up on grocery store produce. For one thing, it's much cheaper to buy at the farmer's market and it's supporting my local economy. I am positive that with a few other small changes, I will be sleeping even better at night.

The last couple paragraphs of Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan really reasonated with me, so I'm sharing them with you:

I began this book with the recognition that it is absolutely understandable for you to feel fear, anger, and confusion as you struggle with the repercussions of the global financial crisis.

However, I believe that the very severity of the crisis means that we will choose to make lasting changes that will put us on a path to a healthier and more vibrant future. Crises force us to take a clear-eyed view of what went wrong and compel us to make necessary adjustments to avoid the same pain and suffering again.

The period of reflection we are in right now has forced us to focus on a difficult reworking of our relationship with money. The era of living beyond our means is giving way to an age of living a more meaningful life based on financial honesty.

As painful as this transition period is, please know that what awaits us is a very bright future. Our economy is suffering from a credit crisis, not a crisis of talent or drive. From the innovation that will continue to spill out of Silicon Valley to the reinvention now being discussed to transform our energy sources, I remain convinced that this is still a nation of unwavering discovery and achievement. Short term we have to survive the credit crisis and recession; long term we will prevail and we will thrive again.

Some Like it Haute - Julie K. L. Dam

From the back:

"Alex Simons, style writer, has landed in Paris for fashion week, her heart beating in perfect tempo with the hallowed words Prada, Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo. She's blissfully unaware of her approaching fate: a public humiliation captured on TV, a shot at an exlusive on the season's hottest designer, and falling in love with Nick Snow, the cutest straight guy in France. But while her hormones are still raging, the subject of her scoop mysteriously disappears and she gets a painful reminder of something she already knows: Men can break your heart - even if they're harder to resist than a sample sale. Now, as fast as she can say "Do you accept Visa?" Alex takes matters firmly in hand: First shop, then get her story, and then get her man..."

I tend to like books more when I can relate to any of the characters, and I sure found myself relating to Alex in several ways. Firstly, I'm a writer at heart (journalism school does that to a girl), and fashion is a passion of mine. Secondly, Alex's wit is amazing, and at times I found myself thinking outloud, "that is something I would say!" In fact, one of the best lines of the book is something I've often said myself:

"I don't have a clue about wine. You're talking to someone who picks wine bottles by how nice the labels are."

While I mostly found the writing to be easy to follow and clever, the part about the famous designer disappearing just seemed a little too-far fetched. And the surprise twist of a reality show involving Alex's new man made me roll my eyes.

However, the wit stayed with me, and I loved the banter between Alex and Nick, so I'm going to recommend this book to you dear readers!

The Sunday Salon

11:17 AM
My first Sunday Salon! (Read more about TSS and join here.) It's been a great week of reading for me and I've really been blogging more as well, so I thought it was a perfect time to join The Sunday Salon crew.

I did spend about a half an hour reading first thing this morning, as I usually do on weekend mornings. I actually have plans to head to a restaurant down by the beach for burgers today, so I won't get to spend the entire afternoon reading. I managed to finish up a couple books I was reading this week and start another, so I'm really happy with that. And I don't have a single after-hours work event ahead of me this week so I'm excited to come home and curl up with a book everyday.

Here's what I read this week:

The Long Walk Home by Will North. Isn't this one of the most beautiful book covers you've ever seen? I just love it! One of the greatest things about this book is that the author was very descriptive and detailed and it was very easy to visualize the scene. My review will be up in the next couple of days. (Image from Barnes + Noble.)

Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan. I have been a fan of Suze's straightforward attitude about women and money for a couple years now, and this book was no exception. Her words really resonated with me and my fingers could barely keep up typing what my mind was thinking! Look for this review this week as well.

NUTS! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success by Kevin & Jackie Freiberg. I became interested in this book a few months ago when I read something about their business model. Business books are quickly making their way to the top of my bookshelf as I get further into my career. It honestly sounds like a very boring read but I'm flying through it. It's a book that at first made me think, okay, what crazy tricks are they using to be America's most successful airline? But as I'm reading, it's all clicking because their policies are just obvious. If more people read books like this, and implemented these policies, the world would go round much smoother. I'm 97 pages in and I anticipate finishing this book in the next few days.

Happy reading fellow saloners!

A bookish tour

In honor of my recent read, Scott Kelby's The Digital Photography Book, I thought it fitting to give you a brief tour of the bookish corners of my home.

Look, a stack of books + magazines on the kitchen table!

And here's the top shelf of my bookcase, the next to-be-read books (I don't always follow this rule): And this is the pile on my nightstand (also TBRs):

My 2 recent purchases:

And my most current read:

So, do you hide books all over the house too, or am I the only crazy one?! :)