Almost Halfway!

I can hardly believe it's been almost 500 days since I started this list! And sad that I haven't been the best at updating my blog (hello! that's number 54!!!), but happy to say that even though I haven't been writing about it, I sure have been doing it!

So let's recap my progress, shall we?

#2: Read 1 new book every 2 months

One of the biggest changes in my life since I've started this list had been getting back into reading. Even though so far it's mostly been chick lit and fantasy that Justin has given me to read, I feel confident now that I will continue to make good use of the library branch down the street and always have a book to read before bed! My last few books were: Something Blue and Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin, Little Lady, Big Apple and The Little Lady Agency and the Prince by Hester Brown, and Ship of Magic and Mad Ship by Robin Hobb.

#7: Go to at least 3 Mets games each summer

This summer I've only made it to 2 Mets games (tho I went to a whopping 4 last year, so I'm still on track!) - one winner (yay!) in DC at Nationals Park and another disaster for my Dad's birthday in July. Across the two games, I think there were 3 David Wright home runs (yay!) but that wasn't enough to pull out the win in game #2. 

#8: Go to 10 concert

Back in July we had a big concert weekend - Weezer on Friday night at Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn and DMB at Citi Field on Saturday! Both were amazing...the best Weezer concert I've ever been to no doubt and possibly the best DMB set. Still have a couple more concerts left this year too.

#11: Try a new restaurant every month

#12: Go to a restaurant for Restaurant Week once per year

#14: Go to brunch once every 2 months (not just at the diner)

Will write about all three of these together since they're related! J and I have spent the summer trying new brunch places (I'll add our reviews in another post) and we went to two new restaurants for RW this summer, One if by Land, Two if by Sea and Mesa Grill - both were fab! What did I eat? Why, of course I'll tell you!
At One if by Land, I had:

App: Haricot Vert Salad: grape heirloom tomatoes, goat cheese, slithered almonds, basil, sherry vinaigrette (AMAAZZZZZING)
Entree: Grilled Bavette Steak: roasted radishes, fingerling potatoes, braised red cabbage, beef jus
Dessert: Gianduja Mousse: caramel bananas, banana bread ice cream

At Mesa Grill, I had:

App: Roasted Corn Soup (INSANELY DELICIOUS)
Entree: Cornmeal Crusted Chile Relleno filled with Roasted Eggplant, Manchego Cheese with Sweet Red Pepper Sauce + Balsamic Vinegar (UMM I CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK)
Dessert: Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake with Chocolate Chip Marscapone Whipped Cream

#23 Visit Lawrence in DC

Another fun travel 101thing down!! We finally visited our friend Lawrence in DC and the timing couldn't have been better, we went on July 4th weekend! We had amazing food (Zaytinya, Co Co. Sala), we were pro tourers and got to see a lot of monuments and some museums (and got to play with my new awesome camera), we went to a Mets-Nationals game (and the Mets won!), we watched amazing fireworks over the Washington Monuments, AND I even got a little bit of a tan! Totally awesome trip!

#41: Try a new recipe at least twice a month 

Sadly, I'm also very behind on my recipe blog...I'll do better, promise!

#63: Get a Massage once a year 

I see that I didn't mention our Valentine's Day couples massage for some reason! I got a second massage to celebrate the next 101thing I achieved.......

#64: Get a raise

I got a new job! Yup, I accomplished one of my best 101things - getting a raise - almost exactly on the 1 year anniversary of creating this list too! :)

Book Update

#2. Read 1 new book every 2 months

Something else I haven't been updating - my book list! It's another long list of chick-lit, but that is my fave! I would honestly recommend each and every one of these - they're such fun reads.

Here's what I've read over the past couple months:

Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore (Al's daughter!)

This was a really fun and smart book following Samantha Joyce, a 26-year-old health-care policy advisor to a senator from her home state of Ohio. Sammy is a fun character to read because she doesn't have it all together - she's a klutz and a neurotic - and she's trying her hardest to balance out her long work hours and her personal life.

Sammy's House

I loved the first book so much, that I also read the follow-up! I don't want to give anything away, but it's another interesting and smart book mixing politics and stress in Sammy's personal life.

Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

The followup to The Nanny Diaries takes place 10 years after the original story. Nan is now married to her Harvard Hottie (Ryan) and after living overseas for many years, has moved to Brooklyn and is renovating a run down house. Her former charge Grayer (now 16) turns up on her doorstep and she gets sucked back into the lives of the X family. In my opinion, while it was enjoyable read, the book just doesn't live up to the original, which I loved.

Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham

I love a book that tells stories in different and interesting ways. Holly's Inbox is told completely through emails! You get to peek inside Holly's life as she writes back and forth with her coworkers, her best friend, her mother, and her would-be paramour. It's a funny quick read and a really cute book.

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? by Melissa Senate

A designer at Wow Weddings magazine, Eloise Manfred is getting married and having her wedding paid for by Wow Weddings along with her coworker Philippa. They soon realize that getting a free $100,000 wedding isn't all it's cracked up to be when every detail is controlled by her conniving boss Astrid. Another fun read!

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

One of my favorite Chick Lit books in a long time - Something Borrowed follows Rachel, an attorney at a New York law firm, who has been best friends since elementary school with Darcy, an outgoing publicist who has always outshined Rachel. After Rachel's 30th birthday party, she winds up in bed with Dex - her friend from law school and Darcy's fiancé! The writing is really well done and the great twist about the book is that your sympathy lies with the cheaters! I just started reading the follow up book, Something Blue, which switches narrators

Fifteen Minutes of Shame by Lisa Daily

Darby Vaughn, 31, is the nation's most popular romance expert, with bestselling books, TV appearances and even her own perfume. But her world turns upside down when her cheating husband, also her publicist, humiliates her and ruins all of her credibility. After a few days of intense girlfriend therapy, Darby starts to rebuild her life with a publicity makeover and the best divorce lawyer in town. Darby is a really great character and it's a different heroine than I'm used to reading about.

The Little Lady Agency by Hestor Browne

Melissa, after losing her job as a London estate agent, starts the Little Lady Agency, where she (in the disguise a blonde wig and calling herself Honey) helps single men shop for themselves, buy holiday presents, fix up their appearance, and goes with them to social engagements. When she takes on Jonathan (the new boss of her old company) as a client, she starts to fall for him and feels the line between Melissa and Honey blur. A really cute read that dragged at times but overall was quite enjoyable! There are two followup books that I also plan to read.

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

I'm a big Sophie Kinsella fan from her Shopaholic series as well as her other books. Twenties Girl is really fun, different, and heartwarming. The story follows Lara as she goes to her great aunt's funeral - a woman she'd never met, until the 23 year old ghost of her great aunt Sadie appears and Lara is the only one who can see and hear her! Lara must now deal with Sadie, who is quite loud and demanding, as she searches for her favorite necklace that is nowhere to be found. Watching the relationship between Lara and Sadie develop is wonderful and it really makes you think about how little you know about your ancestors.

Chasing Harry Winston

#2: Read 1 new book every 2 months



Another chick lit book - what a surprise! This time, I went for Devil Wears Prada'a Lauren Weisberger's next book - Chasing Harry Winston. I loved Prada and her second book, Everyone Worth Knowing, so I was excited to put this next title on my library queue! While probably being my least favorite book of the 3, Harry Winston was very cute and fun to read. The book follows three best friends since college, Leigh, Emmy, and Adriana. The POV shifted between all girls within each chapter - I am a fan of the shifting POVs!

The friends are 29 and facing life before turning the big 3-0. Emmy was just left by her boyfriend of five years for a young, virginal personal trainer (who she bought for him as a present). Leigh seems to have it all - the perfect job, the perfect apartment, and the perfect guy, but for some reason it isn't cutting it but she's scared of letting anyone know how unhappy she is. Adriana is a gorgeous brazilian heiress who loves getting the attention of strange, handsome men. One night, Adriana and Emmy make a pact - within the next year, each will drastically change her life - Adriana, who goes through men like Kleenex, will be in a monogamous relationship by the end of the year, while Emmy, who's only ever slept with her 3 long term boyfriends, will become more uninhibited and have an around-the-world sex-fueled adventure.

Nothing like a good ChickLit!

#2: Read 1 new book every 2 months

So after my foray into a very long sci-fi series, I decided to go back to my favored book genre - Chick Lit! Now, it may seem like I strictly read books that are in a series, but I promise that's not true...it just is true for this particular Chick Lit book...and the one I plan on reading next...

Well see, what happened was...when I was looking for a new book to read, I started the search with authors that I've read in the past and liked - a natural place to begin! So first up is actually book #2 in a series (somehow I've read books 1 and 3...but it's not like a serious series, just has the same characters) of Rachel Benjamin mysteries - The Jinx, by Jennifer Sturman. This series is a lot of fun cause it's a mix of chick lit and murder mysteries!

The first book in the series, The Pact, follows Rachel and her college best friends who made a pact back in college to make sure to tell each other if the group ever felt a man was not worthy. Well, one of the friends was about to marry someone not so worthy and they all were there for the wedding - when the night before the wedding the groom-to-be was found dead! Needless to say Rachel helps figure it out - AND meets a guy while she's at it!

The Jinx picks up when Rachel is in Boston for the week for business and for her annual reunion with her friends...when her client/friend is attacked! Rachel has to figure it out all while wondering if her boyfriend is cheating on her and her college crush comes back into the picture! (I totally should write those summaries on the back of books, am i right??)

Anyway, long story short, it was a fun, short read!

A Song of Ice and Fire

#2 Read 1 new book every 2 months

So I FINALLY finished book 4 in the series I told you about in a prior post. The end got to be really good and exciting, just making it that much more disappointing that the 5th book in the series isn't out yet. I definitely recommend the series (especially the first 3 books, they're hard to put down). The point of view switches each chapter and you get to get inside a large number of characters heads, which is one of my favorite writing techniques. Plus, they're making it into an HBO series, which should be really awesome to watch.

You can read more about the series here.

Getting Beyond my Reader's Block

#2 Read 1 new book every 2 months
So when I wrote my 101 List, I was fresh off reading 3 of the 4 books out in a Fantasy Series (which will end up being 7 books) that Justin had me and our group of friends all start reading. It's a really good read with an exciting and interesting story (it's even being made into an HBO show sometime soon). Anyway, the first 3 books were really wonderful and a quick read once I got into it, but then I got to book 4, which is a lot slower and introduces new characters and is just not quite as good as the previous books. I've read like 2/3rds of it, but it just become something I didn't NEED to read and therefore I wasn't picking it up before bed like I had been for the prior months. So because I wasn't finishing this book, I wasn't able to start any new books, which I really wanted to!

Fast forward to this summer, when we went to a birthday party for one of Justin's best friends from high school and saw his old friends that he hadn't seen in years. Well, one of the girls is now a novelist of tween books! As soon as we heard this, I immediately added it to my queue in the library and finally got it a couple weeks ago! Well, it was the cutest, most fun book - we both just adored it. It could be the next Gossip Girl as far as I'm concerned, it's super clever with tons of humor and pop culture references and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a fan of this tween series - I can't wait for the next book to come out!!