more books

As most of you know, I’m an avid reader. I can’t even tell you how many books I’ve read in my lifetime, but way too many to count.

Last year I chronicled the 10 classics I read throughout the year. I don’t have any books on my list for 2012, but I still want to highlight any good books I read throughout the year. As a personal goal, I’d like to do what my friend Andrea does every year—read at least 30 books. So far I haven’t started and finished any books in 2012—it is only the 6^th. But in the last couple of months, I’ve read some good ones and want to share.  

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

As a reward for reading 10 classics last year, I took a break from literature and enjoyed some Young Adult fiction. Most of you have heard about the trilogy and have read them, but if you happen to live in a bubble, you need to read them—asap.

A teenaged girl takes the place of her sister in the Hunger Games—a yearly challenge that the government orchestrates in order to keep society in check. Districts have to provide 2 tributes—a male and female—and one person comes out as winner. To become the winner, you have to kill off the other competitors. Yeah, sounds messed up. And it is. Oh and they televise it—talk about reality TV at its worse.

The books were a quick read, with a combination of love, war and revenge — typical literature themes. Definitely a page turner. I’m really looking forward to the film release in March. I already put the date in my blackberry.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

My friend Pam and her book club chose to read The Night Circus last month. Since I was able to attend, I downloaded it and read it in a week. This was noted on many sites as one of the top books of 2011, and I was definitely a fan of it.

Two competitors are chosen to magically compete in an arena—the night circus—and again, only one is able to live, however love gets in the way. The book goes back and forth between different points during the 30 year span. I wasn’t paying too much attention to the flip flop of years at the beginning, but started paying attention and got a handle on it.  

This was just a good overall read and I recommend it. I do like stories that go back and forth at various time points and gradually come together—something like The Time Traveler’s Wife. Some think there may be a sequel but I’m not so sure.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

My friend Sandra put Dracula on her 30 list and since I had downloaded it on my Kindle, I decided to read it at the same time. We both finished within 12 hours of each other. I’ve never seen the movie or read the book, but everyone knows it’s about hunting vampires. And who doesn’t like vampires?

The book was actually relatively easy to get through, after you get used to the style of writing. The book is comprised of letters, diaries, ect from the different characters and all comes together to form the story. I learned a new word and this type of format is called epistolary.

Like with many books, I now want to see the movie. Good thing it’s winter!

Next up is finishing Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (I’ve read this like a million times) and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua (going to see a discussion with the author later this month).

Here are a few books I’ll attempt to read this year:

-       The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

-       The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

-       The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

-       The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet

-       Anthem by Ayn Rand

-       1984 by George Orwell

If you have any recos, please send them my way!

election year

This is not on my list of New Year’s resolutions, however since it’s an election year, I’ve decided to make a conscious effort to be more informed.

They tell you not to talk about politics or religion at the dinner table for a number of reasons. And if you are in my family, then yes, things will get heated. We have a lot of Republicans in my family—come on, it is upstate New York. However, a few of us have broken the mold. But no matter what political affiliation we have, we all have an opinion and aren’t afraid to voice it.

I am a registered Democrat and have been since I turned 18. I have done my civic duty and voted for Gore, Kerry, and Obama. Third time’s a charm. I think I’m a pretty intelligent person and make good choices. And usually I do. Every election term, I vote Democrat, because that is what I do. And because I usually oppose whatever platform the Republican candidate is running on.

With the Iowa caucuses last night, I’ve decided that I need to be more up to speed in political and current news. With facebook, twitter, and other social media, I am pretty aware of the top headlines—at least the news that everyone makes fun of. However, I don’t really take the time (or just don’t have it) to go a bit deeper.

This year, that will change. I will make a bigger effort to read more. I will also make a bigger effort to watch the debates (I’m usually multi-tasking during them). I will continue to vote, but I want to be sure that I have all the info that I can get, and try to set an example for others. If you have something to say about any current issue—especially an opposing one, get your ass out there and vote or do something about it. Otherwise, I don’t want to hear it.

Don’t worry, I’ll pretty much guarantee Romney or Santorum will not be getting my vote November 6^th. But it will be a very informed, well-thought out decision.

it’s a new year—12 in 2012

It’s officially 2012. It’s almost been a year since I started my 30 Before 30 list. And over a month since I completed the list and turned 30. And what a year 2011 was!

In the last 5 ½ weeks, I’ve tried to relax a bit—I was able to catch up on all TV shows, which was amazing. Last year was beyond hectic. With all the traveling for work (I spent more time over the Atlantic then most have ever done in their entire life), the workload I managed, and checking off my 30 things, it was incredibly busy. I barely had a spare moment to do anything else. So doing nothing has been a lot of fun. But now I'm getting bored.

I reflected a bit on the past year and was starting to think about how I want this next year to go. And honestly I’m not sure. Last year I had a plan and that didn’t really pan out. It ended up being slightly unpredictable and as much as I like to be spontaneous, I also like to plan—I am the queen of planning. So who knows what will happen this year, but I will have fun figuring it out.

Ok, so it's now 2012. What should I do this year? No, I’m not going to do a 31 Before 31. But maybe a few goals here and there aren’t a bad idea. Plus I really enjoyed #1 and need something to blog about. So I’ll just check more things off my life list that’s hopefully worth writing and reading about.

So here it goes! 12 in 2012:

1. Go to 3 new states (29 left to go) and do something ‘local’ there

Alabama

Arkansas
Delaware
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
New Mexico
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Texas
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

2. Get a tarot card reading
3. Go to a music festival
4. Go on a blind date
5. Do a trivia night
6. Go to Atlantic City
7. Go to a spring training game
8. Take a cooking class
9. Go to the ballet
10. Go zip lining
11. Take a NYC bus tour
12. Send out 12 handwritten notes

I will not only continue blogging about accomplishing my 2012 goals, but write about what else is interesting in my life. Which will be traveling, running, reading, and living in New York City as those are the things I do best.

Come on 2012. May it top 2011.

P.S. Here’s a photo of how I kicked off 2012!

Angry Birds run the Midnight Run

My list last year was pretty ambitious and I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to finish it. But I was 100% sure that I was going to try my damnedest. Throughout the year and even recently, I talked to a lot of people about finishing the list and how they've been inspired to come up with their own list of things to do, including my very first best friend Patti. It’s great to see my friends and family coming up with their own lists of things to do whether it’s before 30 or stuff to do in 2012. Go have fun!

30!

It’s been one week since …

Don’t worry, I’m not breaking out in a 90s hit song… yet…I'll wait until Saturday night...

I turned 30. 30. Yes, I am now 30. Ok, it’s slowly sinking in. For you 29-year olds out there, it’s actually not so bad. I survived. So far.

Am one year wiser? I would definitely say yes. Am I going to start acting 30? Hell no. The last year of my 20s was definitely a memorable year. In more than ways than one. Given all that has happened this year, I’m sooo glad I did a 30 Before 30 list.

Some were scary, some rewarding, others just needed to get done. I have been fortunate to travel a lot this year, see many new things and meet a lot of great people.

To sum it up:

I jumped out of a plane and rode in a hot air balloon. 

I ran my fastest marathon to date. And did a mud run and placed in a 5k race. 3^rd out of all women.

I finally paid off all my credit cards and framed photos (been trying to do both since college).

I expanded my reading pool (but please no more Russian novels ) and finally completed a crossword puzzle (without cheating).

I moved to London and then shortly after that I moved back to New York City.

I tried my hand at poetry, dancing, photography, knitting, and firearms.

I dived into the Atlantic on Superbowl Sunday.

I finally took a trip somewhere other than North America and Europe—to Africa (although it was via Europe). I also fit in a trip to the West Coast to see the sun set over the Pacific after seeing the sunrise in New York City—on the same day.

I reached out to various family members and put some considerable work into my family tree. This will be an ongoing project as my family is enormous—come on I have 7 siblings.

I drank wine, ate pie, had a fancy drink, and tried kangaroo meat.

I snowboarded, paddle-boarded, went to a professional football game and finally visited the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I went on dates.

I volunteered.

I blogged all about it.

I unfortunately did not kiss Justin. But hey, I girl’s gotta dream.

What was my favorite? Probably skydiving over the southern coast of Portugal—on my last day as a 29-year old.

Will I do a 40 Before 40? God, I don’t even want to think about 40. But maybe when I turn 39, I’ll liven things up by coming up with 40 things to do before that happens—that is if I’m not running around raising a bunch of rugrats. We’ll see…

30. Bring it.

P.S. Mikmik, you have now officially joined the rest of us.

Dear Justin

Dear Justin,

First of all—Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have stuffed yourself with some delicious turkey and stuffing… oh and squash—one of my favorites.

I am certain you have been following my blog—because it’s been sooo riveting—so you should know that I have checked everything off my 30 list! Except for #31—this is where you come in.

So I started out after New Year’s (already over a month after I turned 29) and decided to accomplish 30 things before I turn 30—which happens to be today… on Thanksgiving. Not an ideal day to celebrate your 30^th. But hey, I would be guaranteed time with family and a great meal. And I get to share a 30^th Thanksgiving birthday with my favorite Yankee (last year Swisher turned 30 on Turkey Day).

I think some people had doubts whether I’d be able to accomplish everything in 11 short months and yes, I think at some points I really wasn’t sure if I’d do EVERYTHING. But I did set out to check every single item off. And I now have.

Except for kissing you.

I got some suggestions of doing a YouTube video. And I liked that idea. Except I didn’t have the creative skills, guts, or time to do it. So I decided to write you a letter instead (via my blog).  

I was thinking of going to find some old school ‘N Sync poster in Faro, Portugal (where I am currently) and make out with it. But I have a feeling I would have little luck with that. Plus, I don’t want to kiss the 17 year old Justin. I want to kiss the much sexier and very funny 30-year-old Justin. In real life.

Now I’m not inviting you to the Marine Corps ball (although I did run the Marine Corps Marathon in 2008—Semper Fi). I work in advertising—pharmaceutical advertising. Not super glamorous. Or patriotic. However, my awesome team did a great job of Photosshopping the image below.

To celebrate my 30^th, I spent the day with my sisters and our adopted Portuguese family eating a wonderful dinner. I only wish the rest of my family could be here. But they are back home enjoying our traditional dinner. And pumpkin pie (also one of my favorites). I do demand leftovers when I get back to the States on Sunday. It is one of the best parts of Thanksgiving.

I’m not going to try to convince you to kiss me. I think my blog speaks for itself. Do you know any other girl that watched the sunrise and sunset on both coasts in the same day, did a Polar Bear Plunge in the Atlantic in February, ran a marathon, tried kangaroo meat, read 10 classics, and jumped out of a plane in the same year? No? Well I did. I’m pretty awesome. And that’s why you should kiss me. Oh and I'm a pretty good kisser. If you need references, I can track them down.

So this is a formal invite to my 30^th birthday party on December 2nd. It’s a small affair in NYC—and since NYC is so awesome, why not? If you happen to be in town, make your way to El Centro on 9th Avenue at 8pm. I’ll be there with a margarita in hand.  

xoxo

~Shawnessy

Jumping Out of a Plane

#4.

What better way to end my 20s than to jump out of a plane? I figured I’d go out with a bang. Or fall. Whatever. I did it. I actually jumped out of a plane. And it was scary as hell.

I met up with my sisters in Portugal and we drove to Portamaio where the airfield is—Algarve Skydiving. We had a bit of a late start, but fortunately it was just the 3 of us jumping that day and they were super nice about it.

I was up first—I am the birthday girl. Cornelia took us through a quick safety introductory lesson. After we got the motions down, I got into my jumpsuit and harness. After I was good to go, I crawled into the puddle jumper of a plane—a Cessna 182 to be exact, strapped myself into my tandem master—Bruno, and we took off.

We flew around the Southern coast of Portugal for about 20 minutes admiring the views. It was a beautiful and I actually saw the Western coast too—so both the Mediterranean and Atlantic were in my sight. I chatted with the other guys who were jumping and tried not to think about the fact that I was going to be free falling momentarily. Once we got to 10,000 feet—above the clouds—it was time to go!

We opened the door and my legs were hanging over the edge of the plane. All of a sudden I was screaming my way through the clouds. About 45 seconds later Bruno pulled the cord and we were floating our way down. We saw better views outside the plane of Portamaio, the neighboring towns, and the coastline—with my feet just dangling there. What did I do? I just enjoyed the view. Bruno did some crazy dizzying spirals in the air—where I really tried hard to not get sick. About 4-5 minutes later we made our way down and were landing in the airstrip where the twins and the other crew were waiting.

It was then Ambreleah’s turn, followed by Alysia. First time for each of us. We are now official sky divers! Would I go again. Definitely. Will I be scared the next time? Probably. But it will be an incredible adrenalilne rush, just like this one was.

30 Before 30—officially done!!

Morocco

#17.

I finally went to a new continent! After growing up in North America and taking countless trips to Europe, I finally ventured to a new continent. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to; it was just too expensive, too long of a flight or I didn’t get to take enough time off. And it wasn’t looking like it was going to happen again this year. But I made it happen. About 5 days before my 30^th. Not cutting it close at all.

So Africa! Or Morocco more specific. Fes even more specific. I have been thinking about going to Morocco for a good part of the year. It seemed like the easiest logistically and lots of people were telling me it’s a pretty cool country. I had a plan of taking 10 days and explore the various cities, but my time was limited, so instead I only spent a handful of days there and really only explored one city. But no worries. It was an experience nonetheless.

I slowly made my way to Morocco (via Spain). Transport took a bit longer than I was hoping. We were on Moroccan time. I spent a good amount of time hanging out in train stations. Luckily I had my Kindle and I was reading the Hunger Games, so I entertained myself to a certain degree.

I took the ferry from Tarifa, Spain to Tangier, Morocco. At the Tangier train station, I met a nice couple from Portland, Oregon—Angelica and Brandon. We soon found out we were headed to Fes on the same train and were actually staying at the same hotel. Since I was by myself, we kind of stuck together over the next few days.  

After an hour train delay, I finally made it to Fes, after midnight—in the rain. Oh, did I mention it was raining? It rained on the ferry ride over to Morocco, the whole day while at the train station, and continued to rain on and off for the next 3 days. Ugh. Luckily it didn’t rain too while I was exploring the city.

On our first day in Fes, we got a guided tour of the Medina—Old Town. The guide was a good thing or I would have gotten totally and utterly lost. And I have a good sense of direction. I have a feeling it would have failed me in the maze of alleyways that this city is known for. We saw a lot of different artisans working at their craft. One of the highlights was the tannery—where they make leather goods. We saw from a distance the process of making leather, from where they clean it to where they dye it. Let’s say the smell isn’t nice—a small reminder of the farms near where I grew up. The process includes cow urine and pigeon poop. I guess that’s how they get such soft leather. Good thing the smell goes away in the finished product. They use natural products for the different colors—saffron for yellow, indigo for blue, mint leaves for green, ect. I of course had to buy a cute small purse as a souvenir. In addition to the tannery, we saw a ton of mosques, went into rug, scarf, and pottery stores, and saw one of the oldest universities in the world.

I ate lots of Moroccan food—couscous, roti, tagine, and of course drank mint tea. That’s all they drink here. There wasn’t a drop of alcohol in sight. No bars, no liquor stores—nothing. Which was alright; Fes isn’t a city that you necessarily want to get tipsy and lost in at night.

As a Caucasian American, I definitely stood out. However I didn’t get hassled too much—good thing I don’t have blond hair. There was a prominence of men everywhere. You saw woman, but they were not in charge of any establishments, so I barely spoke to any of them. You don’t really see them socializing like the Moroccan men. A bunch of teahouses were only occupied by men. As an independent woman, I wanted to just sit down wherever I wanted. But I chose not to ruffle any feathers while I was there.

My short trip to Africa was nice. I wanted to go to the Sahara and see more of Morocco, but what I saw gave me a good flavor of the country—not necessarily the entire continent since it’s so vast, but definitely the country. I do want to go back and explore a bit more. But I also want to go to Egypt, South Africa, and other African countries… oh and countries in Southeast Asia and South America. Too many travel dreams. I’ll get back someday.

Now time to get to Portugal to go sky diving!