2009 has been a tough year so far, but also a great year, and it leaves me with a lot to be thankful for.

This year, I am thankful...

-For my beautiful new house, which I love even more every day.
-That my husband and I make enough money that we are comfortable and happy and want for nothing.
-That I was accepted into grad school for Library Science, which I will be starting on January 19th.
-That I got to see quite a bit of my gorgeous nephew Aidan, who is just a sweet and smart and funny kid.
-For my new dog Oscar, who makes my life a lot funnier and a lot cuddlier.
-That even though I lost my beloved grandfather this year, I got to have him in my life as long as I did.
-For my wonderful friends, both new and old, who are simply the best.
-That my family is happy and healthy and well and that some of them will be coming over for dinner today.
-For Zero Hour Theatre, which gives us all a chance to keep doing theatre together.
-For Crunchable, which gives me a place to write.
-For my newfound love of cooking.
-For my job, and especially for my brilliant and fun coworkers, who make every day at work a great one.
-That my husband and I navigated through our first year of marriage and are well on
our way through the second, and that he's my best friend in the whole world.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Just a little Crunch for your morning commute:

My snackable, Staycation, in which I enjoy a blissful vacation at home.

And my feature, Weeds, Weeds Everywhere, in which I attack my yard.

Williams Sonoma, you make my dreams come true. Every time I go to that store, I want to start life over as a pastry chef. And look how well I'd do!



They are 100% homemade, using the crust recipe Williams Sonoma suggested and my own apple pie filling. I used their new fall pocket pie mold (I also have one shaped like a pumpkin) and it went off without a hitch. I even had extra dough leftover, so I made some little leaf cutouts and cooked them with cinnamon to use as garnish on the plates. Also on the side were a scoop each of vanilla and cinnamon ice creams.



Deeeelicious.

Sadly, the rain put an early end to our trick-or-treaters, but before the bad weather rolled in we had a good bunch of kids. I especially enjoyed the toddler dressed as Frankenstein's monster, complete with some excellent facial scars and a prosthetic forehead.

My favorite part, though, was that none of the children wanted candy so much as they wanted to take my dog with them. Oscar was a very big hit with the small child crowd, and many kids had to be pulled away by their parents because they couldn't stop petting him.

I'm halfway through my last BINGO card, so here's the progress:

Alabama: Mockingbird, by Charles Shields
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas: Manhood for Amateurs, by Michael Chabon
California: Free for All, by Don Borchert
Colorado: The Tie That Binds, by Kent Haruf
Connecticut: Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri
Delaware: Alice in the Know, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Florida: Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
Georgia: Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
Hawaii: The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion
Idaho: Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson
Illinois: Intensely Alice, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Indiana: A Girl Named Zippy, by Haven Kimmel
Iowa: Dewey, by Vicki Myron
Kansas: In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
Kentucky: The Year of Living Biblically, by A.J. Jacobs
Louisiana: Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris
Maine: 21 Dog Years, by Mike Daisey
Maryland: Three Willows, by Ann Brashares
Massachusetts: The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell
Michigan: The Longest Trip Home, by John Grogan
Minnesota: Schulz and Peanuts, by David Michaelis
Mississippi
Missouri: In Search of Mockingbird, by Loretta Ellsworth
Montana: The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, by Reif Larsen
Nebraska: Isn't It Romantic?, by Ron Hansen
Nevada: Wishful Drinking, by Carrie Fisher
New Hampshire
New Jersey: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
New Mexico: Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls
New York: Goldengrove, by Francine Prose
North Carolina: Fragile Things, by Neil Gaiman
North Dakota
Ohio: Dramarama, by E. Lockhart
Oklahoma: Take the Cannoli, by Sarah Vowell
Oregon: Twilight Director's Notebook, by Catherine Hardwicke
Pennsylvania: Sellevision, by Augusten Burroughs
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee: How to Build a House, by Dana Reinhardt
Texas: Living Dead in Dallas, by Charlaine Harris
Utah: Places to Look for a Mother, by Nicole Stansbury
Vermont: My Life in France, by Julia Child
Virginia
Washington: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Washington, D.C.: Dangerously Alice, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
West Virginia
Wisconsin: Dairy Queen, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Wyoming: The Laramie Project, by Moises Kaufmann

Next up on the list is The Unlikely Disciple and Club Dead. Stay tuned, and I will finish up the last card (and my reviews) soon!

I have two pieces up at Crunchable today.

My Snackable, a celebration of my Halloween traditions, is here: This Is Halloween

My feature piece takes a look back at my late grandfather's life and how much he meant to me: For Papa

Quick and Dirty: Making the WAC Green Room Campaign happen!

Donations Go To: WASHINGTON COLLEGE A 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Positions:
1. Honor Timothy B. Maloney's contribution to the Washington College community and beyond.
2. Show that working together, we can make a difference!
3. http://gibson.washcoll.edu/

Category:
Education - College and University

Description:
To Our Dearest Washington College Drama and Friends of Drama Alumni:

For forty years Tim Maloney has been the heart of the Washington College Drama Department. In honor of all he's given to every drama major, the new Main Stage Green Room could bear his name. But we need YOU to make this happen.

We need to show WC that small dollar donations are just as landmark as larger ones when put together. If the 2008 Obama campaign taught us anything, it is that. In true “Freaky-Freaky Drama Majors” fashion, today we say “Fuck it, let's do this!” It's time to put our quick-and-dirty drama know-how to use. We need to spread the word wider, make the call louder, and do it NOW!

We are $11,500 short of the $100,000 needed to meet our $200,000 Decker Challenge grant. The new theatre opens with Convocation on October 2nd. This means we have a week before the opening of the new Gibson Performing Arts Center. So we need YOU.

Forward this to your WC friends and family. Forward this to your theatre, artistic, or sympathetic friends and family. Tell them we fought tooth and nail for this center and now we have it. Tell them we want to make sure that a piece of it bears the name of a man who helped shape our lives. Tell them about what TM gave to the college, the drama department, to you.

And in honor of TM, give. $5, $10, $20, $25. More is always welcome. Remember, your donations are tax-deductible. Forgo that cup of coffee for one morning. Take the money you’d use for one happy hour. Help us show the WC fundraisers that not only do the alumni care, but we’re committed. Seven days is not a lot of time. But if we band together, we can walk into the Development Office with a check that will ensure that TM's commitment to his students is known to generations of students to come.

As an added bonus, with every thousand dollars raised there will follow a series of entertaining events! Tamanya will take a pie in the face! (Hint: she prefers apple or cherry). Keeza will kiss a picture of George W. Bush! Our own Drama Mama Lindsay will take a shot for every five hundred dollars raised! And WAC Drama mystic mindy promises a free reading for any who give over $100 dollars!

But if these incredible acts aren't incentive enough, we're certain that we can get even MORE alumni to do crazy stunts if we succeed in getting this green room named for TM. So when you give, don't just give money! In true WAC Drama spirit, give a little of your dignity and get someone to sponsor some crazy antics! We'll get all of them on film and share it with everyone who contributes. (Sadly, your loss of dignity is not tax deductible).

We all know what a special place Washington College was and is to all of us. We all know that the place we called home on campus was the theatre. Many of you have already been generous. But we need ALL of us to make a difference. Click here now and honor a part of our collective history. We can do this by October 1st.

We’re committed. Commit with us. "Y'know what we mean?"

With best wishes,
The Set the Stage Committee

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” –Margaret Mead

***

Join our Facebook cause at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/359901 and give via major credit card. All donations through this process are secure and still tax deductible!

If you would prefer to give directly, please go http://gibson.washcoll.edu to make a donation or pledge.

For more information on the Timothy Maloney Green Room project, go to http://magazine.washcoll.edu. For more information on the Gibson project, go to http://gibson.washcoll.edu/

There's double the Molly at Crunchable today!

My snackable, an ode to my own clumsiness: An Injury-Free Fall?

And my feature, in which my colleagues and I lament the end of a beloved TV show: Take a Look, It's in a Book

Thanks for reading!

The other night I woke up in a panic because I dreamt that I was working at the circulation desk and EVERY SINGLE customer in the library was walking around barefoot and I was the only one who could stop them. I kept dashing around and telling people to put their shoes on, and one lady tried to fight me over it, which resulted in me going off on a rant about germs and following the rules and trying to kick her out of the building.

It's nice to know that I'm OCD even in my dreams...

Almost one year after September 11, 2001, Dave Barry put his humor aside and wrote this marvelous, haunting, important essay.

On Hallowed Ground

I read it every year, and every year it grabs me. Please give it a look.

Coming very soon, it's Banned Books Week! What are your favorite challenged books?

From the American Library Association site:

"September 26−October 3, 2009

Banned Books Week (BBW): Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where the freedom to express oneself and the freedom to choose what opinions and viewpoints to consume are both met. As the Intellectual Freedom Manual (ALA, 7th edition) states:

Intellectual freedom can exist only where two essential conditions are met: first, that all individuals have the right to hold any belief on any subject and to convey their ideas in any form they deem appropriate; and second, that society makes an equal commitment to the right of unrestricted access to information and ideas regardless of the communication medium used, the content of the work, and the viewpoints of both the author and receiver of information. Freedom to express oneself through a chosen mode of communication, including the Internet, becomes virtually meaningless if access to that information is not protected. Intellectual freedom implies a circle, and that circle is broken if either freedom of expression or access to ideas is stifled.

Although they were the targets of attempted bannings, most of the books featured during BBW were not banned, thanks to the efforts of librarians to maintain them in their collections. Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society."

Have a script you'd like to see brought to life?
We want it!

Following its successful runs of The Foley Artist and The Frustrations of Stoker Pratt, Zero Hour Theatre is looking for new plays. One lucky writer's work will be selected to submit to next summer's Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, DC, and several others will be chosen to be workshopped and developed for future performances.

We are looking for fresh, original work to stage. The ideal length is approximately 90 minutes. Other than that, the sky's the limit! Zero Hour will supply all of the funding and resources to make your play as good as it can be.

Please submit any scripts to zerohour.director@gmail.com by September 30 and feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns.

We do accept rough drafts as well as completed scripts since there will be plenty of time to work on them, so either format is suitable.

We look forward to reading your play!

www.zerohourtheatre.com

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. List fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
2. Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
3. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
4. Night, by Elie Wiesel
5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer
6. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
8. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
9. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
10. Redwall, by Brian Jacques
11. Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
12. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
13. This Side of Brightness, by Colum McCann
14. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
15. Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney

This month at Crunchable, I have two pieces up!

My feature, about the bumps and bruises of August, is here:
Hard Knocks

And my snackable, about my darling confused dog, is here:
My Dog, the Boy

Thanks for reading!

Considerably more progress is being made on my year-long quest to read 48 books set in different states. Currently, I’m up to 30 and I have a huge stack to start working on at home. For now, here are some more book reviews, all adult fiction.

( Reviews )

Oh, it's been forever since I've done one of these. Why not?

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:30

2. How do you like your steak? Medium

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

4. What is your favorite TV show? At the moment I'm really into True Blood, and I've also been whipping through season 2 of Pushing Daisies.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Scotland, hands down. Seattle runs a close second.

6. What did you have for breakfast? Cinnamon pancakes at Bob Evans.

7. What is your favorite cuisine? It depends on my mood, but my old standbys include steak, macaroni and cheese, pizza, burgers, grilled cheese and tomato soup, chicken pot pie, and chocolate chocolate chocolate.

8. What foods do you dislike? Anything that comes from the ocean, cole slaw, sauer kraut, pickles, ketchup, potato salad, olives, and many many more.

9. Favorite Place to Eat? If I'm being fancy, The Melting Pot. Fondue is awesome. If I'm being slightly less fancy, Jasper's. Or Bertucci's.

10. Favorite dressing? Raspberry vinaigrette.

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? Sad little green Toyota Corolla named Otis.

12. What are your favorite clothes? My argyle sweater, corduroys, and clunky boots. I also love jackets and coats and pretty much anything fall or winter related.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Italy or Greece.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? Oh, I'm an unflappable optimist. Life's good, guys. Really.

15. Where would you want to retire? St. Andrews, Scotland. Or Williamsburg, VA.

16. Favorite time of day? 5:00. I love going home at the end of a long day and relaxing with the pug and husband over dinner.

17. Where were you born? Lakewood, CA.

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? I really only like to go to baseball games, and that's mostly for the hot dogs and the atmosphere. I watch no other sports, and I'm cool with that.

19. Bird watcher? Not really.

20. Are you a morning person or a night person? In between. I hate mornings, but I'm sleepy at night. I like the afternoon.

21. Do you have any pets? My puggy. Oscar is my favorite. And my parents' sheepdog Maxie rocks too.

22. Are you a cat or dog person? Dog. I already want another one, perhaps named Felix.

23. Zoo or Circus? Zoo. Circuses kind of freak me out.

24. Any pet peeves? Poor grammar and rudeness, mostly.

25. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Extra sauce, pepperoni, and basil.

26. Favorite Flower? Sunflowers, tulips, and daffodils.

27. Favorite ice cream? Mint chocolate chip. Or anything by my homeboys Ben and Jerry.

28. Favorite fast food restaurant? Panera.

29. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Williams Sonoma. Going there makes me want to start over as a pastry chef.

30. Do anything spontaneous lately? Went out for milkshakes. My, aren't I boring?

31. Any favorite technology item you love at the moment? My shiny new Nintendo DS.

32. What was your favorite vacation? I love all vacations. Notables include forays into Edinburgh and Williamsburg, and espeeeecially my honeymoon cruise to Alaska. That was just amazing.

33. What are you listening to right now? Oscar slurping on a rawhide chew.

34. Do you prefer to wear shoes or be barefoot? Barefoot.

35. Any tattoos? Nada. I can't think of anything I'd really want to be branded with forever.

Things are looking up in my garden...read about it here!

Remember, Zero Hour Theatre's latest show is playing NOW at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, D.C. Check it out!

The Foley Artist
an original work by Mike Meagher

Old-time radio. Big-time laughs.



A Depression-era sound technician longs to write radio dramas; meanwhile, his voice actors are embroiled in a love triangle. Will he keep the actors on script and achieve his dreams? Tune in to this uproarious comedy to find out!

Venue
The Bodega - at The Trading Post
1013 7th ST NW, Washington DC
20001

Performance Times
Saturday July 18 @ 1:30pm
Saturday July 18 @ 8:30pm
Saturday July 25 @ 1pm

Purchase your tickets here!

I'll be there for the performance on the 25th. See you there!

The fireworks in my backyard are here at Crunchable!

(x-posted from Away With the Spoon

Since January, here's where I am so far in my challenge to read one book for every state in the U.S. Sadly, the 30 or so other books I've read so far this year either weren't set in America or were set in the same states over and over (California, quit it!)

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California: Free for All, by Don Borchert
Colorado: The Tie That Binds, by Kent Haruf
Connecticut
Delaware: Alice in the Know, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Florida: Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
Georgia
Hawaii: The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion
Idaho
Illinois: Intensely Alice, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Indiana
Iowa: Dewey, by Vicki Myron
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana: Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris
Maine
Maryland: Three Willows, by Ann Brashares
Massachusetts: The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell
Michigan: The Longest Trip Home, by John Grogan
Minnesota: Schulz and Peanuts, by David Michaelis
Mississippi
Missouri: In Search of Mockingbird, by Loretta Ellsworth
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
New Mexico
New York: Goldengrove, by Francine Prose
North Carolina: Fragile Things, by Neil Gaiman
North Dakota
Ohio: Dramarama, by E. Lockhart
Oklahoma: Take the Cannoli, by Sarah Vowell
Oregon: Twilight Director's Notebook, by Catherine Hardwicke
Pennsylvania: Sellevision, by Augusten Burroughs
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee: How to Build a House, by Dana Reinhardt
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Washington, D.C.: Dangerously Alice, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
West Virginia
Wisconsin: Dairy Queen, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Wyoming

Next up on the list is Gone With the Wind and In Cold Blood. Stay tuned, and I will finish up on my book reviews soon!