2012 in Review: Best Books

I've become a bit of a bookworm this year.  Being out of school has left me with lots of time to read for fun.  Plus I joined a book club!  Turns out the book club was more interested in drinking wine than actually reading books.  I know, right?  Best book club ever.

 

Several times throughout the year I've thought that I should do a book review over a particularly great book.  But I never did. 

 

Then after a summer full of reading I thought I should post about my summer book list.  But I didn't.

 

So, here's a list of my favorite books from 2012.  And no, that Grey book isn't going to be listed.  I don't read smut.

 

1.  The Hunger Games.

 

 

I know, right?  Duh!  Of course I love The Hunger Games!!!  We all did!  It was super fun to read it during my first semester of teaching because so many of my students were also reading it.  It made for a great bonding experience. 

 

2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

 

 

 

This wasn't a book I expected to love so much.  I was surprised when I realized the entire thing is written in letter form.  But it is so wonderful and charming!  It is set in England after WWII and gives a historical perspective I'd never heard before.  The characters are so endearing and the story so interesting.  I just loved it!

 

3.  The Art of Racing in the Rain.

 

 

Oh my goodness.  I cannot even express how much I love this book.  LOVE.  A couple of chapters in, I insisted that Drew also read the book.  I meant for us to read it together but the fool finished it within a couple of days of being off work.  I was not happy about this.

 

The story is told from the perspective of the dog.  I know, sounds weird.  Not weird.  Hilarious.  Endearing.  Heart-wrenching.  Wonderful.  Just wonderful.

 

4.  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

 

 

I think of this book as being Are You There God, It's Me Margarette of an earlier generation.  It's a coming-of-age story about a little girl growing up in extreme poverty in the early 1900's.  Sweet, sad, funny.  Just a really good read.

 

5. Gone Girl

 

 

I know, right???  If you've read it, you know.  YOU KNOW!  Shit is crazy.  C-razy.  I was reading this at the same time as Jess, but she was ahead of me and kept telling me how flipping crazy it was.  She told me I had to call her when I reached a certain point and that I would know when to call.  It turned out I had to call her at an insanely early hour because I knew I had reached that point and I had  to call her!  C-razy.  Crazy.

 

AND, I just found out that they are def making the movie and that my girl Reese Witherspoon is set to play Amy.  Perfect.  I can totally see her being the girl in the diary.  The rest... not so sure about, but excited to see. 

 

READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW!!!

 

That's the list.  Honorable Mention goes to Blood, Bones, & Butter, The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry,  (both of which made me want to travel the world, eat delicious food, and drink the heck out of some wine), and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Pride and Prejudice  was like the only book we were supposed to read in high school that I actually read.  I love it with all my heart and read it every couple of years.  Throw some zombies in there and my heart smiles.  Hilarious and awesome.

 

What are your must-read books for the year?  I need recommendations for 2013!!!

2012 in Review: Best Restaurants

I know I've been slacking in a major way on the ol' blog here this year.  You've missed some seriously great parts of Gibson life because I've just been too lazy to type them out or snap some photos.  So to make it up to you, I've decided to do a year-in-review series over the next couple of days to catch you up on all the very important details of 2012. 

I know.  You're welcome.

To start off our review, let's talk food.  Restaurants in particular.  One of our new year's resolutions for 2012 was to try a new restaurant every month.  We invited ya'll along and deemed these dinners out: Supper Club.

Supper Club was pretty dang successful if I do say so myself.  Although I only posted about 8 new restaurant experiences, there were lots of new places tried out.  We had lots of fun doing it and will continue it into 2013. 

Over the course of the year we tried some really great places.  We also had a few duds in there too.  So here's the list of our favorite new restaurants of 2012.  Again, these are new to us.  Not actually new.

1. Blue Nile.  Who would have thought we would love Ethiopian food so much?  We do!  The food is amazing, you get to eat with your hands, and the place was just an overall great experience.  There's a new Ethiopian spot near us that is definitely on our list for 2013.

2. Urban Table.  You know how much I love BRGR.  So of course I would fall in love with it's new neighbor owned by the same peeps.  I must say though, I LOVE Urban Table for breakfast.  The coffee is fantastic, the food is delish, and the atmosphere is great.  It has the neighborhood feel that I love so much about so many places in PV. 

BUT I wasn't as crazy about the dinner service.  Granted, I've only been once, and I did have an amazing time (my dining partners probably had something to do with it), and their sangria was out of this world.  But I was unimpressed with the food.  And food is what it really comes down to, right?

So I will continue to breakfast at Urban Table as often as possible.  And maybe I'll give them another chance for dinner.  Maybe.

3. Pizza 51 West.  I first tried this little joint in Fairway after an early morning run with Brit.  Breakfast pizza???  YES PLEASE!!!  That visit was followed by yummy pizza & beers on the patio after kickball games.  I even elected to have my birthday celebration here.  I am thrilled to have such a fun & tasty place so close to home!

4. Hamburger Mary's.  If you haven't gone, go.  Just do it.  You will have an amazing time, plus the food is great.  Seriously, the best veggie burger I've ever had.  And drag-queen bingo is not to be missed.  I'm telling you, my in-laws finally dragged their group of some-what-conservative friends to Bingo, and they had a blast.  Seriously, everyone loves drag queens.  My plan is to attend the drag-queen brunch in 2013.  We also have plans for a teacher-function there. 

Teachers & drag queens.  What could be better?

5.  The Majestic.  This is Drew's pick for favorite new restaurant of 2012.  He can't say enough about his delicious steak, the amazing bartender, and the delightful jazz.  I have a hard time recalling all those things as I can only focus on getting shushed at the end of the evening.  If we have a reason to go out to a nice dinner in the future, and Drew is the one choosing, he would most definitely pick the Majestic.  Try it out, but please keep your voices down!

So there it is; the best of the best places to eat in 2012.  We're super excited to try more next year too!  It's become one of our favorite things to do.  Plus anything that gets us out of the house and off the couch is a good thing. :)

Butt-ah

Happy Tuesday, folks!  I'm holding on for one more day until a much much much needed CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!!

I am finally understanding why teachers aren't just "lucky" to get summer and Christmas breaks.  These breaks are absolutely necessary for our sanity... and the sanity of the students.  I'm sure they are just as ready for the break as we are!

The funnies just keep coming though.  I guess that happens when you spend your days teaching 12-year-olds how to cook. 

Last week we were making Red Lobster Biscuits (delish!) and a kiddo came up to me fretting over accidentally adding a couple of extra tablespoons of butter to his dough.  He asked if he should throw it out and start over.

I responded, "No, I'm sure it will be fine.  A little butter never hurt anything."

Student response was, "Yeah, that's true.  Except maybe your arteries."

Ha ha ha ha ha... 

Happy Holidays! Say a little prayer for me that I make it through my last day!  And lay off the butter this baking season, your arteries will thank you.