On Reading Young

"When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does."

                                      You've Got Mail

Unwavering Hope

"If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire...if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores...if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote...if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time...if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream...and if proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love...then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American dream. Because in the end, more than anything else, that is the story of this country - the story of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding struggle."

                                       Michelle Obama

                                       2012 Democratic National Convention

Women Really Can't Have It All

"[She] knew there were women who worked successfully out of the home. They ran businesses, created empires, and managed to raise happy, healthy, well-adjusted children who went on to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard or became world-renowned concert pianists. Possibly both. These women accomplished all this while cooking gourmet meals, furnishing their homes with Italian antiques, giving clever, intelligent interviews with Money Magazine and People, and maintaining a brilliant marriage with an active and enviable sex life and never tipping the scales at an ounce over their idea weight. She knew those women were out there. If she'd had a gun, she'd have hunted every last one of them down and shot them like rabid dogs for the good of womankind."

                                  Nora Roberts
                                  Birthright

Laughter

"I'm happy that I have brought laughter because I have been shown by many the value of it in so many lives, in so many ways."

                                         Lucille Ball

Bear It With a Smile, and Learn From Your Mistakes: Happy 100th Birthday Julia Child

In honor of what would have been the late, great Julia Child's 100th birthday...

Things I learned from her: be fearless, love deeply, and always, always cook with butter.

"We ate lunch with painful politeness and avoided discussing its taste. I made sure not to apologize for it. This was a rule of mine. I don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make. Maybe the cat has fallen into the stew, or the lettuce has frozen, or the cake has collapsed. Eh bien, tant pis. Usually one's cooking is better than one thinks it is. And if the food is truly vile, then the cook must simply grit her teeth and bear it with a smile, and learn from her mistakes."

                                            Julia Child
                                            My Life in France

Quotable Wednesdays 7: Highlights

Because I love me some Olympics, for the next 2 Wednesday, Quotable Wednesdays becomes Amazing Photo Highlight Wednesdays. Check out the pictures below for the best highlights of Olympics Day 11.

Quotable Wednesdays 6: Pictures

Because I love me some Olympics, for the next 2 Wednesday, Quotable Wednesdays becomes Amazing Photo Highlight Wednesdays. I may or may not have been up until the early hours of the morning watching the U.S. Fab Five take gold, and Michael Phelps become the most decorated Olympian of all time. So worth it. Check out the pictures below for the best highlights of Olympics Day 4.

Quotable Wednesdays 5: Sorkinian Advice

I'm starting a new tradition on this blog of mine...I have been reading lots of books lately, even more than usual. And in my literary (and pop culture) travels, I have stumbled across many, many fun bits of humor, brilliance, encouragement, and inspiration. Every week, pop by here on Wednesday for Quotable Wednesdays, where I share some of these delightful musings.

Don’t ever forget that you’re a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day. Civility, respect, kindness, character. You’re too good for schadenfreude, you’re too good for gossip and snark, you’re too good for intolerance — and since you’re walking into the middle of a presidential election, it’s worth mentioning that you’re too good to think people who disagree with you are your enemy.

                                Aaron Sorkin
                                2012 Syracuse University Commencement Speech

Quotable Wednesdays 4: Words

I'm starting a new tradition on this blog of mine...I have been reading lots of books lately, even more than usual. And in my literary (and pop culture) travels, I have stumbled across many, many fun bits of humor, brilliance, encouragement, and inspiration. Every week, pop by here on Wednesday for Quotable Wednesdays, where I share some of these delightful musings.

Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic"

                        Albus Dumbledore

                        Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Quotable Wednesdays 3: A Little Jane Austen

I'm starting a new tradition on this blog of mine...I have been reading lots of books lately, even more than usual. And in my literary (and pop culture) travels, I have stumbled across many, many fun bits of humor, brilliance, encouragement, and inspiration. Every week, pop by here on Wednesday for Quotable Wednesdays, where I share some of these delightful musings.

"I Declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! - When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library."

                           -Jane Austen
                            Pride and Prejudice

Quotable Wednesdays 2: Paying Tribute

I'm starting a new tradition on this blog of mine...I have been reading lots of books lately, even more than usual. And in my literary (and pop culture) travels, I have stumbled across many, many fun bits of humor, brilliance, encouragement, and inspiration. Every week, pop by here on Wednesday for Quotable Wednesdays, where I share some of these delightful musings. 

Today, I pay tribute to the incomparable Nora Ephron, who passed away yesterday at the age of 71. Nora Ephron was an author, director and screen-writer, and was the creative genius behind such movies as When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and my all-time favorite You've Got Mail. She dedicated her life to telling stories - both fictional and deeply personal - and was masterful at creating strong female characters who were at times both normal and extraordinary. She was a beautiful and remarkable voice; one certainly silenced far too soon.

"To state the obvious, romantic comedies have to be funny and they have to be romantic. But one of the most important things, for me anyway, is that they be about two strong people finding their way to love."
                    -Nora Ephron

"Here are some questions I am constantly noodling over: Do you splurge or do you hoard? Do you live every day as if it's your last, or do you save your money on the chance you'll live 20 more years? Is life too short, or is it going to be too long? Do you work as hard as you can, or do you slow down to smell the roses? And where do carbohydrates fit into all this? Are we really all going to spend our last years avoiding bread, especially now that bread in America is so unbelievably delicious? And what about chocolate?" 
                    -Nora Ephron

"Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel like I've accomplished something, learned something, become a better person. Reading makes me smarter. Reading gives me something to talk about later on. Reading is the unbelievably healthy way my attention deficit disorder medicates itself. Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it's a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it's a way of making contact with someone else's imagination after a day that's all too real. Reading is grist. Reading is bliss." 
                    -Nora Ephron

Quotable Wednesdays

I'm starting a new tradition on this blog of mine...I have been reading lots of books lately, even more than usual. And in my literary travels, I have stumbled across many, many fun bits of humor, brilliance, encouragement, and inspiration. Starting today, pop by here every Wednesday for Quotable Wednesdays, where I share some of these delightful musings. Today's comes from a book I simply can not say enough good things about. I hope you enjoy these bite-sized thoughts. Seems like just the thing for a Wednesday doesn't it?

"We know from myths and fairy tales that there are many different kinds of powers in this world. One child is given a light saber, another a wizard's education. The trick is not to amass all the different kinds of available power, but to use well the kind you've been granted. Introverts are offered keys to private gardens full of riches. To possess such a key is to tumble like Alice down her rabbit hole. She didn't choose to go to Wonderland - but she made of it an adventure that was fresh and fantastic and very much her own."
                 
       - Susan Cain
         Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking


Also...Don't forget to leave a comment on yesterday's post and let us know what is on your summer reading list. Leave your comment by Friday at 10am for a chance to win a copy of Birthright, one of my favorite Nora mysteries.