more books and pics of ms. v

i've finally been reading a lot again recently and have finished some good books. i read another jules verne--this time it was 20,000 leagues under the sea. i vastly preferred a journey to the center of the earth, but i'm really glad i read 20,000. mostly, the main character in this one was just not as captivating. he was a little dry, really. he was a dry scientist, listing facts and ocean specimens constantly. but i remember the movie from when i was a kid, and the book delivered. i wouldn't give it as much of a rave review as journey though.

i also read a fun book with some friends called spiced by dalia jurgensen. it's an autobiography of her journey as a pastry chef. it's not pedantic (like some other chef bios), but much more enjoyable and less self-aggrandizing. she tells some pretty funny anecdotes and talks about the fantastic places she worked. and she talks about how her life changed, too, when she decided to become a chef--and i remember this stuff well: working every holiday, working long days, never getting breaks, etc. the book also made me pretty hungry and threw me back into baking :) i recommend it for people who like foodie-type books. it's a really quick read, but worth it!

now on to my pup, ms. violet, or v as we've grown to call her (or pupcake, because she's the same color as the pupcakes at kickass cupcakes and she likes them!). v is now 9 months old and about 36 lbs. she has not grown as much as we expected her to, since she is a german shepherd mix. so dad must have been a small pup, and since she's supposed to be a bit hound-y, possibly a beagle type mix. we honestly have no idea! but you can see here that she and sid do get along--not always mind you! she's still way too hyper and excitable for him, but they have their moments when they definitely enjoy each other's company :)


and here she is laying on our window seat. this is the only "furniture" she is allowed on and so far she seems to like it. some day, we'll get a nice cushion made for it and it will be softer for her. the she won't have to cram herself on the little pillow up there!


and interestingly, we went to ohio in february to celebrate the birthdays of my nephews. it turns out that all violet wants is a suburban house with children all around her, because this is how she behaved the whole time we were there. note: she is not often like this at our house! to get her to act like this yesterday (for example), she went on a 5 mile run with lee in the morning. then she went for an hour at the dog park in the afternoon, and then she played fetch with the upstairs neighbor for about a 1/2 hour while we finished cooking dinner... but at my parents house, after hanging out with the kids, she just did this:


there you go! and for good measure, another one of my sweet sid :)