Books 'n Booze

This was our third Saloon and, as always, it was lots of fun. Sarah and Jen had to trek out to my house and Sarah had to brave my cats against her allergies. Luckily, there was no sneezing. Jen brought the appetizer, which was this pizza roll full of awesome. There were two different kinds and they looked so pretty! I made a jambalaya for dinner. I thought it was a little too spicy (because I’m a wimp) but everyone else seemed to like it. Sarah made this apple pecan bundt cake with a cream cheese filling. YUM!

During our eating we chatted about random things and Sarah and Tim talked about board games. Then, I sent Tim downstairs, set up my computer on the TV and we started with playlists. I made a CD from soundtracks- musicals, tv shows, movies, etc. Jen made a CD with songs that all tell a story. At the last minute she changed one song to Hotel California. Since Sarah hates that song, Jen gave her the un-updated version. It sounded like a fun CD and I can’t wait to get my real copy. Sarah’s CD was ‘Songs you won’t admit to loving… but know all the words to.’ Personally, I thought it was awesome and we all had a fun time trying to guess who each song was by. I can’t remember the last time I listened to anything by LFO.

Next, we discussed the book. I think overall, we all enjoyed it. There was some debate over Pi’s feelings for agnostics but I think, like in the book, we all chose what we wanted to be true about it. I’m glad we were all confused about some of the parts and that made us read a little more closely. I was also excited to share some of the things I used to talk about with my students when I taught the book.

After a quick break for some cake, we starting talking about current events. The first one was about teachers and the use of Facebook. It was interesting to discuss because Sarah and I are/were teachers and Jen has instructed kids before. The article was about a teacher who had posted anti-gay remarks on his Facebook page and was then fired because of it. As a teacher, I had pretty strong feelings about the issue because being a teacher is hard enough and there are so many rules about the things you CANNOT DO. But, in another sense, and I think Sarah and Jen agreed, teachers need to be held to a higher standard because they are seen as role models in the community.

Then we talked about how small our vocabularies are and that it’s interesting that you can know what a word means without being able to define it. Weird. We also talked about where we like to write and that it’s fun to be a tourist, sometimes.

We talked about September 11- where we were, how we felt, etc. It doesn’t feel like 10 years.

Somewhere in there we talked about the upcoming 5K we are doing- Oct 30. It’s a Monster Dash and Sarah and I are wanting to run in tutus. It will be awesome, right Jen?

Finally, we talked about our favorite blogs. Mine, inevitably, consisted of mostly pet blogs. The one that I will share is ModernCat It has lots of cool cat products for people and their pets. Plus, the woman behind it, Kate Benjamin, is really awesome.
Sarah shared with us the wonder that is Cake Wrecks which, if you haven’t seen it, shows pictures of awfully decorated cakes. It’s hilarious. And on Sundays they put up beautiful cakes! Sarah also shared The Duo Dishes which has a lot of yummy-looking recipes and will be sure to expand my waistline.
Jen shared Jonathan Coulton with us. It’s a fun blog so you should check it out! And also buy his music.

Saloon- Round 3 was a lot of fun and I’m glad I got to host! Next, it’s Jen’s turn and we are reading Freakonomics! And I’m pondering dessert ideas…

Happy September!