You are browsing the archive for 2015.

by Sarah

Thanksgiving Post!

November 24, 2015 in recap

I got to host bookclub yesterday, in November, and you know what that means — EASY HOLIDAY THEME!

Things we are THANKFUL for after our Thanksgiving bookclub:

  1. We are thankful for books. 
    We love books (obvs) and are thankful they exist. This month’s host, Sarah, is also thankful that book club gives her the chance to read books. For example, this month we read a kind of weird book, How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky by Lydia Netzer. Sarah broke book club rules by picking it (because she hadn’t read it beforehand and therefore couldn’t really recommend it), but she really wanted to read it, so thank you book club. (Also, it was kind of weird, we all admitted, and Jen said that she kind of saw the ending coming.)
  2. We are thankful for food. 
    As a book club, we have cycled through many traditions — making CDs, sharing current events, creating thoughtful book club questions — and many have fallen to the wayside. But one tradition that will never fade is our tradition of enjoying food. Whether it’s Des’ famous wonton appetizers, Jen’s fruit-and-toppings desserts, or Sarah’s sneak-veggies-in casseroles, we’re nothing if not consistent.
  3. We are thankful for family. 
    Love is in the air, thanks to Des and her happy beau, and we are all thrilled to celebrate Lucas and all his wonderfulness. Plus, there was a bit of a scary moment at book club when Jen had to leave early because her brother Mike was not feeling well and had concerning symptoms. Luckily he’s fine, everyone’s fine, we’re thankful for heath and family, and happy holidays.

Until next time!

#shortestrecapever?

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by Jen

The Cuckoo’s Calling – October Recap

November 23, 2015 in recap

Well, this won’t be the latest recap ever written – book club is still, like, SEVEN HOURS away so I’m way ahead of schedule at this point. The bad news is I can’t remember anything about the book club…

I know it was at my place – my NEW place! First Jen-hosted book club in Farmington Woods. Well, first book blub in Farmington Woods, period, but I’m just stalling at this point. Oh! I do remember that Des forgot that she was dessert, not appetizer, but it was a win for us since the brought over this awesome Buffalo Chicken Dip. Sarah did remember that she was supposed to bring an appetizer, and she brought over some veggies? And stuff? I made dinner. Which consisted of a meat of some kind. And some cheesy bread? I know there was asparagus! Right, that’s all I got.

We chatted about the book which – I am delighted to say – everyone liked even though it was British, and a mystery, which are not usually Sarah’s favorites. We talked a bit about J.K and why she chose to write from a man’s point of view. We talked about Adele’s new song and how the album was a little late for Des’s love life – thanks for nothing, Adele. We talked about integrating school’s because I am a moron and did not realize that Wake was the exception to school integration, not the rule. Pretty sure Des had just started seeing Lucas so Sarah and I had plenty of questions about that! And we talked about my (and Cam’s) wedding reception party thingie which was a mere week away at that point.

That is it. I mean, that’s probably not it. We probably talked about WAY more stuff. But that’s all I got for you in this recap. If, in seven hours, Sarah and Des can help me remember more I will happily update this recap but until then, hope this is a useful record of Saloon’s past. Jen out.

 

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by Sarah

Three Wishes – May Book Club

May 21, 2015 in recap

We read Three Wishes, the second book by author Liane Moriarty that our club has enjoyed. (First: What Alice Forgot.)

Three Wishes received a warm thumbs-up, which was nice for me since I normally pick depressing books that our club begrudgingly recognizes as good literary works (while also wishing their sad stories hadn’t been chosen in the first place).

For our book club discussion, we talked about the three sisters, who was dealt the worst hand, the adorable pre-chapter memory stories, and the love story of the parents. It was a short-but-sweet book club discussion, which fits the book.

Appropriately, here are my three wishes after our May book club:

  1. That I could see my lovely friends more. 
    Jen and Des are seriously awesome. Whether I’m hearing about wedding day details or learning about dating-world craziness, I love spending time with these two and wish we could hang out more! Too bad we all live at three different corners of Wake County.
  2. That I wasn’t allergic to pollen. (Or Des.)
    I spent the latter half of our book club sneezing into tissues. Jen and Des were nice enough to eat outside so we could try out our new patio furniture, but it’s still allergy season, and OMG was I dying. We joked that I might be allergic to Des (or, at least, to her clothes if she had recently cuddled a cat or two. or five.), but I think it was outside. Thanks for putting up with my AAaachoos, guys.
  3. That every meal started with chips and salsa and ended with strawberries and whip cream. 
    I feel like that reads like the start of a dirty joke, but it’s not. Des brought chips and salsa (yum!) and Jen brought strawberries and whip cream to top a delish low-carb pound cake. Everyone loved the whipped cream, especially Sawyer. I made a huge chicken casserole that we’ve been enjoying all week BECAUSE LEFTOVERS ARE GOOD FOR YOU! (Shoutout to your hubs, Mrs. McFarland.)

Other highlights included bachelorette-party-recap stories, discussion of upcoming movies (summer blockbuster time FTW!), and brief blurbs about kilt-gate and wife bonuses.

Now, everyone go die of shock, because I wrote this post like a MILLION YEARS BEFORE IT WAS DUE.

 

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by Jen

The Language of Flowers – January book club

February 2, 2015 in recap

Turns out we all survived the holidays – barely – but in all the chaos of the new year we got a bit behind. Flu season hit hard, there were a couple funerals to attend, and getting back to work made for a seriously overwhelming first couple weeks of 2015. And so it was that we managed to get together at Jen’s house, albeit a week or two late, for the discussion of “The Language of Flowers” and for some severely overdue catching up.

Sarah got us started with peppers and hummus for an appetizer and Jen made rice and peppers with jalapeño chicken sausage and cheesy kale. Des was a real trooper – so many veggies and she tried them all! We caught up with Jen’s traveling, Des’s dating, and Sarah’s job woes. And lots of other things.

Dessert was cookies from Des which we then took into the living room to begin the book and current event conversation. In general, the book was a pretty big hit. There were some actions that characters took that some of us thought didn’t make sense or didn’t match with their personalities. And not surprisingly, Sarah was extremely uncomfortable with the scene where Victoria, the main character, temporarily abandons her baby. But we did like the story and enjoyed the index of the meanings of all flowers in the back of the book. That alone was kind of great, simply to have as a reference.

Our current events were a bit sparse but somehow we still managed to find lots to talk about. Stupid people not vaccinating their kids, the church’s that hurl insults and insist that “the gays” are trying to brainwash us, a massively successful kickstarter of exploding kittens! We also talked – as always – about parenting, this time in the story of the “world’s worst mom” who let’s her kids be “alarmingly” independent in a world where helicopter parents have raised kids who can’t even work out an argument with their roommate without intervention. And then we watched the best video ever on how to talk to your kids about s-e-x. Brilliant.

We spent a lot of time talking about our various plans for the year both personally and our fun group plans! We are WAY behind on our movie days and we discussed plans for going away to celebrate D-DAY!! (That’s Des Divorce Day) We also decided we need to go see “50 Shades of Grey.” None of us are going to read that book and anyway this might be more fun from a visual perspective. If you know that I mean. 😉

So that’s another book club and I’d like to point out I’m turning over a new leaf here getting this done on only the second day of the following month. This is A+ work, people.

Here’s to another brilliant year of books and awesome friends. ♥

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