Week in Review: Books, Cooking, Home and Family - July 2, 2011

It has been a great week.  I am hoping to soak up lots of free time during this long weekend.  Free time, away from work, isn't something that I get very often anymore. 

Here's what happened this week...

Books

Sometimes I think that I was meant to be born in World War II-era Europe, because the books that I read from that time period make me all warm and fuzzy inside.  This week I finished The Soldier's Wife, which was phenomenal, and I started 22 Britannia Road. 

I also partcipated in the Manic Mommies Book Club on Wednesday night, where we discussed The Love Goddess' Cooking School (review here).  Hearing the author's story of how the book came to be was fascinating.  We also had a lively discussion after the 'real' book club was over, which was so much fun.  It is wonderful to be able to talk to other moms for book suggestions.  After the book club, I picked up a few recommendations for chapter books for J, which I'm looking forward to researching. 

I started a new feature on my site called Library Dreams.  I'll be showing pictures of beautiful libraries that are inspiring to me.  Here is a link to the first Library Dreams, which I hope to make a recurring series.

You can also check out my review of The Bee-Loud Glade (3 stars) here.

Cooking
On a last-minute whim, I signed up for a Knife Skills class at a local cooking school.  So on Thursday night, I packed up three of my knives and headed out.  It was a really great time and I think that I learned a lot.  For instance, I have been holding my chef's knife completely wrong.  I am going to have to concentrate for a while, until the correct way becomes a habit for me! 

We spent three hours practicing our techniques for slicing, brunoise and julienne cuts.  After we had chopped through carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, spring onions, ginger, garlic and onion, we learned how to break down a whole chicken.  Then the instructor threw everything into a wok and made a delicious stir fry.  It was so much fun!

Home (and Health)
I've been keeping up with my Couch to 5K running program and started Week 2 on Friday.  I am working to get out of the house as soon as my husband and J head out the door, so that I beat the heat and humidity.  So far, it hasn't been too bad, but imagine that July and August will be brutal.  Running outside has been much better for me than running on the treadmill.  We have beautiful trails near my home and the trees and lakes are pretty to look at, and keep my mind off the time.  I am still getting used to running on hills - that's something that I didn't encounter on the treadmill!  I'm determined to see this through and as an extra motivation to myself, I signed up for my very first 5K race on October 8th! 

Family

My little girl, who I swear was just born yesterday, will be turning 6 on July 11th.  We'll be getting ready for her big day and for her party.  Before that happens though, we'll be prepping the house for my parent's arrival on Thursday.  It will be nice having them here for a long weekend visit and to share in the birthday festivities.

Like I said, it was a great week, and the upcoming long weekend and week look very promising. 

How was your week?