Belated

Man, I have been terrible about blogging lately!  Since it’s been a while, I think I’ll make use of some bulleted listing.

• Book Review #1 — Marlena De Blasi’s A Thousand Days in Tuscany — Just like her book on Orvieto, I really enjoyed this one.  I like her writing style, her way of looking at Italian rural living, and I love the imagery.  Verdict: A
• Book Review #2 — Marlena De Blasi’s That Summer in Sicily — This one was more of a narrative of someone else’s story than the usual documenting of De Blasi’s own adventures.  Though I loved the story, I didn’t enjoy the style of this one quite as much as I did the others.  All the same, still a beautiful story with great Italian imagery and beautiful prose.  Verdict: B+  Now if only I could find her book about Venice in the library, I would finally be able to complete the series!
• Book Review #3 — Jonathan Harr’s The Lost Painting — I loved this one.  It tells the (presumably nonfiction) story of the discovery of a lost Caravaggio painting.  The writing is extremely compelling, the story is complex enough to keep you interested, and I really enjoyed the discussion of the details of the painting and of the restoration process.  Verdict: A
• We’ve started to get some presents from our baby wishlist, so I wanted to say thank you if you’ve sent one.  I am trying to send out written thank you notes as the presents arrive, but we all know how tough that sometimes is.  So, if you’ve sent something, THANK YOU, and I promise you’ll get a note in the mail sometime soon.
• I’ve gotten five reviews so far on my Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award entry.  It’s pretty exciting, especially since at least one of the reviews is from someone I don’t know, and the editorial reviews are pretty positive too.  If you have time, and any interest in reading a fantasy type novel, I’d love for you to wander over to the site, download the first seventeen pages (it’s FREE) and leave a review for me.  They will choose the top 100 entries on April 15th, so I am hoping to have lots of positive reviews by then in the hopes of impressing the publishers!
• Today, I am officially 33 weeks pregnant.  There have been so many days leading up to this where I wasn’t sure I would ever get this far.  Now, with every new day passing, I am feeling more and more hopeful about the chance to really be taking this little girl home with me sometime soon.  In all likelihood, I will be bringing her home sometime in mid to late April.  We’ve put together her stroller and car seat, the hospital bag, and her going home outfit.  It’s making it all feel so… real.  I am SO excited about it, so ready to meet my little girl!
• Of course, all of this talk about preparing for Evi’s arrival has also brought with it a lot of thoughts about my sweet Aodin.  I sure do miss my little man.  A good friend said yesterday that she knew Evi would be a good baby because she will have learned so much from her big brother.  I told her how touched I was at this, since honestly very few people outside of my parents really talk about Aodin much anymore.  I understand why though.  That being said, she told me that she never thought of me without thinking of Aodin, because he is a part of who I am now.  I loved hearing that.  It made me proud (again) to be his mother, and so happy for the little moments I got to share with him.  I can’t wait to tell Evi about her brother, and to see what she has to tell me.
• Speaking of pregnancy, I cannot get enough MILK lately.  MILK MILK MILK.  I am not a huge fan of milk in general, and will only drink skim, and even then only with a super rich brownie or cookie or cake.  Otherwise, I like to drink water, juice, or diet sodas.  For the past couple of weeks though, I am downing a gallon of milk every four days or so all on my own!  I guess some baby needs the calcium, so I am happy to drink it.  Now if only I could find some cheap but good scallops, and someone would bring me an avocado, I would be utterly content.