Forgetfullness

I had a few extra minutes at work today, and wanted to jot down some thoughts about my family to blog about later. I suffer from a bad case of if I don't write something down, I'll forget about it forever. Normally when I make a blog "list" I e-mail it to my personal address so I'll have it when I get home.

I forgot to do that today. Oops. But I still wanted blog each day for NaBloPoMo, like I said I would! So expect that post tomorrow!

On another note, I finally finished my fictional book!! I gave myself a personal goal to read more books, by starting to read one non-fiction and one fictional book at the same time. I actually got more into my fictional book, because my non-fiction choice is a hard read. But now that I'm "down" to one book, I really want to finish it and really focus on what I'm reading. The good news is, my mom gave me another book to read last night, and I already have a good stack of more books on Ancient Rome, so I'll be able to start Cycle #2!

So, I will be reading:
"206 Bones" by Kathy Reichs - the famous author who wrote the books that inspired the FOX tv show Bones.



And "Roman Warfare" by Adrian Goldsworthy. Looks like a heavy read, but at least is has pictures and charts. I'm actually really looking forward to this. And to make matters worse, this was one of th books I was supposed to read on my Spring Reading List - that shows how far behind I am.

Did you know...

• The Roman army around the time of Augustus Caesar numbered at only 400,000, but they kept the peace of a Roman world of over 45 million people.
  
• When Roman soldiers weren’t fighting, they were building. Most of the aqueducts and amphitheatres in the areas they were occupying were built by armies (like in France).
  
• A typical soldier’s job (when there wasn’t a specific war going on) was stone-cutting for buildings, but most hated it. Those with something called “special letters of introduction” could practice a “trade” of their choosing, normally an administrative type position such as in a library, as a clerk, or in a surveyors or architect’s office.
  
• The Roman soldier could move up the ranks by becoming the head man of his “mess” (the groups in which soldiers ate their meals), then a centurion’s second-in-command, then a centurion. To move up even further into the officer’s ranks, they would become a first cohort, then a knight. After that, they would retire, but usually only after serving, on average, 25 years if they volunteered. Some were even employed strictly to torture prisoners.
  
• Discipline in the Roman army was taken very seriously. Favorite punishments of the emperors were to replace the wheat used to make bread in a soldiers diet with barley, public flogging of a soldier who misbehaved, reduction of a share of booty, or having 1 in every 10 soldiers from an “offending” cohort (legion), chosen at random to be clubbed or stoned to death by a soldier from another cohort.

Guess which of my two books I've been reading today.

I can't even write a real blog because I want to get back to the book!

Currently Reading...

I'm going to go against everything I've ever done in regards to book reading.

I'm going to read 2 books at once.

To help myself "break through", I've picked one fiction and one non-fiction to break it up. I just never liked the idea of reading 2 fictional books or more at the same time because I didn't want to get into multiple plots and either get them mixed up or not get the full effect of the plot lines.

So, the books of choice this round are:

1. Non-Fiction: The Private Lives of the Roman Emperors by Anthony Blond. I'm already 1 chapter in, and the next chapter is about the Roman Army. For some reason, Mr. Blond picked Sex as the subject of his first chapter, and while it was interesting, it would definitely have been something I would have rather read last. It's a little bit of a harder read, and isn't quite as spell-binding as the Biography I recently finished about Augustus, but the facts are really interesting once I slow down and focus and process what I'm reading. There are a lot of things about the Romans that I bet you didn't know! And that's what I love finding out!!
   
   

2. Fiction: Street of the Five Moons by Elizabeth Peters. This book was purchased as a spur of the moment decision, during a late night run to the grocery store. I'm always looking for great mystery/archeological/historical/puzzle solving fictional books (shocking!) so I thought I'd peruse the book aisle before heading to the check out counter. The cover and title caught my eye, and upon reading the back and the bio on the author, it turns out the book appears to have all of the above criteria I just mentioned, and the author apparently has a PhD in Egyptology. So she knows her stuff! I'm really excited to get into it. Oh yea - and the main character ends up chasing her mystery into - ROME!

So, since I can't decide on a weekly "theme day", and I don't have enough followers yet for a good cross-section of feedback, I'm going to go with blogging about books, whenever. I need to read more, and I always buy books and then don't read them, so I want to do this to hold myself accountable!!

Where, oh where, has my creativity gone?

I have been feeling nostalgic for a little while, and decided to go through my old blogs. Now, granted, it hasn't been a full year yet, but it's still interesting to look back. I noticed that in my first few months, I was coming up with creative images and thoughtful stories. Even if I didn't have anything too interesting that day, I at least took time to give a little laugh (so I'd hope), with stories about no coffee. I had "creative moments" firing all day.

What happened?

My more recent blogs haven't had anything interesting at all. A co-worker has told me multiple times that I'm a great story teller, and I can make even the simplest stories entertaining and funny. But it hasn't translated into my blog, which is "writing" for me, and I've always taken pride in how I can tell stories in writen form.

So, I vow to make myself proud and to be more creative! I believe part of the way I can bring that around is by reading more, and GOSH DARNIT I will read more!! Justin is going out of town in about 2 more weeks for a whole week this time. I just read my blog from the last time he went on vacation and I had a hard time filling a weekend. So I know for sure that a week will give me plenty of time to catch up on reading - no excuses!!

And in a totally random burst of creativity, and a previous blog post on travel, here's an amazing parting shot. I wish I could be there right now.

It's Done!!

I finally finished Rubicon!! It was such an interesting book, and I'm hanging onto it to read it again in a year or two! The next book on my list is a biography entitled "Augusts" - on Augusts Ceasar and by the same author of the biography on Cicero that I own, Anthony Everitt.

To anyone that loves or appreciates history, I highly recommend Anthony Everitt. He's an easy read, but he goes into great detail, so you don't feel you're reading a 5th grade history book. I know he's written 2 books on the Roman history, and he also has a book out about Persia. Go check him out, and start (or continue) reading!

Spotlight on…

My 25th Birthday - My birthday week has finally come to an “official” close. I received the last few cards and presents, and all in all – I’m excited to be 25!! It was a wonderful week, and I feel very loved! The hat and coffee mug my co-workers chipped in for arrived on Tuesday, and the HAT FITS! I was concerned since it was a “One Size Fits All” hat. I have an unusually small head (hey – I’m a girl! Most of us do!) and the one size usually starts around 1 or 2 sizes too big for my head. But I tried it on at work, and it fits like it was meant for me! The other problem with me and hats is that sometimes it comes with an extra tall forehead area, and it looks like a trucker hat on me. This one…well, see for yourself! No trucker head!



My New Books - My brother Brian sent me a very thoughtful gift. As I’ve mentioned before, I have a certain fondness (ok, obsession) for all things Ancient Rome. Brian and I share a mutual love for reading, so over Christmas, I was telling him about the books I had just bought. He must have remembered that, because he sent me an biography on Augustus Caesar for my birthday by an author who had written another book I already had. But…I already had it – bummer! (Told you I was obsessed!) He also apparently figured that I would, because he mentioned that he would include the gift receipt so I could exchange it. I went to Borders last night and exchanged it for:

And here is my official Spring/Summer reading list (aka: books I’ve purchased and haven’t gotten around to reading/finishing):
Clockwise from far left:
1. "Caesar’s Legion: The Epic Saga of Julius Caesar's Elite Tenth Leigon and the Armies of Rome" by Stephen Dando-Collins
2. "Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic" by Tom Holland
3. "Augustus" by Anthony Everitt
4. "Roman Warfare" by Adrian Goldsworthy
5. "The Private Lives of the Roman Emperors" by Anthony Blond



I'm looking forward to the next few months!! WOO HOO!

Blogger's Delight

It's a Tuesday night, and I'm sitting in bed blogging. Oh sure, there's other things happening, and I have other things I want to do, or will do. But I'm looking forward to all of it.





First of all, I'm enjoying a wonderful strawberry Margarita (started with dinner). I'm obviously blogging, and I am watching Mamma Mia!

And I'm also "eye-balling" my book that hasn't been read in such a long time...but everytime I walk past it, it whimpers and says "Read me! Read me!"

It's "Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic" by Tom Holland. The Rubicon was the river that Julius Ceasar crossed to enter Rome, causing the start of their Civil War. It's extremely interesting, and when I'm reading it, I can't put it down!!! But, there are so many other things to be done, that it's hard to pick it up. I'm also one of those readers where I either need it quiet, or to have a constant quiet noise in the background (for example, Starbucks is ok). I can't read with the tv on, or someone talking close by, so even at Starbucks, I need an isolated area, or I find myself listening in on their conversations. But after talking about it this much, or thinking about reading, I think I'm going to pick it up!

Also, it turns out that my birthday is going to span across the upcoming week, and I may even be creating a new blog, but more to come on that tomorrow! I'm going to go and read a book!!

Just a Little Self-Promotion

My birthday is tomorrow... :-)

I don't really have anything huge planned - in fact, I don't even know where I'll be going to dinner! But I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, and I'll finally be able to say I'm 25!

I went to 2 hockey games this weekend for Colorado College, and they won both! They were pretty exciting games, and were very close! A great way to start off my "25th year".

Then I took Bailey to the dog park today for an hour, and not only did he love it, but when we got home, he crashed on the couch for at least 2 hours! To any dog owners out there, you know that's a dead give away that the dog had a GREAT time!

I was also finally able to watch the Amazing Race!! I missed the first episode last week, but it wasn't hard at all to get into it tonight! It's always really intense, and you find yourself really "relating" to the people on the show. You start to pick out your top 3 teams you want to see make it all the way to the end, but even more than that, you pick out (usually right away) the teams you want to see elimated as soon as possible. It's pretty awesome. Thanks go to my brother for getting me into that, and we'll sign up for it one of these days!!

So, tonight is being spent watching the Oscars instead of doing the inCREDibly large pile of dishes in the sink. Don't worry, I'll do those eventually. Then to top it all off, I have an almost equally large pile of laundry, and it's 8:45 pm and I haven't started it yet. But I'm too excited to go to sleep early!! And then I'll probably curl up and read my book on Ancient Rome. Yes, you read that correctly. I'm a nerd.

Anyway, tomorrow's a Monday and I'll be at work all day, but I'll take pictures tomorrow and be sure to come back and document this historic birthday!!