Books, Books, Books

My plan was originally to write a nice little paragraph about each of these books and why I love them so much, but a nice little paragraph turned into about 4 pages for the first selection.

So to save you from my ramblings, I've decided just to put up a list of some of my recent favorite books. As you can see, when I find an author I like, I tend to read everything they've written. Also, I have a soft spot for historical fiction. Below that is my stuff to read lists. As always, if you have other suggestions for my "to read" list, please comment below.



Books I've Read, Loved, and Will Read Again Numerous Times:

• Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
• The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
• Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
• The Murderer's Daughters - Randy Susan Myers
• The Bone Garden - Tess Gerritsen
• The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
• The House at Riverton - Kate Morton
• The Distant Hours - Kate Morton
• The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
• Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay
• A Secret Kept - Tatiana de Rosnay

Books That I Have at Home Waiting to Be Read:

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - Mark Haddon
• The Bonesetter's Daughter - Amy Tan
• The Kitchen God's Wife - Amy Tan
• Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
• The Dante Club - Matthew Pearl
• Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
• Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
• Wicked - Gregory McGuire
• Cider House Rules - John Irving
• The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
• Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer
• The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Books From Authors That I Love and Can't Wait to Read More Of:

• Gravity - Tess Gerritsen
• The Keys to Rebecca - Ken Follett
• World Without End - Ken Follett
• Sacred Hearts - Sarah Dunant

Suggestions from Friends On My To Read List:

• The Nineteenth Wife - David Ebershoff
• The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
• The Brightest Star in the Sky - Marian Keyes
• By Nightfall - Michael Cunningham
• C - Tom McCarthy
• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers
• The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford
• The Hummingbird's Daughter - Luis Alberto Urrea
• The Lemon Tree - Sandy Tolan
• The Reader - Bernhard Schlink
• A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick
• Room - Emma Donoghue
• The Zookeepers Wife - Diane Ackerman

New Year's Resolutions

Ten may seem like a lot, but I feel like these are at least realistic goals.


Remember to take at least a multi-vitamin every day. I'm so bad at this. I have a daily reminder on my phone now, so hopefully that will get me in the habit.


Eat protein instead of crap for breakfast. I tend to eat better, feel more full, am generally more alert, and am in a better mood on days where I start with protein instead of carbs, so why not just try to do that all the time? Not saying that Dunkin or Wawa won't call my name sometimes, but I'll try to stick to my Chobani yogurt or an egg most days.


Exercise more regularly instead of in fits and starts. I have a tendency to exercise for a while and then when I get where I want to be, my workouts taper off into nonexistence because I'm too busy, too lazy, or making some other excuse. It's so much harder to get started again once you're up a few pounds and your body isn't used to exercising. This year, I'm going to try to at least maintain a day or two a week when I'm not in my uber-crazy fitness mode, which I think is realistic.


Get stuff at the grocery store that is both healthy and that I like and will eat. I, like a lot of people, have a tendency to set myself up for failure when it comes to grocery shopping and cooking. Sometimes i get all excited about eating right and I buy stuff for five meals and only end up cooking 2 of them, and wasting or half-assing recipes with the rest of the ingredients. It's either that or I go ahead and buy crap and then eat that instead of something that would be better for me. This year I'm going to try doing smaller grocery store trips and getting ingredients for 1 or 2 meals at a time, and planning for meals with ingredients that keep for longer. Not saying there won't be cookies and goodies too, but if there's good, healthy stuff around, I will be more likely to eat that.


Be more aware of what I'm eating and drinking. Sure that beer after work is fantastic, but I've gotten myself in trouble these last few months with wine or beer after work along with 3 cups of coffee with cream and sugar during the day.


Find ways to destress and use them. It appears yoga and the old standard reading in the bath are first on my list for this year. Other suggestions are appreciated.


Let stuff go. No one cares if my house is OCD clean to my specifications or if the laundry is done. Let it go sometimes and get back to that whole number six thing.


Read more. I have at least a dozen books sitting in my room that i want to read. There's something to be said for turning off the tv sometimes and snuggling up with a warm puppy and a good book. Add that to number six.


Make an effort to spend time and keep up with friends. This year has seemed really hard as far as keeping up with friends. College is over. It takes a concerted effort to keep up. We're all busy. Blah blah blah. Here's to at least a few emails to see how folks are doing. Maybe that will lead to dinners and visits, but I'll start small.



Don't let wedding drama take over my life. Enough said.

Wedding Favors

I've gone through quite a few ideas for wedding favors (the top of the list still being mini bottles of homemade limoncello and vodka for the Italian and Polish sides respectively), but with our budget in mind, I think I've come up with a perfect compromise that is still very "us." I know that everyone does wedding CDs, but here's what I propose: a cd of a capella versions of all of the songs that are most meaningful to Alex and I.

Makes sense. Alex was in an a capella group for many years. I'm pretty musically inclined. We're having an a capella group at both the ceremony and performing at the reception. So here's what I'm thinking. Glassine CD envelopes lined with scrapbook paper and a belly band held in place with a personalized sticker. Et Voila!





The most difficult part of this endeavor (aside from burning over 150 cds) is getting a perfect sticker. I, of course, went running to the talented art department at work and enlisted the help of Ms. Jen Mendoza, artist extraordinaire. In no time flat, she had come up with all of these!




I chose my very favorite, tweaked the layout of the date a bit, and sent them off to be printed. Hopefully they will be delivered in time for maid of honor, Jenna, and I to get a few of them together during her visit next week!



So now that I've spent some time at the craft store picking out the envelopes, paper, and ribbons, all I need to do is come up with a playlist, burn some CDs, and put them together. My current playlist ideas include:

• I've Just Seen a Face - Beatles
  
• The Way You Look Tonight - Frank Sinatra
  
• Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys
• Hey Jude - Beatles
  
• In My Life - Beatles
  
• God Only Knows - The Beach Boys

Speaking of wedding planning, I checked with The Knot to see how I was coming along on their "official bridal checklist" and was thrilled to see that I have successfully accomplished 41 tasks! That was until I saw that there were 142 left to accomplish...Whew!

Save The Dates

The above ended up being the final (and fiscally responsible) choice for Save the Date cards, but I think I created 20 of them by the time I was finished. Here's a few of the contenders.

Engagement Photos, Christmas Cards, and Holiday Gifts

Now that I've got a few dozen gorgeous engagement photos from the talented Mrs. Katie Nagle (www.knaglephoto.com), I feel like I've done nothing but come up with projects to use them in. Our engagement photo session at UD back in November was a great time, and luckily Katie thinks that Alex and I are "cute" and endearing rather than crazy.






Now that the holiday season is upon us, one of the shots with Harper made the cut as our family Christmas card.




And these shots are framed and wrapped for my Mom, Alex's Mom, grandparents, and other important family members.






And of course I made a collage for my Mom of these three!

Puppy Kindergarten

Today was a milestone day in the Rizzbanik family. After 5 weeks of tough love, lots of corrections, and a prong collar, Harper graduated puppy class! He did very well and made some new friends in the meantime. Although we are sad we won't be seeing Bailey, Guinness, Doc, Frankie, Penny, Jake, and Spartan every Tuesday now, we are very proud of our little guy.

Here's Harper working on "SIT" and "STAY."

And here's Harper waiting his turn to work on "COME."

And here's Harper receiving his diploma and a kiss from his teacher, Pat Hoffmann. So proud of our little guy!

Wedding Website Up and Running

So it took us long enough, but the wedding website is up and running courtesy of the combined efforts of myself, Alex, and Misters Steve (BSK) Kreiss and William Lynch.

True to character, I'm dying to update it even though it's been up for a mere 12 hours. The lovely Mrs. Katie Nagle has posted our engagement pictures, so now I have a ton of gorgeous, high resolution, sentimental shots to choose from. In the meantime, here's our site! Visit www.annieandalex.com to see the live version!