My 2015 Reading List

I love reading Young Adult novels.  I think it's my favorite literary genre (well, maybe fantasy is my favorite, but the two can definitely overlap!).  Some of the best books I've read over the past several years are ones recommended by The Pea (I've recommended more than few of my own favorites to her, but she is stubborn, and I'm pretty sure I've read more of her recommendations than she has read of mine). I still enjoy reading books from my childhood, and there are so many great YA novels that come out every year, there's always a huge list of books for me to read!  I haven't even finished reading all of the books on my 2014 To-Read List (although I've read many more that were not on that list, such as the Mortal Instruments series, the Blackwell Pages series, the Vampire Academy series -- yes, I succumbed -- and the Bloodlines Series), and I've already got a list for 2015!

My 2014 Reading List

This morning I saw a great list of books to read before they show up on the big screen in 2014.  I compared the list with my 2014 must-see movie list, and noticed that eight of the movies I want to see (The Monuments Men, Vampire Academy, Divergent, The Giver, The Maze Runner, The Boxtrolls, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The Hobbit: There and Back Again) are film adaptations of novels.  Four of the movies (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Guardians of the Galaxy) are based on popular comic book series, and three more (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Maleficent, How To Train Your Dragon 2), while not exactly based on a book series or story, feature characters from the series or stories.  To me, it's an indication that whatever the state of the original screenplay industry may be, books and works of fiction are alive and well!

I can't think of a single novel-based movie I've seen that was better than the book, so if I'm going to watch all these movies, I have quite a few books to read this year*.   I've put together a list of some books on my must-read list 2014; I say "some" books, not "all", because you never know what new books I'm going to discover this year!

What are your must-reads for 2014?

Will you boycott Ender's Game?

I recently finished reading the sci-fi novel Ender's Game, and it was one of those books that I just could not put down.  After reading it, I immediately bought two more books in the series, and went online to find out when the movie would start showing in theatres.  I was sure the movie would be a certified hit; after all, Ender's Game and its sequel, Speaker for the Dead, won back-to-back Hugo and Nebula awards, and the series has entered the realm of science fiction/ young adult classics.

So I when I Googled "Ender's Game Movie", I was shocked and disappointed to discover the controversy surrounding the book's author, Orson Scott Card -- there's a big movement to boycott the Ender's Game movie because of his position on LGBT rights.

Well, that was a certainly a surprise. It's quite ironic that an author who writes about life in the future would hold such prehistoric views.  I certainly couldn't tell from the book.  In fact,some of the themes of the book include tolerance for people who are different from you, empathizing with others, finding a way to communicate, and working together.  Discovering Orson Scott Card's hateful anti-LGBT views after reading Ender's Game was like devouring a Death By Chocolate cake... then discovering that the molten chocolate part in the middle had been riddled with maggots.

The year my sons fell in love with reading

“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.” -- Diane Duane

You can't stop at just one.  Unless you don't really care for potato chips.  Strange as it may seem, there are people in this world who don't like potato chips.  Or maybe they just haven't found the right flavor....

Helping reluctant readers enjoy books

Helping your child love books isn't as easy as reading to them every night.   We found that out when 3Po and Jammy were babies.  The Pea had always loved books, and she still does, so we thought we were awesome parents for reading to her each and every night.  But when we started reading to 3Po and Jammy, they were just not interested.  We despaired of getting them to sit still long enough for more than a page or two -- that is, until we bought books about trucks and cars, and then they couldn't look away.  Those bunny and cat books that we had read to The Pea when she was little just couldn't hold their attention!   So just like sports, just like work, just like practically everything in life, rule number one in getting kids to love reading is to find a subject they they love.

Contemporary children's book series I love

The book that inspired this post, The Mark of Athena, is coming out on October 2, 2012.  If you need to contact me on October 2, please don't.  I intend to be home sick with a cold.

One of the best things about having kids is rediscovering the joys of children's literature.  I read voraciously when I was young, and my love of children's books has not faded one bit.  I can still lose myself in the books I read throughout my childhood, like The Chronicles of Narnia, Anne of Green Gables or the Tintin comics, and there are many newer books that I love to read again and again -- Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, Twilight, and so on.   I'm amazed at how many wonderful books have become available for kids since I was a kid!

The Big Reading Experiment: checking in

It's time to update you on the progress of the Big Reading Experiment that The Pea and I decided to undertake at the end of January. I'm proud to say that I've finished most of the books on her list -- and I even enjoyed quite a few of them! She assigned me first four books of Wendelin Van Draanen's Sammy Keyes mystery books, and I enjoyed them so much that I read the rest of the books. I also loved the Newberry Honor-winning Savvy, as well as its companion book Scumble. The Pea is quite crafty, really; she has pulled me into her reading world and she still has 4 open spots on her book list. She even got me to read Revolution is Not a Dinner Party and Waiting for Normal on the strength of her enthusiastic recommendations, without even adding them to her list. Not that she had to twist my arm too far; both books are California Young Reader Medal nominees for 2011-2012, and deservedly so.

The Big Reading Experiment

Despite our differences in looks, The Pea and I are alike in many ways. We both have big feet. We both have messy hair. We both love to eat. I could go on and on, but this post focuses on one of our biggest similarities: we both love to read. We simply cannot put a book down once we've started, so it's not uncommon to see our noses buried in a book for hours on end, even in the shower, even while walking on the sidewalk.

Not only do we both love to read, in many cases we love reading the same books. Even at this ripe old age, I still enjoy reading children's literature, so The Pea and I do lots of book swapping. I introduced her to Harry Potter, she introduced me to Percy Jackson, and we both discovered The Secret series together. So I like to think I have a pulse of the kinds of books she likes. And that means -- lucky for her!! -- I have tons and tons of suggestions for books I know she'd love to read.

Join the Lunch Wars

Yesterday I blogged about what school lunches used to look like when I went to school, and compared them to the school lunches being served in my kids' elementary school today. As far as I can tell, these school lunches aren't making the grade, in my kids' school and in schools across the country. Fortunately, parents and people in many communities are banding together to do something about it. We've all heard of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, the tv series chronicling Naked Chef Jamie Oliver's efforts to introduce healthier food into the school lunch system. Alice Waters and her Edible Schoolyard program have made the Berkeley school district a model for healthy school lunches nationwide. There's even a documentary called Two Angry Moms, chronicling two mothers' year-long crusade to improve school lunches in Texas.

BlogHer Book Club: The Kid

Have you seen the movie Precious? Or read Push, the book that it was based on? If you liked it, you'll probably like the author's latest book, "The Kid", which tells the story of Precious' son. I recently reviewed The Kid for the BlogHer Book Club, and everyone agrees with me when they say this book is not an easy one to read. The book is written entirely from The Kid's point of view, swear words and grammatical errors and all. Also, the abuse he has to endure is cringe-worthy. If anyone thinks removing priests who molest children don't need to be thrown in jail, just removed from their post, should read this book. The only reason I was able to keep going was the thought of this kid dancing his way to salvation (it helps that we're right in the middle of So You Think You Can Dance -- I can easily imagine him as a contestant on stage, although what he would do if Nigel Lythgoe starts trashing his performance, I have no idea!). But you'll have to read the book to find out the whole story! Read my review of The Kid over at BlogHer.

Whatever happened to Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield?

When you think of the 80's, what comes to mind? Some of my nearest and dearest memories of that era are teased hair, flashdance outfits, poufy prom dresses, Duran Duran ... and Sweet Valley High. At some point during my tweens and early teens, my friends and I devoured Francine Pascal's series of novels about identical twins Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield. We Filipino Catholic schoolgirls envied the twins' perfect looks and bodies, followed Jessica's crazy antics, fantasized about finding true love like Elizabeth, and dreamed of living the sunny, carefree California teenage life. Bikinis, beach parties, boys, and drama, drama, drama.... yes, it was shallow and silly, but hey, teenage girls can be that way sometimes.

Making a recipe your own: Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Two weeks ago -- on Halloween, to be precise -- we took the kids to the Oakland Zoo for their Boo at the Zoo event. Despite the crowds, we enjoyed all the zoo's special activities, like scavenger hunts, trick-or-treating, free train rides, costume parades, Zhu Zhu Pets, hairy-scary spiders.... and the best pumpkin soup we've ever tasted. I've slurped my way through many a bowl of pumpkin soup before, but this was the first one I've had that tastes like it belongs in an Indian restaurant. It had a hint of curry, turmeric and nutmeg, and it was delicious! It was just begging to be eaten with a chunk of hot nan bread. It was nothing at all like the typical things you'd find in a zoo cafe -- hotdogs, burgers and the like -- and it was delicious! We were bitterly disappointed to find out that the zoo only serves it for Halloween, and I was too shy to ask if I could have a copy of the recipe. We resigned ourselves to feasting on the memory of that lovely soup until we could come back next Halloween.

Books Make a Difference! Join BlogHer and BookRenter.com to donate books to needy kids

Books can make a difference in a child's life. They certainly made a difference in mine! And this month, you can make a difference in a child's life too. Join BlogHer and BookRenter.com to make a difference by leaving a comment on this post about the book(s) that have made an impact on your life.

For every comment left between May 3 and May 28 answering the question:

What book has had the greatest impact on your life?

BookRenter will donate a book to a child in need -- up to 1,000 books. Hurry and leave a comment now!

Greening our lifestyle

With Earth Day coming up next week, everyone is jumping on the green bandwagon -- so it's hard to close your eyes and ignore the small, easy changes you can make to reduce your carbon footprint. I don't remember when it was that I first started making changes to reduce our impact on the planet. I still remember buying (and lifting!) crates of water bottles from Costco when I was pregnant with the twins, so it can't have been that long ago. Maybe it was when we switched from paying for two garbage bin collections down to one, and I had to look more carefully about what can and can't be recycled. Maybe it was when Whole Foods started selling reusable grocery bags.

Whenever it was that we started, I'm happy to report that we've managed to maintain most of the eco-friendly practices we started, and over the years, we've become a much greener family than we used to be. Here are five small changes we made that have been no trouble at all to maintain:

1) Recycling
Our city has made it so easy for us to recycle; we don't even have to segregate our recyclables anymore! Our recycling bin is about twice as big as our garbage bin, and it's surprising how fast it can fill up.

2) Eating less meat
I am such a carnivore, but we've gradually cut down on our meat consumption, and now we have meat or chicken or fish or pork just one or two times a week. Many times it's not even the main part of the dish (such as split pea soup that's been flavored with ham). Eating less meat has a quadruple -whammy of benefits: it's better for your health, for your checkbook, for the earth and for the animals, so this is an easy one. Cut out meat entirely? Ummm.... that's harder. Alfie swears he could go vegetarian tomorrow if I agreed to it, but I'd miss the taste so much. Sorry, I'm celebrating the small victories where I can find them.

3) Washing clothes in cold water
It's true, washing clothes in cold water really don't make too much of a difference, especially when you have a front-loading machine like we do. I just keep the setting on cold and never notice the difference.

4) Buying eco-friendly, natural household cleaning products
There are so many eco-friendly, natural household cleaning products on the shelves these days. They don't cost any more (or much more) than chemical-based products, and they clean just as well so this is another easy change to maintain. And as a blogger, I was lucky enough to be given an Activeion cleaner to review -- it uses only water to clean and disinfect, which of course is as natural and chemical free as you can get!

5) Using cloth grocery bags
This has been a really easy change to maintain, and now I find plastic bags to be irritating waste of space. Even when I forget my bags, I just tell the checkout clerk that I have bags in the car, and put my groceries back into the grocery cart. I do have a small stash of plastic bags that I keep at home to put wet swimsuits in, wrap super-disgusting messes (like spoiled veggies or meat from the fridge, soiled clothes when any of the kids have a little potty accident, etc..), and when the stash gets low I do allow some of my shopping to be packed in plastic bags. And when Safeway delivers groceries to the house, I always unpack my groceries from the plastic bags as fast as the delivery guy carries them into the house, and send the plastic bags back.



But don't congratulate us yet; we're by no means the model green family. There are some green habits that have fallen by the wayside, and some areas we could (and should) probably do more. Here are five of them:

1) Line drying our clothes
Laundry is a tiresome bother even when I use the dryer, so it's all too easy to look at the sky and decide it's looking damp and drizzly. I do a much better job at this in the summer, obviously, and I have to admit my clothesline hasn't seen any use at all in months. Now that the weather is drying and heating up again, I'm running out of excuses.

2) Composting
I just don't like the thought of throwing food scraps and slimy bits into a ceramic pot and leaving them to rot, right beside my kitchen sink.

3) Ditching the plastic
This has been a real toughie. The only plastic habit I can say I've successfully and totally ditched is plastic water bottles (we use reusable water bottles now). I have cloth sandwich bags and reusable sandwich cases and containers, but I still find myself occasionally reaching for a plastic bag to put the kids' goldfish crackers in. And I still sometimes buy individually packaged snacks. What can I say, I get lazy in the mornings!

4) Ditching the paper
My addiction to disposable paper towels is still around. I've started using cloth towels to wipe spills up more and more, but I still buy paper towels and still use them half the time. And I still think disposable baby wipes are God's great gift to parents (I did find some eco-friendly disposable wipes at Walgreens -- they're made from bamboo!). And I will not switch from tampons to the Diva cup.

5) Driving less
Our morning walk to school is a firmly entrenched habit, but I'm ashamed that I can't say the same thing about my pickup routine. The trouble with living less than a mile from the kids' school is that I tend to delay leaving home to pick the kids up until the very last minute, and by then of course it's too late to walk, so I end up taking the car.


See, just like China, we've made a start but we still have a long way to go.


This post was inspired by Earth Day and by the Silicon Valley Moms' book of the month: National Geographic's Green Guide for Families (participating bloggers were given free copies of the book). Read how this book inspired other SV Moms on this month's SV Moms Club Book Club post.

New traditions, new dishes, new experiences

Last Friday we attended our school's Heritage Potluck. It sounded like an interesting event -- each family is supposed to contribute a dish that represents their heritage and traditions -- but honestly, I thought people would bail out and buy apple pies at Whole Foods, maybe bake a lasagna or toss a salad together.

I wasn't too keen on going, but the kids convinced me, so I decided to buy some puto (Filipino rice cake) from Goldilocks, our local Filipino bakery, and make some chicken fried rice (yes, I know it's not strictly Filipino food, but Filipinos eat fried rice all the time so I figured it counted). I was backing up the van, ready to leave, when Alfie pulled up on his motorcycle; I told him where we were going and said I could handle the kids if he wanted some time to himself to work out or watch tv (aren't I a nice person?).

It just goes to show you how stupid I can be and how much I underestimate the generosity of our community in general. When we got to the school, the tables in the multipurpose room were groaning under the weight of all the dishes that people had brought. What a feast! I saw matzoh ball soup, a plate of Swiss cheeses, Indian curry, smoked salmon, Spanish rice, Spanish omelette, English sausage rolls, hot Louisiana sausage, Dutch potatoes, wontons, egg rolls, enchiladas and more. I can't even begin to describe the dessert table because it's going to make me get up from this chair and raid the fridge. Most of the dishes were homemade, and were disappearing quickly -- but were just as quickly being replaced with new dishes brought by arriving families. I quickly put the puto and rice down (thanking my lucky stars that I needn't be too ashamed of our contribution!) and dialed home. I told Alfie to get his butt here pronto, because the food was amazing and he absolutely had to try everything!

The night turned into a taste adventure for the whole family. I was so proud of the way all three kids tried so many strange and unfamiliar dishes! We've had our struggles with picky eating and macaroni-and-cheese phases when they were younger, but we resisted the urge to give in to chicken nuggets and pizza and separate kiddie meals and kept feeding our kids real meat and veggies and rice. Through a combination of luck and the right personalities and parental persistence, I'm happy to say that The Pea, 3Po and Jammy are now open to trying pretty much anything. That's not to say they will like all of it -- we all have our personal food likes and dislikes, after all -- but we've established a family culture that doesn't refuse a taste of food based on how it looks. I saw the payoff last Friday, as 3Po happily shoveled some boiled salmon into his mouth and The Pea slurped up the clear broth and limp veggies in her matzo ball soup. We'll definitely be attending next year's Heritage Potluck; who knows what new and delicious foods we'll get to try next!



This post was inspired by the Silicon Valley Moms Book Club's March book selection: Top 100 Baby Purees and Top 100 Finger Foods , written by Annabel Karmel. Another of Annabel's books, First Meals, was my food bible when the kids were babies; I credit her yummy fruit and vegetable purees with opening my kids' palates and getting them on the right track towards eating healthy, real food.

My Reading Across America Booklist

This week our elementary school celebrated Read Across America and kicked off Reading Month with a fun activity -- challenging students to read books set in all fifty US states. Our librarian has set aside a special Read Across America book cart with books that she's selected. Each book has a sticker with the name of the state that the book is set in, so students can easily choose which books they want to read. Every kid who wants to participate gets a black-and-white paper map of the US, and every time they read a book set in a state, they can color that state in. The papers are posted in the school's multipurpose hall so that everyone can keep track of completed and missing states.

Isn't that a great way to motive young children to read? Kids can never resist checklists, and having a themed reading list makes that much more fun. When I heard about the challenge, I got all excited and convinced The Pea to take it with me. I figured that having her mom complete it with her would help hold her interest in the project till the end. Also, it's a great way to expand her selection of reading material beyond Nancy Drew, the Rainbow Fairies, Roald Dahl and Percy Jackson. Besides, I figure I need a lesson in geography anyway.

This morning I created my Sea To Shining Sea reading list. Despite having several decades headstart on my daughter, my list has quite a lot of gaps in it! Here's what it looks like so far:

Alabama: To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Alaska: Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
Arizona:
Arkansas:
California: Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell
Colorado:
Connecticut: The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare
Delaware:
Florida: Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan
Georgia: Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
Hawaii:
Idaho:
Illinois: Meet Molly, an American Girl by Valerie Tripp
Indiana:
Iowa:
Kansas: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
Kentucky:
Louisiana:
Maine: Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White
Maryland:
Massachusetts: Anastasia Krupnik, by Lois Lowry
Michigan:
Minnesota: On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Mississippi: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
Missouri: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
Montana:
Nebraska:
Nevada: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
New Hampshire:
New Jersey: Superfudge, by Judy Blume
New Mexico: Meet Josefina, an American Girl, by Valerie Tripp
New York: Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
North Carolina: Meet Addy, An American Girl, by Connie Porter
North Dakota: On the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Ohio: Meet Kit, an American Girl, by Valerie Tripp
Oklahoma:
Oregon:
Pennsylvania: Meet Addy, An American Girl, by Connie Porter
Rhode Island:
South Carolina: Dragons in the Waters, by Madeleine L'Engle
South Dakota: Little Town on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Tennessee:
Texas:
Utah:
Vermont:
Virginia: Meet Felicity, An American Girl, by Valerie Tripp
Washington:
West Virginia:
Wisconsin: Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Wyoming:

At this point, several notes are in order. First, this is a list in progress, since I've probably forgotten several books here and there, so I'll be updating it as I remember some books and get around to reading others. Second, I only listed one book per state for now, even though I may have read multiple books for that state. Third, I'm trying to include "good" books, i.e. books that I enjoyed when I was The Pea's age (around the 7-13 age range) that I would love for her to enjoy as well. I'm not putting down the trashy romance set in Hawaii that I read when I was 12.

Also, I admit that I may have cheated a little bit; for one thing, I counted Tom Sawyer for two states (ditto with the Addy series). And a few books, like the Sea of Monsters, aren't set in their assigned state for the entire book; Percy just gets washed up on Miami Beach after battling a cruise ship full of monsters. And Benne Seed Island, the setting of Dragons in the Waters, although supposedly set in North Carolina, isn't a real island at all. But it still counts, right?


Now our journey begins, and to help us complete it, I did a search on Read Across America reading lists. Here are a few good ones:

http://www.nea.org/grants/13235.htm
http://abcteach.com/free/b/booklist_readacrossamerica.pdf
http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/projects/flags/states_books.htm
http://www.booknutsreadingclub.com/readacrossamerica.html

It would take us years to go through all those books! So can you think of any books that The Pea and I really, really ought to read?



This post was inspired by this month's Yahoo MotherBoard topic about celebrating reading during America Reads month. To read what the moms of Yahoo are saying about kids, careers, and balancing the two, visit their Yodeling Mamas blog for a glimpse into their digital and domestic lives.

Fun in the bedroom: Sex or text?

In retrospect, I suppose Valentine's Day was NOT the right time to do what I did. But it started out innocently enough. Our alarm clock broke a couple of days ago and we were planning to go out on a day trip the next day (President's Day), so we needed to get up early. I took my phone upstairs with me and placed it on my bedside table so I could check the time when I woke up the next day. I was first in bed, and I couldn't resist checking my email one last time before going to bed... well, one thing led to another and before you know it Alfie had joined me in bed, all ready to celebrate Valentine's Day -- and there I was, fully immersed in Twitter and Facebook.

It's the first time I've ever taken my phone to bed and Alfie, who has never been a fan of smart phones and 24/7 email access in the first place, was, to say the least, peeved. Luckily, it takes more than an internet-enabled phone to get between Alfie, me and the only V-Day activity we were able to enjoy without the kids, but the (text) message is clear: tweeting in bed is not a turn-on. Who needs an excuse like "honey, I have a headache" when you've got "just one last tweet!"?

Like I said, dumb thing to do on Valentine's -- but I know several couples who take their laptops to bed the way others take books or magazines to bed. Before this little incident our bed was for two things only (okay, three if you count snuggling with the kids on Sunday mornings), and the only kinds of electronic gadgets welcome in our bed do not have internet access.... ;-) Do you tweet in bed? Does your spouse? Do they care? Or do you have rules about the kinds of gadgets that belong in your bed?


This post was inspired by the Silicon Valley Moms Blog's February book club selection: The Mominatrix's Guide to Sex by Kristen Chase. I received a complimentary copy of the book to read; for more SV Moms Book Club posts, click here.

My love affair with pearls

Diamonds may be a Girl's Best Friend, but as far as I'm concerned they'll have to share BFF status with pearls. Forget the old saying; the only kinds of tears I would cry because of pearls would be tears of joy (Besides, the dampness would just ruin the pearls' luster, which is kind of weird because pearls come from the sea). Just like diamonds, I love their elegant simplicity, and how they go with anything. Just like the diamond, it amazes me how something so beautiful and precious started out as a humble substance (sand in the case of the pearl, carbon for the diamond) that people wouldn't hesitate to sweep from their porches.

I've always loved pearls, ever since I was a little girl. Their perfect symmetry fascinated me, their luster seemed like a crystal ball with mysterious lights swirling inside. I didn't know about cultured pearls back then, so perfectly round pearls seemed like the rarest things ever. How in the world did the oyster get it so perfect? How difficult it seemed to collect enough pearls for just one necklace! Other little girls dreamed of being able to wear high heels and nail polish when they grew up, but I wanted to wear a pearl necklace. I loved it when my mother would go out to parties and take out her strand of Mikimoto pearls to wear. They looked so elegant draped around her neck. My dad got them for her on their honeymoon in Tokyo; years later, when I got married, my parents gave me a Mikimoto pearl necklace and bracelet as a wedding present.

There are only two things wrong with pearls, and the first is their price. Unless we win the lottery, that set my parents gave me is likely to be the only expensive set of pearls I own. Fortunately, in the last decade a huge South Sea pearl industry has sprung up in the Philippines. Traders from Mindanao sell huge quantities of South Sea Pearls and freshwater pearls at unbelievable prices. They cost less than costume jewelry in the States -- but here, the pearls are real. The cheaper varieties use pearls that aren't symmetrical, but they're beautiful just the same.


Here's a photo of my sister at one of the pearl stalls at a flea market near my parents house in Manila. The vendors will customize any necklace according to your specifications. One of my sister's co-workers sent her a hundred British pounds to buy whatever pearl jewelry she could find; my sister returned to London with a classic single-strand choker, a double-strand necklace, a longer, flapper-style single strand necklace, a couple of double and triple-strand bracelets, and several pairs of earrings. All of them were custom made with large, round South Sea pearls; I don't think anyone other than an expert jeweler would be able to tell that some of the pearls weren't perfectly round. My mother bought cute pearl necklaces for all her granddaughters (The Pea received hers and promptly declared, "I have pearls! I'm rich!". Yes you are, honey, even if that strand cost only $2.50).

(photo courtesy of Fine Living)


The second "problem" with pearls is that they tend to send out a grandmotherly vibe. Personally I think it's hogwash -- Coco Chanel, for instance, would recoil in horror at the thought of being considered grandmotherly! -- but I'll admit the classic pearls-and-twinset look isn't exactly edgy. Single strand pearl necklaces look nice on kids and the elderly, but they're not the kind of jewelry you wear if you want your man to tear your clothes off (Except with Tea Leoni. For some reason any kind of pearls and Tea Leoni just go together, and she still manages to look hot wearing them. I guess it's because she looks hot no matter what she wears).

So I never wear single-strand pearls (okay, I've worn them once or twice, but they were to family events with parents and grand-aunts and grandparents in attendance). Most of my pearl jewelry has other elements or accents, like silver beads or ribbons or other gems. I love the look of a pearl pendant on a black leather string! I also the sumptuous look of pearls piled upon pearls. I think Michelle Obama looks absolutely fabulous in the photo above, and I love how she's revived interest in pearls and other classic fashions by giving them a modern twist and making them her own. Michelle certainly ain't no-one's grandmamma, and with the right attitude and style I think pearls only add to a woman's sex appeal, not take away from it!



This post was inspired by Coco Chanel, her love for pearls and the latest book about her vivid, passionate life: Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky by Chris Greenlaugh, the topic of this month's Silicon Valley Mom's Blog Book Club. Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the book to read.

What do you get your child's teacher for Christmas?

Each year since kindergarten, The Pea has declared her current teacher to be "The Best Teacher Ever", and I must admit I've adored all her teachers so far. The fact that they are full of praise for The Pea and her talents probably has a lot to do with it, but they've also been open about areas where she can improve and how we can help her progress at home. I credit her teachers for making classroom learning fun and exciting, and for challenging The Pea to be the best Pea she can possibly be. 3Po and Jammy are having similar experiences with their own teachers and at this point I can safely say our school is blessed to have great teachers, and my kids will have great learning experiences no matter which classroom they end up in.

So when the holidays roll around, I like to think extra-hard about what kinds of presents to get them. We don't have a big budget for holiday presents, but I always like to get my kids' teachers a little something. The eternal question is, what? What would a teacher appreciate? Candy or baked goods is always my first impulse -- but imagine getting 20 boxes of chocolate! The same goes for #1 Teacher mugs, soap-on-a-rope and other useless trinkets. If you've got the same dilemma, here are 4 ideas that work for me:


1) Contribute a small amount of cash along with other parents in the class and get a gift card to Starbucks, Target, a spa or some other . As a room parent I have never advocated specifying a set amount of money since I know different parents can afford different amounts; I think any amount you can give, be it $5 or $25, will be appreciated.

2) My friend and fellow Office Max blog panelist Heather (the Tween Teacher), wised me up about giving school supplies to teachers. I had no idea that so many teachers had to pony up their own cash to buy school supplies for their kids! So ask your teacher if she needs anything for her class -- be it a ream of paper, a couple of ink cartridges or a box of file folders -- and get it for her. Or get a gift card to an office supply store.

3) Who doesn't like flowers? Flowers always make me feel special, and a vase of flowers on the dining room table always makes me feel a wee bit closer to Martha Stewart -- and I can't think that any teacher, male or female, would feel any different.

4) What are we giving teachers this year? Nothing. To be more precise, I'm planning to buy something from Manila and give it to my kids' teachers when we come back in January. I'm sure I can find some native pendants or scarves that won't cost a lot of money but are unique and meaningful because they come from a country that The Pea has ties to.


If anyone has other good teacher gift ideas, I'd love to hear them! Let's work together to make sure no teacher gets a ceramic apple paperweight this holiday season!


This post was inspired by teacher/author Phil Done's experience of receiving a present shaped like a box of candy, freezing it and taking out months later, only to find out that it was actually a tie. It's all chronicled, along with other hilarious and touching stories, in his latest book, Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind. Read my review of this book on Bonggamom Finds, and head on over to the Silicon Valley Moms Blog to read how this book inspired other moms.



Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from Phil Done last summer; the views and opinions expressed in my review are my own.

Not Having a Baby Changes Everything

Today is the Silicon Valley Moms book club discussion day for October, and all I can think about are babies.   Every day I see dozens of babies in strollers when I drop the kids off at school; they're looking particularly adorable these days, all swaddled up in thick coats and hats to protect them from the wind and the rain.  I paid special attention to babies today because my brother and his wife are going into the hospital today to deliver their first baby via C-section.  She's got placenta previa, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything is going to be alright.  They live all the way in far-off Bahrain, which I know next to nothing about, so I have to keep warding off all kinds of stereotypes about the state of development in that part of the world.  I'm pretty sure Bahrain is as modern as Dubai, and if celebrities like George Clooney and Matt Damon can vacation in Dubai, they must have great hospitals that give world-class care.  Still, I think I'll breathe a lot easier once that baby is out of her mama's tummy and all her fingers and toes have been counted.

So what do babies have to do with this book club?  Actually, babies figure prominently in October's book, This is Where I Leave You.   The main character's marriage really begins to unravel following a tragic, late-term miscarriage.  This happened to a friend of ours; at about 30 weeks, his wife went to a prenatal appointment and discovered that the baby's heart had stopped beating.  I remember driving him to the hospital from work and how awful it all was.  A year later, the wife became pregnant again; now they have two healthy boys, and although they mourn their little daughter's passing, they've moved forward and life is good.

Of course, things could easily have gone the other way, as it did in this book.  The tragedy is compounded because at precisely the time a couple should be able to lean on each other and become closer, the couple in the book, Judd and Jen,  drifted apart.   But I can see how that could happen.  In a few of my more paranoid-morbid moments, I've wondered about what Alfie and I would do if, God forbid, anything happened to our children and we were left with just each other.  In a situation like that, it would be all too easy for each of us to retreat into our own shells.  I don't know if I would have the strength to go on living, let alone keep my marriage going.    Would we go the same path as John and Louise?  Or Judd and Jen?

You know that saying, Having a Baby Changes Everything?  Well, not having a baby can also change everything. 

But enough depressing thoughts.  I'm going to be an aunt today, and I'm counting my blessings.