thank you mam: 100 must reads

My mom sent me a link to Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime and I was disappointed to see that I have only read 20 of the books listed. And some of them I hadn't read since high school so I couldn't even begin to tell you what they're about. I go through such waves in reading that I sadly hadn't finished a book since September until last weekend. On my way home from St. Thomas, I finished The Fault In Our Stars (which took me longer than it probably should have since it kept making me cry so I would have to put the book down and compose myself to avoid confused looks from fellow airplane passengers...). For my next feat, I want to take a break from YA books and am going to dive into Unbroken.

What are you guys reading? Any goodies that aren't on Amazon's list?

-Cam

cam: podcasts

Growing up, my family drove everywhere. No distance was too long or short to drive. Although my 3 sisters and I had plenty of activities to keep us busy (like watching Austin Powers for the millionth time or playing The New Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashely on Gameboy), there were always those lulls where my parents would turn on the radio and tune into NPR. My sisters and I would groan and brace ourselves for the monotone Charlie Brown adult voices (mwop mwop mwoooop) talking about current events and local traffic reports, or a live audience laughing at someone calling in to answer trivia questions.

It wasn't until this summer that I gained an appreciation for what those live audiences were laughing at. It was "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me..." which has now become one of my favorite NPR radio shows. Instead of listening to them on hour number 6 during a 10 hour drive to North Carolina sitting in the way way back of a GMC Suburban, I now enjoy the listening experience through my headphones in the comfort of my office or at the gym. I subscribe to a few of NPR's Podcasts that automatically download to my iTunes each week. Here are my favorites:

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me... - 

This American Life

That American Life

Radiolab

The Moth

Do you have any favorites that I'm missing? Keep in mind, I don't love politics...

Happy listening!

-Cam

bam: back to reality

After five amazing days in the Virgin Islands, it's back to reality, and back to the amazing weather we're having...not. Although I missed two big storms while I was away, Mother Nature is relentless and dumped yet another storm on us again today. We better have the best spring and summer weather EVER this year, just sayin'. We all deserve it.

I'm not trying to rub it in, but I thought I would share a few photos from my trip to remind everyone that there are places out there with temperatures above freezing!!

Made it out of Boston just in time!

Peter Island, BVI.

Paddle boarding along The Baths in Virgin Gorda.

The Baths.

Boat race.

View from a hike on Virgin Gorda.

Aaaand back to the cold.

The end of this God-awful winter must be near, right?! Keeping my gloved fingers crossed...

-Cam

bam: a new to do

I love making to do lists. I make one every week. By hand. In my Moleskine notebook. In the same color pen. And have it with me at all times. I'm that person who even writes things down on my to do list that I've already done just so I can have the satisfaction of checking it off my list.

For my job, however, I work with a team of people located in offices in different states and countries so it's been tricky to find a joint to do list we all can use. In order to keep tabs on each other, we use Wunderlist. Although it lacks the physicality that I usually require with to do lists and calendars, it's an awesome online task manager program. It's free (did I mention I work at a non-profit?) and can be accessed and edited by multiple people. It sends email notifications when anyone on the team has completed a task. You can upload files to a task so everyone can see what is being worked on. You can also download the Wunderlist app to access the list when your away from your computer. My favorite feature is the "Add to Wunderlist" browser extension that you can install. Similar to Pinterest's "Pin It" button, it sits next to your browser's URL address bar.

Anytime you want to save a website, click the "Add to Wunderlist" button and a little screen pops up that allows you to describe and/or rename the item before adding it to your list.

Downloading that browser extension also creates a Wunderlist button in your Gmail. Clicking the "Add to Wunderlist" button turns any email you received into a to do item.

Once inside your Wunderlist, you can add due dates, new tasks, and updates to any of the items. In conclusion, it's such a great program that I've even begun to keep my personal to do lists on Wunderlist (!). But don't worry, I still maintain my weekly to do list in my notebook. I highly recommend Wunderlist for someone who is searching for a new, easy and efficient way to keep track of their work or personal to dos--or both!

-Cam

cam: cooking the sunday blues away

I get a badddd case of the Sunday Blues every week. As soon as I eat my last bite of brunch on Sunday mornings, the blues begin to set in. Something I've found that helps ease the blues is spending the afternoon and evening in the kitchen. This week, inspired by a family favorite soup recipe, I made a scramble, if you will, of turkey sausage, kale and white beans. There aren't any exact measurements but here's how I made it:

Head of kale, can of cannellini beans, and 2 cloves of chopped garlic.

Cook two turkey sausages until browned,

Add garlic, beans with some of the water from the bean can, and kale. Never too much kale.

Add some salt, pepper, & red pepper flakes. Cook until beans are warm and kale is wilted.

It's salty and flavorful and definitely filling. I had one helping for dinner and had enough left over to box up for two more meals later this week. This would also be good with onion or some other veggies thrown in. If you try it out, I hope you enjoy it!

-Cam

bam: boston events "that don't suck"

During the months of December, January, and February, most nights you can find me on the couch and in my pjs by ohhh 7'o'clock. I can't fight it. It's the only thing that feels right during these cold miserable months. But I swear I am a social person! I love to get out and explore new places in Boston and I've found that a great place to begin to look for local happenings "that don't suck" is The Boston Calendar. They have events for every single day of the year that range from beer fests to poetry slams to trivia nights to meditations...if you're into that sort of thing...anyways if you live in the Boston area or ever find yourself here and are looking for something fun to do, I encourage you to check it out!

thank you mam: conference calls are the worst

Thank you to my boss, Mary for sending this hilarious yet painfully accurate, real life reenactment of a conference call:

Happy Hump Day and here's to hoping that you don't have to participate in a conference call today!

-Cam

bam: zucchini lasagna

I've never been much of a lasagna lover but ever since I ate at Nebo last winter and ordered their famous zucchini lasagna, I decided it might not be so bad. I found Nebo's zucchini lasagna recipe but it looked a bit intimidating so I found an alternative, healthier version on Skinny Taste and finally set aside the time on this snowy Monday night to try it out. I made it without meat and ended up using a bit less cheese than the recipe called for and it still turned out great!

Sauce ingredients.

Grilled zucchini. Love the grill marks!

The assembly line.

Final layer!

Although it turned out amazing, it was not the prettiest thing I've ever made (hence no final picture). But it was a perfect meal to curl up with and watch some Juan Pablo on The Bachelor. Sorry I'm not sorry.

-Cam

thank you mam: theSkimm

Today I'm thanking my roommate Emily for sharing with me theSkimm. It's started by two cute girls who left their jobs at NBC and set out to fill a gap in the news industry: young professionals who don't have the time in their busy day to dig through daily news stories. My sister, Read (of readandlife.com) sent me an article on how they got started and it's really cool to hear their story.

Every weekday morning, theSkimm emails you a quick, fun, digestible, and relatable rundown on the top news stories. It only takes about 5 minutes read and leaves you feeling pretty informed and equipped with a few talking points to bring up to your boss or your boyfriend's parents. Drop a fact about current events in Israel and boom! Instant gold star for you. Trust me, they'll be impressed. I signed up amidst all the chaos in Syria because for the life of me I could not explain what was happening and while I still don't completely understand, I'm not as clueless as I was before. To get a taste of how theSkimm breaks it down, here's a sample from this morning's Daily Skimm, recapping the Super Bowl, among other news:

Since signing up, I have shared it with my entire family, all of my co-workers, and a bunch of friends. I recommend you do the same!

Thanks again, Emily!

-Cam