Current Reads

It's official. Justin and I have an addiction to books, and Barnes and Noble is our weakness. I mean really, we can't spend less than an hour in the place, and we never leave empty handed. It's a problem, people.

1 week, 2 trips, 6 books. It's a little much, but I'd be lying if I said it doesn't make me giddy just thinking about when I'll get to read all these. 

> Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, by Robert M. Pirsig : I'm a huge fan of anything involving eastern religious thought, Buddhism in particular. The way they see the world is just fascinating to me, and I love finding ways to apply those ideas and incorporate them into my own life. Throw in motorcycles, and I think Justin found his new favorite book. He's about halfway finished with it now. His reading time is a bit more limited than mine, but I'm looking forward to picking it up once he's finished.

> The End of Faith, by Sam Harris : Already knocked this one off the list! You can read my blog post about it here.

> Physics of the Future, by Michio Kaku : Another pick from Justin, obviously. I'll admit, I have no idea what this is about. But it was part of the "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" table. It looks interesting though, so I'll read it and get back to you.

> Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn : Okay, I'm going to read it. But hear me out! I will be the first to tell you, I rarely read fiction. Especially the book-soon-to-be-movie kind of fiction that always ends up disappointingly obliterated by pop-culture. But for real, have you seen that trailer!? GOOSEBUMPS. Plus, I love Ben Affleck. So I may as well do the story justice and read the book before I see the movie.

> Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond : Another non-fiction pick from Justin, but one I think I'll enjoy just as much (Found on the "books everyone should read" table, so there's that).

> A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson : This one we picked up at the recommendation of a wonderful coworker. It's a big (and a little intimidating!) read, but I'm confident that by the end of it I'll actually be able to say I know everything. (Ha.)

My actual list on my iPhone of books I'm wanting to read in the near future is seriously long. And of course, it keeps growing. In an attempt to cut back on our reading material stockpile (and some of the damage to our wallets) we got library cards this week.. Hooray! Let me tell you, I haven't been to the library in the longest time. So you can imagine my surprise when we pull in and I realize how dang big that place is! Seriously, there is a Mudhouse location IN THE LIBRARY. I know now where I will be spending the last two weeks of my summer vacation.

What are you reading lately? I'm open to any and all suggestions for books to add to my list.. As long as Barnes and Noble stays out of the equation. ;)

"The End of Faith"

"Although we generally live within the limits imposed by our ordinary uses of attention . . . most of us know, however dimly, that extraordinary experiences are possible. The problem with religion is that it blends this truth so thoroughly with the venom of unreason. Take Christianity as an example: it is not enough that Jesus was a man who transformed himself to such a degree that the Sermon on the Mount could be his heart's confession. He also had to be the Son of God, born of a virgin, and destined to return to earth trailing clouds of glory. The effect of such dogma is to place the example of Jesus forever out of reach. His teaching ceases to be a set of empirical claims about the linkage between ethics and spiritual insight and instead becomes a gratuitous, and rather gruesome, fairy tale. According to the dogma of Christianity, becoming just like Jesus is impossible. One can only enumerate one's sins, believe the unbelievable, and await the end of the world." 

Sam Harris, The End of Faith

I recently finished reading "The End of Faith," by Sam Harris. Few books have that effect, that real gut-punching effect, where you just sit back at the end and say, wow. Harris gives an honest and upfront analysis of the disparities between logical reason and many of the world's religious dogmas, and the threats organized religion has historically and currently posed to society. I'll admit, I was skeptical at first. Sometimes I'm disappointed to find books like this to be somewhat pretentious, and a often far fetched. Not the case.

I shared the above quote because it was one of my favorite from the book. What if we could just accept at face value that Jesus was a man with life-changing ideas of how to treat one another; with compassion, love, and acceptance? Is it truly necessary that we suspend our perceptions of reality to blindly accept impossible aspects? What if instead of suspending logical thought and knowledge of known facts, we could suspend our willingness to accept age old myths as pure "fact"? How would that transform society? How would that transform our world?

Just some food for thought. I realize it isn't for everyone, but if you are interested you can buy the book on Amazon, here. Sam Harris also has some other pretty interesting books and lectures about the moral landscape and free will. He already has a book scheduled to release this September called Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion, that I'm very anxious to read. You can read more about him and his books on his blog, here.

Disclaimer: If you feel inclined to discuss these ideas, by all means do! I'm always up for a good discussion. But please, no hateful "this is blasphemy" comments, as it really only perpetuates the point. Thanks, friends.

Independence Day

Yesterday was the Fourth of July, and like the patriotic spirits that we are, we decided to celebrate our independence the best way we knew how - by doing nothing. Amidst invitations to the lake and other firework-filled festivities, we agreed that we wouldn't make any plans and just see where the day took us. Any time we get a day off together, we try to plan something fun. But yesterday we decided to spend the entire day relaxing and enjoying our time together. 

And wouldn't you know, it was one of the most fun days we've spent together in quite a while. Here's a few iPhone snaps from our gloriously unplanned Independence Day.

^^ What better way to start the day than saying, "Ehh, we'll go to the gym tomorrow," and then going to get breakfast at the Mudhouse instead? I can't think of any. Not pictured was Justin's Mocha Cinnamon muffin, to which I was slightly envious of. ^^

^^ After Mudhouse, we came home and went to the pool. The weather was nothing short of perfect, and I'm all about tanning when I can. (On a side note, that couple in the picture tossed one of those water-soaker pool balls back and forth for three hours. THREE HOURS, PEOPLE.) ^^

^^ Later in the afternoon, we spent a few hours at Nathanael Greene park. Lucky for us, it's practically attached to our apartment complex parking lot. I spent some time painting with my new watercolor set that Justin got me for my birthday, and he walked Haley a few laps around the park. Which she LOVED. This dog is spoiled rotten, I tell ya. ^^

^^ These two. *sigh* ^^

^^ After the park, Haley was ready for a nap. So while she napped at home, we spent a little time visiting with family. After having IMO's pizza with Justin's dad, we visited my dad and sister, Kaylyn, and played a couple hours worth of Cards Against Humanity. We had borrowed the game from Justin's brother and brought it out to a barbecue at my parent's last weekend, and after just one game my parents insisted they had to own it. Since my dad got his copy (with all four expansion packs) from Amazon yesterday, we of course had to play. ^^

^^ I'm telling you, if you have never played this game, you really need to (You can buy it here!). Its similar to Apples to Apples, but so much funnier and so much more inappropriate. My family is pretty laid back, but watching my mother scream, horrified at some of the cards my fifteen year old sister played (and won) was the best. I have never laughed so hard in my life. ^^

Overall, it was a fantastic holiday. One of my favorite parts was at the end, riding home on the motorcycle from across town and getting to see the fireworks from all over Springfield. The sky was lit up in every direction. It was the most beautiful sight. I'm pretty thankful to live in such a great place, and for days spent doing nothing.

How did you spend your Independence Day?

Fresh Start

I'm back! Well, I never really left. But my blog is no longer crazy and "under construction."

I wouldn't say I'm completely finished with all of the changes I want to make as far as my blog's appearance, but I'm very pleased with the improvements I've made so far! It took me a little longer to get around to it than I'd originally planned, but I'm quite proud of myself (because let me tell you, figuring out HTML was a b****).

As you can surely tell, all of my previous posts have been removed. Yes. I am and always have been the girl who will open a notebook, write in a page, realize I don't like my handwriting, then tear the page out and begin a new one. So figuratively, I'm tearing out the pages of my old blog and starting fresh. To be honest, I hadn't put much time or effort into this before, and it wasn't any fun at all. Now, I'm anxious about my new design and hopeful about some of the ideas I have.

I plan to start a day series soon, to kind of re-introduce myself to the blog world. But for now, I'm just here to say hello,

again.