Rambling Reads | The Girl on the Train

It's been awhile since I've posted a book review, and silly me: I started my own book club! Since I've always wanted to be a part of a book club (wine, snacks, good friends, and discussing books, what's not to love?) I decided to host my own!

Books and Babes is a book club dedicated to badass women who enjoy discussing and reading books. I thought it would be fun to make the club female-oriented, so we choose only books written by female authors. So far, we've read three books and I'm disgustingly behind on reviewing them for this blog. Life, work, and my dogson constantly demand my attention, I apologize. However, that will change because here is my review of our very first book club novel, The Girl on the Train. 

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins was an experience. Even though it was our January book club novel, I still remember the narrative like it was yesterday. Everyone who read the book in our club was fully immersed into the world of the three women we meet: Rachel, Anna, and Megan.

Our main protagonist is Rachel. Right off the bat, we learn she's a recently unemployed alcoholic recovering from a brutal divorce. As a reader, her drunken stupor throughout the novel forces you to find her a potentially unreliable narrator, which keeps things interesting, for sure. We go on to learn that she takes the same exact train route to and from work, even though she was fired from her job. Taking that same route gives her a sense of comfort. On that route, she lives vicariously through a couple she sees from outside her train window, who she's adoringly named Jess and Jason. They are the couple she aspired to, but we soon learn they are actually Megan and Scott: and they aren't the perfect couple, not at all.

The second voice we become acquainted with is Megan Hipwell, the woman living what Rachel believes her fantasy to be. As it turns out, Megan's life is pretty chaotic. I won't spoil things for you though.

Our last narrator is Anna, the shiny new wife of Rachel's ex-husband, Tom. Initially, I found her to be fake and overwhelmingly aggressive when it came to Rachel in Tom's life, but as you journey through each of these women's lives, you start to see the full picture that is Anna.

This book is a real page turner, and takes several different twists and turns. It certainly didn't turn out the way I thought it would, and I was really pleased with that. Also, I really enjoyed all the different themes surrounding the novel such as gender culture/norms, addiction, friendship, marriage, and sexuality.

If you're a fan of crime thrillers with some deep themes, this is the right book for you!

Fun fact: They are officially making this book a movie! The fantastic Emily Blunt will be playing the main character of Rachel, and I'm beyond stoked to see how the adaptation plays out in theaters.

Have you read The Girl on the Train? Let me know your thoughts on the novel in the comments below! 

4 Things I Learned From My Papu

While driving home from work today, my dad called me and I was half listening to him on my car phone (I was partially thinking about finally getting to take my dog for a walk because it's now light enough when I get out of work) but then suddenly he told me he was having a martini to celebrate my papu and it hit me. Today is the anniversary of his death. It's been two years since he left us, and while everything feels different, my love for him has remained the same. 

So, I decided to honor him in the best way I know how. These are just a few things I learned from my papu. 

Always tell stories

I truly believe I inherited my love for storytelling from my papu. He always lived to tell a good story when our entire family was together. Not only did he love the attention, he loved the journey of a story. I could see it in his face when he was telling it. His eyes would light up, and his hands would wave around once he got really into it. I lived to watch him talk and appreciated a real value for history through him, and learned about my Greek lineage because of him. Our family has an unique personality, and my papu was the heart and soul of it. 

Love, love, love 

Although he didn't always show it to our whole family, it was clear who he loved. He admired my yaya unconditionally. Whenever our family would be all together, it definitely got loud. In the middle of it all, he would stop, look at her, and say, "my koukla," which in Greek means, "my doll" or "my gorgeous." Then, like clockwork, my yaya would give him a quick smile, then immediately yell at him to stop it in Greek and life would go back to being too loud. I caught these moments several times in my childhood, and I don't think I ever truly appreciated them until now. When you're young, you only see love in others, because you haven't experienced it yourself. Being in my mid-20's, I've experienced versions of love and now truly understand how much he loved her. I hope to one day have someone look at me like that and call me gorgeous, even when I'm in my 70's. 

My papu also loved his children, and grandchildren, fiercely. My relationship with him may have been later in his life, but he was one of my favorite people because I never wondered if he loved me. I just knew. He showed me every time he got worked up reading a story I wrote, or when he would tell me all about growing up in Hell's Kitchen while he cooked me orzo and lamb. 

Live with passion 

Every Christmas, papu never asked for anything from any of his grandchildren, just to see them and talk to them. Papu always had a passion for writing himself, so when it came to me, he would ask me to print out everything I wrote that year and put it together as a book so he could read it. He taught me to never give up on my passion for writing, and always made me feel like I was working towards something. Like I mentioned in my previous post about my New Year's goals, it's because of this support from him that I'm planning to write a children's book in his honor. I have big plans, papu. I wish you were here to see them, and to read what I've written. 

Stay young at heart

"Don't you know that it's worth every treasure on earth, to be young at heart." Papu always immortalized Frank Sinatra, and "Young At Heart" will always be my go-to song when I want to think of him. While he could be a very serious man, I got the rare treat of seeing his silly side. I will treasure those memories forever, and it will constantly remind me to stay young at heart. Being serious has its time and place, but if you don't stop and let the nonsense in, you aren't truly appreciating life. That's what I learned from my papu, take it or leave it. 

Like in most Greek families, our papu was a gigantic part of the family. So losing him was devastating, but we hold onto our moments with him and he taught every person in my family a different lesson that will guide them for years to come. 

Do you have a grandparent who taught you some great lessons in life? I want to hear about it! Share your story in the comments. 

My 3 New Year's Goals

Since this year is drawing to a close, I figured I would write a post about my goals for 2016. Everyone talks about their resolutions for a new year, but I find that term to be too easily forgotten. I think calling them goals makes for a definite result.

2015 has been a year of ups and downs for me, and I learned a lot (blog post possibly to come about my lessons from this year) and decided that I have three definitive goals for the coming year. Here they are.

Pst, yes that's me. This is from a NYE photoshoot at my work :) 

I recently came up with this goal in the last few weeks, and I think it encompasses my entire life. Towards the end of this year, I found myself becoming more bold than I had normally been and having it completely pay off in the end. A great example is my new job. My previous job wasn't challenging me at all, so I made the decision to start looking for a new one, and boy was that a fun time. It took me close to three months, but I finally found the perfect fit. I not only had a phone interview, I went to a career fair with the company, had another phone interview, a two and a half hour interview with top executives, and then they offered me the job. All of that could not have been possible if I wasn't bold in my desire for a new job. And let me tell you, it so paid off because I am madly in love with my new position. 

Being bold doesn't just apply to the job department though. In 2016, I want to be more bold in my relationships, which means not waiting, but just going for it if I feel it's right, in any relationship capacity. No fear. I need a little more spontaneity in my life. 

This second goal is something near and dear to my heart. My papu, Marx, passed away in March of 2014 and, while I had always planned to write something for him, his passing has made the desire even greater. In 2016, I will force myself to sit down at least a half hour a day and focus on the outline and writing of a children's book in his memory. 

I have the basic outline written down, I just need to hunker down and write it out. I also spoke with the graphic designer at my work and he sounded interested in drawing the illustrations for it, so that has me motivated to get started. I cannot wait to see what it turns out to be. I would love to go further into the plot of the book, but I've decided to wait until I've fleshed out the narrative more before I write anything on this blog. Stay tuned :) 

This is a big one for me. Lately, I've had pretty intense anxiety. Whether it's about a certain situation in my life, or just a small event, I tend to let myself get sucked into a black hole of worry and obsession. While this will be the hardest goal on my list, I truly need it the most. 

Anxiety is a beast, and sometimes it just needs the right method for relief. I have found certain ways to calm it, whether it's coloring, reading, writing, or taking my dog for a walk, but it always comes back. I find myself taking situations that don't necessarily have to be devastating, and twisting them in my mind until they are life-altering to me. It's completely irrational, and a part of me knows this, but it still feels so real. To someone who doesn't really experience this kind of anxiety, it's difficult to explain, but let's just say it's not a picnic. In 2016, I've decided to find a more effective way to calm my anxiety. Whether that means trying to talk to a therapist, or taking weekly yoga to ease my mind, or both. I need to put a pause on my mind and realize that there is so much to be grateful for in life, rather than constantly worry about. I have a lot going for me right now, so might as well be aware of it. 

Well, those are my New Year's goals, what are yours? 

Rambling Reads | Beautiful You

Over Thanksgiving break, I went on a magical journey to New York to visit my cousins, and for the eight hour plane ride (both ways) I ended up finishing the latest Chuck Palahniuk novel, Beautiful You. Here are my thoughts.

Palahniuk starts off this novel with a horrifying courtroom rape scene. I won't lie to you, I almost couldn't get through it, but I forced myself to push past those first few pages and I'm glad I did. All of Palahniuk's novels come with a specially-packaged message on society. Fight Club centered around materialism, Invisible Monsters focused on society's curse of unattainable beauty, and Survivor serves up a steaming pile of knowledge surrounding depression and cults.

In Beautiful You, sex and gender are the two main themes. Warning: This book is not for the faint of heart, or reader who's uncomfortable reading about sex, because dear god there is a lot of it. The main character, Penny Harrigan, is introduced as a normal, slightly boring twenty-something living in New York. This wannabe lawyer never truly pushed the boundaries of sex and eroticism, but all that changes when she meets C. Linus Maxwell, or as he likes to call himself, "Climax-Well." He is fascinated by her, and is constantly described as taking tedious notes in his little notebook, jotting down her every response and movement.

Once Penny and Maxwell begin their torrid affair, things take a turn for the experimental. Maxwell begins to test out hundreds of different sex toys on Penny, bringing her sexual experience to a whole other level. While it's a wild ride for Penny, she eventually yearns for any sense of love from Maxwell, but it's clear he's not capable of it.

Penny soon begins to realize she is part of something much larger than just experimenting with Maxwell, the highly attractive nerd. It turns out that Maxwell is using Penny as his last test subject for his line of feminine sex toys called Beautiful You. Once their relationship comes to an end, he releases the line and that's when the shit hits the fan. Penny watches as all the women of the world become consumed with desire for these glorious sex toys. She, and quite honestly the reader, becomes conflicted with the idea that women should have the complete right and feel empowered by pleasuring themselves and exploring their sexuality, and the evil plot Maxwell has for these women.

This book is full of twists and turns, like a regular Palahniuk, so I won't spoil them for you. Let's just say that it's a doozy. Personally, I found Beautiful You to be an extremely empowering novel for women. The narrative centered around the idea that women control most of society's capitalism and, with the help of sex toys, can become more powerful than the opposite sex. While it takes ideas about gender and sex to the extreme, Palahniuk gets straight to the point that masturbation involving women is still regarded as a taboo subject in our society, which I believe is why he goes entirely over the top with his descriptions of sexual encounters throughout the book. His purpose is to make you uncomfortable, and he does his job.

Lastly, my favorite part of the book was at the very end. Penny has conquered Maxwell and is able to control her own body, rather than have Maxwell controlling her. Feeling unsatisfied after the end of Beautiful You sex toys, Penny decides to use the last stimulator to give all women a complete sense of self worth and empowerment. She gives them the gift of appreciation for their own bodies. It was a wonderful moment to read for women, especially coming from a male author. Palahniuk successfully writes in the tone of a female, and champions for all women and their ability to love themselves.

Okay, so I might be slightly biased when it comes to Chuck, but I would suggest giving this book a read, if you are comfortable with reading about a good deal of sex. If not, I wouldn't really suggest any of Palahniuk's novels, honestly.

Have you read Beautiful You? What did you think? Tell me in the comments below!

6 Ways I Attempt To Deal With Anxiety

Having anxiety is never fun. I won't go so far to say that I'm constantly anxiety-ridden, but there are moments when I'm stuck in my head and can't find a way out. Recently, I was waiting to hear back about a fantastic potential job and every waking thought was consumed by self-doubt and anxiety on hearing back. Every day that passed, I analyzed why it was taking so long, when it all seriousness, I had no control over when they called me with any kind of news.

P.s. I got the job, but more on that later. 

It was in this chaotic few days that I learned what helps to ease my anxiety, so here are some of the things that work for me, maybe they'll work for you too!

Do some doodling

This activity is a fairly recent discovery for me. When I was at the peak of my anxiety last week waiting to hear back about this job, my cousin told me about adult coloring books. She told me they would help me with my anxiety, so I went on a quest to Michael's and found a gorgeous coloring book to doodle away in, I bought myself some colored pencils, because I'm 24, I have no colored pencils lying around. When I got home, I started coloring and man does that shit work. It's like a form of meditation because the illustrations in the book are so detailed and intricate, you really aren't focusing on anything but what you're coloring. I would suggest coloring books to anyone who is searching for a way to quiet their mind for a little bit. Plus, it's just fun. 

Here is my first masterpiece: 

Watch your favorite TV show/movie

Yes, this may seem like an easy one but it works wonders. It's the perfect distraction for my always-working brain and it gives you some laughs. My go-to shows are The Office and Friends, those two will forever brighten my mood and help me to laugh my anxiety off. 

Call your go-to person 

That person will always be my dad, he knows how to calm me down and put things in perspective so I don't completely go off the rails. However, that may not be the case for everyone. Your go-to person could be your mom, your sister, a best friend, or even a boyfriend. Or maybe your dog, who knows. Whenever you are feeling the anxiety start to overwhelm you, pick up the phone and call your person. I am so very grateful that I have my dad, who is probably one of the only people who understands my anxiety, to talk to when I'm stressed. Not everyone has that person, and it's so important to be thankful if you have that person in your life who will pick up the phone at 2 in the morning just to talk. 

Chill with your pet 

According to WebMD (aka my homepage because I'm convinced I have about 10 different illnesses) having a pet is a serious stress soother. Just petting your cat, dog, bunny, bird, or whatever animal you choose to imprint on for life, can not only lower your blood pressure, it helps your body to release a relaxation hormone, and cuts down on levels of a stress hormone. It helps even more when you hug your dog super tight and force him to cuddle with you...nope, sorry that's just me and my dog.

I think I'm doing it wrong. 

Listen to your favorite playlist

Whether you use Spotify, Pandora, ITunes, Apple Music, or you go old school and just buy CD's, music is a huge stress reducer. Personally, listening to a folksy playlist with some The Civil Wars, The Weepies, and more recently Matt Corby, calms my nerves and really puts me in a dreamy mood.

Here's one of my favorite folksy playlists, The New Retro: 

Breathe

Just breathe and realize that everything will be okay. I know, it's really easy to just say that, but to believe it is another thing. A little while back, I started up yoga and I absolutely loved it. Focusing on breathing did wonders for my mood and mindset in life. To this day, when I'm extremely anxious or stressed out, I stop what I'm doing and take three seriously deep breaths and focus only on my breathing, and I open my eyes and my anxiety is lessened. While this may not work for everyone, it's definitely something you should try, you never know if it could.

So, those are my go-to stress smoothers, what are yours? 

The 5 Greatest Halloween TV Episodes

Halloween is quickly approaching, so it's time to reveal my all time favorite Halloween TV episodes. These aren't ranked in any type of order because having to decide which episode is #1 gives me too much anxiety. Let's do this!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "Halloween" 

While there are several classic Halloween episodes of Buffy, I think the second season's is the best. In this episode, Buffy and the Scooby gang are all forced to take the neighborhood kids trick or treating by the Principal, but the night has other plans for them. Ethan Rayne, the douchebag of chaos, comes into town and takes over the costume shop, magically turning everyone's Halloween costumes real. Hilarity ensues with Xander becoming a real Army dude, Willow turning into a ghost, and Buffy transforming into a noblewoman. This is the first we see that Ethan Rayne is actually the old friend/enemy of Giles, and he takes him down in good ol' Ripper fashion. 

Bonus: My absolute favorite part of this episode is when Willow, who was self-conscious about her costume so she wore a ghost sheet over it, abandons her sheet and her fear, and walks down the street in her revealing outfit. It's then that Oz, or the adorable Seth Green, sees Willow for the first time and utters, "Who is that girl?" Swoon. 

Boy Meets World: "And Then There Was Shawn" 

  

It's not Halloween until you've watched the Halloween episode of Boy Meets World. Quite possibly one of the greatest Halloween episodes, it revolves around all of the BMW squad having detention together....or so they thought. It's really just an entire episode mocking all of the popular 90's scary movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Jennifer Love Hewitt even makes a cameo. I don't know that I'll ever get over seeing Mr. Feeny murdered, but watching Cory, Shawn, and the gang run around the high school hallways does make it a tad easier. 

Parks and Recreation: "Meet N' Greet" 

In this Halloween episode, April and Andy throw their first Halloween party and it's quite the rager. I hope my Halloween party will be as cool as theirs. One can dream. April dresses up as a deflated sumo wrestler (awesome) and poor Ben learns to express his annoyance with the fact that April and Andy never asked him about throwing the party in the first place. 

The Office: "Costume Contest" 

I'm probably biased because I love this show way too much, but this season seven episode takes the cake. Pam gets everyone all excited for the prize of the costume contest, a gigantic coupon book. Everyone dressed up in their best costumes, except for Jim. He's usually not the type to dress up, but at the end of this episode, he dresses up as Pop Eye for Pam and their daughter, like the adorable character he is. 

How I Met Your Mother: "The Slutty Pumpkin" 

This show has some impressive holiday episodes, and Halloween is one of the best. In the first season of How I Met Your Mother, Ted goes on yet another quest to find a long-lost lover. This one happens to be the "slutty pumpkin," aka the girl dressed as a slutty pumpkin at the rooftop Halloween party. Apparently, Ted looks for her every year since he met her, and blames Lily for throwing away the candy wrapper that she wrote her number on. Get it together, Lily. 

So, those are a few of my favorite Halloween episodes! What are yours? Tell me in the comments below! 

Rambling Reads | Dorothy Must Die

It's been awhile since I've done a Rambling Reads review because I haven't been able to actually finish my book in so long. Life, man.

However, I managed to finish my latest read, Dorothy Must Die, this past weekend and here are my thoughts.

Dorothy Must Die tells a much different story than the traditional Wizard of Oz tale. While I'm usually a huge fan of fairytale retellings, this one wasn't my favorite. It's almost like Danielle Paige, the author of the novel, did too good a job writing the book in the perspective of a teenage girl because I wanted to pull my hair out like 80% of the time while reading.

The tone of the book is immature and Amy, the main protagonist, isn't a character you are rooting for. By the end of the story, I could have cared less if she defeated Dorothy or the Cowardly Lion bit her head off. Too much of the story was centered around Amy's all-too-quick infatuation with Nox, one of the witches in The Order, a mysterious group of Wicked witches trying to revolt against Dorothy. More adventure, less googly eyes. A young adult series that does a fantastic job of creating an empowering, young female protagonist is Cinder. This story is a twist of several different fairytales, and takes you on a journey of action, adventure, and the appropriate amount of romance.

Now, don't get me wrong, there were a few redeeming qualities of Dorothy Must Die. I did somewhat enjoy the twist of the traditional story. The book goes that Amy, a lonely girl from Kansas, is swept up in her motor home to the land of Oz. Upon her arrival, she finds that Oz is nothing like the storybooks say. The reason for this sad, depressing version of Oz is Dorothy. She isn't the sweet, innocent girl everyone talks about apparently. In this tale, Dorothy returns to Oz because she can't handle the boring, non-magical world of Kansas. Oz makes her a princess when she returns, and everything goes downhill from there.

She takes over Oz and magic consumes her. She sucks all the magic dry, making Oz a wasteland. Enter Amy. This annoying, immature, and relatively selfish young girl will be your hero for the next 500 pages. Enjoy. I would have to say that the only scene in the book I genuinely connected to was when Amy uses a magic mirror to see her mother in Kansas. She finds her attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and telling a friend she wished her daughter were here to see her now. Amy then goes on to think how much she misses her mother and how proud she is of the change she has made. However, she also is angered by the fact that it took her leaving for her mother to get help, and I found that reaction to be extremely real.

There are so, so many young adult books that revolve around retelling traditional folklore and fairytales that sometimes you can find a dud. This is the case with Dorothy Must Die. I can't say I'll run to the bookstore and look for the next book in this series. Sorry Danielle Paige.

Well, that's my take on Dorothy Must Die, what was yours? Did you enjoy the book? Let me know in the comments.