My new love

I went back and forth...do I really need one, will I really like it? The answers are yes and yes! I waffled, had it in my amazon cart on four different occasions and then finally bit the bullet and bought a Kindle.

I was probably similar to a lot of people out there telling myself that I really like the feeling of a book in my hands. Well, the feeling of my Kindle is my hands beats the stupid old book.

I don't travel as often as my husband, but when we do, we're usually off to some type of warm climate to relax. On our honeymoon, I brought 6 novels with me and read them all.My luggage was probably 25 lbs of shoes, 10 pounds of clothes and 10 pounds of books. They were heavy, cumbersome to travel with, and I think the Four Seasons in Maui got the gift of Lauren Conrad's LA Candy novel from me since I didn't want to pack it and bring it home.

I really didn't know if I would like the Kindle. I like to take trips to Barnes and Noble and peruse the aisles and I also like to have a little pile of books to read by my nightstand. But, having all the books in one compact spot can't be beat. I bought a cover for my Kindle from amazon.com. When I just held the Kindle with no cover, it felt a little weird and it also felt delicate. I couldn't see myself throwing it into my purse or work bag. Now, with the cover, it feels like a book, I typically toss it in my purse and I'm good to go. I can't get over the crisp resolution of the screen and it's pretty convenient that you can press a button and shop in the Kindle store to buy yourself a book. Another huge plus is that I don't have to worry about all the books hanging around and where I'm going to store them. Mr. Allan and I both have one bookcase a piece and both are packed. I'm really not a huge fan of the look of my bookcase in our spare room. It makes me feel cluttered and I've found myself donating books more and more the past few years. Now with the Kindle..problem is solved.

Here's the front of my Kindle with the cover. I went back and forth on a cover, but the protection it gives, alone, was worth the extra money for it.

Here's my Kindle screen. It looks a little bigger in this picture but it's about the size of a medium sized paper back book.

I can't get over the resolution of this screen...it's a million times better than I really ever expected.

So, the Kindle was a pleasant surprise. I didn't know if I wanted it just to have a new electronic gadget, or if I'd really love it. And...I really love it. It makes reading a book more accessible to me and I'm looking forward to donating some books that we have stored at the house and get rid of the bookcases that are somewhat of an eyesore in some of our spare rooms. Now, if I could only get Mr. Allan to make the switch over and embrace this new technology!

I love my Garbage Bowl

I'm not a fan of Rachel Ray. She's a little too happy and giddy for me. I don't watch 30 minute meals and had to discontinue my subscription to her magazine. All the recipes are typically in the category of comfort food.

However, there's a couple things I do like about Rachel Ray.
1) her vegetarian chili recipe...so good
2) this

What is it you may ask? It's Rachel Ray's Garbage Bowl. it's so simple of an idea and kind of a gimmick but I love it. I pull this puppy out when I'm doing any type of prep work for dinner or baking. It's a pain when you cut a green pepper in half and have to stand over the sink or garbage can to cut the seeds out and not have a million on your kitchen floor. With the garbage bowl, I just shove all the trash in it and dump it when dinner is in the oven.

I know that I could easily use a regular bowl, but I just don't. I would never think to pull out one of my nice OXO bowls and shove peels, rinds, and seeds and who knows what in it. I'd stand over the trash can instead.

It's hard to explain why exactly I'm head over heels for my garbage bowl, but I use it at least 4-5 times a week and it's made getting stuff ready a little easier.

So, Rachel Ray, while I may not enjoy your grunts and cute little sayings as you prepare a 30 minute meal, I do applaud you for making this ever so obvious and I totally don't need you gimmick bowl that I now cannot live without!

One of my top favorite gadgets...

When we got married, we registered for a ton of stuff. When Bill and I moved in together, he had this thing about me buying new items and "purging" him of all his belongings, as he'd like to put it. So, I seldom shopped for anything house related, unless something broke or we desperately needed it. So, registering was like a big old party that I'd been waiting for for 8 years.

One of my favorite gadgets has got to be my pineapple corer and slicer from Crate and Barrel.

See it here below:

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/

Here's the Pineapple Slicer working it's wonder. It's April and that means fruit is starting to taste good and be in season in the grocery stores. Since we try our best to eat healthy and not eat processed foods, this tool is making it might easy to cut a good pineapple.

first...chop of the top part of you pineapple

You just place the gadget at the top and turn and it pops out the good part of the pineapple like so

Here's the cored pineapple skin..you could even go all out and maybe fill it with fruit. I think we had something similiar in Hawaii on our lovely, long, relaxing, best vacation eva honeymoon