Book Club Night - The Pioneer Woman's Book

Friday was a busy day! In addition to Scott being out of town, Brian's Rube Goldberg competition, Erica's horse riding lesson, visiting Caesar the horse, it was Book Club night!

This month's book - The Pioneer Woman's (Ree Drummond) Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. It is a light, amusing and easy read (and I read a lot of it on-line at The Pioneer Woman's Blog). Some might call it "fluffy", but I think most of us enjoyed it in one fashion or another. Heather may have been its biggest critic, but she didn't read the book!

I'm a big fan of Ree and her blog, from her funny relating of life on a cattle ranch to her easy, tasty recipes and the beautiful photography [the fact she shoots with Nikon gear seals the deal]. After this book, I know my friend, Kellie, is a new fan.

Host Janice is already a fan (she suggested the book) so for tonight's goodies, she prepared recipes from the Pioneer Woman's Cookbook (using Real Butter):

Pictured above - Potato skins

Also served - Hot Artichoke Dip, Mango Salsa and to top things off - Sweet Rolls!

Janice totally rocks!

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195/365 - Book Club Night

Our monthly book club night, held at Lisa's beautiful home. This month's book - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a book I read on my iPhone, a first for me. I had downloaded the Barnes and Noble eReader a long time ago, but never actually read anything on it. I enjoyed having the book available at all times and read it while we were on vacation.



I now have the sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire on my phone, too. I'll read it over the next several weeks.

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167/365 - Red, White and Blue

My friend, Jill, hosted book club tonight and she went with a patriotic theme of Red, White and Blue. With a blue chicken thrown in to coordinate with the cute chicken theme she has in her kitchen.



Tonight's book club agenda - selecting the next six books for our group. Each member brings a book or two (or more) and we all vote. This allows for a diverse selection to pick from. The top six books are determined and we assign the reading schedule.

I brought two selections, The Happiness Project and Women, Food and God. These selections were a departure from my normal fiction suggestions, but I figured mixing things up never hurt anyone.

The group did choose The Happiness Project, which will be read in January. I think the timing is perfect. And when that time comes around, I'll report back what my group of friends thought about the book.

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105/365 - Hosting Book Club

During my first experience hosting Book Club, I prepared Rum Cake [do a search of Rum Cake, and you'll get a bunch of Rum Cake related posts]. Now when I host, I get the inquiry - "You're making Rum Cake, right?".

Just as Heather always serves strawberries and angel food cake, Jill makes Bacon-Bacon dip, I will always make Rum Cake.


And Heather makes the initial cut into it while Kellie watches.

We discussed The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Well, Heather, Jill and Shelley gave us the overall outline of the book while Kellie and I gave our opinions [neither of us read the book and after the discussion, I'm not sure I want to - very depressing book].

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70/365 - Book Club / Spa Night

Cooler temperatures and rain was the backdrop for tonight's Spa Night at the local country club. Wait - these are my friends from Book Club. That's because several of our book club members belong to the country club, so the rest of us (including me) can participate as guests.

We all received a 20 minute massage and two other spa services. Most of us signed up for the facial and make up sessions. Everything was very relaxing and fun!

The facial station - Karen and another woman, wearing identical sweat suits, just happen to sign up for the facial station at the same time. They thought it was funny and even asked me to take the picture.


Lisa and Heather, after their make up sessions.




And Kellie, after getting her hair "done". I think the curls are so classy and gorgeous!


I'm pretty pleased how the pictures turned out. The lighting conditions were horrid. Thank goodness for high ISO capability. We all had a great time and I can't wait to go next year!

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49/365 - Lively Book Club Discussions

Kellie hosted our monthly book club meeting tonight and she ordered a red velvet cake, custom decorated in the image of the book's cover:



My Little Red Book, edited by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, is a collection of short stories, revolving around the first periods from women around the world, of current and past generations. Many funny, some sad, some happy, stories all women can relate to, especially those with daughters.

And contrary to popular belief, we DO discuss the books during our meetings, and tonight's discussion proved to be most interesting, educational at times and quite "colorful". With the lively discussions, the time passed so quickly - we didn't leave until after midnight.

If you have a young daughter, the book is a must read and a great conversation prompt when your daughter starts to grow up.

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31/365 - Have Some Joy Luck

A follow up picture from Friday's post - the cover of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.


Even though I've had this book for 20 years, I'm pretty sure it really belongs to my sister, Teresa.

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29/365 - Book Club Night

One Friday a month, we gather to share food and laughter, catching up with those little and big details of our lives, and discuss the month's book selection. Well, maybe our book discussions take back seat to the other discussions, but it gives us a concrete reason to get together [and I've managed to read most of the books].

This month's selection was a book I suggested - The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. The book's stories remind me of my childhood, my relationship with my mother and sisters, and how we are all tied to the culture of our ancestors.

But, much like the discussions during our gatherings, the main purpose of this post isn't to discuss the book, but to focus on my lovely friends who make "Book Club Night".

Heather, here with Janice, who serves as our Leader:


Karen, tonight's gracious hostess:


Kellie:


Lisa and Shelly:


Heather with Jill:


Janice:


I didn't get pictures of Amy or Jennifer - I'll have to get them next month (well, maybe not Jennifer - she's due to have baby number 3 in a couple weeks).

These ladies are the best and so much fun.

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