It was so good.  I'm talking about the book I just finished, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.  It was the perfect mix between mystery, scandal and love, and I'm not even talking the mushy kind.  Now I'm on another roll to see how many I can read before the end of the year.  I've honestly lost track but am pretty sure I'm right around 20.  I'll have to check after this.

Anyway, I'm ready for the next book and can't wait to start it.  This one is called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.  When we were in New York we actually saw that it had been turned into an off Broadway play.  I was slightly less intrigued by it than the book simply because I hadn't read it yet, so we passed.  

This one may take a little longer to finish because I'm knee deep in house cleaning and preparing for Thanksgiving when the whole fandamily descends on the DD household.  Then I will have both of my sister's boys for our first over-nighter while they celebrate her husbands birthday.  I'm super excited but totally nervous.  

What first started off as "when we have kids" and moved to "if we have kids" has now become "are we really ready". Babe said something similar last night on our way home.  This came after sitting across a dinner table from his brother and cousin's families.  

We've talked about it a lot in the last year, living child free that is.  When it was first brought up, during the last Valentine's day dinner it scared me.  But as time went on I learned to truly consider it as a possibility.  I can genuinely say that for the most part, it's easier to swallow than that first time.  Except it's still so frightening to me.  I'm nervous that when Babe says he'd be okay, he's far more comfortable with the idea than I ever will be.  That we are either of two separate mind sets with me waiting to catch up or that I never will.  

I know he wants kids.  I know that in my heart and soul.  But I also know as he, we, both get older and sleep and money become greater prized possessions, the idea of living a life free of larger responsibilities seems tempting.  I'm terrified about it though.

It's taken a while but I've finally finished In Cold Blood on my way back from NY.  Although it was an interesting read, I didn't care much for Capote's way of story telling.  If you're not familiar with it, it's the story of the Clutter family murders and how unnecessary (I don't know if that's the right word to use) it was.  A family, believed to hold large sums of cash in their home, was murdered by two men trying to make the perfect score. Then following the murderers in the aftermath up to and including their trial and subsequent hanging.  At times it almost felt as thought the writer was trying to gain sympathy for one murderer in particular.  I know many people who have had a rough life growing up and get irritated about the excuses that are made for poor decision making.

But now I've started the next one in line and am super intrigued.  It's called The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.  It's fun reading about other readers and their passion for it.  Book Thief had the same effect on me. This one has me wanting to get to the end as quickly as possible and at the same time not read to fast so as not to miss any little detail.  I'm already halfway through it so given enough time, will probably finish it by the end of the week.  

There's no easy way to sum up our trip to the east coast.  What was expected to be a long 10 day vacation through Washington D.C., Gettysburg, PA and New York City was much more exciting than that.  We walked 75 miles to places like the Lincoln Memorial, US Capitol building, Gettysburg National Park, Arlington Cemetery, Time Square, Little Italy and Central Park.  My feet got blistery and hurt like hell but it truly was a once in a lifetime experience for us.

As I mentioned before, the D.C./Gettysburg leg of our trip was definitely for my husband and NY for me.  Surprisingly we both really enjoyed each others planning and were really gung ho about everything.  Much of the trip was expected but there were a few detours.  For example, due to a bad tour guide, we cut our Library of Congress trip short and added the National Archives.  When we noticed that Jennifer Hudson and Jessie J. were doing a sound check in the National Mall, we stopped to listen and sing along.  After finding out that our dinner location of choice was closed on Sundays, we drove to a little joint called Hank's Oyster Bar in Alexandria, VA.  In New York it was fun exploring places like Rockefeller Plaza and New York Public Library at the drop of a hat.

Here's just a couple of photos from our trip to share with you although they could never capture the sounds, smells and pride you get from being is such beautiful and historical places.  

I am having a blast this week. Our vacation just finished in DC and started in NYC and I couldn't be happier. 

After 6 days walking all over the place, we calculated that we've walked a total of 53 miles! Now that were in NY, the walking is less rushed and for me a whole lot more entertaining. Don't get me wrong, DC was incredible, but it was definitely more of Babe's thing. 

Now our dogs are resting as we settle in for an early night with warm almonds and a beer from Times Square. 

I'll update more when I get back and for now just leave you with this. 

DD

Procrastination is something I'm an expert at.  Don't get me wrong, I'm excellent at planning and prepping but procrastination is on a whole different level for me.  What does that mean you ask?  Well, it means that while I've washed and folded 6 loads of laundry, purchased all our toiletries and printed our itineraries for the trip, I've yet to pack one bit of it.  We leave in 2 days and all those items are strewn about the house in various shopping bags and baskets.  

That also means that until we fly out, there's no way I'm going to have time to do almost anything else.  Which is only slightly okay with me.  You see, our vacation isn't exactly the relaxing kind.  No hanging out on the beach with a tropical cocktail.  Instead we'll be waking up bright and early Saturday morning to take a tour of the White House.  I mean the White House!  How cool is that?  So I may complain about having no down time for the next 18 days (between vacation, work and weddings) but I'm beyond pumped for it.