sassymonkey

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  1. The I Suck at Meal Planning Edition

    5/22/12 11:16am by sassymonkey in Loving food and sharing recipes! Comments (2)
    • Discussion

    I don't know why we didn't make a meal plan last week. Maybe because last Monday was my birthday and I don't do things like meal plan on my birthday. I'm kidding. I *totally* plan my meals on my birthday. For a long time it was a "must have Mexican food on my birthday" plan, which was partly superstition (this rule did not get followed on my 25th birthday and well, it was just a horrid birthday), partly tradition (it started when I was 18) and partly a really good excuse to drink margaritas.  Read more >

  2. Do You Trust the Right People?

    5/18/12 11:47am by sassymonkey
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    Vanessa Williams didn't always trust the right people. She made this clear in You Have No Idea, the book that she and her mother, Helen Williams, wrote together. She mistrusted two photographers much to her detriment. Not many people would have bounced back successfully from being forced to step down as Miss America but Vanessa did. This is in part due to her also putting her trust in the right people.  Read more >

  3. Where She Went: A Day Can Change Your Life

    5/16/12 8:27am by sassymonkey
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    Where She Went Gayle Forman

    Life can change in an instant. Sometimes we have a choice, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we have whole days filled with choices that mean our life will never be the same. That is where Gayle Forman excels. She did it first when she took us through a day in Mia's life in If I Stay. Now she's back, shooting us three years into the future to tell us Adam's story in Where She Went. You won't be able to put this book down.  Read more >

  4. This is Your Brain on Music

    5/16/12 8:21am by sassymonkey
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    Music is almost its own character in Gayle Forman's Where She Went. Not only are Adam and Mia both musicians, music was what brought them together. It was important to their relationship with each other, but it was also an integral part of who they were individually. Music was part of them.  Read more >

  5. Do You Ask For Help?

    5/10/12 3:15pm by sassymonkey
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    One of the things that quickly becomes evident while reading Vanessa Williams' memoir You Have No Idea is that she has a great support system. One of her biggest supporters is her mother and co-author, Helen. It was interesting to read about the pair of them because they get along well, yet in many ways they are opposites. Vanessa knew she could ask for help when she needed it. Helen wasn't someone who really ever asked for help. I think I fall somewhere between them.  Read more >

  6. On Useless Trivia and Facts

    5/9/12 1:49pm by sassymonkey
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    When I read Stephen Dau's The Book of Jonas my first reaction was that I didn't have much in common with the main character. I was born in North America. I've only ever experienced war through books and movies. It didn't seem like there was much on the surface that Jonas and I would have in common.  Read more >

  7. Meal Plan Monday, May 7

    5/7/12 3:48pm by sassymonkey in Loving food and sharing recipes! Comments (11)
    • Discussion

    I've had a busy day. My meal plan has been sitting in front of me since noon and this is the first chance I've had to write up this post! Ever have days like that? Monday - We had a big lunch so we're just going to have salad and bread for dinner. And some of these salted caramel banana nut muffins that the fake husband made. I don't even like banana-y things but they smell really good. Tuesday - Lamb stew!  Read more >

  8. Happy Star Wars Day: May the Fourth Be With You!

    5/4/12 5:00am by sassymonkey
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    The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

    A long time ago in a galaxy not so very far away I discovered Star Wars. When I think of Star Wars I think of uncle's house circa 1983 and their wooden-paneled basement TV room. They were the first people I knew to have a satellite dish and a VCR and we spent a lot of time watching Star Wars down there. I think of them every year on May 4, otherwise known as Star Wars Day. May the fourth, I mean force, be with you!  Read more >

  9. Do You Trust Your Memory?

    5/3/12 9:39am by sassymonkey
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    Memory plays a big role in Stephen Dau's The Book of Jonas. Can we deny our memories? What happens when all we have left of someone are the memories? And most of all, can we trust our memories?  Read more >

  10. The Money and Food Connection

    5/3/12 7:25am by sassymonkey
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    Perhaps the way I saw myself most in Geneen Roth's memoir, Lost and Found, was the way I least wanted to -- the money and food connection. It's an issue I've examined before and would really prefer not to do it again. I want to hide it in a closet and not think about it much the same way Roth funneled her money into her Bernie Madoff savings account and well... we all know how that turned out.  Read more >

Karen Ballum

Full Name
Karen Ballum
Member Since
January 2006
About Me: 

Hi, I'm Karen Ballum, but I'm better know around the web as Sassymonkey.

I live in Ottawa, Ontario -- Canada's national capital. (No, I do not like politics or work for the government.) Keeping me company are my husband and cat, commonly known on the internet as the Fake Husband and the Fake Cat. Last I checked they were both still very real to most people but according to Denise, it's not real unless she can see it.

I have been blogging since 2004 on my personal blog, Sassymonkey.ca, and started my book blog, Sassymonkey Reads, in August of 2005. I read a lot and found I was starting to forget which books I had read and what I had thought of it. So I started my book blog as way of helping me track the books I had read.

I may have a slight addition to the overuse of parentheses. (Maybe.) (Sometimes.) (It's a sickness but one I am not seeking help for.)

I am the Section Editor for Books here on BlogHer as well as the BlogHer Book Club Host.

 

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