The Best Wedding I’ve Never Seen

I went to a wedding this weekend that was really fun and beautiful and sweet. It was in a large atrium area which meant it had all these cool paths and fountains and foliage without all the bugs. Nice. The most entertaining part of the night was the fact that almost every time there was something to watch, my view was blocked. I was sitting too far back in the top tier of seats during the wedding to see the bride and groom. I could see some of it, but mainly I just listened. When we were all seated at the reception and they introduced the wedding party, I was at a table behind a couple of massive pillars so I couldn’t see them walk down the stairs and sit down. Then…when they started the dancing, I thought I was all set because our table was right along the edge of the foliage that was above the dance floor, but again I was proved wrong. Two not so observant people stood up and placed themselves right in our line of view. It was absolutely comical. It might have sucked if there weren’t so many fun people there that I hadn’t seen since I moved to Illinois. I had a total blast chatting and laughing with my friends. It was a great party, and the bride was gorgeous (of course!).

Four hot chicas!

True Calling

"Evelyn: Look, I... I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker, or a gunfighter, Mr. O'Connell, but I am proud of what I am.
Rick: And what is that?
Evelyn: I... am a librarian."
-The Mummy
Most Excellent.

Advice

"No, don't. I'm serious - it's a bad idea...really. You'll be sorry in the morning. Take it from me. Oh, me? I'm just setting a bad example for your sake. Seriously. Really. Stop laughing."
-unknown

The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives

By Michael Buckley
2007 – Amulet Books

The Sisters Grimm are two sisters, Sabrina and Daphne, who have been moving from foster home to foster home since their parents disappeared a year and half ago. Their latest home is with an eccentric woman who claims to be the grandmother they believed to be dead. Their adventures begin almost immediately upon their arrival. They discover they are descended from the original Grimm Brothers and are part of a long line of detectives who solve crimes involving the “EverAfters”, characters straight out of the fairy tales that now live in their town.
It was a pretty fun story even though the older sister, who’s point of view you follow, is a bit annoying. There was also the issue of the odd sentence that was so jarring that it brought me out of the story, when with some more editing, it could have flowed much better. I also didn’t enjoy the fact that most of these fairy tale characters are openly antagonistic to the Grimm Family. The story tells that the EverAfters are trapped in the town because one of the Grimm brothers had a witch cast a spell to keep the other EverAfters from harming the humans. In order for the spell to hold, at least one Grimm descendent has to stay in the town too. Because of these circumstances the EverAfters who would like to be free wouldn’t mind if the whole Grimm family perished. It really goes against the grain. In most stories where the fairy tale characters mix with real characters, the fairy tale characters are usually the human’s allies. Not so in this book which was kind of disconcerting.
Nevertheless, it was a light and quick read and it’s the first in a series that left some mysteries unsolved. I think it would be worth my time to keep reading to see how the other plots unfold.

Sense and Sensibility

Directed by John Alexander

2008 - mini on PBS Masterpiece Classic

I've enjoyed watching The Complete Jane Austen on PBS Masterpiece Classic. Some of the movies are new and some are the oldie but goodie versions and they've all been great. Sense and Sensibility is such a great story, and this adaptation is worthy of the book. I didn't think I would like this version when I started watching it because I really like the Emma Thompson version, but 10 minutes in I was already changing my mind. The acting is great and the settings are beautiful. I really liked that they seemed to keep more true to the book than previous versions.

I wasn't really impressed with the actor playing Willoughby, not because he wasn't a good actor, more because I couldn't see him as a "catch" that all the girls would lust after, and Marianne would lose her heart to. (Maybe it's because the actor is kinda short - I'm such a snob). The other actors were so perfect in their roles it was fun to watch. I already bought the DVD and watched it again, it's that good.

"Linnea"

Just yesterday I posted the link to the "blog" of "unecessary" quotation marks, which I find to be quite an amusing place to visit. When I got to work today and checked my box, I had a very sweet thank you card from one of my co-workers, but I laughed out loud when I saw the envelope. It's kind of a blurry picture, but you get the point. Too great.

A Few of My Favorite Things

These are some of the blogs that I've recently discovered and spend too much time reading:

The Chain-Reader

If you thought I read a lot, you've got to see this woman's list. She's a reading machine, and I'm pumped to read more about what she's read (yes, I'm a nerd who likes to read book reviews). She claims to be simple and uneducated, but it's all a big facade (guess the movie that quote is from - Jesse knows). Her reviews are smart and informative and exciting. Better than most of the professional ones I have to read for work. We're both in the A ~ Z Reading Challenge and she's way ahead of me, but that's okay, because I have a feeling she's super cool.

Stuff White People Like

These guys are funny and creative. Their blog entries are little anthropological studies of "white people", describing and interpreting aspects of the culture. It makes me laugh each time I read an entry and say "oh, man, that's totally me." This blog is going viral really fast, and they have a book deal to put more of their interpretations in print.

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

Hi-LAR-ious. This site is constantly being updated and there are some great ones out there. I thought I would add my own (courtesy of Joanna).

Disgruntled

This is currently my favorite quote from a disgruntled librarian:

"I did not go to grad school to help you use the photocopier"
-Anonymous blog poster

Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field

by Melissa Nathan
2000 – HarperCollins

This was a great book. It’s an updating of Pride and Prejudice with a fun twist. The main character is Jasmin Fields. She’s a columnist in a London paper who has been given the role of Lizzie Bennett in a benefit performance of the book that’s been turned into a play. The play is being directed by, Harry Noble, a huge star both in the theater and in Hollywood, but Jasmin thinks he’s an arrogant cad. The book follows the story of Jasmin and the other people who’ve been cast in the play and watches as their lives mirror those of the characters they play.
Being a fan of Jane Austen, this was really fun to read. I’ve never read a book or seen a movie that did such a good job of updating the plot while staying so close to the original story. The play within the book is a great devise, and even when I knew what the characters where going to do and how it was going to end, I still read it with excitement to see how the author would work things out.
I’ve already recommended this book to a couple of people and I’m going to make my mom read it too. If you enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and if you like British settings, you’ll enjoy this book.

Book of a Thousand Days

by Shannon Hale
2007 – Bloomsbury USA

Shannon Hale has a great imagination. I read Princess Academy and was awed by the simple, yet powerful characters and storytelling. This book is right in that vein. It tells the story of Dashti, a young woman of simple means, who pledges herself as a lady’s maid to a young gentlewoman who is being punished for refusing to marry who her father wants her to. Her punishment is to be sealed in a tower for 7 years.
Dashti decides to write down their story in a journal and that is how we hear the story. After three years the food runs out, and the girls break out of their prison to find the world outside has changed drastically. It’s a great adventure, with an admirable heroine. It’s set in an ancient-mongolian type world, which gives it an exotic, earthy feel. It’s very much a fairy tale, but it’s not at all floofy and wimpy. I’m definitely going to read the other books by Ms. Hale.

Real Murders

by Charlaine Harris
1990 – Berkley Prime Crime Books

Charlaine Harris is the intensely popular author of the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire novels, which I happen to love. (the 8th one From Dead to Worse is coming out May 6) Her Aurora Teagarden novels feature a perky librarian as the main character so, of course, I had to read this book.
In the first book of this series, Aurora Teagarden is a member of a group that calls themselves the Real Murders Club. They meet once a month and discuss past crimes, the what, the how, the who and the when. When someone starts killing people in a copycat fashion, Aurora finds herself in the middle of the “real murders” that she’s only studied on paper.
Even though it’s full of gross murder, it’s a pretty fun story. I love that a fair number of the scenes are in the library where she works, and it sets things up really well for the other books in the series. The story is really suspenseful so you want to get to the end to find out who did it. There were some negatives. There are a lot of characters so it was a little confusing until you got further into it, and because it was written in 1990, parts of it are really dated. No one has cell phones and the main character doesn’t even have an answering machine. Also, when the author described their “hip” outfits, I just laughed.
I hope to read more books in the series sometime soon, but I’m in no rush. For now, I think I’ll stick with the Sookie books.

Twilight: the movie

One of my newest obsession is the Twilight movie. I did a review of the book already, but the movie looks like it's going to be awesome. The books are great (there are three with a fourth coming out it August), but I really think the first one is the best. It's an introduction to the story of Edward and Bella. Everything is new, and you're learning more and more about what it means to be a vampire and live the life they do and how that affects Bella. I know it sounds hokey whenever I describe it as a love story between a 17-year old and a vampire who looks like a 17-year old, but it's a testament to Stephenie Meyer's talent that the story is never hokey. It's got enough suspense to make it a page turner, but it's also an incredible tale full of people you wish were real so you could meet them and hang out and hear more about where their life is heading. I think that's why I'm so excited about the movie. It's a chance to meet these people and watch on screen what I really liked on the page. MTV has been doing some really great behind the scenes stuff and they just posted another one today. You have to check it out. I know where I'm going to be on December 12th!

Public Service Announcement

This is a public service announcement:

Always put suntan lotion on your feet when spending countless hours in the sun in Florida. Even if you're just going shopping or for a walk or if you think you'll be in the water at the beach, your feet will get sunburned if you don't protect them. And it will hurt and you won't be able to wear socks and shoes when your vacation is over and you head back north, so you'll be wearing flip-flops in the sleet and snow and you'll enjoy the cool air on your burning feet, but you will run the risk of getting frostbite and losing toes. Just do it, you'll thank me later.

Friends Don't Let Friends Forget To Put Suntan Lotion On Their Feet

Earthquake?

How many of you felt the earthquake on Friday morning? Anyone? Well, I did. It was the oddest thing. I was at a conference in Louisville, KY, which I'm told is about two hours away from the epicenter. I was asleep on the 12th floor of the hotel when I was woken up by the bed shaking wildly and the windows rattling and a loud rumbling like a thunderstorm. It wasn't really long, and because I was in the midwest and not completely awake, I thought "wow, it's really windy on the 12th floor" and then I rolled over and went back to sleep. When I got in the elevator to go down to the first session of the morning and someone asked if everyone had felt the earthquake, I was like "oh, that makes more sense than high winds."
There was a slight aftershock later that morning that made the chairs rumble and the chandeliers tinkle, but it went largely unnoticed. What an odd occurrence. It's definitely one to remember. Like fainting and taking out a couple of cheerleaders, and walking into a wall because I hadn't quite woken up from the anaesthesia, I can scratch it off my "list of things I never wanted to do, but have now experienced and have a pretty good story to go with it".

Here's a picture of the blanket on my bed in the hotel. I get that racing is big in the area (Kentucky Derby and all that), but I have to say it's rather tacky.

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie

By David Lubar
2007 – Penguin Group (USA)

This is such a fun book. It follows the life of Scott Hudson as he navigates his freshmen year of high school. His mother announces that she’s pregnant, and parts of the book are journal (not diary, he ensures us) entries sharing his wisdom and life lessons with his future brother or sister.
I really enjoyed the originality of the book. Scott is an intelligent book-worm in a working class family. If he were to go to college, he would be the first in his family. The norm for these YA books are teens in families where both parents are college educated and one or more work in a professional type job (lawyer, banker, etc.). Scott’s mom is a homemaker and his dad is a mechanic. It’s a very real family that provides a good stable base for Scott as he tries to figure out who he is.
Scott is a fun kid. There were moments when he was so vulnerable I wanted to give him a big hug. And there were moments he struggled to find the courage to do the right thing, and when he did, I wanted to give him an even bigger hug. The story doesn’t shy away from tough issues like suicide and undiagnosed learning disabilities, but it doesn’t get mired down in them either.
I found myself laughing out loud at a lot of the book (which was a little rough since I read ½ of it in an airport), and I think anyone who experienced high school would enjoy this story.

Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand

By Gail Carson Levine, Ill. by David Christiana
2007 – Disney Press

I love Gail Carson Levine. She’s the author of Ella Enchanted, which is an awesome book, even better than the movie, which was also great. Everything I’ve read by Ms. Levine has been fun and adventurous. That’s why I’ve read two books that featured Disney fairies as the main characters. They are surprisingly good considering the content, but not exactly my thing. I would say they are the literary equivalent of a direct-to-DVD Disney movie: fun to experience, but not exactly first-class.

Oh Florida, My Florida

"Spring-time in Florida is not a matter of peeping violets or bursting buds merely. It is a riot of color in nature—glistening green leaves, pink, blue, purple, yellow blossoms that fairly stagger the visitor from the north. . . the nights are white nights for the moon shines with dazzling splendor, or in the absence of that goddess, the soft darkness creeps down laden with innumerable scents. The heavy fragrance of magnolias mingled with the delicate sweetness of jasmine and wild roses."
-Zora Neale Hurston

Ahh...the memories

Here are some of the pictures I took while in Florida on vacation. I'm extremely sad to have to rejoin "reality". I love sitting in the sun and reading for a week straight. I'm pretty sure that's what I want to do when I eventually retire. =)
The pier is the historic Anna Maria City Pier with a restaurant at the end that sways as you eat the famous fish and chips; the dolphins are rehabbing at Mote Aquarium; the players lined up while the National Anthem is sung at the Championship Game; the sunset on the beach outside The Sandbar Restaurant; and a very entertaining sign at Midway Airport.

As I Lay Dying

by William Faulkner

(the corrected text)

1930 - Vintage Books (Random House, Inc.)

Life can really suck. I know it. You know it. You can have these moments or days or longer that just seem horrible. Everything goes wrong, every move you make is the wrong one and your problems keep building up instead of being solved. When I lapse in to these "seasons" I like to remind myself of Matthew 6: 25-34. God knows what we need and He has promised to take care of us. I often have to remind myself that I can't always do things on my own and asking for help can be the best solution.

The characters in Faulkner's story do not share my beliefs about comfort and help. They are not happy people. They live in a time when happiness and joy and comfort are not expected parts of everyday life, they are commodities that few people experience. Instead, they are selfish and angry and confused. When Addie Bundren dies, her husband and 5 children start on a journey to take her back to her home town to bury her. Everything that can go wrong on their trip, does.

The fact that each chapter is told from a different character's perspective gives an extra layer to the unfolding story. That makes it a little bit hard to get a grasp of who the characters are at the beginning of the book, but once you get into it a bit it becomes more clear. Hearing their thoughts, you discover internal things about each character that add to their unrest and discord above the physical trials that the family experiences. It was very striking to me how much they tried to rely on themselves and not others during their trip, even though it was obvious they needed help.

I'm not a huge fan of "literature", but I am trying to appreciate it. Faulkner's name is one that I've always associated with serious fiction, and now I see why. The story is at times very confusing, and I think I would have benefited from reading it in a class where the teacher could explain some of the nuances that I'm sure I missed.

The Specialists: Model Spy

by Shannon Greenland

2007 - Speak (Penguin Group)

This is probably my favorite book that I read this vacation. It's a fun mix of high-tech gadgetry, unconventional families and intriguing spy adventures. And the fact that the main character is a genius who happens to be gorgeous is fun too.

The story revolves around Kelly, who has an IQ of 190, but very few social skills. She's an orphan who has sped her way through school and at 16 is nearing the end of her college education. At the request of a cute guy from her dorm who has befriended her, she hacks into a government computer system. When she's caught, she's given the option to join a secret government organization that trains teens with special skills to go undercover.

It's very fun to follow her as she learns what it's like to be a part of a family, to rely on others and to be relied on in turn. And when she goes out on her first mission, the adventure really heats up. I think this is a series and I'm definitely going to look for the others when I get back home.

Wecome to Wahoo

by Dennis and Elise Carr

2006 - Bloomsbury

Classic YA. It's a riches-to-rags story of a selfish rich girl who is forced to hide in Wahoo, Nebraska when her family is threatened. She has no money and none of the amenities and services she's grown up with. It's fun to watch her adjust to life in a small town. I also really enjoy that she gets a part-time job in a library and loves it. Great PR for our profession. While she is forced to change, many of her confident traits are a bit of a wake-up and shake-up for her new town.

It's told in a fun and spunky first person with characters that you can truly envision. It also doesn't shy away from some of the hard parts of life in small-town high school. Even though the ending was kind of sudden and I would have loved an epilogue of sorts, I am looking forward to the Carr's next book.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

by Roald Dahl

1964 - Alfred A. Knopf

My book club this month is reading "banned books". We've all chosen different books that were either banned or challenged at a library somewhere and we're going to report back on why the books were banned or challenged and what we thought. I've chosen the classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. I had to do a little digging, but I discovered that the original version featured Oompa-Loompas that were fashioned after African pygmies. Roald Dahl defended this by saying "I created a group of little fantasy creatures.... I saw them as charming creatures, whereas the white kids in the books were... most unpleasant. It didn't occur to me that my depiction of the Oompa-Loompas was racist, but it did occur to the NAACP and others.... After listening to the criticisms, I found myself sympathizing with them, which is why I revised the book" (Dahl in West, 1988).

The revised version is the version I read with the Oompa-Loompas having rosy cheeks and curly brown hair and pretty much being miniature men. The book is quite sugary, not unlike the two movies made in the past. The descriptions of the different rooms and treats in the factory make it fun to follow, and even though I knew the story and how each of the kids would end up, still had fun reading the adventure and wishing I had some of the fabulous candy. It's a classic treat, that's truly innocent and fun.

The Little Lady Agency

by Hester Brown
2005 - Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The Little Lady Agency is fun, light, British reading. I love books where the hero or heroine "finds themselves" with the help of good friends, random acquaintances, and a romantic interest.

The heroine in this books has an infuriatingly selfish family that she can't say no to, but has an innocence that works in her favor when she sets up the agency of the title. She helps hapless men who need the touch of a "little lady" in their life without the strings of an actual girlfriend. The descriptions of her many meetings and sessions with men around London are fun to read and imagine, and when she starts to get in too deep with a dashing, but wounded American estate agent, you can see where it's headed.

Although it's a little slow, and the ending wasn't quite as satisfying as I would have preferred, I'm still going to look for the sequel that I think is out there and enjoy another fluffy read.

The Supernaturalist

by Eoin Colfer
2004 - Miramax Books, Hyperion Books for Children

I am a fan of the Artemis Fowl books written by Eoin Colfer so I was ready for an intelligent adventure in this new book. It was an adventure and it was somewhat intelligent, but I'm not sure it was on the same level as the Artemis Fowl books are.

The main character is a no-sponser (orphan) in the not too distant future who dreams of escaping the orphanage he's trapped in. When he gets his chance his life is turned upside-down and the reader is taken from one adventure to another with no real sense of a grounding or "home base" for the story. I suppose that helps you empathize with the characters feeling of not belonging anywhere and not knowing what to expect from one moment to the next, but I prefer stories that have a predictable arc.

It's definitely a fun escape, although there's a surprising amount of main character death for a book aimed at the pre-teen age group. I'd say it's perfect vacation reading (which is where I read it), but I'm not sure if I'll read the sequel(s) that will obviously follow.

And Then There Were Four

Last night was quite an adventure. My family went to the St. Pete Times Forum for the women's Final Four games. Halfway to Tampa, it started to pour, and we had no umbrellas or rain coats. We were laughing at the fact that the games are in sunny Tampa this year and we were going to have to run through the rain to get there. Of course, we had to park blocks away and then walk with the masses to the arena, so we were quite wet by the time we got there. We thought, "Ok, we're here so now we'll dry off, warm up, and enjoy ourselves". Not so. When we found our seats we realized that we were directly below a blower that blew cold air on us for the entire 5+ hours we were there. What an uncomfortable night. My dad went down to buy us all sweatshirts so we could have extra layers, but apparently we weren't the only ones with that idea because they were sold out and the closest thing left were really big long-sleeved t-shirts. On the plus side I now have an extra nightgown, and I'll admit, the extra layer was helpful. I sat there the whole time with hunched over with my hood up to keep the cold air off my neck and my dad bought a hat and wore it backwards to do the same.

If it weren't for the fact that the LSU/Tennessee game was really fun to watch, I would have felt it was a bit of a gip. But now we know. When we go back on Tuesday to watch Stanford try and tackle Tennessee we're wearing socks and shoes, sweatshirts and maybe bringing a blanket. It's kinda sad that we're dressing like we're going to a football game in November for a indoor basketball game in Florida.

To Grandmother's House We Go

I'm off to Florida for a week in the sun. Yeah! My family also has tickets to the women's Final Four games in Tampa. Yeah again!

I'm really hoping to get a lot of reading done, but mostly I'm pumped about hanging out with my family for a whole week. My family is what I like to call "freakishly close" and it's been a good while since we were all together for a straight week.

A~Z Reading Challenge

I've joined a challenge that looks to be right up my alley. The challenge is to read 52 books by the end of 2008. 26 of the books will be Titles starting with A through Z, and 26 will be Authors Last Names starting with A through Z. They have to be 52 separate books, and I'm pumped! It will be a great way to read so many of the books on my shelves that I haven't gotten to yet. Keep checking back to this post to see how I'm doing.

Here's the list that I plan to read. It may change, and if you have any suggestions for the spots I haven't filled be sure to let me know. The books that are in bold, I've read.

Authors:

A: Love, Rosie (Cecelia, Ahren)
B: The Little Lady Agency (Browne, Hester)
C: The Supernaturalist (Colfer, Eion)
D: The People of Sparks (DuPrau, Jeanne)
E: Fearless Fourteen (Evanovich, Janet)
F: The Mother-Daughter Book Club (Frederick, Heather Vogel)
G: The Specialists: Model Spy (Greenland, Shannon)
H: Real Murders (Harris, Charlaine)
I: The Secret of Platform 13 (Ibbotson, Eva)
J: Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes (Johnson, Maureen)
K: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Konigsburg, E.L.)
L: Sleeping Freshmen Never Die (Lubar, David)
M: Heroics for Beginners (Moore, John)
N: Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field (Nathan, Melissa)
O: The Scarlett Pimpernel (Baroness Orczy)
P: A Long Way From Chicago (Peck, Richard)
Q: Just Like That (Qualey, Marsha)
R: The Sea of Monsters (Riordan, Rick)
S: Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie (Sonnenblick, Jordan)
T: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain, Mark)
U: Montmorency - Thief, Liar, Gentleman? (Updale, Eleanor)
V: Slaughterhouse Five (Vonnegut, Kurt)
W: The Importance of Being Earnest (Wilde, Oscar)
X: Sky Burial (Xinran)
Y: The Extraordinary Adventure of Alfred Kropp (Yancey, Rick)
Z: I am the Messenger (Zusak, Makus)

Books:

A: As I Lay Dying (Faulkner, William)
B: Book of a Thousand Days (Hale, Shannon)
C: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Dahl, Roald)
D: The Dream Chaser (Kenyon, Sherrilyn)
E: Eclipse (Stephenie Meyer)
F: Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand (Levine, Gail Carson)
G: A Great and Terrible Beauty (Bray, Libba)
H: The Host (Meyer, Stephenie)
I: If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period (Choldenko, Gennifer)
J: Just As I Am (Smith, Virginia)
K: Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House (Kimmel, Haven)
L: The Lightning Thief (Riordan, Rick)
M: Mansfield Park (Austen, Jane)
N: The Name of This Book is Secret (Bosch, Pseudonymous)
O: Old Friends and New Fancies (Brinton, Sybil G.)
P: Prey (Crichton, Michael)
Q: Q is for Quarry (Grafton, Sue)
R: The Road Home (Tenney, Tommy)
S: The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives (Buckley, Michael)
T: The True Story of Hansel and Gretel (Murphy, Louise)
U: Unaccustomed Earth (Lahiri, Jhumpa)
V: Vince and Joy (Jewell, Lisa)
W: Welcome to Wahoo (Carr, Dennis and Elise)
X: X23: Target X (Kyle, Craig and Yost, Christopher)
Y: A Year Down Yonder (Peck, Richard)
Z: Zathura: A Space Adventure (VanAlsburg, Chris)

Twilight

by Stephenie Meyer
2005 – Little, Brown

Ooh, where to start…I really liked this book. I initially resisted reading it. Who knows why, probably because of my contrary nature, but I saw a photo in my beloved Entertainment Weekly that was a behind-the-scene shot from the new movie. And who was playing the main character, Edward Cullen, none other than Cedric Diggory. This was enough to make me curious about it. I decided I needed to read the book before the movie came out, so I picked it up from my local library and devoured it.

Twilight is the story of Bella Swan, a 17 year old girl who moves to Forks, WA from Arizona to live with her father after her mom gets re-married. On her first day of school she’s busy trying to survive being the new kid in the small town, but she can’t help noticing the 5 Cullen kids. They’re beautiful, graceful, and aloof, but when Bella is paired up with Edward in Biology class he is downright rude.

She can’t figure out what she did to make him so mad at her, and resolves to ignore him, but this proves to be harder than she thought. She’s continually drawn to him, and when he does an about-face and starts a friendship, she’s mesmerized and ecstatic. Bella recognizes that there is something different about Edward, but by the time she discovers his secret they are both too much in love to even consider walking away.

When some new non-“vegetarian” vampires wander through town, Bella is targeted in a game of cat and mouse that is thrilling and suspenseful until the end.

This book takes a premise that, in a less capable author’s hands could have been very cheesy, and makes it real and romantic and exciting. While the story is about vampires and mortals, it’s also about love and teen angst and being okay with not being normal. I really enjoyed reading Bella’s story as it continued in New Moon and Eclipse and I can’t wait for Breaking Dawn in August.

Ain't that the truth

The books we think we ought to read are poky, dull, and dry;
The books that we would like to read we are ashamed to buy;
The books that people talk about we never can recall;
And the books that people give us, oh, they're the worst of all.
-Carolyn Wells

What's in a name?

A little explanation about the title of this blog:

When I was younger (maybe 3-ish) I was sent upstairs to put on my pajamas and get ready for bed. I came back down shortly and launched into a long explanation about why I couldn't be upstairs by myself and other things that were really important to me that I thought my parents needed to know. I ended the speech with "and that's my Egypt".

My parents had a very hard time not falling down laughing. I'm sure it was quite a sight, me with my serious face and garbled sentences. It must have made perfect sense to me at the time, but it was classic pre-school logic that no one really understands.

The phrase has stayed in my family and is usually repeated after someone has a long-winded rant about something that's not all that important (which I never really grew out of doing). So it kinda fits perfectly.

Introduction

So...I've joined the world of putting my thoughts on the internet for anyone to see. It was bound to happen eventually.

I've decided this will be a good solution to the "I have no one nearby to talk to" problem. The story goes that I finished grad school and in order to get a good job, moved to a new state. The upside is that my job is awesome and my new apartment is pretty darn cool too. The downside is that my family, friends, church, Bible study, and my favorite 2-story Barnes and Noble are 4 hours away. This means that until I make new friends here (which I'm still hoping for) I have no one close by to share my random thoughts or ramblings or obsessions with as they pop into my head. By the time I talk to someone on the phone, I've forgotten most of it and even though texting sometimes works, I like to tell long stories that don't fit in a short spurt of initials.

Hence, the blog. I've decided to share my long stories (which probably won't be that long, no worries) here so people I normally would have told them to over a 6 oz Dallas Filet and scrumptious buttered rolls at Texas Roadhouse can read them at their own pace.

Enjoy!