Category: Meanderings

Good morning everyone 😀  I am back from my group power class this morning.  It was what I hope to be a strategic plan – get the class that I normally take on Wednesdays at 4:15 (after work)  in the afternoon and instead do the 5:45 am (pre-work) class.  The plan being that now the afternoon is freed up and I can rollerblade with my friend Wendy this afternoon.  These gorgeous days in Minnesota you just don’t want to be stuck in a building on.

Now back from class I have a few moments to type out this post over my morning oatmeal and of course COFFEE.  Feel free to grab a cup and join me.  I will wait.  🙂

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Ok!  Now that we are properly caffeinated lets see whats got me going today.  BEA – yes…. heading to Minneapolis Saturday evening to catch my early Sunday plane.  A little anxious, but a lot excited.  😀

Biggest Loser.  Do you watch this?  I am so addicted to this show and I am so Team Daris.  (he is the one left from the orange team.  Watching what this group goes through…. wow.  And daris had me from the first time he stepped on that scale in episode one.

Makeover week was a couple weeks back and it is one of my favorites!

Ok obviously I am rambling this morning and pushing my luck on getting to work on time.  GAH!  Have a super fab day and check in later for the review of Forbidden Fruit – Banned Books.

Happy Sunday everyone.  True – I do not normally post a Morning Meandering on Sunday morning due to my participation in “In My Mailbox”, but I spent all day yesterday traveling and hanging out with friends and honestly…

last night…

I came home…

and was so tired I fell asleep on the couch.

I had good intentions of putting together my mailbox post, but think I will just add it to tomorrows It’s Monday, What Are You Reading.

Today will be a catch up day.  I need to hang out with our Kinship Partner Chance at some point, work out, prep packages to be mailed, start packing for New York, finish laundry….  and tonight is the Season Finale of Survivor.

Has anyone seen any preview for the new movie with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruiz.  I ran across this clip this morning and it cracked me up.  As  i book out the door I am going to share it with you.

Mornin’…..

Yup – off and running again today so couldn’t even finish the word morning!  😀  I have a group of friends that I used to work with “back in the day” when I worked for Wal-Mart.  I left that job in the fall of 2005 when our business was really taking off, but still hung on to this group of close friends I had made during my 14 (yes that’s right) 14 years there.

We try to get together once a month and we are each responsible for different months.  It can be what ever the person chosing wants to do and we have done small things like:

• getting together for lunch
• dinner and a movie
• out dancing
• campfires
• board game night
• spa events
• shopping

To larger events:

• murder mystery parties
• exploring Minnesota
• weekend cabin retreats
• festivals
• cooking and self-defense classes
• Wisconsin Dells weekend

Etc…

Today we are meeting at my house at 7 am and road tripping.  I think we are going to Cambridge for the day for hanging out, some shopping, for sure some eating, and who knows.   As tired as I am of running – it is always a good time to get together with the girls.

On a bookish note – if any of you are going to BEA and want to connect that would be sooooo cool!  Email me at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com and let me know!  😀

Morning!  😀  Holy smokes was yesterday a long and tiring day.  I had such a  blast at the conference and we had an opportunity to hear John Ortberg talk AND I picked up his new book – the me the way I want to be.  That was exciting.  I have all of his previous books and really enjoy his writing.  Oh – and I did I mention I got it signed?  😀  The conference had an awesome band and when they played this song to show how they do visual effects I actually teared up.  I am sure my little flip video version could not possibly do it justice but I had to try to capture this:

While the conference was fun – I was so tired by the time we rolled back into town.  It wasnt even that late as I whipped into my yard around 7:35 pm, tossed my bags on the counter and flew downstairs to watch the last part of Survivor with Al.  Normally I wouldn’t walk in on a show almost done.  We have TiVo so I would just watch it in its entirety after Al goes to bed – BUT… this is Survivor and I so want to be present when Russell is voted off.  The man drives me nuts.  What is funny (or maybe not…) is that Al thinks his strategy is brilliant.  This has caused many a marital spat at our house in our difference of opinion on Russell.  GAH!  Did I mention the man drives me nuts?  (Russell – not Al…LOL)

Anyway – I fell asleep before the show was over so will have to watch it  tonight…  I was exhausted and went to bed the same time as my hubby for a change, at 8:30 pm.

Today I am optimistic that for the first day in over a week it will not rain and my son and I are going to attempt to rollerblade to Nisswa and back today – 32 miles.  We are going to do lunch there and then browse the local book store.  I have not been on my bike or rollerblades all week due to the weather.

I have a review for House Rules by Jodi Piccoult coming up later today so please stop in for that one…. I think I am going to have to include the spoiler button in that one because I feel a rant coming on…  🙂

Early post here.  This may very well even be a pre- coffee post.

NAH!  Just kidding – of course there was coffee!  😀

IT is early though.  It is before the sun (or white cloud cover most likely) is even a thought.  My regular subscribers will probably be in for a shock when they log on to their computers this morning and see that I had already meandered.  Current time:  4:30 am.

Now before you spit coffee all over your computer screen in  horror of why (WHY?) would I be up this early…. I will tell you.  I have an out-of-town meeting and we are car pooling and meeting up at 5:30 am to get to destination by 7:30/8:00 am.  That’s the plan.

At this hour I am unsure if it is a good plan…. but it is a plan non the less.

There were a few inquiries yesterday about my business cards that I posted on my Morning Meandering.  I said I would answer them today so here it is:  😀

I used Overnight Prints for the business cards ( no other reason then I googled business cards and they popped up)

I liked that you can select from their templates or upload your own pictures.

*I have no idea how great these will be (or not).  My order is due byt he 20th and I will be sure to post what I think of the finished product.

Have a good day everyone – I am taking a book or two with me today and hoping that does not come across as rude while we car pool…. there are 8 of us in the vehicle….

Hey all – good morning!  😀

Thank you to everyone who left me well wishes and great comments on yesterdays meandering.  I had one of those rare days that kept me so busy I did not make it back on-line until 9:30 pm last night after I had cleaned up my house from a very awesome book club meeting.  Logging on and seeing so many comments really made me smile.  Thank you for that.

I stayed up way too late last night trying to design a new business card for myself and this bloggy thing I do here.  I am still not sure if I love it – love it, but I got it done at around 1 am so we shall see.  Here is what I came up with:

Front Side

I like the creamy orange color and think it will stand out a bit.  I also was trying to stay with recognition and connection to this blog and this is the new coffee cup logo I have been using and am planning to stick with.

Back Side

I like the chocolaty back of this and like that there is information on both sides of the card – almost making it reversible.  I wanted to use a picture with more books but found my lettering then because lost in the picture.

Well it’s a start.  Now I just cant wait to get them and see them.  I had ones for this blog before that I had made myself and I like that one too, but needed to have the correct name on the ones I am taking to BEA with me.  Thoughts on this?  Advice?  Do you have a card for your blog?

I am really getting behind on reviews with my crazy life style as of late so I am putting up the book club one today and possibly even a second one later today.

Have a great day everyone – I am enjoying Coffee cup #3 this morning and listening to House Rules by Jodi Piccoult while I get ready for work.

Good morning!  Another rainy day here in central Minnesota but for some reason I can not stop smiling.  Why is this?

I just found out last night that I was one of the winners that will have tea with Adriana Trigiani while I am in New York on May 26th for BEA (Book Expo America).  Adriana is the author of Viola in Reel Life, Very Valentine, Brava Valentine (all which have been reviewed here) and many more best selling books.  Seriously I can’t stop grinning.  The email I received said that I would be picked up from the Jarvis Center and will ferry me to the tea in Manhattan!

So… because of this…. I leave you with this video this morning because this is a little illustration that keeps popping in my head to go with the way I am feeling right now.

So I am now skipping my way out the door to a day of work and then tonight I have book club here at my home.  We are reviewing The Girl She Used To Be by David Cristofano and we are potlucking around the food in the book.  This means…. Italian!  Yum!!!  I hope to have pictures for the meandering and for the review.  🙂

Have a super awesome day everyone!!!

Good morning all.  This morning Coffee Cup and I are in Maplewood Minnesota and I am up and about as prepared as I am going to be for the MS bike ride this morning.

Current temperature:  36 degrees (weather man says it feels like 27 degrees)

Chance of rain this morning with 15 to 20 MPH winds.

Percentage of  craziness I am feeling right now:  about 92% and rising.

I drove up to Maplewood last night and once I arrived I realized the book I was planning on finishing last night (Columbine) is still sitting on my kitchen counter at home.  Right where I put it when I was packing the car to go.  I never am without a book so last night was odd and I finally just went to sleep.

Current time is 6:52 am and the ride starts at 7:30.  I had better take off and see if I can find my team.  I am seriously going to need other crazy people to motivate me to ride today.  At this point I am planning on doing the 30 unless there is a real gung-ho group that encourages me to do the 60.  I think the weather is going to knock me on my butt on this one.

Anyway – I will post an update tonight when I post my In My Mailbox post…. after I am back in Brainerd…. home… and safe…. and WARM.  🙂

Have a great day everyone.  If you are planning on doing anything crazy (even tackling cleaning out a closet works), let me know so I can feel as though I am in good company.  🙂

Good morning.  I had a terrible crummy day yesterday.  I had a large project due for an important meeting taking place at 6 pm and it just did not come together as quickly as I had hoped.  I get off work at 3 and was watching the sun come out in the afternoon and I was excited to get in an afternoon bike ride.  Missing all of Tuesday had put me behind and I thought I could still do it in time, but life happens, the internet went down, the printer quit working, it was a busy office day and at 6 pm, I was still finishing up the project.

At 6 pm, we also had dinner plans across town with friends.  Needless to say – we were late.  We got there at 6:40.  I would describe myself as haggard.

Ever notice how time with friends can heal anything?  Within 15 minutes I feel myself relaxing, we are laughing, catching up and although I feel like I am 50 years older and so tired I could lay my head at the restaurant table, I had a fantastic time.

So….  today I am watching the weather… it is supposed to snow today and tonight I am supposed to be heading to Maplewood Minnesota for tomorrows bike ride.  I am trying to be optimistic.  😀

Todays forcast:

Today

Rain in the morning…then rain or snow in the afternoon. Snow accumulation around an inch. Highs 40 to 45. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph.

Tonight:  Cloudy. Snow likely in the evening…then a chance of snow after midnight. Snow accumulation of 2 to 3 inches. Total snow accumulation 3 to 4 inches. Lows 30 to 35. with winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 70 percent.

But tomorrow – here and Maplewood is supposed to be partly sunny and 50’s.  I would prefer full sun and 65… but you know…

I am off to the gym now, need to work off the rest of yesterdays stress and get on with my day.  In a few hours I will post the books choice someone chose for me on the Choose The Book I Read next post.  It’s not to late to put in your two cents if you havent already 🙂