Good morning! I am literally heading out the door here, up at 4:30 am, in full bike gear and off to ST Joseph MN for The Tour Of Saints ride. My friend Amy and I are doing this one and I am super pumped, it looks like the weather will be close to perfect 😀
Here are the books that arrived in my home this past week:
I am super excited about all of them!
I will be back early afternoon yo put up a review. See you all then! 😀 What has arrived in your house this week bookish wise?
Good morning! It is Saturday! 😀 Tomorrow I have a 50 mile bike ride in St Joseph MN, a beautiful area to ride bike in and going with my friend Amy so this will be a wonderful time. The weather should be descent, looks like it could hit 90 tomorrow but partly cloudy so that should help. Last year we biked this ride and it was over 100 degrees and not a cloud in the sky…. it was a HOT ride….LOL
For my Saturday snapshot today I thought I would post a few pics of Sam, the stray dog we adopted in April. He is soooo fabulous and quirky…
SO that is Sam. Stop by and see Alyce at At Home With Books for Saturday Snapshot and see what everyone else has been taking pictures of! 😀 I am off to have my bike checked out for tomorrows ride and then a bike ride to get warmed up for tomorrow. I will be back later as I am behind on a couple posts I need to write up (the survey one and the April, May, June, recap) as well as three reviews. These are my goals for today…. oh, and a little reading too 😀
Good morning and HAPPY FRIDAY! Rainy and wet here today and that is putting a damper on my garage sale plans… but waiting for a call from my friend to see if we are a go or a pass…. in the meantime, I am here, minus the coffee cup (day 10 of the cleanse), but hanging in there. 😀
So…. a few days ago when Kathy at Bermuda Onion posted about receiving her books from Scholastic I was all “YAY!!!! They are coming!!!” But secretly I was also like “Where are mine? Are they coming?” LOL 😛 Then my hubby brought up my box from the shop (sometimes UPS delivers there…. annoying) and I was so excited!
Why the excitement… I can not put justice to what an experience it was to be at the Scholastic event while in New York! (Thank you Alison for connecting me!). Not only were the authors wonderful and friendly , but when they all read from each others books and acted out chapters, seriously… it was one of the highlights of my New York experience this year.
We were given a sheet of paper to check off the books that we would like sent to us from the authors who were there that evening and they all were so fantastic that it was hard to choose, but I did pick James Dashner new book (he is so funny how could I pass?), Eliot Schrefer (can not wait to read this one!), Raina Telegemeier ( they acted this one out – funny), Donna Cooner (this looks so good!) and Maggie Stiefvater (I want to read everything she writes!)
And if you know me, you know I am not a big fan of book trailers…. I really am not, but Maggie Stiefvater is a big exception. This woman is so talented…. check out her book trailer for The Raven Boys… seriously do not pass this up, she makes her trailers herself.
Just got the word, garage sales are on…. got to run! Have a great day, I will be back later with a review that I am SOOOOO EXCITED about!
Happy July 5 y’all! 😀
Did everyone survive the fourth? Our temps here reached over 100 degrees. We went motor cycling with friends all day which was a lot of fun and stopped for a late lunch at a nice restaurant where I ate fruit and my stir fry (day 9 today of the cleanse). It actually – was really a wonderful day.
While on the back of the motorcycle I have discovered that audio on my IPOD is the way to go. I finished listening to The Fault n Our Stars (If you have not listened to this on audio I INSIST you drop everything and do so…. NOW. But more on that in my review tomorrow 😀 ) And I started Will Grayson Will Grayson, also by John Green which I am enjoying…
Today I work, hopefully get my prom dress fixed… yup you read that right… next Tuesday is out book clubs annual Queen event and I have a dress I picked up at a Good Will store but it needs a new zipper, I am taking it to a friend today.
And my final through for today is I just seen the book trailer for Size 12 and Ready To Rock by Meg Cabot which is a little funny… a little cheesy, and I am not a big fan of book trailers but the 80’s vibe made me smile…. interested in reading this one soon…
Goal for the next few days? I am 5 reviews behind on writing them up and I want tog et caught up so badly. I hope to do that over the next few evenings.
Have a great July 5!!!
Good morning and Happy 4th of July! 😀 Day 8 of the cleanse and I am holding strong. Last night my son from the Navy (WOO HOO!) was over with three of us his good friends. Two of them are his best friends from High School and I love that they all stay close. All three of them are in the Navy. A 4th friend, Adam, lives in ST Cloud now but is also in the reserves and will be here this weekend to hang out. While I have no pictures from last night (I know, I know I should have!) here is that high school grad picture that still graces my refrigerator to this day.
I can’t even tell you how cool I think it is that they all still hang out together. I love my friendships and its cool to see strong lasting friendships in my sons as well.
Anyway, on to books. Amazon posted recently what they say are the best books of July. Normally when I post a list like this I can usually point out 4 or 5 that I have read…. not this time. I have read none of the books below, and in some cases have not even heard of them. 😀
My question to you is, have you read any of these books? Would you recommend any?
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Good morning! I am on day 7 of the cleanse that I am on so it is really weird to put my coffee picture on these posts when I have not had coffee for seven days now. SEVEN. 😯
A couple weeks ago I went to a friends Pampered Chef party. I had not been to one in quite a long time. Usually if people have them I just place an order without attending. I am so glad I didn’t do that this time. The Pampered Chef lady was a hoot… but just as importantly she actually taught me a few things I didn’t know.
Lets talk pineapple.
I am not a big fan of buying whole pineapple. My experience has been that the pineapple is dry, woody tasting even. Here is what I learned:
To see if a pineapple is ripe before purchasing, reach in and pull two of the small center leaves. If they pull out easy the pineapple is ripe.
One day before serving, put pineapple upside down in a bowl. This distributes all the sweet juices that have settled to the bottom, to distribute evenly throughout the pineapple. I have tried it twice now, it works… and it is delicious.
So all that said, what did I buy at the party?
The Pampered Chef Pineapple Cutter and corer of course!
and the brownie pan (watch for this to go into use for next weeks Bookies Book Club Queen Event!)
No idea why I wanted to share that, maybe you already knew but it was news to me and thought I would share 😀
I also have my last winner to announce form the Audio Book Week. The winner of a copy of Ravens on Audio is:
Whoo Hoo!!! Send me your address please Laurie and I will have that sent off to you directly from Amazon.
Today I work and then hopefully a bike ride 😀
Good morning and happy Sunday! We have had a full week of sunny days so needless to say, I am happy! 😀 Sunny days usually equals good reading time for me, and this weekend with no heavy plans I have had a wonderful time enjoying books and audio.
I am on day 6 of my cleanse which is no bread, dairy, no beverage other than water, basically fruits, vegies, a little brown rice, olive oil, protein shakes. Actually I have become pretty creative in my cooking and have made a few things that I suspect I will continue to make and eat after the cleanse is complete. After day 10 (FRIDAY!) I can add in chicken and fish.
Here is what arrived at my house for review this week:
All great looking books, the top one, Mirror Mirror is a DVD.
On Monday our library had its June Brown Bag Author event and I picked up this:
Shawn Lawrence Otto was interesting to listen to… his book about the topics our presidential candidates are not discussing like global warming and water shortages. Not necessarily a book I would have normally picked up, but after listening to him talk and chatting with him afterwards I am curious what else he has to say.
I am very excited about Yes Chef! I see this one on Shelf Awareness this past week and ordered it right away! Yes Chef is a genre and type of book I love – Food Memoirs!!!
And finally, I did a little garage saling with a friend on Friday morning and I found three audio books to bring home. 😀
That’s what books have entered my house this week. About 20 left the house in giveaway packages so I think I am ahead of the game 😀 Tomorrow at the Library will be Margi Preus, with her book Heart Of The Samurai, A 2011 Newbery Honor Book. I am interested in hearing her talk and plan on having a Minnesota Authors segment coming up soon.
Hope your day is SUPER FAB! This is my last quiet weekend for a while so I am soaking it up 😀
Good morning! Happy Saturday!
What a week! I was busy with Audio Book Week, (thank you Jen!) and the weather finally has been beautiful here in Central Minnesota! I have been on a cleanse for 5 days now and that picture above of the coffee looks really good…. 😛
Today for Saturday Snapshot, (thank you Alyce!)I thought I would show a few pictures of when my Navy son was home last July…
I show these pics today because Brad will be coming home this week for two weeks!!!
And as mentioned…. I have winners.
From The Lets Talk About Books Baby post, the winner of the audio book (one audio book) up to a value of $20 from Amazon is:
The winner of the audio book A Night To Remember by Walter Lord:
The winner of the $10 Amazon gift card from The Magicians review is:
The winner of the $10 Amazon gift card from the Finding Ultra review is:
The copy of the Ravens Audio book giveaway will remain open for the next two days, winner announced on Tuesday.
This weekend I hope to get in some bike riding and definitely some reading. Any big plans this weekend?
Good morning! Today is the final day of Audio Book Week. SO why am I yelling in my post title this morning? Because I have not had coffee in 4 days now. 😛
It’s true.
Seriously, I am not yelling, I am just speaking loudly and clearly this morning as this topic is an important one. If you have been around here at all this week you have seen audio posts, audio reviews, and audio giveaways. If you missed any of the giveaways, check out the sticky post – I have them all listed there and they all end tonight so get in on that deal!
AND you may have seen many audio postings around the blogesphere this week – people chatting and gushing audio books. So now that you have seen all this wonderful information about favorite audio books, what to look for in an audio review, best narrators…. really what else is there to know?
Todays topic covers the how to find great audio choices. We first and foremost, I pick up a lot of audio recommendations from other audio book bloggers. If a book blogger I trust is gushing up an audio book that sounds good to me… there is a good chance I want to listen to it.
No worries! I am one of them, Jen at Devourer of Books is another, but rather than me list out off the top of my head who I know reviews great audio books, here is a great source:
Audio Jukebox is a place where any book blogger who writes audio book reviews may add their review to the list. This is a one stop shop where you can check out what reviewers are saying about an audio you may be interested in.
Then, my favorite place for great priced audio books:
What can I say about my love for Audible? First off, if you are a new user, your first audio book is free! You can choose from 10,000 audio books titles to try! The audio you choose downloads to wherever you want it to, I have mine go to I tunes where I then plug in my IPOD and it automatically loads on to there. I love this! I use my IPOD filled with audible books for when I am mowing the lawn, getting ready in the morning, working out… it is fantastic.
Uh huh… and after that first one what does it cost?
$7.49 a month for one audio of choice per month, $14.99 if you want two audio books a month. And you are under no contract. Stop any time. I highly recommend, it click the link above and nose around – each audio book has a little sample so you can hear it before you decide you want it.
If you are looking for CD audio’s not a download that are priced well, try bookcloseouts.com, I recently picked up about 14 audio books there averaging 3.99 a piece and they were newer titles! Also, you local library is a wonderful source to get you started.
That’s what I have this morning – I am running late to meet a friend for garage sales today. I will be back later to see what everyone else is chatting about and yes – one more audio book giveaway later today and it is a GOOD one!
Good Morning! It feels like forever since I have just chatted it up with you! I guess in reality, it has been since Sunday. It has been a busy week here with it being Audio Book Week and I have been playing audio advocate and using a bullhorn to shout the benefits of audio to the world…
There are two days left of audio week and I am still on board, just wanted to do a life check in.
I am on day three of a Cleanse. Mmmmm hmmmmm….. here is what happened… a friend of mine who had a baby in January started this 21 day cleanse the Monday I was in New York. The week I returned she was on vacation and so by the time I seen her next and we worked together was after she had been on the cleanse for 16 days. And wow. She had super thinned down and anyway – I was impressed.
The cleanse itself once you maneuver it isn’t that difficult – it is just a new mind-set. You can eat all the vegies you want and half the amount of fruit as you eat vegies. You can have two protein shakes a day, and one egg. You can use Virgin Olive oil to cook, steam, whatever. You can have 1/2 cup of brown rice a day or 1 cup of lentils. Rice noodles are also (1/2 cup) ok to have. Your only beverage is water.
After the first 10 days, on day 11 you can add in a serving of fish or chicken each day through the rest of the cleanse that ends on day 21.
You picked up on the fact I am not drinking coffee? 😯
SO… day 1 went ok but at the end of the night I ate a Skinny Cow ice cream cone. I am not a pro at this…… (the cleanse that is, the ice cream I can hold my own on) 😀 Day 2, yesterday went better, for dinner I cooked the rice, and then put it in a little olive oil with my one egg and mushrooms, onion. Seasoned that baby up with Cajun spices and a side of asparagus cooked it a little olive oil, a little lemon and sea salt and it was delicious and filling.
Surprisingly, the coffee, or lack there of, has not bothers me too much other than I am a bit foggy much to the delight of my co workers. I have had to ask questions on how to do things I know how to do. Here all this time I thought I was smart and it was the coffee talking! 😛
But this morning… this morning was the kicker and that is what led up to this post. I got up at 5 am with hubby because I was AWAKE. Made the bed brushed my teeth, washed my face, put on night cream….
Yup.
I put night cream back on my face after washing it off. I looked in the mirror and told myself, seriously?
So that is what is happening around here. Oh yes, and the Literary Blog Hop ended yesterday and the winner of the Literary book of choice from Amazon or the Book Depository Using random.org is:
And finally, today’s discussion is, What Makes A Good Narrator?I think a good narrator surrounds you with the story. You should be able to get lost in the words and not notice things like throat clearing, swallowing, chair moving…. that may sound funny but I have heard all of these things, but before you run away screaming “Audio is scary,” you dont hear this in a well narrated audio book and my hearing it is rare.
If the book is narrated well you move as smoothly through the story as though you were reading it yourself, and in some cases – even better than you reading it yourself. The characters, the accents, the voices, should come off natural not forced. As you are reading through all the fantastic posts this week on audio take note of the narrators people are listing as the ones to watch for.
For more audio book related topics, posts, and giveaways, stop by and check our Devourer Of Books Audiobook Week 2012.
And that’s a wrap for me this morning. I am going to make breakfast and put a new sticky post up this morning and if time start writing my audio review for this afternoon as well.
Have a super day! 😀
Book Journey 