Good morning I mumble with COFFEE CUP too to my lips. Time management ya know… 😉
Today is the final day of the home show and I am ready to be done… this year really has been a long show. I love hanging with the people and seeing everyone that attends but the 10 hours of hanging out in the concessions has caused my feet to hurt and the rest of me to silently scream “Are We Done Yet?”
Today it closes at 4 so that isn’t so bad and normally this weekend show doesn’t get this reaction out of me…. I just think I am overbooked lately and with down time lacking… I crave a day to unplug (Monday is going to be that day for me… I took the day off of work, canceled all meetings…. U N P L U G).
On a happier less whiny note, I actually was reading yesterday – a little at the show and then a couple of hours worth when I got home. While it was not the book I planned to read – it is the book I was meant to read. Little Princes by Conor Grennan is so far – a delight. I love the authors experiences in Nepal, am amazed at the children that are trafficked in this country. What an awful word. Yes Conner’s story is one that gives my heart hope, reminds me quite a bit of my time in Honduras, and is one of those books where you look at what one person has done to make a difference and makes me personally want to do more. Conner is a witty author whose humor I appreciate and there are so many times so far that I have agreed with what he was saying as I could picture it happening.
Danielle is occasionally known as Sydney, or Rebecca, or Helen – or whatever her mother decides her alias will be this time around. She is eighteen and has been a sidekick to her moms stealing habits since she was a little girl. Together they travel from town to town listening to the towns people talk, making friends but keeping low profiles until they get the information they are looking for on the wealthy and their homes, on the types of security they use – or choose not to…..
and that is when they make their move.
While Danielle’s mom hangs on local men as part of the way she unwinds, Danielle is left to herself. She does not attend school. She has no friends… at least not until they find their way to a beachfront town called Heaven. While Danielle is out on the beach doing as her mother requires of her – finding out what she can about the rich and their homes… Danielle actually meets teens her own age that like her. For the first time, she feels what it is like to have friends and even – a boyfriend… and then she finds out that these new friends… are actually who her mom and her are planning to target.
Ok…. fair warning…. this is going to be a scorcher.
I really wanted to like this book and I did like Danielle…. but unfortunately there was so much about the story I did not like…. I will not give spoilers so I am cautiously going to say that I was appalled at the life that Danielle and her excuse of a mother lived. Danielle is put in all sorts of situations as her mother brings men home through the years – one man and situation in particular had steam coming out of my ears and the way her mother (yes the mother again) responds to the situation made me want to throw the book across the room.
I am not saying that Danielle held no part to blame in this book but she really never had a good example to begin with. Her dad was completely absent and her mother was fine with whatever she did. The mom (what was her name anyway?) had so much baggage and issues that she brought down on her daughter that I wanted to grab Danielle by the shoulders and say, “You are 18!!! Get out of this situation and get into a healthy life style!!!” Yet, Danielle in her not fully present wishy washy way – never seems to come to realize that she does not have to live this way.
Talk about Co-dependency.
While one may argue that in the end things seem to turn around… I have to say for me it was too little, too late.
I have heard good things about Elizabeth Scott’s writing and I would try her again.
The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading map has been updated to include Stealing Heaven
That was an awful post title…. mainly because I don’t know how I feel.
Oh… in that case I guess it is a perfect post title. 😛
I am tired from the Home Show yesterday but not physically tired. I had plenty of sleep. If I did not have the Home Show again today I would not still be in bed… I think maybe the word I am looking for is weary.
wea·ry
/ˈwɪəri/ Show Spelled [weer-ee] Show IPA adjective, -ri·er, -ri·est, verb, -ried, -ry·ing.
–adjective
1.
physically or mentally exhausted by hard work, exertion, strain, etc.; fatigued; tired: weary eyes; a weary brain.
2.
characterized by or causing fatigue: a weary journey.
3.
impatient or dissatisfied with something (often followed by of ): weary of excuses.
4.
characterized by or causing impatience or dissatisfaction; tedious; irksome: a weary wait.
Hmmmm….. maybe…. maybe not.
Ok this will cheer me up…Alyce has this awesome meme called Saturday Snapshot where we can post a picture that we or a family member or friend has taken. Well… Minnesota has not been delightful this past week. It snowed. AGAIN. And now the past few days the weather has had a sort of funk to it…. a little drizzly, damp, cold, a few flurries here and there and that depressing white washed sky that makes me feel like we are trapped inside a white balloon.
So – that said… my picture today is of prettier days, happier times… and well… hopefully laugh worthy. 😉 These two cut outs are in Nisswa Minnesota and well…. come on…. they are just fun. 😛
Edward, Me, Jacob.... just hanging out last fall
Well – that’s my time… COFFEE CUP and I need to get moving. Have a super Saturday! Oh and don’t forget next Saturday is the Dewey Read A Thon.
Wow…. March is here and gone…. seriously? As awful as March weather has been in Minnesota this year, (in fact it is dreary and snowing right now…. GRRRR), it did go fast. Thanks goodness I guess.
However – I feel my reading took a dive this month from my previous awesome reading in January and February… here is what I read in March:
Two unknown (Clementine – friend Of The Week!) (Listen by Rene Gutteridge)
Saudi Arabia
Australia
Singapore
Europe
Jerusalem
Ethiopia
United Kingdom
As for my monthly Comment Winner – that goes to Hannah at Word Lily – WOO HOO Hannah! 😀 and my random comment winner goes to Cheryl Mahoney of Tales Of The Marvelous
Hannah wins the $20 Amazon gift Card and Cheryl gets to choose from my Reading Cafe for a book that I will send her. 🙂
If you would like to link up your WHERE Are You Reading Map posts for a March update I would love to come and see where you are all at on your maps. Please connect with the linky below.
It’s April 1…. a new comment month has not officially started 😀
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…
It feels so good to just be sitting here…. with COFFEE CUP…. and chatting with you. 😀
Behind the scenes…
I have a car filled with items for the home show concessions. This is my yearly weekend contribution to our local Home Show. The home show is a large show in the local Civic Center where businesses that deal with any kind of building projects from here to Minneapolis come and set up booths for people to visit over the next three days…. last night I was there prepping the booth, stocking it with supplies…. making sure I had everything for todays “go time”
Anything from home builders, windows, decks, lawn care, landscaping, roofing, real estate, painters, remodeling, pest control, garage doors, house doors, floors, carpet, plumbers, electricians, siding, cabinets, etc…
and my part… I run the concessions…. organize what we sell, the prices, the prep, and I do this all weekend long and have one weekend a year for the past 4 years. The concession part of the show raises money for scholarships.
SO…. as I sit here this morning, casually sipping my COFFEE, still in my pj’s, pretending my weekend is nothing but book reading and light house work… the truth is…
in about an hour I will be in go mode…. dressed and out the door to finish this mornings set up, be sure everything is working right and start the coffee, the hot dogs, the brats….. and wait for the doors to open for the weekend. I will then spend the next 10 hours running and keeping things filled, doing what I can to help where needed.
Relaxing with coffee in pj’s….. running stairs and making brats and hot dogs.
These two scenarios…. are so different. 😛
So in bookish thoughts… I am taking with my today Laptop (you never know – I may catch a break during the day) and Joyce Carol Oates – Black Girl White Girl which I am almost through. My reading has suffered the past two weeks but after this weekend looks like things will slow to a slightly raised pulse rate and I can hopefully pick up more of this delicious books that surround me…
Now I am feeling optimistic… I am taking a second book with me today…. Rooftops of Tehran.
It can not be too early to start talking about BEA.. certainly we are about 8 weeks out (or is it 7) and I am already counting down the days! 😀
Last year I did something that was new to me and I can not wait to share it with you! I too a flight from Minnesota to New York to attend BEA. Now if you are anything like me, a little introverted… but really want to experience BEA – I want to share with you how I did it, and what I learned so if you are planning to attend this year (and SSSQQQQUUUEEEEEEE for you if you are!) I am hopeful that my experience can help you plan for an exciting trip.
First off let me just say if you are at all considering doing BEA but not sure…. and what if… and….. STOP IT. Stop it now and go – RUN I TELL YOU, and get signed up. Seriously…. BEA is about one of the best things I ever did for myself and I will rave about it forever. 😀
So here is how it went down for me last year.
So… I was fairly new to blogging…. heard the low rumbles about something called BEA and as I watched on Twitter I learned that BEA stood for Book Expo America and it was a big huge book event in New York that many book bloggers were planning to attend. Honestly, I had never heard of such a thing before. An event that was all books…. major books…. oh and those people I have come to chat with frequently on-line… yeah, they would be there. I could actually meet them in person.
*gulp*
SO right there I am interested… but nervously so…. I have flown many places before with my family…. but never alone. This was so unlike me to decide to jump on a plane and go to New York – a place I had never been… never thought about going to…. and seriously here came the questions…
Who would I know?
Where would I stay?
How would I get places?
How expensive would this be?
Was I crazy? 😯
But I really really wanted to go…. so…. first off I connected with someone I felt safe with. I had never met Reagan from Miss Remmer’s reviews but we had chatted through comments on our blogs and on Twitter. I knew she was from Minnesota (SAFE!) and was a teacher (SAFE!). Through emails we both decided we were going to do this and do it together.
As we looked at prices we discovered that New York hotels were not cheep…. so we decided to look for roommates. But who? We went on Twitter…. we posted on our blogs…. and people responded…. within a few weeks we had roommates and they had all sent me their share of the hotel room which I had secured.
All women who I had never met…. but we emailed each other… I peaked at their blog posts…. found them to be just like me… and we had a plan.
So – here is my advice:
Read up on anything you can on BEA – I read the BEA website forwards and backwards…. a group of wonderful bloggers all got together and did a post a day about BEA and their experiences and advice and I literally took notes…
the best advice I picked up from them and used was:
1. Bring a large book bag to put your books in (seriously I can not emphasize this enough). You will get book bags there, but if you have a large comfy bag that you can toss in a little coin purse, a bottle of water or two and fruit or a granola bar you are set! Do not plan on carrying a desperate purse – many areas of the Javits are crowded and extra baggage will be something you will regret.
2. Dress comfy but nice…. you will be meeting authors and publishers and you are representing your blog. It’s a hobby, but at BEA it is also like your business….Oh and wear comfy shoes – you will walk A LOT.
3. There is food in the Javits Center but it is pricey… I ate the continental breakfast at our hotel and grabbed an extra piece of fruit/yogurt when I left… have a few snacky items to tie you over.
4. Friends told my New York was super expensive to eat there and I was worried but honestly, I found it not to be bad… very similar to Minnesota. Yes, I am sure you can find expensive places but even when we ate out at a couple nice places it was about 14 – $20 for a dinner, and on the low-end – we ate at an awesome Thai restaurant (what was it called Esme – Yum Yum?) it was about $12 and three courses that was DELICIOUS! I can not wait to eat there again.
5. Our hotel was a few blocks off from Times Square (SSSSSQQQUUUEEEE!!!!) and about 6 blocks from the Javits Center. We walked everywhere and only used a cab a couple of times when it was dark to get back to our hotel. we booked our hotel this year in the same area.
6. ***DO NOT book a lot of things before you arrive. Yes it is New York… yes there is much to see and do…. but this advice was priceless. People asked me to book shows and events with them prior to BEA and I said no…. I am so glad I did. Every night we were invited to have dinner with authors, with fellow bloggers, one night there was a book blogger party… all of this I would have missed had I filled my evenings with shows. Instead, when I booked my stay, I booked it one day longer than BEA so that last day I could explore New York and do a show…. Esme from Chocolates and Croissants did this with me… we seen The King Tut Exhibit and went to Mama Mia…. it was awesome. 😀
5. Plan your book mailings wisely. Even though I had heard that at BEA you would be given books… I really had no idea. None. As soon as the doors opened that first day I was pushed with the crowd into the main area and into a table where a book was thrust into my hands. Seriously. I will never forget it… that book was I Am Number Four and I had never heard of it.
When my book bag became full I found Fed Ex on the main floor, boxed up the books and waited in line to mail the box to myself at home. That first standard size box cost me around $30. Later that day I discovered UPS downstairs which was a better set up. There they had long tables and you could grab a box and write your name all over it and leave it down there. Then you could make frequent trips to your box and fill it as the day went on. When that box was full I taped it up and waited in line to mail it to me… around $40. A bigger box, not bad but still… I could spend a lot at this rate.
Then I discovered the post office was about 8 blocks from the Javits Center. Now this is a commitment as I hauled three book bags to the post office – however when I boxed up that large box (and I put everything in it, books, t-shirts, pins, pens, swag of all kinds) it was $18 to send the box to me media mail. BINGO. This is the way to go. 😀 I also noticed some wise people brought to the center pull behind suitcases that they filled and then wheeled to their hotels or post office… not a bad idea either.
7. Absolutely invest in business cards. I bought a box of 500 through Vista Print last year… I probably still have about 200 left but I gave out a lot of them to fellow bloggers, publishers, etc… I paid around $19 for the cards and was very happy with them.
8. My final advice… you can sleep when you get home. 😛 Keep your ears open, be friendly, meet people and go to where the action is. I was tired…. but every night I had plans and that is part of the experience.
Me and two of my roomies: (R) Kim from Sophisticated Dorkiness, me, and Care from Care's On Line Book Club
I found book bloggers to be exactly who I felt they were by reading their blogs. I did not meet one person who did not seem genuine. We all chatted like we were old friends and I loved how we could recognize each other by our blogs…. I can not even put into words what an amazing experience this was. I knew right away I wanted to go again this year and any other year if possible…
I am attending again with Reagan (Miss Remmer’s Reviews). The only thing we are planning differently is that this year we are just doing us two in the room. Our hotel room was extremely small last year (I never seen anything like that)… New York values space and every building is TALL – not wide. Same goes for the rooms. Our beds last year to my surprise, were full size…close quarters for a room full of girls I had never met before. 🙂 And the shower/bathroom time was interesting to get us all in and out. It was good none of us spent a lot of time in the room. This year it costs us more, but worth the space.
If you are planning to go – please let me know, I would love to meet you in person! I will be taking my laptop and I will be on Twitter throughout the event (#bookjourney).
I want to share something really really crazy I did the last few days and hopefully you can follow along with the craziness of this story…. it is kind of like a mystery so watch for the clues that I missed. 😉
Last Friday I rented How Do You Know from Red Box. Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd…. what’s not to love?
Well Friday was the Missions Banquet which I had been working on setting up for several days and after the banquet a very (VERY) tired version of me came home around 10 pm. Now, no matter how tired I am I can never come home and go right to bed… I actually need to wind down by either reading a bit or staring at the TV set. This night, was the latter… I grabbed my Redbox movie, went to the DVD player, opened it… closed it… sat down in the recliner.
The DVD player was empty.
I went and looked in the Redbox case and sure enough… I was so tired I never put the movie in… but there was something else. There were two DVD’s in the Redbox case. Holy cats… someone had returned their Redbox movies and put two in the same case. The second movie was The Ugly Truth.
I watched my movie… well sort of… I fell asleep in the middle and watched it again the next day, and then I watched The Ugly Truth too. When I went to return the Redbox movie I called the 800 number and told them I had found two movies in the same case and what should I do. They told me if I wanted to help out the person who did this and get that movie checked in for them – I could purchase an empty case through the Redbox and then put the movie in it and return it. They gave me a credit code so I could purchase the empty case to do this.
I went into the store and returned the movie I had rented, then purchased a case and tried to return the second one. It wouldn’t go in the machine. Every time I did it a message came on the screen that the barcode had to be facing out… it was. I tried about 6 times and then frustrated, felt this is what must have happened to the other renter and why they put two in the case. There was no one around to help me so I took the movie with me, planning to call Redbox again and let them know I could not return the movie. By now I am a bit frustrated that I tried to do something good to help out the other renter and still could not return the movie.
Then – this morning as I readied myself for work I went downstairs to grab a movie that Chance and I had rented from the video store and a Netflix DVD paper that was sitting by the DVD player, good I thought, I will get this in the mail too…. I looked at the title on the paper case, it said….
The Ugly Truth.
No way….
So in case you did not catch that…. the whole time (THE WHOLE TIME) the “extra” DVD I thought was in the Redbox case was one I had rented from Netflix. I believe what happened is Friday when I was so tired instead of putting my Redbox movie in the DVD player, I pulled The Ugly Truth out of the player and put it in the Redbox case on top of the one I rented. Then when I opened the case… I apparently surprised myself with the two DVD’s and did not recognize the one being my Netflix rental at all.
How hilarious that I tried to return it to Redbox and was unable too…. thank goodness I could not find anyone to help me as if I could have turned it in to someone to handle for me I would have – and then I would have had to find it again to get it to Netflix…. can you even imagine the mess I would have had? 😛
Good morning. Wednesday already? Does it seen like the days fly by or is that just me? Tonight a meeting, Thursday I am helping Chance get ready for the weekend, and Friday is the home show which I run concessions for each year for this weekend to raise scholarship money for kids.
Uggghhhh…
I have to set up tomorrow night and honestly, I need a zap of energy to pull this one off well.
Anyway…
*sips coffee*
Patterson.
I received an email from Amazon this morning about Patterson and it actually surprised me how much of his books I have read throughout the years. For those of you who think he is incredibly gory and graphic…. he can be…. but he is more than that. He is also a great mystery writer – the Michael Bennett series (Step On A Crack, Run For Your Life, Worst Case and Tick Tock) are about an Irish detective who has 10 adopted kids with his wife who recently passed away. This series is good and clean.
If you have not seen Patterson’s Nicholas Sparks side…. you may be amazed to know he has one…. his book Diary for Nicholas was read by me one summer in one sitting. I meant to pick it up and see what it was about…. I read it straight through and was pulled in by a book that I felt was very “not Patterson style”.
I never got into the Alex Cross books…. but have enjoyed the movies.
His book Honeymoon we read as a book club a few years ago and for my standard review question of “what did we learn by reading this book?” We joyfully laughed and agreed that we had learned to kill someone with scrambled eggs. 😛
I guess what I am saying here is that Patterson is not just heavy hitting mysteries… yes, I too laugh at the jokes about his short chapters and know that he cranks books out like a popcorn machine. I read recently that he has a long conference table in his office with several manuscripts half written on it. While some frown about this – I can not complain, even when he is writing with other authors what he is producing is pretty good.
Recently I listened to the first of the Womens Murder Club books….and liked it. Currently I am reading Sundays at Tiffany’s for book club and have to be reminded that this is indeed a Patterson book.
I didnt wake up thinking I was going to talk about James Patterson this morning… but, the beauty of the Morning Meandering is you never know what you are going to get…. sometimes, it surprises me too. 😀
What do you think of James Pattersons books? Like them? Hate them? Have you tried any of his non mysteries?
Eddie Morra, is broke, dirty looking, unfocused and down on his luck. He is contracted to write a book, but can not seem to write a word. He spends his days snoozing, occasionally boozing, and basically wasting air. His girlfriend has just told him that enough is enough and she needs to move on. Eddie…. can’t blame her.
And then Eddie runs into his ex- brother-in-law who asks him to catch up over a beer or two. As they talk, Eddies brother-in-law says he can help Eddie with what ails him and offers us a clear pill in a small bag. At first Eddie refuses, he may have many faults, but drug use is not one of them. It’s clean, Eddie is assured. They call it NZT and it just makes you clear-headed, taps into that 80% of the brain that we do not use.
Eddie eventually thinks what does he have to lose, and takes the pill. Minutes later – his life changes forever.
Clear headed, Eddie can recall everything he has ever seen on tv, read in a book, learned, experienced…. he is filled with energy and writes his book in four hours.
Of course, he returns to the brother-in-law to get more of this miracle pill, but finds that his brother-in-law has been killed. Eddie searches the apartment and is able to find the hidden stash of the NZT and starts taking it daily.
He starts working out and getting in shape, he gets his scraggly hair cut and looks good. His brain works so fast he is able to comprehend stock market changes and starts making money, thousands of dollars a day…. but it is not fast enough. Eddie takes out a “loan” from a shady character who threatens to skin Eddie if the money is not returned. Eddie uses this money to make larger investments and the money rolls in…. people take notice and soon Eddie is working for the biggest financial dude in the world…. he has everything he needs and money to purchase things he doesn’t….
but Eddie is not the only one looking for NZT and he soon learns that people are watching, and he starts to find hours missing that he can not account for and learning that others who have been on the drug are either dying or dead.
I LOVED this movie and I have seen it twice. Fast action, and while I am no advocate for drugs – there is a message within this movie that really makes you think about unlimited power and what happens when it is in the wrong (and right) hands.
When you see all that NZT does in the movie, how much a person can accomplish, how much it opens your mind up… you can see the draw… especially for a guy like Eddie who really can not sink much lower.
Part of it is honestly I really enjoy this actor, he’s quick, he’s witty, and easy on the eyes. (Yes… I said it). 😛 I thought he had just showed up on the radar in the last couple years when I seen him in movies like: A Team, Valentines Day, He’s Just Not That Into You and in Hangover.
Then the other day I was watching Failure To Launch on tv and noticed that he played the roll of one of Mathew McConaughley’s friends….
Bradley Cooper and Matthew MacCoughley in Failure To Launch
and I was surprised and I had not picked up on that. I also found that he played in Yes Man, with Jim Carrey. Now that just makes me like him even more as here he was pretty much this supporting actor who someone seen potential in. I like that. I have always rooted for the underdog. It’s just my way.
Jim Carrey and Bradley Cooper
I think we keep an eye on Bradley Cooper. I bet there are more big roles coming for him and I think he is just getting started.
I highly recommend if you are a movie lover, go and see Limitless at the theater. For this book girl (who seems to be lacking in the reading department lately…) this move was an awesome break from a long movie free winter.
I really loved this movie and I don’t know if it is because all winter long it felt like I was starving for a good movie at the theater and none were to be found, or if it was – as I believe…. that awesome.
For whatever reason… I have one of the songs stuck in my heard from the movie. Whats funny is it took me three days to find it….
In the movie they do not play the whole song – only the upbeat “Ba dah dah dah dah”…. hummed it, sang it, danced to it, Googled it
could not find the title of the song….
GAH.
Then yesterday – determined…. I searched and had to listen to each song in the movie to get it. And found it. I wasn’t a big fan of the whole song… but it is growing on me and now has entered my IPOD nano (Podette) to be used when I work out.
Funny how that happens…
Don’t laugh. It’s stuck… stuck in my head.
Have an awesome day – when I have time… I plan on reviewing the movie. 😀
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Book Journey 