Tag: Morning Meanderings

Morning.

Coffee Cup and I have been up for about an hour.  Between letting the dogs out for their morning jaunt in the back yard and catching up on my emails before I go to work… I have come to admit something I fight every year.  Summer has gone again.

I felt it the last few days as I stand on the deck in the morning and the mornings are cool.  You can actually smell it in the air.  If you can smell crispness, this is the scent.  Then I sit down at my laptop and see an email from Barnes and Noble titled “A Sad Farewell to Beach Reads”.

*sigh* it must be true.

I did enjoy a nice run with summery light reads, beachy topics and quite a few YA reads, especially after I returned from New York and BEA in May. This time of year, and I have mentioned it before in recent posts, takes on a different read for me.  A heartier read.  I am drawn to larger books that will draw me into characters that I do not so easily want to let go of.

This was the picture that went with the B & N email:

The only one of these I have read at this time is The Passage and I have to say I would agree with them here that I know this book will make my 2010 Best Books of the year list.   I would like to read Matterhorn and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks has been on TBR since Kim from Sophisticated Dorkiness told me about it over breakfast one morning in New York.

So how about you – are any of these on your wish list or you read them.  Do you agree that these are must reads?

On a separate note I had mentioned yesterday on having a tough day on Tuesday.  My Grandfather passed away that morning.  He had a long, good life, living to the age of 94.  He had his health and lived on his own all the way to a couple of weeks ago when he broke his hip and things just went rapidly down hill from there.  Thank you for those on Twitter and here who shared their condolences, many of you sending kind thoughts and payers my way without even knowing why I took a little pause in my Morning Meanderings yesterday and then moved on.

I look at the wonderful bloggers and book lovers I have had the privilege to meet either in real life or through chatting on this little blog and I have to smile.

Good morning.  Yesterday was a long hard tough day.  I don’t really want to go into details and don’t want to be sad so I am taking a deep breath and moving on and hope that you will all move on with me to this happier space…

Right here.

Monday was the weekly What Are You Reading Post and as of the last couple weeks I  have had a lot of fun sharing with you the lovely bookish finds I come across while visiting the participating blogs as well as a few rabbit trails off to visit other blogs as well.

I have come to refer to this sharing of my finds as:

Over at The Books I Read Blog I found this gorgeous looking (and sounding book). You Don’t Look Like Anyone I know is a memoir that gives new meaning to insight, hindsight, and forgiveness.  Pop over there and read the review!

At The Perpetual Page Turner I found another memoir (what is with me and memoirs lately?).  This one is about an Iraqi girl and is written in blog posts during the Iraq war. I am interested in knowing more about this.

And while I didn’t add a lot to my TBR this week, I did find Alita over at alita.reads struggling over choices of what to read next.  One of her choices was The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society which I encouraged her to read that one as I had it on my shelf as well unread.  In fact – I told her we should both pinky swear to read this book in September.

She said I was on and that discussion led to this:

That is me and Alita in our own corners of the world – pinky swearing to read this book!  😀

That was a lot of fun and thanks Alita for going along with this!

Here is a link to Alita’s post – so funny!

😀  Anyone else need to pinky swear to read  TGLAPPPS read in September?

Any fun finds for you while you have skipped and hopped around the blogosphere this week?

Hello and good morning!  COFFEE is on!!!  SO what is so SSSQQQUUUUEEEE worthy that I am dancing around my home at such an early hour – in some cases rousing you out of your email boxes?  WELL… I thought you would never ask!

Last week Wordshakers went live with its first 2010 Online group review of Summer At Tiffany.  Around the blogosphere and even throughout some homes, 26 people signed up to read and review this book.  While most were bloggers who posted reviews on their blogs, a handful were book lovers – blog free, who just sent me emails of how much they enjoyed the book.

The fun of this review went beyond the review.  Marjorie Hart, the wonderful author of Summer At Tiffany has been in communication with me over the last month chatting about her book and the memories and that all went into the author chat we had last week as well as her gift of a signed copy of her book to one of my Book Journey readers.

All of this has left me with warm fuzzies of what Wordshakers can be…. and so I allowed myself to dream…

I wanted Wordshakers online book discussions to be not only a group of us booklovers all gathering our noses around the same book, but I really wanted our book choices to involve author interaction as well.  I wanted to move us to the next level and I felt all I could do was try.

SO….  (I know I am rambling a bit – blame the coffee) I asked last months participants for ideas for our next read and some lovely ideas came out of that.  Then I took two of the books mentioned that I thought would make for wonderful discussions and I contacted the publishers about the idea behind Wordshakers hoping one would be able to respond with a yes, this will work.

Both publishers and book authors responded favorably, not only wishing to be a part of making this a successful reading experience, but offered the author chat as well as a giveaway post.

Thus the SSSQQQQUUUEEEEE!!!

I will announce later today the Wordshaker book for now – October 6.  I think it will generate excitement.  I know it has for me.  After this book is reviewed by whoever wishes to participate, I will then announce the next book that will go from the second week of October to the third week of November (before Thanksgiving).

Anyhoo – I am beyond excited.  😀

Stay tune for the book and the plan …..

Good morning!  I was mowing the lawn last night jamming out to my IPOD and mastering what I call lawn mower dancing and my neighbors fondly refer to as my need to pull a trailer behind me when I mow as I can not carry a tune.  HA!  They are so funny, and yes they really told me that – in a loving way.  😀

So I went to charge my IPOD last night and when my I Tunes pops up it tells me how many times I have listened to each song and I am amazed that the song I listen to the most out of my 124 songs I have downloaded is Jai Ho from the movie Slumdog Millionaire.  If you have not seen this movie I highly recommend it.  I watched it last fall and found it to be a brilliant look at what happens in some third world countries and adds a unique twist to it in this movie.  If you have not seen it, please consider renting it and let me know what you think of it.  I think it was one of the best movies I seen last year.

Here is the video – or the song anyway the way I listen to it on my IPOD.  It is fast paced, a great work out song that I can even run to on the treadmill:

And this is more of a video to the song that shows more of what the movie is about:

Good morning and happy happy Saturday!  I am hitting the gym shortly here with Wendy so I am pounding the coffee and tapping away at my laptop to you.  😀  Today looks like it will be a beautiful day in Minnesota and a great day for skydiving.

My cousin Jarrod will be skydiving today to raise money for the Special Olympic Minnesota athletes at Paul Bunyan Land in Brainerd Minnesota.  I wasn’t sure we would be in town but since we are and Paul Bunyan is about 6 miles from me, I want to attend this event and watch Jarrod.  I am so proud of him and often refer to him as the male version of me….. except… I think he’s braver – but don’t tell him I said that!

You can click the picture to go to a page about this and here is an article in our newspaper

Beyond that – I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that you can sign up now to have an interview swap partner for the BBAW week (Book Blogger Appreciation Week).  It’s a lot of fun and last year I interviewed Ryan from Wordsmithonia and he interviewed me.  It is a wonderful way to get to know another book blogger.   Sign up to be on the list for an interview at the BBAW site.  Hurry – you only have to August 31 to do this and registration takes about 15 seconds.  It is also time to register for BBAW if you have not already.  If you already registered during the award tie them you are good to go, but if you did not, now is the time to sign up to be included in the Book Blogger Directory.

Then yesterday I received an email that I won Mary Kay Anderson’s Beach Bag giveaway for entering a contest about my book club.  I do love my book club and it looks like what I won is something like this:

Kind of excited.  I have not read Mary Kay Anderson’s books before but have heard good things about her latest book The Fixer Upper, which peaking in the basket looks like it is is in there.  SQUUUEEEEEE!  😀

Ok – obviously I am just chatty this morning so hang on while I wrap this up.  Do stop by later today to meet Marjorie Hart of Summer At Tiffany.  She graced this space to share with us about the book – AND I will also be doing a giveaway for a signed copy of her book in hard cover.

That’s it – I am off to prep for my day!  I hope your day is a wonderful sunny one too!

Good morning!  Yes this is the Morning Meandering…. yes I am still sitting here with coffee, not guns…  sleep pants, not holsters….  I just thought it would be fun to try a new pic for the Hit List.

If you remember last week I had a morning where I shared all the books I had come across that I was looking to read myself.  I liked doing that and at this time plan to continue during one morning a week to share what I have discovered while bouncing around the blogosphere.  I have fellow bloggers to thank for many of the books I read – many I had not heard of or would never have considered if not for someones raving about it or reading an amazing review.

Take the Hunger Games books for instance.  Reading the synopsis of this first book I would have never read it.  Kids in a ring – fighting to the death?  No thank you.  Yet review after review told of something more…. powerful…. and once I read the first book I couldn’t wait to read the second – and the third, well – you can see more about what I felt about that later today.  🙂

So this week Hit List is brought to you by Folger’s Coffee….  LOL (Sorry….. its early… I am still groggy)  😆

Amanda at The Zen Leaf has a read-a-long happening August 25 – October 7.  It is the Bleak House by Charles Dickens and it is a MONSTER.  900 pages….  and I am drawn to this like a moth to the flame…. I mentioned recently as fall comes in to play I start to crave larger books….

Check out Amanda’s post – she has the reading broke down to take place so much per week….

At Bookworm With A View, the review of The House On Oyster Creek and the cover (man I do like this cover!) caused me to pull this one on to my lovely library reserve list.  Stop by Bookworm with a View to read more about this book and what it is about.

Over at There’s A Book Arson has been reviewed and I remember seeing this book a while back and wondering what this one would be like.  This is a YA read and after reading the raving review, I had to add this to the hit list.

I had to add this – The Book Maven is having a great Mocking Jay Giveaway – for tweeting the Friday hash tag you can possibly win a $50 gift card tot he book store of your choice.  You will need to pop over to The Book Maven to read the post – but I for one never turn down a chance to win a gift card for books 😀  In order to do the giveaway they have requested that there are 500 tweets – so please take a moment and tweet tweet!

I think it is fair of me to say that Nicole’s reviews at Linus’s Blanket are dangerous to me.  I think I find something I want to read almost every time I visit.  😀  This book is about the lives of three couples that center around an adoption.  Stop by Linus’s Blanket and read the full review.

That’s what I have discovered this week.  I haven’t been around much as I was out-of-town until Tuesday evening, and I have had my nose in Mockingjay since then…  I was thrilled to find out that we are not going to the cabin this weekend which may seem like a bummer – but it isn’t.  I can use the break and have plenty to do around my own home.  AND next weekend we will be at the cabin from Friday until Monday so I will have plenty of time then to hang with friends and enjoy.

What books did you add to the TBR this week?

Morning all!  I am well into my third cup of coffee and glad to be back in my own kitchen and catching up with all of you.  I love Mink Lake camp but after a few days of no electricity, solar showers, and sleeping with a group in bunk beds and sleeping bags – it’s just nice to get back to an electric coffee pot, central air, and  sleeping in my own bed.  (We boil coffee over a stove there… pretty little house on the prairie but it does the trick!)

I arrived home late Tuesday evening and after a glorious real shower and a wee bit of email reading, I was in bed by 10 pm.  On Wednesday I had taken the day off just to catch up on all the days off I missed with all the running I have done lately but also – quite honestly, to dive into Mockingjay.  All of which were nicely accomplished.  😀

Here are a few pics of camp:

I am on page 298 of Mockingjay.  I didn’t start reading until after 3 pm yesterday and will finish it tonight after work and my bike ride.  😀

It’s great to be back and hang out with all of you again!

Oh ….. do not mock me.  If you have followed the Suzanne Collins books at all….. Hunger Games, Catching Fire…. how could you not be anticipating the day – THIS BOOK….  on the week of the big release.  ♥

I am hoping – quite soon here…. to be completely “mocktified” in the book.  I think it will be “mockilicious”…..  and I am not using mockery, I mean it…. I really do.

AND – with this read of course you know I get to dust off The Spoiler Button.  My, how I love this button.  It is I think perhaps my favorite blog creation…. a link… a space to talk openly and freely about a book without any whistle blowing or the dreaded “blog tomatoes” that can be tossed at posts that reveal spoilers to an unsuspecting reader who has yet to experience the book….

That is why I have taken today to read – not peak at any Mockingjay blog conversations until I am done.  And then I am writing the review from my fresh untainted view (at least that’s the plan).  😛

So my friends, are you reading Mockingjay today?  This week?  Soon?  Are you a fan of the series?  Why or why not?

Go on…. push it.  You know you want to.  😛

Oh and for giggles….. feel free to link any Mockingjay type posts you may have here.  Link your reviews – and giveaways…  as soon as I have finished my book I will want to visit others to see what they thought.  **Please distinguish in the heading section your blog name and if it is a Mockingjay review, giveaway, or other.  In the link section – please link directly to your post.

Thanks all 😀

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Good morning all!  What a day yesterday.  Wendy and I left my house at 6 am and drove to Itaska State Park.  We went on the 2nd Annual  bike ride that they had.  Last year they offered a 50 mile ride which my cousin and I did.  This year they had a 25, 50, and 75 mile option.  We opted to do the 75.   Wendy id such a trooper – it was first long ride and she did fantastic!

It was a great ride – beautiful day but close to 90 degrees out.  AND – I have to say it, probably the most hills I have ever experienced on any bike ride I have been on.  This picture here is one that we went up last year too and it is right around 55 miles into the ride.

Oof.  I think I need a minute after seeing this hill again in the picture.  😉

Then last night Al and I met friends at an annual street dance that happens in Brainerd.  It was a good band called The District and it is made up of teachers.  Two of my good friends who I used to work with were there and we had a fun time listening to the music.

How crazy is that tan line on my arm?

That was why you did not see me around here yesterday.  Today I pack for camp retreat and I leave at 1:00 pm for the North Shore and will not return until Tuesday afternoon.  I am prepping a review for later and the Monday, What Are You Reading meme so go forward as always.

Life is a  bit too busy right now and I am hoping to take Wednesday off from work upon my return to home so I can catch up on some things here and relax before I start running full speed ahead again.

How is everyone’s weekend going?

Good morning!  Yes, another early morning post and if I could wrap my head around it, I would love all the meanderings to be this early so those who subscribe to this blog would have them when they check their morning emails.  😀

Today I am up early to head to Itaska which is a bout an hour and a half away for a 75 mile bike ride.  Today is supposed to be beautiful so I am excited for this ride – and it is my friend Wendy’s first BIG RIDE!  I am excited for her and hoping that she will find a love for the rides and the people as much as I do.

I will be gone most of today, Al and I are meeting some friends tonight at an annual street dance and tomorrow, oh that’s a whole other story.

I am guest posting (again) at Trisha’s lovely blog Eclectic Eccentric – and this time it is about Minnesota Festivals.  My only hint… is this picture.  You will have to read the post at Trisha’s for more about that.  😉

In bookish news – and this is DANGEROUS NEWS for book lovers…..  Bookcloseouts is having a summer sale and if you know anything about Bookcloseouts you know the books are gorgeous and the prices are right.  The sale is $1.99 for paperbacks, and the hard covers are $2.99.  AND they have some good titles…  so if you are looking for gifts, or for yourself – this is worth checking out.

Oh – and for those of you who are thinking, “SHE’S GETTING MORE BOOKS??????”  I am not – I am just letting you know about the sale.  😀

Have an awesome Saturday!