Morning Meanderings… An Actor Meandered Into A Movie Theater…

Published on April 2, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

Good morning from St. Paul Minneapolis.

I am at my son’s apartment where I am currently drinking coffee out of his Harry Potter mug and enjoying the absolute quiet. He is still sleeping and I never noticed at home but the dogs and the background noise of the equipment from our excavating business must create some sort of low-level noise because this here is

QUIET.

And I like it.

I am in Minneapolis because Justin (son) and I went to the pre-showing of the movie The Longest Ride last night. It was kind of a cool invite and we were told that when we came to the theater that we were supposed to check in with the studio rep and to be there by 6:45 pm.

We were there around 6:35 pm and we were directed to a LONG LINE of people waiting to get in at the door they had mentioned. Justin and I walked to the end of the line and waited in the line that barely moved until 6:55. I asked Justin to go check out the front of the line and see what was happening. I was hoping we were doing this right as this was my first invite of anything like this.

Justin disappeared around the corner and then came back waving me forward. We were doing it wrong. We went to the front of the line, checked in with the lady with the clip board and on in we went. It was a little crazy as there were security people letting us into the theater.

We were told to stay in our seats after the movie because Twentieth Century Fox was there filming for future advertising and wanted shots of the crowd. We watched the movie (which was really good!) and afterwards we sat there as we were told and a side door opened and…

YES! A side door opened and Scott Eastwood and Britt Robertson walked in to the front of the theater. We had a fun 20 minutes with them as they answered questions about the moving, bull riding, their “romantic scenes” together….

What a fun event!

Yesterday I razzed up the whole “I am not a fan of country things” and I have to admit to a little softening of the heart today. The movie was very good and opens at the theaters on April 10th. This afternoon I have the opportunity of sitting at a round table and asking these two stars questions about the book that became a movie. I am geeky excited and nervous all at the same time.

Also, my giveaway I am hosting for the $25 Visa card, tote, and copy of The Longest Ride book is still going on. If you have not signed up… you should. Winner will be drawn this Friday.

Do you have any brilliant questions I should ask?

Morning Meanderings… It’s about to get… Country.

Published on April 1, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)33 Comments

Hey all! Happy Wednesday! (I actually had to think for a minute as I typed that, “Is it Wednesday?”) The week as usual is moving

FAST!

I told you a little bit a week ago about my invite to a round table discussion with the actors of The Longest Ride (Nicholas Sparks latest book to movie), Scott Eastwood and Britt Robertson. That happens tomorrow afternoon in Minneapolis Minnesota. A new addition to all of this is that my son and I are going tonight to a special invite at the Mall Of America to a preview of the movie.

HAZAH!

I am totally “got my geek on” excited! I have two dresses picked out for the events… my husband thinks I am crazy (but I think we all knew that already) and my son is loving how I just jump in and LIVE LIFE.

For long-term readers of Book Journey, you may know a few things about me. One that might be important right now is my strong aversion to all things country. (Ok not quite all things, I have a really great friend who is from Alabama and I really like her!) For whatever reason I do not like cowboy boots, cowboy hats, westerns, cowboy related books or movies, or country music. There. I said it. I feel…. lighter somehow. 😀

I have no idea why I feel this way and have come to believe that perhaps as a small child a cowboy kicked me or took away my lollipop and I have buried this deep hurt yet have a trigger (pun intended) knee jerk when something is country near me.

Anyhoo…. before I digress too far…. the next two days may cure me. 😀 I leave this afternoon to meet up with my son for dinner and then off to the movie we will go! I am staying overnight at my sons apartment this evening in the cities, tomorrow I will meet and talk with the actors and then come back home.

Crazy cool…. and I really hope I get at least one great picture. A girl can dream….

Last thing – I recently posted about a giveaway for a $25 Visa card to see The Longest Ride movie, a cool tote, and a copy of the book – if you have not entered yet I hope you do! I will ~~draw~~ (having trouble letting go of cowboy words) choose the winner on Friday morning using random.org. Enter here!

Have a g’day. Partner.

A Day In The Life Of A Blogger (late… with books!)

Published on March 29, 2015March 29, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)64 Comments

Mt friend Trish over at Love, Laughter, and a Touch Of Insanity had the idea to have us share what a day is like in our lives. I loved the idea, had every intention of doing it this past Friday, started a post even… and then promptly forgot about it.

Hmmmm….

Then yesterday evening I was reading a few posts and read Kathy’s at Bermuda Onion (love her day by the way!) and thought, I can still do this. 🙂

So without further ado, here is my Friday March 27th:

6:47 am – wake up, let 5 dogs out. Yes. FIVE. I have three, and I am dog sitting my friends two terriers while she is in Korea visiting her daughter.

7:00 am- COFFEE ready and I sit down to read emails. (First I click on all the junk mail and delete that out of the way). Then I first read the two emails I love to see each day, Shelf Awareness and Hungry Girl.

7:30 am – I open up a newsletter I am working on for a company and complete the updates.

8:00 am – Second cup of COFFEE. I normally post a Morning Meandering in the morning but can not think of anything (in reality it should have been this post lol!) so write up my review of First Frost to go live late morning.

8:20 am – I launch my new website for my Freelance Business and post about it on Facebook. That was scary.

8:25 am – jump in the shower with audible audio playing on my phone with a speaker so I can hear it over the shower. Get ready to go!

8:50 am – Fill up COFFEE cup and I leave the house for the library, grabbing a Fiber One bar on my way out the door for breakfast. For some reason I really like real coffee cups instead of travel mugs so curse myself a bit when I turn out of driveway and spill a little coffee on me. Think of a post title called “5 Stupid Things That I DO”, with the coffee cup and driving being one of them. It is only 3 miles up the road to the library from my house so I am there by 9 am. I meet Ruth and Gail there and we go downstairs to look at the donated books for the spring book sale that is in three weeks. Discuss plans.

9:30 am – leave with Gail to go and look at the building we will be using for the book sale a block away. This is the first time we will be moving the book sale off site due to the large quantity of books. It’s exciting.

10:00 am – Gail leaves and I go to the printer to pick up our tickets for Wine and Words. I take the tickets to the library (yes, I am back!) to drop off 50 for them to sell. I talk with the head librarian, and staff.

10:30 am – back in my car and sit in the parking lot of the library while I respond to a few texts.

11:00 back at house, grab mail on my way in, and open up work portfolio and spend time on my current client projects.

12:45 pm – Leave house to go and pick up Vicki at Mid Minnesota bank for lunch. We discuss the Camp Benedict Bike Ride in July and I secure her for helping out with the food that is needed and cooking the supper at camp that night. HAZAH!

2:00 pm – drop Vicki off at work and I head to the gym.

2:15 pm – work out on elliptical and stretch until 3 pm

3:10 pm – at grocery store where I pick up a few things and what I need to make Al meatloaf and potatoes for dinner. (His request)

3:45 pm – Home! Back to working on client projects.

5:30 pm – turn on audio book and start super while listening to The Pocket Wife. (Unsure of it so far… I am getting a Girl On The Train vibe).

6:00 pm – with dinner cooking, I continue on work projects and a couple of Camp related phone calls until Al comes in from work around 6:50 pm.

7:00 pm – dinner with husband, he has the meatloaf and potatoes, I have a grilled chicken wrap and corn. Catch up on each others day.

8:00 pm – Go downstairs to watch a little TV with Al. He is a big fan of Shark Tank.

8:45 pm – Al goes to bed.

8:50 pm – I turn on Netflix, find a movie I can half listen to while I work on the Camp Benedict website rebuild.

11:30 pm – finish the Camp Benedict website, switch the domain over and launch the new website to our social media spots. Look up at movie I chose and question why I decided to watch Twilight. 🙂

11:50 pm – Bed.

Disclaimer: That was a full Friday. I usually am home working more than I was this past Friday. I usually dedicate more time to working with clients, yet this last Friday I spent a lot of time working on Camp stuff which is one of the charities I am on the board of.

Check out others posts about their “Day In The Life” here.

The Books:

Sophomore Year Is Greek To Me

City 1

Shadow Cabinet

Orphan’s Inheritance

Today I hope to read later this afternoon but as for now I have a few projects to make some progress on. Have a super Sunday!

Morning Meanderings… Let’s Get This PARTY Started!

Published on March 28, 2015March 28, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good morning! Another Saturday is here! Saturdays are my FAVORITE day of the week. The work week is over and usually Saturdays are a day that I have something fun going on.

Speaking of Saturday’s, last Saturday was no exception. After spending the afternoon in a Writing seminar, I sped away to a local gas station where I changed into a dress and went to congratulate my friend Julia Lee at her book launch.

I walked in almost an hour and a half after the launch had started due to the seminar and I was surprised (and excited!) to see how full the room was with people!

Julia Lee, Launch Party, Book Journey — This is the book signing line when I walked in!

I had talked a bit about Julia the week of her book launch for her book Seven Stones when I interviewed her, and then reviewed her book. Julia is so fun and easy to chat with that she is one of those people that when you meet her, you want to read whatever she has written to see if that personality shows through.

She is like a room full of champagne bubbles.

Julia Lee, Book Launch, Seven Stones, Book JOurney — Signing like a pro at her first book release party. I wonder if she practiced? 😉

The event was a lot of fun, the venue, Prairie Bay is known for delicious and unique horduerves such as artichoke chicken pizza, and apple and goat cheese skewers. It was amazing food and great conversation as I waited in line with my friend Christy and chatted up what else? Books.

Julia Lee, Book JOurney, Launch party, seven stones — Still smiling!

Book Journey, Julia Lee, Seven Stones — Sorry Julia, as soon as I took this picture I knew it was a keeper! LOL… it is a rare moment of a quick break in the signing!

What a great first signing! The event was a lot of fun, I caught the tail end of it and had a glass of wine with Laurel from our Library and then went home after a long and productive day.

Today… I leave in about an hour for the library where a few of us are meeting to start hauling some of the books for the April book sale from the library to the venue we will be using. I am kind of excited to start this process and as there are SO MANY BOOKS this time and we are moving off site every little bit we do helps take the pressure off of the big push in a couple of weeks.

Julia Lee, Book Journey, Seven Stones — Stolen… errr borrowed from Julia’s site… the pic with her author cup that I requested! You have to have a coffee cup pic!

You can read Julia’s fun blog here where she talks about the book, the excitement, life stuff, and great recipes!

Morning Meanderings…. Oh WordPress…. Beep Beep Boop To You.

Published on March 26, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)22 Comments

Good morning! CHILLY here in Minnesota the past few days however rumor has it that the weekend will warm up. I hope so. I am ready to be wearing Capri’s and light shirts and not having to dress in layers just in case.

For WordPress users such as myself, this post is kind of for us. However, Blogger users hang out too as for years I have read posts or tweets on grumbles about Blogger and I thought “I am so glad I chose WordPress!”, now I too have a grumble.

Quite a while back WordPress changed how you created and edited a new post with a shiny new version that has a “beep beep boop” message while it is processing and is very different to use and format.

Honestly?

HATED IT.

However, WP gave an option to click a sweet little button that said Classic Mode and my world continued in happy blissful blogging peace. That is, up until couple days ago when WP decided that it was time to suck it up and convert to the new ways of doing things. (The WordPress version of “drink the Kool Aid!”

Now I have been looking up ways on line to change it back to the way I like to use it. I did find a way that you can go through your dashboard to the new posts, or edit from the dashboard to bring up the old way, however if you do this from the main page you will be directed to the new way.

Beep Beep Boop.

*sigh*

There are other posts about this and one I read this morning that explains ways around the new editor but really why change what is already working well? Many WP users are not happy about this messing with what isn’t broke.

If you are a WordPress user and know easier ways to return to classic mode, chat with me. 🙂

This morning I am enjoying a big cup of COFFEE after a fairly restless night. I have my friends two dogs staying with us while she goes to see her daughter in Korea. Yes, that means I have 5 (FIVE!) dogs in the house for the next week and then they will go to another friends house to share the duty. Last night the two newbies to the house were restless, crying, and wondering the house most of the night. Hopefully tonight they will feel more adjusted. 🙂 They are small so they do not take up much room… just a lot of activity in my home. 😀

Morning Meanderings… What Book Are You Waiting For?

Published on March 25, 2015March 25, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

Good morning. Ahhhhh…. Wednesday. It almost feels like a plateau in my week and I like it. I need it. I was supposed to be on my way to Bemidji bright and early this morning for my Grant Writing class, however it is postponed until April and I am ok with that. That gives me today to do some catching up. It’s like a bonus day I wasn’t planning on having so I am all over that.

I noticed quite a few great titles have been released recently. Books I think are drool worthy and I am sure the books that I am excited about is just the tip of the publishing iceberg as to what is AWESOME out there and coming available in Spring 2015.

Here are just a few that I am excited about:

I have been a long time groupie of Harlan Coben. His writing is engaging, witty, and usually has a sweet story line too. The Stranger just released yesterday and I am holding up virtual pom poms for this one. I can not wait to take an afternoon and dive into this one! Released yesterday, March 24th.

Silent Alarm actually released on March 10th. I am adding it to this list because it is one I am excited about and plan on reading very soon. Written in the vein of Nineteen Minutes and We Need To Talk About Kevin.

LIARS INC. is a book I do not have on my shelf but I think I want to. A YA setting of a senior who starts a business selling permissions slips to fellow classmates… until things go terribly wrong. Feels like it has a good vibe.

Catalyst in the Dystopian sequel to Control, both books here… both I need to read. These books look like they have potential and I wonder once again how necessary sleep is.

Precious One also released yesterday and is a book that made me a fan of Marisa De Los Santos. This one is as excellent read, fun writing style, and gush worthy. My review for this book goes up today.

I know there are so many great reads out there. What are you looking forward to this month? What books should be on my radar?

Morning Meanderings… Never Underestimate The Power Of A Blog

Published on March 24, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)38 Comments

Years ago my friend Esme at the Chocolates and Croissants blog had told me that the title of her blog had caused companies to send her chocolates for review. I remember at the time thinking,

“Clearly I did not think through the name of my own blog”

I suppose I could have called this blog COFFEE Journey, or New Jeep Journey, just to see what might have come my way…. but alas, Book Journey is a good title and it has worked for me.

While Book Journey has always been a place where I can write about books it has over the years become so much more. Not only has this site brought me great joy in friendships, connections to wonderful publishing companies, and taken me places like the Book Expo in New York – it also has caused me to be a more confident writer. After all, I pretty much write every day. 😀

The most recent happenings on this crazy blogging ride is I received an invite to go to Minneapolis next week and sit at a round table interviewing the stars of Nicholas Sparks books that will be a movie on April 10th, The Longest Ride.

😯

The stars are Scott Eastwood (Clint Eastwood’s son) and Britt Robertson.

Of course… I said yes.

So now, as I have not read the book yet, I will be this week. My book club, who know I have always pretty much avoided books about cowboys, westerns, or pretty much anything country…. are DELIGHTED to see I will be reading a book that has this on the cover:

Yup.

I read somewhere recently that you are not living life fully unless you are spending time out of your comfort zone.

I think…

I am living life fully.

Book Journey, turns out is a very appropriate name for this blog.

I am out. I have a coffee date with a friend who recently had surgery and a long overdue lunch date. Other than that I have projects that will keep me busy all the time in-between.

Any fun stories to share?

Morning Meanderings… New Books. New Happenings.

Published on March 22, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments

Good morning and happy Sunday. I had quite the steady week of appointments, conference calls, and meet ups ending the week yesterday with a Writing Conference and with an Author Book Release party. A busy week but looking over it now, a fun and productive one too.

It seems like at this time I am spending a lot of time reconnecting with people I have not seen in a while and maintaining time with those I do keep in my life pretty actively. It’s all crazy but as I talk to people I am making connections for what I am doing now so it is all good.

Crazy good actually.

I had a nice little surge of books and audio come in this week that I am excited about:

Books:

Ming Tea Murder by Laura Childs (from the author)

The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks (purchased)

CONTROL by Lydia Kang

Seven Stones by Julia Lee (SQUUUEEEE!!! purchased at her book signing)

The Tapestry by Nancy Bilyeau (from Touchstone/ Simon and Schuster)

Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran (from the author)

Audio:

The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein (Listening Library)

HALF WILD by Sally Green (Listening Library)

At The Waters Edge by Sara Gruen (Random House Audio)

DEAD WAKE by Erik Larson (Random House Audio)

The World Before Us by Aislinn Hunter (Random House Audio)

I am going to spend some time reading today. Seems like this past week that part has been lacking. By the time I get done running each day I am too tired to read. This week I hope to correct that. 🙂

Any fun new exciting books that have come your way this week?

Morning Meandering… Recap of A 7K

Published on March 21, 2015March 21, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)34 Comments

Last weekend I was a part of the largest run that Minnesota hosts every year, the Get Lucky. The Get Lucky run is a ST Patrick’s Day Run and it is a 7 K Run or a 7 7 7 Run (21 K). This is my third year being a part of this run.

For Saturday Snapshot this morning I thought I would give you a little recap of the run.

Book Journey, Sheila DeChantal — Waiting for the 7K to start

I ran the 7k with 11,000 other people in Minneapolis. In St Paul, another 20,000 were running the Triple 7k. CRAZY stuff.

Book Journey, Sheila DeChantal, Get Lucky Run — It was a beautiful day in the 40’s

Get Lucky Run, Sheila DeChantal, Book JOurney — Entertainment!

The run has entertainment along the way. These girls were dancing Irish style at the start of the run…

Sheila DeChantal, Book JOurney, Get Lucky — More entertainment

These little boys were about half way through the run. There were also a couple of Irish bands along the way that played music for us as we went by.

There were signs along the way that marked what “K” we were at to ~~torture us~~ let us know how far we had gone.

Book JOurney, Get Lucky, Sheila DeChantal — Ahhh… the hilly bridge

The route is the same every year and towards the end of the run we go over a bridge that is always an uphill battle. Literally.

Sweet victory was mine!

Get Lucky, Sheila DeChantal, Book JOurney — Tiki Run is my next ortho run

At the end of the run they had up signs for other runs they will be having in Minnesota this year. I am signed up for the Tiki run next that will be a night run in St Paul. SWEET!

Get Lucky, Ortho run, Sheila DeChantal, Book JOurney — SWAG!

One of the things I really enjoy about the Ortho Runs is the swag you get for doing them. Ortho does not give out yet another event t-shirt. They usually have cool hoodies or running gear.

SO that was the run. Today is a literary day. After a walk with a friend this morning, this afternoon I am attending a writing class and after that a book release party. I am looking forward to a good day!

Morning Meanderings… Enough

Published on March 20, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

Good morning! It is FRIDAY! And my today is LOADED with things to do so I don’t even know why that is exciting to me… but there it is. 🙂 Friday.

*dance dance dance*

I am going to work out, lunch with a friend, coffee with another friend, a walk with another friend, and a movie with another friend.

Seriously… that is my day.

Friday must mean Friends day. 🙂

It is just the way it worked out. I have been working on catching up with those I have not seen in a while and honestly as you probably all know keeping up on relationships can be time-consuming! No wonder so many people lose touch.

These relationships are important to me however so onward I go. It makes life busy but it is enough for me. 🙂

The movie? Insurgent. I am so excited.