Morning Meanderings – Page 21

Morning Meanderings…. Glow Worm Caves Of New Zealand

Published on February 21, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)37 Comments

Good morning! For today’s Saturday Snapshot I thought I would share with you a little information on the Glow Worm Caves in New Zealand. When traveling there last month I had never heard of the glow worm caves. Our travel-mates were signed up to do a tour at the caves and we decided to join them.

What a trip in education!

The caves are located in Waitomo, New Zealand. From our cruise ship that had docked in Auckland it was about an hour to the caves.

The glow worm is actually while pretty to look at, also gross. It is apparently the larvae life cycle of an insect and looks like a maggot. (The caves were dark so thankfully we only seen the pretty part).

Glow Worm caves, New zealand, book journey — Pictures are not allowed in the caves so this picture is from the Glow Worm website as linked here

The caves themselves are beautiful lime caves. I wish we could have taken pictures inside, the rock formation was beautiful.

The female glow worms drop a line which is what you see in the picture. The line attracts insects and they get stuck to the line. It is crazy but the females live two days and the males live three days. The cycle continues due to the thousands of eggs each female lays in her short lifetime.

Glow worm caves, book journey, new zealand — This picture is also from the glow worm website as linked here

It is deep within the caves that we then get in the small boats. We are asked to remain very quiet as our voices cause vibrations and disturb the glow worms. It is a pretty cool experience.

Just outside the caves I was able to get a picture of two of our travel team, Wendy and Ray. I think it is funny that everyone else around them are smiling too. New Zealand… so friendly! 🙂

You can read more about the glow worms on the Glow Worm Tour website. It is a unique tour. I had never heard of a glow worm until the tour.

Check out more Saturday Snapshots here.

Today I may just read. Or I am talking big. I keep saying I am going to read all week but I have been busy with projects and the books kind of go to the wayside. I do need to have some book time this weekend. Order of the Phoenix and a few others wait on me.

What are you reading this weekend?

Morning Meanderings… YOGA. Ouch. Who Knew?

Published on February 20, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Friday! Wow! I never lack of surprise how fast the days can go!

Yesterday afternoon my friend who shall not be named (*cough* GAIL! *cough*) thought it would be a good idea if I joined her for a Beginners Gentle Yoga Class. It’s yoga I thought, how tough could it be?

Make a note: I have never taken a yoga class.

Well for those of you in the know…. you know. 🙂 It wasn’t that it was hard, I like to stretch… but some of it for those of us… uh… who haven’t been doing a lot of strength training recently… it can really point out your weaknesses.

1a2 — Planking, as shown builds strength in your core. You are to hold this position.

The sad thing is, I used to be able to do this a lot better than what my performance yesterday.

I did enjoy the class, and know that this is something I would like to do again. Strength training and core building is always good.

I am a bit sore today through my back and arms. I like that feeling as it shows that I actually worked something. 🙂

Today I hope to get in a work out this morning, lunch with a friend, complete a Freelance project, and later it is a great day to curl up with a good book. My weekend is fairly quiet. There is soooo much I love about that.

Are there any work outs you enjoy or would like to try? I am always open to new ways to get in a work out and mixing it up works well for me.

Morning Meanderings… Feeling Newsworthy

Published on February 19, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

Happy Thursday! Egads, another week flying by. I am feeling productive but by no means caught up… although I see the light at the end of the tunnel 🙂

I don’t know about you, but I do not watch the news. I know, I know, but honestly I can’t handle all the negativity and sadness. BLAH. Theft, shootings, murders, state budget worries… all of it bogs me down. Yet, like anyone else I want to be in the know when it comes to things I should know or find interesting.

I recently came across this website, Compressive News and I like it. Hot topics such as technology, our world, and business are all there in little headlines that you can look at and read on if you wish. I found the topics to be ones that I am actually interested in. The whole guard bot story? Creepy but cool. Apple offering up a new way to store your documents that works like Google Drive but with more storage space called IWorks? I want to know more about that!

Compressive News is a fairly new site. I like that is is more about condensing news than overpowering me with information I do not always have time to sift through. I already have too much on my plate. 😉

While nosing around I seen they had a tab that was called Request A Story. Hmmmm…. click on that…. and yes, you can submit a story you would like covered and they will look into possibly writing about it. I like that too.

So that is my news worthy (pun intended) take for this morning while I sip my coffee and dread the commitment I made to go to a YOGA class with a friend this afternoon. Seriously… YOGA? What was I thinking? 🙂

I leave you with this…

Where do you get your news from? Online sites? TV? Your local newspaper? What do you like to be kept current on?

Morning Meanderings… Huh. I Didn’t See That Coming.

Published on February 18, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)45 Comments

Good morning! Mighty chilly here in central Minnesota today. Currently we sit at 16 below zero. I for one am thrilled that I do not have to go out in the cold today… although I am considering a trip to the library.

In this mornings paper I learned that 50 Shades of Grey busted up box office records for the weekend with a whopping $94.4 million opening weekend. The 4th biggest rated R move opening in history!

I so did not see that coming…

While I have not read the book nor do I plan to, I admit I was curious about how it would do at the box office. From what my friends have told me about the book, they thought (as did I), it would be pretty hard to put that into a theater.

Yet.. they did.

So color that 50 Shades of “cha-ching”.

I am curious now,

Have you read the book, seen the movie, or both?

How did the movie compare to the book?

If you have not seen the movie do you plan to?

Does the huge success of the movie surprise you at all?

Last night I finished an excellent read, An Appetite for Violets, which I can not wait to rave about. Today I think I will be able to finish American Sniper on audio and tonight will be perfect for a blanket, hot tea, and a good read.

Morning Meanderings… Confession, I Am On The Crack

Published on February 17, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good morning! Tuesday is here! I am checking off that to do list this week and making progress early on in the week already! YEAH!

SO today’s post is brought to you by…

Trivia Crack.

Have you heard of this?

It is a game app you can play on your phone or for those of us who grow up in the 80’s and think bigger is still better, you can play on Facebook on your lap top/IPAD/etc….

Basically the game has these cute icons (above) that represent categories: Entertainment, Sports, Geography, Art, and History. You spin a little wheel…

… and whatever subject it lands on you answer a question about. Three questions answered and you get to move on to the grown or you can land on the crown. The crown lets you choose a category question and if you answer it right you receive that Icon piece. The goal is to get all the icon pieces before your opponent.

Fun, addicting, and you learn along the way.

Sometimes the questions are pretty easy… .there are many Harry Potters questions that I rock at. 🙂 Some are harder (*cough cough sports*) and you think who would possibly know that answer… and then like yesterday, sometimes you get too excited and click on the wrong answer.

Here is my Facebook post from last night:

I dont know if I can keep playing Trivia Crack…. it makes me swear. Latest question, animal best known in Edgar Allen Poe’s poem…. I quickly and confidently clicked on….
crow. *doh!*

LOL. The crack got me.

Today I am working out and working on a project for Camp. I am debating on an author event for this evening in the cities but think I am going to pass as it is 2 hours away and will involve driving in the dark tonight.

Are you playing Trivia Crack? Do you have a “fun” question that you missed?

Morning Meanderings… Technology Fail… But There Are Books!

Published on February 15, 2015February 15, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

Good morning! YAY! Sunday!

Yesterday I mentioned I was having trouble uploading pictures from my phone. When taking pictures for Book Journey I usually take them on my phone and then email them to myself to nab off my laptop. Yesterday morning I took several pics for the morning post but could not get them to upload.

This morning I tried again, rebooting my phone and everything. Still didn’t work. Then I went to the magic of all things Google and Googled my problem. All sorts of things came up about MMS… blah blah blah, stuff over my head.

I stared at my phone filled will reminders that the message had failed…

and then I knew what had happened.

I never use my phone to check email. I receive too much email on three different accounts and it is a huge battery suck. Only if I am super desperate to check for an email will I use it and then it usually needs about 5 minutes to sync as the last time I checked it was months prior…

Well…

on Tuesday I needed to print an email for book club and I do not have a printer hooked to this laptop. I do however have one hooked to my office laptop. When I went to retrieve the email downstairs somehow I had been logged out on my main email. AND… I could not for the life of me recall the password. In order to retrieve the email I needed to print, I had to…

you guessed it…

CHANGE THE PASSWORD.

Bingo.

My phone could not send to the email as it no longer had the correct password.

GAH.

A quick fix and I received my photos no problem. 🙂

And just in time too as here are the books that came in this week:

The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins (audio)

Molly’s Game by Molly Bloom

Night Is The Hunter by Steven Gore

The Forgetting Place by John Burley

The Boy Who Loved Rain by Gerald Kelly

Two Moons by Thomas Mallon

The Snow Globe by Judith Kinghorn

Splinters Of Light by Rachael Herron

I am pretty caught up around here, house cleaning is done, errands complete… I have been working freelance projects for the past 4 days and think today is an official reading day. I look forward to a comfy chair and a good book or two.

What are you doing with your Sunday?

Morning Meanderings…. 50 Shades Of… AWESOME!

Published on February 14, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

New coffee cup pic to come… I have one but for some reason can not get it to upload this morning and tired of waiting 😉

Happy Saturday! I have the best weekend ahead of me here…. no plans!!! I love it! I might have lunch with a friend, visit my aunt, try out the snow shoes finally… the possibilities are endless 🙂

As you probably know, today is the official release day of the 50 Shades Of Grey movie. It’s Valentines Day… aren’t they cute? I have not read the book and do not plan too and will more than likely be passing on the movie as well. However, I would be neglect if I did not say the play on the title (mush as I have done today) has been fun. 😀

Today for Saturday Snapshot, I thought it would be fun to post pics of my book club through the years because they really are 50 shades of AWESOME! I was going through pics on Facebook the other day and thought it was fun to see all the crazy things we have done through the years. Granted, this is not all of the craziness… this is just some.

This was for our review of Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl. We disguised ourselves like she did in the book. Can you find me in this group? 😉

Pride and Prejudice was the classic we were reading…. we dressed the era.

Sharon’s birthday. We surprised her and wore our “Bookies” shirts

When one of us was diagnosed with breast cancer we wore pink to the meeting in support of her.

Our first SKYPE with author Sandra Brannan. Sandra had sent us a care package for our review.

This has been fun for me to look back through these pics of a book club I adore. Going strong since August of 2001! There are a lot more pics, but now I think I am on a mission….. more on that later 😉

Morning Meanderings… A Day In The Life of a “Want To Be” Writer

Published on February 13, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good morning. I think I need a new Meandering pic… the one I have been using prior to today I do not believe is accurate. My hair is not as wild as that pic, it is more like the one above. Anyhoo… that was random. 🙂

Since returning from our vacation in January I have been playing catch up on projects, but also trying to set some sort of routine that works for working from home.

Currently it looks something like this:

Up around 7 am.

Coffee.

Emails.

Coffee.

Facebook.

Think about working out.

Shower instead.

Coffee.

Check calendar for any writing projects I should be working on – magazine articles, freelance work…

Coffee.

Start writing, either for me… or for a project.

Around 9:30 am make any phone calls I need to make.

Back to writing.

Break around 11 am, if I did not do the workout earlier, do it now.

Lunch.

Water.

Run any town errands (optional)

Check emails.

Back to writing.

Water.

Writing.

Around 3:00 pm, take a look at any non profit projects I am working on (lately that has been authors for Wine and Words and lining up the July bike ride for Camp Benedict.)

Make phone calls surrounding the non profit stuff.

Think about what is for dinner.

Around 5 pm either go back to writing, work on no profit, or put it all away and read for a bit.

5:30 – 6:00 pm start dinner.

Al in the house around 7 pm, catch up with him and have dinner.

7:30 pm we either watch tv together, he watches tv and I read upstairs, or I continue to play around with a project.

8:30 pm – Al is in bed, I read or watch something mind numbing on tv (currently I am addicted to a series I found on Amazon Prime called AWKWARD.)

It is not down to a science and as anyone’s day goes, it does not always work that way. Occasionally I have a meet up with a friend, or I run to the library, or I work on laundry or dishes or tackling a closet.

It is a different feel for someone who is used to be going going going out in the public. I hope eventually to find my groove, but for now this is it 🙂

Morning Meanderings… I LOVE Author Events

Published on February 12, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Good morning! Happy Thursday! THURSDAY! Does anyone else feel like the week flew by? I know I have two days left but, the weekend is almost upon us! (I have an open weekend so imagining the possibilities!)

Yesterday while corresponding with a publishing house they were letting me know of an author who will be in Minneapolis next Tuesday the 17th. Arwen Alys Dayton will be at the Red Balloon Bookstore promoting her book SEEKER, which has already been snatched up to be a movie. OOH! I just received SEEKER on audio, it is a beautiful looking book and being compared to the likes of Hunger Games and Divergent.

That is one I would like to go to and have already put the bat signal in the sky for the Bookies to see if anyone wants to go along.

Also, later next week on the 20th at the same book store, Amanda Hockings will be there! That is kind of cool too, she wrote WAKE, and is the first author to sell more than a million copies of her book that was self published! Crazy cool!!! I also did not know that Amanda Hockings was a Minnesota author. (Now the wheels are turning….)

I usually have my eye on Magers & Quinn, another book store in the cities that holds a lot of good author events. Now I know I need to keep an eye on two!

The drive to the cities is about 2 hours and 10 minutes for me. The going is not hard, it is the fact that most of the events start at 6:30 pm, and I am driving back around 8 or 8:30 pm in the dark. Still… it doesn’t stop me 🙂

Do you have any author events in your area? Do you like to attend them? How far would you drive?

Morning Meanderings… Book Club… The Morning After

Published on February 11, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

Good morning.

Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.

Yes… it is a Gilmore morning…

Ok that was random but I laughed. I love the ending of this one.

Book club was uber great last night but it really usually is. 14 of the Bookies made it last night in what was like our first real snow that I have seen this season. Roads were slick, but the girls made it to my house.

We discussed Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain over tasty Kielbasa, mini meatloaves, fruit salad, cheese, crackers, and wine. I handed out our books from Harper Collins and we chose our next read for March:

The Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtlands, a young family from the plains taking a last summer vacation before their daughter begins college. For eighteen-year-old Caitlin, the mountains loom as the ultimate test of her runner’s heart, while her parents hope that so much beauty, so much grandeur, will somehow repair a damaged marriage. But when Caitlin and her younger brother, Sean, go out for an early morning run and only Sean returns, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic, as suddenly this family find themselves living the kind of nightmare they’ve only read about in headlines
or seen on TV.

As their world comes undone, the Courtlands are drawn into a vortex of dread and recrimination. Why weren’t they more careful? What has happened to their daughter? Is she alive? Will they ever know? Caitlin’s disappearance, all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning of the family’s harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths until all that continues to bind them together are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point will a girl stop fighting for her life?

Written with a precision that captures every emotion, every moment of fear, as each member of the family searches for answers, Descent is a perfectly crafted thriller that races like an avalanche toward its heart-pounding conclusion, and heralds the arrival of a master storyteller.

Sound good? I think so!

Today I have work to catch up on. I have been hanging out with friends and family since Saturday and now I need to get something done 🙂

And just in case you have not had enough coffee…