Morning Meanderings – Page 29

Morning Meanderings… ARRESTED in Orlando

Published on November 2, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Good morning! Sunday already! I am sitting in the breakfast area of the hotel, drinking my coffee and enjoying a little people watching. This is the morning tradition. I get up, get ready for the day and wait downstairs until my son joins me. We then plan out our day.

Yesterday evening we went to the Capone’s Dinner and Show. It was a lot of fun! We arrived early, gave our secret password at the door, “two cherry cokes” and then proceeded to wait for our table. We sat with a fun group. Two couples from Wisconsin on one side of us, and an older group on the other side celebrating a 75th birthday. They were really fun to talk to!

The show was a lot of fun.

and then of course…

LOL! For $20 you could pick up this sweet newspaper of your arrest as a crime lord…. fantastic really and of course we had to have it.

Fun time, good food – recommended for those looking for a fun thing to do on an Orlando evening. Show started at 7:30, but you are welcome to show up anytime from 6 pm on for drinks and to get into character. It ended about 10:30 pm. Full buffet dinner was included: salad, pastas, pizza, lasagna, turkey, chicken, vegies, potatoes, pork, dessert and all of your drinks are included. The bummer was I was still full from lunch so ate two small squares of pizza, some salad, and sweet potato. 🙂

I have no books to show of what came in this week as I am not home until tomorrow afternoon from Florida. It has been a wonderful time to hang out with my son.

Morning Meanderings… First Day In Florida!

Published on October 31, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)7 Comments

Good morning! Happy Halloween!

We landed in Orlando yesterday afternoon, had lunch at a wonderful spot, went to Walmart for some supplies for the hotel and found our hotel. Our plan was to book the same hotel we did the first year we came, two years ago. It was a great room with a kitchen, a living room with couch and a chair and table, and a separate bedroom. It was great if one of us was tired and one was not so we did not disturb each other. I thought that was what I had booked again… but alas …. no.

The hotel we are at is fine… but has a SUPER clean smell. An overly clean smell… to the point that it gives me a headache. And it is just a standard room, also fine as we are hardly ever there, but not what we had hoped for.

We drove around looking for our original hotel. We walked the area we did that year to go to the restaurant Fridays, and he other little shops we had walked that year… we still could not find our hotel. Later at our current hotel I started Googling all hotels on that road and looking at pics… I think I finally found it but it has a new name and look. We may go check it out today for future bookings.

BUT FIRST….

Today we will be at Universal Studios. More importantly….

Harry Potter World.

I am so excited! We will be there by 9 am when it opens and I hope to go on the train first. Yes yes… I will totally have my geek on. 🙂 I am so looking forward to this!

Later tonight, we want to go to the movie Nightcrawler. It looks good!

SO that will be our second day in Florida! Remember the kick off to the Harry Potter Reread/Readathon starts tomorrow. Still time to join in! I started reading book one on the plane. Still, it amazes me how much is said in each book that leads to things to come.

Morning Meanderings… What’s In Your Carry On?

Published on October 29, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

Ba ha ha! Yes you have to put up with two more days of this photo… 🙂 Then… I will go back to the regularly scheduled photo for this meme… but maybe not – as I will be in Florida then! WOO HOO!!!

I actually leave later today for my son’s house in St Paul. He now lives close to the airport so I will stay there tonight and we will taxi to the plane in the morning. By noon… we should be in Orlando.

Pause for sunshine….

So… what am I taking in my carry on? This is always a big deal as my carry on is usually strictly for the purpose of books to read on the plane, the safety of my laptop, and perhaps a snack. I am prepped with:

Ok… so what do we have here? Far left is Kinderella and on that is The Banks Of Certain Rivers. Then we have my beautiful 20th Anniversary edition of the Sorcerer’s Stone for kick off to the Harry Potter Re-read/Readathon, This Dark Road To Mercy by Wiley Cash (book club bonus read for Harper Collins), Meritropolis by Joel Ohman (because dang it looks good and if I don’t get to it my son might), and The After House by Michael Phillip Cash (because it looks like the right read for the season and no relation to Wiley Cash that I know of 😉 )

As usual… I over book my carry on… but at least I have variety which will keep me soothed for the ride there and back.

Today I am working on wrapping up some bee appointments, cooking meals for Al, sending in new passport info (that is another story…), folding laundry, dropping off supplies for phase two of my Florida time, pre-paying upcoming bills… odds and ends trying to tie everything up to be gone.

Lots of posts prepped for here so stay tune! I do not plan on going “dark” while I am away.

A quick shameless plug for the Harry Potter Reread/Readathon starting on Nov. 1. Check out the post… you have lots of time to read, fun House memes to put on your blog (but you do not need a blog to participate!), prizes and surprises, and we are going to have a lot of fun! 21 signed up so far!

Morning Meanderings… Something This Way Comes

Published on October 28, 2014October 28, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Good morning! It is Halloween week! I have some reviews I have been saving for such a time as this! I will be in Florida for Halloween this year, not so much of a plan .. but who knows 🙂 I am excited to spend time with Justin (College Son). This is our third annual trip.

Bookish news… I am reading this dark road to mercy by Wiley Cash for our bonus book club read from Harper Collins. I will not be here for book club this month (hate that!) so will want to email in my thoughts on this book, and our regular read, The Aviator’s Wife.

19 people are signed up so far to join in on the Potter Re-Read Readthon! I am so excited about that! A nice mix of houses represented and fun things coming up. Don’t miss checking that out if you have not already!

Working today. Cooking meals tonight for my hubby to prep while I am away. Packing for the two trips.

What are you reading?

Morning Meanderings… Ready For Take Off (almost)

Published on October 26, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Happy Sunday! I am in go mode – so much to do to prepare to be gone much of November. If you missed my post earlier this week, I just found out this week that after I get back from my Florida trip with my College Son (Oct 30 – Nov 3), I will be leaving again on the 4th – 20th, back to Florida to work with the bees. I have much to prepare in my home and for the trip…. today, once back in Brainerd I will be focusing on prepping for the time away by preparing meals hubby can heat up.

On another more zen like note, I am hosting a Harry Potter Re-Read to get us through the winter months. Check out the post!

Here is what came in this week:

Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris (audio)

A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks (audio)

Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand (audio)

Confessions by James Patterson (audio)

Food, A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan (audio)

The After House by Michael Phillip Cash

Scorched Eggs by Laura Childs

Must run for now. Enjoy your Sunday!

Morning Meanderings… The Last Friday I Will Be Home For Three Weeks

Published on October 24, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)6 Comments

Good morning! It is Friday and I am sooo excited about that. Today I have a no commitment day and I plan to take full advantage of it. These days, as you seen by the title of my post are going to be few over the next weeks so I am trying to prepare for them.

I leave next Wednesday afternoon for ST Paul to stay with College Son and then we leave on the 30th for Florida for our annual trip. I am so looking forward to this as I do every year. Yes yes, Universal Studios here we come!!! Then we come back home on Monday November 3rd…

and then I leave back to Florida to work with the bees on the 4th through the 20th.

Yup.

I will be helping to split hives which makes more hives, and well, you can bet there will be a whole post on this once we get going.

Yes it is definitely a long time away from home and I am honestly not thrilled about that. However, we have to have all splits done by November 15th and together we believe we can get ‘er done. 🙂 On the bright side, once I get through this crazy bump in activity, December should be extremely low-key and I will not be doing anything but focusing on writing and staying out of the cold 🙂

I also need to announce the winner of the bookmarks! Thank you to all who commented on the post and looked at the cool website for In My Book. What a fun gift idea! I will be mailing out a card to two different lucky winners! Using random.org. the winners are….

Kathy at Bermuda Onion!

Krystal at Books Are My Thing!

Woo hoo!!! I will email the winners for their addresses, however if they see this before I do so, they are welcome to email me the information at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

That’s it! I have a friend coming over this morning to try on dresses for our Monster Dash in the cities tomorrow morning. I have been looking forward to this run for years!!! This is the first time I have been able to make this one work and it is supposed to be the biggest run in Minnesota! NICE!

She is going to be a princess and I am either doing the same or going with 50’s girl – which is a costume I already have on hand and it is fairly easy to run in.

So that’s it. Planning for a meeting on Monday, prepping all things I need to do before I leave next Wednesday and breaking up the anxiety with books and audio 🙂

Morning Meanderings… Winners! (And it smells like poo)

Published on October 23, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Good morning! Holy smokes I slept! I was semi awake at 5 am and thought I would sleep one more hour after Al went to work.. next think I know it is 7:45 am! That’s crazy for me! SO briefly, I need to catch up on some winners, and remind you of one giveaway still going.

Ready?

For the Dewey Read A Thon that took place this past Saturday, I was offering a giveaway to a commenter…

And the winner is: Leslie from Under My Apple Tree! She receives choice of these books! Woo Hoo Leslie! For a closer look at the titles, see the original giveaway post.

Also – The winners for the Best Of Me Movie Tie-In Book are….

Elaina!

Martha from Martha’s Book Shelf!

I also still have the Book Mark Giveaway from In My Book. Please check out the post about the book marks and see them – they are pretty sweet! Two winners will be drawn for those tomorrow!

And finally…

the poo.

When I got up this morning and opened the sliding glass door to the back deck as I do every morning to let the dogs out and to get a nice breeze in the house, I got a whiff of something not so pleasant. So unpleasant in fact, I looked under the table. When it did not go away I walked around the house… and eventually outside. I think the neighbors have fertilized their field. Egads… they must have upgraded to some premium stuff. 😉

Anyhoo… that’s whats in my head this morning 🙂

Morning Meanderings… Dead Poets Society

Published on October 22, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good morning 🙂 Coffee on? Me too!

Last night I watched one of my favorite all time movies, Dead Poets Society. I have wanted to rewatch this one since the sad passing of Robin Williams, however it was not on Netflix and I did not own it. Finally I broke down and bought it off Amazon and then last night I finally felt I was in the right frame of mind to watch it.

I debated if this was a separate post or a morning meandering, and due to the fact it is an older movie I went with meandering.

I hope you know the movie. If you do not know it, I hope after this post you will find it and watch it.

This is a 1989 movie starring Robin Williams as the new college English teacher, Mr. Keating, in an all boys school. Mr. Keating has a unique way of teaching that gets in the students heads and makes them thnk, yet hs unusual teaching is frowned on by the powers that be at the school.

One of Mr. Kreatings students, Neil, is particularly passionate but has an overly strict father who wants Neil to stick to the studies and nothing to do with fun or the things that interest Neil. When Neil and his friends find out that Mr. Keating was once in a group called the Dead’s Poet Society. When the boys question Keating, he tells them about the group he once was in and that they met in the caves beyond the school yard reading poetry from the greats. Of course the boys at first thought this was ridiculous but slowly they get behind the idea of this secret society.

The movie embraces individual thinking, the power of words (LOVE that!), and how both can open up people to be better and stronger individuals.

I can not tell you how much I love this movie. I even get emotional as I type. It is an excellent example of how constant conforming can kill the spirit. It was also a look back at a younger full of life Robin Williams, in his prime, and I enjoyed watching him so much. I wish Robin could have always seen himself as the person we seen him as. He will always be missed.

Today is a work day, tonight is the Library Board meeting. Tomorrow morning I will announce the winner of my Dewey read a thon giveaway…. I need to choose a winner!

Morning Meanderings… In My Book Bookmarks and Other Fun Things

Published on October 21, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)44 Comments

Good morning! Tuesday! The weather is chilly this morning, a little frost on the window and makes me want to just stay inside with a blanket, coffee, and a good book. There are a TON of great reads out there and every time I pass by my library it seems like my hand grazes another one and I whisper “your next”… but alas, the same thing will happen later int he day and I will tell another one the same thing. #notcommitted

I do have something fun to share, and even better, to give away! Robin, from In My Book sent me these three super cool book marks that are also greeting cards!

These book marks are actually cards, they open up and are blank inside for your message. They come with the red envelope you see in the picture.

IN MY BOOK® is a unique combination of greeting card and bookmark in one. These literary-oriented cards feature greetings beginning with “In my book…” and conclude with such book-related sentiments as. “you’re a mystery”, “you’re an adventure”, “you’re rare”; the cards are available in eighteen styles each with pen & ink illustrations by illustrator Meredith Hamilton. The die-cut cards are made of sturdy ivory cardstock and are sold with a red envelope; they start out as a greeting card, then perforate to become bookmarks (they’re recyclable!).

and… as you can see they look pretty awesome in a book! (Which may or may not be my next book… but you know.. we discussed that already. 😉 )

Robin has sent me three of these amazing cards and I am going to give away two to the readers here that comment on this post between now and Friday morning (when I announce the winners). I will choose two winners and mail you the cards (no, no, no… I will not use the sweet red envelope – that is for you as well!

To enter – leave a comment here telling me:

What is your ideal reading setting like? (ie. in a comfy chair, feet up, hot cup of tea and chocolate mint Milano cookies… laying in bed with fluffy pillos propped at your back and soft music in back ground)

* To earn an extra chance, please come back and comment on my review that will be going up today on Delancey. I loved this book and I am hoping many of you will give this interesting foodie book a try!

Morning Meanderings… The Results Are In

Published on October 19, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

Good morning! Any readathon hangovers out there? I actually feel pretty good.I pooped out at hour 17 and a half. I had started yesterday at 6 am, strong and about to conquer the world and then.. well… here was a few highlights or obstacles:

By late morning my internet started dropping out (no idea what that was) that put any challenges I was working on taking FOREVER.

I went to the store in early afternoon to pick up a few things, made a few phone calls, responded to some texts

Other than that – I was pretty committed and my final numbers are:

371 pages (1 1/2 books)

4 hours of audio.

With what I raised by reading and those who sponsored me – (Thank you so much!) The total donation to $122.20

Now, for books that came in this week:

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick (audio)

Leaving Time by Jodi Piccoult (audio)

The Innovators by Walter Isaacson (audio)

Ruth’s Journey by Donald McCaig (audio)

The Woman Who Would Be King by Kara Cooney (audio)

Dead Poets Society – movie (I bought this…. love this movie!)

The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

MOO by Jane Smiley – I purchased at Opus and Olives

Memoir Of The Sunday Brunch by Julie Pandl – I purchased at Opus and Olives

Meritropolis by Joel Ohman

Deadly Wandering by Matt Richtel – I purchased at Opus and Olives

Some exciting books there! I am excited to dig in!

Today is a pretty low key day (YAY!). I will go to church this morning but then am home the rest of the day. I am going to finish up TEN by Gretchen McNeil which is one I found thanks to checking out blogs yesterday during the readathon. Creepy good… like 80’s scary 🙂

So that’s my Sunday… I think more reading 🙂

What are you doing this lovely Sunday?

Tag: Morning Meanderings