Scraping in a little late this morning but had a huge day yesterday – home about 9:30 pm from an event and yeah…. still sick. I may have to suck it up and go to the doctor today. Hate that. 😦
While Summer is my absolute FAVORITE time of the year, fall has really earned my respect. After all… fall to me is a bookish season. It’s like how some of our favorite tv shows return…. good books seem to hit the shelves as well…. and that is always exciting.
Awesome right? The Night Circus is the one I am SUPER excited about and I will be reading next week…. (watch for a giveaway copy – also coming with next week…) 😀
Fall also means Banned Books Week and I am planning big things over here at Book Journey so be on the look out…. more on this soon!
No, not feeling better. Still coughy…. and yeah, coffee. :sick:
Yesterday after work I made a little trip to my library for strictly one reason…..
audio.
I have cleaned myself out of cd audio. I have plenty for my IPOD, but I have a CD player in the kitchen and one in the jeep that need to be fed and I have went through all I own, all I had borrowed, and all I purchased recently.
It was really an audioergency. 😛
Friday I am driving to our cabin and I think hubby is planning on taking his motorcycle so we can tool around the back roads when we are there. This translates to – 3 1/2 hours in the Durango ALONE… which really means – AUDIO TIME!
Like a kid in the candy store I perused the shelves and finally came out with these:
I have to get ready for work so I do not have time to link them to synopsis… but there they are in all their glory! On an average day – I listen to three audio … one in my car as I drive around, the one in my bathroom (IPOD) while I get ready for work, and the one in my kitchen while I make meals.
Tomorrow I have two audio winners to announce from last week.
Several decisions were made around here yesterday – 2 bookish/ blog related…. one random.
First of all let me just say that it is that with a heavy heart that I finally had to realize that Laptop is not going to fully recover. Our time now is short…. he has brief moments of being coherent – and then his screen goes black. So…. yesterday I went out to Best Buy and came home with….
"Asus" (ah- zuess)
Meet Asus. He is new to the family and yesterday we spent a lot (A LOT) of time together transferring pics and files off of Laptop when Laptop cooperated. I was going in with my heart set on a Dell (I am pretty brand loyal) but this guy was right around the same price and I liked his keyboard, size, and shape better. Here is hoping we have a long and happy life together.
Second decision of yesterday…. you may remember last week I mentioned for the BEA nominations I was nominated for Best Audio Book Blog and Best Eclectic Book Blog. Both very exciting! 😛 BUT – I had to choose and finally decided to go with Audio blog as I have become a bigger and bigger advocate of audio over the past couple of years. It was fun to choose the posts and we will see what happens… it was fun to be nominated. 😀
Finally – the third decision was hubby Al’s and that was what movie we seen yesterday afternoon. He wanted to see either Conan The Barbarian or Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. (UGH…. to both)…. I craved a little girly movie or comedy but he rarely chooses the movie so off we went, a smile planted firmly on my face as we went and discovered – Conan had started 30 minutes earlier than what it said online so – Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes it was. Turns out…. it was pretty good. Sad in that “abused animal” sort of way, but good.
Ok – off to get things done. I have two audio finishing today and at least two books… possibly three. 😀(Oh, and this is the first post written on Asus.) 😛
Good morning! I am home… home at last 🙂I am a little tired, a little whelmed, and I have a lot to do. 😀
This morning for the Saturday Snapshot, I thought I would share a little bit with you about the camp I was just at and what I did all week. The camp was Camp Benedict. It is the camp I ride the CBC ride I rode a few weeks ago for, and it is the camp organized by Connie, whose story I am writing.
My reason for going to camp was to see Connie in action. She has run this camp for 17 years for people and families who are touched by HIV/AIDS. My attending, I felt was really going to help me see the world through Connie’s eyes…
and it really did.
When the board accepted me going last winter I was excited and then as it got closer… a little nervous. I had an idea of what camp would be like and the people who attended. Let me say this out loud – I was wrong.
Camp was….
incredible.
I arrived Monday afternoon and was settled into my room for the week.
Me - ready to camp 🙂Where I stayedA view from camp
Everyone arrived by Monday late afternoon. A bus brought people from all over Minnesota. Connie provides the camp for free to the “campers” (as we are called all week long 😛 ). She does not want the week to be a financial burden on anyone.
Monday evening we had about 200 pictures placed on the floor of the main lodge. We were each asked to pick up two pictures that spoke to us. I chose:
Some of the pictures on the floorThe two pictures I chose
Then we each had to say our name, what the two pictures made us feel – and how we were feeling right now at the beginning of camp. It was interesting that most of the people there were nervous, or unsure of what to expect. The picture responses were amazing what people seen in them… responses ranged from feeling on inadequacy, to missing a parent or loved one, to feelings of despair, loneliness, imprisoned, to hopefulness, dreams…
by the end of the night… I was a mess between sweet bouts of laughter, to times of tears. (I joked with one of the nurses that I thought I was bipolar…. laughing, than crying, than laughing again…. 😛 )
On Tuesday – a doctor Bill (I have his card somewhere) had a session on the pills that everyone is taking. It was very interesting to hear about the different combinations, what they each do and changes to the combinations to work better for some people. I think everyone got a lot out of this session including me.
Afternoons are free time – there were opportunities to work on your Affirmation boxes (which I loved!), an hour-long pontoon ride to a Dairy Queen, and horse back riding.
The first afternoon I worked on my Affirmation box. We were each asked to make these and then throughout the week we each put an affirmation in the others boxes of something we noticed in them…. (Ie. we appreciated their honesty, they are strong, incredible speaker…)
Affirmation BoxesMy random work station
On Wednesday morning – we had a fun morning session of Yoga and stretching on the ball. Russ led this group and did an amazing job!
prepping for the morning classRuss - teaching the stretches
I love working out with the exercise ball and this was a lot of fun for everyone to try. The group was taught that there are certain moves in Yoga that can actually increase your T cell count.
Dining hall and session buildingConnie with her friend Anita on the pontoon to the Dairy Queen!
In the evenings we hung out and talked or there were group sessions. On Wednesday evening I sat in on the women’s session which was amazing. The women shared hurts and strengths – and some who felt isolated, now have found positive ways to move forward thanks to the friendships they built during the session. I left this session completely drained.
The food? Did I not mention the food yet (I should have took pictures!). The food was so good! My Fitness Pal diet was put on hold for the week…. but I am back on it now. 😀
Thursday another doctor spoke in the morning and was there mainly to answer questions about treatments, medications, etc…. I did not see all of her session as I went with Connie to watch her work with the teens who were there with their families where she did a skit of a person just diagnosed with AIDS and how heavy that can feel (she piled large books on her “patient”) as they learn how their life has just changed forever. She ends this with asking the other teens what they can do to help take the “heaviness” off their friend…. IE. being a good listener, reminding them they are loved, helping them…)
Thursday afternoon…. I went horse back riding. 😛
The horsesConnie on her horseMe - on mine.... (his name is Apache)
Thursday night we had a ceremony were we all lit a candle and said what we got out of camp. Oh wow…. more tears…. after that a DJ came in and the kids got to do Karaoke.
Friday morning we ate, packed up – and the bus came at 11:30 am. to take everyone home. The camp staff (which were AMAZING all week long) made a pyramid for when the bus drove out of the camp. It was all pretty emotional… and I know I will never be the same from the experience.
Connie and IThe Camp Staff saying good bye!
I think most of you know why I am working with Connie and the camp, but in the event that you do not – here is my recent post on that.
Good morning. Final day at camp. Today we finish up around 11:30 am this morning, I will say good-bye to all the people I met as the bus comes to pick them up. What a week. (i plan to write a full post on the week on Saturday morning with a few pics).
As many of you know Laptop has been “going out” not for about 9 months. It started last winter, he would not turn on and I thought, “It’s over,” but then two days later – he worked again…. and this went on like this for several months… the occasional “death” and then – recovery.
Now however I fear the end is drawing near… a couple of nights ago at camp Laptop came up with the black screen of death. Oh he was on – but there was no screen…. and then – he would just shut off. He worked good yesterday – and then last night….
same thing.
Now – he does not recognize Firefox so I am blogging in Explorer (pooey!) which I have not used in years. Sadly, I may need to stop by Best Buy today to see what they have available. It has been 4 years with Laptop (my first laptop!) and they have been good ones. I hate to move on from what is comfortable, but it looks like it may be time….
*sigh*
Anyway – I need to get off to breakfast…. Oh who am I kidding…. I need COFFEE. 😛
Once I get home today I have laundry to catch up on , maybe part of the lawn… but nothing too extreme. Should be a nice quiet weekend for a change with no (NADA) commitments! 😀
Good morning from Camp (day 4). I feel pretty good (even though I have not ventured out of my room yet for coffee…) 😛
Yesterday we had a morning Yoga session and worked with the exercise ball – that was fun! Yesterday afternoon we went on a pontoon ride, so while I am here writing…. it’s not all work and no play! 😀
Today is our last full day at camp and while I have really enjoyed being here and meeting everyone and learning SO MUCH, it will be nice to get home tomorrow afternoon and get back into a normal routine like catching up on my blog reading! 😀
Speaking of reading – I am doing some of that too. I have been reading In The Sea There Are Crocodiles in the afternoon, and at night I have been reading Escape by Barbara Delinsky. Both are pretty decent reads.
and even being away – I am still reading emails and still coveting books that are coming to my attention…currently I have two that are drawing my interest.
In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her. Secrets her outwardly cheerful hosts have chosen not to tell her. Secrets involving the strange family digging for something in the surrounding vineyards. Secrets hidden in the landscape itself.
But Natalia is also confronting a private, hurtful mystery of her own: the inexplicable circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. After telling her grandmother that he was on his way to meet Natalia, he instead set off for a ramshackle settlement none of their family had ever heard of and died there alone. A famed physician, her grandfather must have known that he was too ill to travel. Why he left home becomes a riddle Natalia is compelled to unravel.
Grief struck and searching for clues to her grandfather’s final state of mind, she turns to the stories he told her when she was a child.
and suddenly this series has my eye…. and looks like I have some catching up to do…
As a world-ending war surges around them, Todd and Viola face monstrous decisions. The indigenous Spackle, thinking and acting as one, have mobilized to avenge their murdered people. Ruthless human leaders prepare to defend their factions at all costs, even as a convoy of new settlers approaches. And as the ceaseless Noise lays all thoughts bare, the projected will of the few threatens to overwhelm the desperate desire of the many. The consequences of each action, each word, are unspeakably vast: To follow a tyrant or a terrorist? To save the life of the one you love most, or thousands of strangers? To believe in redemption, or assume it is lost? Becoming adults amid the turmoil, Todd and Viola question all they have known, racing through horror and outrage toward a shocking finale.
This second book is not out until mid September but there are two books in front of it – the first of which, The Knife Of Never Letting Go, I think I have. I will check that out when I get home.
Have a great day everyone – time for me to get up and be social…. and yeah…. I really need my coffee. 😛
Good morning! I am on day three at camp. I can not believe it has been three days already. Yesterday I sat in on a really good talk about medications, I really took away a lot of notes on that. Today we have a morning class on Yoga and relaxation techniques and this afternoon, I am going with a group by pontoon to the Dairy Queen. 😛 The weather has been beautiful! I plan to write a full fledged recap on Saturday – with pictures.
This morning this funny little video was in my e mail:
I recently read this article about top paid authors and was a little surprised at where some of them fell.
The newly released Forbes list of the world’s highest-paid authors may include the usual suspects, but their wages can still be as shocking as a cleverly conceived plot twist. James Patterson topped this year’s list, earning $84 million between May 2010 and April 2011, up from $70 million the year before. Stephenie Meyer banked $21 million, half of her $41 million the previous year. J.K. Rowling made “only” $5 million, but the launch of Pottermore will likely alter that situation dramatically. The top earning authors were:
James Patterson ($84 million)
Danielle Steel ($35 million)
Stephen King ($28 million)
Janet Evanovich ($22 million)
Stephenie Meyer ($21 million)
Rick Riordan ($21 million)
Dean Koontz ($19 million)
John Grisham ($18 million)
Jeff Kinney ($17 million)
Nicholas Sparks ($16 million)
Ken Follett ($14 million)
Suzanne Collins ($10 million)
J.K. Rowling ($5 million)
Do any of these surprise you? I guess I would have thought J K Rowling would be higher up on this list. And… I have to admit, I have never heard of Jeff Kinney who falls in the place of #9.
I am at camp this week…. up early for a bike ride to start my morning before every one else gets up. 😀 I figure I can get in a little exercise this week so brought my bike.
Here is where I need your help. I have made the long list in the 2011 BBAW Awards in the following niche categories:
Best Audiobook Blog
Best Eclectic Book Blog
SSSSQQQUUUEEEEE!!!! Really, thank you, that is exciting 😀
Now I can only move forward in one category. I do LOVE LOVE LOVE audio and promote it to no end here…. but know a few other blogs that are super audio blogs too…. even more so than my own. I know I am an eclectic blog and love to read diverse styles of books. So the questions lies with…. which one do I go forward with?
Please let me know your thoughts and they will be taken into consideration. Just when I think I have chosen…. my head goes the other way…. 😛
Thank you in advance for your help.
As for camp day one…. awesome. I really thought it might be a bit scary, but really….. everyone is soooooo nice. Already I have laughed and cried several times….
Also – on another note….. it is not too late to sign up for a Blogger interview swap for BBAW week. Trust me, this is a lot of fun.
I had two days this past week where I was actually too busy to post a Morning Meandering. I LOVE to do the Morning Meanderings, so believe me it was painful to walk out the door without so much as opening Laptop… but it had to be done.
Yesterday I left the house at 4:30 am to drive to Itasca State Park for the Tour De Pines. A hilly little ride if you ask some of my friends who went along with me for the first time. It’s a beautiful ride that spends the first hour actually riding through the park.
I did not need that much time to get there for start at 7:30 am, but last year my friend Wendy and I got lost and did not get there until 9 so I was not taking any chances. The other 6 friends I was riding with were camping in the park so they were already in the area.
Turns… out I was the first one to the ride, getting there about 6:40 am… 😛 The ride crew laughed that I drove in from Brainerd and beat my friends to the ride who were staying maybe a mile away from the start up. 😀
At the first pit stop we had an opportunity to walk down a trail and see the largest Red Pine of the park. Unfortunately it looks like the top had been hit bu lighting but still…. it was pretty big. 😀
Me, Rhonda, and the treeMy bike in the park.... I LOVE my bikePit stop in the parkEven back where I was taking this picture of Rhonda and Mike, I could almost hear Rhonda cussing me out about this hill 😉
So that is where I was yesterday. We did the 50 mile route instead of the 75 as we had a little wind to deal with. I came back home around 5 pm pretty tired and was in bed by 9:00.
I am late for Alyce’s Saturday snapshot, but knew I had to post these yet this week because starting tomorrow I am at camp for the week working on Connie’s story and I should have some beautiful pics of camp. (I will explain camp in the Monday What Are You reading post that will go up tonight.)
If you noticed a drought in book reviews here lately – you are right… there was one. I seemed to be finishing nothing. 😛 Well… the drought is over. I have three audio reviews to write, by the end of the day a fourth and two book reviews – possibly a third. I just knew everything would finish at once 😀
Have a super day…. I have a crazy busy morning making sure the staff and leadership of where I work are ready for the staff retreat that they leave on tomorrow. I would normally be going with them, but The Camp Benedict board of directors invited me to attend their camp before this one was on the books…. so I am not attending my Leadership one. Later I think hubby and I are going for a motorcycle ride with friends, I may squeeze in a bike ride and I still need to finish mowing the lawn.
Book Journey 